Anna looked sour. She was in a bad mood after finding out that the arcanas she had brought were useless for Klaus to complete the third test. Even the bodyguards kept their distance from the blonde woman to avoid her anger, especially Luis.
The bodyguards were first-generation awakeners, they had never undergone certification tests. So they didn't know that the certification test rules prohibited the participant from using arcana. If they had known, they would have told Anna.
Klaus was silent, he knew there would be no words that could comfort her.
The third test was the combat test. This test consisted of two stages. The first stage was the participants showing their skills in front of the assessor and the second stage was the participants fighting with other participants. Winning or losing didn't determine qualification.
Actually, the assessor could determine the roles for the awakeners through their statistics from the first test. However, they needed to see firsthand how the awakeners utilized their powers in real combat.
"Numbers 69, 70, 71, 72. Please enter the arena."
Hearing the assessor mention Klaus' sequence number, Anna opened her eyes wide at once. She immediately grabbed her son in shoulder.
"Listen to me, Klaus. Maybe they all look strong or intimidating, but you are much better than you think. Believe in yourself," Anna said encouragingly. She sounded serious about her words.
Klaus just smiled, he didn't know if his mother actually hated him being an awakener or not.
Four participants entered the arena. One of them was Justin Law. As the celebrity entered the arena, the fangirls yelled in support.
"Go go go, Justin! Go go go, Justin!"
Klaus and the three participants lined up in front of the assessor.
"Show me your abilities, number 69." The assessor said.
Participant number 69 stepped forward to show off his strength. The man slowly disappeared, his body becoming translucent, until finally he was completely invisible. The spectators dropped their jaws.
"Enough."
Not long after, the man became visible again.
The next contestant stepped forward. As the assessor asked him to show his power, the man simply moved his hand in the air, and a tornado the size of a grown man emerged in the center of the arena. He was manipulating the wind element.
"And your talent?" the assessor asked.
"I can't show you here," he replied. "My talent is [Fish Breath], like its name, I can breathe in water as long as I use it."
The assessor nodded and waved his hand, signaling to step back.
After participant number 70 finished, Justin walked up to the assessor, and his fans went crazy.
"Justin! Justin! Justin!"
The pink-haired man raised both hands, and an ice crystal emerged out of thin air. The people watching were excited, especially the fangirls.
"Wind and water!? He's a dual elementer!"
"Lucky bastard."
"He must be an B-Class or A-Class."
If an awakener had two or more elements, they could be combined to create a new element or strengthen one of the elements.
Such as the combination of the water element and the wind element would create the ice element; or the combination of the fire element and the wind element would strengthen the fire element.
Of course, this only applied if they did not contradict and complement each other. If an awakener combined the fire element and the water element, both vanished; or combined the earth element and the thunder element, the thunder element would be weakened.
"How will you utilize your talent?"
After the assessor asked about his talent, the pink-haired man just shook his hair. A strange aura enveloped the arena. Suddenly, people blushed at the sight of Justin, their hearts pounded and their chests felt warm. For no reason, they fell in love with him.
"Ah, he's so handsome."
"I think he's my soulmate."
"I think I'm actually gay."
Justin Law had a talent called [Charm]. This talent made him look mesmerizing, and people who saw him would be captivated.
Everyone was affected except Klaus and Anna, and some strong awakeners like Luis.
Klaus secretly marked his mother with a protection spell that neutralized any kind of attacks and negative effects. Although the blonde woman was surrounded by strong bodyguards, Klaus didn't want to take a risk on her.
"That's enough, stop it!" The assessor blushed as he said it.
Justin snapped his finger, and the [Charm] effect was slowly gone. Everyone returned to normal.
Then, it was finally Klaus' turn.
"Yoohoo! Klaus! Go go go Klaus!" Anna exclaimed excitedly amidst the silence.
The people around the blonde-haired woman just watched, some seemingly stifling laughter.
Klaus wanted to pretend he didn't know her, but people had already known.
"Go ahead, show me your ability."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out three rubber balls the size of bottle caps. He extended his hand in front of the assessor, and they floated and twirled in the air as if chasing each other.
The assessor frowned.
"In my data, your talent is [Speed Up], and your elemental affinity is metal. How can you control a rubber object?"
"Inside these rubber balls are iron. I coated it with rubber, so it wouldn't hurt the other participants."
The assessor just nodded, while people around the arena were laughing.
"What's he saying? Hurting with that little thing?"
"Pfft... his mom must have spoiled him too much."
"I can't tell if he's confident enough or just a fool."
Whispers of scorn and amused laughter echoed in the air. Of course, Klaus heard it, but he wasn't angry. The only person who was angry was Anna.
The blonde-haired woman gave Luis a finger gesture to draw closer.
"Find the people who laughed at my son. You know what to do, right?"
"Yes, ma'am."
After the four participants showed their abilities, the next round began. The battle.
In this stage, the rank and battle power of each participant was deliberately concealed. This was part of the test, to see how an awakener would fare against an unknown monster.
The first two participants to fight were Klaus and participant number 70, while Justin and participant number 69 left the arena.
Klaus and participant number 70 stood in the center of the arena, facing each other. Klaus pulled out a rubber ball from his pocket while his opponent drew a fiber dagger covered in rubber as his weapon.
Anna looked worried, biting her lip, afraid that her son would get hurt.
"Hehe, watch out, mommy is crying," Participant number 70 gave Klaus a mocking smile.
Klaus just sighed hearing it.
The referee stood in the middle of the two of them. He looked at both participants.
"Are you ready?"
Klaus and participant number 70 nodded.
"The battle begin!"
As the referee raised his hand to start the match, a blue rubber ball shot out at high speed and struck contestant number 70, right in the navel. That man collapsed in an instant and curled up in pain on the mat.
The referee, the assessor, and spectators were stunned. The match literally ended in the blink of an eye. Whispers and amazement filled the air in the arena instantly.
"What the actual f*ck is going on?"
"How is that possible? He beat him with a ball. Is he an S-Class?"
"Daym, he wasn't kidding."
Anna, who had been worried, was now jumping up and down with excitement. The guards were dumbfounded. In their 17 years of life as an awakener, they had never seen such a short fight. This could only happen if an S-Class or A-Class fought an F-Class.
And Klaus was an F-Class.
The fangirls supporting Justin looked panicked. They were worried that their idol would lose his confidence.
"Calm down, Justin. You are better than him," said one fan.
"That's right, you're much more talented than that rich kid."
They tried to cheer Justin up so that he wouldn't worry about going up to the arena. However, they had no idea that their idol was actually motivated after he saw Klaus.
"Well, there are many strong people in this world. I need to practice more," Justin muttered.
The referee was still in shock, but he had to announce the result.
"The winner was participant number 72!"
As Klaus returned, his mother quickly ran over and hugged him.
"My boy! That was great!"
"Okay, okay. Let me breathe," Klaus replied as he tried to escape her hug.
Klaus did not intend to be flashy by defeating his opponent in one fell swoop. He just reflexively did it. He concentrated his power on his fingers and added [Speed Up] to the rubber ball. Normally, this would only give the enemy a shock effect.
"Looks like I need to exercise more restraint myself."
He didn't know that his simple attack was a final blow.
