As the sheath was rotating in the air, Natsu and Yami brain stormed of a way to survive since the boss expression was truly intimidating.
Immediately the sheath landed, Natsu and Yami put all their energy into jumping back and luckily for them, they dodged it with a close call as the fear of death gripped them.
"I couldn't even see him, it was like he focused everything on killing us in an instant" Yami thought as Natsu shouted, "That was close! We would have been dead by now if we didn't move back"
"Yeah, I can relate, this fight isn't going to be easy" Yami said as Natsu looked at him seeing the goldish armor that covered his whole body.
"Hey Yami, I'm sorry about this but I don't think I can fight this guy head on, he'll decapitate me before I even know what's happening. This means that you'll have to fight him on your own, although I'll support you, it would be from a distance so that I don't die" Natsu said with a concerned expression.
"You don't have to worry, I can handle it, I have no problem with fighting him head on. Besides I got this armor to protect me, it won't be easy for him to cut through it." Yami said as he increased his energy making the armor to start glowing which made the boss more excited as he smirked.
"Hey Natsu, let's win this thing and get out of here quickly" Yami said as he took a weird cat stance which made Natsu smile and reply, "Yeah!"
Yami immediately launched himself towards the boss as Natsu began shooting arrows while moving around trying to support Yami.
The boss swung his blade which made Yami move to the side.
As the blade hit the ground, the sand sprouted out like an explosion as Natsu's arrows came towards him, but he quickly dodged it as Yami tried fighting him.
"I see, so one of them is acting like a tank while the other like a hunter attacking from a long distance. With this kind of approach, the fight won't be easy even though I'm faster than them" the boss thought as he was dodging different kinds of arrows while fighting Yami intensively.
"Yami is fighting something that's pretty tough" Asahu said as Mitsuki replied, "Yeah but I'm sure he can take care of himself"
Kazuko who was under a tree felt Yami's energy and said in a soft tone, "You better not fail this exam Yami, if not I'll kill you myself"
The boss kicked Yami and sliced all the arrows which made them explode as Yami ran towards him, giving him a solid punch as he tried using Natsu's blade to cut him.
The boss slightly dodged it and kept his distance as he thought, "Where did that blade come from? I see, Natsu gave Yami a blade while I was blinded"
Lot's of arrows from different directions came towards him as Yami ran to fight.
The boss moved really fast and dodged the arrows as he sighted Natsu and headed towards him.
"I have to take him down first" he thought as he approached Natsu.
The boss felt something coming as a blade appeared close to him but he immediately rotated himself and dodged it as he stepped on a pillar.
Natsu shot arrows towards him which made him to quickly move out of there.
"They make an excellent team by having each others back, it's not going to be easy to defeat them without killing them" the boss thought as Yami suddenly disappeared and went to his back as he threw a strong punch.
The boss swung his blade as Yami was about to hit him but was shocked as Natsu's rope pulled him out of the way.
"Damnit, I almost killed him! I need to hold back if I want to take this kids in. But to think that they're using their surroundings to their advantage, I'm really impressed" the boss thought as Yami was coming in with so many attacks.
As the boss crossed blades with Yami while dodging the arrows, Natsu launched himself to him and almost decapitated the boss as he dodged in with only a scratch on his face as Yami landed a serious blow that threw him.
"He almost got me! I would have sworn he won't attack but it looks like I was wrong" the boss thought as he caught himself and jumped back taking a stance.
"We got webs so use it wisely" Natsu said as Yami became puzzled but then saw a thin string that Natsu made obvious at the boss back as he smirked and became excited.
Both of them attacked vigorously as they used the ropes Natsu attached to boost their speed, making the boss to be on the defensive.
"It all makes sense now. While the kid was moving around shooting arrows, he must have wrapped those magic ropes around the pillars and it looks like it payed off. They're really putting me in a tight spot" the boss thought as he smirked, "Gildart is going to be so jealous once I put this two on my team"
The boss grabbed Yami and threw him towards Natsu as both flew away and hid behind a pillar.
"You guys are pretty impressive and at such a young age at that, but don't think you can literally beat me just because I'm playing around" the boss said as Yami thought, "He's right, I've felt it so many times. He could have killed us a thousand times if he wanted to, but for some reason he hasn't yet done it, why is that? I'm sure Natsu has noticed, but is like that guy is trying to capture us, and if that happens, we loose the exams. I just hope Natsu has come up with a plan while we were attacking"
"Your right, I'm sure everyone here knows that you can kill us in an instant, but I'm sure you can't do it if you're trapped can you" Natsu said as the boss replied, "Don't make me laugh, you can't..."
"Wait, what's this? I can't move my body" the boss thought as Natsu came out with a smirk and said, "While I was shooting the arrows, I was learning the side effects of some of them. I just had to make sure you wouldn't notice the difference so I always added explosives and smoke screens to do that."
"Wait, does that mean he's been shooting arrows that contains paralysis?" The boss thought as Natsu said, "As you're aware, even sticky substances can turn into particles and I made sure I covered you with a lot of it, plus, the little cut I gave you has slowly weakened your body. Putting all that together with an ice spell, boom...! We would be able to trap a monster like you. So you see, once I knew what your full power was like, you already lost the game"
As Natsu said that, he shot an arrow towards the ground which froze his body as he saw some of the ropes attached to the pillars.
"He really caught me good, I can't believe I didn't notice. No, he was waiting for the paralysis to kick in before using the freezing arrows to completely immobilize me" the boss thought as Natsu then said, "It's going to take time for you to escape from that and I'm sure that by the time you do, we must have escaped from here. It was nice knowing you, you really made me understand why my grandma thought me the use of different equipment, especially when it comes to fighting beast and monsters like you"
"You're a really smart kid but you're also dumb, how the hell would your friend get you out of here since he's also covered with the same thing that I am" the boss said as it then dawned on Natsu that it would be hard for Yami to move if he's covered in sticky substances too.
"Don't worry about me Natsu" Yami said as he deactivated the armor, making him to be perfectly free from those things.
"Hop on, let's get the hell out of here" Yami said as Natsu became relieved and headed towards Yami.
Natsu hopped on leaving the boss body frozen solid.
"My blade isn't going to be as sharp as it used to but I can still use it. I can't believe a little kid can strategize like this. Not just him, the other one is abnormally strong for his age too. It looks like I've hit the jackpot! Now I'm certain, I'll do whatever it takes for those two to join the hunters association and work under me" the boss thought as he took a deep breath and focused.
His body began enlarging as it shrunk back to his normal form and with an intense velocity.
He used his aura to destroy the ice around there and picked his blade, as he began dodging the ropes and cutting some with an excited look on his face.
"I'm coming for you guys, don't think you've seen the last of me yet!" He said as he had a very big smile on his face.
Yami and Natsu were moving as fast as they could knowing that the trap wouldn't hold the man forever and suddenly, they saw a tiny bright light in front of them.
This brought a glimmer of hope for a brighter future, making them excited as Yami said, "Natsu we did it, we're soon going to be done with this"
"Yeah and we'll finally have a break" Natsu replied as the both began day dreaming of finishing the exams.
But while they where day dreaming, the boss appeared close to them and hit them away from the entrance as he obstructed it.
They both crash landed as Natsu raised his head and saw the boss standing in front of them.
"I didn't expect him to escape this quickly, how the hell are we going to beat him in this narrow space? Damnit, this man is a real pain to deal with!" Natsu thought as he stood up.
"Hey Natsu" Yami said as he equiped the armor making Natsu to look at him, expecting to hear something like a plan but Yami looked at him and said, "I'll try to hold him off, think of a way we can escape from here"
Those words alone made Natsu loose hope since he couldn't think of anything.
"I need to take out Natsu first, that would make it easier to capture the both of them" the boss thought as he got ready to attack.
Yami fought the boss with everything he got as Natsu brain stormed of a way out.
"I'm sure this man isn't going to fall for the same trick twice, plus he's just tossing Yami aside and focusing on reaching me, which has forced me to start moving away from the escape route. What are we meant to do? At this rate we'll fail the exams!" Natsu thought in frustration as Yami continued trying to take on the boss.
The boss finally caught Yami and threw him towards Natsu as the both crash landed on the ground.
"You two are really tough but it's time to give up, you can't defeat me!" the boss said as he saw Natsu and Yami getting up with determination in their eyes.
"I like the both of you, why don't you guys come work under me" the boss said as Yami smiled and replied while getting up, "Thanks for the offer but that ain't happening"
"Yeah" Natsu said as both panted heavily while looking at the man.
"I don't care, your coming with me no matter what so get ready for me" the boss said as he smirked.
"Any plans yet" Yami said as Natsu replied, "None, I can't think of any way for us to win or escape from here"
"Fine then, we'll just have to push him back until we're able to escape" Yami said as Natsu looked at him and the boss and then looked back at him and said, "Fine, I only got few arrows left, it would be tough but let's try to pull it off and get the hell out of the here"
"Sure" Yami said as they began attacking the boss.
As Yami was trying to puch the boss back, Natsu noticed that their surroundings was getting destroyed which gave him a crazy plan.
Natsu began planting explosives around the place as he was moving around shooting arrows in the not so narrow long hall.
Natsu then shot an arrow towards the boss that created a smoke screen.
Immediately that happened, the boss heard a loud explosion as Natsu pulled himself and Yami further away from the escape route.
As the smoke cleared, the boss saw a large pile of rocks at his front as he said with a smirk, "That kid tried to collapse this place on me, if I wasn't able to sense my surroundings, I would have been a gonna. Kids, you've really left an impression on me, I now want to know what your limits are so I can destroy it and turn you into my mini warriors"