Had Rui been there, he would have made deeper insights into the second round of the entrance exam. He would have immediately mentally plotted distribution graphs with classes of badge number, with a certain range, and the proportion of badges that fell within each of those classes, based on his observations, allowing him to figure out exactly how many applicants would need to be disqualified for the winners to win.
And he would have more or less correctly come to the conclusion that only twenty percent of the applicants could possibly pass the second round of the entrance exam. That was why the number 1500 was chosen when the average was 1026.
Max and Mana immediately had each other's back as the applicants around them increasingly began getting broiled in more intense conflict.
They were cognizant of the fact that their badge numbers were decisively below the required net number to pass the second round.
"What should we do?" Max asked urgently.
"We should target one applicant together," Mana responded.
Max nodded. "You're right! Big brother said that we should work together, just like we do in training!"
The two of them scoured their surroundings as they looked for a suitable target. They did not have any foolish thoughts of chivalry or honor, they knew that they were the underdogs and that were disadvantaged individually against pretty much all the applicants. Rui had drilled teamwork into their heads.
"There." Max pointed at a girl. "She looks about our age and although her badge number 538 isn't enough by itself, it's our best shot."
Mana followed his gaze, before nodding. "Good thinking."
The two of them watched their target, Crea.
She had been laying low as she herself had been looking for a target, yet suddenly she felt something approaching her. She turned, just barely in time to react to Max and Mana rushing towards her.
POW POW POW!
Max and Mana bull-rushed her with a quick flurry of jabs. Crea gritted her teeth as she just barely managed to square a guard up in time to defend against the siblings' attacks.
('Two on one...!') She cursed. Max and Mana had surrounded her as they began circling her, throwing attacks in her blind spot.
Yet to Max's and Mana's surprise, she was able to cope quite well. She managed to partially evade or block almost all of their attacks despite them leveraging their numeric advantage against her. They could even feel that her skill was better than theirs.
POW!
Max launched a right kick to her thigh, retreating his leg that she almost managed to catch and would have no doubt kneed to oblivion had she succeeded.
THWACK
A second kick landed on her shin, causing her spike of pain.
"RARGH!" Crea turned and swung her leg towards Mana swiftly, yet Mana had seen the attack coming from a mile away, avoiding it cleanly
POW!
BAM!
THWACK!
Crea kept defending against the external attacks, yet the light of determination never once faded from her eyes. A faint memory resurfaced even as she withstood all the attacks that her opponents bombarded her with, as she defended her badge.
"I can't avoid getting hit?" Crea asked Rui.
"No, you cannot." Rui shook his head. "The sheer chaos, the sheer numbers, not to mention your disadvantages, it is impossible to avoid taking a lot of punishment unless you're extremely lucky."
"Then can I just defend against all of them, right?"
"That's just as hard, I'm afraid," Rui replied, shaking his head. "At most, you can guard, but it won't help much in those circumstances
"Well, then what can I do?" She scratched her head.
"What you can do... is make it count." Rui grinned.
"Make it count?" She tilted her head in confusion.
"Yep, make it count." Rui nodded. "Suppress your futile urge to evade or defend every attack, instead, take it and use the opportunity created by you not wasting your physical resources into futile defense and the opening created by an attack to launch a counterattack. If you're going to get hit, then make sure every strike they land on you is costly. That is the best way to prevent becoming a punching bag when you're at a disadvantage."
"Ohhh..." Crea nodded as she understood what Rui was trying to convey. "I see. I just have to make it count. I feel like I really like that tactic, for some reason."
POW!
A blow flew towards her shoulder, yet Crea hadn't bothered with trying to guard. Her arms lashed out toward his elbow and shoulder even as a painful impact assailed her right shoulder with pain. Yet she ignored it as she clasped him, before swiftly sweeping him off his feet and over her shoulder flat onto the ground.
BAM!
She immediately tried reaching for his badge, yet;
POW!
Crea blocked a powerful kick to the face, gritted her teeth as she ignored the pain in her guard.
"URGH!" Crea rushed in throwing a combo of blows toward Mana.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
Mana stepped back as she managed to evade Crea's attacks. She was always the more mobile one out of the siblings. Yet it wasn't too long before Crea managed to gain an edge. Every time Mana attacked, she got hurt.
She threw a swift strike at Crea, yet the latter ignored the threat of damage as her elbow fell and her knee rose, crushing her forearm in between them mercilessly.
"ARGH!" Mana muffled a scream as she felt a sharp pain in her arm, as though it was broken.
"Sis!" Max rushed in as he rushed towards Crea, colliding with her.
BAM!
"URGH!" Crea gritted her teeth as she turned towards Max with a murderous expression.
Max threw a jab at her, yet Crea didn't even bother dodging or guarding, she opened her mouth, biting down hard at what was supposed to be a strike to the jaw.
"AH!" Max leaped back as he stared at his bleeding fist.
Crea spat out his blood, before turning towards him. "I made it count."
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