Divinity

--- [Alex’s perspective]

“And the next one up is Illian Draco.” – Leanne

Before he walks away, Illian turns around and gives us a cocky smirk.

“Watch this.” – Illian

What is he planning?

While on his way there, he cracks his neck and knuckles.

I’m not sure what he’s going to do, but he’s very confident in himself.

He gets into position, but instead of unleashing his attack, he just stands there…

Is he…?!

He totally is!

“Wow, wow! Are you sure you want to use a charged attack?!” – Roxy

“…” – Illian

Of course he doesn’t respond; his concentration would break if he did.

Roxy turns to Leanne.

“Should we stop him?” – Roxy

“Nah. It’s his choice what kind of attack he wants to use. Let him do his thing.” – Leanne

“Okay…” – Roxy

The crowd is totally silent; everyone has their eyes set on him.

Most of them seem confused as to what he’s doing, but I think I’ve got it now.

His specialty…

It’ll let him survive an attack no matter how powerful it is.

With a fully charged attack, his score might shoot right to the top!

We have no idea what the next game is; I bet he’s banking on there being some kind of reward to finishing with a higher score.

He’s stronger than Lett, so he could easily make the cut by dishing out a regular attack, but he’s shooting for the top…

Even if he has learned to use his specialty more than once per day now, using it like this is still extremely risky.

It might be the difference between passing or failing next round…

But at the same time, if getting a higher score makes next round easier, it will be well worth it.

It’s a risk, but one he’s willing to take.

Knowing him, he might also be doing it for bragging rights…

After a long, tense, moment of waiting, he finally throws his punch.

This is the absolute maximum power his body currently allows him to produce.

I wonder how much it is…!

“52144…” – Roxy

That’s…

Not as high as I thought it’d be…

I reckon I could reach that with a regular attack if I put some effort into it…

Still, as I’ve learned, when it comes to raw power, I shouldn’t compare myself to them.

The reality is that I pick up on BDM a lot faster than other people; I don’t know why that is, or if there even is a reason, I just know it’s true.

His fully charged attack is roughly 10 times as powerful as Lett’s maximum output for non-charged attacks.

When viewed that way, it’s pretty impressive.

“Good luck.” – Roxy

“I won’t need any.” – Illian

He puts his hands in his pockets, and without putting any effort into defending, he takes the hit flawlessly.

The instant her fist connects, his shadow shrinks back to its regular size.

That hit was strong enough to kill him, but due to his specialty, he survived without a scratch.

Leanne looks at Roxy…

“See?” – Leanne

“…” – Roxy

As he gets back to us, you can tell he’s satisfied with his results.

“Not bad, eh?” – Illian

“We’ll just have to wait and see if your gamble pays off or not…” – Shin

“Well then, there are only two people left…” – Leanne

She spins the wheel…

“Next up is Eva Lapis. That means the final contestant to get tested is Jade Amor.” – Leanne

There aren’t a lot of people left now, and there are still only three people with a score lower than Lett…

If one these next two contestant don’t get a lower score, she’s out…

Like the rest of us, she put in a crazy amount of effort to get stronger these last few months.

If she doesn’t pass…

No…

I shouldn’t think like that.

I’ll believe in her until the end.

She can do it!

Eva gets in position, and like many others, she doesn’t appear to use a specialty for her attack.

There are lots of specialties that can’t directly cause any damage; people with specialties like that will obviously be at a disadvantage.

She appears to be aware of that, and doesn’t exactly to exude confidence…

She punches the air in front of her…

Come on…!

“3767.” – Rexy

“Yes!” – Alex

…

Oops…

I didn’t mean to say that out loud.

“Sorry…” – Alex

I was just so happy for Lett.

She’s guaranteed to pass now!

Roxy hits her back with her own power, and she stumbles backwards and loses her balance.

She falls flat on her back, and lays there for a moment before bothering to get back up.

She knows it’s already over for her; only one other person has a score lower than her.

I don’t blame her for losing motivation…

“Alright, Jade, it’s just you left now. Good luck.” – Leanne

That’s Rins friend…

She looks pretty strong, I bet she’ll make the cut.

I feel bad for Rin…

She’s the only one of the people I already knew who won’t pass…

Me, Lett, Shin, Illian, and Lucas have already made it into the top eight.

Not Rin though…

She got extremely unlucky with this game; lack of power is her biggest flaw, and this game tests exactly that…

But to be frank, for her to even be here at this exam after how terrible of a fighter she was back during the F-rank exam, her progress must have been insane.

I have no doubts she’s a competent hunter, but the rules are very much not in her favor.

It is what is…

I hope she doesn’t take it too badly, and instead works on herself so that she can hopefully pass next year!

There’s no shame in failing the exam.

Jade stretches her arm out in front of her…

I guess she’s about to use her specialty, whatever that may be.

I’m very curious as to how high her score will b-!!

What?!!

Did she just…

“Wait… Was that a mistake?” – Roxy

“Nope.” – Jade

“But… You just…” – Roxy

“Mhm.” – Jade

She just flicked the air…

She didn’t even appear to use BDM, it was just a regular old flick…

Why?

“So, are you going to give me my score, or what?” – Jade

Roxy, just like me and everyone else watching, is completely stunned.

She never expected her to throw away her one and only chance like that…

“Uhh… 1…” – Roxy

“Hmm… Could be worse.” – Jade

“Actually, it literally could not… Anything below a 1, registers as a 1. You got the lowest possible score…” – Roxy

“Ouch… No need to rub it in like that. Anyways, you’re supposed to hit me, right?” – Jade

Roxy looks over at Leanne; she doesn’t say a word, but you can tell she’s asking if there’s any point.

Leanne just shrugs.

“Go on.” – Jade

Roxy listens, and flicks her back…

As Jade gets back to Rin, I overhear them talking.

“Why?!” – Rin

“Well, it was either you or me. There were only three people below you, so if I gave it my all, you would have failed.” – Jade

“And?! I would have failed because I clearly didn’t deserve to pass!” – Rin

“Honestly, you’ve got a better shot at passing the final round than me anyways.” – Jade

“That’s not true, you’re an excellent hunter!” – Rin

Instead of responding to what Rin said, she completely ignores it and continues where she left off.

“But don’t you dare mess up this chance I’ve given you!” – Jade

“I won’t…” – Rin