"Hey"
"What?"
"I haven't met a single living person since morning, is it your doing?"
"Haven't you figure that out yet? When you were at the river and getting beaten up, no help arrived even though it was such a popular route. Isn't that too obvious?"
"No, I'm just asking if I'm right."
"Oh."
The two were just relaxing, lying on the ground by the side of the on top of the car. Watching the stars show up just right after the sunset.
"Training is pretty boring…"
"Boring?! I ran again for another four hours and made me push this car after while in reverse, how is that boring?!"
"Yeah, that's pretty boring."
"…"
"Maybe, it is already time."
"Time… for what?"
"For you to enter the Hidden World."
Rin sat up and stared at Elihim whose eyes were closed. He felt many emotions stirring well inside of him.
"Don't expect too much. It's still pretty boring but not just as much as seeing you suffer at a simple workout."
"…"
Elihim opened his eyes and rolled it towards Rin, "So, ready to go right now?"
Rin nodded.
"Good.", Elihim showed an entertained smile. He stood and walked over an unfamiliar direction, "Follow me."
Rin gulped and followed.
Elihim lead Rin to unknown roads and confusing directions. And eventually they stopped.
"Ah.", Elihim reacted.
"Master, why are we at our house?", Rin looked at Elihim with dead eyes.
Elihim laughed at himself and said, "The world is truly full of mysteries that man has no hope to unveil. Let us continue.", he turned back and continued to walk as if nothing happened.
'Did he just threw a cool phrase to keep him from embarrassment?', Rin thought as he looked at Elihim stopped and looked left and right at the cross path, choosing indecisively, 'Yeah, that's definitely the case.'
"Master, are you perhaps weak at directions?", Rin cautiously asked in the most polite way he could muster.
Elihim just looked at him with eyes that showed disdain, "Rin, be quiet. We're about to skip space."
Just right before Rin could asked what he meant. The world suddenly flashed by surrounding Rin for a split second. Rin's body felt zero gravity and made him float in that short span of time. When his feet both landed on the hard ground and the world surrounding Rin was still again. He became nauseated and felt his head cracked.
Elihim didn't wait for him and walked to a counter where he showed something to the female there.
When Rin recovered a little, he unconsciously looked around and saw that this was a rich-looking interior of a building.
There was a glass sliding door in the front and outside was a bustling crowd passing by and doing their own businesses.
When the female worker saw Elihim's id, she greeted him politely and pointed him to an elevator.
Rin was still not feeling well so he could not understand what the two were conversing about. Rin's face was wretched as he bear the pain of his head cracking from the inside.
When Elihim finished talking with the female worker, he pat Rin on the back and said, "Let's go."
The cracking pain disappeared at the same time Elihim pat him. The contrast of bearing that pain and relieving of it made Rin like he was already in the heaven.
"Haa, that felt really good.", Rin rubbed his temples and followed Elihim who was waiting for the elevator.
They entered as soon as the door opened. Then Elihim swiped his card beside the buttons. As if a hidden function, the elevator went up.
Rin didn't wait too long before the elevator stopped and the door opened. What Rin first saw was a short hallway with a door in front. On the right side was snack store and on the left side was a restroom.
'What the?!', Rin doubted, 'Too normal.'
Elihim just went straight to the door and what lies behind it was a room that had another counter in a cylindrical pillar that was surround by ten different doors in a circular manner. Everything was very neat and pleasing to the eyes.
Behind the doors, screams can be heard. No, to be precise, it sounds like cheers. Even though they are outside and could only hear that from there, Rin could still hear its excitement and vigor of the huge volume of cheering inside those doors.
"Level One.", Elihim casually said as he handed his id to the female worker behind the counter.
The female worker gladly accepted it and pointed the very first room to their left. Only did Rin noticed that, the cheers and noise were all coming from the eastern door.
Before, going in to where the female worker pointed, Elihim stopped and said, "Rin."
"Yeah?", there are much times where he couldn't understand this master of his even if there was still a short time that they were together.
"Before entering, I must first congratulate you.", Elhim clapped softly, "You are the youngest ever to reach this point, so be proud.", he pat Rin's shoulder and nodded. Elihim turned to the door and opened it slowly.
'Hah? That's it?", Rin scratched his head.
Then, they entered the door. There were stairs surrounding a 10 meter cube cage on an elevated platform.
There were few people that were sitting in these stairs and watching two men punch each other inside the cage.
"Cage fight?", Rin asked himself.
But Elihim answered him, "Yeah, something like that."
There are a lot of spaces to sit in there and there was barely any sound at all except for the two men that were fighting inside the cage.
Elihim went to the front stair which is just ten steps down and sat on the side. Rin followed quietly and sat beside Elihim.
"Watch the fight even if it's a bit boring since you'll be there next.", Elihim smiled.