Chapter 7 : Entrance exams (4)

"So you 3 will be going to step 3." Said the director in a boardroom. The top 3 had freshened up had a fresh change of clothes. Ram Rathod was standing beside President Sardar in a gesture of respect. The room then had 4 other people in it too. 2 of them familiar to Anika. One of them was Rishi Sharma and the other one was Rusjeet singh.

She was seeing the other 2 for the first time. One of them was a woman with skin as clear as Jade and hair so silky and long that it could make anyone envious of her beauty. Then the other one was a man with fairly build body with an unbuttoned denim jacket showing off his hairless chest and a military cut making you think if he hated hair.

"Step 3? We have never heard of it." Said Rajdeep taking a lead.

"It's because it never existed before. The heroes association has been kind enough to sponsor our event and they want a special class for Hero class students and not put them in with the A division, like we used to do."Said Mr Sardar in his most calm tone.

Anika was not interested in knowing how special Heroes were "So what does it have to do with us?"

"As you know this college believes in equal chance, our divisions are not based on the ranks but on abilities. But our sponsors here believe that keeping lower ranks with heroes would hinder their development. So we decided to keep another step to decide on this factor. You three will go against these three in one versus one battles for this step."

Reema developing a big frown on her face said, "What! You want us to go against hero class? That's crazy!"

Rusjeet Singh knew it was true to some extent. There was a reason a hero class never took an entrance test. He had seen these monsters fight, even an untrained one was a lethal weapon. But he was here as their envoy at the moment and was ordered not to speak anything by the director.

"You see she agrees old man, why don't we we skip this useless whim of yours." Said Rishi clearly annoyed, the other two said nothing but their silence was their agreement. Anika was clenching her fist, not just because of her hatred but also because it was clear to her that her judgment of Hero ranks was right.

"Let's do this." Said Anika putting her hands in her pockets "we are ready when you are."

"No need to rush young ones, currently you 3 are exhausted to the bone. This step will be conducted tomorrow in the stadium in front of selected eyes only. My colleague Ram here will give the rest of the details ."

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"Are you crazy?" Said Ganesh waving his hands and pacing all around the living room, "Dear, you are a C rank and they are Heroes, you barely managed to keep up in the entrance exams and now you are thinking about going up against Heroes. I can't support you on this."

Anika was sitting on the sofa with her arms crossed and had been listening to Ganesh's lecture for half an hour, she finally stood up and said "Nor can you stop me."

She went up to the roof of their apartment building whenever she felt angry or sad, to look at the skyline and the busy city that was Ahmedabad. It reminded her that no matter what goes into her mind the city keeps running and it gave her the feeling of just how small her perspective was and that helped her cool down. This time Krishna was also on the terrace sitting at the edge of a concrete bar with his legs dangling by the side. The bar protruded from the edge of the building, it was just a design choice that nobody would ever notice.

Anika also rested her elbows on the edge of the railing looking over the lights that obscured the stars of night. "Don't you think he should be less protective now? I am old enough, maybe like 2-3 years younger than you and I am not weak either."

Krishna was there when the conversation had started but left immediately to not be a part of it. He chuckled a little thinking if the age difference of 7000 years in the demon world counts or not. He kept looking at the newer and older decrepit buildings and answered without turning back, "Yes you are stronger than before but he just doesn't want you to push yourself too much."

"Then how will I get stronger if I dont challenge myself?"

"What good will strength bring you? Every single ounce of strength requires an even bigger sacrifice."

"I don't have anything to lose."

Krishna stood up on the bar and turned around, looking into Anika's eyes. "Are you sure you don't have anything to lose?"

Anika's cheek started turning red and her heartbeat tuned in at a faster frequency, she hadn't thought of him in that way before but now the thought crossed her mind and even at the end of to competition while falling she remembered him.

"You have Ganesh, he has raised you up since you were just 3 years old, hasn't he?"

Anika shook her head off from all her thoughts because she was too afraid to confront them at the moment and said, "aren't you afraid of heights? Even looking down the railing gets makes my heart go wild." Krishna pulled Anika on the bar in a playful manner, Anika closed her eyes out of fear. Krishna held her hand and said, "If you want to reach the top, you should not be afraid to look down."

Anika keeping a firm hold over Krishna's hand, slowly opened her eyes to look down. She then sawyed a little from, screamed in fear, pulled on Krishna's hands and held his torso closing her eyes again.

"You can do what you want, he may not agree now but I am sure he will be there to cheer for you always."

Anika's heart started pumping even faster in her position but this time she let herself be like that, she was in her safe place.

______

The stadium was reopened but only a select few people were present there. That included people from the university and few representatives of heroes association. Krishna was also dragged there by Ganesh but this time they were not in the vip area. Ram was also with them in the seats as president alone was requested to be with the representatives of the heroes association in the glass box.

There was no need for any kind of announcement but Rusjeet singh was to look over the matches as a mediator. The fighting order had been decided beforehand.

The first match was Rajdeep vs Anirudh Bhattacharya. This time Anirudh was in a bit darker denim jacket and ripped jeans. Rajdeep had removed his shirt beforehand and was in more comfortable and open shorts.

The rules were no bars. The match is over when an opponent gives up or is no longer able to fight. Rusjeet was standing at the railing in the seating area just to avoid getting in between the fight. The stadium was massive so Rusjeet singh's reason would seem absurd to anyone but this wasn't a small scale fight. Rusjeet had seen Rajdeep's power in the tests but Anirudh's power was something that he had only read on a file. He too was an enhancement based hand to hand fighter but the other things written about him in that file was what disturbed him the most.

Anirudh gave a smug smile at Rajdeep and said "You better get in your best form or whatever it is that you used back then." Rajdeep pumped up his muscles and said "I don't like to hold back but why spoil the fun."

And the match started and Rajdeep rushed with incredible speed. He started putting in some heavy blows. They were all hitting perfectly as intended and Anirudh was barely able to dodge them as he kept his hands up in a defensive position.

"This is what happens when you are overconfident." Said Ram shaking his head. "I don't think so," said Krishna looking carefully at the ongoing slaughter "he is taking them head on, he isn't even trying to dodge them." Ram squinted his eyes and looked at Rajdeep creating shockwaves with every punch but he soon noticed Krishna was right. Anirudh was putting up hands against his face as if only saving his face but everything else was too open. Anirudh's smile was getting bigger with each punch. Then it happened he kicked Rajdeep in the gut with his knee and he went flying into the side walls breaking a huge chunk of those 2 meter thick walls.

Rajdeep coughed up blood while on his knees. Anirudh freed up shoulder joint rotating it. "That was some good warm up. I gave you a chance to get to your best, but don't expect such a thing to happen in a real fight. Time to finish this boring charade." He kicked Rajdeep on the face and he went flying into a nearby wall like someone was playing with a toy. Surprisingly Rajdeep stood up and stood in a fighting stance.

Anirudh was then just a few inches away from a few meters in the blink of an eye. In the next blink Rusjeet singh was holding his hand up changing the direction of Anirudh's punch. "The match is over, your opponent has lost consciousness due to the concussion."

None there could close their eyes. Anika saw Rajdeep getting taken down in two hits like he was nothing and she remembered their fight in the mesh cage where three of them had to plan so meticulously to handle him.

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Next match was Reema vs Seon-Jia. Her father used to work for a korean company in India. It had been 25 years in India for her father but for her it was her whole life. She preferred to be called only Jia instead of her full Korean name. Her crop top with a very revealing midriff was a big contrast to the traditional martial arts dress code of Reema.

After the first match Ganesh had totally given up hope for any kind of competition "I hate to say I told you so. Maybe I expected at least some competition."

Krishna on the other hand, was a lot more interested in this match. Unlike the untrained brats Reema was actually well trained. Though there was a lot of room for her to work on the finer details but martial arts was always a steady pursuit.

"You know unlike that competition, a fight is a much different story. it's not just about the control over your own body and power here, you need to be able to control your whole battlefield."

Ram who had already seen Krishna's keen eye in seeing through a fight said, "I agree, although these are Heroes And Rusjeet singh is an A1 rank one would always bet on more power in a competition but If it were a fight he could take on those 3 all at the same time and win." He looked at Krishna sitting with his legs crossed and relaxing but being attentive and asked "you seem to know your stuff."

"Yeah I am kind of a martial artist myself you can say, lookout it's about to start."

Reema's dress was already dirty because she had managed to make herself fall of right before match and also managed to hit her left toe at a table. Jia wasn't expecting a lot from a woman who could barely control herself normally.

Jia's biggest weakness was that she was a support type with unparalleled healing abilities. Though her strength wasn't anything less of amazing it still wasn't enough against a good attacker. Both of them were waiting for who would make the first move and Jia was determined not to make the first one. They were slowly closing the gap.Both of them

Reema made the first jab and Jia blocked it. Reema could see that her opponent was not well versed in combat so she went in with her full speed turning in kicks and punches. Jia managed to block 50% of them initially but as the damage ramped up she was getting more and more hits. The vicious cycle continued and with a good jab at her head and a loud 'haiya' Jia was down.

Reema was about to walk away but then she heard Jia's voice "that was good." Not only was Jia standing but all the damage on her was gone like it never existed. Reema latched at her again but she stood up again and again. It was a battle of attrition. Jia was also getting better acclimated with Reema's fighting style and her blocks were also becoming consistent.

"That is one masochistic bitch." Said Anirudh with disgust in his voice "She enjoys pain, says that's what makes the healing fun. That is the one woman I don't wanna fight." Ashish who was sitting next to him enjoying the fight with a smirk on his face said, " like you are the one to talk after taking all those punches."

"I just like to let my opponents know that they were utterly defeated, no regrets like if I had done that I might have won. She is just unnerving, I might defeat her but she would probably like it."

Jia was pacing excitedly and smiling while Reema was getting sloppy and slower. She initially attributed it to fatigue but now it was clear to her that it had to be Jia's ability.

"So what is it, you steal aura over time?"

Jia stopped her pacing stood with her arms on her waist. "Impressive that you can even detect it at this stage. But you are a tiny bit wrong. You know what is a medicine given in very high doses?"

"Poison"

Jia clapped and laughed, "bingo, it's an Aura poison directly affecting one's foundation. The more you utilise your aura, the more effective it gets. That also means you can use your punch or you can say bye bye to your foundation. It's like a vicious cycle until it reaches the threshold point after which, You get to have fun, instead of me."

Reema too now mimicked Jia in her posture, "Now let me ask you, A question. What do you do when your opponent keeps healing no matter what you throw at them?"

"What kind of rhetorical question is that?" Said Jia smacking her lips and giving a hunh to her opponent.

"Then let me answer that. You hit them with an attack they can't heal off." Reema was now in front of Jia's eyes forming the arc of her signature punch. Jia was terrified because she knew the power of that punch. 'It's suicidal, do that and she won't be using her aura for a few weeks, maybe months or even never. There is no reverting the effects of this poison, only time can heal it but even time can't heal the effect if her foundation is destroyed.' thought Jia to herself as she saw the punch come in closer and closer and then just blackout. Jia lost clearly but her healing abilities kept her alive. Reema too was on her knees. For confirmation, she tried to use her aura but all she felt was a surge of pain. It was from her foundation which was now in shambles.

______

It was time for the 3rd match. Rishi vs Anika. Rishi was standing in from of Anika with a serious expression unlike his usual smug smirk. He was remembering his conversation with Rusjeet singh which he had in the locker room just before the match.

______

"I know you chose this match."

"So what? It's not like she had a chance against any of the three. She is just a C ranker. That too a C2 and luck can only help you too much." Said Rishi shrugging his shoulders.

"That is what I am here to talk about. What do you know about foundation?"

Rishi shook his head and said, "not much, just that it exists."

Rusjeet sighed and said, "I cannot blame you for not knowing much, we barely know anything about it ourselves. Everyone has a different foundation to some extent and your foundation is what holds your aura and releases it whenever you want. Some people don't have that balance and their foundations are weaker than their aura, that makes their aura unstable. I read that girl's history and she used to have an unstable aura too. There have been incidents where these aura's have stabilized with time and it's not something too special. Also a foundation is also what limits the rank upgrading. There is a reason it took me 6 years to get from B5 to A1. There is no known way of changing your foundation except for that person to keep battling as much as they can, it is thought that the aura of the demon release after it's death is the stimulus."

Rishi yawned and said "You trying to praise yourself?"

"No. It's just that there is something different about her foundation. As healers have a better sense of foundation I asked Jia to keep an eye on Anika's Foundation in our first meeting. She confirmed my doubts about her foundation being different."

Rishi narrowed his eyes and asked "what's so different?"

"It's massive and too well structured for someone at C rank. Our machines have a big error that we can only measure the flow of Aura and not the actual pool. Because of the normal Foundation difference not being too much, Our rankings are not affected by such an error. Picture a D ranks aura being a house and an A rank having that of a skyscraper, you cannot have an A rank aura on a D rank foundation but a D would fit in A, it will be just at lower height. But her foundation is just too big, You should have seen Jia's face when she was talking about it. Your request of getting this match was not accepted because you had a good pull on strings it was just because her original opponent Jia just denied to face her."

Rishi leaned back on the chair taking in all the information. "But she is still a C rank, like you said the error range can't be that big. I have seen her fight too she may be able to hold her own against an A rank but that's still weak nonetheless."

"I am not sure. You may be right. But this change in her seems too fast to me, she probably has no idea how to utilise her strength yet." He looked away in the distance thinking about something unsettling in his mind and said, "To get such a Foundation just through sheer battles might take thousands of years and the only known cases coming even close to the size of her foundation are those seven monstrous existences and that demon from 5 years ago."

_______

"Let me just tell you about my ability, it won't change the outcome of this fight anyway, this might make the fight interesting for me." He then raised both his hands slightly and the ominous sound of metal bending came from all over the stadium. And |Bash| every pipe in the stadium broke off and Rishi had now a massive water dragon in his back. "I can control water."

Meanwhile Ram was mumbling to himself, "that's gonna be one hell of a plumbing bill."

Anyone who faced him with her rank would be afraid and to some extent she was too, who isn't afraid in a fight, it's those foolish enough to have courage that can actually fight. Her fear sweat was visibly getting taken away and being added to the massive dragon like a drop in the ocean. It was like a chinese dragon with its serpentine body slithering all over the stadium and face right besides it's master. Rishi gave a stroke a the forehead of this beast of his own Aura and let it go on Anika.

She put up her best shield and body enhancement but the force was pushing her back anyway. She was thrown on the thick walls of the stadium where she still held herself now adding heat to the water to evaporate it. She felt like she was at her limit every time but still kept pushing through. Rishi felt irritated that she was still up so he attacked with his water from behind putting Anika back in the middle of the field, now attacking her from all sides.

Her everything could barely keep up and the pain was setting in from the strain. Rishi walked in from one side and water gave him a clear way like moses splitting the red sea. He got down to address the kneeling Anika and said, "why hold on? You are nothing but a lowly C rank, I can keep going and increase my power but it might probably kill you. Just give up and save your life."

But Rishi could feel it she wasn't losing and her output was increasing the more pressure he put on her. Like the floodgates of a dam opening up Anika let the Chaos of fire let out. It blinded some of the spectators in the box and evaporated every molecule of water. Luckily the shields were on and nothing reached the other side except the light. Anika's hands were on fire and a part of her sweatshirt also singed. The yellow flame was flickering and it turned into a dirty blue flame with yellow sparks getting in the way like an impurity. She raised her right hand and formed a shield around Rishi.

"What is she doing?" Said Ram already astonished by the unfolding spectacle.

"She is suffocating him, slowly burning away the oxygen in the bubble." Said Krishna. Ram had learned to put faith in Krishna's insights as they were pretty accurate for an F rank. If nothing his sight was surely not of an F.

Rishi was having a hard time keeping himself standing. He was on his knees gasping for oxygen. "You fool didn't I tell you I can control water. It being in gaseous state doesn't change that fact."

He then put his hands on the ground and the air started getting dry. That also made it difficult for Anika to breath. Dry air is not exactly a very tolerable air.

"You sure these shields can hold on pretty good?" Asked Krishna looking at Ram. "They are good enough, they are powered by one of the most powerful demon crystal money can buy. Why do you ask?"

"It's about to get ugly."

Rishi had been doing something similar to what Anika did with her pressure pockets. Rishi knew if it was a death match it would have been a done deal and Anika would have burned him down in this shield prison. She was making a point that tables have turned now. But he still had a trick up his sleeve. The vapour Anika created was still under his control and he was creating high pressure water pockets beneath the soil. He let out a smirk and Anika was a little late to notice what was going on.

The blast created a lot of steam and there was mud sticking everywhere. Anika was a little too late in shielding herself, she was lying in a corner heavily injured. Rishi was also huffing and puffing, taking in all the air he could after being suffocated.

"I guess it's over." Said Rusjeet Singh who got down in the arena only to feel bad about his spoiled shoes. His eyes were widened when he saw Anika still getting up with her output even more than before. Her hands caught on flame now a pure blue. The agonising pain was showing on her face as she pulled her hand back and formed a fist. Rishi who was still a little breathless and shocked said, "Are you willing to die?" This time rishi was readying a ball of water in his hand.

"Not that attack." Said both Rusjeet and Krishna narrowing their eyes. The ground was too sticky to charge on so Anika created a shield platform on the thick wall and used body enhancement to jump with great speed in Rishi's direction. Both Krishna and Rusjeet were there in a blink. Rusjeet pushing away Rishi's arm and Krishna changing Anika's direction in midair.

Ram stood up from his seat realising Krishna had reached in the middle of the fight without him even realising he was gone. How could this man be an F rank he thought, more or less confirming his doubts previous doubts.

Rishi was angry as he said, "why did you interrupt?"

"You could have killed her." Said Rusjeet pointing his hand at the 2 meter thick wall split in half by the high pressure water he was about to attack Anika with. He then turned to Krishna and said "good call on your part too stranger, I assume you are related to her. I guess we both can agree this match is over and Rishi won."

"I agree the match is over but if I hadn't stepped in he would not be alive to take your so called victory." Said Krishna again pointed back at the point where the wall was split. Ashes were coming out of the break in the wall and cracks were developing from the point where Anika had made contact with the wall. The shell was crumbling down and the massive wall covering the gigantic stadium which could hold that mesh in it which a hundred people once fought was crumbling to dust.

Rishi who was watching this with his eyes wide open was shaking with fear. He understood that his water stream would have evaporated before it even reached Anika and there was no way he would have been able to dodge that attack. He could not shake the feeling that he just missed death by an inch. To hide his face in the already dusty environment he started walking away to his locker room and said, "we can count this as a tie."

______

From the dust came the spectators and President Sardar who were in the glass box watching the whole fight. "I didn't know C ranks were this powerful, you sure your ranking machines are oiled properly, old friend?" Said abid khan coming out from the dust accompanied by her Assistant Pooja.

"Rest assured, we may not be as well funded as your organisation but our standards are not that low." Said the president as Ram joined him on his side.

Abid looked at Krishna with a smirk and said "who is that man now?"

Ram stepped in at that moment and said "he is one of our faculties."

Abid shook his head. "I see, I guess the rumours of your teachers being good were not just rumours after all."

"So, was this enough to change your mind Abid? These heroes can sure benefit learning from these kinds of students." Abid rubbed his chin. Anirudh came in from the now half settled dust cloud in anger. He saw Rishi shaking with fear on his way, though Rishi tried to hide it, he could see the one man among the three of them who he believed could beat him thrown into disarray. "This competition is not over old man. I can still fight." Ram moved forward to teach the boy a lesson for disrespecting the president but he was stopped by the president.

There was no one left Ram thought. Anika was heavily injured and was currently being healed by the on site A ranked healers. Rajdeep was decimated and was currently unconscious. Reema had her foundation destroyed and was useless for the foreseeable future. Abid khan knew that too so he shrugged and said, "He is right Sardar. In the end we won and it is enough to prove my point."

"I can still fight too." Said Reema who was down on the ground as she tripped running over to the gathering. Anirudh chuckled and said, "don't joke around, you can not summon your aura and i sense you won't be doing that for a long time. Learn to stand properly first and come try me after 10years."

"But I want to fight, I can't give up now after my friend gave her everything in the last fight."

"I understand Reema but this is not courage, it's foolishness," said Ram to which Rusjeet nodded in agreement.

The president smiled and looked at Ram, "Ram, let's not be so harsh on her, this young lady is old enough to decide for herself."

"But…" before Ram could say more Anirudh put his hands in his Denim pockets and said, "fine let's end this quickly."

_____

A temporary metal barrier was put in place of the now dusted concrete walls. Ram was thinking to himself if the sponsorship would be enough to cover these repairs. Everyone went back to their seats and Rusjeet was more ready than before to jump in if there was any chance of saving Reema because from what he knew Anirudh would hold back even if she was to die.

Reema tried again to summon her aura but only pain came. "Back to basics then." She said as she opened her fists and raised them to shoulder level taking a very open stance like pushing something.

"This is a waste of time." Said Krishna sighing as he sat back on his seat with only Ram by his side as, Ganesh had gone off to see Anika. "You are right, our healers are ready to jump in at any moment but i don't think she will make it."

Anirudh was already warmed up from his anger. His colleagues had miserably failed against low ranks. He could see Reema in her stance which basically looked like giving up with so many openings.

"What are you talking about? That boy is gonner" said Krishna smiling. Ram could not believe his words. His observations were to the spot till now but for something like what he said to happen the word impossible would have to stop existing.

Anirudh pumped up his muscles and attacked with full force. What happened next changed Ram's mind on Krishna's words. Like a butterfly Reema's gentle movements went through Anirudh's punch and He was thrown off to the next end of arena breaking down the sturdy metal barrier.

"If you knew the technique behind her punch you would know that boy had chosen the absolute worst opponent he could. His strength means nothing in this scenario." Ram never believed he would see so many surprising moments in one day. The man who rammed down Someone of Rajdeep's calibre was thrown away buy a klutz who could not summon even a shred of her aura.

Anirudh's head was spinning from the blow, blood was flowing down to his eyes and blurred his vision. He could not grasp how the events unfolded but his anger was jumping through the roof. He mustered up all his strength and anger into his best punch and was looking to finish this once and for all.

"Her stance is that of absolute defence, it's a very open stance that originated in China, it's hard to master technique but it just goes to show this girl's skill." Ram was flabbergasted by her martial arts mastery "but that still doesn't explain her ridiculous strength."

"It isn't her strength." Said Krishna making Ram's head turn with curiosity. "Do you know what is 'Aiki'? It is a principle of martial arts where you use your opponent's attack and redirect it's force to your back adding your own strength to it. It's something that is very hard to perform even in training scenarios. To be able to use it in a fight is just all the more complicated. That girl has gone through hell fighting with that style and mastering it so perfectly. That is why her punches were so hard, she used her aura to continuously keep storing the reversal of her own strength building up a massive finishing punch in the end. In contrast, that fool's brute strength is useless and even harmful to himself. Like I told you he has chosen the absolute worst opponent he could have chosen."

Anirudh rushed in to finish the match and was thrown away like a toy, this time going through the whole stadium interior and falling of far into a college building where medical students were practicing dissection. They were terrified to ghostly level when all of a sudden a body came crashing in through the window.