The man waved his knife in front of himself and screamed, "You Nazis! How can you just stand there and do this to other human beings?!"
Omega's voice was completely unconcerned as he replied, "How do you expect to become a Hunter if you can't deal with a little light humor like this? What, do you think becoming a Hunter means you become an instant life of luxury? Beautiful woman? Designer clothes and a fancy car? You moron!"
Omega pointed a finger toward the depths of the forest. "I've been watching you. You've done nothing but complain since you got here. But when you're deployed in the Black Zone, what exactly are you going to do? Squeal and whine to the zombies that they can't murder you, that it's not fair?!"
The man, still crying, replied, "We've got three years of training to become soldiers! There's no need to make us suffer and kill each other right now! Your methods are monstrous."
Omega seemed to finally lose his patience as he snapped back, "I don't need a weepy little girl like you! I want tough guys, brothers in arms who can hold their own on the battlefield—"
The distraught and humiliated man let out a scream of anger and lunged with his knife at Omega!
In a heartbeat, Omega raised his hand, letting the knife pierce through it all the way to the hilt. A thick stream of red blood immediately began trickling to the ground, but Omega didn't show a single sign of pain. He simply looked past his attacker and yelled at the candidates, "See that? You must always control your emotions, or they'll gain total control over you."
Then he spun in place with superhuman speed and strength, ripping the knife out of his attacker's grip and slamming the hilt into the former candidate's head. The force of the blow was so incredible that the young man went flying over fifty meters before crashing back to the ground with a nearly pulverized skull.
Omega turned back to the remaining candidates. He withdrew the knife from his hand, then held it up in the air. The bright blood covering it steamed in the frigid air. "Some of you may be wondering why let that maggot stab me. After all, I'm a Hunter. I could've mitigated the attack any number of ways, including a simple dodge or even grabbing his wrist. However, the wound barely concerns me. It'll fully heal within a couple of weeks. But by temporarily sacrificing my hand, I completely neutered my opponent's ability to harm me. Moreover, I left my blood on him. That allows me to do this—"
Omega hurled the knife into the sky. Instead of falling back down, it instead soared in an arc to fly directly at the man who'd stabbed him! At the very last moment before piercing the attacker's body, the knife froze in midair, as if by magic.
Many candidates were stricken by awe, nearly forgetting their pain and fatigue. Was this what people called the "magic" that Hunters possessed? Moreover, was this really the sort of conviction and determination that Hunters were supposed to have, the willingness to accept a painful injury without flinching, then just continue fighting?
For some of the candidates, this was the first time they truly understood what it meant to be a Hunter.
Omega said, "You want to become a superior being like me? Then show you deserve the chance, maggots! Show me right here, right now, that you'll sacrifice absolutely everything to seize this opportunity! If, by some miniscule chance, you survive this test and the next… well, my dears, your ordeal will have only just begun! So make your decision. Are you willing to throw your life away to become a Hunter?!"
There weren't terribly many candidates left by this point.
Even still, about fifty walked silently out of the testing zone.
Though they'd endured the tests up till this point, they'd just kept telling themselves that they could endure the tests in exchange for the life of luxury they were sure awaited them afterward. They simply weren't prepared to deal with whatever madness drove Omega, the madness that now seemed necessary to becoming a Hunter.
One candidate muttered to himself as he walked away, "Fuck this. I might as well become a football player. At least I then won't have to throw away my life fighting zombies or mentally ill people like him…"
"Have fun tonight while you can," Omega called to the survivors. "When morning comes, your little vacation will be over."
The day passed. Night approached. Only three hundred candidates remained.
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At long last, the final night of the test fell on the examination grounds.
Unlike the previous nights, there was a strangely light mood among the gathered candidates. On one hand, there was no further need to survive for another whole day, so there was less of a motivation to rob others for their resources.
On the other hand, of course, hardly anyone had resources left to rob! Everyone who'd still had a few sips of water or a bit of food during the day had made a show of consuming them. They'd hoped this would make it obvious that they weren't a target for predators, and it seemed that their plans had worked. At this point, attacking others was more risky than it was rewarding—there was no way to tell if someone was hiding a weapon and just waiting to be attacked, after all.
Marlon was grateful that he no longer had an urgent need to re-open his wounds by attacking others. Like everyone else, he'd finished the last of his water, then left his bag open to make his resource poverty obvious. Now he just lay on his back in a corner of the testing zone, looking up at the shimmering stars. His breath puffed in front of him in the moonlight. 'Just one more test,' he thought to himself. 'Then it'll all be worth it. Everything I've worked for will come to me.'
There was a sound of footsteps nearby. Marlon sat up immediately, wincing in pain at his wounds. He laughed when he saw it was William approaching. "You coming to get some revenge?" he asked. "I might be hurt, but 'm not gonna be knocked out by a greenhorn like you."
William's voice was surprisingly confident as he replied, "Don't worry. I've already got everything I need."
Marlon squinted in the darkness, trying to see if William was hiding anything, like a weapon. But the smaller candidate's arms hung loosely at his sides and his clothes didn't seem to be bulging anywhere that might betray the presence of a stolen knife or gun. "So tell me something," Marlon said at last. "How does a guy as fragile as you survive two hard-ass tests when much tougher guys have already failed out?"
William smiled triumphantly. "It's simple. One word: adaptability. In nature, it's not the strongest who survive, but those who adapt the most quickly! Your brains are often more important than your muscles. And that's where I've got most people beat."
A new voice said from nearby, "Just look at yourself, Marlon. It's good proof that William's telling the truth."
The two young men turned and saw Alexandre approaching them. To their surprise, his skin was covered in a grid of dark lines.
"Shit," Marlon said. "You two have nothing better to do than annoy me tonight? Fuck's sake. You're gonna make me get up and beat the shit out of you both just to have something to do."
Alexandre smiled and replied, "Yes, because that worked out so well for you last time."
Marlon laughed and flipped off Alexandre. "Go fuck yourself! I didn't expect you'd be so strong you were able to take on that Rank C tester guy."
Alexandre replied, "It wasn't a real fight. I just showed my claws. If we'd really been fighting, things would've gone very differently. You probably would've died as collateral damage, for one."
Marlon snorted. "Whatever. So, how come you're already infected with Virus Z?"
Alexandre didn't answer. After a moment, William broke the silence. "My dad's business associates know some interesting people. I've heard one of them say that there's a zombie black market. Doses of modified Virus Z are selling for millions apiece. But those must be very risky—I don't understand why anyone would be foolish enough to spend a fortune on an injection that's likely to kill you, all for the purpose of passing this test… especially since I've heard the modified dose only lasts a few months before you need to boost it with another shot."
Marlon frowned. "How the hell does that work? I thought to get into the Hunter Exam you have to be immune to Virus Z. It's some gene thing, right?"
William replied, "Yeah, Virus Z can't infect us, so we can't turn into zombies. But the modified virus is different and normal immunity doesn't affect it. Supposedly, it transforms you little by little, over a very long period of time. Supposedly, that's how Hunters actually get their powers, through injection of this virus."
Marlon was flabbergasted for a moment. Of course he'd known that Hunter powers were created from zombies, but he'd assumed it happened through some kind of special tech that you got surgically implanted into your body. Zombie Craft technology was so incredible that this had seemed to make perfect sense.
But now that William was describing a total transformation through infection with a modified virus… that seemed incredibly risky, but it was a risk Marlon knew the Hunters would gladly take. "So what happens when they inject us?" Marlon asked at last.
"Most people die in the first few minutes," said William. "Though if you're buying it on the black market, maybe you can spend millions more on a private medical facility that can keep you alive until the virus runs out. I promise you that they won't do the same for us here. Everyone knows that there's a huge casualty rate even among people who pass the Hunter Exam… I bet it's because of the modified virus's lethality."
William pointed at Alexandre. "So I really don't understand why someone would cheat and risk everything to get through the exam when we're all going to be injected anyway. Though, even if it's against the rules, I bet Omega would love it. You have to be willing to sacrifice everything to become a Hunter, after all."
Marlon nodded and turned to Alexandre. "So that's your secret. You weren't better than me at all. You're just another richshit who bought some super-steroids. Well, when they inject me, we'll be even! Then I'll get my revenge."
Alexandre's smile widened. "With or without power, I'll kick your black ass any time, anywhere."
Marlon and William burst out laughing.
The three young men continued talking for hours before falling asleep after midnight. In this way, the Hunter Exam's second trial finally came to an end.
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