CHAPTER 12-ACADEMY ENTRANCE EXAM

X sat in the audience once more. After his match yesterday, X had quite a blissful sleep. He felt good, overcoming a burden like the match, even if he won accidentally. And more importantly, he was interested in today's match. He felt like watching him would benefit him, especially since he would have to fight someone in these four in the next round. Hopefully, he would have to fight someone in these four in the next round. He still did not want to fight Brik.

Briki was sitting on the other side of the arena, glaring at X. He seemed to have noted down his position, his face displaying great anger. X looked away, but no matter where he looked, he could feel Brik's gaze. Even other people were staring at him as if they knew that he was the person who was in this arena the previous day, despite him having worn his robe over his head to cover his blond hair, and wrapped himself in the same robe as if he was stuck in the middle of a snowstorm. It was a little stuffy, but it was nothing he couldn't handle, especially since it would help him to not get noticed.

Dusan Sinclair Rubeus appeared out of thin air, standing on thin air, like usual. He yelled in his usual voice, greeting the audience, and asking them to prepare for the next two matches that were to occur on that day. He then announced the entry of Spear Master Javier and Goofy. On hearing the name, Javier, the crowd went crazy, yelling his name at the top of their voice. Even Brik took his eyes off him, to look at the contestant. 

A tall, muscular guy who looked slightly older than X walked in, a wooden spear in his hand. His black hair spiked out of his head, jutting out like spines. Or spearheads. He entered with a laidback gait, his eyes shining with pride, just like Darren. He believed that he had won the fight. But in his case, he basically had.

On the other side, a fat guy entered. He had no weapon, just like X and Brik. At least half of the contestants were weaponless, and so far, they seemed to be winning. Goofy was walking with extreme confidence, or maybe it was laziness. Even while they were in the first part of the examination, fighting off demons, he barely tried to kill any demons, deciding to hide in a spot where the demons would not expect him, and then jumping on them. Literally.

When both of the confident people entered the arena, Dusan Sinclair Rubeus shouted out the instructions once more, counted from three, and the battle began. 

Javier was not in the mood for playing around and started off by using the same white aura attack that he used when he realized that he had been selected for the second part of the examination. His first attack was dodged by Goofy, who was extremely flexible, despite his stature. The beam of energy came straight for his head, and Goofy tilted his head, his neck loosening and expanding like rubber. The attack did not scrape him, despite him not moving his body. He threw a punch, his arms extending to accommodate for the increased distance, stretching like rubber.

Then the barrages began, as both the contestants spammed their attacks, throwing many punches and beams of light. No attack hit Javier, while quite a few hit Goofy, bouncing off his rubber-like body, and leaving him howling in pain. Javier stepped closer, weaving away from the punches, stopping his beams for just a moment. He got closer. And closer. Then he attacked Goofy with a powerful white beam of aura, much larger and more powerful than any of his previous attacks. And then, while Goofy was busy escaping the attack, Javier rushed forward and stabbed him with his spear.

But you can't stab past the expansive rubber. 

The attack bounced off of Goofy's chest, and both the contestants screamed, one in fear, the other in pain. Goofy threw a punch, a random punch that was not even aimed at anyone or anything, just a punch he did reflexively in pain. But it connected with the frightened Spear Master and sent him flying near the boundary. 

Goofy saw the opportunity and threw a really strong punch, that whipped through the air and hit Javier. Javier then held his hand, pulling in the fist of the elastic combatant. Goofy went flying towards Javier, and as he did, Javier stepped out of the way, leaving Goofy's hand, smirking. The armed fighter charged up an attack using his white aura, and when Goofy appeared right in front of him, floating through the air, screaming like a little kid, Javier struck him square in the chest. 

A great plume of dust rose from the arena. The crowd went crazy, trying to see what happened. They were chattering about what was going on. X did not know what to make of it. It was a really good technique, and Javier's spear skills were excellent. Javier would be a difficult opponent, and X wasn't sure if he could defeat him. As the dust settled, Javier was on his knees, spear aimed at the person below him. Goofy seemed to have given up on the fight, raising his hands to surrender, when Javier yelled out

'I won't accept it. If Brik can defeat a person who surrendered, then so can I. I will become the greatest knight ever, greater than that person who has my name.'

He then screamed in anger, plunging his spear towards Goofy. The attack struck, and the sound of armor cracking was heard. Goofy's armor was about to break. He raised his hands fully and asked softly

'Who told you that I am surrendering?'

His outstretched hand grabbed the tip of Javier's tunic, and in a desperate swing of his arms, Goofy pulled the spear wielder away from his chest, and swung him as far as he could, before leaving him. Javier was sent flying far past the arena's boundary, landing on the ground with a bounce, before thudding into the walls of the coliseum. Goofy then coughed up blood and lay on the floor, unmoving. It was not that he was heavily injured, although his shield was almost broken. He was merely too lazy to bother with getting up and getting out.

The crowd was silent, not a single person uttered a single word. This entire time, Goofy seemed to have no chance of winning. It even seemed like he was not trying, although he was probably trying his best. Until the last moment, he used his stretchy body as an excuse not to even walk forward or backward in the arena. So how was it that he won, even though the odds were completely against him? 

Even Dusan Sinclair Rubeus was shocked by the outcome and was too shocked to speak. He just stared on. During the first round, he had been too focused on Aqua, Brik, X, and Javier. They had shown him tremendous potential, and Javier was extremely competitive, roaming across the entire area in search of demons, and trying to fight them fairly by stopping the other contestants first. But even if his name is the same as his, there was no way he could match him in talent. It must have been just luck, for Goofy to have gotten such a perfect moment to use his stretchy abilities to their maximum and catch Javier off-guard. 

Dusan Sinclair Rubeus finally escaped his stupor, and finally ordered the contestants to get out of the arena, before announcing the next match of the day, Rose vs Elara. They entered as the Goofy and Javier exited. Rose looked so confident, she made people like Darren and Javier seem like Aqua. On the other side, the girl with the bow looked nervous, constantly playing with her bowstring. Her long auburn matched Aqua's hair length, and her arms were laden with thin muscles, typical of an archer.

The girls entered the arena, and as Dusan Sinclair Rubeus declared that the final battle of the quarter-finals had begun, there was a roar from the crowd. The girl who held a bow, Elara nimbly sprinted away from the arena, getting to the edge. This would have been a terrible decision if not for the fact that she had a bow and that the opponent had immense physical strength. She drew an arrow, aiming for the neck. Her fingers let go of the arrow, while her opponent did not move an inch. The arrow got closer, and closer and closer, within arms reach from Rose. So, Rose reached out her arm, and caught the arrow mid-air, before throwing it back with a lot of force. 

The arrow returned with more speed than it was sent, zooming towards the archer. Elara sprinted out of the path of the arrow, towards the center of the arena, and as she did, Rose leaped forward, moving faster than the wind, vanishing and appearing before her stunned opponent. A single punch from her unbandaged hand sent the poor archer flying, her shield broken. A single punch! She probably had more strength than Brik!

Rose looked at the contestant she had just eliminated, and as he did, there was no joy on her face. There was only disappointment. She clicked her tongue and shook her head left and right, muttering

'Too weak'

Rose walked out of the arena without Dusan Sinclair Rubeus' permission, and as she was walking, X could have sworn that she was glaring at Brik, the only contestant who could probably match her strength. Dusan Sinclair Rubeus yelled loudly at Rose, his voice echoing through the coliseum and extending through the city, breaking glass windows. 

'Stop right there, young woman. All four of the candidates for the semifinals are to stay back. The rest of the audience are requested to leave, and return the next day for the semifinals tomorrow.'

The people started to walk out one by one, discussing how strong Rose was, and making comparisons between her and Brik. X got off his seat, and walked down the flight of stairs, heading for the arena where Rose was standing. He could see Goofy walk down from another flight of stairs on his left, but his focus was mostly on Brik, who sat down in the same seat, not moving an inch. His fingers were clasped on the armrest, the metal cracking under the immense pressure. His anger, X could feel it crawling on his skin even at such a distance. 

'Due to the lack of time, tomorrow's battles will be taking place at two different arenas. One of the matches will be between Brik and Rose since we need to see who is stronger among the two people who specialize in strength. Goofy and X will be fighting in the other arena, and for the finals, we will be reducing the number of spectators, since it is... disturbing some of the contestants.'

Dusan Sinclair Rubeus spoke in his natural non-amplified voice while glaring at X. His voice sounded much older, and deeper without the magical filtering that the magic provided, and much more serious as well. X could see that all the flair and show that he used while speaking was just an act, but it had slowly entered his normal tone. 

'Well, what are you all waiting for, go home. Big day tomorrow.'

The Tower Master then teleported away, leaving the contestants behind. Well not all the contestants, since he had taken Goofy away. Rose stared at X, just like she had back while they were killing demons for the first part of the exam. After a while of awkward silence, she walked up to him, and in a spoke

'I saw your match, and it was lackluster. You are much stronger than that, aren't you? Anyway, If we meet after the semifinals, go all out. I want to see your complete strength. And tell me.'

She lowered her voice to a faint whisper

'How strong is that guy?'

'Very'

'Yessss!!!'

Rose then walked away, mentioning something about wanting to finish her exercise, and all X could think of, was how different she was from Goofy. Then he realized something. The reason why the hair on the back of his neck was up. Slowly, he twisted his head and stared at Brik. Brik stared back, the veins in his neck bulging from anger. X quickly got out of the Coliseum, wishing that Rose would beat Brik, or that Goofy would defeat X himself. Since they were all selected for the academy anyway, these next two battles are just a formality, so he could lose them. He did not want to face Brik or Rose in the finals, but he also had to win to prove that his journey was not fruitless, and hopefully, he might recover some of his memories in the upcoming battles.

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ps. Sorry for the delay in posting, I have some personal reasons I had to tend to. My posting will be irregular for about two weeks, afterwards I will be posting properly. I will post a chapter tomorrow and the day after.