Bruce had unsheathed his large sword, a heavy aura emanating from him as he gazed at the approaching demon.
It had a heedless and skinned human-like torso, but even though it was skinned it didn't bleed.
Going lower this flashy torso seemed to be connected to a shell-like midsection that held its six crab-like legs together.
Connected to its torso were two reptilian-looking long arms that had unnaturally large hammer-like fists.
And from its back, you could see two skinned arms much shorter than the main ones as they flapped around like some sort of failed product.
"It has twenty layers, Bruce, like you" a voice sounded out its tone laced with concern.
It was the silver-eyed girl, Lila, and at this moment a rarely seen look of seriousness could be seen on her face.
The rest of the team looked concerned as well, but Bruce didn't seem to care, instead, he braced himself as the demon approached.
"Are you going to fight that thing?" Felix's voice sounded out his gaze grim as he added, "That demon is too-"
Before he could finish someone put a hand on his shoulder.
Looking back, Felix noticed a black girl with pinkish braids that fell to her waist, in Bruce group there were two black girls, and she was one of them, her name was Eloise and she was one of the people who left Felix in a constant state of curiosity, meaning that he didn't know what her Contract was.
Currently, Eloise was shaking her head instructing Felix not to speak any further, she knew that once Bruce was determined, there was nothing anyone could do to stop him.
Seeing the approaching demon the group looked at one another and took a few steps back, it was obvious that they wouldn't be joining this fight, they weren't strong enough.
"Can Bruce really win?" Serena asked, her voice laced with nervousness as she spectated.
At that moment the demon had already reached Bruce.
"Boom!"
The demon attacked, its hammer-like fist tearing through the air, but Bruce wasn't stationary, he flung his sword with equal ferocity, his muscles rippling with raw power.
"Clang!"
A collision could be heard as sparks flew, the demon recoiled, and the wind scattered, sending a ring of dust everywhere.
The demon startled by the strength of its prey let out an abysmal screech, but Bruce was unbothered.
"Splat!"
"You're not as strong as I thought you were," Bruce said as he spat at the corner, irritated by the smell of dry dust that permeated the air.
In a second he swung his blade again, the air tearing as he closed in on the demon.
But the demon fought back, since it couldn't smash its prey to death there were other options, quickly it raised its two dysfunctional arms and in a second it fired a multitude of bone spikes from the holes in its palm.
"Thalia!"
Bruce suddenly yelled as he deflected the incoming spikes, his voice finally showing hints of strain.
"Fuck," a female voice tinged with unwillingness could be heard.
In response to Bruce's call, Thalia, the brown-haired girl with a blindfold cursed as she took off her headphones and focused on her sense of hearing.
Although she couldn't see, the sounds that bounced off solid objects gave her a rough but accurate position of where everything was including the bone spikes.
In the next moment, the bone spikes froze in mid-air, as though hindered by some kind of external force.
"Telekinesis," Felix thought as he glanced at Thalia who currently stretched her hand in the direction of the spikes.
In that moment Felix also noticed that Thalia's face was scrunched up as her other hand instinctively tried to cover up her ears.
It seemed that the surrounding sounds caused her no small amount of discomfort.
Meanwhile, Bruce, undisturbed by the spikes swung his blade again, his every action coated with a reddish aura caused the demon even more pain.
"Crack!"
A strange sound resounded as Bruce's sword chipped off a large portion of one of the demon's crab-like legs.
Feeling the pain the demon let out another abysmal scream, and in the next moment it continuously swung its fists at Bruce at a much faster rate than before.
"Clang! Clang!"
Continuous clanging could be heard as Bruce's attacks collided with the demon's hammer-like fists, their figures competing in a contest of raw power.
"Ah!"
Bruce suddenly let out a short groan as he attacked, but that didn't slow him down.
This momentary show of weakness might have been subtle, but it didn't escape Lila's eyes.
"Bruce won't be able to hold on for much longer," Lila said as she turned to the people behind her.
"I don't know, he seems ok to me," Ethan muttered with an excited expression on his, face. The amount of strength Bruce was exhibiting left him in total awe.
"If you think Bruce is winning then you're a fool," Arlet suddenly spoke her voice dripping with disdain as she berated Ethan, "Do you have a death wish fighting a battle of attrition against a demon, as long as there Is hell energy they will always recover."
"But Bruce seems to have the advantage," Ethan retorted not willing to back down.
"Bruce's stamina isn't unlimited, he'll tire himself out sooner or later," an unfamiliar voice darted in.
Looking toward the source of this voice one would notice a dark-haired girl with dark hair and eyes, she was the second black person in the group and her name was Blessing.
"Blessing do you think you can curse this demon?" Arlet suddenly asked, ignoring Ethan.
Hearing Arlet's question, Blessing stroked her chin in thought, "With the demon distracted I can, but it won't have much of an effect, plus, I'll lose all my teeth so I won't be able to curse anything else for a few days."
"Do it!" Lila suddenly spoke before darting in, "Bruce's layers are getting weaker, he'll lose if we don't interfere."
"Ok, I'll do it," Blessing said as she stared intently at the demon in the distance.
"Var!"
An unfamiliar sound escaped her lips, prompting Felix to take a look at the demonic being expecting something spectacular to happen.
"Splat!"
Blessing on the other hand spat on the ground as a mouthful of white seeds escaped her mouth, looking even closer one would notice that there were her teeth.
"It seems that your curse was ineffective," Felix quipped as he watched Blessing wipe her mouth.
Blessing on the other hand just raised a finger as she said, in a slightly inaudible voice "Watch and let it settle."
Looking towards the battle the group witnessed something strange, strangely the demon seemed to misstep as it suddenly lost its balance and tripped.
A demon with a threat level of twenty, that had six legs which served the purpose of keeping it steady tripped in the middle of a battle.
"Bang!"
Bruce backed off as the demon hit the ground triggering a cloud of dust.
He didn't let this opportunity pass through, at this moment the demon's unreachable torso was suddenly within reach.
"Sulphur!"
Bruce yelled as he leaped into the air, and in one smooth motion "Slash!"
Bruce struck the demon's abdomen drawing blood for the first time.
"Screech!"
The demon let out another screech as black blood gushed out like a fountain from the freshly inflicted wound.
"Slash!"
The sound of flesh tearing could be heard as Bruce struck again, but he didn't stop there, he kept on striking the demon, inflicting even more life-threatening wounds on it, and before long it stopped moving.
Felix watched with utter astonishment as the demon that had caused them so many problems was taken care of just like that.
He wasn't the only one thought, Serena, Ethan, and David were also in awe of Bruce's strength.
Bruce's teammates on the other hand looked more relieved than happy.
"Bruce are you ok," a voice tinged with worry sounded out, it was Lila, and by now she had already run up to Bruce who was cleaning his sword on the demon's dead body.
"I'm ok, do I look injured to you?" Bruce's voice sounded out.
"You're energy isn't unlimited Bruce, even though you don't have a price to pay, you still need some time to recover." Arlet's voice sounded out.
Hearing Arlet speak, Bruce said, "Well, thanks to you guys I'm not injured so it's a win-win."
Saying that he turned his head to the blindfolded girl Thalia, "Did you hear anyone?"
"No I didn't They were most likely swallowed up by the uncontrollable currents in the distance," Thalia replied.
"Hu," Bruce let out a breath as he gazed at the direction of the collapse.
"You aren't planning on going after them are you?" Thalia asked before darting in, "I know for a fact that you're not strong enough to survive in there."
"Don't worry I'm not thinking of going in, I think it's about time we leave this place," Bruce said.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS!"
The group chanted simultaneously almost as though they had heard something shocking.
"Aren't you sad about your friend's death?" Lilia asked.
"Who told you Aiden is dead?" Bruce said with a small smile before adding, "I have a gut feeling that I'll see Aiden again, but right now, we have to get going."
Saying this Bruce sheathed his sword and prepared to leave.
"What about these guys," Arlet suddenly asked before darting in, "since we're no longer looking for Aiden we don't really need them anymore."
Hearing that the group was suddenly enveloped in strange silence. Arlet had brought up a topic that the rest of the group members didn't talk about.
Since the beginning of their test, Bruce had been focused on finding Aiden and as a result, he kept anyone related to him on the team.
He did this because he didn't want to let Aiden's teammates die just like that, what would he tell Aiden when they finally met?
Now that Aiden was dead, they had no use, that's right, the rest of the group believed that Aiden was dead, he couldn't possibly have survived such an accident.
Everyone was quiet as they waited for Bruce's decision. As this concerned their fates, Serena, Ethan, and David all looked nervous, only Felix managed to maintain his composure to some extent.
"We'll keep them since we already took them in, there's no need to abandon them, what do you guys think?" Bruce said.
With Bruce's answer, Felix and his team felt a wave of relief wash over them, but they weren't out of the waters yet.
Bruce's teammates looked at one another and after a round of discussions agreed to Bruce's suggestion.
With his teammate's approval, Bruce turned to Felix's group, a serious look in his eyes, as he said in a mouthful voice.
"Let's get acquainted, first up, Lila, number 300. Her Contract lets her see strengths but gifts her a childish demeanor. Next, Blessing, number 299. She causes bad luck, losing a tooth with each use. Finley, number 298, poisons everything he touches hence, the gloves. Noah, the brown-eyed guy in the grass hat, increased speed, strength, and reaction, but weakness follows."
Pausing a bit Bruce pointed at a blue-eyed girl with a grass hat, "that's Arlet, number 296, excels in escape speed but needs constant water to maintain abilities. Eloise, number 294, summons a demon, falling asleep afterward. Thalia, number 291, you must have figured it out by now, telekinesis for blindness. As for me, number 290, I inherit my demon's physical prowess without paying a price."
Pausing somberly, he mentioned, "As for the rest of our teammates? They're dead."