“Dammit, dammit, dammit!!!” Ume cursed as she banged her fist against the wall. 

“I’m sorry, Ume, I couldn’t do it.” Kenji said through gritted teeth. There was a red mark on his face, courtesy of Zac’s belt. They had been soundly beaten. Despite everything Ume had tried and Kenji’s abilities, they were still toyed with. Ume looked at Kenji and then looked over at Zac as he stood in the middle of the room. It had been 10 minutes since their defeat, and no one else had the nerve to take a turn. 

“It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I purposely overestimated him as much as I could when planning, but I still underestimated him. He can’t be human.” Ume said as she sat down. 

“No kidding, he’s not even tired.” Genkei spoke, while rubbing his left arm. 

“It’s impossible with just 4 of us. We’ll need at least 5 or 6.” Ume said with a scoff. 

“You think he thought that far ahead and put us in an impossible position to win?” Akiko asked as she sat down and slumped over. Kenji had displayed swordsmanship on par with her and, in some cases, surpassing her; he even seemed to duplicate Zac’s swordsmanship. Even then, the 4 of them were toyed with. 

“No, they wouldn’t give us an impossible assignment; they want to evaluate us, not break us. I’m sure he just increased the difficulty because of me.” Watabe said with an annoyed expression on his face. 

“What are you talking about?” Kenji asked. 

“Remember when he said he’d have to find his fun ‘elsewhere’?” Watabe asked as he looked at the group. 

“Dammit. You gave away the answer to this lesson. So he changed the lesson.” Kenji grumbled. 

Watabe nodded his head in confirmation. 

“You mean he would let us win if we decided to work together, on our own?” Akiko asked. 

“I doubt he’d let us do anything, but he’d probably just be going through the motions rather than… that.” Ume sighed as she pointed at the next group that finally decided to try their hand. They were beaten back in a matter of moments with disheartened looks on their faces. Zac rested that damned belt around his shoulders as he called for the next group. 

“Yeah, this is all just a game to him.” Kenji clenched his fist as he stared at Zac. He wanted to punch him in the face at least once. 

“So, you’re saying since you ruined the game he had in mind, he switched games, and now we don’t even know the rules?” A recruit who had been eavesdropping said with a frown on his face.  

“More or less.” Watabe nodded. 

“Dammit! What do we do now?” The recruit asked. 

“You do nothing. The 5 of us will figure something out.” Watabe said sternly. 

“The five of us? Are you willing to work with us?” Genkei said curiously. 

“Unlike my cousin, I will only believe what I can see. From your display, I have determined that you 3 are competent enough to trust my back.” Watabe answered.

“Oh, I’m so honored.” Kenji responded sarcastically. 

Regardless of how annoyed Kenji was about Watabe’s insertion, he wasn't going to deny his help. 

The others looked over at Ume, silently staring at the next group of 4 that had gone up to attack Zac. She hadn’t said anything since Watabe began to give his take on what was going on. It seemed that she agreed with his assessment of the situation.

“There are 30 recruits, correct?” Ume asked. 

“From my account, that is correct,”  said Watabe. 

“And he asked for groups of no larger than 4?” Ume’s question was rhetorical, so no one answered. Instead, Kenji asked, 

“What are you thinking?” 

“Are any of you aware of the number of people needed for a team to perform optimally?” Ume asked. 

“There are studies that state teams of 4-6 are optimal for most issues.” A random recruit who was listening answered. 

“Exactly, so why ask us to form a group no larger than 4 when there are 30 of us?” Those numbers wouldn’t add up, and as things stood, there were a lot of mismatched groups. And none of them outside of Kenji’s group had any synergy. 

“Because he never asked us to form groups of 4 in the first place. Dammit!” Kenji said with an annoyed look on his face, and then everyone else's expression lit up with realization. 

Zac told them they could “attack” him in groups no larger than 4. He never said anything about forming teams that consisted of more people. There were 30, the perfect number for 6 teams of 5. Adding to the fact Ume felt they were just one person shy of success, the full picture came to mind.

“He’s teaching us how their Chasers work. They work in teams of 5, 4 as the main attacking force, while one coordinates the group's action.” Ume said as she folded her arms. 

“He played us from the start, then. Watabe never fully figured out his game.” Kenji said as he looked over at Zac, standing in the center of the room, looking at his phone. No team had stepped forward, and most of the room was huddled over where Kenji and the others were. 

“Deception on top of lies, wrapped in illusion.” Watabe started to chuckle darkly as he stared at Zac. 

“Everyone should reform your teams. You’ve all seen each other fight by now, so finding those you synergize with shouldn’t be too hard.” Watabe said. 

He didn’t have to explain things in detail. Everyone here was recruited because someone within Renegade Technologies thought they were exceptional. He felt he wouldn’t need to hold their hands.

“Let’s make this bastard bleed,” Genkei said as he smashed his fist into his palm. 

“So, who should act as our team leader?” Ume asked. 

It was a question every group would need to decide, and they were no different. Watabe had already inserted himself into their group; they needed a leader. However, everyone just looked at Ume as if the question was unnecessary. 

“Weren't you already our leader?” Kenji said with a chuckle. 

“I didn’t want to assume,” Ume responded. 

“What? Do you think the meathead or the hothead could be a good leader? Or maybe the naive freak instead? And we all know none of you will be willing to follow my lead.” Watabe said, not willing to spare anyone’s feelings. Much to everyone’s annoyance. 

“Very well, I will give commands; you 4 will do the fighting.” Ume looked over at Zac and motioned for the others to come closer as she ran through their battle plan again. Zac saw the change in the recruits and smirked. He didn’t immediately call for the next group to come; he knew well what they were doing. 

“About time.” Zac chuckled as he sat on the floor, waiting for the “Tiny Tots” to finish their preparations.

Half an hour passed. Team Kenji had been waiting for Zac to call up the next group, but he had just been sitting there without saying a word. He’d just glance at the recruits before turning his attention back toward his phone. Finally, he tucked his phone into his pocket and looked at the recruits. 

“It looks like you guys finally figured it out? Good! Then this will be your last chance. Pick a team to try and make me bleed.” Zac said with a smile. 

“What happens if we can’t?” A nervous recruit asked. 

“You don’t get the reward for completing the Day 2 mission. Resulting in Day 3 becoming significantly more difficult. This means you may not be rewarded for successfully completing tomorrow's task, resulting in a snowball effect. That will ultimately affect your overall evaluation.” Zac answered with a glib smirk. 

He made it sound like nothing. But these words meant that if they failed today, the possibility of failing the evaluation was extremely high. Meaning death .All of the recruits instinctively looked over at Kenji’s group. They all understood that individually, the 5 were somewhere at the top of this recruiting class. Now they have formed a team. Everyone else was fighting for 2nd. If they were going to succeed, it would hinge on these 5. 

“This changes nothing. Let’s do it.” Kenji said with determination. 

The others nodded their heads in agreement. As Kenji, Watabe, Genkei, and Akiko moved forward, Ume hung back and smiled at Zac. She knew that Zac was a brilliant and crafty man. Trying to outthink him while fighting him was outside the scope of what she was capable of. But if she could just sit back and observe, she was sure to keep pace. Kenji held the katana in his hand; Akiko gave it to him to use as she would use the Wakizashi and Tanto combo. Genkei instantly began to charge towards Zac as Watabe threw his daggers out on the sides of Genkei. 

This cut off Zac's number of escape routes; he could only back away or take Genkei head-on. Ume noticed that Zac likes to stay on the move. It made sense; he constantly fought people with superhuman strength; one blow could mean his death. He had developed a habit of evasion over the straight-on defense and had perfected this craft. There was no way to ultimately hold him down; the best they could do was limit his options.

“Not bad!” Zac shouted with excitement.