In the morning Azemo quickly gulped down his breakfast. He ate so fast that Sawell was too impressed to ask about how the amount of food that the two cats were eating.
After eating, Azemo decided to walk around with his spear out, he might as well try and get used to it. Surprisingly just walking about with the spear made Azemo much more comfortable with the weapon. Soon it was time for the competition and Azemo made sure he was not late. Meaning that Azemo realized that he had underestimated the amount of walking he had done and needed to run, with the spear, to the military academy.
He did not have a lot of hope for getting a high rank but at least he wanted to get a decent teacher.
Unknown to Azemo someone was impressed when they saw him easily run around with an unwieldy spear. A small, young looking girl, quickly hid back behind a pillar as Azemo approached the registration table.
Azemo was given the number three hundred and one on a small wooden tag because he was the second to last participant to arrive. After the last competitor collected his number tag a large heavyset woman made her way towards the group.
"I will be administering your first test, prepare yourselves and follow me."
Azemo heard a group of young spear users whispering. "That is the second best spear user in the academy, I hope I get to train under her."
The crowd of contestants quickly followed the impressive combatant but instead of leading them to some obstacle course, like many expected, she just led them to an open arena.
A few of her assistants started handing out heavy wooden rods about the length of a normal spear to all the contestants. After everyone received a pole, the woman spoke again, spoke... meaning she bellowed at the top of her lungs.
"Alriiiight. Listen up the first test will separate you into groups; the top fifty will continue on for more testing while the rest of you will be assigned basic training."
Complaints were heard throughout the arena but after receiving a glare from the massive woman they all were quickly silenced, but that did not mean they liked the rules. In the previous tests there had not been a limit on how many people could pass and even the spectators felt it was a bit unfair.
"Ok now that you have all settled down the first test is for you to spin the staff you have been given until I say you can stop." The instructor demonstrated by spinning her spear in front of her at a blistering pace. "You have to be at least that fast for it to count and the second you stop or slow down you are out of the competition."
A lot of people looked like they wanted to complain again but before they could utter a single word the instructor shouted. "Start."
All three hundred and two competitors started spinning their staffs.
At first Azemo was confident because it seemed pretty easy but after a few people dropped out, he began to take it more seriously.
Since the only rule was don't stop, trainees were forming groups that would go around trying to force someone else to drop their staff. Even without a hindrance the simple act of spinning the staff was hard for some. After a while their muscles started to ache and fatigue crept into their bodies. Soon only one hundred remained but each person left seemed to be going strong.
Azemo's demon muscles meant that he would not easily tire from such an exercise and the long minutes that had passed had helped him gain mastery over his staff. Just when he was about to get comfortable a group of ten decided to approach him.
The group did not even pause to talk and instead tried to attack the single Azemo. But the group did not know that Azemo was ready and disgusted with their cowardly tactics. Obviously since the instructor had allowed it to continue, the group wasn't breaking any rules but Azemo hated it when others ganged up on one person. He vowed to make sure each one of the group would fail the test.
As the group approached one of them lashed out with a kick but Azemo easily jumped over the offending foot and sent out a kick behind him. The person who was trying to sneak up behind him was caught by surprise and took the full force of the attack. The sneaker toppled over backwards and lost control of his staff before being taken from the arena. He had failed.
'One Down.'
The rest of the group was now outraged that one of their friends had been eliminated and they all began twirling their staffs above their heads. This way it was easier for them to attack with their feet. But, it also meant that their stomachs were exposed and Azemo quickly dashed in and took advantage of that fact. Now only eight of the ten remained.
The remaining members of the group began coordinating their attacks, but after the speedy strikes of the Tnepers, their attacks were slow as molasses to Azemo. Every kick or knee was blocked or dodged and Azemo was even able to throw two more members of the group off balance eliminating them from the competition.
By this time only sixty contestants remained but the group was now focused on screwing with Azemo, there was no way they would let him pass.
The six remaining members gathered up to attack once more but paused after Azemo did something weird. He began spinning the staff in one hand allowing his other hand to be free, ready to swing about. After he noticed how few contestants were left he realized he had to speed up if he wanted to get rid of the entire group of ten.
With his free hand Azemo ran about grabbing the spinning staffs of his attackers, and adeptly blocking any attacks with his legs. In an instant all of the remaining six had been eliminated.
As the leader of the group's staff was stopped by Azemo he became furious. 'I've already failed so I might as well make this little sh*t fail as well.' With that thought the leader suddenly spun and hurled his staff at Azemo.
Azemo dodged the flying staff like it was a leaf in the wind. He had expected some sort of sneak attack and had been prepared. After all just the other day he had succumbed to the sneak attack made by Nose. However, as the staff flew by Azemo realized it was headed towards another contestant so he decided to step in. He didn't want the reason someone failed to be because of him. Azemo quickly chased after the flying staff, kicking it out of mid air, right before it crashed into the unsuspecting trainee.
As he turned around from this maneuver he noticed that the one who had thrown the staff was being led out of the arena by guards. It appeared like the academy didn't care what someone did while they were part of the test, but outside interference was a big no go.
In the shadows of the courtyard the young looking girl's opinion of Azemo rose. Not only had he easily defeated the cheaters he had also saved the contestant he had unwittingly got involved.
Meanwhile the test had ended and Azemo had passed without any other disturbances. After everyone had seen how Azemo had handled those that attacked him they gave him a wide berth to spin his staff.
"Okay you all don't suck come, with me for the next part of the test." The scary instructor lady led them to another area.
This time there was an obstacle course but after looking at it, Azemo could tell that it would not be as simple as he imagined.