Fay said that they were not finished yet. She was Fay of the Duracan family. A member of a great family could not lose so easily.
"She fights without a spear?" Louis asked. "A martial art based on spear technique."
Fay ordered him to receive it.
Louis used Wing Chun, tan sao. It was one of the basic blocking techniques in the martial art of Wing Chun. Fay swung and shouted, "First crushing blow." She struck him, and he jumped back a little.
He thought: this impact is very similar to a one-inch punch.
"That's an excellent technique," Louis said.
Fay shouted that the Duracan family was famous for more than just spears. Third crushing blow.
Louis ordered her to come at him, and used a martial art: boxing. Their energies clashed, and Louis thought — fighting with all his might against a strong opponent. This was exactly what he had dreamed of. Yes. More. More.
His heart started pounding, and he decided to enjoy it a while longer.
Fay looked at him and thought: what is this? A great stream of mana came toward Louis, and he thought — her body isn't moving. Louis hit her and threw her aside, and Aronian cried out, "Just now—"
Fay flew to the side and struck a tree. The others looked at her, and Jess shouted, "Damn it!" A commoner had managed to corner Fay.
Brian grabbed his head and started to retch, and Jess asked, "What's wrong with you, Brian?"
He answered that he did not know. He felt sick. And he thought: this can't be. This feeling. Really?
Jess punched the tree and said the plan had failed. He had not expected that commoner to be so strong. Damn it.
Brian said they must get rid of him at all costs. If that legend was true, he could not be left alive.
Louis rushed in to attack and once again threw Fay aside. He ran after her, shouting aloud. He came down on her out of the air, and she tried to cover herself and thought: his strength and his speed are on a completely different level now. She could not win. At this rate they would kill her.
Fay screamed, "Secret martial art. Flaming fist."
She tried to attack him with it, but she was thrown back. She knocked down several trees with her body, and afterwards Louis came back to his senses and said, "Just now. Again. So it's magic."
"Louis!" Cain shouted. "Are you all right?"
Louis answered that he was — but Fay had just come out from the side, and a voice announced: "Number 30947. He has lost his token. He is disqualified."
Louis watched the badge on his chest burn away to nothing.
At that Jess shouted, "He's out. Let him get out of here."
Cain stepped forward and ordered them to stop. It had only been an accident, after all.
Jess grinned and said that unfortunately the director had seen everything. He was hardly going to help a commoner cheat, was he? He walked up to Louis and ordered him to leave. He was interfering with the examination.
Cain shouted at him.
He simply said that the trash must disappear.
Then Fay's voice was heard. She ordered them to wait.
Everyone turned around, and Louis asked in surprise whether she had survived that.
"Fay Duracan," Jess said. "Is she protecting number 30947? Does she want to be eliminated for breaking the rules?"
Fay ordered him to shut up. She knew that Louis's token had burned. She asked Louis to forgive her. She had used magic by accident.
"Did Fay just apologise?" Cain asked in surprise.
"No," Louis answered. "I'm the one who made her lose her temper."
Fay said it was all right. He had forced her to use magic, so the victory was his. She offered to fight him again once they were enrolled.
Jess asked again — enrolled? But she only had four tokens, didn't she?
Fay tore off a piece of cloth and told Louis to take it. It was a reward for winning. Now he had fourteen of them. Louis's token had burned only after he defeated her. That would count as a record, wouldn't it?
Jess shouted her name. "Fay Duracan!"
Fay slapped Cain on the shoulder and said, "Handsome."
"What?" he asked.
Fay said that the weak passed while those who deserved it failed. She was not going to put up with that. She kicked her spear up into her hand and said that only ten people would be able to pass. If the tenth of them collected fourteen tokens, or even more, how would that affect Louis?
Cain frowned and said what a coincidence — he had thought of that too. He ran forward and said that it turned out she could think of something besides fighting after all.
Fay shouted that not everyone was as stupid as he was. Let him move. She needed to collect tokens again.
Louis was smiling when Jerry suddenly appeared beside him.
"Louis Kiril. You have lost your token, so you will be disqualified."
"Understood," Louis replied.
"It's not over yet," Jess said.
Brian said that if Fay defeated the other candidates, Louis would definitely pass.
Jess clenched his fist in displeasure and clicked his tongue. He said he did not want to see his face any more. And he thought: if a candidate happens to die during the exam, no one will be surprised, will they?
Brian thought: let him do it. He hoped this one was not like those weaklings. This feeling — Louis Kiril, his true nature.
After a while Louis handed his tokens over to Jerry and thought that martial arts were certainly powerful, but they could not compare to magic. If he could learn to combine magic and martial arts at the academy —