The entire crowd of people looked at Liang a little more confused. In the midst of the confusion someone called out with a joke. "Do you mean like a back scratch?"
Some people laugh hearing the question, but quickly quiet down as Liang's glare pierced through them. A wave of chills ran down their spines as they felt an otherwise brief but oppressive aura.
Even Megumi and Dino could feel it. It was unlike Liang to be so serious.
Things quickly calmed down and Liang spoke. "For the ones with a brain cell, I'm sure you know what I mean. I'll repeat myself again for the more dense ones in the back. And Just to make things more clear, this is by far the simplest test I have ever given a group of people, even a cat can pass this test."
Liang found a plush rock and sat on it like it was a bean bag. He then pulled his sword and rested it between his legs. "All you have to do is attack me while I defend myself. If you land so much as a scratch, I'll pass you. And it doesn't matter how either. In the meantime, I'll do whatever I want. Like starting a tea party with princess plush to unwind a little bit."
Liang seemed to become more mocking with the last few words he spoke. Megumi looked at Liang, understanding full well what his true powers were.
"When does the test start?" a shrill looking man asked.
"Heh. You can start right now." Liang answered with a smirk.
People from the large crowd, eagerly charged in. One brute in particular raised his fist to punch him. "This is gonna be easy!!"
"That's not going to work." Megumi thought.
In the same instance, the result was what she expected.
The large brute felt the full weight of his own punch. His head jerked back, with a newly imprinted fist marked on his face. As for Liang, not even scratch was left on him
Seconds later, the very heft on that punch sent the man twirling into the crowd behind him. This didn't stop the other people however, they kept charging forth, coming conjuring weapons as others seemed to control elements like fire and water.
Weapons sliced and the very elements sent Liang's direction were instantly reflected upon the owners instead. All the while, Liang simply sat in one spot.
Soon piles of ash built upon by one the examinees recklessly attacked without concern. All the while Megumi and Dino watched as the poor fools kept attacking.
One of the people that charged in, led a group of three other people, "C'mon he can't block all four of us!"
The others agreed and charged in with each of their weapons. They jumped and swung all at once. But to their shock, they all had their attacks reflected back at them.
"B-but… How?" The leader of that small group quickly turned to ash soon after.
People stopped chagrin seeing the Liang. Not only did he not have a single scratch, but he never moved an inch.
Liang patted some of the ash off his shoulders. As he got up, the examinees that remained shook. They took a step back wondering what this monster of man would do.
"W-w-wait! I remember now." Someone spoke. "H-he's Liang the Untouchable. They say that nobody's been able to pass his recruitment exams. I-I thought he left the Reaper core over ten years ago!"
"I did." Liang said. "But then I got a little nostalgic and decided to come back. The timing couldn't have been better."
The person that spoke fell to his knees and his eyes filled with despair. "T-there's no way. W-we'll never bet a guy like that."
Liang rubbed the back of his head. "C'mon, It's not like this test is impossible." He then sighed. To their surprise he then took his leave.
"He's… Not attacking?"
Liang waved his arms. "I'm not the one who's supposed to be attacked here. I'm gonna find something else to do and allow you guys some time to think for yourselves."
Shortly after Liang stopped. "Oh yeah. By the way you all only have forty-minutes left. These exams are only supposed to be for an hour. So if you haven't passed or failed during that time, you'll automatically fail. Good luck."
"There's only forty-five minutes left!?" Megumi's concern grew. She glanced at Dino who now seemed to be fixed on Liang.
********
"That's over half of the examiners in fifteen minutes. Clearly he did us a favor." Fallock said.
"I concur." Lilith agreed.
They Both gaze into the crystal ball in the auditorium. Fallock quickly glanced and checked the other floating crystal balls, seeing small progress made in each one. He then turned back to Lilith.
"You said that Liang told you the secret of your power, right? Do you think you could share some of what he said?"
"No." Lilith passed Fallock a book from her other arm as she continued gazing within the crystal balls. "But if you want you can read it yourself."
Fallock didn't hesitate to grab the book and read. He narrowed his eyes, surprised by the contents he was reading.
"Ridiculous. How is that possible?" he questioned.
"It's all right there. He told me everything he knew and from what I can tell, he was definitely not lying."
"But he's saying that his powers work like a parry. But I would say that's a far cry from what he's really doing. None-the-less what he's doing is not only clever, but groundbreaking… The fact that he wanted to keep this a secret in the first place is astonishing…"
Lilith chuckled. "I think what's more astonishing is the fact that he wants no credit for this discovery… Still this power he uses, is something that seems to take years to perfect. I always did wonder what that curious guy was up to in his free time…"
"I'm shocked. He even eluded your angels?"
"Not so much elude, as it was him seemingly doing nothing but meditate."
Fallock raised a brow, but decided not to pry further. Instead he gazed back seeing that more movement was made with Liang's exam.
********
People started watching Liang from a distance. And like he said before, he decided to have a tea part with a plush doll and teddy bear. He gazed back at the examinees, and started to tease them. "Want some tea?"
He took a sip as the people watching tried to uncover the hidden secrets of his power. They seemed to understand that they had to figure out a way around his powers.
Megumi, sticking with Dino and some of the other people along with the one man who was still wallowing in despair. They all watched from a distance behind some of the plushed rock and trees in the kid-like world.
Some of the people that staked out Liang deliberated his potential weakness. After witnessing the one sided battle it became clear that they had to think hard about their next move.
"W-w-what's the point? W-we're all going to fail anyways. There's no way we can beat him." the wimpy man whined.
Megumi understood his words clearly. She gazed back upon Liang who was now playing with a stuffed animal. He was clearly mocking them. And it was getting under her skin.
"No… We can beat him…" Dino said.
Megumi and the man looked back at Dino in shock, as did a few other people who heard him.
"Remember when we fought back against that maze demon?" Dino directed his gaze to Megumi.
"Uh… Yeah? Why?"
"When I met back up with Liang. He scratches and cuts on him. And I'm not just talking about scratches and cuts from falling either. So there's clearly a way…"
Unexpectedly as they turned back to look at Liang they saw a person with pure black hair approaching him. He sat next to Liang and started to talk to him.
It was almost strange to see how friendly both of them were to each other. The next thing they knew, they saw Liang shock the examiner's hand only to stop shortly after. The smile was wiped from Liang's face.
Liang pulled his hands away and looked at it. An eruption of laughter ensued, he looked back to the blue-eyed man that sat before him. "Very clever… It's not often someone gets one over on me."
Liang conjured a yellow headband. "Here. Since you passed, wear this."
Some of the people that heard Liang became pale. "P-p-p-pass!?!?"
"Thank you." The black haired man took the headband and wore it with pride.
"You can't leave just yet so just enjoy the show. And if you can, just keep this little weakness a secret if you can." Liang said.
The man quickly agreed and soon after, Liang held his palm out for everyone to see. On his hand was a clean cut. This one man had done the impossible before everyone's eyes. Even Dino was taken aback by this.
The wimpy man, rejuvenated, hop back to his feet. A New found hope filled his eyes.
"Yeah… If that doesn't prove it, I don't know what will…" Dino said. "But the question is how?"
Tired of waiting, some of the people attempted to sneak up on Liang and attack from behind. They approached quietly, being sure to stay out of sight. And within their opportune moment, The first tried to strike.
They tried cutting the back of his neck, only for it to be reflected back at them. They screamed out in pain, writing on the floor.
Another person moved fast to strike his back as another threw a knife. The same results quickly mounted. It was another unsuccessful assault. Liang watched with much to be desired for their attempts.
Another person ran up, with a bat. he swung hard, with closed eyes.
Liang blocked. He took a snack in one hand, throwing it in his mouth. He spoke with his mouth full. "Gee how do you expect to pass if you all charge in so blindly." He swallowed.
Liang pushed the attacker away and glanced at the group of people watching. Within he saw Megumi and Dino, staring at him like he was an enigma.
"They're all just watching… That's no fun, I guess I should spice things up a little" Liang thought.
Liang stood up facing the group of people watching. "Alright new rule everyone. Anybody that is more than fifty feet from me will automatically be disqualified."
Can he do that?" One of the people questioned.
Shortly after, Liang dashed away from the group. To their shock, people from further back started to dissolve away into ash.
"H-he's not lying!!" People ran, forced to chase after Liang. Megumi and Dino glanced back annoyed by this new predicament. They broke into a sprint and chased Liang two who were now toying with them. They watched as he jumped down a plush cliff.
"You- You asshole!" Megumi wheezed out.
They all jumped down to follow. To their surprise, Liang watched them from below. "AH. Good."
"Waaahhahaaaaaa" The wimpy man grabbed and peeled the edge of the cliff like it was a banana, The surprising display puzzled everyone.
"Wow we really do have some interesting people here, don't we?" Liang stated.
With practiced ease, Liang reoriented his body, landing on his feet. He dashed away again, leaving the other people to either fall on their faces or land successfully.
The chase ensued with Liang trailing them into a forest of plucked tree's. Slowly the number of trees grew increasingly, barely leaving any room for people to get through.
"Damn trees!"
People started cutting their way through the trees, leaving the falling trees to land softly on some of the other people trying to catch up.
At this moment, Megumi finally understood the reason for the strange testing ground. "Hey Dino. I think I might have an idea on how to beat Liang."
"What do you mean?"
A tree started to fall over them, forcing them to dodge out the way as they ran. The stuffed tree bounced off the soft ground of the plush world.
"What if Liang made this world so he couldn't get hurt from the trees and rocks?"
"So?" Dino still couldn't understand what Megumi was getting at.
"S-so, Maybe his powers have something to do with people attacking him. You saw how that guy shook his hand and cut him."
Dino pondered to himself for a moment. "I don't know…If that's true… then…
Thinking back to when that one guy shook Liang's hand, it seemed that the guy was pretty friendly. "Does intent matter?" Dino wondered to himself.
After running through the forest of plush, they came onto a wide open space where there was a plush beach and an ocean that looked like a blanket rising back and forth.
Liang faced back at everyone and slowly unsheathed his hollow bladed sword.. "Only thirty minutes left," he announced.
Feeling the pressure mounting, people finally went on the attack again. This time aiming for less lethal spots to attack. And like the many times before the attack reflected on the head person.
It became clear to everyone that wherever they attacked it would be reflected in the exact same place onto their bodies. The only missing piece was how to put a stop to this power he held.
After a few seconds of giving them free shots, he lifted his blade, blocking a fireball "I think that's enough….
Liang twist the sword around, stabbing it in the ground hard. A burst of energy crackled from beneath the ground of plush.
People backed away, unsure what he was doing now. And as Megumi and Dino came from the forest, they arrived in time to see a surge of power and ether arising. It enveloped Liang in a cloak of purple ether.
Liang smirked. "Don't be shy now, we still have that test to complete."