Chapter 04

After confirming that there were no more candidates willing to continue the test, Black-White turned toward the two young men. Both were staring at him as a bead of sweat dripped down their faces and they maintained a wry smile, containing a hint of fear deep in their eyes.

'I think I got a little too loose...' - Black-White.

"'*Ahem* I guess only you two got through then? Well, well, take these two platelets and follow me to the courtyard where the next stage will be held." - Black-White at the same time checked his jacket pocket.

The next instant, he pulled out two round-shaped white platelets, in the middle of both was a number drawn in black ink. The agent tossed the two platelets in each person's direction, Alex and Takeru received the numbers 8601 and 8600 respectively.

"Let's go." - Black-White

The 3 kept walking out of the room, heading towards the schoolyard, and leaving behind all the other candidates who failed. They walked for about 7 minutes until they finally reached the huge courtyard. There weren't many trees or decorations, it was a practically empty open-air place and there was only a small stage in the center, with an even bigger roulette wheel than the previous one, surrounded by a large mass of people.

Suddenly, voices coming from most of the examiners began to be heard.

"I can't believe it, not just one, but two people managed to pass Mr. Black-White's session?!"

"It's been over ten years since anyone has passed when he's the examiner."

"I think those young people will probably be the favorite candidates this time..."

And along with all the comments of that kind, the attention of most of the participants was directed to the newcomers Alex and Takeru. There weren't as many candidates as in the first stage, but there should have been at least a thousand people participating in this stage.

'*sigh* why do I feel like things are going to get even more complicated from here on out?'- Alex.

'What tension!!! I've never received this much attention since I won that restaurant's food championship...' - Takeru.

The two favorite candidates kept walking behind Agent Black-White until they reached the left end of the courtyard, where several people started staring at them with determined looks on their faces. Except for a single individual.

'How did this piece of shit get invited to this exam?! Was he hiding his power all this time?! That explains the way this guy has been hiding from me for the last few days!!!' thought the red-haired teenager as he stared fiercely at Alex.

The boy had also noticed the angry look on the redhead's face, but decided to ignore it as he didn't want to get into any more trouble, besides he didn't even care to know the guy's name.

*boooom*

Suddenly, a huge curtain of purple smoke was raised in the center of the stage located in the middle of the courtyard and obviously, this attracted the attention of everyone present. After a few seconds, the colored smoke began to slowly clear while revealing the silhouette of a...man?!?! It was a huge brute crossdressing, his hair is purple with a ponytail, his face had an inverted triangle shape and he/she, wore a purple lipstick on his/her mouth. He/she was also wearing a pink leather jacket, a denim skirt and with a whip in his/her hand. It was a really difficult sight.

'I will not laugh! I will not laugh! I WILL NOT LAUGH!!!' - Alex Walker thought to himself as he tried his best not to laugh at the shocked looks on the faces of the people around him.

"Pleasure to everyone who has made it this far! My codename is Midday. Today I will be the examiner at this stage of the exam!"

'Surprisingly his voice is extremely thick and authoritative. It is quite different from the way he or she sounds...' - Alex Walker

"From this stage of the exam, the examiners at the last stage will act as your supervisors to ensure that none of you manage to cheat. As you have all heard before, this roulette wheel will decide the test of this stage, but this time only a maximum of 500 people will be able to move on to the 3rd stage." - Midday

Suddenly a long silence settled over the courtyard. Everyone already knew that the contest would get tighter, but they didn't expect that about half of the people would leave at once. Moreover, since they had arrived at this place they had not been told how many slots for the academy would be offered, and this only served to increase their anxieties even more.

"Now let's go for the spin!" - Midday

Placing both hands on the top of the roulette wheel, the special agent mustered all the strength he had and even the veins bulging out of his arms were clearly visible. It was then that another strong gale spread throughout the recreational space of the college.

No one knew how much force he/she used in that instant, but everyone came to the same conclusion.

'I will never challenge that thing to a fight...'

The circular piece of metal kept spinning for more than 40 minutes to finally show its result.

"Confrontation: Plate Stealing "

A deadly silence remained in place for a few seconds until Midday spoke again.

"As you all may have predicted, each participant will have to steal another's license plate. Only those who have at least 2 plates including their own will pass this stage."

The atmosphere became even more tense. Everyone started to stare at each other as they set up their battle positions and only waited for the announcement to finally start the fighting and even the supervisors left the place.

How are they going to monitor us in the middle of all the chaos of the fight? Forget it, I'd better not even worry about it...' - Alex

"Hey Takeru, as people from the same room, do you want to join forces on this stage only?" - Alex.

'Even though we have around 1000 people, there will still be one or two too nervous to be able to notice me if I hide well' - Alex.

"What do you mean?" - Takeru

"The two of us don't attack each other, what do you think?" - Alex

After a few seconds of thinking...

"I think it's fine..." - Takeru

' I managed to eliminate one of the most troublesome ones in this stage.' - Alex

"Well, good luck then." - Alex as he fell into the shadow formed by a nearby tree.

"To you too, Walker-san." - Takeru at the same time the ground around him began to freeze.

After short seconds the examiner declared the start of the battle.

"TATAKAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEE" - Midday

All the candidates started the confrontation.

Takeru slid close to his previous spot as he tried to pick up the plates he passed by. The Fat Young Man didn't suffer much to complete his goal, as there are many candidates crammed into each other, so it wasn't complicated to acquire plates from people in the middle of a confrontation.

Getting his platelet, Takeru quickly proceeded to slide to a less crowded location and shut himself inside an ice cocoon to protect himself. Several other candidates tried to break the cocoon, but no one could break it even with a fire skill.

'Interesting, this boy has several surprises up his sleeves...' - Black-White.

Alex had no such difficulty either, he was simply waiting in the shadows for an opportunity. There are several people who can sense him, but there weren't many who could attack him without having any training in the use of Naro energy, so it was unlikely that civilians who had barely developed their skills could do any real damage.

Besides, the strongest in this exam have already gotten their plates or are saving energy for the next steps, so Alex simply took advantage of the versatility of his technique and luck that the weakest are still present.

However, a certain red-headed teenager was struggling as his skill was not as versatile if there was little wind. As much as it was out in the open, the courtyard was surrounded by the school buildings and this made it difficult for high wind circulation as they were blocked, so the red-headed man was simply trying to fight off more tired opponents while using the little wind in place for strong surprise attacks to defeat them and take their plates.

This may be considered by many to be an act of cowardice, but this is real combat and even the slightest of slips can end in defeat.

After more than 30 minutes of fighting...

"STAGE 2 IS OVER!!! THE RESULTS ARE..."