Sasha took a step towards shawn and immediately icy energy began to be released from every pore on her body, the cold air spread round and even Shawn who was more than prepared to face the juniors couldn't help but be caught of guard, but he regained his bearings just immediately.
Hah!
Sasha gave a small war cry as she sent two icicles flying towards Shawn which the latter parried away with relative ease as he prepared to welcome more, two ice sword's congealed into her hands while her icicle projectiles kept flying towards him.
Shawn refused to keep being on the receiving end this time and suddenly took a step forward and appeared behind Sasha holding her by the neck.
"That's enough, you passed already"
He gave his judgement without waiting for master young this time so he could regain his once stolen dignity, although he wanted to vent on Sasha but he couldn't bring his heart to harm the little lady.
'there are still some little runts to vent on'. He said to himself while holding back a grin as his eyes drifted to the remaining 3 boys and 2 girls. His eyes locking with Ryu's for a moment and he couldn't help but shudder.
' what the ….???!!!'
He could swear that Ryu was salivating while 'looking' at him but as he blinked to get clarity all he saw was a little boy staring towards the ring quietly. There wasn't any sign of battle eagerness or anxiousness, all he saw on the blind boy's face was interest like a little kid seeing something for the first time. This made his lungs tighten for a bit and he couldn't help but scan Ryu all over again.
" You …come over!," He pointed towards Ryu not letting the next candidate get on stage. At this point even master young sensed something was wrong and looked towards the arena.
Ryu walked towards the arena quite calmly, but he could feel his blood rushing all over with excitement, he could feel his heart pumping, but he was also a bit disappointed that this wasn't a real battle.
''...Hmm, there was no rule about killing right??....'. He thought to himself as he climbed the arena, but immediately the thought formed in his head , he froze.
'why did I think that?...why will I think that?...' he shivered a bit, he didn't know what he had become that even killing became like a normal routine for him, he had already given himself the excuse about the killings he did over a week ago that he was just possessed at the time and now that he is back to his nature he wouldn't do that again except it was nessecary, but now he didn't expect the thought to come so simple like he was thinking of what cloth to put on or what food to eat for lunch.
Shawn was stunned, he realised that maybe he was just hallucinating at the time because someone that 'looked' at him like a meal wouldn't be shivering the moment he got close, he immediately relaxed his tensed muscles but before he could say a word …
"If you have a weapon please take it out..". Ryu said in a very gentle voice making Shawn go tense again, it was now he also seemed to notice that Ryu was blindfolded.
'he might be blind or not either way the blindfold is still there which means he isn't using his eyes, then what is this?' his body trembled a bit as he got a bad feeling about Ryu, however he, an inner disciple,how did he become wary of a newbie who hadn't been admitted yet? . He threw caution to the back of his head and scoffed.
" Quite arrogant, that might be a bad thing and this senior brother is going to let you know why, now bring out your weapon" .
He said with a stern voice like an adult reprimanding a child but he didn't notice any change from Ryu except from the shivering had stopped to an eerie calm.
Ryu stood for a while before shaking his head then he took a step forward, the moment he did alarm bells began ringing in Shawn's head and he knew if he didn't defend immediately that would mean forfeiting his life. A golden staff appeared in his hand immediately as he placed it vertically beside his head just in time for a loud ' clank!!!' to be heard, the force behind the impact alone sent him skidding backwards.
Master young squinted his eyes , at this point he knew he had to stop the test from continuing but he also wanted to see how far this would go and Shawn who could also call the test to an end just took a hit to his pride when he finally thought he could regain it .
Shawn got into a staff stance as he recovered from the shock quite quickly. Meanwhile Ryu brought his hand up towards his face, if he wasn't blindfolded one might say he was staring at it, but even so it seemed like that was exactly what he was doing. He shook his head again and it was hard to tell what he was thinking, but the next moment he vanished again with astonishing speed and appeared across the platform almost immediately leaving behind a 'whoosh' sound.
BANG! BANG!! BANG !!!
His foot connected with Shawn's staff again and again as the flashed across the platform, the whole place vibrating and shaking, even the fainted Finral stood up now and couldn't stop his jaws from hitting the floor. Who would have thought that innocent looking blind boy was so dangerous?
At this point Ryu was in his own world, this was the first time he was facing such resistance in a fight, he switched from Finral's stance that could only be called a 'crutching Tiger' to Ginna's unpredictable moves to Sasha's strategic moves, he advanced and retreated and switched in unnatural ways that if a normal person did, the person will be dead already by the rebound of their own attack.
The more they clashed the more suffocating it became for Shawn and he couldn't take it anymore.
HAAA!!!
A burst of spiritual energy boomed from him in attempt to push Ryu off the platform but the latter just phased through all of it like he was transparent and the next thing that came in sight was an arm that was shaved off cleanly from the shoulder.
Arrghhhh!!!!
The pain took over Shawn's brain as he couldn't hold back a blood cuddled shriek.
Master Young's face darkened immediately as he made a move. He appeared behind Shawn and put his hand in front of his throat just in time for a blade like claw to collide with his palm, still Shawn wasn't unscathed, his lower jaw was ripped by the after shock of the attack and he passed out immediately from pain.
"That's enough" Master Young said with a serious voice while Ryu skidded over to the other end of the platform, he was now in a struggle of self control. Beads of sweat could be seen forming on his face and his fist clenched in struggle, all this didn't escape master Young's senses but he also didn't understand what was going on.
After some seconds Ryu hopped of the stage and went to another corner refusing to face the platform, one might think he regretted his actions but that couldn't be more far from the truth, his senses were screaming at him to devour, but what left some sanity in him was his mother's words that told him to never let anyone know what he really is else he wouldn't know how he died.
The whole hall went silent for what seemed like forever, till master young broke the silence.
"The test has come to an end , you all have passed. Ryu you will come with me"
Ryu sighed, he had really gone far but there was nothing he could do.
Ginna stared towards the direction he just left with master young who carried his inner disciple on his shoulder while leaving. She saw everything that happened in the fight, it could be said that among the recruits her battle sense was the best and she couldn't help but marvel at the way Ryu merged all their moves together to form something lethal.
Before they could start moving, Finral gave a cough to draw the attention to himself and with a swollen cheek he started.
"Okay okay guys, before we move, I'll like to say something, I've always fantasied about ' the baddass squad' of the academies and I wished to be a member so I'm calling for my fellow men and women of culture to assemble with me, since we are of the same batch let's make our own team this moment, you guys saw that badass dude? That was my buddy…..". He blabbered away and when he was finally done he saw that it was only the twins and Ginna that was left with him. The other two had left, who wanted to be iin cohort with a crazy psycho?
Finral smiled wryly and walked towards the three as they all re-introduced themselves.
Sasha was very interested in Ryu's movement, the way he threw feints and withdrawed and advanced it was fascinating to her, she wouldn't believe that she was the one who taught him those tricky moves. As for Zasha, she had a blazing gaze that was burning with flames which added a few red shades in her flowing white hair,her blood boiled after watching the fight and weird enough she wanted to have a fight with Ryu. This twins could be said to be the polar opposite of each other, one calm and scheming while the other hot and fierce.
And it could be said that Master Young unintentionally saved Shawn from another bout of struggle because another maniac was waiting to jump into the arena immediately Ryu got down and that was why she chose to join Finral's little quest of creating the most badass squad of the academy. She couldn't wait to cross blades with Ryu, she could resonate with the battle craving that he had.
As for Ryu he was in a stare down with master young this moment in an isolated corner of the academy.