22 Combat Assessment (3)

***

10 minutes ago...

Anna had just finished her examination and after the window popped up and announced her as having placed 4th, she began making her way toward the other testing rooms.

It wasn't forbidden for students to watch others' examinations.

So, she figured she may as well make use of the time and scout out her future opponent's skills.

and when she thought of an opponent one mysterious face popped into her head.

He seemed so calm yet dangerous at the same time.

She wanted to get a better look at him since they would be having a special examination in a month and a half.

as she turned down the next corridor she noticed a familiar face ahead.

"Hey!" called Anna catching the figure by surprise.

Instantly the woman whipped her white hair around staring at her with calm red eyes.

She could tell by the way her feet were positioned that they were heading to the same place.

"You're also going to size him up?" Anna asked her as they entered the viewing area for Isaac's assessment.

The other woman nodded silently.

Anna quickly sat down on the plush seats as Lucia sat next to her.

Only then did she turn to the other woman.

"Why are you interested in him anyway?" she whispered.

Lucia not being well versed in conversations like these as she grew up without real friends, didn't know what to say.

After all, it's not like she could say she was here to secretly spy for the Elven kingdom and report on any humans with high potential.

"Oh..." replied Lucia quietly. "Well...he is handsome, isn't he? And he has such a strange aura about him too," she added with a meek voice.

Anna stared at her incredulously for a moment before shaking her head and returning her gaze to Isaac down below.

Isaac was following two men through a corridor.

"That's odd, why are there humans in this examination? shouldn't it be monsters?" she asked tentatively.

"Look down there," said Lucia, pointing down at the 2 monster corpses.

"Well if he already dealt with those, then what is he doing now?" asked Anna as she began to feel a sense of danger.

"Who knows..." muttered Lucia.

Soon enough the two of them watched as Isaac pulled out his rapier which was wrapped in the bright blue coloring of a Mana Code before swinging it at the guard with his visor down.

His attack caused the man to fly off his feet and slam into a wall hard enough to crack the stone behind him.

This left only the cloaked individual.

It took Isaac only 3 steps to reach him.

Anna gasped softly as Isaac swung his blade once and sent the cloaked figure skittering backward into a nearby pillar.

At this point, the guard who had been thrown into a wall first grabbed hold of his spear and ran over to where Isaac stood.

Both of them charged at Isaac at full speed.

Anna gulped loudly as she witnessed this unfold.

However, what they witnessed next would be engraved in their minds.

Isaac stood calmly as they charged at him, his body unmoving.

His eyes held a deep and solemn gaze as a dangerous light began emitting from them, and then It happened.

A slight mist of a shadow emerged beneath his feet as he spun his rapier around in midair and brought it down onto the guard's forearm, cleaving it in half and sending blood spraying everywhere.

The other human followed suit and stabbed at Isaac but he easily parried the blow with his own blade. The impact made the rapier tip shatter the ground forming webbed cracks underneath them.

Then Isaac thrust his hand straight into the air as if to grab at the cloaked figure's face.

The cloaked figure sensing the approaching hand quickly leaned back so as not to have their hood pulled off.

However, it seemed this was all within Isaac's plan as an unseen kick cleanly landed on the attacker's leg, sending them reeling backward.

Meanwhile, Isaac simply stepped aside as the second man approached him.

And then it happened.

With a swift movement of his right arm, Isaac drew his rapier across the man's neck.

Blood sprayed out of the wound like a fountain as he fell backward gasping for breath.

"Y-you...! How dare you...!!" screeched the cloaked figure in rage.

Anna looked at the corpse of the first victim, horrified by how much blood was spilling out of it.

She had never before seen such a gruesome sight, having grown up relatively sheltered as the clerk at her family's shop.

However, unlike Anna who watched with a horrified gaze. Lucia watched on pensively as she began to ponder about what she had just seen.

After all, the sight of blood was familiar to her as she had seen it many times before so she quickly analyzed the movements she had just seen.

When Isaac had sent the cloaked figure reeling backward, he should have by no means known that the guard he had cut the hand off of was approaching him from behind.

However, as if he had eyes in the back of his head he quickly performed a feat only skilled warriors or assassins could do.

And yet from her intel that she had been briefed on beforehand, he was neither.

So how could she explain what she saw?

There must be something he's hiding.

She soon snapped out of her thoughts as she watched Isaac confront the cloaked figure who was standing a few feet away from him, ready to lunge at him with his daggers.

Suddenly, the cloak parted revealing a young woman wearing a mask covering most of her face except for her mouth. Her pale skin glowed brightly under the lights illuminating the room as she glared at Isaac with hate-filled crimson eyes.

"I'll kill you!" screamed the woman, brandishing her daggers toward him.

A curved swing grazed by him as he sidestepped and parried the blades.

Throwing out a strike with his fist, it connected with a loud thump sending the assassin reeling.

Quickly recovering from the strike, she threw out a kick as she threw one of her daggers at Isaac.

Once again, a mist of shadows wrapped around his feet as he evaded the throw narrowly and blocked the kick with his knee.

However, a silvery glint flashed by as it aimed for his neck.

But suddenly, Isaac swung his rapier downwards knocking the dagger out of her hands with ease.

Before the masked assassin could react further, Isaac kicked the woman in the stomach causing her to double over in pain.

Attempting to get up again, the assassin was then sent sprawling with a sharp kick to the jaw.

Hanging his rapier on his back, Isaac then clambered over the woman before crouching above her.

Thump-!

A loud sound rang out as Isaac struck her pale face with his fist.

Thump-!

Thump-!

Thump-!

Again, and again he hit her as blood flew everywhere and her face became disfigured.

Lucia watched with trepidation, gazing into his focused eyes.

The eyes of a killer.

The eyes of a soldier who had been on the battlefield before.

Finally, after the woman had long gone silent, clarity seemed to return to his eyes.

Standing up, he seemed to be breathing heavily for some reason as it appeared he tried to regain control over his emotions.

"Pwease... have mewcy..." she begged as blood trickled down her cherry lips.

He froze for a moment, seemingly pondering over it.

"No," he said, swinging down his rapier.

Splat-!

Lucia and Anna watched as blood sprayed everywhere, covering Isaac and dousing him red.

Silence pervaded the room, the only sound was the soft dripping of blood as it dripped down his face.

They watched as he stood above the body, just staring at it before finally noticing the door that had appeared on his left.

Snapping out of his daze, he quickly walked out of the room.

The only people left who had witnessed this, were Anna and Lucia.

The former stared wide-eyed at the scene displayed in front of them while the latter contemplated silently.

***

I walked out of the room silently, my gaze was solemn.

As I walked down the narrow corridor I contemplated the window that had appeared.

"Congratulations, Mr. Isaac. You have been awarded 1st Place for the fastest clearance of the First Phase as well as successfully completing the Second Phase."

My mind was spinning as I tried to understand how this happened.

After all, this never happened in the book.

Not once did anyone clear the First phase and receive a Second phase let alone beat both stages. And here I am walking through the empty hallway having done both.

It didn't make sense, to begin with. I never wrote it so how did it happen?

As I thought about these things, a group of students passed by me with wide-eyed stares as they looked at me, who was liberally coated in blood from head to toe.

When I glanced at the clock, I realized we still had more time until dinner break.

So I decided to return to my room and clean up.