Chapter 22: So Ends the Second Selection

Violet watched as Mark thrashed about uncontrollably. His eyes held a ferocious, animalistic drive. Even as he was pinned down and held back in every possible way by three examiners, Mark was still putting up a fight. His blood-covered face caused him to appear completely feral, to say he even looked human anymore could be wrong.

‘Mark… what are you?’ Violet thought to herself.

The sudden brutality that Mark had displayed completely caught Violet off guard. She did have thoughts about killing the examiners, but she wouldn’t have gone through with them. Those thoughts were an expression of her rage. Yet Mark hadn’t just tried to kill Eric but had seemingly gone completely insane.

Not only that, Mark had fought with a severe arm injury. It should have been practically unusable, yet Mark kept throwing punches with it until the bones inside splintered and cracked apart. It was like he had become immune to pain.

Mark suddenly freed one of his arms and tore at Hadley, creating a gash across her clothes and skin. She screamed out in pain and in an instant, Mark freed his other arm from her grasp. He scratched at Lin’s face, forcing her backward and allowing him the space to break away from Kione. Mark immediately then swung his leg backward into Kione’s head, sending Kione away from him.

Mark immediately charged toward Eric again, his mouth drooling. His tongue hung out limply and his running was off cadence. Mark was in a trance of uncontrollability, all that was on his mind was punishment. He didn’t even seem to have any sense of his own body anymore. In less than a second Mark closed the gap between him and Eric. He stretched out his arms, ready to resume his assault on Eric when Roland tackled him.

Violet saw Roland force Mark to the ground and hold him there. But Mark had already proven himself capable of overwhelming three examiners who were skilled in combat. Along with his broken arm, Roland would only be able to hold Mark down for a short time.

Realizing this, Violet sprinted towards Mark and slammed her foot on his arm. The feral Mark howled in pain and his struggling slowed. Wasting no time, Violet helped to secure Mark along with Roland.

“Mark, calm down,” Roland said, in a calm soft tone. Screaming now might only cause Mark to go even more berserk.

“Mark, Vivian is going to be ok, don’t kill Eric,” Violet said, mimicking Roland’s manner of speaking.

Mark struggled against them, each movement mixed with a roar of hate and desire. Then he began to speak.

“Let me go! Let me go now!”

He screamed at his two friends and began to attempt to claw at them to force them away. However, Kione and the other examiners arrived and assisted in holding Mark back.

Tears streamed down Mark’s face as Eric got up once more and began to walk away. Mark screamed maniacally and thrashed about harder. His arms and legs violently contorted themselves in an attempt to escape their constraints, but the team of examiners and applicants were able to hold Mark back.

‘This isn’t working. How do we calm Mark down?’ Violet began to wonder as Mark headbutted Roland. Mark was weakening, but he just wouldn’t stop moving, there was still a chance of him getting free.

“mark…”

Violet turned toward the source of the voice. Vivian had regained consciousness and was now slowly crawling towards Mark. However, Vivian’s voice was weak and in his rage, Mark couldn’t hear her at all. Even Violet had just barely been able to make out Vivian’s voice. So, Mark’s struggles continued.

His left arm was now injured beyond belief and a bone pointed clean out of his arm and sleeve. Blood slowly dripped outwards and onto the floor. It was a horrific sight and was undoubtedly causing Mark incredible pain, yet he continued to struggle without end. Violet felt a growing fear inside of her as the possibility of Mark bleeding out and dying became increasingly more possible with his injury.

Vivian, seemingly unshaken by Mark’s appearance, continued her slow crawl forward. Each movement forward she made caused her visible pain. Every rock on the ground was felt, every crack, every push, everything that caused a slight discomfort led to sharp pains in her arms and legs. It was a miracle she was able to use her limbs at all.

When Mark finally noticed her he began to struggle even harder. Violet thought that the sight of Vivian and her injuries had perhaps caused the burning hatred in Mark to explode even further. He now screamed every second at Eric, who had opened a hidden compartment in the door and disconnected his wristband, allowing his face to begin healing from Mark’s injuries.

“ERIC! FIGHT ME! I’LL KILL YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!!”

Mark began to pull away from the examiners and Roland and Violet, his left arm injured even more. Little was holding it now besides muscle and skin. If he continued struggling then Mark could end up unconscious from blood loss or lose his entire arm in the struggle.

Vivian now got to her knees in front of Mark who continued to thrash around violently. Violet was thrown into Roland and felt her grip on Mark loosen slightly. She gripped even harder onto Mark’s body until she felt her fingers begin to pierce Mark’s skin from outside his shirt. She couldn’t hold on much longer, soon Mark would overpower her and that would lead to him attempting another attack on Eric.

It was then that Vivian finally came face to face with Mark and… placed her hand on his face. She smiled sorrowfully, her face full of tears from the horrible pain of merely resting on her knees and lifting her arms. Her hand trembled uncontrollably and she winced as she began to softly caress Mark’s cheek. Mark’s struggling finally began to slow down, but he didn’t fully stop.

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“Mark…” Vivian said weakly. Her entire body shuddered from the severe pain she felt and her words were slightly difficult to make out in between her crying. But Mark stopped struggling even more.

“Mark, please, stop. I’m ok now.”

Violet finally felt Mark stop pulling and pushing her and his arms settled onto the ground. The examiners and Roland and Violet released Mark and backed away. Mark remained sitting on the ground, his breathing slow and heavy, his eyes cold and blank, his arms dead and limp. Violet felt herself become overwhelmed with emotion at the sight of Vivian and Mark. She could feel their broken bodies, shattered and harmed in horrific ways. She could feel the mental toll that had been exacted upon them, like a cold darkness that wrapped the brain in an infinite isolation of fear.

This application treated the brightest and most joyous of people the worst. Violet remembered when Vivian and Mark had first met, how they had cooked dinner together, and joked together. Their interactions throughout the second selection as they provided each other with the best comfort they could. Even now they were doing that, but there was no longer joy in their actions.

Mark’s shoulders began to shake slightly. His voice came out in whimpers and he brought his right arm up to his face and over his eyes. He bent forward and began to cry, overwhelmed by the experience. He wept quietly, it was as if every fiber of his being fought against releasing what was inside him. A suffocating silence mixed with a dull and silent weeping.

Vivian reached out and wrapped her arms around Mark. She winced as she did so, barely holding back her screams. Mark cried into Vivan’s chest, his whole body convulsing as he struggled to keep himself under control. Each sob was a cry for help, each pant a distress signal. For a few moments, the two of them stayed there unmoving, two statues in an isolated world, crying over their shared pain.

…

Violet, Roland, and Vivian rode an elevator toward the end of the second selection. Vivian was holding Mark in her arms. He had fallen unconscious soon after he began to cry. Afterward, the examiners removed everyone's wristbands and began to heal their injuries. No words were spoken during this time, although Eric did eye Mark rather often. Violet didn’t sense any fear when observing Eric at that time though, rather a morbid curiosity exuded from him.

Violet turned toward Vivian, in her arms Mark still had blood all over his face and his clothes were stained completely with red spots. At least though, he had been completely healed and he appeared to be sleeping calmly.

“Would you like someone else to carry him?” Violet asked Vivian. She had picked Mark up to leave without anyone asking her to.

Vivian shook her head and smiled. “No, but thank you for asking. He carried me through the ruined city earlier, it’s only right for me to pay it back.”

Violet nodded. That made sense, seems like it wasn’t what she was thinking about. She had noticed Mark and Vivian become increasingly close over the second selection and she began to suspect if they had feelings for each other. But it seemed like they just happened to be caring for each other in a way both of them understood.

‘Thinking about it though…’

Mark and Vivian might have developed the same thoughts involving her and Roland. Following what happened right before they entered the final obstacle of the second selection it was natural to assume a blossoming friendship from how embarrassed and yet joyful the two of them were. Violet felt herself blush slightly as she recalled the memory of her holding Roland’s hands. She turned her head down to the floor of the elevator to hide it.

The elevator door opened at last and Roland walked out first. The room they walked into appeared identical to the first stage room that the applicants had entered at the start of the second selection. 19 other applicants were there as well, a few of them were solo, but most of them appeared to be in groups. As they exited the elevator, a set of screens rose from the ground in front of them that showed their placings.

Violet quickly found herself and checked her rankings.

Name: Jewoon Woo

Birth Date: 4/6/2007

Room#: G49

Course Placement: 21st

Ranking: #34 TBD

Total Points: 55

Violet sighed in relief. The TBD was likely just signaling that the rankings would change as more applicants finished the course. Still though, Violet had jumped up massively in placement. Her performance on the obstacle course put her in a good position to be considered at the end of the application. Her status as a Mid B-Rank meant she should be able to do rather well in the upcoming tournament. With the top 20 point scorers getting considered she had a great chance of getting in. After swiping away to not allow people to see her true name, Violet then turned to look at the scores of her teammates.

The first one she saw was Roland.

Course Placement: 20th

Ranking: #4 TBD

Total Points: 145

Roland was already among the highest-ranking applicants before the obstacle course. The fact that he only ranked up to 2 placements higher meant that most of those applicants above him had arrived earlier. Next Violet observed Vivian’s score.

Course Placement: 22nd

Ranking: #12 TBD

Total Points: 80

Vivian had made a sizeable jump in her placements as well. With this amount of points, she had a secure position to be considered at the end to be accepted into AGH. She then turned her attention to Mark’s screen, although he wasn’t conscious to see it.

Course Placement: 23rd

Ranking: #2

Total Points: 237

Violet shook her head for a moment in slight disbelief. Second place must have arrived here among the top 5 to get a scorer higher than Mark. Immediately Violet searched for the first-place applicant on her screen. Most of their information was blocked out, to not allow for targeting, but their course placement, ranking, and total points could still be seen.

Course Placement: 1st

Ranking: #1

Total Points: 245

Violet looked at Roland and Vivian who were also staring at the first-place applicant’s results. Making it to first, this applicant could very well be a High B-Rank. Violet lifted her head and searched around for any applicants that seemed to stand out as abnormally strong, but she could find nothing.

In the end, Violet and her teammates simply sat down and waited for the remaining applicants to finish the course. It took quite some time, and the applicants came through in varied conditions. Some proudly and boastfully proclaimed their presence as they entered, while others moped and remained silent. Most, however, appeared to be broken and horrified by the second selection. The mental toll that had been exacted upon Violet and her friends did not exclude others.

Violet’s final ranking was 43rd place while Vivian’s was 16th. Mark and Roland were already so highly ranked that their positions didn’t move. After over 2 hours of waiting, a set of busses were finally revealed outside and the applicants were allowed to leave.

Violet looked around and saw that there were far fewer applicants than previously. At the start of the course, all applicants who didn’t make the top 100 would be eliminated from the application. Yet the number of applicants that were here appeared to be less than that, Violet estimated about 60 applicants were here total. After a few moments of thought, Violet suspected that the obstacles had either eliminated most of the applicants or caused them to drop out to escape the trauma.

Among the ones that made it all the way through, it was clear that most of them did not survive unscathed. While physically they were all fine, most applicants hung loosely with blank stares. The room they were in felt unwelcoming and cold, filled with the traumatic experiences of applicants. The sun from the outside did nothing to relieve applicants from their state of mind.

Violet recalled each obstacle, the first, applicants were trampled under each other's feet as they forced themselves through a dark tunnel. The second was a minefield that nearly killed the applicants that went across and required one to either power through with a strong shield or walk undefended without psychic powers. The third was a test made by an examiner who passed applicants based on their own decisions. The fourth was a battle against evil spirits that had similar capacities to the applicants. The fifth and final was a non-psychic powered battle between 4 examiners and applicants where one could only pass if somehow they could impress the examiners.

Each obstacle served as much as a test of a psychic's abilities as much as it did their mental fortitude. It broke applicants who couldn’t take the stress and those that could were still ground down into something that could be reformed. The second selection was as much a mental test as it was a mental rehabilitation.

As Violet entered a bus along with Roland and Vivian, who was still carrying Mark, she turned back toward the building she had just left. There, along the path the building connected to, numerous dreams were crushed. Souls were shattered, minds were tested, and hell was brought upon young teenagers. It was this cruelty, this brutality, that produced elite heroes.

As Violet sat down she allowed herself to sink deeply into her seat. The buses AGH used were rather nice and the seats were exceptionally comfortable. The series of busses began to move and Violet felt the rumble of the bus begin to rock her to sleep. With a chance to finally relax, Violet felt herself become overwhelmed by mental exhaustion. Soon the entire bus was filled with sleeping applicants, but none of them saw a single dream.

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End of Chapter 22