Idea

Rui knew that going for a pass would land him in a similar situation as she was in right now, being targeted for a pass. Not that he didn't have experience being targeted. But the quality of Martial Squires in the second round was vastly higher than that of the preliminary contest. 

If he was ganged up on here, then he had a very real probability of losing. Not even he could handle so many grade-ten Martial Squires for too long.

However, being the one to attack pass-gainers also meant competing with not only them but also the Martial Artist who gained the pass in the first place.

Furthermore, they would most certainly use the storm as a shield. Since the contestants would have long passed through the storm to acquire their own passes if they could.

('Tsk, such a pain,') Rui snorted. ('Surely, there must be a way to acquire a pass without the hassle of other contestants one way or another.')