Death Looms

Red spat blood as soon as he landed. This humanoid sure packs a punch. He clicked his tongue. Although his jaws hurt, no teeth were broken so he was a bit relieved. He scampered back to his feet and grunted as his jaws hurt like hell.

Red dove to the side and rolled a few times before getting back up. To his disbelief, the humanoid was already on the other side of the room where he was a second ago. This time, the humanoid missed him, but the portion of the wall he punched began to break- its crack going as far as to the ceiling.

This is bad! Red's conscience screamed at him.

The humanoid's gaze landed on Red once again. This time, the humanoid moved slowly. Red put his guard up and prepared himself for another hit. To his surprise, the humanoid darted his hand through his guard and straight to his neck, slowly trying to snap it into two. Red let out a gasp as air scraped his throat. He could feel his brain exploding and his neck and spine slowly giving way to his slumber.

With all his strength, Red managed to insert his hand inside the grip, shielding a portion of his neck from its grasp. With his other hand, he slowly peeled the humanoid's fingers from his neck, one by one.

For a moment, Red could swear that the eyes of the humanoid widened in surprise.

"One more!" Red gritted his teeth as his vocal cords were on the tip of breaking.

"Hggaaaagh!!!" Red inhaled a mouthful of air after escaping the humanoid's insane grip on his neck. But this was no time for a break.

Without missing a beat, Red cowled and sprang towards the humanoid with arms stretched forward. The humanoid landed two punches on his stomach but he paid it no mind. Red could taste the blood in his mouth.

He was nearing his limits.

"AAARGHGHH!!!" Red shouted as he locked the humanoid's head in his embrace. He could feel his ribs breaking as he continued to twist his arms.

One rib...

Two ribs...

Three... Four...

Left Ulna...

Red lost count of the cracks on his body as veins popped in his neck. He was still squeezing the humanoid's head as his state of consciousness dwindled.

... ...

Snap!

A feeling of relief washed over Red as he heard that single snap. He finally snapped the neck of the humanoid, along with the wire that led to a connector on its head. This disconnected it to the server humanoid, rendering it immobile and useless for battle. The fight didn't even last a minute...

... but for Red, it felt like it lasted for an eternity.

The humanoid helplessly flailed around after losing its sight and server connection. Red went to a corner of the testing room and rested. He knew he just had to stall for two more minutes.

"Hey guys, did you see that?" Scar asked, barely taking his eyes off the testing room. "That gave me the chills. Who would've thought Red could snap metal with his bare hands."

"You're wrong. Red was moving with an overdose of adrenaline coursing through his body. Right now, he just broke past his limiter." Blond replied. "This is dangerous... "

"You mean, it's like when a person would get too much adrenaline he could lift a car alone?" Freckles joined in their exchange. "That means.... he must've torn a lot of muscles."

"That's an understatement. I won't be surprised if all his ribs already broke after that fight. Did you see how intense he looked when he squeezed that humanoid's head?"

"Hah... hah." Red's raspy breathing echoed throughout the testing room as the final seconds of the timer ticked. Red's eyes fluttered as he forced himself to remain awake. He knew that once he falls unconscious, he will be done for. "Just a few more seconds. Get it together, Red!" He motivated himself but its effectiveness was diminishing.

"Red! Look up!"

"RED!!!"

Red glanced towards the entrance to the lodging room. That's when he saw Blond and the others, pounding on the sliding door and pointing at the other side of the room.

Beep!!!

Red sighed in relief. But his solace was cut off by the constant pounding of Blond and the others on the testing room's glass doors. To his disbelief, even Jarxen joined in on the panic. "What's happening?" Red asked himself.

"RED! YOU HAVE TO GET UP RIGHT NOW!!!" Jarxen screamed, making everyone flinch and cover their ears.

"GET UP, YOU LITTLE.... !!!"

Red didn't have the time to react as he was hit on the stomach with a low kick. Wheezing, he scampered away from where he was and stood up, clenching his stomach as he coughed even more blood. "Keh... now what?!" He exclaimed and that's when he noticed it.

Another humanoid was in the room.

Unbeknownst to him, the hidden panel to the testing room slid open, delivering another humanoid for testing. The worst part was that the door to the testing room didn't open, trapping Red inside for another humanoid testing.

"Are you kidding me?" Red muttered in a disgruntled voice. "Seriously?!"

A new wave of energy rushed through his body. He barely felt his broken ribs grazing his lungs, nor did he feel the intense throbbing of his left arm due to his broken ulna. Red entered a state of adrenaline rush again.

Technique: Krav Maga... analyzing... analysis completed...

... ...

Red heard the same announcement again. He wasn't thinking anymore as his eyes focused solely on the humanoid in front of him. It's as if he entered the zone.

"This is not good. He will die." Jarxen mumbled. "Two straight outclass humanoid testing has never been done before."

"Wait, how often does this block have an outclass humanoid testing?" Blond asked in a serious tone.

"Very rare. This is the second time it happened." Jarxen responded. This time, he didn't scream at them when he replied. "Last time an outclass appeared, all of my workers were wiped out."

"Wiped out... you mean... " Scar mumbled.

"STOP IT!!!" Curl clenched her fist as she grabbed the edge of the sliding door. "RED! We're getting you out of there! Just hang on!" She mumbled as tears slipped down her cheeks.

"Quick! What are you standing around for?!" Blond shouted as he grabbed one portion of the sliding glass as well. "HANG IN THERE RED!"

The rest of the group didn't hesitate to help. Pretty soon, all of them were desperately pulling at the sliding door, their hands bled as they forced it open.

But to no avail.

"It's useless," Jarxen muttered. "Once the door to the testing room closes, no one can force it open."

"WHAT?! STOP TALKING NONSENSE, JARXEN!" Scar snapped at him.

"YOU BETTER WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE, MISTER!" Jarxen screamed point-blank at his face. "Stop prying the glass door open. THIS IS AN ORDER!" He shouted. "Worker one-one-zero-one, tend to their bleeding palms, right now!"

Everyone looked at their barcodes. "Right away!" Freckles responded, running towards the lodging room and getting the first-aid kit.

"RED!!!" Curl shouted an ear-piercing scream. Although everyone already removed their hands from the glass door, Curl still didn't give up. Jarxen was left with no choice but to drag Curl away from it. Still, this didn't stop her from shouting.

Meanwhile, Red entered a close combat fight against the humanoid. A flurry of fists attacked and defended each other as the two exchanged blows. The frenzy finally halted when the humanoid dealt a blow towards Red's stomach, which he carefully defended with both his arms.

Crack!

Red felt his other ulna broke but he paid it no mind. Straining his ankles, he jumped towards the first humanoid he defeated and grabbed its head. Using it as a hammer, he relentlessly hit the other humanoid. "GRGRHGKHKH." He bit his slip as the rebound of each hit made his body tingle.

But he didn't stop there.

After leaving a few dents on the humanoid, he grabbed one of the appendages of the previous humanoid and broke it by the joint, like a chicken wing being cracked by a butcher knife.

Red found his chance and dove headfirst towards the humanoid. The humanoid stepped back, to avoid him but Red was expecting it. Supporting his whole body with his right arm, he touched the floor and changed his trajectory. This time, he launched himself leg-first towards the humanoid. It didn't have room to dodge and Red found an opening. With no shred of hesitation, Red tripped the humanoid. He winced in pain as his cracked ulna scratched with each other.

As the humanoid fell down, Red put the previous humanoid's arm on its neck. he then stepped on one end of the appendage and then stomped on the other end, beheading the humanoid and cutting its wireless connection from a server humanoid.

The humanoid flailed its arms for a few seconds until it powered down like a pile of junk metal. Red fell on his knees, using the wall near him as leverage to keep him from falling. He couldn't afford to lie down since his broken ribs might rupture his lungs. He couldn't support himself with his arms either since they were completely broken.

"Is it over?" He mumbled to himself.

...

...

Beep!!!

Slide...