Boom!

... Z continued to make his way forward, finding the room that the student before him had found before, he stuck his finger into the barrel and brought it up towards his nose. Smelling it, he gave a wide smile before he started to move the barrels. 

---

In the control room, the chief examiner watching the entire situation was dumbfounded. 

"What is he doing? Why hasn't he used his manifest? Why is he moving the barrels?."

"I'm not sure boss, he seems like a peculiar kid, but this tactic doesn't seem effective. I think he's using the barrels to block the door? So when he engages the Kings guard, the soldiers won't be able to come in?"

"That seems feasible. But how would a few barrels stop so many soldiers, he has to be joking."

---

Z cleared out the rest of the other rooms as well as he got himself ready taking deep breaths before pushing open the door to the king. 

As he walked into the door he extended both his arms to the side throwing a piece of 8 each killing the 2 soldiers immediately. 

He turned around and closed the door, using a piece of 8 to jam it shut so the door wouldn't open at all. There Z stood facing off with the king that was smiling ear to ear as if beckoning Z to come forward to face off with him. 

Z took a few steps forward as a black orb came from behind the king once again, this time taking the form of a large male. The guard charged forward and did a full force shoulder thrust towards Z knocking him back a couple of steps, just before Z turned around and gave him a kick. 

The AI had determined that Z had a strength augment manifest and decided that the best way to go about combating him was to use another strength augment to tackle him head-on. Which was what he did. Fighting with him exchanging blow after blow, Z still didn't get the upper hand, tossing out punches and kicks. In fact, it seemed like the king's guard was still going strong and not running out of energy. 

Their trading of blows was like an intricate dance, where they exchanged hits and swivelled around the ground like a dance floor, occasionally sweeping each other off their feet.  

Offstage, the audience once again started commenting on the situation. 

"Look, is his manifest a strength augment?" 

"I mean it must be, right? Otherwise, how would he even defend against that?" 

"The fact that he could contend with the guard in a melee is evidence that he is, are you all blind?"

Odrunn smiled as he watched the stage, he knew that it would soon be time for Z to counterattack. He had been trained by Z and he knew full well that Z's strongest weapon was his manifest that he had kept hidden all these while. 

Z continued to face off with the king's guard, his body was tired, but with his self heal manifest, his stamina was soaring and whatever fatigue he had felt had been blown away. The king upon the throne continued looking at the fight while trying to think up other possibilities, his predictions had always been on point and with the information he had gathered this fight should have long been over, the AI was continuously processing wondering what kind of anomaly this was and how the heck has his guard not managed to kill Z yet. At this point in time, a couple of minutes had passed since they started the combat yet they were still trading blows back and forth. 

'Bang Bang' 

Banging noises started to emerge from the door as the thudding of the door got louder and louder. The king leaned back into the throne as he folded his arms and his smile got even wider than before. The soldiers that were outside had finally emerged and there was no chance for Z to escape anymore. 

The audience shook their head. They thought that the past few rounds had already established that you shouldn't fight the king because it was a waste of time, the AI had planned many moves ahead and it wasn't worth it to get those points but rather it would have been more worth it if he had just outright hunted the soldiers. Now that the soldiers are here and have surrounded the room, it was only a matter of time before they manage to enter the room and Z will be overwhelmed. 

Z strategically moved around, he needed to find a position which was favourable to him and not let his hp drop to 0. He dodged a few blows from the guard before kicking him straight into the door knocking him down. In that instant, Z dashed forward as he struck his piece of 8 on the ground creating sparks as he continued to run. Sparks started to fly left and right as the bits and pieces of it landed on the ground furiously, seemingly igniting something. 

The guard stood back up shaking his head as if he was hurt, before dashing towards Z trying to grab him it was a simulated move down to the head shake and the minor limp.  

'Tsss' 

A spark could be seen coming from the ground, there was a hissing noise as the spark left the room under the door like a snake chasing a rat. The King's vision followed the sparks as did all of the audience as well as the examiners. They watched, holding their breaths as they followed the sparks on the ground. 

In that exact moment, Z moved the remaining pieces of 8 in front of him like a shield as he grabbed onto the guard with one hand and positioned the guard directly in front of him as he curled up into a ball as tightly as possible, hiding behind the shield as well as the guard. The guard tried to struggle but to no avail as he bashed onto the piece of 8 trying to get to Z. 

A loud sound resounded through the hallway

'BOOM!'