Chapter 08

The young teenagers remained wandering all over the Arctic territory. A place that had nothing special except the small snow-capped mountains and the frozen water. They have been on this same ground since the start of the race 20 minutes ago and so far no candidate has shown up.

"I wonder if you are the only ice user left in the exam?" - Alex.

"I don't know, but it hasn't been long since the test started, so I guess if we wait a little longer someone will show up...probably!" - Takeru.

40 minutes later...

"Only 90 candidates left" Midday's voice resonated throughout the field through a loudspeaker.

"We've been here for 1 hour already and no one has shown up, is it possible that if we simply reveal our position someone will show up?" - Takeru.

"Good idea! I'll take a nap while you watch, big fella!!!" - Alex.

"You are falling in my concept Alex-san..." - Takeru.

And so they went on waiting, or rather, Takeru went on waiting patiently for new opponents lurking. The brown haired boy had to be totally alert because his position was being revealed to everyone around him.

After another 40 minutes...

"Alex-san! Alex-san!!!" - Takeru nudging the sluggard.

"Huuuum?" - Alex just waking up.

"I think someone finally showed up..." - Takeru while pointing to a small group of 3 people.

"Right, right. I just need to reach out and attack them while you *wink* Provide cover right?" - Alex as he stands up.

"Yeah, but be careful!!!" - Takeru.

"Right, right..." - Alex.

The young boy covered his legs with a black substance and took off running towards the other enemy candidates with super human speed, surprising Takeru once again.

The black substance is something Alex himself likes to call the cloak of shadows, but he still doesn't know what the concept behind it is, because his father hasn't explained it. So the boy just uses it as his technique.

The black haired boy quickly arrived in front of the enemy group, surprising everyone in the group in the process, as no one expected them to track them down so quickly. Alex Walker didn't want to give them time to resist and already delivered a cross kick towards the head of one of the three participants.

The first to be attacked could only react quickly enough to use his arms as a block to try to stop the strong blow coming directly at his head. By the time he realized himself, his body was already flying towards one of the small hills.

"One down, let's get it over with soon." - Alex as he starred at his neck.

"Bastard!!!"

One of the duo took out the flaming whip that was previously hanging from his belt and the other split in two, making a copy of himself. The owner of the whip extended it towards Alex at a speed that was hard to keep up with by normal eyes.

The young man still tried to dodge but the object still hit his foot and finished off his shoe.

"Man! I'm not rich enough to keep losing shoes like that! - Alex.

"Your problem! - The teenager and his clone spoke at the same time as they appeared on the right and left sides of the black haired boy to punch him directly in the face.

The young man reacted in time and held both fists, but was hit by two kicks to the stomach that caused him to be thrown far away. Still managing to land on his feet, Alex put one of his hands on his stomach because he felt a strong pain.

'Sons of bitches! One of the kicks caught near the bag!!!" - Alex.

The whip was thrown again, but this time at the boy's head. The boy wasted no time and shifted his body downward, only to be met with a horizontal kick from the boy capable of copying himself.

Alex could see the kick coming and the only thing he had time to do was move the shadow cloak to his face to minimize the damage, but that didn't stop him from being thrown about 10 feet rolling to the side.

'It seems that the strength of that face is also doubled when he clones himself' - Alex as he quickly got up off the ground.

The boy with clone-making power didn't want to give Alex any moment to react and tried to hit him the moment he was still getting up, however something he had completely forgotten about hit him. The two opponents were so distracted in their fight against Alex that they completely forgot about the fact that he was not alone.

Still in the midst of the attempted attack, the boy and his clone were hit hard by several small ice spears. Takeru was lurking around just waiting for a good moment to sneak up on them.

The clone that had been hit dispersed like black goo and disappeared into the ground, while the original was still conscious but full of cuts and bruises all over his body. He remained in his attempt to get up and continue fighting, but the impact of the spears did not allow him to recover enough.

The owner of the flaming whip realized the danger he was in alone in the middle of this ice field and with great anxiety ran behind a small rise of ice to get out of the sniper's sights.

A faint smile formed on Alex's lips as he moved his cloak from the shadows to his two legs and ran to where the whip holder was. Arriving near candidate, the black haired boy leaped high into the air.

Still in the air, Alex was exactly above the pyrokinetic participant. His cloak of shadows stayed entirely on a single leg and the boy deposited it all in a single kick straight into his opponent's shoulder.

By the time the man noticed a shadow on the ground and looked up, it was too late and the last thing he saw was the calm face of the light green-eyed teenager before he fell completely unconscious to the ground.

'I'm glad Takeru was able to interfere at that time. I want to keep as many cards up my sleeve as possible for when I go to face him...' - Alex.

After a few minutes the boy with brown hair finally reached his companion who was clicking on the red button of the first knocked out opponent.

Robotic voice from the bracelet:" Candidate 102 eliminated from the exam "

"And with that the 3 have been officially eliminated." - Alex.

"You're really good at short distance combat Alex-san." - Takeru.

"Yes...for a moment I thought you had left me to be eliminated by these guys." - Alex.

"Huh? No! No! I was just waiting for the right moment to finish with a single attack!!!" - Takeru.

"I did, but we were lucky that they completely forgot that we were in a pair in the middle of the fight. Otherwise they would be even more attentive and wouldn't be caught so off guard like that...so next time try not to rely on our luck" - Alex.

"Roger that!!!!" - Takeru speaking in a slightly higher voice.

'Although I could have used my landmines, but in case I did that I wouldn't be able to see the letters that Alex-san is still hiding...wait, did he notice that I have this technique?'- Takeru.

"'Let's get out of here, we won't accomplish much if we just stand on that ground. Especially against the smarter candidates. Besides I don't have infinite energy to stay here for hours and hours." - Alex

'Whew, I guess that was just paranoia...' - Takeru

The boy with the hair kept his face sleepy and calm, but an almost imperceptible smile was on his face.

For the entire time they had been on this ground, Alex had been expending a certain amount of naro energy to keep himself constantly warm, and so he slept for a moment to be able to replenish that energy little by little. In Takeru's case, the young man doesn't need to worry about this because his affinity is very high with cold places, so it's as if he were at home since the cold doesn't affect him much.

The duo left walking towards another terrain while occasionally looking at the map so as not to get lost. Their goal is to go to a flat terrain and walk across it totally on display to beat anyone to the punch.

Neither of them was a born strategist, at most Takeru is smart enough to put together a simple and effective plan as in the first stage, but incapable of putting together a more complex strategy than that. In Alex's case, he relies on his own instincts when it comes to fighting and adapts to his opponent as the fight goes on, but sometimes he manages to come up with effective plans.

So they simply go out looking for candidates while Takeru occasionally leaves a few traps along the way. Of course, without Alex's 'knowledge'.

"There are only 76 participants left "- Midday on speaker.

And so the battle royale continues...