Moments before Zack landed his deceive blow on the beastman soldier, Angus, as the spunky little girl ran full speed ahead, her actions lit a fire in many of the downed and injured applicants as they rose to their feet. That action of seeing all those who seemed down and out, lit a fire in all those applicants who remained in the save zone, the ones not charging ahead like all the others before them. "The injured applicants began to roar about not desiring to fail," roars and chants resonated in the very bones of all those that held back. "Yea, one mousey applicant managed to get out," "Yea, I don't want to fail either," "Yea, this is my 2nd year applying, I want to pass," came from another.
The action of the pigtail girl started a domino effect, inspiring those that were down to get up and for those that held back to move forward. As the group of applicants that was further ahead began to charge, so did the back group only seconds later. All began running, but Jake—he stood in place, his mind was cloudy, he felt as if his head was spinning. "This is crazy, why am I here? I can't… I can't do this," he thought. "I just want to go home, I just want…" but that thought process sent a chill down his spine. For Jake, there was no more home; his only family, his mother, was no longer there. It was a possibility she would never be there again.
Tears began to well up in his eyes, his heart started to race. He had so easily forgotten why he was here in the first place—his mother. His mother was sick, and if he didn't save her, she would never be home again. "And if she didn't, he would have nothing and no one to return to." In a flash, his demeanor changed; it took a while, but that same fire that was lit in the other applicants was lit in Jake as he took a starting position, his mind now clear and focused. He had only one simple thought: "Mom, you can count on me." Then he took off running as if he were a trained athlete.
At this moment, all applicants were running towards the exit. Jake ran as hard as he could, doing his best to maneuver through the crowd. As he ran, he came closer and closer to the crater-sized hole that Angus and Zack were doing battle in. With this, everything started to line back up. As Jake came closer, the hole by the second, Zack had already landed his slash on the beastman; his blade was broken, and he had only landed one good attack. But by the pleased look on his face, you would have thought that Zack had come out of that battle victorious, and in his own way, he had thought he had won. But sadly, the battle wasn't over.
When Angus was approached to be an examiner this year, he was told to have some restraint. They didn't want him killing any applicants, and up until this very moment, he had been hitting the applicants with only kid gloves. But that all changed when he was slashed; that attack was a true attack, not from any applicant, no, but from a warrior, that's how Angus saw Zack now. The moment his blade cut him, Angus' blood began to boil, and the moment the two opponents' eyes met again, Zack could see that Angus burned with the full rage of a bull.
Zack immediately understood that the tides of the battle were shifting, but before he could react, Angus reached out his left hand and grabbed Zack. There was no escape for him; Angus held Zack in his hand the way one would hold a soda can. He tightened his grip as he smiled, "Hehehe, alright you little shit, let's see you take this." Angus lifted Zack high up, then slammed him back down, throwing him hard on the ground. The boy was slammed so hard he bounced; the force of the attack was so fierce that the wind was knocked out of Zack; his vision became blurry so much that he could barely see Angus's large fist coming straight at him.
But almost like it was instinct, Zack managed to shift his body weight and spin in midair, avoiding the attack. As Angus's fist was plunged into the ground, Zack put some distance between the two, but he wasn't in good shape; he couldn't get to his feet, his breathing was staggered, and he was bleeding from his head. But his eyes, his eyes never left Angus; he was still ready to fight if needed. The two foes locked eyes again; they seemed to stare at one another for what seemed like hours. The first one to break was Angus; he broke his gaze as he pulled his fist out and stood up.
"You are very interesting, kid," he said as he used Rickenbaker as something to lean on. "It's clear as day you're not some punk that just came off the street." Zack barely managed to get out, tired, "Thank… you." Angus smirked, "It's clear you had formal training; you used an experienced drawing attack on me without the use of a sheathe. Not only that, even when you were disoriented, you dodged my fist on instinct. No, you dodged it from experience, experience so ingrained in you it came off as instinct." Zack's lips curled into a small smile.
"So," Angus said, putting a hand on his hip, "who trained you?" Zack smiled, "Me mostly, I watched a lot of old samurai and Kungfu flicks." Angus chuckled, "Well, kid, can't lie, it's been fun. I thought this exam would be a slog, but you made it fun." Zack at this moment perked up when he spoke; his words were more clear, less choppy. "What do you mean by 'it's been fun'? We're not done yet." Angus cocked his head to the side, and Zack smiled, showing all his blood-stained teeth. "I said I'm not done yet, let's go, cowman." Angus once again chuckled, "Alright then."
He said as he grabbed Rickenbaker, resting it on his shoulder, "Let's say I pay you back for my injury; it'd be fun, we can both have matching scars." Zack didn't waver; he wasn't the least bit terrified. "Try me," was all he said, waiting for Angus to make the next move. At this moment, Jake was passing by the hole itself; he was close enough for him to look into what he saw was the beastman and Zack, but Zack didn't look the way he did the last time Jake saw him. He was beat up, he was hurt, he couldn't even get to his feet.
As Jake was running past, for a brief moment, he and Zack made eye contact; no words were exchanged. The eye contact made Jake want to help; he thought he should help Zack. "He… He helped me before," Jake thought, but with that thought was another one that answered, "I never asked him to." Like Angus before, Jake broke the eye contact; his gaze shifted to Angus, then back to Zack. He thought, "I can't beat that guy… I can't beat him if Zack couldn't," and once, another thought answered: 'I don't owe him anything.'" Jake's head faced forward as he continued running. Zack's face had no expression as he turned his own gaze back to Angus.
The beastman walked towards the boy as he inched closer and closer. Zack gripped what was left of his own weapon; all that was left was the hilt, but his grip tightened, ready for a counterattack. As Angus was only inches away, he stopped and looked at the boy. After a brief moment, he said, "Are you ready?" Zack responded, "Bring it on."
Angus gripped Rickenbaker with both hands, swinging the axe down. Zack was ready, but he wouldn't get the chance to do anything as someone jumped in between Zack and Angus, blocking the beastmen's attacks with a large rental claymore. Both foes were shocked by this intruder, and this new arrival was the first to say anything, "Mr. Minotaur'rus, it's an honor to meet you, sir."