We had only been fighting for about two minutes, but I was reaching my limit. From the get-go, he was taking me more seriously than the other subjects. He wasn’t making any large explosions that would’ve ended the fight instantly, but his hands and legs were inflamed as he was demonstrating some type of martial arts.

  I hadn’t landed a single hit on him during this time, and many of my attacks were feints to try to get an opening.

  He stomped his foot on the ground and shifted his weight for a straight punch. I bent my back knee and ducked under it, before retaliating with a kick of my own. From the ground, I spun around with my hands to hit him with a donkey kick, but quickly pulled back once I noticed what would’ve happened.

  He had held his arm out to block my kick, in which large flames were bursting forth. Kicking him would only result in my burning my foot.

  His defense is nigh-impossible to get through.

  I jumped back a couple of feet, but he chased me relentlessly. He did a low sweep on the ground with his foot, and where his foot swept, flames outlined his path. I jumped in the air and tilted back, flipping over the aftereffects of his sweep. While I was mid-air and upside-down, I saw him going for another straight.

  I can’t dodge!

  I held the flat side of the knife out in an attempt to block the punch, and it succeeded in dampening the blow. However, it wasn’t enough as the subsequent explosion blew me back with tremendous force into the wall, breaking the knife in the process.

  “Gagh!”

  Despite blocking it, the upper part of my chest was heavily burnt. It hurt immensely, but in my time here i’ve been through far worse.

  “You were certainly better than those other subjects, even without powers. I commend you for–”

  While he was talking, I threw three needles at his leg. All of which had connected.

  “You seem quite confident for someone who forgets the basics of battle. Never give your opponent the chance to catch their breath.”

  He ripped the needles out of his leg and glared at me.

  “Quite right, a mistake I'll be sure to rectify now.”

  He took a step closer.

  Not yet….

  His hands became inflamed as he took another step.

  Not…yet….

  He clenched his fist as he was just outside of attack range.

  Now!

  With one hand, I swung my katana out of its loose scabbard at his face, letting the sand held in it spray all over his eyes.

  “Ha! A clever trick….but!”

  He took a quick step back and waved his hand, brushing away the sand with his flames….or so he thought.

  “Don’t you know what happens when sand gets superheated?”

  As the sand particles began to reflect the light of the room, his vision of me became distorted by the newly formed glass.

  “You–!”

  I saw his limbs heat up immensely, but it was too late; in the span of a second, I had already slashed through his right side.

  “Aagh!”

  I can’t stay near him for long.

  I jumped backwards, but as I expected, he spread his arms and flames erupted from all around him. Blowing me back to the other side of the room.

  I wasn’t planning to let up, though. Mid-air, I quickly nocked an arrow and let it loose, aimed at the side I just cut. He noticed too late as it pierced right above the injury I just gave him.

  Unfortunately for me, the slice from my katana had already been cauterized, and the same was happening to the arrow wound once he pulled the head out.

  Due to my quick actions, I failed to land properly and stumbled backward, rolling into the opposing wall.

  When I opened my eyes, I was greeted to the sight of no.9 staring at me with a scared expression.

  “A-Are you ok?” She said as she held her hand out.

  I grabbed it, and she assisted in lifting me up.

  “He’s a tough cookie, that one.” The swamp-haired boy said, stepping forward.

  “Yes, I’m afraid I’m at a loss of what to do.” No.2 said as he pushed up his glasses.

  “I know you have our misgivings about me, as I do to you…but how about we call a truce?” The boy asked with a smile.

  “A truce?”

  “We all want something, don’t we? And you’re the only one out of all of us that has dealt damage to him thus far, I’d say a quick team-up has a better chance than if we all take him on one-by-one.”

  He is correct. Although there’s a higher chance that he’s planning something.

  “How about I sweeten the deal, since you seem so hesitant? We don’t have a lot of time, he’s coming over here.”

  I glanced over, and he was walking over to us with a serious expression.

  “What are you offering?” I asked hesitantly.

  “A token of trust. I’ll tell you my number, although you’ve probably gleaned it by now. And, I’ll tell you about each of our powers.”

  “W-what?! You said you’d keep it secret!” No.9 screamed.

  “Well, do we have a deal?” He asked, holding out his hand.

  “....Fine.” I said, slapping his hand.

  “Ok! First things first, I’m No.1. A pleasure to meet you.” He said, clenching his hand. “No.9’s ability is what I like to call “Voice control”, if she speaks something with enough vigor, it becomes a reality. However, it’s basically useless as she can’t control when it comes out, and even when it does, the desired effect doesn’t happen.”

  In response to this, No.9 looked away, embarrassed.

  “No.2’s ability is wind manipulation. Although I can’t imagine how it will have a use here, considering our opponent’s ability.” He said, patting No.2 on the shoulder.

  “Ha….so you really did have a means to attack me from afar.” I said, glancing at No.2. In response, he scoffed as if his threat was obvious.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “What about you?” I asked No.1.

  “Ah, my gift is something I like to call “Zombie”, I'm pretty sure you can connect the dots from there, can’t you?”

  “I don’t know what that means. Elaborate.”

  “You don’t know what a zombie is? Did you live under a rock or something? Well, regardless, I didn’t say I couldn’t give context clues.” He shrugged.

  “Yeah, but you told him the rest of our gifts without any vagueness!” No.9 yelled, slight tears forming in her eyes. No.2 even nodded his head in agreement.

  “Oh well, you win some, you lose some y’know?” He said with his tongue out nonchalantly.

  “That’s not how this situation works.” No.2 spat with slight annoyance.

  “What I’m hearing is all of you are essentially useless for this fight,” I said, cutting off their useless banter.

  “Why do you think we weren’t doing anything?” No.1 responded.

  “Are you all done talking?” Zagra said as he stepped closer.

  “No.2, can you manipulate the wind into projectile blades?” I whispered to him.

  “Yeah, but he can just make his flames stronger with that.”

  “Just listen. I’m going to charge forward, and I want you to fire one blade of wind from behind me while i’m obscuring his view. Then, never fire one again, only act like you are.”

  “Ok…”

  “No.9, when I give the signal, I want you to yell ‘You can’t move’ as loud and as hard as you can.”

  “I-I’ll try! But….”

  “But what? Are you worried in won’t come out?”

  “Well….it’s not just that. When it does work, I start feeling really weird. Like…..like I just lost something.”

  “Well–”

  “What about me, fearless leader?” No.1 cut me off.

  “Human shield.” I said, placing my hand on his shoulder.

  “Huh?”

  I grabbed no.1 and threw him forward out at Zagra. He instinctively set his body ablaze, burning the cover I had thrown in the process.

  “Hey! So you do know what a zombie is! You’re lucky I don’t feel pain! That would’ve been mighty evil of you, 963!”

  No, I just hate you.

  I stabbed my katana through No.1 to catch Zagra by surprise, but he was no longer holding back; a burst of flames erupted from his foot as he jumped back to avoid the katana.

  “No.2 now!”

  I ducked, and I felt pressure above my head. As soon as I felt that, I looked over at Zagra, who had been sliced by the wind.

  “W-we hit him!”

  “Keep up the pressure!”

  I took my sword out of No.1 and we both charged at Zagra. He went for a kick to my left side, but no.1 blocked his path as I went for another slice. He held his left hand out and started firing balls of flame from his hand in an attempt to deter me. However, I didn’t plan to slice him from the front.

  I jumped in the air right before he began to launch the fireballs.

  “No.2!”

  He held his hand out, and Zagra instinctively defended himself. Of course, no wind came out because it was a feint.

  I flipped over him and sliced his back.

  “Gagh!”

  He turned around and gave a right hook, but I quickly ducked and yelled again.

  “No.2!”

  He held out his hand again, and Zagra turned around to look at him as I sliced his left ankle.

  “Tch!”

  “Hold him, No.1!”

  I came from behind and readied an overhead slash, expecting him to be late to move thanks to no.1. But I looked over and saw No.1 jumping backwards with a smile.

  That snake! He’s trying to get me killed!

  Zagra quickly turned around and grabbed my blade, melting it in the process.

  My weapon…!

  “No.9 do it, now!”

  “I-I!”

  “If you don’t, we’re all gonna lose! Just this once, ignore the drawback! You’re our only hope!”

  “I…am?”

  She then took a large breath in and yelled at the top of her lungs.

  “You cannot move!”

  Zagra was frozen on the spot and couldn’t move. I saw him trembling, attempting to break free, and figured we didn’t have long.

  “I need a–!”

  “No.963!” A familiar voice yelled from my right.

  It was Zero, who had just burst in through the doors. She was holding a katana with a pure white sheathe.

  “Catch!”

  She threw it at me with full force, and I caught it, unsheathing it in the process.

  The katana glistened with a white shimmer, and I could tell as I was swinging it that this was a different level of weaponry compared to what we have here.

  The blade was nearing his neck when something I didn’t expect happened. Fiery armor had appeared around him, and it had completely blocked the swing from the katana.

  Like a phoenix, he grew wings and rose off the ground, spinning and showering flames in the process.

  “Aaagh!” No.9 screamed.

  “Get back!” No.2 yelled, standing in front of her and holding his hands out.

  He rose higher and higher, clad in red and orange flaming armor, with thin wings made of pure heat.

  “I never expected to be pushed this far by a couple of kids. As a veteran in battle, your efforts deserve nothing but respect.”

  He curled himself into a ball, and his flames began condensing more and more until his form looked like a miniature sun.

  “Uh oh!” No.1 yelped, scurrying farther away from the battle.

  “No.963, get out of there!” No.9 yelled.

  Moving won’t change anything.

  “No.963! Cut yourself with the blade!” Zero yelled.

  “What?”

  “Just trust me!”

  I did as she instructed and cut my forearm, and the blade shivered, turning from white to purple.

  “Ha! Of course that’s your blood type. Very fitting of my knight!”

  Zagra came crashing down at me, in what felt equivalent to a human standing ground against the sun.

  I lowered my base, keeping a close eye on him as he descended. I need to focus.

  No distractions.

  “None.”

  My mind is clear.

  “As it should be.”

  I can see the answer.

  “You can?”

  Yes.

  “The answer may not be what you think.”

  The answer is survival.

  “No.”

  That’s what you said before.

  “Answers can change.”

  What’s the answer then?

  “Unquestionable victory.”

  That’s impossible in this situation.

  “Or is it?”

  Is it?

  “I’ll lend you a hand…just this once.”

  “HRAAAAAAAAGH!”

  I sliced forward with the katana, but something was different. I could see each individual particle flying around me. Each molecule colliding and spreading to form the substance known as heat, I could feel it.

  I can touch it.

  Energy suddenly protruded from the katana to form a far larger blade coated in purple, extending at least 10 more feet into the air.

  “H-He awakened?!” No.2 yelled as he straightened his glasses.

  “Hell’s Descent!”

  “Flux Saber!”

  My sharpened energy and his condensed energy collided to create a fiery explosion that encompassed the whole of the training hall.

  Ash and dust fell from the ceiling of the training hall as the smoke from the explosion gradually faded.

  What was left from the residue of that battlefield was the one known as the “Hero” standing tall, donning his stainless armor, and the mere test subject staring up at him in his last seconds of consciousness.

  “My wish….grant my….” I hoarsely called out as I reached my hand toward him.

  The last thing I saw before my consciousness faded was Zero sprinting over to me with a scared expression.

  ?