9 Skydancer Exams (8)

The first exam finished with less than 3000 people remaining. The series of events from the first exam exhausted them, luckily, the second exam was nothing but an Ability Testing exam.

This exam was only there as a formality. Anyone who could make it through the first exam was worthy enough to skip this portion.

But... there were still some unruly figures who made it in through sleight of hand. So, apart from formality, the reason for hosting this exam was to weed out the useless.

'Sigh, I need to rest, these exams are draining me!' Hugo groaned internally, looking at Loudmouth who, once again was on stage announcing the purpose of the second exam.

Snore.

Hugo closed his eyes frustratedly was just about dozing off when a voice woke him.

"Hello."

The voice sounded old, maybe around twenty years old, but not really that far into her twenties. Hugo scrunched his nose up, detecting an unpleasant odour.

It was the smell of alcohol, death and confidence.

Maybe confidence wasn't a bad thing, but the whiff that the twenty-something-year-old lady reeked of, was not. Hugo, eyes still closed, tried his best not to look disgusted when she spoke again.

"Hey, are you deaf? I said hello!"

This was the confidence Hugo very much hated; over-confidence. Something bordering arrogance, something he very much disliked.

He breathed in, intending to open his eyes, but forgot about the woman's scent.

"Cough, what do you want, lady?"

He asked, finally opening his eyes and instead of the dreary, mercenary-like, ugly lady he was expecting, Hugo was met with a tall blond girl who looked no different from his age. Her hair was tied back into a long and swishy ponytail.

Hugo felt his cheeks heat up, not realizing his eyes wandered off into the direction of her chest which was just blooming with womanly charm.

"Stop looking, you damn kid!"

Hugo snapped out of his trance and glanced at the woman again, not in his earlier fashion, but this time took a peek at her in view as a candidate of the exams.

"Oh, sorry. Hi,"

Hugo replied a bit nervous, he had interacted with many women before but those people had only humoured him much as he humoured them. Hugo's position in such a scenario was already decided from the start, like a pawn in a game of chess.

"Che, whatever."

The woman muttered under her breath while staring at her feet.

"So, is there anything you want ma'am?"

"Don't call me ma'am, I'm not that old!" Her girlish voice quivered angrily at Hugo's words.

"Sorry, miss..."

"Avery, just call me Avery."

Her words were concise and sharp, almost as sharp as her grey eyes.

"Right, Avery. It's a lovely name."

Hugo, who was so used to flattering ladies on orders of his grandparents, unknowingly complimented the woman.

"Stop simping over my girlfriend, boy!"

Out of nowhere, a booming voice resounded in his ears like a loud drum.

'That... hurt.'

Everything in Hugo's vision spun and became blurry for a second, but left the moment after. With his somewhat special affinity with mental skills, most attacks directed at his psyche was something he could just ignore.

A skyscraper of a man towered over Hugo by many metres, making him look like a dwarf standing before a giant.

"I wasn't simping."

Hugo responds trying to shake the earlier yell out of his ears.

"So what were you doing to her, huh? I'm not blind, kid!"

The man's deep voice rumbled again. Hugo closed his eyes, trying to calm himself and snorted, clearly trying to get rid of all negative emotions.

"Are you looking down on me, kid?"

This was the second time that day someone asked Hugo this question. The first time, he said no, however, the second time would be incredibly different.

"Huh? What kind of question is that? Of course, I look down on you, lowly peasant!"

His words attracted the attention of various people around him, and shortly after, a small crowd gathered.

"Whoa, it's the Smithson kid, I thought it was only Raoul and Hyena that could speak so bold!."

"Mhmm."

"Heh, what are you so surprised about? That 'kid' could wipe us out any time he wanted. We're lucky that he seems to have a carefree and aloof personality."

"Eh? What do you mean by that?"

"What I'm trying to say is, Hugo Smithson is aloof, except sometimes, he does not care what happens in all my observations, much less the consequences. But there is also something strange I've observed."

"Like a weakness?"

"Call it that if you may, but I like to think of it as a flaw..."

While the crowd indulged in their discussions, Hugo stood off against the large man who called himself Avery's boyfriend.

"Hehe, kid I'm gonna pummel you into the ground!"

The man yelled, raising his fists into the air and rushing towards him.

He swung his arm forward but his hand connected with hard earth instead of the fleshy body he was expecting.

He swivelled quickly, searching the area for Hugo.

"Over here!"

Hugo's proclamation echoed in his ears and he immediately reached towards his side to catch him.

"No, you missed. Try again!"

Hugo was like a mosquito, they would always be out of sight no matter how hard you tried to find them, and will forever be persistent in their buzzing.

"Argh"

The man's veins throbbed, and sweat trickled down his forehead like a leaky tap. His face turned red from embarrassment and he released a guttural roar, quickly forgetting the instructions given to him and activating his power.

Releasing another roar from his gut, the man's brown hair turned wavy and long, like a lion's mane. His nails also grew long and sharp, like claws. He brandished the claws in a flurry of attacks, making the air shake.

"DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!" His crazed yells were the only sound that people took note of at the moment.

A man from the crowd pushed up his glasses and sighed sadly.

"It's such a pity, that man is a goner."

People looked at him, wondering what was going through his head. But only a select few could understand the situation.

The body which was lively just a few seconds ago, dropped to the floor, dead.

Hugo, unseen throughout the entire battle appeared beside the body of the man and paid his respects.

'Although you tried to kill me, rest in peace, man.'

Once he was done paying his respects, he immediately thought of apologizing to Avery, if that really was her boyfriend. She answered his suspicions very boldly.

"No, that was not my boyfriend."

"Who was he then?"

"Don't know. I found a person strong enough and manipulated him that's all."

"How?" Hugo pressed on for more details.

"With my ability of course. If you don't know, the nickname is Marionette, a pleasure to meet you."

"So... you controlled that man and made him attack me... intentionally?" He asked, his voice quivering with anger.

"Oh, I wouldn't put it that wa-"

"Answer me. Did you or did you not, Avery?!" A big frown appeared on Hugo's face and his nostrils flared violently, if it didn't go against his principles, he would have killed this bitch immediately.

"Calm down a second and let me explain."

But Hugo didn't listen, he kept moving towards her until she could not move backwards any more and he pressed her up against a wall.

"You made me kill an innocent for no reason, Avery! You disgust me!" He snarled.

"Calm down for a fucking minute and let me goddamn explain!"

Only at that moment did Hugo realize he went too far and didn't even let her explain what she intended to do.

"Fine, go ahead. But if your explanation fails to meet up, I will not hesitate to cut you down!"

He yelled somewhat begrudgingly.

"First of all, it was not as if the man was innocent. I have my bottom line too, you know!"

"What then, did he do?" Hugo asked already unwilling to agree he was wrong.

"That man was a death-row criminal persecuted for Unlawful usage of ability and an even more heavy Rape and the murder of two people. So I'd appreciate it if your sorry ass didn't assume so soon!"

"Che."

"And second of all, I am a police officer of the captain rank."

Hugo inwardly winced at the words "police officer", but tried his best to keep it hidden.

"My apologies for behaving so unruly earlier, I hope you can forgive me."

Following the standard protocol his father had taught him, he bowed down and apologized to the officer.

"Heh, whatever, boy! Let me tell you something, Hugo. That brashness of yours is taking you nowhere, I know you're calm and analytical, but that doesn't measure up to shit if some random event triggers you like that!"

She scolded him like a mother reprimanding her child for doing something bad.

"Yes, miss Avery."

"I said to call me Avery!"

"Sorry ma'a... I mean Avery." Hugo's smooth mouth almost killed him that time.

"Anyway, I need to talk to you for a while. I need your co-operation on a project I'm working on, I'll send the details to your communicator." She points towards the unnoticeable ring on his finger, that almost blended in with his pale skin.

"Okay."

. . .

The crowd was dispersing, but two people stood in their original spots.

"What is his weakness?"

"Oh, you wanna know?"

"Yes!"

"Well... As carefree and analytical or aloof as he may seem, it turns his logical reasoning off when he witnesses atrocities which he feels he cannot forgive. To put it simply, Hugo Smithson has a strong sense of justice and a God complex. He feels his beliefs are infallible, and that will be his hubris."

The man lifted his glasses and walked away.