Chapter 50 Free For All Part 11

"You little rat," the muscular woman screeched in anger as she rushed forward. "That ant is mine to squash!" She readied her blade for an attack, but Zack was quicker. He plunged his blade into the ground, then quickly swiped it up as the woman was closing in. Zack flung dust right into her eyes. She reacted instantly, closing her eyes and turning her head. Zack was easily able to dodge the massive woman with no problem. As he did, for good measure, he slashed her right calf muscle, but it barely left a scratch, and this surprised Zack.

The moment the woman felt the attack, she took her blade and slashed in the direction the attack came from, but Zack had already jumped backwards, putting more distance between each other.

"The hell is she made of?" Zack thought, looking at the woman furiously rubbing her eyes. As she did, she spoke, "I'm going to catch you, little rat. I'm going to catch you and skin you alive?"

Hearing those words, Zack felt a small chill run down his back, not because he took it as a threat. No, he knew what she was saying was true; she meant every word she said. Zack smiled wide, but it was a little bit of a nervous smile.

"Oh yea?" he said, chuckling. "I'd like to see you try, you overgrown gorilla."

Zack snickered at his comment, and his words had the reaction he wanted. The muscular woman rushed toward Zack; her eyes still closed because of the dust. She was following his voice, and she did so in a rage. He moved out of the way of harm, this time slashing the woman three times, twice across the back and once on the arm holding the sword she held. But each cut was thin, faint, not a single one drew blood.

"Damn it," Zack thought "again."

The muscular woman roared in anger, then swung her arm in the direction of the attack. She couldn't see. This counterattack was stronger than the last. Zack had no choice but to block with his own rental weapon, but this clash of blades was unlike the one with her and Jake. Then, she met a sword that was unbreakable, but Zack's rental blade was far lesser than the one Jake has. When their swords met, Zack's was shattered into pieces. His eyes went wide. He had to angle back slightly so the sword would miss him. He jumped back a few times, putting more distance between them, as sweat poured down his face, and along with that sweat was blood. He had dodged, but still, she hit him, even if the damage was only a small nick.

"Shit," he said under his breath, trying to figure out what he was going to do.

Before the muscular woman's attack hit Jake, he had passed out, then he was rescued by Zack, unconscious the entire time. But with the constant movement coming from Zack, the young man was being stirred awake. His eyes peeked open; he was looking straight at the ground, and his arms were dangling, that katana still held tight in his hands. He also saw someone's legs, but they were awfully close to his face, and not in the right position.

"Am I upside down?" he thought, as his body was still wiped out, drained of all energy. "Where am I? Where's that woman?"

He tried to turn his head, but the act of moving his neck made his body hurt. He winced in pain, grumbling, trying his best to move. This alerted Zack, who still had the boy flung across his shoulder.

"Hmmm, you awake, sleeping beauty?" Zack asked.

The sound of the new but familiar voice made Jake pause, then, pushing himself as best as he could, Jake spoke in a strained voice.

"Zack… is that… you?"

"You bet it is, the one and only," Zack smirked as he kept his eyes on the still temporarily handicapped warrior.

"What… are… you… doing here?" Jake asked, each word made his throat feel sore and dry.

"Just being my awesome, heroic self that I am, making sure to save the damsel in distress."

Jake paused again for a moment but managed to get out a tired, "Haha."

Zack chuckled, but it didn't last long.

"Well, to be honest with you, we're not out of the woods yet."

"Why's that?"

"This ripped woman you were fighting, she isn't done just yet. I'm not sure if she could even be put down at all. I slashed her more than once, and I know they were good slashes, but they barely gave her a paper cut."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and not only that, but she's also stronger than any person I've ever met. She destroyed my weapon with one attack, and she wasn't even using both hands."

"Dammit," came from Jake.

"Damn it, she was my last hope for getting the last points I need."

"Really? How much you got now?"

"91."

Zack whistled, "Not bad. I've only got 25."

"What happened to the 50-point armband you switched with me for?"

Zack rubbed his head as he chuckled nervously.

"Well, its kind got stolen from me by some kid."

"By some kid?"

"I don't want to talk about it. I just need 75 points to pass to the next phase."

As Zack said that his fixed vision on the Warrior woman had broken, as he turned his gaze to all the down applicants around them. "Hey, Jake," he said in a serious tone of voice. "Yeah," "this superwoman, did she take down all these applicants?"

"Yea... she did. When I… first saw her, she was fighting a horde of them." Zack looked back at the downed applicants. Each was beaten and bruised, but they all had something in common: they all still had their armbands.

He then looked at the woman, still irritated, rubbing her eyes. As he looked at her, a thought crossed his mind. "A woman like that, who takes sword slashes better than paper cuts... I bet not a single applicant could stop her. Something tells me she already has her own 100 points, which is why she didn't take these guys' armbands because she doesn't need them."

"Hey, Jake," Zack said with a small smirk on his face. "I think I have a plan."

"Really?"

"Yea. I think if it's done right, then we both can get the points we need."

"You think you can still put up a fight?" Jake hesitated, answering back. When he next opened his mouth, he spoke the truth. "No, I'm tapped."

Zack frowned a bit. "Ok, so we don't go with plan A."

"Jake, hanging the way he was, confused, 'Plan A?' he asked. But Zack ignored his question, then asked another one.

"Ok, do you think if you pushed yourself hard enough, you could move?" Jake paused, then responded, shaking his head. "It would hurt like hell, but I think I could move my body along as I didn't have to fight."

Zack nodded his own head at hearing this. "Alright then, we'll go with plan B." Zack then knelt down, taking Jake off his shoulder, then laying him on the ground. As Jake, now able to look at the spiky haired boy, he asked, "What's plan B?"

"It's simple, actually. While I'm fighting the macho giant, I want you to make your way to those downed applicants and snag their armbands for me. And while taking on the giant, I'll take her armband for you, and snag any others she might have on her person." Zack smirked, then looked down at Jake. "You think you could do that?"

Jake nodded. "But you plan on facing her alone? She's strong, and you said your weapon was destroyed. How can you beat her?"

"I don't have to," Zack responded. "We have less than five minutes left in this phase. All we need is her points, that's it."

Jake's face was filled with worry as he looked at Zack. "Are…," he hesitated, "are you sure? While on your shoulder, I saw it. You were stabbed in the back."

Zack smiled softly. "Yea, it happened when I lost your black armband. Don't worry 'bout me. I'll be ok. This isn't a fight to the death, just snagging some tags."

Jake looked at the spiky haired young man long and hard again. Then he did his best to lift his arm, the arm that held the katana. He displayed it to Zack, trying to hand it to him.

"Ok, but if you go, take this."

Zack was shocked, genuinely shocked. "Wait... what… no, you... can't."

"It's fine," Jake smiled. "I can't even use it in my current condition anyway, so you take it."

Zack gazed at the black sword, marveling at its beauty. Then he reached out and took it from Jake. After the weapon had left his hands, Jake's arm flopped to the ground. "I couldn't unsheathe."

Zack looked at Jake, confused. "I only unsheathed it once and haven't been able to since, so I'm not sure if you will be any different. But even if you can't, you can use it just the way it is now. Even with her strength, even that woman couldn't break."

Zack's eyes went wide. "Oh, that actually makes sense," he thought. Zack held the sword tight in his hands. "Thanks, man. Now I'm not going into a fight empty-handed."

"Don't sweat it." "I'll give it back when this is all done." Jake fought to sit up; his body felt as if it was on fire, but he pushed through all the pain. Once he sat up, sweat pouring from his face, he and Zack saw as the woman stopped rubbing her eyes. She turned around with a wild look in her eyes, those very eyes were bloodshot.

She had a look of an absolute killer. While looking at her, Zack asked, "So, you ready?"

Without hesitation, without fear, Jake answered, "Yea."

"Alright then, let plan B begin." This would be their final gamble as the second phase of the entrance exam was slowly coming to a close.