'He might be strong, but he is not going to beat ten of us in just under half an hour! ' Screams the ten warriors inwardly as all of them burst with blazing battle intent.
DING! With the sound of a small coin-shaped item hitting a bell, the test officially starts. Without hesitation, Leon immediately transforms into his battle form, covered in his armour and a new soul blessing that Cleo saved just for him.
A Soul Blessing from a peak advanced lifeform called Wolfman, this species mostly drops a weapon type Soul Blessing, either a dagger or a sword, but the one that they had killed was a mutant.
The Wolfman transformation does not increase the physical strength of its users that much, but their agility would have a drastic improvement, including their reaction speed.
BAM! One warrior was immediately knocked out by him, and instantly the remaining warriors frozen. Unfortunately, this was a grave mistake on their side. Leon grabs his sword and spins, creating a sharp wind that flies around him.
The warriors are veterans; they quickly reacted and snapped out of their shock. They blocked the sharp wind, but their opponent would not pass out such a great opportunity to attack.
The burly warrior raises his head, only to see Leon's sword descending on him. Fortunately for him, this was only a test, and Leon is only equipped with a thick ironwood sword.
ARGH! He roars as his body expands, becoming a giant bull. The sword still hits him, but with his current body, he manages to tank the attack without fainting.
Cleo immediately writes his name on a piece of paper. If their team does not pass this test, he is willing to give him a second chance.
Leon spins once again, creating a barrage of attacks that beat up the transformed warrior. Even with his thick muscles, he was screaming in pain.
"Quick! Save him!" Roars Elcio. According to his young master, they can give advice to groups that they like. He might not be in favour of this group, but they are still people chosen by him and his associates. If they fail this early and with their pathetic performance, this would make them look bad in front of his master.
The eight snap back and immediately attack Leon; the latter stops his onslaught, retreating with graceful steps, dodging every attack thrown at him. Two warriors went to check on their teammates, while the remaining ones surrounded Leon.
Each one of them transforms into their favourite Soul Blessings: an ape, a winged person, a crocodile, and a lion. The other two do not have any transformation-type Soul Blessings, but they did summon their weapons.
*Sigh* "Leon, put your sword down; it seems that these group of warriors are rather disappointing." As his words descended, the entire place became silent. Leon returned his sword to his waist as he spread his sharp claws, ready to fight his opponents barehanded.
The warriors were instantly enraged, but they knew that they could not deny what their idol had said; their performance was truly embarrassing.
The transformed warriors change with killing intent. Leon dodges the sword of the monkey wand and steps into his zone, pressing into his chest.
BANG! He punches his liver, causing him to crumble in pain. He grabs his hands and uses his body as a weapon, slamming it on the incoming lion warrior. The blow knocks the monkey warrior out of consciousness.
SKREE! The winged warrior uses some sort of sound attack; Cleo can see that this was brought about by his technique and not his soul blessing.
Unfortunately for him, unless it is a sonic attack, this type of attack is quite useless to both him and Leon. Just like he predicted, Leon uses the crocodile warrior's body to jump into the sky.
BAM! For the first time in this battle, someone managed to hit Leon. Cleo quickly recorded the name of the winged warrior; he was an expert in air battle, easily and freely dodging Leon's attack and kicking back to the mouth of the crocodile.
Leon spins mid-air, dodging the two flying daggers thrown at him. He grabs them before they can fly away and throws them to the warrior wielding a sword. The mouth of the crocodile warrior is still hungrily waiting for him to descend.
He grabs the snout and kicks his face, closing the mouth with brute force. Cleo looks at Elcio, who was clenching hard. It seems that he is using the test to envision himself fighting against either Leon or the test takers.
Leon senses something and quickly grabs the tail of the crocodile warrior and swings him in a certain direction. Multiple arrows were shot towards him, but they were blocked by the body of his opponent.
Those that are watching the battle cannot help but take in a deep breath with such brutality. The crocodile warrior was by no means small, but he still lifted it with ease and even used the body of his opponent as his shield.
BAM! He then uses a palm attack, blowing the crocodile warrior towards his own teammate, Cleo, watching everything, inwardly elated with his pet's growth. Not only does he learn sword techniques, but he is also learning how to fight using just his body.
'D*mn! I pity those ten.' Says a warrior who defeated a flare guard. He is one of the elites of the Oriend Family, but because of his situation, he was not accepted into any of the supernatural warrior groups. Now that he is presented with an opportunity to join such an aspiring person, he immediately takes it.
"Sir Wind Sword, Lord Miracle Child is calling you to sit beside him." Suddenly, one of the flare guards informed him about something shocking; he was stunned. He nervously looked at Cleo, but the latter was not looking at him.
With tense nerves, he sits besides Cleo; seeing that he is nervous, the latter smiles and says.
"You do not need to be nervous; I am not some man eating a monster; I just called you here to ask you about your assessment of my friend."
He nods his head and watches the battle between Leon and the test takers with more focus. After a while, he takes a deep breath and says it in a trembling voice.
"Amazing! To think that he is actually improving as the fight goes on—such shocking improvement!"
"As expected of you, when I read your file, I am impressed with your personality and drive to grow stronger. The people around me think that Leon is already this strong, but they do not realise that he is actually growing stronger as the fight goes on. I pity the groups that are going to be tested afterwards." He smiles as he continues to watch the battle, or more accurately, the beatdown.
Elcio was shocked when he heard what his master had said; so did Iron Captain, the latter,.
"Sir Immortal's potential is truly shocking! To think that he would only continue to improve with each fight, even I cannot help but feel envious."
Cleo shakes his head.
"You should know that he was full of disabilities during his early journey; the way he battles is crude because of his missing senses; he makes up for it by honing his senses to a shocking level, but he still fights like it was his last."
Everyone knows this; that is why they call Leon immortal because of the way he battles, which does not have any regard for his wellbeing.
"Currently, he is fighting individuals that he considers not enemies; for the first time in his existence, he does not need to throw his life away, nor does he see his worth as comparable to that of trash. With all of his experience in the past, he is gaining insight as the battle goes on; it is no longer crude and suicidal but precise and elegant." He makes up some stories here and there, but the majority of what he said was true.
"So that is why, to think that Sir Immortal would deem his life as worthless, I cannot help but be saddened by his woes." Clenching his fist, Iron Captain swears that he will not let Leon carry all the burden in their group.
"Unfortunately, the test takers are too weak for him to train his swordsmanship." Cleo sighs as he feels that it was a bit of a waste not being able to use this opportunity to hone his pet's second greatest ability, his swordsmanship.
"Well, if we let Sir Immortal use his sword, the test is no longer possible for our candidates to pass," Elcio quickly said.
Cleo nods his head in agreement.
"Elcio, I want you to reduce the time required for passing by ten minutes; with the rate of Leon's improvement, he will be too much for our candidates."
In the field, Leon's attack becomes more gentle, but this does not mean the power behind them has lessened; it's just that his movements and combos have become smoother, and he can retreat much faster, dodging the attacks thrown at him and weaving through a combined assault.
Finally, after ten minutes passed by, he managed to grab the leg of the winged warrior. The latter was starting to get tired, and he used this opportunity to attack him. With a great pull, he smashed him with the injured bull warrior.