Risaki Payne leans on Rosemary for support as the weapon slowly withers away. "I'm sorry Rosemary, I didn't expect for him to be this powerful..." He says while panting heavily from exhaustion as his mind flashes back to what just happened.
Risaki's eyes widen as the explosion from the Behemoth Fall approaches him rapidly. Quickly he slams Rosemary into the ground. "Rosebud, Barrier of Defense!!" Rosemary immediately begins to glow a fluorescent pink as a gigantic rosebud starts sprouts from under it around Risaki protecting him as the explosion makes contact with it. "I can feel the heat." Risaki says as he begins pumping more chikara into Rosemary.
"I won't let Noctis break the seal!" Risaki screams out as the rosebud fully hardens protecting him from the immediate blast.
Once the blast dissipates so does the rosebud slowly withering away before their very eyes seeing Risaki leaning on a withering Rosemary. He slowly stands up straight as his body screams at him from exhaustion.
The heat dome around the entire region cools down slightly but it doesn't fade. "You can't keep this up forever Dargus!" Risaki's voice is immediately picked up by Dargus who's now back in his regular form. "As much as I hate to admit it, he's right." He thought to himself as he cracked his knuckles. "Terror Twins, Kill him."
Upon hearing this Risaki gets on guard.
Hora is the first to rush in trying to hit Risaki with a palm strike that he blocks.
Risaki slams his foot into the ground, "Rock Spikes!" The ground rumbles as multiple jagged spikes erupt from the ground forcing Hora to retreat, leaping towards Hera.
As soon as he lands he dashes towards Risaki, this time Hera does as well.
Risaki watches the two of them, his eyes rapidly going back and forth between the two. "So these are the Terror Twins." He thinks to himself.
The Terror Twins close in fast. Hora leaping in with a punch that Risaki blocks, shoulder barging him back before getting kicked by Hera summoning chikara to Anchor himself to the ground.
As soon as Hera's feet land she rushes in with a straight punch.
Risaki's arms get covered by a brown colored chikara as he raises them towards the sky. "Rock Wall!"
As her punch comes within inches from Risaki's face a rock wall juts from the ground in front of Risaki stopping her punch immediately.
FLICKER!!
Risaki appears next to Hera, his arm covered with chikara.
Risaki hits Hera with a hard head kick that sends her flying back, but in that same second Hora smashes through the rock wall to the shock of Risaki who puts his arms up to block his face.
Hora slams his fists into Risaki's ribs who grunts in pain. He grabs Risaki's arm pulling them down from his face and headbutting him. He continues to hold Risaki's arm before elbowing him with his non augmented arm.
Hora points his augmented arm towards Risaki's chest "Aurora Blast!" A beam of chikara slams into Risaki's chest causing him to get flung halfway through Gomen crash landing into multiple trees.
Risaki tries to get up but his body doesn't let him, "Dammit.." His weakness is apparent in his voice as he struggles to get back to his feet.
Dargus appears next to Risaki stomping on his back, causing him to scream in pain, "AAAAH!" His screams echo through the charred forest. Aarhus removes his foot from Risaki's back, "Noctis Dominion…Why'd you have to go and join them huh?" Risaki says panting heavily.
Dargus kneels beside him, "I wanted to get closer to my goal." He holds his hand up releasing the dome of fire around the region, to the shock of Risaki. He then turns him over so they're staring each other in the eyes. "You see Risaki, ever since we were training under Nao in the Dipea-Kicho Dojo I wanted something more, to be known as something more than just a student…" He spreads his arms open and as he does Risaki see's the silhouette of a demon behind him. "I want to rule Azunee.." He says with a grin as he plunges his hand deep into Risaki's chest causing him to scream out in agony.
"And that starts with the death of Risaki Payne." Dargus says as he wraps his fingers around Risaki's heart. "You've lived a good life Risaki." His words are laced with venom while Risaki claws at his arm.
"It's useless. Once I remove my hand, your heart comes with it." Risaki looks up at Dargus.
finally understanding the situation he's in he lets Dargus' arm go and brings his thumb to his mouth biting it causing it to bleed. Blood drips to the ground as Risaki begins drawing a circle from his own blood next to him. "Blood Summoning, Rengetsu." He says as a small cloud of smoke appears, dissipating and revealing a black crow.
Dargus' eyes widen as he sees Rengetsu, but he doesn't act, instead watching as Risaki summons a golden scroll to his hand, "Take this to Archfield, Rengetsu…"
Rengetsu nods as it grabs the scroll with its beak, before flying off.
Dargus watches Rengetsu for a moment before looking down at Risaki, "Embrace death." He says as he rips Risaki's heart out his chest, holding it in his hand like a trophy.
Hora and Hera walk towards Dargus, "So what about the seal?" Hora asks, causing Dargus to snap back to reality. "After the battle with Risaki we can't break the seal. Our chikara is too low, he's just going to have to understand our predicament." He declares, standing up and walking through the burning forest. "Let's go, we have to prepare before I can initiate the next phase."
Hora and Hera nod as they follow close behind Dargus, "A new era is almost upon us."
Birds fly away as Ilija's chikara balls barrel towards Mercer, his face full of rage. The trees flow in the opposite direction of the attack, causing the forest to look like a wave.
Mercer grins while holding both hands out towards the attack "Below Zero!" He says causing the air in front of him drops down to a freezing level. As soon as the chikara ball makes contact with the air it freezes mid air allowing Mercer to grab it.
Everyone watches as Mercer crushes the ice ball into dust. "You're not even worth the effort, I'll end this quickly."
Mercer's arm gets covered in ice that slowly forms a jagged blade "Prepare to die!" He dashes towards Ilija but suddenly stops in his tracks when the sky darkens above them.
"What the-" Confusion fills the air as screams are heard throughout the forest behind them. Ilija uses this moment of distraction to hit Mercer with a spinning kick that sends him flying to the side.
FLICKER!!
Suddenly Kinn-Kinn appears in front of Ilija, his stance already prepared for attack.
He hits Ilija with a body punch that causes him to spit blood from the impact following with 2 swift hooks and an uppercut that causes Ilija's head to snap back.
Ilija uses that momentum to backflip away. "Damnit!"
Kinn-Kinn's legs glow with chikara briefly before he dashes towards Ilija. "Oh no you don't!" He screams out as the shockwave from his sudden burst of speed causes intense winds and slightly uprooting the outskirts of the Gardens of Teewhanchi.
He reaches Ilija in a matter of seconds, Slamming onto his back causing him to bounce off the ground back into the air. He grabs his ankle and slams him into the ground.
"GAAH!" Ilija screams out as his body imprints into the ground.
Synn-Synn and Nay both block eachothers punches.
"Why did you even participate in this exam?" Synn-Synn says in a mocking tone as Nay attempts to quickly retaliate with a punch but that too is blocked. "Why does it matter? It's obvious they left us alone because we're the weak links! And if you think I'm gonna let some trash beat me, you're dumb!" She declares as her legs get covered in a thick layer of chikara.
Nay kicks Synn-Synn in the gut causing her to stagger back. She then hits her with an overhand, then uppercut that sends her head flying back.
As Synn-Synn's head flings back her face turns into a grin, "Gotcha!" The tattoo's on her neck start glowing and her eyes start glowing white.
"Tenrō Gekirin!" She uses her technique, as her mouth flies open and her head points towards Nay. A shockwave of crimson and gold ripples outwar, ripping through her clothing and skin while she tries to block the attack. The shockwave sends her flying, shattering the ground while traveling halfway through the grass that sits in between the Gardens of Teewhanchi and the Gate of Initiation.
"I got lazy.." Nay thinks to herself as her body soars through the air, finally coming to a crash landing next to Grim'Lok.
The sound breaking Kenjutsu Synn-Synn used causes Grim'Lok to open his eyes the moment Nay's body hits the ground in front of him, her clothes tattered and blood trickling from her head.
…
Grim'Lok's eyes flash with rage as the mark of Uken on his shoulder starts to pulsate violently. "No…." he quickly crawls towards Nay who's unconscious body causes his body to twitch with more rage.
He pulls her into his arms, "Wake up.." She sits unresponsive, "Please!" He screams out as his Chikara begins surging, "They… No… I…" As he's slowly breaking, Nay begins to slowly open her eyes.
Grim'Lok calms down immediately, "Thank god." Grim'Lok's voice is full of worry which causes Nay to chuckle. "I didn't know you had a soft side." Grim'Lok helps her rise to her feet.
Synn-Synn and Kinn-Kinn stand next to each other, eyeing Grim'Lok and Nay from a distance. "They think they're better than us sister." Kinn-Kinn says, causing Synn-Synn's face to turn into a frown. "That's a pity, lying is a sin yaknow?"
Grim'Lok stares at the two. "You think you can take her?" Nay's face is full of determination. "Oh please, what would master Risaki say if I let that weak sauce beat me. The Dipea-Kicho is stronger than whatever the world throws at us!" She declares as her and Grim'Lok fist bump before dashing towards Synn-Synn and Kinn-Kinn.
Ilija peels himself out of the ground, his body aching. Far across from him he see's Mercer doing the same thing "isn't this something." Ilija mutters as the two lock eyes.
The two of them rise to their feet, the dark sky illuminated by the aurora borealis above them. Ilija's face is full of hatred as he screams out "I'm gonna rip you-" Mercer quickly cuts Ilija off "Shut up!"
Mercer flickers towards Ilija who blocks his punch. Ilija throws a spinning head kick that Mercer ducks, trying to uppercut Ilija but he leans back using that momentum to hit Mercer with a backflip kick that sends him flying into the air.
He channels Chikara into his legs and leaps towards Mercer.
Grim'Lok blocks Kinn-Kinn's body kick and the Mark of Uken starts to pulsate. He quickly pivots his foot disappearing into a blur and reappearing behind Kinn-Kinn, "Did he just get faster!" Kinn-Kinns thoughts cloud his mind as he's hit with a hard kick that sends him crashing to the ground.
In that same moment Ilija grabs Mercer by his throat spinning around multiple times creating a whirlwind in the air.
Using the speed of that momentum Ilija threw Mercer towards the ground.
"BLACK," Ilija begins to say as he begins summoning a massive amount of dark chikara into his hands before it transforms into a black lightning bolt. "BOLT!" He screams out the name of his kenjutsu as he flings the Black Bolt at Mercer.
Mercer's eyes widen as the Black Bolt approaches him rapidly. "YOU THINK YOUR LOUSY KENJUTSU WILL EVER REACH MEl!" His words boom through the field as he curls into a ball. "ICE PRISON!" Ice begins to rapidly form around Mercer creating an impenetrable defense that will be put to the test by Ilija's Black Bolt.
The three sentinels watching the battle from the Gate of Initiation stare intently. "That's Mercer, the son of the Ice King. Rumor has it he's had perfect mastery of chikara since he was 7. He's their prodigy Ophina." The sentinel on the right says to the sentinel on the left. "Is that so Kaylee?" Ophina mutters to herself as she looks up into the sky once more the Aurora borealis is still beaming in the sky. "There have been no reports of it letting up. What is happening in that dome?"
The sentinel at top of the Gate leaps down landing gracefully, the jacket he wears over his uniform flowing in the wind, his silver hair doing the same. "He's won it. Mercer's Ice Prison is a timed barrier to keep something in and everything else out, he won't be out for some time."
Nay see's that Grim'Lok and Ilija have won their battles and turns her attention to Synn-Synn fully. "You're the last one standing." Nay's words make Synn-Synn analyze the battlefield seeing Kinn-Kinn laying on the ground and Mercer inside his Ice Prison. "No way.."
The two of them walk towards each other "!" Upon saying that Nay's arms get covered in thick armor plating of chikara "Chikara Gauntlets!"
Synn-Synn puts her guard up as Nay throws a hard overhand that breaks her guard upon contact.
Nay's left body hook lands but her leg kick gets checked. Synn-Synn throws a lead leg side kick that Nay easily blocks, but Synn-Synn doesn't let up, throwing a barrage of kicks. "Damn you!"
Nay grabs Synn-Synn's leg, pulling her to the ground, and with her left hand comes down with a punch that Synn-Synn dodges. When she looks to her side she sees the ground cracked beside her face. "You.." Nay slowly rises walking towards the gate. "You're not worth it."
Grim'Lok and Ilija quickly run after Nay catching up to her.
After a few minutes the Gate of Initiation comes into view. "It's even bigger close up." Grim'Lok says as Ilija nods, looking at the hourglass as it has almost completed its 24 hour cycle. "Did the sky darkening make the hourglass speed up?" He thought to himself. The three sentinels make their presence known as their chikara surges making Grim'Lok, Nay, and Ilija look at them.
Ophina looks at them, putting her hand on her hips. "You three sure look like you've just had the fight of your life." Her eyes gaze over their tattered clothes, "Do you three have tokens?"
Grim'Lok pulls out the token from his pocket, Nay doing the same. Ilija reaches into his coat pulling out his token. The three of them look at each other, recognizing the possibility that they could very well be denied. They hand their tokens to the guards who stand in front of them as they inspect them.
Ophina looks up and nods, "Blondies good." Kylee nods as well, "Orange is good."
Ophina and Kylee look at their fellow comrade, "What about you Salim?" Ophina says as Salim looks from the Token to Grim'Lok, "Hmm…"
The silence that follows is broken by a cracking sound. Salim analyzes Grim'Lok causing his eyes to widen.
"That kid has an insane amount of chikara leaking from him. If I don't let him through, who knows what he'll become without the guidance of OMEN." Salim thought to himself, then he sighs before putting the Token in his pouch "He passes. You three are officially D-Rank."
Nay's eyes widen as she immediately leaps into Grim'Loks arms who tries to keep his balance. "Hey!" Grim'Lok says but his words are drowned out by Nay "We did it!" She repeats over and Over again as the three walk through the gate, the symbols on the gate lighting up as they do.
As they pass the Gate of initiation, the first thing Grim'Lok notices is the spiraling stone walkway in front of them surrounded by darkness and an ominous blue mist. "What is this place..?" Grim'Lok turns to look at Nay and Ilija but they're gone. "Huh.. Where did they go?" As he turns around the mist consumes him.