After what felt like an hour, Pyke finally returned to the room. He had left, saying he would be back in a moment with further instructions. The kid remained in the room and returned to his calm demeanour, as if the fight had been completely normal.

"And you wanted to protect that monster," Simon laughed awkwardly.

"Don't call him that," Maya snapped, slapping his forehead.

"Ouch. And what do I call him, then? He destroyed that robot in a split second."

"Jealous?"

"Jealous? I'm scared! If he gets angry at me, I'm out of here."

"Or dead," Manny suggested.

Simon pointed at Manny. "Or dead. Exactly."

Maya didn't know how to respond to that. Was this really how assassins were? Everyone in this room had heard tales about how strong assassins were. Everybody knew about the superior genes most possessed. Everyone in her group had some sort of mutation. She was fast, with heightened senses; Manny looked like a giant; Simon was as flexible as a professional gymnast; and Ann seemed to have superhuman grip strength.

But this kid? He had it all. Strength, agility, heightened senses. . . everything. What was wrong with him?

Pyke walked up to the stage, and the noisy room once again fell silent. "Thank you for waiting," he began. "I don't want to waste your time, so let me go to the point. Out of the thirty-three people that took part, twenty-four have passed and can participate in the second part of the exam. Of course, if you decide that this isn't for you, you can leave right now."

People looked around them. The ones who had failed had already left. A minute passed, and all discussions had ended. Nobody left.

"Good. Twenty-four contestants will be taking part in the second exam,” Pyke said. “Come closer, please. The rules will be displayed here.”

As before, the displays on the side of the ring lit up.

Rules of the Battle Royale

1) The exam will take place on a jungle island and will take exactly five days. It will be monitored by examiners. There will be no interference except in cases of unexpected occurrences.

2) The candidates will all be deployed into the middle of the island at 6 a.m. They will have six hours to disperse during the safe phase. Any contestant caught attacking other candidates during the safe phase will be eliminated by the examiners.

3) Once the safe phase is over (12 p.m.), forty level three RTDs will be released. The next day at 12 p.m., thirty-five level four RTDs will be released. The releases will continue at 12 p.m. each day, with five fewer RTDs and one more advanced level each day. (On the fifth day, there will be twenty level seven RTDs released.)

4) The test ends at the end of the fifth day. Contestants may surrender at any time while not in battle. (Any surrender attempts during battle will be ignored.) All contestants who survive all five days of battle will be automatically awarded 100 points.

5) Points will be awarded not only for surviving, but also for killing RTDs and players. Every player killed will grant the candidate 20 points. The points awarded for the RTDs depend on the level of the RTD.

Level 3 - 10 points (400 points possible)

Level 4 - 20 points (700 points possible)

Level 5 - 30 points (900 points possible)

Level 6 - 50 points (1250 points possible)

Level 7 - 70 points (1400 points possible)

6) Every candidate will receive a ring that functions as a point counter. If a candidate eliminates another candidate, the successful candidate must take the eliminated candidate’s ring and press it against their own for points to be awarded. Candidates who remove their rings will be considered eliminated. To receive points for an eliminated RTD, candidates must press their rings against the RTD’s display. (The RTD’s display is colour-coded to correspond to the RTD’s state. Green-functional; red-killed or destroyed; black-killed and claimed.)

7) The maximum number of points is undetermined.

8) To pass the exam, a candidate must achieve a score within the top five candidates.

Pyke gave the candidates a couple minutes to read through the rules. "Any questions?" he asked.

"What does 'eliminated' mean in the second point?" asked the bully from the start of the exam.

"Exactly what it says. You will be killed." People gulped. "Any other questions?"

Simon raised his hand. "Was the difficulty of that last RTD set to a higher value?"

"We don't know what or how it happened, but yes. What you saw was an RTD set to level nine. Mr. Umbris managed to come out of the duel without getting harmed, and he was generous enough to overlook our technical difficulties."

"So we won't have to fight that during the second exam?"

"By that, are you referring to Mr. Umbris or the level nine RTD?" Pyke smiled. "No, the maximum level of the RTDs will be seven, which is considerably weaker than this. Any other questions?"

"I didn't really understand the sixth point with the rings. How does that work?"

"Ah, good thing you asked." Pyke reached into his pocket and took out a black ring. "This a ring that every one of you will receive tomorrow before the exam. You will put it on like this." As Pyke slipped it onto his ring finger, it turned bright green. "It will change colour, as you can see. May I ask you to come up here?” Pyke pointed to the man who had asked the question. “Here. Put this on.”

The audience watched as the man complied.

"Now take it off. As you can see, it turns red after it's taken off. This signals that you are eliminated. Whether you're dead or without your ring is irrelevant. So if you want to get your hand cut off, I suggest you make it the hand without the ring.”

Nobody laughed.

"You people are really stiff. Anyway, if you press your green ring against another person's red ring," Pyke said, demonstrating, “you will see the points being transferred to you. After the ring turns black, you can keep it or throw it away. It’s pretty cheap to manufacture.”

"That explains the ring-to-ring transferring. What about the RTDs?" asked the man on the stage.

"Same thing, but you don't press your ring against another ring. You press it against the RTD’s display. Everything functions the same way."

"So we don't need to be the one to eliminate an enemy to claim its points?"

"No, you don't."

"And how do I know how many points I have?" The man inspected the ring.

"You don't, unless you remember."

"What?!" Somebody else shouted.

"That's how it is. Memory is an important asset for assassins. A lot of the time, you will have to memorise large quantities of data to utilise on your infiltration missions, and having it written down is obviously not an option. So committing it to memory is vital. Of course, not everyone does infiltration missions, and that's also why we don't expect you to memorise the rules. You don't even need to memorise your points, for that matter. But if you do, you might have a slight edge over the others."

"Anything else? No? In that case, let me give you some further instructions. You will now be escorted to our guest facility. Think of it as a hotel. Each of you is assigned a room, and you have access to our facilities. That includes the pool, gym, and restaurant. Dinner is served between 18-21 p.m., so I suggest you be there within that window. That will be the last time you’ll get to eat fresh cooked food.”

"What will we be eating during the exam?" one of the bullies asked.

"There's a grocery store next to the restaurant. Friendly tip: buy some food there. Make sure it's something that can last you for five days. You can also buy water, but that’s not necessary if you're fine with drinking cold river water."

"What can we bring with us to the island?"

"Anything you want. Even phones. But they won't be very useful, since a wide-scale signal jammer is deployed on the island. You won't be able to communicate with anyone and there's no way to charge it. But feel free to take a phone if you want. Back on topic, you will be woken at 5 a.m. You will have thirty minutes to prepare yourself before we leave for the island. If you miss the departure, tough luck. Now you may head out."

And with that, Pyke jumped down from the platform and walked towards an empty wall. The wall opened with a single tap, revealing a control room filled with people. He walked in and the wall closed behind him.