Darren always knew that he was good. He was worthy of enrolling in the Royal Academy. He had spent his entire life learning his family's swordsmanship skills. He had honed his body to become a master swordsman. He even had a sword which cost more money than a couple of chariots, made by expert blacksmiths, who had spent years crafting it. Down to the decorations, his iron sword was perfect, its sheath alone costing more than a couple of houses in small villages. He knew he would be one of the people to get into the academy.
The thing he did not understand was why there was no one searching for demons wherever he went. He was good, but not that good. He had seen the guy with the bone claws coming out of his knuckles gutting demons like a maniac while maintaining a calm face. He had seen that blue-haired girl flying around and slaughtering demons with her water attacks. No other contestant was to be seen in the regions where those two were, and they had taken over a large portion of the village as their territory. There was the girl with bandages, the guy who shot light beams out of his wooden staff, and that girl with the bow, all of whom deserved respect and would be comparable to him, yet they all stayed away from this place.
Did that mean that he was as powerful as the bone guy and that flying girl? Probably, although he could not be sure. But one thing was certain, he would be in the top five. The other kids were staying away from him because of that. He was way too skilled to be comparable to them. And after joining the Academy, he would train, develop his powers, and become the strongest knight, even stronger than the Dragon Knight, and then he would get paid so much, that he would make his father look poor, and buy a mansion in Rossenberg and move out of that rotten water city, Nevice. All he had to do was take out another nine demons, and he would even not have to participate in the next round.
Darren was busy thinking about this prospective future, not really paying attention to the roads. He knew the path he had to take to the nearest demon. It did not occur to him that the temperature was rising steadily. Darren took a turn and was face to face with a demon. He gripped the handle of his sword, and took and lunged forward, swinging his sword with quick, precise attacks. His sword, which was considered to be a modified rapier, cut through the air, puncturing through the thin creature's thick skin. As soon as it got injured, the demon leaped back and landed quite far away from him.
It was only then that Darren realized that it was getting hotter. Much hotter, hot enough to make him want to run inside and drink something cold. Darren looked at the demon while wiping away the sweat that was trickling into his eyes. The demon looked at him with a panicked expression, then turned around and started running. Darren threw his sword, aiming for the demon's back. He had trained in all forms of swordsmanship, including sword-throwing, after all.
The sword flew exactly how Darren wanted it to, and he was sure that it would strike its target in the desired spot. However, just then something else clashed with the sword, something moving so fast Darren could not see it. The sword pierced its calf muscles, and the demon shrieked in pain, clutching its injured leg and plucking out the weapon from it. There was a look on the demon's face that Darren despised for some reason, an expression of fear, pain and for some reason, peace, like death rescued the demon from something. He hated philosophy for exactly this reason. It made no sense to him, after all.
Darren was pleased with the results, even if it was not what he had anticipated. He charged forward while keeping his eye on the other streets, where he saw another person running up towards him. He could not make out his details, but it was clear to him that this person would not catch up to Darren. How could he face one of the best, who was destined to enter the Academy, when he could not fight off obesity?
As he walked forward, he noticed that his sword was lying on the ground, and there was no fresh blood on it. Puzzled, he picked up his pace and inspected the weapon in the demon's hand. It was not his sword. No, it was not even a sword. It seemed to be a one-sided axe, but smaller and more compact. It was made purely of steel, with no intricate designs. A single ruby, red as the morning sun, was placed right in the center of the weapon, in the exact spot where the handle and the blade merged, protruding on both sides. Blood which was supposed to be on his weapon, was on this instead. Darren understood it now. This weapon was the thing that blocked his attack and caused it to fail. Who dared to attack him, he had no idea.
Suddenly, a flash of bright golden light burst in front of him, binding him. He could hear some noises but had to close his eyes to retain them for future use. Something was moving fast. Very fast. When his eyes recovered and he felt like he had not glanced into the sun, he opened them to see a lean, slightly muscular blond kid, covered in sweat, holding the hatchet that was now in the demon's heart.
Before Darren could make out what just happened, or what he had said, bells rang, and everybody was silent. The third reminder, which indicated that they had five minutes left. He cursed with anger, unable to handle the fact that he had his kill stolen. He voiced his frustration by yelling at the newcomer.
'You..you stole my kill.'
The blond kid lowered his head, possibly because he was feeling sorry, or maybe just to piss him off. Darren continued to scold the guy, and when he was trying to leave, Darren held his hand.
'You, answer me, why did you steal my kill? Can't you see, everyone else, they are scared of me? There is barely anybody else here because they all ran away from me. I am equal to that bone boy, and that water girl.'
'Br... Aqu...'
The kid muttered, and now everything was slowly clicking in his head. The two of them were so strong it was not fair to pit them against the rest of the contestants. They might have even gotten twenty-five points by now. This kid somehow knew both of their names, and even seemed to know them personally. He was strong as well, very strong. Darren did not want to acknowledge it, but maybe he was the reason that no one remained in these regions. But that could not have been possible, since he had to ambush already injured demons to gain points. Darren was obviously stronger, he was sure of it.
'Yo stupid sword guy, be honest. This guy can turn into fire. Do you really think that demons would be more scared of you than him? If you do, I don't agree. By the way, there is a demon there, so if you guys are busy, can I kill it?'
The fat kid, the one whom Darren had seen running up when he was chasing the demon spoke out while panting. Darren was really angry now and started insulting him, ignoring the fire guy since he did not seem to be that much of an annoyance.
'You must be thinking that you are some kind of genius when in reality you were not smart enough to decide to lose weight. Why did you even decide to join up in this exam without a weapon or armor or skills or even a life for that matter? How many points do you have, two? I think that is too much for someone like you, considering that you could not even run from there to here, twenty meters, without getting tired.'
Darren went on and on, while the fire guy just stood there, acting like he could not comprehend what they were saying. Just then, they heard a scream. A really loud scream, filled with rage, coming from the bone guy's territory. Darren really did not want to know what had happened, but he was sure that it could not have been the bone guy. He was too calm, composed, and depressed for that unless that was just an act. The fire guy's face morphed, and they had a feeling that this scream was very familiar to this guy. The stuff of his nightmares, even.
Just then, however, the fat guy spoke back, replying to Darren's words with equal rage. He jumped up in the air above the three of them like a rubber ball, something Darren thought was impossible for someone as fat as him. His words were inaudible, but it seemed like he was showing the swordsman how quickly he could move. By bouncing as a ball, of course.
However, it turned out that this was all a ruse because, at the last moment, he stopped his aloof acting and pounced something, lashing out with punches from his thick arms that were so fat, it looked like he was wearing gauntlets. His punches lacked speed, yet they carried immense force due to his mass. There was something else as well, something that was not easy to spot. Each time he punched, his arms stretched like rubber, becoming less fat, and dealing more force than normal. When he was done, he dropped a demon's body, one that Darren had missed.
'See, I told you there was a demon there. And I was fast enough to reach it, faster than you.'
Darren was about to reply when the bell rang once again. Suddenly, they all were escorted back out of the village by the same teleportation magic. Darren turned his head to see that around him was the girl with the bandaged hand, the fat guy, and the fire guy who stole his kill.
The fire guy seemed to be having an internal discussion, which was visible by the fact that the temperature was constantly rising and dropping. A lot of the other contestants were heavily injured by claw marks, and judging from the bone guy, Br's scream, he was not sure if it was caused by the demons or by the claw-wielding human monster. Dusan Sinclair Rubeus then appeared out of nowhere, flying like the water girl, Aqu. He spoke with a grand, booming voice that seemed happy, overjoyed even. Like he was extremely satisfied with the results.
'I am sure I will get more kills than you, moron.'
The fat guy told him, but Darren did not bother with him. He had to wait for a while, it seemed. He was certain that he would receive third, which was enough for him. He intently stared at the Tower Master as he cleared his throat and spoke.
'Good work children. And now, allow me to introduce to you, the top 8 candidates who will proceed to the next round. And half of them will become students of our prestigious academy.'
He then opened a scroll and took a deep breath.