"You have a single task right now which comprises of all the sub-phases," Gradier Xanatus's voice travelled across the place as both participants stare at the wide space ahead.
"Do everything within your capacity to get to the other end of the static floor!"
Immediately after Gradier Xanatus finished saying this, the floor ahead of them suddenly started reshaping.
Walls suddenly appeared about four hundred feet ahead in front of both participants.
Within the space and the walls between them, mini cannons started sprouting out of the edges of the space and the wall that separated them both.
About fifteen of them could be seen on both sides of the floor. However, that wasn't all.
Trooinn! Trooinn! Trrooiinn!
Openings were formed on different parts of the floor, and AIs jumped out of it.
About seven of them could be seen on both sides.
"COMBAT SUB PHASE WILL NOW BEGIN!"
Immediately the robotic voice gave the go-ahead, the cannons started firing blasts at both participants as the AIs lunged towards them.
A battle began as the participants struggled to dodge the blasts of the cannons while engaging the AIs.
Gustav sat on the east side of the stadium-like arena along with Angy, Glade, Ria, Teemee and Maltida.
He could already tell that these were level 5 AIs. One level lesser than the ones the participants faced in the first phase.
The difference was that they had to face seven of the level 5 AI's. Even though they were weaker, the participants had to dodge and destroy the cannons before moving forward.
The green lines on the neck of the male participant started extending from his neck to his face and arms.
His entire body was covered in those lines, and his face morphed into that of a triangular-headed fish-looking creature. Green scales covered his face, and his arms grew some kind of long pectoral fins from their sides.
Chrruhhkkk!
He shot out an intense stream of water from his mouth, which slammed into two of the AIs headed for him. After doing this, he jumped towards the wall to dodge some of the projectiles from the cannons.
The girl on the other side transformed into a long grey colored serpent that was over a hundred feet in length.
Her arms protruding from both sides transformed into a crocodile-like limb but were way bigger.
The ram horns on her head had also increased in size.
She quickly swivelled her way forward while curving and dodging projectiles.
Swish!
She swung her tail forward, slapping an AI away while grabbing onto another one and ripping its right arm out of the sockets.
The remaining AIs attacked back, turning their arms into different weapons ranging from blades to guns while engaging her and the other participant.
The audience watched as both participants battled the AI's droids while being on the receiving end of some of their attacks.
The female participant was the first to get to the wall ahead after dealing with the AIs and the cannons that sprouted out of the ground.
She had blood oozing out of several parts of her body due to injuries received from the attacks, but she had managed to deal with all of them completely.
"CANDIDATE 00327 HAS COMPLETED THE COMBAT PHASE!"
The robotic voice reverberated once again across the entire place.
"CALCULATING COMBAT ASSESSMENT SCORE BASED ON THE FEEDBACK OF THE SUPERVISORS!"
While the score was being calculated, the suit on her body suddenly lit up, and her injuries started healing.
"CANDIDATE 00327 COMBAT SCORE HAS BEEN CALCULATED COMPLETELY!"
Trooinn!
The wall in front of her lit up, and the score, '6.5', was displayed in front of her badge number.
All the holographic screens showcased this too.
Some of the participants began to panic upon seeing her combat score.
-"That kind of performance only got her a 6.5?"
-"I wonder what the other guy will get,"
They muttered amongst themselves.
The wall in front of her lowered, displaying a two hundred-foot-long space with a wall in front.
This was another sub-phase that she would need to go through.
"ATTACK POWER SUB PHASE WILL NOW BEGIN!"
A large board protruded from the ground.
It was nine feet tall and three feet wide.
"STRIKE THE BOARD WITH AS MUCH FORCE AS YOU CAN MUSTER!"
The robotic voice instructed.
As she stepped forward to do as she was told, the male participant just finished the first sub-phase.
He got to the wall in front with a lot more bruises and injuries than the other girl did.
Just like the female participant, his score was also calculated as his injuries healed up.
After the calculation was done, his score was '5.2'.
The other female participant transformed back to her serpent form and squirmed forward with speed before swerving her body and swinging her tail forward towards the large board.
Swweeii!
Spikes grew out of her tail as it went with full force and slammed into the board.
Bang!
A loud sound rang out, and the board started displaying numbers.
3000!
6000!
8000!
9000!
It finally stopped moving up when it got to 9500.
Chatter! Chatter! Chatter!
The audience started chatting amongst each other upon seeing that.
They could tell that the calculation was based on pounds. Nevertheless, they wondered what score would be given for having this high attack power.
"CALCULATING ATTACK POWER ASSESSMENT SCORE!"
"CALCULATION COMPLETE!"
Her score was once again displayed on the screen, and it was a '7.5.'
The male participant also underwent his by attacking the board in front of him with the most powerful water stream he could shoot out of his mouth.
His score was calculated as well, and it happened to be a '6.7.'
The test continued on as the wall descended, giving them access to the next space.
Gustav watched and took note of these sub-phases as both participants kept taking part in one test after the other.
After about twenty-five minutes, they managed to get to the far end of the floor.