Manny jumped down from the stage. It was a surprisingly easy match for him. His massive body allowed him to overpower the RTD outright in under a minute. It would have been a perfect fight if not for the hit he sustained just before his final blow. He left the ring with ninety points.

"Good job," said Simon. "Well, now it's just the two of you girls. Are you ready?"

"Sure thing!" Maya said confidently.

"Y—yes. I think," Ann faltered.

"You'll be fine, Ann,” Maya said reassuringly. “You wouldn't have chosen to stay if you weren't confident in your skills."

"Thanks," Ann said, looking a little braver.

One after another, the contestants fought and defeated the robots. Only two contestants failed to beat the RTD in time. Even then, they weren’t overpowered—they simply didn’t manage to end the fight within five minutes.

When the time came for Maya, she took a deep breath and walked up onto the stage. A dozen people had already wandered from the stage to the corners of the room. But that kid was still standing there, piercing her with his eyes.

Never mind that. The fight was about to start and Maya had to concentrate on defeating the robot in front of her. Her style blended dozens of techniques into one martial art, and all of them were adjusted to work against stronger enemies. She knew she was physically weaker than a man, so she had to compensate with technique and cunning—things she took pride in.

"Are you ready?" Pyke asked. At Maya’s nod, he jumped off the platform and the RTD started towards its enemy.

Maya dodged the first punch and attempted to hit its solar plexus, but the robot twisted its body and attempted a spinning kick to the side of Maya's knee. Luckily, his movement wasn't as precise as some of the enemies she had fought. She read the attack and dodged easily. While the robot was still recovering from the missed kick, Maya took advantage of its unbalanced stance and successfully swept its leg. She desperately wanted to knock it out and end the fight in the first minute, but the robot rolled out of the way and stood up before she could reach it.

"You've got to be kidding me," she grumbled.

The RTD didn't take more than a second to recover, and Maya was already dodging a flurry of attacks. Though the robot was fast, Maya dodged with ease. The problem was that the robot had infinite stamina, and she was gradually running out of hers. Normally she would target the enemy's genitals for a quick end to the fight, but this androgynous robot had none. Eyes? Nose? Neck? Maya watched all of those areas for an opportunity to strike.

The robot attempted a spinning backhand strike. Maya ducked, dodging the flailing fist, and jumped up with her fist aimed at the robot’s chin. Thanks to her momentum, the RTD stumbled and started falling back. But Maya jumped forward and kicked its head before it landed. With that, there was no way it could stand up again.

"Good job," Pyke said. “Candidate number twenty-one, eighty points. You did it in under three minutes and you were the first contestant not to get hit. Congratulations.”

Maya stepped off the stage and high-fived Simon.

"That was mad!” Simon said. “You dodged all of those attacks."

"It wasn't easy. Towards the end, I thought I'd die. Those goddamn robots aren't playing around."

"That's true. The hits I took still hurt like hell," Manny admitted, massaging the arm he’d used to block the RTD’s fist.

"Next contestant," Pyke shouted from the middle of the platform.

"You're up, Ann. Will you be okay?"

"I think. . . "

"Go for it!" Simon shouted, interrupting her.

"Stop shouting like a moron," Maya scolded, rapping him on the head.

"Sorry."

Once on the stage, Ann reached into the small bag attached to her lower back. She took out a set of daggers, grasping one in each hand.

"So she's a dagger user, huh?" Maya whispered.

"What was that?" Simon asked a little louder than Maya deemed appropriate.

"Could you please stop shouting, you Muppet? Shout one more time and I'll crush your skull with these two hands," Maya shouted back.

Manny leaned towards the cowering Simon and whispered, "Yikes, she's furious."

"You'll be next, Manny."

"Ah, yes. Pardon, m'lady."

While the three of them were bickering, Ann was fighting for her life. She used the blades of the daggers to deflect the metallic fists. She must have had incredible grip strength, Maya noticed. Normally, blades hit with the force the RTD was using would slip out of the user’s hand. But Ann had managed to withstand the RTD’s hits repeatedly.

"Hey, isn't this kind of stupid?" Simon said out of the blue.

"What?" Maya shot him an annoyed look.

"How the hell is Ann supposed to kill or incapacitate the robot with her blades if its body is made out of metal?"

"Wait. You're right!" Maya's head shot towards the ongoing fight. "That's not fair." She hesitated for a while, but decided to run up to the supervisor to intervene.

Pyke was peacefully monitoring the fight in front of him. “Yes, Maya?”

"You—how do you know my name?" she said, suddenly bewildered.

"Candidate number twenty-one, Maya Hall. It's not hard to remember forty number and name pairs. How may I help you?" Pyke said, never looking away from the fight.

"Don't you think it's a little unfair? How is Ann supposed to win if she can't cut her enemy?”

"Who said she can't?"

"Well, the robot’s metal—”

"If you looked carefully, you would see that the robot’s punches have slowed down considerably since the start of the fight. Two minutes have passed, and the robot is nowhere near its original speed."

"But—"

"Yes, it's true that you can't see blood. But the robot still takes injuries into consideration and fights as an above-average human who sustained those injuries."

"Why didn't you tell us that?!"

"You didn't ask. And if I were you, I would watch your tone." For the first time, Pyke looked away from the fight and gave Maya a piercing stare.

"I—I'm sorry. I mean, it's just. . . I'm sorry." Maya's head dropped. "I didn't mean to be rude. I was just concerned that she might lose because she wasn't given the information."

"She never asked. That’s her problem. We're not a school for kids. If you can't even speak up, then you shouldn't work as an assassin. People die here. Oh, looks like the fight is ending."

Maya's head snapped towards Ann, who was about to pierce the robot's neck. "That won't work!" Maya wanted to shout, but before she could, the blade entered the robot's neck.

"How?"

"Eyes, neck, groin, and several other parts are made of a special material similar to human flesh. You went for the skull and chin when you fought, so you didn’t notice, but Ann clearly has."

Maya didn't know how to respond. She was disappointed in herself. "I'm sorry for barking at you,” she said contritely. “It won't happen again."

"Don't stress it. You seemed to have good intentions. I'll let it pass this time."

"Thank you."

Maya turned to walk away, but a whisper from behind stopped her in her tracks.

"Now, what will you show us today?"

"Pardon?" She twisted and looked at the supervisor, who was staring at. . . the kid.

"What? Oh. Nothing. You can go."

"O—okay?" With every minute, that Nathan Umbris felt more and more mysterious. Who was he?

***

"Want to head back there?" Simon asked Maya, pointing towards an empty corner they had occupied before the exam started.

"No, thank you. I'll stay here to get a better look at our enemies."

"You might have a point," Simon said, scratching his chin. "I suppose we can stay as well."

The second to last contestant stepped onto the stage. Dressed in a loose black hoodie and sweatpants, the figure appeared as androgynous as the robots. The obscured face offered no clues, either.

"Who's that?" Maya asked.

"Huh? Oh that?" Simon replied. "I don't know. Was he here the whole time?"

"Is it a he?"

"I don't know. If I remember correctly, the second to last name was. . . Alex? Alex something."

"Alex could be a guy or a girl."

"That's true. I know an Alex, so I automatically assumed it was a guy."

"Was this Alex here the whole time? I didn’t notice."

"Neither did I, but I presume so."

"Well, let's see what they've got."

As intrigued as Maya was, the fight was surprisingly uneventful. Though the contestant won in under three minutes, none of the fighting really stood out.

"Well, that was underwhelming,” Simon said. “What about this next one? You've been paying an awful lot of attention to him."

As always, Pyke confirmed that the contestant was ready. At the blond kid’s nod, the fight started. A split second later, everyone was gasping in shock. The robot blinked at almost imperceptible speed towards the kid, preparing to punch him in the face. The kid seemed surprised, but it wasn’t he who hit the wall at the opposite side of the gym.

"What. The. Hell. Was. THAT?" Simon squealed, pointing at the kid and looking at Maya. "Did you see that? That robot was like, ten times faster than the ones we fought!"

Maya opened and closed her mouth.

Simon tried his luck with Manny. "You saw that shit?"

"I have no idea what even happened, but that kid obliterated that robot."

"It was a blur for me, too. Maya, did you see anything?"

Maya finally shook her head and took her eyes off of Nathan, who was clearly as shocked as they were. He had jumped off the stage to speak with the supervisor, who also looked surprised.

"I don't know. I saw the robot close in on the kid in a split second. It was like it teleported. And it punched the kid’s head, but somehow after that it all got so blurry, I saw nothing more. I . . . I have no idea what happened."

If there was one thing Maya excelled in, it was her reaction time. She was able to notice things so fast that she had no trouble fighting multiple enemies and dodging all the attacks. Yet here, she hadn’t seen anything.

"May—maybe you can go and ask the supervisor?" Simon suggested.

"He wouldn't tell me anything. He seems like he doesn't know what's happening himself," Maya pointed out.

"Let's just wait and see."

The whole room became awfully silent.

***