They're corrupted to the core.

The entry test day has come! Raunos are ready to go take the test.

"Are you ready Raunos?" asked Nox.

"All set, let's 'not' do our best," said Raunos.

"Haha, I agree, if we do our best, we might end up killing someone," said Nox, his eyes narrowed.

Raunos suddenly throws a punch at Nox, he dodges it effortlessly, he sweats since that punch was so strong, (that punch has sent air flying, it could destroy a rock) thought Nox.

(His reflexes are inhuman) thought Raunos, then Nox fist bumps Raunos.

"Let's win this!" said Nox.

"That's what I'm planning!" replied Raunos.

The two arrive at the Oni training ground, they show their badges to the examiners and got their contestant numbers, but because of the sudden rise in their power, Nox and Raunos decide to redo the Power test, because their training and new armour & weapons will make a change.

"Raunos, how much power did you get?" asked Nox.

"It's 13'000, I'm getting close to a tier 8 soldier," said Raunos, the soldiers of tier 8 have 15.600 in power.

"Hahah I'm 13'500!" said Nox.

"No way! When did you become stronger than me!" asked Raunos.

"I've always been stronger than you bro," replied Nox, when in reality, it's thanks to the dagger that evolved to an 'S Rank' artefact.

"Say that again!!" shouted Raunos while locking Nox's neck, as he squeezes his head with his fist.

"Alright alright, stop that! Did you realize that there are fewer people here than expected," said Nox.

"Where do you think you're at? punk! this ain't a show, it's a serious exam for the elites, it's no place for you small fries to lurk around," said a male voice.

"What did you just say? baldie!" replied Raunos.

"Who's the baldie!!! Wait...You..., you two look familiar, ah you're that pretty boy and his useless guardian from the ship, you always bump into me, are you following me or something?" said the baldie, he's the same guy who bumped into Nox on the ship.

"Who are you again?" asked Raunos.

"How can you not remember me?" said Baldie.

"I don't remember insignificant ants," said Raunos, and looks at him with pity.

"What did you say!!" shouted Baldie, Raunos released a murderous aura that made the baldie's feet tremble in fear, and glares at him, he can no longer speak.

Everyone present paid attention to the strong killing aura, and Nox calmed Raunos down not to draw any more attention.

"Raunos, calm down and withdraw your killing intent, it's drawing all the intention our way!" said Nox.

"That was nothing noteworthy," said Raunos, suddenly they hear the crowd cheering up for someone.

A beautiful blond lady is fighting a muscle head, she moves in an elegant manner, and her opponents only receive blows but could land none.

"That's... What was her name again?" asked Nox, blondie's ears caught the words, angry as it's only been a week and he already forgot her name, she unleashed a murderous intent even more dangerous than Raunos.

"That's Lucia, I wonder what class she is in," said Raunos.

"Who knows, maybe she's a special class," said Nox.

"Looking at her fighting style, it's more suited for her to be a swordswoman," said Raunos.

"Maybe that's what she is," said Nox.

"Look Nox, she seems to be eyeing you," said Raunos, teasing Nox.

"But I'm not into her," said Nox.

The words fell on Lucia's head and shattered her like a piece of stone.

"Look at that..." said Raunos, with his face turning white from the scene before them, Lucia beats her opponent's huge body to a pulp, she's not using her sword anymore, she beats him with her bare hands, with her face red and fists clenched, till she leaves her opponent half dead, she then leaves the fighting ring with blood on her fists, everyone's jaw dropped, wondering is this the same girl that was fighting so elegantly, now she's more like a Gorill... Ahem! Even I the author am afraid to say that.

"Remind me to never anger her again," said Nox.

"When the time comes, I'll buy you a coffin," said Raunos.

Now comes the turn of Raunos, the instructor calls the participants.

"Next fight is between participant number 17 and number 21, may the warriors take their places in the ring!" shouted the instructor.

"It's my turn," said Raunos.

"Then I'll be coming after you as soon as my turn comes," said Nox.

"Sure thing! Partner" replied Raunos.

Raunos stands on the ring wielding his shield, without taking out his sword, he's participant number 17.

"Pull out your sword or you'll be sorry!" said his opponent.

"Stop whining and come at me," said Raunos who stands defenceless.

"Then you're only asking for death!" shouted his opponent.

"Number 17, you're a tank, a tank's mission might be to shield himself and the others, but in real combat situations, if you don't have an offensive weapon to strike back, you'll only be taking blows," said the referee.

"Then..." Raunos said, and he takes out his longsword, and throws both his sword and shield outside the fighting ring, stretching his arms.

"I'll be looking forward to seeing how is this shrimp gonna threaten my life," said Raunos and smirked.

"What an attention grabber..." said Nox.

"Is he crazy?? he had no chance without using his longsword, but now he even drops his shield!!" said the crowd.

"I'm gonna make you regret this!" shouted his opponent, and charged towards Raunos wielding a spear and landed a hit, Raunos parries the attack with his hand bracers.

Raunos is activating a skill "𝙂𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙋𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮! " the spear got destroyed to pieces, and his enemy's shoulder got injured.

"What the hell just happened, the one that attacked is injured, and the one that was attacked is unscathed!" said the crowd not believing what just happened. 'Golden Parry' is a skill used by Tanks, on a perfect parry, the damage received will be thrown back to the enemy many times stronger, Raunos currently can throw it twice stronger, but it's rare to see this skill even among a hundred thousand Tanks, using the skill grants 15% attack buff.

Raunos dashed towards his opponent in the blink of an eye and throws a punch at his belly, the punch was so destructive that it created a wave of air blowing from his opponent's back, he bent his spine with the attack, his opponent coughs blood and falls unconscious, it's a clean win for Raunos.

"The winner is contestant 17!" shouted the referee, he made such a strong entry, making all his future opponents surrender the fight, and he gets out of the ring.

"That was quick!" said Nox.

"Just what you'd expect?" Raunos asked, and the two tapped hands in celebration, then it is Nox's turn.

"Participant 18 and Senior Blackthorn may enter the ring!" said the instructor, Nox takes his place, but everyone was looking at him as if this is his last fight.

"You said Senior Blackthorn, I'm not gonna fight a participant like me?" asked Nox.

"There are many people who have high expectations of you, so you're going to fight a senior soldier, he's not from the special unit, so it's fair that you need to hold your ground for 10 minutes against him if you wanna be admitted that is," said the instructor.

(Then I'm already targeted by those bastards, they're corrupted to the core) thought Nox.

(Even though Senior Blackthorn isn't part of the Oni right now, he was once a member of it, he got kicked out because he injured an ally to near death, and he's classified as a tier 8 soldier, you won't survive this Nox) thought the instructor.

Blackthorn enters the arena with a big axe, he's 2,5 meters tall, compared to Nox who is 1,85 his opponent is huge with over 180 kg, just the axe he's holding is almost the size of Nox, as it was clear that this fight won't be fair, and that someone wants Nox dead.

"Remember, you need to be careful, cause death is a casual thing in this kind of event, hold on for 10 minutes against him and you win," said the instructor to Nox.

"The match starts...now!" said the referee.