"I'll only explain three things. One.. is that boy on my pristine rug going to recover? Yes he will be fine but will need time to awaken. Two~ did I fight Hunter? Yes of course I did. He's always so damn headstrong about most things so I had to knock some sense into him if I were to properly talk to him. Lastly three~. What do I mean by test? There are four symbols at the void gate that you were studying for quite sometime. One of those tests you've successfully passed which is known as ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕖."

"That trial was to monitor and evaluate your passion and desire to live without something. You boys would throw your own lives for this... man. So I deemed you worthy of this test. The other three tests will not be as simple for you though. They are Axe, Anvil and Aura."

Cloudy couldn't get a single thought out of his mind remembering the voice that had warned him beforehand.

"This is the one Hunter was talking about. Is he the one who warned me about this place? If so why me? Why bother even telling me this?"

Gatekeeper interrupted his thinking detailing what they will be doing.

"You will all be training under my wing for a small period until you are able to pass the tests I will grant you. But remember failure is not an option because if it happens I will behead all three of you when the time comes."

"What about Nick? What if he doesn't wake up?"

Cloudy blurted out concerned.

Gatekeeper replied with a dull yet confusing response saying that he would be getting something different compared to the rest. Further adding in that even Hunter would be facing a trial. Royal was all for it as long as everyone was going to be alive at the end of things. The knight continued explaining the trials with Axe first.

"Axe is the trial of power or how much you can exert. There must be a limit and that is what I am here to find out do not hold back when that time comes. In order to do this you'll need to learn how to constantly see aura with twenty twenty vision without fail since it cannot be seen to the naked eye. Focus your energy toward the pupils of your eyes and continuously keep it on yourself as if it's apart of you."

Royal commented about Hunter explaining that he most likely knew what he had just taught them and wondered what was going to happen for him.

"... He's already mastered controlling aura and can easily outperform my trials with ease. Except for one~. That trial will be his test. ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕖."

Cloudy whispered over to Royal mentioning if they could beat the ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕖 trial then Hunter could easily overcome it as well. Gatekeeper glanced over at them before turning away with a sad expression although they couldn't see it due to his helmet.

"Fools.. They haven't a single clue about that man and what horrors he had to endure. No~.. It's probably best they don't ever find out to keep that fighting spirit inside them aflame."

He cheers himself up ordering the boys to begin their first trial being Axe.

The trial was very simple on paper he explained snapping his pointer finger and middle finger together summoning two large pedestals that held a massive gray orb for each one. He looks ahead seeing the two nervous hesitating to make the first move. He shouted this time ordering one of them to hurry it up or he would chop one of their hands of without hesitation.

"All you must do is strike the orb with everything you have! Depending on the color of the orb will determine the list of things you must do to beat your trial. The lowest which is green will give mediocre tasks with orange being next to yellow, purple, blue and red being the most difficult."

"Now do it before I get off my throne!"

Cloudy and Royal charged at the defenseless orb as if it was a beast ready to swing down on it without paying attention. Upset the knight called for them in anger demanding them to use everything they had and that most certainly included using their brains or he would just take a piece of their flesh off.

They both took a few steps back rethinking their approach on what to do knowing if they relaxed even for a little their blood would be stained on his weapon. The smartest move was the first move and they took full advantage of that by activating their energy as it swirled around them hastily. Royal went first refining his rapier since it was the weakest in durability and ignored sharpening it since it had the point for it. Strangely enough Gatekeeper was intrigued instead of upset and continued to watch his performance. Royal moved his his aura around his body making his energy take shape of a violet lotus flower. He lunged toward the orb yelling at his best striking the orb as the ground made a single crack but the orb and the pedestal it was on remained crystal clear and clean. After a few seconds the orb abruptly started changing colors at a rapid rate using all colors of the rainbow eventually stopping on blue. He himself was surprised at what he did but was disappointed not much happened with his technique. Gatekeeper handed him what to do commenting on his stance and performance just a second ago.

"It was a very different way of attacking. Well done but there were too many holes. Fix it and you can pass the Axe trial. Oh I forgot to mention this but to pass you must destroy the crystal."

Royal looked over as his head twitched rapidly the closer his view came to the orb seeing there was only a few marks from his strike. In a cold sweat there was only one word that came to mind knowing it was not going to be easy.

"Crap."

Gatekeeper shifted his focus over to Cloudy ready to see what he had to offer. Nervous he collected his aura and surrounded himself in aura instead of just his weapon smoothening his entire body enough to gain wild speeds. Using his control he spread his aura just enough to not create a barrier but wings to fly up in the air and strike the orb from above.

"Using energy to form wings? Unique but that must take a load of aura to do so. Will you have the strength to even put a mark on it? He's definitely already the weakest physically. This will only hinder him. Well~.. He's very creative I'm sure he has a plan."

They both watched Cloudy starting to speed up as his wings pushed the air back allowing him to go forward much faster than before. He only continued to accelerate until he knew he was ready to deal a serious blow to the orb. He dived directly downward at the orb ready to pierce the exact middle of it for one clean shot. In that moment words could be heard coming from the inner thoughts of his head.

"You don't have to worry. Why? Because I'll be here to help you. For as long as I'm here you will get this~."

Cloudy's eyes began to glow yellow as his spear struck the center of the orb like a meteor crashing into the earth. The ground completely caved in while the pedestal on one side had collapsed from the force as the orb was left with a single long connecting crack all the way to the center of the orb. For the first time in a while the knight gave his words of praise reviewing what he had just done.

"To accelerate your momentum without losing accuracy is difficult enough but you went further beyond making up for the strength you lost by switching your methods when you were in freefall over to sharpening. Although I can see it was rushed and to me it seems that you just learned how to sharpen recently. You must struggle with the other two methods because your smoothening was flawless for your age."

"He knew exactly what I did without me even hinting it or giving an gesture.. No wonder Hunter chose him."

Cloudy said coming to that conclusion.

They all looked over at the orb watching it change colors over another until it landed onto blue. At that moment Cloudy's face lit up feeling like he finally caught up to the others even if it was just a little. Gatekeeper locked eyes with his explaining that his trial will be repairing the orb he just broke muttering that he only had three and the other part being he wanted him to use his creativity to its limit.

"You just don't want to clean this up since I broke it and you're lazy."

Gatekeeper glared at him menacingly as he ran for his life to go and practice again.

Gatekeeper stood from his throne and headed toward a separate room right outside the throne room and saw both Nick and Hunter unconscious. He strolled over to Hunter and kicked him off his resting space he was on saying he knew he was awake and to hurry up and go to the boys aid. Hunter began to snore louder in response to the knights nagging. Getting annoyed he brought his fist into Hunter's stomach as he shot upward in pain telling him to stop.

"Ok ok! I'm awake!"

They both looked at one another awkwardly.

He broke the ice between them explaining to him that he had to do a test to see if he was ready. Hunter questions what the test was but all he says is regardless if he passes or fails he couldn't stop him anyway.

"I'm nowhere near your level of power and your test is still ongoing. This won't be easy ol' friend."

Hunter stared down at the concrete asking about his wife but all he said was that they would chat about it when the time was right. Hunter looked into his with sadness while Gatekeeper kept his sight away from his knowing he would face the truths that lied beyond and didn't want him to find out. He felt guilty, sinful and felt like a revolting monster. He already understood Hunter would one day figure out what had happened that was the kind of man he is so he wanted to at least prepare him for what's to come next. A voice that almost seemed sad came from Gatekeeper as he refused to look his way.

"I know it's.. hard. But there will be a time for everything and it will all make sense soon enough ol' friend. Your 𝓕𝓪𝓽𝓮 intertwines with those you love and hold precious.. Including myself."

The knight marched out of the room as Hunter could see a single tear fall from his eye onto the ground leaving him saddened by what he said. Hunter still was looking down and eventually looked up enough to see his hand as it clenched tightly.

"I-..I need more power. I have to get stronger."

He walked over to his massive blade and took a hold onto the hilt as his eyes shifted color into a cosmic blue once again now the two standing tall near the exit of the medical room.

"You and me, we both will grow stronger~. We've been through so much already so why not do it again?"

He let out a long sigh and left the room completely knowing what had to be done next. He avoided going near the boys feeling as if he had failed them and continued past until he reached the gateway back to the overworld. He glanced back seeing the stairs and the throne and tells whatever was back there

"I'll be back.. I promise. I just need to return stronger, no not just stronger. I'll become something like a walking catastrophe that not even the gods can face!"

He opened the gates with brute strength alone and entered the core of the forest after moving on through the other gate. Marching through it was as if the pressure that the forest was famous for was doing nothing to him. The dirt didn't even so much as make it difficult for him to move through while the area opened up much more than when they entered. Hunter gazed upward seeing the large trees with gigantic leaves shading him from the suns rays barely able to reach the dense forest inside. He continued on without aura ignoring the bone crushing pressure that was supposedly there. Sooner than later the outside was revealed to him in all its glory heading in the direction he think would be best. Without looking back he continued on with his adventure regardless if the boys were with him or not in order to become what he had set in stone 𝓐 𝓦𝓪𝓵𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓒𝓪𝓽𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓹𝓱𝓮.