Along with Lola, Mick stopped walking and took a deep breath. “Let’s see, we got 2 hours to finish this phase, right? It shouldn’t take that long to finish her.”

Keira clamped her teeth together and cracked her fingers. “You guys should be a little more nice to a lady like me. 3 against 1 is kinda harsh, don’t you think?”

Bugie laughed awkwardly, saying, “Well, more like 2 against 1. I’m fixin’ to stay out of this, hehe…”

“Don’t think you can smart talk yourself into anything,” continued Mick. “We don’t give a s*** about fighting with honor or by any rules. We’ll do anything to pass this exam.”

“Yeah!” said Lola, excitedly. “I have no problem killing some middle aged broad for my benefit.”

Keira stood silently, staring Mick down with her fierce eyes. She stretched her arms first, with her legs following, and with one step at a time, she paced herself towards Mick. “Pick any limb.”

“A limb?” he asked. “Why?”

“Just do it!”

Mick did a cocky, but short, laugh. “Fine, I choose my left arm. Now tell me why it matters.”

Keira smiled deviously and gave Mick a look that turned his skin pale. “It looks like you’ll lose your left arm first, then.”


The MCG blimp was flying at least several hundred feet above the tree tops. In the mayor’s blimp office, which was almost identical to the office in the blessed house, Vauhan sat in his leather chair, tapping his hands in a repeating beat on the desk several times over. His patience was slowly running out.

From the other side of the room, Mia walked in, greeting him, and talking a seat on the other side of the desk.

Vauhan clasped his hands together and smiled. “Mia, sweetheart, I appreciate that you’re putting all of this time and effort into this exam, but I do have a small problem.” Vauhan’s smile quickly altered to a frown. “It’s taking forever.”

“Please be patient,” said Mia. “I understand that you want to have the assassin eliminated as soon as possible, but this isn’t something that can be rushed. We have to make sure that the examinees that pass this exam are top quality. In order to do so, we have to test many different areas, including their trust.”

Vauhan rubbed his neck and lit up his cigar. He took a big puff before he started to speak again. “How many people are left so far?”

“According to the bracelets, we have around 50 examinees remaining.”

“I’m praying that none of the top notch competitor’s have been eliminated. You know, like those 2 boys, or the man with the snake tattoo.”

“Well, I checked about 10 minutes ago, and all of the ones that stuck out are still in the running.”

Interrupting the conversation, the door screeched open, with Aster walking in rudely.

Mia widened her eyes. “What the hell? Where the hell have you been? I didn‘t even know you were on the blimp.”

“Me?” he asked, insolently. “You know, just hanging out. I didn’t plan on coming, but I felt kinda bad for you, sweetheart, so I decided to come and give you company.”

Mia turned away. “I didn’t need your company. Everything is under control as it is.”

“Oh ho, so harsh. Well, I guess I could give you some exciting news. According to those bracelets, it looks like a team has surrounded a sole examinee.”

“Really, who is it?” she asked, with a rushed tone.

“Wow, now you sound interested. I don’t know, they showed me the chart that matched the examinees with the bracelets, and whoever is wearing bracelet #A-72 looks to be pretty screwed.”

Mia thought about it for a second. “A-72...Oh, yeah. That’s Keira, the middle aged b****. Damn, I got worked up for nothing.”

“Wow, such hostility!”


Mick stood completely frozen in place as Keira walked towards him. The closer she got, the more he could feel his heart drop. This woman, he thought, is absolutely insane.

Before he even knew it, Keira started running full speed towards him. She threw a punch to his face, which he just barely dodged. Another two punches to the face, which Mick also evaded.

She’s not the fastest, but it’ll be a matter of time before I run out of energy to dodge her punches. The only thing I can do is go on the offense. Mick jumped towards her, kicking her in the chest. She fell to the ground, but to his surprise, she jumped right back up. Mick charged again, with a storm of quick punches. Keira swiped them all away with ease, and with great speed, she jabbed Mick in the stomach, causing him to spurt up blood that stained her clothes.

As Keira went to attack Mick, who was defenseless, Lola jumped into combat. At full strength, she punched Keira in the middle of her spine. Keira flew a few feet away, and as she got up, the pain started to kick in. She could feel her hands shaking and her back aching.

“Good one…Lola…” said Mick, who was just able to get back onto his feet.

“Right? This b**** isn’t going to be a problem. I say we start using our powers now.”

Mick nodded and put his right knee to the ground. As he placed his left hand on the ground, the earth around it started to crack, causing the dirt and leaves to fly into the air, until a long, but narrow, hole formed in the ground.

“What the hell..?” asked Keira. Mick said nothing as he pulled out a cutlass, but it wasn’t ordinary. The cutlass was made out of solid earth.

Mick smiled, gripping the earth cutlass tight. “I can’t wait to cut her freaking head off!”

The two charged simultaneously, and already Keira felt overwhelmed. A punch from Lola came, but Keira swiped it away, countering with a kick to her leg. As Lola fell to her knees, Keira roundhouse kicked her to the face, causing Lola to fly back several feet.

From behind her, Mick went for a punch to the head. Keira ducked and rolled around him, followed by an elbow to her spine. She then grabbed the back of his head, and with full force, slammed his head into the dirt. She kicked him in the ribs, causing him to screech out loudly.

From the back, Bugie watched while shivering. Along with his teammates, he was in total disbelief.

Lola wiped the blood off of her mouth, but had little strength to get up. “Damn, she’s pretty fast…”

Mick turned his head as he rose from the ground. Little b****, she’s pretty smart. I don’t know if she knew that she was stronger than us, or if she just assumed. Either way, she pulled it off pretty well. When we first attacked her, she probably only used part of her strength to catch us off guard, but when we attacked again, she took it up a level. There’s two things that could hurt us. One is that we don’t know if she’s used her full physical strength yet, and two is that we don’t know her ability. All we can do is attack until we draw it out of her.

Keira laughed and wiped the sweat off of her forehead. “What’s wrong, guys? Had enough already? We’ve probably only been fighting for about 3 minutes, but you guys are already tired. What a shame.”

Lola blushed, saying, “Shut up! We haven’t even shown you half of our strength. Besides, once Bugie jumps in, you’re screwed! Right, Bugie?”

No answer came, as Bugie was hiding behind a tree to avoid combat.

Mick brushed the dirt off of his pants and cracked his knuckles. “It doesn’t matter, we don’t need the fat ass to beat her. Besides, I have an idea.” Lola walked over to him as he whispered into her ear. Keira watched both impatiently and curiously, wondering what their strategy was.

“Wow, good thinking, Mick! We can totally beat her now!”

“Good, so we’re ready. Let’s get this over with.” Mick charged first, going for a head on attack.

What a retard, thought Keira. I can just attack him straight on before he can hit me. These guys don’t even learn, do they.

Keira flung her hand, but to her surprise, Mick ducked. “Got ya!” he yelled as he rolled around to her back. He quickly grabbed both of Keira’s arms and held them together.

S***! she thought. It was a trap! He anticipated me to attack rather than dodge, so he used that opportunity to disable my arms.

Mick struggled to keep Keira’s arms locked together. He yelled out, “Lola, now’s the time.”

She nodded, and with one of her pampered nails, she cut a small slit on her left shoulder, just barely summoning any blood. She dabbed her finger on the cut, staining her finger. Lola slowly walked over to Keira and wiped the blood on her right eyelid.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” asked Keira.

Lola giggled and started to explain. “You see, my power is that my blood attracts animals, so by putting the blood on you, the animals will attack. It’s only a matter of time before they come.”

Keira wasn’t worried at all. She found Lola’s explanation funny, to say the least. “Weren’t you listening to the blonde b**** before they started the phase? The animals here are practically the size of insects. Even if they do come, they won’t be able to do s*** to me.”

“I know, which kind of sucks for me. That’s why I put the blood on your eyelid. The animals may be small, but they still have the strength to rip your eye out.”

Keira growled. She’s right, they will attack my eye.

Keira quickly smiled and quickly kicked out Mick’s left leg, tripping him. She slid out of his hands and punched him straight in the face. Mick flew into a tree, and despite the large size, his body dented the wood.


Keira jumped back and wiped the blood off with her right hand instantly. “You guys are pathetic! I can’t believe you actually thought you could hold me down long enough to-”

Keira stopped as she felt a sharp pinch pierce her hands. She looked down, and saw two small streams of blood trickle down her hand. Near her wrist, she saw a fly sized wolf chomping away at her flesh.

“Those smart bastards,” she muttered. “It was a win-win situation from they from the start. In case that I broke away from the man, like I did, they knew the first thing I would do is wipe the blood off of my eye. Of course, that means the blood would be on my hand. Either way, I would have to sacrifice my eye or hand.”

Keira smiled innocently a picked the few wolves that were biting her hand. “Looks like my hand is useless now. You guys sure know how to strategize.”

“Mick pulled a few pieces of bark out of his back, causing blood to spurt out. “Give up now. You can’t win with only one hand.”

Keira looked back at her hand, which now had some more wolves biting at it, and frowned. “We’ll…just have to see about that. But first, I want to show you something. I think it‘s about time that you see my power.” Mick and Lola simultaneously widened their eyes in wonder.

Keira rolled up her left sleeve, revealing what looked like to be a tattoo of a black clock. What surprised the two, however, was that the minute hand of the clock, which was at 9, was slowly moving.

“I set my timer to 12 minutes,” said Keira. “That gives me 12 minutes of use of my power. It corresponds with any number, as well. For example, if I set it for 50 minutes, I get 50 minutes of use out of it.”

“Use?” asked Lola.

“That’s right. When I use the word ‘use’, let’s just say that you’ll see…” Keira’s face started to summon a shadow, a shadow that sent a shiver down the spines of Mick and Lola. “…12 minutes of hell.” She slowly started walking towards them. “We’ve been fighting for about 9 minutes, so we have 3 minutes remaining until my timer goes off. Run away now if you want a second chance of life.”

Lola gulped and turned to Mick. “She’s just bluffing, right?”

Mick said nothing, as he knew nothing.


Bain yawned as he continued to walk aimlessly around the forest. Crap, I think I’m lost. I wonder if I’ll even pass. It’s going to pretty hard if I don’t know where the ending point us.

Bain halted as he heard someone’s footsteps. They were faint, but he could hear it just to his left. In curiosity, he followed the sound. The footsteps got louder as he advanced, and before he knew it, he could see 3 figures in an open area. “What do we have here?” he asked himself.

He hid behind a bush that was close to the area, and from there, he could see Keira walking towards Mick and Lola. A fight? He summoned a devious smile as his eyes flew open. This is going to be SO entertaining!



Keira darted towards Lola with a punch, who dodged to her right. Keira followed with a swarm of punches. Lola easily dodged them at first, but as time went on, she became overwhelmed. Keira nailed her in her face, conjuring blood from her newly broken nose. She followed with another punch to the stomach, and then to the ribs.

Lola fell to the ground, completely defenseless, but the beating continued. Keira stomped her foot onto Lola’s back, aiming to snap her spine. Lola groaned in pain, knowing that she was no match for Keira. Keira picked her up by her head and threw her into a tree, busting open several spots on her scalp.

From behind Keira, she heard the air being ripped. She quickly turned around to find that Mick had thrown the cutlass directly at her head. She moved to the right, but instantly felt her right leg drop. Lola, mustered the rest of her strength to attack Keira’s leg. Mick quickly retrieved his cutlass and jabbed at Keira. She just barely dodged, only leaving a long, cut on her cheek.

Keira jumped back, but quickly went back in. She threw 3 punches, all of which missed Mick. Mick countered with a kick to her head, sending her flying into a tree. Keira could feel the blood rushing out of her head, arms and legs. Her vision was blurry, and the sound of each individual footstep that Mick took as he moved towards her made her brain beat.

Mick grabbed her ripped overcoat by the collar and pulled her up. “I’ll give you credit for trying. You actually did pretty well for a 2 vs. 1 fight. Unfortunately, we don’t have time to screw around with you, so die.” He pulled the cutlass up to her neck, and started to slowly dig into her neck.

“Wait!” she yelled. “Look…at my left wrist.”

Mick obeyed her, and quickly looked down. As he saw the clock tattoo’s minute hand hit 12, his heart dropped to his stomach. In an instant, Mick could feel a tremendous aura coming from Keira’s body. He jumped back and watched a terrifying sight. The ground beneath Keira started to crack, and the dirt started to rise before disintegrating. Her somewhat long nails start to curve into points, her teeth started to resemble a wolf, and her muscles bulked up immensely. The part that scared both Lola and Mick the most, though, was her eyes. Her round eyes were now as sharp as an eagle’s, with dark outlines. Her entire appearance resembled death.

“W-w-what the…what the hell is that?” said Mick, who was shaking in fear.”

Keira turned to Lola, and with incredible speed, she ran towards her, kneeing Lola in the face. Lola flew back, slamming into another tree. She was now on the edge of consciousness.

Keira grabbed Lola by her neck and squeezed with incredible strength. “Please…forgi…” said Lola, trying to speak.

“Forgiveness? Give me one good reason why you should be able to live, and I’ll let you.”

Keira quickly dropped Lola to the ground. “I…I’m just a young girl!” yelled out Lola, as blood came out of her mouth. “I’m only 19, so please let me go!”

Keira stood silently for a second. Suddenly, she busted into laughter. “Get this, b****! It was a trick question! I’m going to kill you no matter what!”

Before Lola could react, Keira grabbed her by the back of her head and slammed her face first into a tree. She listened to Lola screaming and gasping for air. After about a minute, Lola’s arms dropped, and the screaming ended. Her dead body fell to the ground.

Mick watched from a distance in disbelief. He was truly frozen by fear at this point. Keira turned towards him and immediately started running.

S***, am I going to die? he thought. No, I just need to stay focused. If I can, then I’ll be able to defeat her. He gripped his cutlass as tight as he could and charged at her. He swung vertically at her, and to his surprise, she didn’t try to dodge. The second the cutlass connected, it broke into several different pieces.

“N-n-n-n-o way..! My cutlass is stronger than anything ever hand made, there’s no way that her body could shatter it!” Keira sent a rapid punch to the face, following another one, until it became a pattern. For several minutes, she punched Mick at full strength in the face over and over again. His face became so numb that after a while, he couldn’t even feel anything.

Suddenly, Mick jumped back, but was on uneven footing. His vision was swaying back and forth, and he saw no end to the beating in sight. At this point, he wanted to die.

Keira widened her eyes and smiled. “I just remembered something!” In the blink of an eye, Keira rushed towards him and dug her nails into his left arm. Quickly, she ripped his entire arm off.

Mick fell to his knees, holding his right arm over his new wound. It took him a few seconds to realize that his arm was gone. Instantly, he screamed as loud as he could.

“Don’t be too upset,” said Keira, in a baby voice. “Anyways, now that your left arm is gone, choose which limb you want to lose next. We’ll go until there’s nothing but a body and a head.

Mick responded by running as fast as he could away from her. Keira sighed and quickly banished her power, making her original appearance come back. She sat down and rubbed her limbs, which were aching so terribly that she couldn’t even move them. “My ability’s incredibly strong, but my limbs will ache for about 2 hours after I use it. I honestly should’ve just not used it. It’s gonna be impossible to get to the finish line like this…”



Mick kept running, ignoring the tears that were filling his eyes. He was on the verge of passing out, but his brain continued to tell him to run.

Without his noticing, he ran through a bush, and bumped into something. From the bush, Bain arose, and stood almost a foot taller than him. Mick stood there with his jaw dropped.

Bain patted Mick on his head and said, “It’s alright, I’ll put you out of your pathetic misery.”

Suddenly, Bain punched Mick in the side of his head so hard that his head was positioned sideways.

“How…the…” said Mick. Seconds later, he fell to the ground, dead.

Bain placed him palm over his face and laughed. “Oh god, that woman! Her power…is too much. I need her…now!