The guard came back and whispered the next name into Adonis's ear.

"Imon Willow!" he shouted.

The girl behind Zai jolted up "Y-yes!"

Everyone's eyes immediately jerked towards Imon, after the display they saw previously they all began to chuckle at the person about to follow up.

Stumbling along the way, she ran from the bleachers down the stairs. 𝘖𝘩 𝘯𝘰, 𝘰𝘩 𝘨𝘰𝘥, 𝘰𝘩 𝘯𝘰, 𝘯𝘰, 𝘯𝘰, 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘏𝘈𝘛. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧?! 𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧! 𝘐 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵… 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳-

Thud "𝘖𝘰𝘧!" Imon tripped while going down the stairs.

The arena let out a collective chuckle, Imon's eyes scurried around the arena and simply made her way towards Adonis.

"Are you alright?" Adonis lightly gazed at her.

"Y-yes, sir!" Adonis's eyes froze Imon in place, yet his aura made her feel warm. She couldn't help but relax a little as he continued talking.

"Alright let's begin." Adonis backed up.

"Wut."

Another Ice golem was created in front of her, and wasting no time, began attacking.

𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘍

"…𝘒𝘠𝘈𝘈𝘈𝘈!" Imon was barely able to dodge the attack, scrambling to get herself back together.

𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘍, 𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘍, 𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘍, the ice golem's attacks continued getting stronger as the ground was freezing due to the shock waves.

She somehow managed to dodge any attack that was thrown at her while everyone in the arena was laughing at her.

𝘖𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘥, 𝘰𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘥, 𝘰𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘥 she couldn't help but shed a slight tear at her predicament. The chuckles from among the crowd slowly began to turn into awes as they looked at the fight.

Zai's jaw slowly dropped and squinted at the sight 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘥𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵?

Unnatural and zippy, flailing around the arena and around the Ice demon. So much so that it looked as if the Ice golem was pivoting non-stop.

𝘏𝘶𝘩, 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸. She closes her eyes and softly smiles as she let her guardian angel take her away from her embarrassment.

"Alright, that's enough." the Ice golem froze and dissipated into thin air.

"You can go on ahead to the next room." Adonis walked back into the middle of the area preparing for the next fighter.

"Eh?" Imon was frozen still awaiting her self-proclaimed doom.

"𝘚𝘪𝘨𝘩 Escort her to the next room please." He signalled a guard to take her away.

"Yes, sir Adonis" A guard arrived and took her away like extra luggage.

Everyone in the stands was visibly confused: "There's no way she passed right?" "If that's all I need to do then I got this in the bag!" "𝘩𝘮𝘱𝘩, They're lax this year huh?".

"Alright everyone, the next person is…" The guard whispered the name of the next fighter.

"Donte Carp!"

The guy in front of Zai stood up and came down to the arena.

"Hello Donte, are you ready?"

"Yes." The same Ice demon golem was created.

Donte attempts to interrupt the creation process by grabbing a nearby barrel and intercepting it in the creation process shoving it in its chest.

𝘊𝘙𝘈𝘊𝘒 The barrel breaks and planks of wood get stuck in the ice golem as it finishes being made.

Adonis on the sidelines controlling the Ice golem nodded "I expect no less from HIS brother."

Donte starts to retreat and dodges the golem's attacks.

𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘍

𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘍

𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘍

𝘊𝘙𝘈𝘊𝘒

The golems were being broken from the inside due to the planks inside it, as Donte forced it to use wide attacks to fight back. The golem started to use long-ranged attacks. Large ice shards began sprouting from.

"Damn! I forgot about that" Donte managed to throw himself in a ditch to dodge. Donte strengthened his body with mana to increase his speed. I don't have the luxury of using as much mana as that first guy, how do I counter this? He thought.

He ran around the ice golem escaping the range of the ice pillars.

𝘡𝘐𝘐𝘐𝘐𝘕𝘎-

Donte was dodging but it was close enough to hear the piercing noise of ice pass him. The cold was beginning to freeze his limbs.

𝘡𝘐𝘐𝘐𝘐𝘕𝘎 ice pillars were hurdling towards him.

𝘎𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘵 Donte tore off his shirt and wrapped it around the leading pillar and used it to swing to the side.

𝘐𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴! Donte launched towards the ice golem with a large amount of mana infused with legs.

𝘡𝘖𝘖𝘔

However, Donte's attack was caught, Donte's eyes widened, his heart felt like it was sunk into the void. He was flung across the arena and tumbled towards Adonis's feet, face down, ass up.

"That'll be enough, you can go on ahead to the next room." He said as he lifted Donte.

He gritted his teeth and looked down. "Dammit… I didn't even win."

He placed his hand on Donte's shoulder. "Donte, you don't have to win, and I didn't pick you just because you're his little brother, now go on."

"Mmhm." He dragged his legs to the other room, sulking on his way.

"Next fighter is… Joshua Gare."

"LESS GOOO!" Jolting up from the seat net to Donte's was the red-haired "barbarian" guy that was provoking him back in the previous test room.

He marches down to the battleground with a wide smile on his face.

"Are you ready Joshua?"

"Hell yea! Josh is fine though." He stretches and raises his fist in response.

The ice golem is formed once again and starts to attack.

𝘉𝘈𝘕𝘎before the ice golem's attack was executed, Josh managed to land a blow on it, knocking back the ice golem a couple of feet away.

"Come here you little shit!" Before the ice golem could regain its balance, he follows up with a dropkick to its chest chance knocking it on its back.

"Hup," He climbs on top of the ice golem and lets loose a barrage of attacks.

"BOP, BOP, BOP, BOP!" Manhandling a 9-foot Ice golem, that's supposed to resemble a typical demon, controlled by the 4th most powerful S rank in the world. The people in the arena were watching in excitement but there was a contrast between them and the ones analyzing the fight notice his naivety.

Restlessly, blow after blow, the ice golem began to crack at the same time so was he; He clenched his fists harder as it frosts up, gritting his teeth as the frost on his arms grew felt like several rats gnawing on him at the same time. Though the whole arena at this point was able to identify he was playing dangerous, Josh kept going.

"BOP, BOP, B-BOP, BOP, BO- Woah!"

"Enough." The ice golem dissipated right under him.

"Good, you can go ahead."

"Wait I didn't even get to finish it!"

"There's no need."

"Man~ that's some bullshit. I'll prove I'm the best next test anyway." He marched away.

"Next is… Jasmine Pierce!"

A new face came from down the stands, Jasmine Pierce, in a tank top, her toned chocolate arms, and a kinky afro.

"Are you ready?"

"Always am sir!"

The ice golem was recreated, and the battle begun with the ice golem making the first move as she stood there.

She blocked the hit from the ice golem while reinforcing her arms with mana, a punch powerful enough it felt like her soul was knocked out of her body.

𝘉𝘈𝘔

She was knocked back, but she managed to block the blow enough to reduce her distance significantly. She lunged towards the ice golem while it was still off-balance and dug a hole in front of its foot.

The ice golem turned around and threw the same attack again, this time she dodged and lunged again and dug another hole.

The ice golem turned around once again but got its foot stuck in the hole and tripped.

𝘛𝘏𝘜𝘋

She started throwing a barrage of kicks.

𝘡𝘐𝘐𝘐𝘐𝘕𝘕𝘎

The ice golem froze her legs instantaneously, a surge of painful stings was felt throughout her body.

"Nice job, you can go on ahead to the other room."

ZZzzsst the ice and ice golem dissipated.

"… 'kay"

"Alright, Next is…Zai!"

Finally, Zai thought to himself

Zai walked to the battleground, no sense of hesitation while walking down even while he stood in front of Adonis.

"Are you ready?"

"Of course." As the ice golem was being formed, Zai reminisced at the times he was fighting Vas, each bruise on his body reminded him of how much he went through. How much he went through reminded him of why he was there in the first place. Because demons one day chose to attack his home, Peralin.

As soon as the ice golem was finished it threw the first punch, 𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘦. 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵…

Zai raised his hand out,

𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘍

A direct punch, Zai didn't even flinch. Adonis's typical expression turned attentive; 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯, 𝘐𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘰 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺. 𝘋𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘑𝘰𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘕𝘢ï𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯-𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘑𝘢𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘥. 𝘐𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦.

Zai broke the ice hand by simply clenching his hand.

𝘚𝘔𝘈𝘚𝘏

The Ice golem threw its other fist at Zai while shards were flying everywhere. Zai threw the same punch and clashed with the ice golem.

𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘔

At this moment Adonis was, for the first time in a while, started trying a little.

The punch didn't do anything, and the ice began crawling its way onto Zai's arm like ants on bread. Zai pulled back,𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬? 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦! Even though Zai wasn't making contact with the ice golem, the ice began to expand.

𝘡𝘐𝘐𝘐𝘕𝘎 The ice golem erected ice pillars from the ground.

𝘍𝘖𝘖𝘚𝘏 Zai managed to dodge the ice pillar but couldn't relax for long. The difference between the ice pillars used on others and these was that these ones were homing.

The ice pillars started chasing Zai around the arena as he was zipping away. The pillars were acting more like snakes slithering after their prey.

The large chunk of ice on his arm started slowing him down, the pillars were tailing him. 𝘖𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦.

"Don't do that now, I want you to show that power that you flexed in the beginning!" Adonis was taunting Zai, but Zai couldn't help but laugh.

"Ha! This brings back too many memories of Vas" Zai stood in place and reinforced the weighted arm.

𝘡-𝘡-𝘡-𝘡𝘐𝘐𝘐𝘐𝘐𝘕𝘎 The ice pillars only charged forward, faster and faster.

𝘊𝘙𝘈𝘚𝘏 Zai swung his weighted arm, the force made It rain ice and shattered all of the ice following pillars. A clear pathway from the crash point to the Ice golem was open.

𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘚𝘏 no time wasted in the rush, Zai sprinted and skid across the ground, towards the ice golem.

"Very nice~ you definitely have the right to act cocky, but nowhere near like the last person who made me act like this." The Ice golem that was supposed to resemble a lower level demon, began evolving, Ice horns, and claws, it became so cold the air was visibly heavier the closer Zai went.

"Take THIS!"

𝘊𝘙𝘈𝘚𝘏…

The crash between the evolved Ice golem and Zai blocked the vision of everyone else with shredded ice.

𝘚𝘏𝘙𝘐𝘐𝘐𝘐𝘕𝘎

𝘍𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘩

As the shredded ice subsided it revealed Zai almost completely encompassed in Ice right before Adonis's face.

"O-k-k-k-k-kay…I-I-I-I'm d-d-done…. U-Unf-f-f-freeze me…"

The ice dissipated.

"Alright, I think that'll be enough." 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘪𝘢, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯 𝘚-𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬.

"𝘜𝘶𝘨𝘩, 'kay." Zai stood up and walked, somewhat limp, to the next test area.

Adonis stopped Zai "You seem mistaken there Zai, go back to the previous room,"

"Huh?"

"You fail."