Chapter 38 : Who vs Who?!

Outside again, Tek was running on top of the giant panther, trying to wrap his chain around its eyes. 

The panther was flying out of control, but Tek continued to hang on tight. 

Kazuma was still floating in the air, using his fire back to hold back the panthers fire from destroying the hotel.

"You're…not…getting…an-anywhere near…these people!!"

On the ground, Nine was using her lightning speed to cut off the tails of Arsenal's clones. One after another, she was slicing them down with her hand in a chopping form.

Arsenal said, "Formidable speed, youngster. But I'm afraid it's not enough."

Nine turned her attention to Arsenal, speeding over to his location.

She tried to teach his tail, thinking, 'I got it!'

Until…Arsenal looked at her.

Nine thinks, 'He's reacting to my speed? Noooo fuckin way.'

Arsenal moved out of Nine's way, grabbed her hair, lifted her up, and slammed her to the ground, picked her back up by the hair, and kicked her in the stomach, sending her back some.

Arsenal heard his panther in the sky screaming, and he looked up at it. He saw Tek trying to cover the panthers eyes.

'That brat…he realised the panther can't harden its tail if it can't see the attacks coming towards it. They're becoming more cunning. I need to either stop that kid, or run into the building myself. Yes…there is more flesh for me in there. But..there are probably more strong brats like these kids in there, so the panther will definitely be needed. I need…their skins.'

Arsenal dashed into the air, and landed feet first on top of the panther Tek was on. Arsenal threw a kick, and Tek avoided it with a straight face.

Tek had to make the chain go away and deal with Arsenal first.

Tek jumped off the head of the panther, and landed in the middle of it's back.

Arsenal and Tek stood a few feet away from each other, and Tek kept a straight face.

Arsenal said, "I need your skin. I need…everyone's skin."

Tek asked, "Why?"

"Fool! If I don't…I won't...I won't be myself anymore. It causes death. Where I'm from, if one dies without the consumption of flesh, they die off quickly. I can only go so long without it, and right when I'm on the brink of dying, I get broken out of the void prison. This has gotta be fate…and I will not let it slip by me…give me your flesh!!"

"No."

Arsenal charged forward, and Tek just stood there.

[Saitama, Japan]

Driving on the road was Marshy. And in the passengers seat, was her grandfather Mifu. Mifu was coughing over and over, and Marshy said, "Ew. Just…ew. Stop with that nasty coughing."

Mifu responded, "You..(*coughs*) act like I can help it. I'm surprised you even came back after yelling at me.."

"I can't…I can't stay mad at the people I care about. I can't bring myself to stay mad long. I have a big fucking heart, Mifu. But I don't wanna talk about that. So…you've tried everything. Even seeing multiple people who have healing abilities."

"Yes. Tried everything…everyone. And you know I can't heal myself from what I got."

"Damn. We'll figure something out. In the meantime, I got something that'll make you feel better."

"Hoh? Make me feel better?"

"Mhm!"

Minutes later, they pulled up at a drive-thru at a fast food restaurant. They were behind a few cars, and Marshy began to let her windows roll down.

Mifu asked, "FAST FOOD? YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS FAST FOOD IS?"

"It's healthy."

"NO."

They approached the radio to the eatery, and the woman on the other side asked with a nice tone, "Welcome to Shack Kenji! May I take your order!"

Marshy replied, "I want two burgers and a large fry. No onions, just pickles and ketchup and mustard thank you."

"Will that be it?"

"Yes."

"Anything else?"

"...I just said yes."

"So that'll be all?"

"I FUCKING SAID YES! HOW MUCH IS THE ORDER?!"

"Ma'am I'm just trying to do my jo-."

"Your JOB? YOUR JOB?! YOU KEEP ASKING ME THE SAME QUESTION."

Mifu put his hand on Marshy's shoulder, saying, "Give the youngster a break, Marshy."

"Tsk. It's too early for this."

The lady on the radio said, "That'll be 1000 yen at the first window."

[1,000 yen is around 8 dollars.]

"Yeah whatever."

Marshy began to drive to the first window, and she saw a woman.

The woman opened her window, saying, "1,000 yen."

Marshy handed the money to her, saying, "Keep the change, rookie."

"How did you know I was a rookie?"

"You're seriously asking me that?"

"Sorry."

"Mhm. Take care."

Marshy drove forward to the next window, and there was a man this time. 

He handed Marshy a single bag, and said, "Here ya go, Host Marshy. Big fan by the way."

Marshy took it, and then she sniffed one time.

Marshy handed the bag back to the worker, saying, "This is the wrong order."

"Ar-are you sure?"

"My nose smells everything on point. This is the wrong order."

The man looked inside of the bag, replying, "Oh…I'm so sorry."

Marshy chuckled then said with an evil tone, "MY GRANDAD IS STARVING TO DEATH OVER HERE! GET THE RIGHT ORDER!"

The man and the other workers behind that man jumped back in fear, stumbling over each other, saying, "R-right away, Host Marshy!"

Marshy then turned around to Mifu with a big and bright smile.

Mifu sighed, "Marshy.. you gotta control your hostility."

"Hmmm? Whatever are you talking about, sweet grandad of mine?"

"Listennnn I know you're trying to cheer me up but..it's fine."

"Everything's gonna be okay. Say it."

"I…uh.."

"Say it or I'll-."

There was a knock on the window, and it was the same man who gave them the food. He had a new bag in his hand, and handed it to Marshy. 

"S-sorry for the inconvenience, Host Marshy. Please forgive us."

Marshy laughed, "HAHA! YES! BOW! Thanks for uh…fixing it I guess. See ya chickens later when I'm hungry again."

Marshy drove off fast, leaving the fast food worker in the dust.

On the road, Marshy and Mifu were enjoying their food. Mifu was enjoying it the most, he didn't say a word. 

They stopped at a red light, and she saw Mifu grinning as he ate.

Marshy thought, 'I would ask him…to tell me the truth. He's hiding something else. Not just him being sick with a curse. But…I guess now is not a good time.'

Mifu said with a mouth full of food, "You think Duri is doing okay?"

Marshy answered, "I really really miss him."

"Uh…you didn't answer the question."

"Oh! Yeah, I feel like he's making an impact there. Even though I can't see how he is performing, I know he's fighting hard."

"Indeed. I know all the tough training I put him through is paying off."

"Not gonna lie, you hurt my baby when you trained him. Duri would come to me with a big smile on his face, covered in blood and scars and a busted eye."

"HUH?! YOU DID THAT TO HIN!"

"YOU'RE GUILTY OF IT TOO!"

"Partially."

"Mhm."

"They're supposed to be broadcasting the last exam test, right?"

"Yeah. It's gonna get a lot of viewers. They've been talking about it on the radio, on the Bloggerz app, and even on TV…"

[Exam site]

[Exam hotel]

[Kitchen]

Outside of the hotel, Tek was dodging Arsenals attacks fast while the flying panther they were on kept shooting balls of red fire at the hotel. 

Kazuma would block those fireballs with his fire, but what he wanted most was to cut Arsenal's tail off.

On the ground, Nine was using her lightning speed to hop up to the sky to the flying panther, trying to reach its tail. 

Nine was soaring past it, but the panther would react and dodge her.

Nine thought, 'These bastards can actually keep up with me?! Unfair! Cutting the tails off the clones was easy, but Arsenal and this panther are on a WHOLE nother level!'

Nine was rapidly bouncing off air trying to zig zag across the flying panthers tail, but it wasn't enough. The panther kept avoiding her.

Arsenal threw a flying kick at Tek, but Tek slid under it, did a 360 flip, stretched his arm at Arsenal, and allowed fast chains to come out. 

The chains wrapped around Arsenal, holding him tight.

Tek yelled, "Nine, do it now!"

Nine replied, "Yokai!"

Nine dashed up to Arsenal's tail, and went to cut his tails off. 

Arsenal jumped high in the air, and began to do a spin, undoing himself from Tek's chains.

'He jumped?' Tek thought, sending more chains Arsenal's way.

The chains were about to wrap around Arsenal again, but…coming from the panthers back, was another large panther head. The sharp mouth of it grabbed the middle of the chain, and slung Tek off of the panthers back.

Tek started falling down, and Nine and Kazuma yelled, "Tek!"

Instantly, Tek, Kazuma, and Nine vanished, and taking their places was Duri and Seven. Duri and Seven were on top of the hotel roof.

Duri was holding meat, and Seven was holding a giant spoon.

Seven got on the earpiece radio, saying to Kedarah, "You have to let us know when you're switching us! It scares my ass!"

Kedarah laughed, "Oooo sorry! Now…Tek, do you have any intel to tell Duri and Seven? You know..each time you guys switch, you have to let each other know what you've learned about the enemy."

There was a long silence, until Tek got on the radio, replying, "Arsenal's tail and his Panthers tail hardens whenever something gets close to it. But it's manually operated. If the panther can't see it, then it can't react. You two have to blind either Arsenal or the panther."

Duri responded on the earpiece, "We take down Arsenal, everything with him goes down too. We'll go for Arsenal."

Seven added, "Agreed. I'll keep the panther away from the hotel and Duri."

Duri and Seven jumped off of the roof, and the giant panther shot red flames at them.

Seven said, "I got this."

Seven made two electrifying purple orbs appear, and she threw them at the red fire. Dissolving it instantly.

Arsenal's stomach growled, and he thought, 'She dissolved the panthers fire..'

Seven's hidden metal arm began to hurt, and she grunted.

Duri noticed, saying, "Oi. Dummy."

Seven looked at Duri, and Duri put his hand on Seven's metal arm, and released a shadow on it. A black flame aura was around Seven's metal arm, and she thought, 'The pain went away…'

Duri said, "It doesn't heal, but I figured out my shadows can attach themselves to objects. But not people or skin. Besides mine."

Seven answered, "Why are you helping me? My arm is none of your concern."

"I wanna pass this fucking exam, so your arm is my concern."

Duri and Seven were flying to Arsenal, and Arsenal's hands became sharp and his tongue got long.

Inside the exam hotel, in the cellar, Ren-Ren and Jiyu were walking down the steps to it.

Jiyu said, "it's-it's DARK in here.."

Ren-Ren asked, "Heh? You afraid of the dark?"

"K-kinda.."

"Tch. Don't worry. You're walking with a perfect fighter with a perfect sword."

"It's okay though.."

"What do ya mean?"

"I have a light!"

Jiyu stuck her hand out, and a really bright lantern appeared. It came from her gloves.

Ren-Ren asked Jiyu, "Those gloves can make anything appear?"

"Not anything really. Just-just weapons utilities."

Ren-Ren and Jiyu reached the bottom of the cellar, and they saw some of Arsenal's clones coming from the ground.

Ren-Ren said, "Mmm. They have tails."

Jiyu grinned, "R-remember what the others said?"

"What?"

Jiyu reached both of her hands out, and a chainsaw appeared and was humming like a loud motorcycle.

Jiyu said, "We cut the tails off.."

Some parts of Ren-Ren's skin began to get red, and his sword appeared in his hand 

"Haha! Too easy! Let's get 'em!"

"O-okay.."

Ren-Ren teleported four times, and each time he did it, he cut the tails off with his sword. He was swiftly doing it with style, spinning around while flipping and everything.

Clones tried to approach Jiyu, but Jiyu jumped around too with her chainsaw, cutting tails off with one strike, blood from the tails splattered everywhere on the walls and floors, and Jiyu was sliding quickly, ramming her chainsaw through the clones.

Inside of the kitchen, Shiryu had walked up to Kedarah, and said, "Um. Guests are getting worried. I like to cook a little bit.."

"Mmm. What are you going to do about it..?"

Espen walked up to them, saying, "Come on Shiryu. We will entertain them."

"How..?"

Seconds later, Espen and Shiryu were standing up in front of everyone, reenacting a famous play.

Espen said, "Oh, come down they foolish brethren!"

Shiryu said, "Eh..I don't know…I'm kinda tired."

"Hurry, brethren! The lions are coming! If you don't come down, ohhh what should I do now?"

Someone in the crowd thinks, 'Heh. Just leave his ass obviously.'

Espen looked over at that man, and said, "Gasp! How DARE you think that! I shall not leave my own brethren!"

The man was shocked, he had never heard of anyone reading minds before. Nor did anyone else in the room.

"Sh-she read my mind! I was really thinking about that!"

The crowd said:

"Really?!"

"You're lying!"

"Come on, let's test her!"

"Yeah, let's see if she's legit!"

Espen smirked and thought, 'Hmph. Distract customers: check.'

For the next 10 minutes, Duri and Seven were dodging Arsenal and panthers attacks, switching in and out with Tek, Kazuma, and Nine. Ren-Ren and Jiyu were slicing up clone tails in the cellar, the other exam students were cooking, and some exam students on the other side of the hotel were switching in and out, taking down hordes of minotaur soldiers.

Suddenly, the customers were starting to leave, and Kedarah said to everyone on the earpiece radio with a smile, "Oh my! You all worked hard! Helping each other so much! But now, the customers are leaving! You don't want them going outside to that bad man Arsenal and his panther, hmmm? Go all out, and cut their tails.

Outside in the air with Arsenal and the panther, Duri, Tek, Kazuma, Ren-Ren, Jiyu, Seven, and Nine appeared. They all were surrounding Arsenal and the panther.

Duri said, "Let's hurry this the hell up!"

Arsenal panicked, "They're coming from all directions at different speeds! This is…too much flesh!"

Everyone pounced on them with their weapons, and Duri slammed his shadow leg down, allowing a large shadow dragon snake to come out.

Everything was silent. For a few minutes actually. The sun was still bright, and and the customers were leaving on a few helicopters.

"I can't believe that girl actually read my mind!"

"I know right!"

"There was a lot of noise going on though."

"I still enjoyed myself."

"And the food was amazing! Those kids can cook!"

(15 minutes later)

All 100+ exam students were resting and eating in the grass outside of the hotel. Most of them had full blown conversations, laughing and talking about how cool they were when they were fighting.

Girls and boys were surrounding Tek and Seven, saying:

"You two were so cool!"

"Y'all just get stronger by the second!"

"You two carried the weight!"

"So strong…so fast!"

"Duri barely did anything."

"Yeah, and they have the nerve to call him a prodigy."

Duri was eating alone, away from everyone else. He was thinking, 'Just like the last test, if I do good, then they'll ridicule me and worship the next guy. Tsk. Bastards. I was the one who cut off Arsenal's tail. I beat everyone to the punch.'

Over where Seven and Tek was, they had enough.

Tek stood up and said to the crowd of students, "Duri did exceptional this time. You all talked heavily but did less than him. I don't like Duri at all, but you fools are beginning to get on my nerves with all of this. You claim you hate Duri, but you talk about him every five fucking seconds. Hmph. Pathetic."

Seven stood up too, agreeing, "Took the words right out of my mouth. You all are fools."

Duri didn't hear them that time, he was trapped in his thoughts.

'They gave me an S grade. It was going to be an A+ just because I wasted time having an attitude again, but since I was faster than everyone else to cut off Arsenal's tail, I got an extra grade. One more fucking test to go.'

Duri looked over at Seven, and he saw her looking at him.

Duri said, "Heh? The hell are you looking at?"

Seven looked away, blushing hard.

Host Tetsuya floated above everyone, and said, "Nice work to everyone. As expected, no one got a failing grade. You guys can have a 2 hour break. But I will go ahead and let you all know what the next exam test is."

The exam students whispered to each other, and continued to listen to Tetsuya.

Tetsuya said, "The next test…will be a 1 on 1 tournament, and it will take place at the next exam site. Using your strength, skill, and abilities to overcome your opponent. These fights will be broadcasted everywhere, just to see how you fight when millions of eyes are on you. Anyway, everyone will go against one person, and the two fighters out of everyone with the highest scores will face each other in the end. Now…I will call out who is facing who."

The whispers continued, everyone was paying close attention.

Tetsuya continued, "Tek vs Kazuma. Jiyu vs Nine. Seven vs Espen. Shiryu vs Yamato, Duri vs Ren-Ren.."

Tetsuya continued to read out the names of who is going against who, and everyone looked at each other with tension.