The test had continued, and the same occurrence kept on happening — again for the third participant, who had performed well in both the first and second tests, only to get flung outside the platform on the third.
And the cause of this was simply a rock.
Thors felt like his eyes were going to fall from their sockets from what he was seeing. It was hard to believe. He could not even comprehend it.
How had a rock defeated three powerful Superhumans in just a single second?
Seoul rubbed the back of his head and frowned, turning to Thors. "Damn, I really thought I was going to do it. But I got thrown anyway."
Thors turned to the young man, curiosity welling up in him. "You have superspeed?"
Seoul shrugged at the question, unable to understand what he was getting at.
"What did you see before you got thrown?"
At this, Seoul pressed his lips together as he thought, rubbing the back of his head before speaking.
"It’s more of what I felt. Some kind of energy passing into me the second I touched the rock, and then... it was all over."
That... did not help at all.
Thors simply took his eyes off Seoul and receded back into his thoughts. But before he could get far, the fourth candidate had already finished her test.
"Layla Forze has successfully completed the test." At Kaely’s announcement, the entire group of students blinked in surprise.
They all turned to glance at Layla, walking away from the large rock instead of getting thrown away — her steps elegant, her brilliant silver hair flowing behind her as she walked back to the group, utterly unfazed, her expression empty.
She was on another level entirely.
Thors felt a flicker of disappointment; he had been too distracted by Seoul and his own thoughts to even watch her do it.
He grunted a little.
As soon as Layla had rejoined the group, he was next.
"Thors Godfrey, please step up."
Thors sighed and then walked forward. All eyes were now on him as he moved, from the candidates down to the military officers but he didn’t care about that.
He had already done his best analyzing the difference in strength between himself and the other candidates, gauging how well he could last against each test.
So far, his main disadvantage seemed to lie in the aspect of mobility.
Thors reached the first platform, standing just at the edge, and watched what lay ahead.
A whirring sound came first, and then the ground a few meters away split open along a square seam, revealing nothing but an endless depth of darkness.
Then out from beneath, rising as though lifted by an unseen elevator three figures emerged, head first, then shoulders, then feet.
When they were finally clear of the opening, the three figures — robotic humanoids — stood before Thors.
One second passed. Then another. And another.
All of a sudden, the three robots sprang forward with immense speed, covering the distance between them and Thors within seconds.
The first to reach him lunged with a thrown fist.
Thors raised a hand and blocked the attack. The force of the blow still sent him staggering back a step.
The second came with a devastating kick, aimed to shatter his jaw.
Swissh!
Before the attack could land, a ray of bright white lightning flashed through the air, exiting from Thors’ open palm and tearing clean through the robot’s entire frame, as easily as a hot knife through butter.
The beam of lightning did not stop there. As though it had a mind of its own, it curled through the air, snaking its way to the third robot, which had already circled behind Thors, attempting to catch him in a chokehold.
It shredded the second robot like it was nothing more than paper. Then, curling once more through the air, the lightning streaked past Thors and punched straight through the skull of the last humanoid, sending a burst of grit and shredded metal exploding into the air.
A moment later, a series of heavy thuds rang out as each remaining piece of the robots collapsed to the ground in scattered ruin.
Kaely’s gaze lifted, a flicker of surprise crossing her face. ’Interesting...’
Thors drew in a breath, then walked toward the next platform. ’One down. Two more to go...’
Stepping onto the next platform, he was met instantly by the notorious cannon.
The machine’s mouth glowed with searing red energy as it fired multiple beams straight at him.
The first he evaded, the beam slicing past him with only a hair’s breadth to spare.
He thrust out his hand, letting it surge with white lightning as he fired back against the next beam — a large explosion of smoke and flickering light erupting from the collision.
However, Thors wasn’t lucky enough to block the third.
"Gaaaah!" Using the smoke as cover, one beam tore straight past his defenses and struck him square in the gut, throwing him aimlessly through the air and clean off the platform.
He crashed onto the ground below, and in that instant his heart dropped in dread.
He had failed the second test.
Thors grunted. ’Damn it! I didn’t expect to win, but losing on the third beam...’ He swallowed hard, forcing himself back to his feet.
For a moment, his eyes drifted back toward the group of students. Seoul wore a face full of pity, while the other students shot him mocking looks — all except Layla, who paid him no attention at all.
Thors gritted his teeth. ’No. I won’t be trash again. I refuse to be trash!’
He grunted, rising to his feet and turning toward the third platform.
’My powers are pretty simple... Trash!’ he thought, taking staggering steps backward.
The pain from the blast, while not lethal, still hurt like hell.
Yet...
Thors remained determined.
’My life’s always been the same. Trash.’ He gritted his teeth as the thought surfaced once more, tears threatening to break past his eyes and spill out.
Kaely watched him in silence. ’Interesting...’ she thought again, turning back to her digital pad.
She read the information there once more.
’So this is what a Superhuman defect looks like.’
*Name: Thors Godfrey.
*Ability: Lightning creation and control.
*Superhuman Type: Red.
*Status: Defective.