Only moments before the next two applicants were called for the fifth round, Jake Green was happy, even in his predicament, being a tool for the Sullivans and being a son desperate to save his mother's life. Even though those things were weighing on his shoulders, as he spoke to Zack, Gabby, and Biscuit, the tremendous weight felt light. He laughed, he joked, he smiled. He just felt like he was supposed to feel, just like a kid. But when the female assistant called the next two applicants taking part in the fifth round, that smile Jake had on his face dropped as his heart sunk and his stomach turned.
Out of the four applicants left, himself included, when the names were called, Jake's name wasn't one of them. And he noticed that Heracles, the giant muscular man, his name was also not called. And knowing this almost made the poor boy pass out. Jake's entire demeanor shifted in seconds. It was obvious to everyone who looked at him.
"Um, are you ok?" Biscuit asked Jake, but he didn't respond. He just stared blindly at the ground. "Jake, hey Jake," Zack said, trying to get the young man's attention, but Jake didn't respond to him either, no matter how much he spoke. It seemed as if the words being spoken were being drowned out. Jake felt as if his entire body was underwater. After a moment, Jake turned his head. He didn't do it to acknowledge Zack or even Biscuit. No, he did it to turn completely around. And when he did, he saw him. He saw that man, Heracles, the warrior who made the muscular woman who seemed to revel in battle, the same muscular woman that Jake and Zack had faced in the second phase, walk away with her tail tucked between her legs.
When Jake turned around, that's who he saw. And it seemed they made eye contact. And when they locked eyes, both understood that after the fifth round was finished, they would be going next. They were each other's opponent. This information meant nothing to Heracles, but it scared the life out of Jake. As he turned his head back around, he silently asked himself, "What…. What am I…. going to do?"
While Jake was terrified, coming to grips with the reality of his own situation, the two applicants who were called for this round were making their way to the ring. The first was the young man with the blonde hair wearing combat gear and wielding a massive broadsword. Once he heard his applicant number, he instantly started walking to the ring. The blonde-haired young man was applicant 8809. His name was Kendrick. As he was jumping into the ring, he stretched, ready to get this done and over with.
Not too far behind Kendrick was his opponent, a scrawny-looking, frail guy with big glasses on. This was applicant 2468, Lucas. He slowly walked up to the ring, seeming nervous, as he carried his rental weapon, a pole-arm. When he made his way into the ring, like all the others, both Lucas and Kendrick stood across from each other. While Kendrick stared his opponent down with eyes sharply focused on winning today, Lucas didn't do the same. The young man's knees were shaking, almost as bad as Jake's. He never once looked Kendrick in the eyes. He just kept shifting them back and forth, looking at anything and everything but the man standing before him.
Seeing this made Kendrick scoff. "Little piss ant," he thought, as he grabbed the handle of his sword. With the two applicants now ready, T.K. loudly said, "Ok, the fifth round of phase 3 will now begin." Not even a second later after T.K. had announced the beginning of the fifth round, Kendrick pulled his blade's handle, swinging the massive broadsword from around his shoulder, already putting his blade into a swing motion. "I'll wrap this up with just one swing," he thought, as his sword barreled towards his opponent.
And after a moment, the sword crashed hard, destroying part of the new ring when it landed. When it did, T.K. couldn't help but roll his eyes as he thought, "Why do I even bother?" Kendrick's blade collided with the ground, but it didn't collide with Lucas. He had dodged it. Kendrick was surprised, but he didn't let the shock show on his face. He shifted his eyes, then landing on his target standing a few inches away to his left. "So, he dodged my attack at the last minute, ugh," Kendrick thought. Kendrick didn't waste any more time thinking. He charged at the frail-looking applicant.
When he came storming at him, Lucas seemed to jump and shiver slightly out of fear. Seeing this, Kendrick thought, "The dodge must have been a fluke." His grip on his sword tightened, then he swung his massive blade at Lucas. But again, the massive blade connected with nothing. It seemed even though he was helpless and frail-looking, still, Lucas dodged the attack. Kendrick had swung his broadsword horizontally, so to dodge the attack, Lucas ducked under Kendrick's sword. As his sword was still in a swinging motion, Kendrick looked down to keep his eyes on Lucas.
And what he saw was Lucas getting ready to thrust his pole-arm forward. But Kendrick's eyes caught a glimpse of something else, but he didn't have time to process it as Lucas was thrusting his weapon forward. Even while in his current position, Kendrick was still able to evade the incoming attack. He moved his head out of the way fast, then with all his strength, he pulled his sword up, getting it ready for another attack. Seeing this, Lucas got ready himself, but not to attack, but to dodge.
As Kendrick was swinging his broadsword down, Lucas attempted to jump backwards. Then he noticed something. He couldn't move. When he angled to look at what was halting his movements, he saw Kendrick's combat boot pressed hard on his foot. Seeing this made Lucas's eyes go wide as his mind raced. "When did he… do this? When he dodged my attack, I…. I didn't even feel it." Lucas was spacing out, caught completely off guard by Kendrick's sneaky maneuver, but he had to force himself to pay attention because he wasn't in the position to not be focused, especially not while Kendrick was swinging his massive sword down right at him with no way to escape.
Lucas brought his pole-arm up to block the blonde-haired young man's strike in just the nick of time. The giant broadsword collided with the defending pole-arm. Lucas felt relief that his weapon stopped the attack, but his relief would be replaced with worry. With Kendrick clashing into him, Lucas understood that he was strong. So strong that not even a second into them colliding, Lucas felt as if both his arms were about to snap like toothpicks. Lucas's cheeks puffed up as he tried to hold back his opponent, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't challenge him with his own strength.
So, he came up with a new plan fast. Lucas decided to use his leg that was being held down by Kendrick's heavy boot and kick him in the leg. Lucas thought if he gave Kendrick a strong enough kick, the blow would throw him off his balance and allow him some distance to catch his breath. But what Lucas intended didn't happen. The scrawny-looking applicant kicked Kendrick's leg as hard as he could, but the one that was thrown off, the one that was injured, was Lucas. Not only did Lucas's kick do nothing to his opponent, Kendrick didn't move an inch, but it also sent a sharp pain up Lucas's leg.
His face scrunched up in pain as he thought, "What is he made of?" Kendrick proceeded to push his blade down more and more, and Lucas was barely holding on by a thread. He had to do something. He had to get this man off him. As Lucas was struggling, he lifted his head up, and for a brief moment, he and Kendrick made eye contact. And when they did, Kendrick caught a glimpse of what he saw before.
Then, in a blink of an eye, Lucas managed to spin his pole-arm so fast that it forced Kendrick's blade back. Now having an opening, the timid young man thrusted his pole-arm towards his opponent, aiming to pierce Kendrick's neck. But once again, Kendrick evaded the attack. He moved his head out of the way, the pole-arm cutting his cheek as he did.
Seeing that his attack missed, Lucas was preparing to reposition his weapon and try again. But he never got the chance to. Before Lucas could pull his weapon back, his pole-arm was being grabbed by Kendrick. The blonde-haired young man had released his left hand from his sword and decided to grab Lucas's weapon. And this surprised Lucas, and not because Kendrick was grabbing his weapon. No, it was because he couldn't move it. He couldn't free his weapon from his opponent's grasp, no matter how hard he pulled. Lucas's weapon wouldn't budge an inch.
"How the hell is he doing this?" he thought, "And with only a single hand? Who is this guy?" Lucas struggled, but not for long. As he felt the sensation of himself being pulled forward, he was with his left hand. Kendrick pulled the pole-arm closer to him, and by extension, he pulled Lucas to him as well. As he pulled his opponent closer with his left arm, with his right, Kendrick lifted his sword, ready to bring it down fast like lightning.
"Oh shit," was all Lucas could think as he watched Kendrick with one hand swing his sword down. One attack, one attack is all Kendrick needed to end this battle. And seeing the large blade heading straight for him, Lucas knew this to be true. He had to do something. He had to think of something fast, or it'd be over in an instant.
As the sword was seconds away from splitting Lucas in half, as it did, Lucas gritted his teeth as he turned his pole-arm. When he did, his weapon seemed to split in two. One half was still held tight in the left hand of Kendrick, but the other was in Lucas's. When the half Lucas had was detached from its other half, it revealed a hidden blade. Kendrick was shocked when he saw it.
"That's not a rental blade," he thought as Lucas ducked under his swing, charging at him. As he was gearing up his attack, Lucas thought to himself, "I didn't intend on using this so soon, but you gave me no choice." As he thought these words, Lucas's face morphed from the look of the soft, timid boy he had been portraying this whole time to that of a psycho. It was only for an instant, then it went back to the façade he was wearing.
But for a quick second, Kendrick saw Lucas smile ear to ear like a madman. As the madman took another step closer, he swung his arm horizontally, then slashed Kendrick across the chest. It was the first real decisive blow in this match. But unlike the previous matches, Jake wasn't captivated by them. He wasn't watching in awe. In fact, he wasn't watching at all. All he could do was tremble as he thought to himself, "I'm next, I'm next, I'm next, I'm next."