Chapter 57 Beginning Of Phase 3

After gathering all of the remaining applicants' attention, the bald assistant T.K. announced that they would start the third and final phase, one-on-one battles. He said, "At hearing this, there was a mix of emotion between the 12 remaining applicants. Some, like the mysterious applicant and the girl with purple hair, were surprised. Others, like the blond-haired boy who wielded a large sword and the large man himself, Heracles, didn't seem to care in the least bit. Then there was Jake alone on a desert island filled with a tang of worry. 'One-on-one battles,' he thought. And as he did, his sore body ached and groaned in pain. Feeling his body's response, Jake held his head down a little as he said, 'Shit' underneath his breath.

Then there were applicants like Zack and the little girl with pigtails who, now smiling from ear to ear, she thought, 'This should be fun.' As her counter part on the other hand 'This is going to be fucking sick,' Zack thought. T.K. gave everyone a moment to come to terms with the words he just said, then he spoke again, 'With only twelve of you left, there will be six matches happening back to back. Meaning there will only be six winners. Those winners will be accepted into the Gardenia Military Academy, and the losers, like all the others today, will fail this year's exam.'

A bit of tension filled the air as T.K. spoke. Many applicants who didn't feel ready tried to steel their resolve, including Jake himself. 'Ok then,' T.K. spoke, 'that's enough explanation for now. Let's get things in motion.' He then snapped his fingers, and when he did, the ground from under him started to move. He started becoming wide and a bit taller until all who were there could see what was happening. When the bald assistant snapped his fingers, a stage or, better yet, a battle ring emerged in front of them. It was a large, wide, circular ring that only T.K. stood within. Many applicants looked upon what they were seeing with awe.

The blood in Zack's veins started to run hot as he looked at the ring. 'This is going to be so much fun,' he said. Jake shot a look at the excited spiky-haired boy next to him. He had a strained smile on his face as he looked at him. 'You really think so, huh?' Jake asked. 'Yep,' Zack responded. His eyes scanned over the applicants once more, but eventually landed on the one who had his full attention. He stared down the mighty man Heracles, who felt the boy's eyes on him but simply paid him no mind. Zack knew he was trying to ignore him, and that only made him smile. 'Yeah, this is going to be real fun,' he said, smirking.

When the ring was erupted, T.K. continued speaking to the last ten applicants. 'The way this will work is each match, two of you will be randomly picked to fight. Whoever wins is an exam passer. The rules of this phase are quite simple: if an applicant is knocked out of the ring, that is a ring out and counts as a loss for them and a win for their opponent. Also, if an applicant is knocked unconscious or, God forbid, killed in the ring, that also counts as a loss.' Jake's hands shook slightly as his body started to feel a warm out of nervousness. 'Killing is allowed,' he thought.

The young man swallowed a big audible gulp. His palms became sweaty and quite clammy. As he sat there becoming more rattled, his few points on the boy started to fall even lower. As Jake was being judged, T.K. kept going down with the rules. 'If an applicant is seemingly knocked out, they will be given a ten count to get back to their feet. If they don't when ten seconds are up, then they lose. Also, an applicant can throw the match by just giving up, which will also count as a loss. Besides that,' the man said, exhaling, 'anything else goes. I myself will be acting as this phase's referee. Now, let us begin.'

The assistant named T.K. outstretched a hand towards a colleague of his, another assistant, a young woman with shorted braided golden hair. She stood outside of the ring but held a box in her hands. The box looked similar to the ones the assistant handed right before the second phase – the boxes that held the armbands. But this one was just a bit smaller. As T.K. stretched out his hand towards her, she immediately knew what that meant. She reached her hand into the box and pulled two small strips of paper out. As she did, she spoke aloud as loud as she could manage, reading the contents of the paper. 'Round one will be against applicant 5679 Fredrick vs. applicant 1177 Gaburieru.'

At this, a young man spoke up, 'Alright.' He spoke. When he did, everyone's attention was turned to him. He was shirtless with a long ponytail that fell past his butt. He had a tattoo of a red phoenix on his chest and a tattoo of a blue dragon on his back. Coiled around his arms were tattoos of snakes – one black and one white the young man oozed arrogance and over confidence. As he heard his name, he was excited, ready to get this over with and pass the exam. 'Alright,' he said out loud. He grabbed his rental weapon – a spear – and laid it on his right shoulder as he took a step towards the ring. 'Ok then, looks like I'm first,' he said, smirking. 'So, who's going to be the poor sap that's going to be my victim, huh?'

'Who's this Gaburieru?' A soft voice responded. It came from the tatted up young man's left, so he turned to get a look at them. But when he did, no one was there. He looked confused until the soft voice said, 'Down here.' Fredrick looked down and saw the little girl with two pigtails stepping forward towards the ring. As her eyes were closed, Mr. Tattoos and Ponytail's smirk grew into a full smile. 'Really? You guys expect me to fight some kid?' He chuckled at the thought. The young girl, now known as Gaburieru, didn't get offended by her opponent's comments. She simply kept walking closer to the ring. But as she did, she responded to Fredrick without turning around. 'I might be a kid, but I'm not just some kid,' she said to her opponent as she jumped with grace into the ring. The young man smirked. 'Cocky little shit,' he said under his breath. 'This is about to be easy pickings.' He too made his way into the ring.

A frustrated 'Damn it' came from Zack as he watched the first-round fighters enter the ring. 'I kinda wanted to face the little punk myself to get my revenge.' Jake asked, 'You wanted revenge?' Zack responded with a 'Yeah.' Jake looked at Zack for an uncomfortable long time until the corners of his lips started to curl up. 'Hey, so that black armband you took from me was taken from you, right?' 'Umm, yeah,' Zack responded. The smile that was forming on Jake's face was growing as he pointed in the girl's direction. 'Umm, that little girl wouldn't have happened to have taken it from you?' 'Umm, yeah, she did,' Zack responded, looking a bit embarrassed. With this, Jake couldn't help but smile, then burst into a full laugh.

'Wait, you're telling me you got played by some little girl?' Hearing this, Zack's face flushed red. 'Hey, fuck you! I was preoccupied, and the little shit took advantage of me!' he shouted back. Jake cackled in laughter. 'You were taken advantage of by some little girl? Hey, you heard her – she isn't just some little girl!' This made Jake laugh even harder. This lightened Jake's mood and took his attention away from his nerves.

As this was happening, both the first-round applicants' fighters stood across from one another with their weapons in their hands – Fredrick holding his spear and Gaburieru holding her dagger. Between them was T.K. 'Alright,' the assistant spoke, 'we will now begin the third and final phase and start the first match between Fredrick vs. Gaburieru.' As the young man stared down his young opponent, he spoke up. 'You know, Fredrick is too formal. Please just call me Freddy,' he said, never taking his eyes off the little girl. She nodded her head in agreement. 'Okay, and if I'm calling you Freddy, then you can just call me Gabby.' The young man nodded his own head as the assistant T.K. said out loud, 'Okay, let this match begin.'