The countdown of one minute threateningly went down as Bruce and Lucy stared at it, dumbfounded.
From the start, they were tasked with working with three people in their team, which meant that the difficulty level of the current challenge would require the teamwork of three people. If it was that hard, then going at it with just two people would be hellish, or rather, it would be straight-up suicidal.
Bruce and Lucy completely comprehended their situation. If they were to survive this case without dying, then they'd need each other's cooperation lest they utterly fail the challenge.
Who knows, maybe everyone's situation was the same— that everyone would spawn two at a time while the last member would appear a couple of minutes later.
Or it could be the polar opposite where they'd spawn by two and whoever survives from that two-man team would then be placed in a three-man team of other survivors as well.
In any case, the two of them had more questions than answers but it's not like they could do anything about it. In the heat of the moment, they'd have to survive. That's all there is to it, nothing more nothing less.
Four.
Three.
Two. One.
As the countdown reached its final second, Bruce and Lucy braced themselves, awaiting the test that would greet them headfirst. They expected some sort of portal to appear by the countdown but that wasn't what transpired.
In an instant, Bruce and Lucy put their guards up as they sensed multiple entities around them. They weren't your old run-of-the-mill entities either, but entities that were probably on par with a Disciple.
"What's going on?" Bruce slightly panicked while he equipped a giant axe with him. This was his go-to weapon since he had been using an axe ever since he was a kid. Needless to say, the axe was a mere extension of his body.
"I don't know. All I know is that we have to be ready, or else we're going to die." Lucy said. She didn't wield anything. Instead, she summoned her Representative, Golden Pen.
"Is that the Golden Pen? The Representative which is capable of rewriting a singularity one at a time? Whoa, why do you have such a reality-bending Representative, how did you tame it?" Bruce exclaimed, conveniently explaining what the power of the Golden Pen was.
"I'll tell you later... if we're still alive until then." Lucy said, her brows furrowed.
The presence of the entity was clearer now, and multiple shadow-like figures appeared all around them. There were at least more than a hundred of them in sight, each capable of going head to head with a Disciple.
Fortunately, their assumption was slightly incorrect. In actuality, the entities were actually slightly weaker than your average Disciple. In a one-on-one fight, a Disciple would easily defeat an entity without breaking a sweat. However, it would be a different topic if a Disciple were to engage a group of them in combat.
The entities finally manifested, slowly shifting from the black hazy smoke they were into humanoid shapes. These humanoid shapes had long limbs and a faceless face. What was supposed to eyes, nose, and mouth, was replaced with one gaping mouth placed sideways. With every step, the entities would snap their jaws while some of them started growling and grunting.
It was certainly a scene straight out of a horror movie but the two Disciples had seen worse. That's why they weren't aghast by their monstrous form.
"You with me?" Bruce asked. "You got my back, right?" Bruce faltered as uncertainty was heard from his voice.
"Yeah, you also got my back, right?" Lucy flashed a smile at Bruce. It seemed like she was more confident at facing these entities compared to Bruce.
It also seemed like another thing was budding between them, other than friendship.
A couple of seconds passed while the two of them anticipated the first attack of the entities. Bruce and Lucy were at the ready, eyeing each entity on sight, fully knowing that they could pounce on them at any given moment.
Their conclusion was right on the money. In an instant, one of the entities really pounced on Bruce, forcing him to impulsively swing his axe.
However, the entity blocked his swing with its bare hands before violently lashing its claws at Bruce. It was speedy, for sure, but fortunately, Bruce was able to react just in time. He managed to dodge at the last second, and it was by a hair's breadth as well.
"Careful now," Lucy said, stretching her hand at the entity and commanding her Golden Pen to rewrite a singularity. She had no idea what the entity was, but at the very least, she could rewrite its speed and bring it down to zero.
In a snap of a finger, the entity froze in place, giving Bruce the opening to decapitate it.
Swish!
They didn't expect Bruce's attack to connect, nor did they expect the entity to get eliminated. It was weaker than they thought... and it gave them a confidence boost which prompted them to go on the offensive.
"That's pretty neat... however you can't use it all the time, right? And I'm sure that the Golden Pen has some limitations as well." Bruce commented. "Don't worry. I'll assist you as much as I can, you don't have to tell me the ins and outs of your Representative's power."
The reason why Bruce was aware of the Golden Pen's limitations was pretty obvious— it was because Lucy didn't command it to get rid of all the entities around them. There were two scenarios which led Bruce to this conclusion.
One, every altered singularity was an exchange— so there was always something in return for every command, probably something that matches the price of the altered singularity.
Or two, it cannot alter singularity too much so it might mess-up the reality and then there will be inexplicable repercussions that will follow.
Whichever the reason, Bruce knew that the Golden Pen has some serious limitations, and it was his duty to work around it in order to fully assist Lucy and bring out her strength in this test of survival.
"Behind you!" Lucy exclaimed as she blocked one of the entities who tried to push her onto the ground.
As for Bruce, he quickly turned around, swinging his axe with full speed and it hit the entity squarely on the neck. He could've sworn he heard a snap, and then the entity fell on the ground and turned into smoke once again.
Somehow, they were getting the odd feeling that they were overlooking something in the test. They couldn't quite put their fingers around it.
Another entity attacked, and another, and another. When the seventh entity attacked them, that's when they realized what was going on.
Apparently, the entities don't die, they simply disappear and then respawn in another location. And adding to that, the entities increase in number as time pased.
It hadn't been five minutes but the amount of the entities surrounding them have doubled. Just a small portion of them were commencing their attack, but Bruce and Lucy perfectly knew that there would come a time where all of them would come at once.
"We have to think up of a plan to efficiently drive them back. We'll be playing purely on the defensive, and we have to continue on improving our defense."
"Sure," Bruce responded, but he had no idea how they'd do something like that. Bruce didn't want to use his superpower, not on a test like this. If any, he wanted to use his superpower when he'd be in a life-or-death situation.
Nevertheless, the current situation urged him to use his superpower. That's how desperate they were becoming.
The entities started coming by the droves. At first, there were only five of them attacking simultaneously, but now, there were seven of them. Bruce and Lucy could barely keep up with the onslaught.
Based on Bruce's observation, Lucy was pretty proficient with elemental magic, she could use them with grace and precision that could rival any elementals Bruce had ever known. Then again, it still wasn't enough in the face of adversity such as the one they were facing right now.
Bruce continued to use his sheer physical strength as he pushed back the entities. Lucy assumed that he was already using his superpower but she was fairly certain that there was more to it than that. If his superpowers were purely physical, then Lucy couldn't believe that it was this weak.
"Duck!" Lucy screamed, causing Bruce to duck as she hit the pouncing entity with highly pressurized water coming from her palms. "If they start attacking twelve at a time, we're probably going to die."
"Don't say that." Bruce called out, swinging at another entity and squarely hitting it on the stomach. The attack was not enough to cut it down so the entity continued to approach him, pushing down on him as it tried to pin himself down.
"Argh!" Bruce grunted as ten more entities helped the first entity. Their summed up weight was enough to push him down.
"BRUCE!" Lucy screamed since that was the only thing she could do. She had her hands full with the other entities as well so she couldn't really assist Bruce at the moment.
"I'm fine. I can..." Bruce stopped talking as one of the entities started choking him on the neck. He had to tighten his neck so the entity wouldn't get the better of him.
Fwooooooosh~!
Before he could retaliate, however, a spire of flames erupted somewhere, burning down the entities in an instant. Thinking that it was Lucy who helped him out, Bruce turned around and proceeded to thank her.
To his surprise, there was another person there with them, it was a familiar face and he waved at Bruce with a friendly gesture.
"Satoshi?" Bruce asked. He was glad to know that their third team member had arrived.
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