"The next fight is between Cosmos and Anusa, against Cassandra and Lok-Hyun."

The team Cosmos was against had a female fisherman, obviously Cassandra, and a lightbearer; he must've been Lok-Hyun.

Love gave the signal to start and both teams stood there. They stood there for a while. Any longer and they'd start circling each other, like those epic fight scenes you always saw in those stories. Then Anusa conjured up a baang and released it at Cassandra. At the same time Cosmos darted forward and was now using a needle and a hook at the same time.

He used the hook to sweep away Cassandra's defences and his needle to stab at her. But Lok-Hyun wasn't completely useless, and he had a couple of tricks up his sleeve as well. He got some grenades from his pocket and threw them at Cosmos. Cosmos was too good for that, and he backed up while the grenades exploded, then went back to attacking Cassandra. She was ready this time, but still got pushed back. Cosmos was fast and his hook kept on sweeping away her weapon while the needle forced her back. The guy was good, way better than I thought. He was easily pushing back a fisherman on even grounds. He'd be deadly in a dark maze with hiding spots and ambush points.

Meanwhile, Anusa (obviously a wave controller) was keeping Lok-Hyun occupied by just shooting baangs that swerved to attack him on three sides. The attacks were basic but he had to dodge and use his lighthouse to block the attacks and didn't have time to help Cassandra. Even if it'd been the two of them against Cosmos, they still probably would've lost. I looked over and Cassandra was on her back, Cosmos' needle at her throat.

Damn. It was over before I even realized. He was strong.

Lok-Hyun looked and realized it was over. He raised his hands in surrender, and Love intervened, announcing Cosmos' victory.

He walked up and we went over to him.

"That was really cool!" Nal-Kae said. "Couldn't believe how strong you actually were. You could probably beat whoever blew a hole in the maze!"

Cosmos laughed. "Yeah, and hiding those frickin magnificent wings is totally fine."

I smiled with them. "It'd be a close call between you and Nathan but I'd bet on you."

They looked at me. "Did it really not occur to you guys? It should've, especially after seeing him blow up our opponents. I thought it might've been Hyrum but I scanned his weapon with my knuckle duster and I also scanned the wall yesterday. There's no way he could've strengthened his body enough to destroy the wall, not after seeing that pathetic performance down there."

The regulars all suddenly muttered something, and I turned around to see Hyrum standing up and walking towards me. Did I mention I had a big mouth?

"You wanna repeat that you scrawny piece of shit?" Hyrum growled. He looked like one of those old grey buildings that were huge, but easy to knock down.

"I'm sorry, was anything I said back then not true?" I asked. "Did you gather strength from the guardian and actually knock down those walls? Did you not get your ass kicked by Blade and Naeyeon? Or maybe you used your family influences to-"

I got cut off as Hyrum swing his fist at me. I ducked and the knuckleduster ricocheted off the wall. Yeah, the day he broke down those walls was the day he'd become a ranker.

"Nice." I said. "You must've really been holding back just now; after all, didn't you knock down the walls of the maze?"

Ok. In retrosepct I should've shut the hell up. But I've always found dickheads tempting to piss off.

Electricity sparkled off his fists, and he started to punch me. His fist was a blur that I couldn't follow, but I didn't need to. People like him were so predictable when they were pissed, and I knew that he'd be aiming straight for my head. I sidestepped and slashed at him with my khukri. But this guy didn't just depend on his fists and he dodged quickly. Growling, he rushed forward again, and I did the same thing as last time. But this guy was fast, and he didn't leave any openings. I was about to use my lighthouse to blind him and counter when two needles pointed themselves at his throat.

I was amazed. Didn't think anyone'd risk attacking a huge guy packing all that firepower. Ok, maybe I'm not that smart when it comes down to other people. Nal-Kae and Cosmos had their weapons out and were glaring up at Hyrum. I laughed at the sight of a kid as young as Nal-Kae threatening a huge giant like Hyrum, but that was just fishermen for you; their bigger they seemed, the weaker they were.

I smiled at them. Maybe travelling in a group wasn't as bad as it seemed. Hyrum's face was redder than Nathan's fireballs, and stepped back. Then he dashed forward with a roar and would've smashed my head if I hadn't been alert. The explosion rang through the whole testing ground, getting Love's attention.

"Stop" He commanded. "Unauthorized fighting is not allowed. Any damage to the testing grounds will be deducted from your personal account."

I looked around, and saw that there was a sizable crater where Hyrum'd landed his punch. Maybe he did punch down the walls.

Glaring at me, Hyrum stalked off. I opened my mouth to say something, but Nathan punched me hard, and by the time I got my breath back Hyrum was out of earshot.

I turned to say something at Nathan, but shut up when I saw he was cradling a fiery baang in his palm.

I walked away to watch the last battle, but Nathan called out to me (yeah, he actually started a conversation) "If you wanted to know if destroyed the walls, you should have taken the opportunity when I allowed you to talk."

I turned back. "So did you?"

"Yes and no. The holes were already there when I came, but they were jagged and rough. I rounded them off and enlarged them. I thought it would have more dramatic an effect."

He turned and walked off, leaving me thinking that this guy wasn't as grim and death-obsessed as he tried to seem. He actually did have a sense of humor, even though it involved tricking all of the other regulars.

He'd definitely been holding back on the last test. I wondered how strong he really was.