I clutched my head with two of my handd, blood poured out of every orifice. As my body underwent changes on a genetic level, the extra set of arms on my torso began to turn into a pile of mushy flesh as they fell to the ground.
I fell to my knees, unable to fully regenerate as every part of me began to slowly change. My veins popped and pressed against my skin, causing it to tear at some places. As I clutched my face, I began to cause some parts of my skull to crack under the immense pressure I was putting it under along with the burden of adaptation.
My body was constantly being renewed as it broke itself down, but I never fully healed, my brain was being torn apart and recreated simultaneously.
A random swordsman approached me, and attempted to slice my neck. However, my body was constantly regenerating, their sword sliced the nape of my neck, yet my rapidly regenerating skin stopped the blade from cutting any further.
"Don't let him grab a sword!"
One of the two sisters from earlier yelled, but it was too late. I had grabbed the swordsman by his legs before throwing him. Then, my hands wrapped around the hilt of the sword embedded in my skin.
Drawing it from my own neck, I held onto it, my skin dug into the sword and was simultaneously healed, creating a grip that had almost no way of being undone.
Blood kept pouring from my body, but the pain was now bearable. I felt like I was back to normal now.
'No. I feel.. better than before.'
"Damn it.. 'they' warned us not to let this beast get a hold of a sword, any other weapon would've been fine. But really, a sword?"
I honestly had no idea why they feared the idea of me using a sword so much, but there was no reason to care. All I had to do was win.
Deactivating my Arcane Healing once the bleeding had subsided, I activated my Weapon Enhancement.
My senses expanded, my body began to take in a greater amount of information, my mind surged with knowledge of my surroundings as my heart began to pump blood around my body quicker and quicker.
Taking a breath, I swung my sword at the one closest to me, the long haired blonde woman from earlier. She blocked my blade with her armoured forearms, but it was clear that she was feeling my blows.
'Is it cause I have a sword? It's weird, it isn't a sword I'm used to, but it feels the same as any other.'
I swung my sword over and over, increasing my speed and aiming for different parts of her body, slowly but surely getting through her armour and cutting her flesh. Blood was drawn and it splattered across the ground as my onslaught continued.
Then, I could almost see someone behind me without looking in that direction. It was like having eyes in the back of my head.
In fact, this feeling had started the moment I held onto a sword. My senses had become significantly more acute the instant I had begun to wield a blade.
The feeling was weird, it was as if all of my senses had sort of linked up. Using sound and smell, I could see without my eyes, using my sight and feeling I could hear and so on and so forth.
My senses were working together more than they would for an ordinary person by an incredible margin. It felt as if I was bordering on omniscience.
This was the result of my adaptation, and it seemed to be intimately tied with the use of a sword. I didn't really understand why, but it was probably something psychological rather than biological.
'Let's call this Sword Sense.'
As the short haired sister rapidly approached me, aiming for my back, I stopped my attack on the long haired sister and turned around, before relaxing all the muscles in my body.
As the momentum carried my body forward, and towards the one who was attempting to sneak up on me, I took a step forward and thrust my sword forward with all my might.
My tip of my sword made contact with her stomach, immediately causing the left part of torso to explode. Blood and organs went in all directions, covering me in her insides.
'Weird. I know I hit her hard, but that shouldn't have happened. She should be much tougher than that. That explains why she made sure to never get hit.'
As I turned around to face the other sister, I noticed she was kneeling. Her armour was covering her torso, but I could see blood seeping from it. Although I had only hit one of the sisters, it looked as if I had hit both with the same move, in the same place.
As I prepared to make my next move, the two were whisked away by a shadowy figure. They had probably been deemed unable to fight by the proctors.
The rest of the fighters left were weak, and so taking a breath, I located them using my Sword Sense to locate them. I leapt into the air and propelled myself towards them, using platforms of blood to direct my movement. I cut them down one by one, needing only a few blows at most. Each one was weaker than the last, and most of them were archers who were there to offer supporting fire, rather than brawlers.
And so, the examiners took them away nearly immediately.
As I prepared to move to a different location via flight, I felt another presence approach.
'Again? This is getting a bit odd. It's almost like a coordinated attack.'
"And after they had been told to make sure you didn't grab a sword, they let it happen. We witnessed your swordplay back in the entrance exam, and how its evolved throughout the combat classes. Though you're certainly harder to defeat when you have your regeneration available, we wanted to avoid unexpected situations that your wielding a sword could bring about."
Then, a figure arose from the ground, seemingly phasing through matter itself.
"Now that it's just us two, let's have a duel, my dear Knight."
I charged at the man immediately, using the same move I had just used. I relaxed all the muscles in my body and let the momentum propel me forward before thrusting my sword forward, aiming for his stomach.
My blade went straight through him.
Yet he did not bleed.