Chapter 42 Free For All Part 4

As applicants were locked in combat during this battle royale of a second phase, a small applicant was able to weave their way through the masses with ease. They wore sneakers, leggings, a crop top hoodie, and they had two pigtails as well. It was the little girl that swiped Zack's armband only moments ago, and he wasn't her only target. As she quickly moved through the constant distracted applicants, she was swiping their armbands as well. She didn't discriminate; she took each band she saw. The victims unaware that they had been victims, as she moved with grace and speed. She constantly chanted to herself, "A shinobi is swift and silent, a shinobi must always remain diligent. When a shinobi strikes, their strike must be true." She said this over and over again as she snagged each armband she came across.

After she cleared out a small section of the horde of applicants, she looked at her growing collection. It was a mass of color, mainly white, but there were some blues, one or two reds, and who could forget the black armband. She calculated she had around 70ish points. Just a few more, she thought as the little shinobi girl continued to bob and weave throughout the crowd.

As she did, a chill ran down her spine. The small hairs on her neck stood up at attention. It was danger; she sensed incoming danger. Without a moment's hesitation, the young girl did a flip, and not even a second later, a sword slashed right where she would have been. As she spun in the air briefly, she got a look at the person that tried to attack her, and it was someone she didn't expect to see. Standing in a battle position was Zack, smiling.

As the tiny girl dodged his strike, he complimented her. "Not bad for a little kid." As the girl landed, Zack tried to deliver another attack. Once again, she dodged, but this time she jumped a few paces backwards, then darted into the crowd.

"Damn, did she run away" Zack wondered. But before he decided to run again, he couldn't help but hesitate. He stood for a second, scanning all the applicants fighting their own battles. His eyes drastically searched for the girl, but she was nowhere to be found. Then, out of the blue, Zack moved his weapon to guard the back of his head. Less than a second later, a dagger collided with his rental weapon, it bounced off, falling to the ground.

As Zack turned, he swung his sword at the same time. He was swinging a weapon without having a visual on what he was swinging at, but he took the gamble and any consequences that may have come with it. But he knew in his heart that he couldn't waste a single moment on a useless action. As Zack spun his 360 turn while swinging his weapon with all of his strength, his eyes landed on the little shinobi girl dashing toward him.

Without missing a beat, she ducked under his sword swing as she grabbed her dagger before it even hit the ground. Then, in a fluid motion, she jabbed the dagger towards Zack's head. He barely had time to dodge as the dagger barely nicked his face. Zack managed to kick the girl away, giving himself some breathing room. He smirked, his eyes never losing sight of his opponent.

A small bit of blood fell down his face, but he didn't react. "It's a shallow wound," he said, knowing the damage dealt to him was nothing to worry about. As the blood dripped, Zack stuck his tongue out and licked the blood quickly, then dashed forward, ready to continue the battle.

As he approached, the little girl braced herself, dagger in hand. The joyful, playful look she had early in the exam was gone, replaced with the look of a warrior. Zack was coming closer and closer. As he did, he thought of his game plan and how to approach this situation. "She's small, tiny even, so she's using that to her advantage. She's much faster than me, and if I'm not careful, she'll slip through my guard again, and next time I might not be so lucky," he thought. He was closing in on the girl; every passing moment, he gripped tightened around the hilt of his weapon. "I'll fake her out with some feints, and when she dodges, I'll calculate where she'll move, and before she can do anything, I'll cut her down."

At this very moment, Zack wasn't thinking about the exam or even retrieving his armband; it was all zeroed in on the battle. But before Zack could execute his plan, the two applicants' battle was interrupted by the ogre-faced applicant bursting through the crowd, screaming bloody murder. "I found you," he screamed, swinging his butcher knife with all the power he could manage.

Both Zack and the girl broke eye contact with each other, looking at the incoming intruder. As the butcher's knife was coming down, both dodged the attack. Having a fight, he was enjoying intruded. "For the second time in one day, Zack was furious. 'You again?' he said, with malice nearly spilling from his mouth. The ogre-like applicant turned to Zack's direction, rushing towards him, not caring about the little girl he was fighting. 'You're dead, punk. You're fucking dead!' He furiously started slashing his butcher's knife as he closed in on Zack.

The spiky-haired boy didn't move. He didn't even flinch. 'No, pork chop, you're dead.' Zack stepped forward, swinging his blade upwards. The strike knocked the troll's weapon clean out of his hands.

Zack didn't intend to waste time on this guy. The moment he knocked the weapon away, he was going to cut him down. No, with the amount of anger he was feeling, Zack was going to kill this pig in a single attack.

But before he could do so, he felt a familiar tingle down his spine. Like the shinobi girl, because of her age, she couldn't put to words what she was feeling. She just knew when she felt it, an attack was incoming. But Zack knew what he was feeling, and he knew why he was feeling it, and it had a name. It was bloodlust.

Zack's body was feeling the bloodlust from someone, someone who wanted him dead. It wasn't coming from the troll. No, it was coming from behind him. He shot a glance over his shoulder, and what he saw was an applicant with a mohawk and a mouth covered in blood, smiling wildly.

'Who the hell are you?' Zack said, not even remembering that he was the one who kicked the mohawk guy in the face. The lack of acknowledgement pushed the mohawk applicant over the edge. He thrust his combat knife toward Zack, but with zero effort, he dodged it.

As he dodged, Zack dropped his own weapon, grabbing Mohawk's arm with both hands as he redirected his attack to stab the ogre. The combat knife was plunged into the troll's gut. He screamed again, but not out of anger, but in pain. He fell backwards onto his back, crying out.

While he was down, Zack still held onto his attacker's arm. He pulled it with one hand now, as he raised his other into the sky. But it wasn't the only thing he raised. As he raised his arm, he also raised his leg, placing a knee right under Mohawk's arm. And as quick as he did it, he brought his arm back down with his elbow. Zack broke Mohawk's arm, snapping it as if it was a toothpick.

It took the poor guy's brain a few seconds to register what just happened. When it did, tears fell from his face as he screamed louder than the ogre. He screamed louder than a child having a tantrum, as red-hot pain came from his broken arm.

Unlike the ogre, Zack decided to shut this one up. As he followed his maneuver with an uppercut, then finished it with a roundhouse kick to the head. This combo knocked the mohawk out in an instant. He stopped screaming as he fell flat on his face.

Zack stood victorious over both downed men. 'Your bloodlust. If you had it under control, then you might have got me. But it was oozing off you, that even a child could have reacted.' Zack smirked, but it would soon fall away as he was stunned. He nearly reacted, but it was too late. As Zack shot another glance around his back, he saw the little shinobi girl standing right behind him with her dagger stabbing him in the back.

'Bloodlust,' she said, speaking for the first time since the beginning of this ordeal. 'That's what it's called, ugh. I felt your bloodlust when you attacked. That's what sent that tingle down my back.'

Before she could remove her dagger, Zack managed to quickly swipe his arm around, trying to hit the girl. But she was just too fast for him. She dodged, putting a great amount of distance between each other.

Zack chuckled as he looked at the girl. 'You are good.'

She smiled back. 'Thanks.'

'But' he said, lifting his hands, 'I'm not so bad myself.'

The girl was stunned as she saw Zack holding three armbands between his fingers.

'I tried to swipe mine back, but I guess I'll settle for these three.' He smiled more. 'Two reds and a blue, guess that means I've got 25 points.'

'He swiped me,' she thought. 'Not bad. I guess I'll let you keep them for now, including my knife.' She giggled at him, her playful side coming back.

As they were speaking, an announcement came over the loudspeaker. The voice of Moon D telling the applicants that five minutes had passed, and they only had five more to go. This sent applicants in an uproar.

The shinobi girl looked at her remaining armbands, shot a look at Zack, then waved. 'See you later. I've got a few more bands to snag.'

And as she did before, she weaved her way into the crowd, disappearing.

After she had left, Zack let himself fall to his knees. He refused to show an ounce of weakness in front of an enemy. He let out a grimaced laugh. 'Damn, she got me good. Stupid little brat.'"