With the arm strength he could muster, Drew flung the half-full glass bottle of alcohol. To none of his surprise, the examiner dodged it like it was nothing. The glass bottle crashed into the ground, its minuscule shards scattering through the air upon impact. As he lunged towards the Avian’s head, Drew pulled his flying knife, its body whizzing past the examiner’s torso, returning straight back to the Avian’s hand.
Again, in a split second, the examiner’s hand got close. There wasn’t enough time for him to dodge, so Drew deployed [Aegis], stacking every possible effect on it he could to reduce the impact. Then, the Avian felt his stomach cave inwards as [Aegis] shattered again, the burning bile rushing up his esophagus as the force of the impact blew his body back as the examiner followed through with his movement. His organs were screaming in pain from the shock. They weren’t bleeding, but it still hurt a lot. A cough escaped his mouth as he deployed another Aegis panel beneath his feet. He propelled himself towards the examiner, who was coming to land another hit.
The examiner dodged the blades and the bottle but didn’t work around [Aegis] and instead directly pierced through it. Is it an Ability?
As the examiner made his move again, Drew slid underneath his arm. When he did, tens of ice shards materialized beneath the examiner. The shards launched toward the examiner, who dispelled them with a flick of his wrist, not even batting an eye towards Drew, who had barely recovered his footing a couple of meters away. His back leaning against a table where a couple of assassins were watching the show before him.
There was a box of needles and some playing cards on the table.
“Sorry, I need to use these!” Drew shouted, taking them off the table. He had to confirm this theory.
Meanwhile, the assassin who owned the needles sat at his table, utterly stunned as he watched Drew snatch them away.
Click.
The needle box opened. Luckily, they weren’t laced with poison. As the examiner vanished before his eyes, Drew swept the stack of cards off the tabletop, flinging them up in the air. If he couldn’t stop the examiner from getting to him, Drew would do everything possible to delay him.
“Obscuring my vision, not bad!” The examiner, who had arrived in the middle of the shower of playing cards, commented, tilting his head aside as several needles passed his face. Then, at the moment the examiner snapped his head back, focusing on the Avian before him, three more needles were aimed toward his abdomen, which was split in half perfectly through the center with his hand.
Drew couldn’t help but be amazed and terrified by the examiner’s prowess. He grits his teeth as he prepares to make his next move.
He managed to slice the needles barely a millimeter thick with his bare hands through the center?!
While engrossed in his thoughts, a leg flew towards his neck. The examiner had broken past the card shower, and Drew found himself deploying two light blue [Aegis] panels while jumping out of the path of the examiner’s attack.
Upon destroying the first panel, the examiner snapped his leg back and let out another powerful kick, destroying the second panel.
This was strange to Drew.
Why would an assassin who could break [Aegis] as if it were glass be required to use two kicks to destroy the panels instead of one and follow through?
It had to be an Ability, one with a solid piercing effect or one that could nullify my Ability, but it seems he can only destroy one thing at a time, judging by how he had to dodge the ice shards earlier. However, he’s appeared to overcome that shortfall by using a different body part to break through my Ability. It’s all theory, but if his Ability happens to be the latter, then the difficulty will escalate. If it’s the former, there’s a chance I can last longer.
Drew gulped, flicking open the needle box.
A cold mist escaped his mouth, covering the needles in ice. Using his Wind Otrio, Drew raised the needles and fired them at the examiner. There were too many to destroy, but the examiner would be forced to dodge if Drew's guess were correct. However, Drew failed to consider another factor: the examiner’s Otrio Attributes.
As the needles reached the halfway point, the ice started melting, and eventually, the needles glowed red until the metal began to turn into molten hot droplets, burning away the floor below.
“I’m impressed!” the examiner clapped, walking calmly to Drew as he watched all the needles disintegrate. "But it’s a shame. You’re too green.”
Drew stepped back, feeling the borderline killing intent of the man in black so close to him. The Avian retracted his hand behind his back.
He was waiting.
Another step had been taken.
Waiting.
One more.
Waiting.
The examiner cracked his knuckles.
Waiting.
Drew’s eyes narrowed; it was now.
The Avian swung his arm back, his hand still grasping the cord attached to the flying knife. An ear-piercing screech could be heard as an object soared into the air.
“A table?!” One of the spectators gasped, watching it come crashing down. “When did he have time to do that?!”
“Clever kid!” The examiner laughed, knocking away the table with his elbow. He must’ve used his flying knife as an anchor while I was distracted by the ice shards he shot from the ground back then. He then used the needles as another diversion to tighten the cord and pull the table. Not only that, the examiner glanced at Drew, who had returned the flying knife to his hand. The kid must also be analyzing my Ability. Those moves he pulled exposed a few flaws I’ve kept under wraps.
Amid his thoughts, Drew took the initiative and propelled himself towards the examiner. Two disk-sized [Aegis] cut through the air, precisely aiming for the examiner’s arms. Aware of his Ability, the Avian knew he could only use [Aegis] as a diversion.
The examiner stretched out his arms and shattered the panels as quickly as before. However, that millisecond of a gap created by his preoccupation allowed Drew to kick the examiner from above, aiming for his shoulder. Against the examiner, that attack wouldn’t do much damage, but Drew had another thing in mind.
Bang.
Drew’s kick made contact with the examiner’s shoulder as predicted. However, the Avian was too late; the examiner grabbed his ankle and flipped Drew upside down. The Nightengale wrapped the cord attached to his flying knife around the examiner's arm and pulled it, hoping to inflict some damage, but it was futile. The examiner was several times stronger than him and wasn’t even wielding a weapon.
“Shit!” Drew cursed under his breath, feeling the examiner’s grip on his ankle grow tighter. Aside from Gerald, Drew had been utterly overwhelmed by his opponent for the first time in a long time. All his tricks and plans had foiled in the face of someone levels above him. Given his opponent's skills, he could do nothing to get out of his position. “I concede!”
As soon as he said that, Drew felt his body fall to the ground, head first, followed by the rest and his knife with the cord all tangled up. His face red from running around, his heart is still beating hard against his chest from his struggle. Sweat droplets rolled down the side of his head. His ankle was still throbbing from the examiner’s grip, but it wasn’t broken.
The Avian planted his hand on the cold ground and pushed himself up. Dry coughs escaped from his mouth as he did. He raised his head and observed the examiner’s imposing figure, which made Drew appear as nothing more than a speck of dust. He couldn’t help but feel hopeless, but without defeat, Drew realized that his growth would be limited. It was an important lesson that solidified in his mind after today’s assessment.
“Out of all the people I’ve tested, you are one of the few that lasted the longest.” The examiner spoke, extending his hand to the Avian.
“Did Cadmus just praise him?! That Cadmus who hardly gives praise to anyone!” a spectator commented.
“Two minutes exact.” The examiner, Cadmus, spoke, holding up two fingers. “Kid, you are exceptional for someone of your level. There is much room for growth, but against anyone at your stage, give or take one or two ranks, you should have little issues keeping up with them. Granted this assessment, I believe you are more than worthy of being designated a Mid-D-Rank skill level.”
Drew had yet to process what had just occurred as his head was still spinning from the exam. All that could escape his mouth was, “Pardon?”
“Raven, am I correct? You’ve got potential, and we look forward to seeing your progress. You will be sent a detailed review of your assessment later today~! Don’t worry about the mess; rest up!”
As soon as he finished speaking, his body vanished into thin air.
He looked forward to seeing this new recruit’s progress.
>>>
Rowan was working in his office.
There had been a flood of requests since the new season of War of Royals began. He scoffed, looking at all the familiar faces on the requests and the requestors who sent them in.
"Always a hot mess up there. How chaotic."
Then, he glanced over to another holograph projected above his desk.
After getting the Young Master all sorted out, he began wondering how the assessment went. He told the receptionist to assign him a random examiner, but to think Cadmus was selected; the Young Master would surely experience some difficulty.
As he was about to pull up the security footage from the main hall, Cadmus appeared in front of the Founder’s desk.
“Always rudely interrupting me, aren’t you, Cadmus?”
Standing in the light in his all-black attire, Cadmus smiled underneath his mask.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt your work, Founder.”
The Founder scoffed, shutting his supercomputer down.
“Look at this brat. Took care of you for 15 years, and you come to bite the hand that feeds you. The disrespect-“
“Who was that kid?” Cadmus asked, taking off his mask. “He’s unlike anyone else I’ve tested at that level. Two minutes. He lasted two minutes against me.”
The Founder, whose eyes widened with astonishment, began laughing hysterically. Most people at the Young Master's level would barely last a minute against Cadmus, and the fact that the Avian managed for two was beyond impressive. So he wasn’t all bark and no bite.
“To think he’d impressed you! The old man sent me a good one!”
“Who is he?” Cadmus asked once again, pressing his hand down on Rowan’s desk.
Rowan glanced up at Cadmus, whose sunset eyes, covered by a few strands of his crimson hair speckled with orange streaks, were glaring at him. His handsome face that didn’t belong to Yerburn had wrinkles forming into his ivory skin from furrowing his brows with anticipation.
“He’s someone an old employer of mine recommended. Said the kid needed someplace else to train to improve his skills.”
It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either, but Cadmus knew it was futile to press further.
“I would like to mentor him,” Cadmus demanded, pulling his hands off Rowan’s desk.
“What? Are you sure about that? Isn't your schedule packed? Don’t you have to travel a lot for your day job?”
“Founder, I’m sure. I can take him on even with my day job. Rather, I think he might find it a good experience if you allow him to shadow me. After all, the targets you assign me are all in my circle, and he’ll need to know how to act the part to fit in.”
“If you say so, Mr. A-Lister.”
“Famous or not, I’ll always be a Harbinger. You trained me to be that way, didn’t you?”
“Hard to believe such words are being spewed out from your picturesque face. It’s funny.”
“Thank you for finding it amusing,” Cadmus replied sarcastically.
“When will you start?”
“When he comes back.”
The Founder snapped his fingers.
“That'll be next week. Oh, and one last thing.”
“What?”
“Don’t you have a shoot to get to in an hour?”
A look of horror and realization plastered itself on Cadmus’s face.
“I’ll be off then.”
"Yeah, sure~" The Found smirked. "We all can't wait to see your next work."
Thanks for the new chapter!