Surprise!

He was still thinking about it as he spun around for a spin slash attack when he saw Billy and a lanky grey haired swordsman swat a shriek in his direction with the flat part of their sword. 

"!" 

He nearly lost his cool as the shriek sped towards him in the middle of his move. Attempting to dodge it at this point would only lead to him damaging a part of his body so he enhanced his abdomen with his Mana and took the attack from the shriek head-on.

"Oof!" He was thrown aback slightly from the impact but he stood his ground and began to defend himself from both attacks from the shrieks and attacks from Billy.

The test seemed to be drawing to an end because the number of the shrieks had reduced tremendously and most of the swordsmen were able to relax and slash at a slower rate. Trygve was smiling satisfactorily as the attacks reduced, he was happy to be able to have pulled through and survived.

Steve, on the other hand was on his toes as he still defended himself from both Billy and the shrieks. Billy and the grey haired swordsman laughed mockingly at Steve as he struggled to defend attacks from both parties.

Finally, there were no more shrieks attacking them as they were now corpses that lay on the ground beside the other corpses of the swordsmen who either died from the poison or from blood loss as a result of their mangled bodies.

Steve stood with his sword in front of him, panting heavily as he stared with hatred at Billy who was laughing wickedly at Steve's cheek and abdomen that was bleeding as a result of the shrieks' attacks.

'If only I could stuff a shriek into that big mouth of yours, I would be so happy' Steve thought as he looked intently at Billy's open mouth.

As if mother luck had answered Steve's wish, a stray shriek made it's way towards Steve and without wasting time, he turned the flat part of the sword and swatted it out of the air.

"Heracles… Haha…. Heracles hahaha…oh my goodness, I can't stop la…Oof!" 

Billy changed from laughter to groans of pain as the shriek impacted and clenched it's wicked jaws down on his groin.

The gray haired guy turned his laughter to Billy who doubled up in pain on the ground with his hands on his groin.

"…And the fourth test comes to an end!!"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they heard the umpire's voice, signalling the end of the test.

70 contestants failed this test leaving 80 contestants for the next test.

"Sh*t. Bastard. F*ck!" Billy cursed at Steve as he clutched his groin and rolled on the ground in pain.

Steve paid no attention to him and skipped over to his friends with a naughty smile on his face. 

"I made it Steve…. I made it" With these words, Trygve fainted into Steve's arms. Steve just smiled softly and carried him on his back in a piggyback ride. 

"Hey!" Susan and Anna yelled as they walked up to Steve.

"How was it?" Susan said as she slapped Steve on his shoulder.

"It was okay" Steve said as he flashed another wicked smile to Billy who was still groaning on the ground. "And you?" Steve asked, gesturing to Anna.

"Excellent!" She said and flashed Susan a toothy grin

'Partners in crime' Steve thought and smiled to them.

They all began to walk slowly towards the infirmary where Trygve would be treated before the next test.

Anna and Susan chatted while Steve silently carried Trygve as they walked. Steve was immersed in his thoughts of the events of the test. 

'Now that I think about it, I was able to handle the speed of the shrieks quite well even as they came from all directions and if it wasn't for that goth guy, I would've come out unscathed… My speed has improved, it remains to work on my unstable activation and Mana control like Lloyd…'

"Hey!" Susan's voice snapped him out of his trance.

He was taken aback for awhile and stared at her how he used to stare at Trygve whenever he did that. 

'First Mr Arnold, next Trygve, now you' He thought and facepalmed in his mind.

"What?"

"What's the name of your sword?" Anna asked

"Red's Fury. Why asking?" Steve replied

"Is it an activation weapon?" Anna shot back

"Uh…. Why asking?" Steve suddenly became cautious, Grandpa Matt had warned him not to let anyone know that red's fury was an activation weapon so that he wouldn't become a target for dangerous people that would do anything to lay their hands on an activation weapon.

"It can't be possible right? It's not one of the six weapons of sin?" Susan chipped in

"I know, but what he was doing with his sword can't be done with any normal sword" Anna said, with her eyes fixed on the red blade of Steve's sword.

'Wait a minute…. Could it be that I accidentally activated the sword? No, that can't be possible, if i activated it I would've known, then what are they talking about?' Steve thought before saying, "Did something happen?"

Anna took a deep breath before saying, 

"I know that you may not believe this but actually, as you were slashing the shrieks, bright red flames flickered off your sword's blade and destroyed them on contact. It happened so fast that some people were not able to see it, I'm not sure that you were even aware that you were doing such a thing"

"Oh…. I wasn't aware, anyway thanks for letting me know" Steve said with a shrug.

'Now that's something new…. bright red flames huh? Just like the activation…' Steve said in his head as he continued on his way to the infirmary.

Trygve was treated and discharged that same day. 

...

The Next Day…..

After breakfast, Steve headed to the forest to train.

'Since yesterday's test, Billy hasn't made any attempt to hurt me again. Could he be planning something else?…. Argh, honestly I don't understand why he would want to hurt me so badly… What an *sshole'

Steve was halfway to his training spot when he felt a presence in the nearby bushes, he had barely braced himself when the person jumped him.

'Perhaps I spoke too soon!' Steve thought in panic as he grabbed the outstretched hands of his attacker, twisted the hands behind the person's back, tripped the person and sat on the person. He performed this counter attack in barely two seconds.

"Ah!"

Steve was shocked when he heard a feminine voice from the person beneath him but he was more shocked when he saw that the person under him was Anna!

"Anna! What…? What's going on?" He said in confusion as he helped her stand up and clean the dirt off her body.

"I just wanted to scare you! Why are you so jumpy?" She said and slapped Steve's helping hands away

"I'm sorry…." He apologized with a rueful smile on his face

She didn't reply him and turned away with feigned annoyance and pouted lips.

'Women…. I guess I'll never understand them' He thought and facepalmed in his mind.

They stood there for a few seconds with none of them saying anything, he was about to say something when she moved swiftly and punched him on his abdomen.

GAH!

He doubled over on the ground as he felt like he would puke out his intestines, for a woman, Anna Templeton's punch was certainly supernatural.

His head spinned from the stinging pain but he could still hear her words clearly 

"Apologize properly"

"I'm…. sorry…argh" Steve said and clutched his belly as he bent over on the ground.

"….My lady?" Anna seemed to be enjoying the sight of watching him writhe in pain.

"…my lady" He said finally as he slowly began to recover from the punch.

"Good. Now get up and stop acting like a chicken" She bent over to help him up and she felt her cheeks redden as their bodies were very close to each other.

"So why did you want to scare me? Don't you know that it's dangerous to sneak up on armed swordsmen?" After he stood up, he asked her while patting the sword strapped to his waist.

"Can we hang out today?" She asked him, her voice was low and she kept her eyes on her feet as she spoke.

"I would love to… But I have to train" Steve replied gently, hoping that his refusal wouldn't hurt her feelings.

 "Please…. We'll be back before evening so that you can still have time to train" She pleaded with him with upturned blue eyes. She looked so cute and innocent that Steve's heart fluttered in his chest as he looked at her.

"Please…" She begged

"Okay, fine" He had barely spoken the words when Anna grabbed his hand and ran off with him while saying, "We'll be back before evening. I promise"