No.5 was in a “close” duel with Zagra. He was using the blood around him efficiently, using it as a way to glide around and launching ranged attacks in the process. At the most, he was doing a good job at keeping Zagra’s attention.

  This was when No.3 took out many small weapons from her pockets. Needles, knives, and throwing stars to be exact. She then threw them up in the air and put two fingers to her forehead. All of the weapons that were spinning and flying in the air stopped and immediately pointed in Zagra’s direction. She then thrust her hand forward, and they all went flying toward him at high speeds.

  He swatted his hand, and a fiery explosion encompassed a quarter of the training room. The weapons got blown back, but they quickly re-adjusted themselves and flew right back at him. He opted to dodge them this time, but they continued to circle back around and aimed for vital areas.

  “Ha! Keep it up, No.3! I’m preparing my special move, he’ll be toast in no time!” No.5 yelled.

  “Don’t tell me what to do, No.5!” She grunted while trying to keep her concentration.

  No.5 was gliding in large circles around Zagra, constantly peddling him with small blades of blood, with the occasional spike attack originating from a separate puddle.

  So… he can only control his own blood, but can manipulate the properties of it.

  Zagra held his hand out in No.3’s direction while dodging, until No.6 suddenly appeared behind him and grabbed his leg.

  “I got him! No.3, brother, do it now!” She shouted urgently.

  I looked up and saw all of the small weapons that were flying around him before, pointing at him from all directions. He had been completely surrounded. No.6 was holding onto his leg, inhibiting his movement and preventing him from dodging.

  No.5 lifted both of his hands up while panting, and I saw the puddles begin to shift and ripple. Each drop of blood no.5 that had scattered around Zagra had turned into a sharp arrow pointing at his direction. He was surrounded from above and below at this point.

  “Special move! Bloody Mary!”

  “Haaagh!”

  The bloody arrows and the multitude of small weapons converged on Zagra.

  “Ooh! Do you think this’ll get him no.963?! There’s no way out of this one!” Zero said as she shook my shoulder.

  “No…it’ll fail.”

  “Huh?”

  Her rambling was cut off by the sound and force of a large explosion. There were no longer any signs of the clever trap devised to skewer him, only heavy burn marks that seared the calm, white padding a fiery black.

  No.6, who had latched onto his leg, flew by and collided with the padded wall at full force. There were burn marks all over her chest, and she was knocked unconscious. I looked over at Zagra, who was now holding No.3 by the throat.

  She clawed at his hands while sweating profusely, with the heat being so strong that I could see it from where I was sitting. He eventually let go, and she fell to the ground, gasping for breath.

  “That wasn’t a bad plan. However, you have to take into account the raw strength of the opponent before you.” Zagra said as he cracked his wrist.

  He then turned around to look at No.5, who was gasping for air. Using his ability on that large a scale must have caused major blood loss.

  “Good strategy, but with the way your gift works, you would have been out of commission whether that did damage or not. Blood loss is a leading fatality on the battlefield after all.”

  “Screw…you.” He sputtered out before collapsing.

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  “Aw, what?! You were right! How did you know?” Zero said with a grin, like she already knew the answer.

  “Regarding the plan. It wasn’t a bad one, but you have to consider the properties of one’s gift.” I said, eyeing the puddles of blood on the floor.

  “What do you mean?”

  “He’s obviously not going to kill them in this fight. He most likely only agreed to use a certain amount of power beforehand. However, blood is essentially water, and can even be used to extinguish flames. It’s almost his natural enemy, to be exact. As such, he would have to use more explosive force to evaporate the abilities before him. Why do you think he opted to start dodging No.3’s knives instead of just blowing them away at maximum firepower?”

  Zero began clapping her hands while nodding her head back and forth.

  “Ahaha! Very, very smart! How fitting of my knight!”

  “...What is that?”

  “Huh?”

  “What’s a knight?”

  “Uh…are you serious? Have you never read any fairy tales?”

  “...”

  “...”

  “Nevermind.”

  “No, no, no! I’ll tell you!”

  “I no longer have an interest.”

  “Nooooo! Listen to meeeee!” She said as she started pulling my cheek.

  While we were talking, it seemed no.8 had been defeated. I didn’t watch the fight, so I didn’t know what happened, but I can only assume he lost pathetically. He was lying in the fetal position on the far corner of the room, with large burn marks all around him.

  There were only four numbers left. No.2, No.9, and two other numbers that I didn’t know the designation of. The first was the swamp-haired boy, who was watching all of this play out from afar. And the second was the green-haired girl with wavy hair. She had green eyes, and her combat suit had many scratches on it. Her eyes were tired and manic as she looked at Zagra with fear.

  “ HAAAAAAAAAAGH!” She suddenly screamed, holding her head. Her green hair extended from her head, and flew like raging tendrils toward Zagra.

  Hair manipulation?

  He dodged the first tendril, but three more came at him like whips. This prompted him to go on the offensive, ducking and weaving her malicious hair like it was nothing.

  “Aaaaagh…..AAAAAAGH!” She screamed, clawing at the base of her hair in pain.

  The tendrils then merged together and formed a large hammer that slammed down at Zagra’s location.

  “Eugh…her power was always really creepy and weird.” Zero mumbled to herself.

  “What number is she?” I asked.

  “No.7. She used to be No.3, but as her power has gotten stronger, she has less control over it. Dr. Verrat values control over strength here.”

  Ah, so that’s why No.3 rose from No.7. She had gained more control over her power.

  There was silence in the arena for a moment, until flames erupted from beneath the hamper, catching her hair on fire. “N-no! My hair! It burns! No no no no!”

  No.7 began running and rolling around, hoping to put out the flames. By the time she did, her hair was far shorter than it was before, which caused her to seemingly collapse out of shock.

  “Well, I suppose it’s about time I joined in” I said as I stood up and started walking toward the weapons.

  “I was waiting for you to say that!” Zero grinned. “You heard what he said, right?”

  “He said if we were to beat him here, he would grant us any wish. I plan to make him give me my freedom.”

  “Exactly! So before you go fight, wait right there! I’ll go get something that can help! I’ll be right back.”

  Zero then ran out of the room, back in the direction we came from.

  I don’t know what she went to get, but I have no more time for her silly games.

  I grabbed a large throwing star, a bow and arrow, throwing needles and a katana from the shelves of weapons. Finally, I went for a knife, even though distance and range was key here.

  I then punctured one of the sandbags behind the weapons shelf, and stuffed the sheath of the katana with sand.

  He didn’t know I would be participating, which meant I only had one shot at surprising him. I winded back and threw the large shuriken as hard as I could in his direction, then nocked an arrow and aimed upward.

  As he was approaching no.9, he heard the whirring of the throwing star behind him, but reacted a bit late, considering he was surprised. I had thrown it at his legs, so he instinctively jumped to avoid it. Right before he jumped, I let the arrow fly loose. When he looked back up from jumping, the arrow was only a couple feet away from his face.

  “Aargh!”

  He quickly stuck his hand out to the right and blew himself away just in time. However, he wasn’t left unscathed, as a slight cut appeared on his cheek.

  He quickly landed and glared at me.

  “What’s the meaning of this? I don’t believe you are included in this match.”

  “Your words were that you’ll fight ‘every subject in this room’ and if we manage to beat you, we get a wish.” I said, officially stepping onto the battlefield.

  “And what does a powerless kid like you hope to accomplish in this fight?” He asked, flames spurting from his forearms.

  “Why don’t we find out together?”