Putting on a blindfold, Aliester breathed deeply and braced himself for his next steps. Without his sense of sight, he was forced to use his other senses for this task.
With great caution, he managed to pick up the chain whip that he had to use as a weapon. Listening to his surroundings, he got ready. He moved and swung the chain as he heard something whizzing towards him. He was able to destroy the disk shuriken that was coming swiftly towards him with a single strike.
Letting the chain whip wrap around his neck, he deflected another disk. Then, the duke unwrap the whip and with a jump and twirl he hit a couple darts heading his way.
He hurled the dagger attached to the chain whip towards the target. The chain wrapped itself around the post and the dagger planted itself in place. With a tug, Aliester managed to take one of the machines that launched the disks down.
However, before he could even take a breather from taking down the machine, a couple of shuriken were thrown towards him. With no time to use his chain whip, Aliester caught the shuriken with his bare hands. The duke slightly winced as he felt the blade cut his skin.
Despite feeling a bit stupid for his carelessness, the duke threw the shuriken towards his targets. Even though he was devoid of his sense of sight, Aliester was able to make the shuriken line up at the target posts located at the corners of the room.
“You’ve done well, Aliester. “ their master praised as she came near and removed his blindfold. “When you first came here, your skills with other weapons save for the broad sword really sucks. But now you can fight with a chain whip and throw weapons efficiently even without your sense of sight.”
“so that means?” Aliester asked in anticipation.
“You passed!” their master said. “however…”
The duke winced when he heard those words.
“Catching shuriken with bare hands is a bit stupid. As punishment, 50 push ups using the nailbed.”
Though Aliester was quite happy that he managed to pass Kuroe’s test, he won’t be able to celebrate due to his punishment.
Groaning he made his way to the nailbed and got down for a push up. He grimaced as the nails touched his palms. The wound from the shuriken did not make it any less painful. Then he started pushing himself up while making sure that his body was aligned.
“This is really hard work. If not for Kira… ” He sweated as he recalled Kuroe’s condition prior to this.
After talking about their plans on rescuing Kira and helping the Enclave, Kuroe had given them a certain condition. Before they can go and save Kira and the Enclave, they needed to pass her tests to ensure that they survive the suicide mission.
After Aliester, it was Conrad’s turn to undergo a trial.
Conrad sweated as he watched his opponent. Though she looked smaller than him, he could feel the dangerous aura radiating in waves.
The girl gave him a confident smirk as she circled around him. “Scared, your majesty?” she taunted as she left a few after images behind.
Getting into a defensive stance, the king got ready for her attack. Innocia took a couple more steps to his right before finally disappearing from his view.
Unlike the first time that they had sparred, the king did not panic. Instead he had observed his surroundings well.
“Not even a single footstep to give me a hint.” He gritted out as he tried to sense her presence. He flinched as he noticed a little too late that she reappeared to his right.
“I am right here.” She launched a punch towards his middle.
Fortunately, the king managed to dodge the punch in time. However, he failed to notice that the girl was about to kick his unguarded midsection.
The king cringed as he got hit and made him double over. But unlike before he quickly got back up and managed to distance himself from his opponent with a backward hand spring.
“very good.” The girl clapped giving him a superficial smile. “It seemed you became tougher than before, my lord.”
Although he was against the idea at first, Conrad was overruled at the plan to have Innocia as his sparring partner. When he began training, he was adamant in insisting that princess should be protected and he refused to fight with her.
However since the two of them are closer in age and had roughly the same height, Innocia had to be his sparring partner. Not to mention, the girl proved to be a strong opponent. She was skilled on combat than he could ever be.
He threw a couple of punches at the girl but she simply blocked them. With a sweep, she sent him down to the matted floor.
“Get up, my lord.” The girl ordered. “we are not done yet.”
He got up and assaulted the girl. He threw several punch and kick but the girl just blocked his attacks as if they are nothing.
But at the last time he had thrown a punch, the girl caught his right arm. She locked his arm and used it like a lever. Lowering her center of weight, she pulled him to the ground.
Losing his balance, the king fell on the floor. Before he could even get up and get away, Innocia mounted him and pinned his arms to the ground.
“Looks like I won.” She breathed with a smile. “Despite being skilled in long swords, you had a hard time with melee combat. If you get disarmed, it would pose a huge problem. So learning how to grapple will help you a lot. However being pinned down like this, it seemed that you still have a long way to go.”
“You haven’t won yet.” He panted as he struggled.
He was getting a bit uncomfortable with her on top of him. She never weighed that much but having a girl straddle him was a bit unsettling. This is quite an intimate position and he is only a guy after all. “I haven’t tapped out.”
Innocia was a bit surprised when he tried to move his hand. In return, the princess applied more pressure. However, it seemed the king had gotten stronger; he was able to get away from her hold. Then bucking his hips and forming a bridge, he threw her off him. Using the opportunity, he reversed their position and pinned her to the ground.
“you have really improved…” Innocia praised. “you did not only get out of my hold, you even managed to pin me down. Quite splendid, your majesty!”
“Coming from you that would be a lot.” He smiled as he got off and helped her up.
“With this, you pass!” she declared.
Daxton came next. Unlike the other two who were tested with their combat skills, Daxton’s stealth had to be assessed.
Gulping, Daxton tiptoed towards the chamber to launch a surprise attack at their master. With sweat coating his brows, the knight tried to be silent as he could. With ill luck, Daxton took a step and the floor creak.
“Daxton, I could hear your footsteps even from here!” their master called out. “you need to be silent. If you cannot be silent, you’ll be a dead man!”
After muttering a string of profanities, he tried to calm himself. Taking a deep breath, he blurted out. “Sorry master. I will try my best. Mo ichido kudasai ”
He tried once again but the stupid floor creaked whenever he took a step.
“If you cannot make your footsteps lighter then we will have to subject you to another diet.” Kuroe called out to the knight.
“No way!”
Trying once again, he forced himself to relax and concentrate at the task at hand. Releasing the tension from his body, he lifted his right foot and lightly stepped on the wood. He landed the ball of his right foot to the wood before setting his whole foot down. Shifting his weight, he tried the same technique using his left foot. He was halfway through the hall when unfortunately his concentration broke. He placed his left foot on the floor and the wood creak again.
“Daxton you are running out of time.” His master reminded him.
He combed his hair with his fingers in frustration. Looking up at the ceiling and drawing a huge breath, he thought of ways to do this task quickly, efficiently and silently as much as possible.
Meanwhile, Kuroe was waiting for her student to get past the creaky floor. Daxton needed to get to her undetected but it seemed Daxton could not do it. She could not blame him either, those floors were especially designed to detect even the slightest movement. Only master assassins could make past that floor without any sound.
Noting the time, she sighed. “Only a few more minutes, if he cannot get past that area, he would have to undergo punishment.”
She was about to leave when a shadow loomed over her. “When did he-?”
Smirking, she blocked his attack and sent him flying to the floor with a kick.
“You managed to sneak in.” she commented as she avoided the daggers he threw towards her. “Well done.”
“You never said that we couldn’t use the ceiling.” He almost pouted.
“I had thought that you needed to figure that out on your own.” She began. “You were adept with almost all fields-weapon handling and hand to hand combat but unfortunately, stealth was never your thing.”
He nodded. “I am medium built and my weight would not allow me to move silently and swiftly.”
“If you cannot use a certain route without getting detected, you need to find another way to get to your target using other routes.” She smiled proudly at the knight. “With this, you pass!”
“So the last one to be tested will be Blaze.” The knight said as he followed his master outside.
“His test is tougher than what you three had undergone.” Kuroe said as she opened the sliding door to the lake where the obstacle course was located.
“Just in time!” Innocia waved at the knight and her master. “Blaze is already starting his training.
“Really?” Daxton asked while surveying the calm water. “But I could not see him anywhere.”
“He is under water.” The girl muttered. “If he takes more than a minute, he will drown so he needed to work fast to get away from his cage.”
“What?” the three boys screamed in disbelief.
The wizard had been submerged into the water. The cage he was imprisoned in made it impossible for him to swim away. However, instead of panicking like the last time, he calmed himself down and concentrated on picking the lock of the cage.
“I need to get out before I run out of breath.” He said to himself as he turned the lock using the pins. “I can use magic but that would be cheating.”
He struggled for a few seconds before a click was heard. The door sprung open and he was able to swim up.
When he resurfaced the water, the others cheered.
“Splendid Blaze!” Kuroe’s voice rang above the cheers. “but your test is not yet done. Complete the obstacle without falling on the water under the limited time.”
Blaze pulled himself up the ledge to begin his next test.
“Timer starts now.” He swung himself through the ropes and crossed the water towards the suspension bridge. Though having trouble with balancing himself, Blaze was able to get through the bridge and proceed to the rope ladders.
Wincing as the strands of the rope cut his skin, Blaze climbed the ladders with a bit of struggle.
“One minute!” Innocia informed him.
With the knowledge of the time pressure, Blaze tried to move faster than before. He swung himself to the next platform and balance himself on the beams to cross to the last obstacle.
“30 seconds.” Kuroe shouted.
“Blaze had to push past his limits and ran to the finish line using the mini rafts to cross the lake.
“10...9…8…” the other count down as Blaze raced towards the finish line.
“5…4…3...” Before they counted 2 to 1, the wizard managed to reach the finish line with a jump and crash land.
“that hurt!” he winced as he got up.
“why the heaven’s name did you jump?” the knight almost slap him upside his head.
“If I haven’t made it in time, I will have another punishment.” The wizard reasoned out.
“In any case, you were able to do the task.” Kuroe said. “All of you passed. Get ready for your mission tomorrow.”
“We have a damsel in distress to rescue.” Innocia muttered as her eyes glow red.
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