Admission Test (2)

Fire-laden shockwaves chased after me. The small brushes took the hits in my place, erupting in bursts of color as flame and brush collided again and again.

"You're just going to keep blocking? That won't be enough to beat me!"

A sphere far larger than anything he'd thrown so far — a miniature sun — came crashing down on me.

I can't just block this one.

I summoned a large brush, kicked off one of the smaller ones to launch myself, and sliced the sphere clean in two. What came flying out of the split were more burning slashes. I snapped my fingers in response. Small brushes materialized in midair, radiating five-colored spiritual power, and I fired Ink Cannons to intercept them.

"Now!"

My opponent raised his sword, wreathed it in flame, and charged. But I wasn't limited to ranged attacks. I caught the blade with my large brush.

"What, you're blocking my attacks with that stupid brush?"

"If you can't even beat a brush, maybe you're just weak."

These types always leaned entirely on their abilities. Judging by how he used a sword, he was probably well-trained physically and in close-quarters combat. But right now, this guy was drunk on his own power — charging in blind, with no regard for the consequences.

As we locked weapons and shoved against each other, I hooked his ankle with my leg and swept him off his feet.

"Wha—?"

I summoned three small brushes directly above the falling enemy and drove them down.

But he blocked them. Yeah. He was a second-year, all right.

"You blocked that from that distance?"

"If I couldn't even stop something like that... I wouldn't deserve to be called a second-year."

He was no ordinary second-year. Mid-to-upper ranks among them, at the very least. I needed to conserve spiritual power in case I ran into Raven, but dealing with this guy was going to cost more than I'd expected.

Before I could even finish the thought, he was coming at me again.

A sword made entirely of flame formed in his hand. That was going to be a problem.

Burning slashes came flying at me. I reflexively twisted my body to dodge as many as I could, and let the small brushes take the ones I couldn't avoid.

"I knew you'd do that. Same pattern as before."

Damn. He'd circled behind me in the brief window it took to summon the brushes. But even the small ones could fire Ink Cannons. I lifted the brush I'd used as a shield and fired one behind me, blasting the charging enemy away with a heavy, rolling boom.

When the smoke cleared, my opponent was still standing.

"Guess I'll have to take this seriously."

The temperature around him spiked so violently the air itself seemed to warp, and steam began to rise.

The ground around him began to burn. A technique that superheated every inch of space around the user — and physically enhanced the body. Extremely powerful in close combat. High spiritual power consumption, and vulnerable at range. And he was using that on me?

Ah. I got it. With his body enhanced, he wasn't going to give me any opening to create distance.

In the time it took to blink, he was already in my face, Flame Sword Dance in hand.

My soul ratio was 40%. Roughly twice that of most people. Which meant my output was that much stronger. I wrapped spiritual power around my body and braced for close combat.

"What, you actually want to trade blows with me?"

"Why not?"

I coiled spiritual power around my entire body, and around the large brush in my hand as well. His blade grazed toward my shoulder, but my whole body was sheathed in spiritual power, so the damage barely registered. While he was still processing that, I drove my foot ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into his gut.

"Guh...!"

While he clutched his stomach, swallowing the pain, I swung the brush. I landed a cut on his arm. Blood began dripping from the wound.

He was wrapping spiritual power around himself too, and the heat was still climbing, so landing a decisive blow in one hit was nearly impossible. An Ink Cannon could do it, but the spiritual power cost was huge. I had to win this with just the small brushes and the large one.

In the brief moment of distance between us, he drew and slashed in a single motion. The blade was right next to my ear.

I cannot let that hit me.

I summoned a small brush and hit myself with it. The impact knocked me back just enough to slip past the blade. I'd only ever imagined that working. Didn't think it actually would.

But he didn't flinch. He immediately ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠set up the next attack. Still mid-swing, he added even more momentum, spinning, and the blade came around again. I was still staggering from hitting myself with my own brush. I used that. I let the strength drain from my legs and dropped my body low, then drove my right fist into his liver.

"Kh...!"

The liver was one of the human body's vital points, and it hurt like hell when you got hit there. A bad enough shot could even knock you out. Even with spiritual power wrapped around him as a defense, that one should have landed pretty hard. I didn't let up. I summoned a small brush and sent it flying at him.

A sharp crack rang out as he knocked it aside.

"You think... kh... I'd fall for that...?"

He came right back in. Persistent bastard. Then again, he was wringing out every last drop of spiritual power he had. He knew better than anyone that if he didn't finish this now, he wouldn't get another chance.

But the small brush I just threw hadn't hit the ground yet. I flicked my fingers, and the deflected brush came flying back into his back, punching through with a wet, heavy thud.

"Ghh...! You cheap...!"

"There's no such thing as cheap in a fight!"

This was it. I planted the large brush right in front of his face. And then—

"Hah..."

Hit square in the face, my opponent vanished on the spot. Eliminated.

I'd taken down a second-year. Wonder if that'd earn me extra points later. I still had plenty of spiritual power left. As long as I didn't run into Raven, I was done.

Ten hours remaining.

Roughly forty-five people still hadn't been eliminated. And most of the ones left would be the ones who'd fought early and taken out their competition — meaning they could actually fight. On the flip side, they'd burned through a lot of spiritual power doing it. Their output should have been significantly lower ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by now. Still, no reason not to be careful. I just hid quietly. The rest of them would be lying low too.

As for Raven...

Well, she was here as a volunteer examiner, same as the guy I'd just fought — here to weed out the weak and the ones who just ran. She was probably still wandering around this place, playing hide-and-seek.

I just couldn't get caught. I only had to last ten hours. And this island was huge.

I found another cave and headed inside, then settled in again.

Ah. Back to the boredom. But what could I do? I'd chosen this. No point complaining.

That said, this was a second-year transfer student exam, so the difficulty was bound to be high. Of course a lot of people had washed out. Still, I hadn't expected only about forty-five to be left. Just eyeballing it, there had been maybe a hundred and fifty people when the test started.

Well, it was a transfer exam. Made sense that the numbers would be small. Whatever. As long as it wasn't me. Not my problem. I felt a little bad for them, but still.

Just let the time pass. Ten hours. Just hold out for ten hours.

I needed to sit still and recover the spiritual power I'd burned in that last fight. Recovering spiritual power required calm — apparently the soul was deeply tied to emotion. So I couldn't let my mind wander. Just zone out.

God, I wanted this to be over. I just wanted to get into the dorms and take it easy. Once I was in the dorms, there'd be plenty of other students. The "transfer student" label was a little annoying, but I could just ignore it. It wasn't like anyone was going to pick a fight over that.

Anyway, I just had to lie here for ten hours and I was done.

Mm. Getting a little sleepy. But I couldn't sleep. Who knew if someone might show up? I had to hold out. Hold out.

Hold...

"Nngh..."

"...What?"

I... slept for nine hours? Someone didn't plant something on me, did they?

I frantically patted myself down, but there was nothing. I let out a long breath of relief.

On the bright side, nine hours of sleep meant I'd recovered a lot of spiritual power, and my mind was clear. Plus I'd skipped nine hours by sleeping. That was just straight-up lucky. One ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠more hour and I was done.

Forty minutes passed.

I was practically buzzing, thinking I just had to hold out for twenty more minutes.

But what was that. Footsteps, outside.

And not just any footsteps — they were walking with an aura that was very, very wrong. There was even a faint killing intent leaking from those steps.

A single possibility suddenly flooded my mind.

No way. No. This island was huge. Absolutely not. It couldn't be Raven.

Thud. Thud.

Keep walking. Keep walking. Keep walking. Keep walking. Keep walking.

Thud. Thud.

They passed. I was alive. This time, God was actually on my side. Yeah. I was just going to pass like this.

Ten minutes later.

Ten minutes left until I passed the test.

But... why was I hearing footsteps again?

Thud. Thud.

Oh, please.

Thud...

The footsteps outside stopped dead.