"I'M A SUMMONER?" Koku yelled in confusion. Since he was within the dark space, no one other than Koku and his monsters were there. Koku noticed, however, that the bigger night owl wasn't there. Koku was now wondering about its whereabouts.
After pondering for a bit, Koku decided to try some things out. He told the monsters to sit, and they sat; he told them to jump, and they jumped; he told them to bow, and they did just that. "So they can understand human language. Maybe it's because of my summoner's ability?" Koku pondered on this for a while and decided to hold this off for some other time.
For now, Koku wanted to wake up again, so he sat down and closed his eyes. Feeling no change, Koku opened his eyes after a few seconds and he re-opened his eyes. And there he was, lying down in a desolate battlefield. Koku had felt that the magic mirrors were back in play, so when he woke up, he began acting like he was confused; lost and unsure of what had happened.
"What? What happened here?" Koku said out loud as he fake limped in the direction of where group Lodus had been before the disaster. "No one's alive," he said as if he was shocked and sad. After a few seconds of looking down at the ground, then he looked up at the sky. "It's a good thing that the competition was cut short, so one group left. Well, time to move on," Koku told himself within his head as he walked away, completely unfazed by the deaths.
A few hours later, the test was to finish at daybreak, and once Koku had gotten to the area he was to be at to finish the test, his eyes met the leader and one other member of the Lodus group. "Two survived..." Koku showed no sign of discomfort, but no sign of care. The reason was very simple; his emotions had just come back a little less than 9 hours ago. After being deprived of emotions for a year, of course, he wouldn't change in a day. His same mentality was there.
"Koku? I'm so glad you survived!" April said all cheerfully as she tried to hug him. Aron, however, stopped April, telling her that he was hurt and might make it worse with a hug. Koku wasn't really hurt anymore, wondering how they made it out alive. Koku didn't ask this, since it wasn't important for the time being, and he wasn't in the mood for chit-chat.
Koku walked past them and nodded to Aron as a sign of gratitude. Walking forward, Yuusha had walked up to Koku and smiled. "Well? Regretting not joining us? We still have a spot... that's the hero's seat." Koku wasn't emotionless anymore and got a little annoyed by his comments. His mind was strong enough to ignore him for the most part, though.
"HEY, I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Koku looked back at Yuusha, who was pretty mad, and began to speak. "I'm alive... that's all that matters. If you're here to play, then take that to the playground, maybe eat some dirt while you're at it," Koku told him this in an expressionless way, and as soon as he said what he wanted to say, he was off again.
"Well, it seems that everyone's here," the proctor yelled. "Now for phase 2, you will begin immediately." Saying this, the proctor stared daggers at Koku and smiled. "As for you, please come this way." Koku sensed that something was off, but he couldn't defy the proctors right now because if he did, he might get disqualified. So Koku nodded and entered this smaller magic door he created.
"He didn't follow me in..." Koku tensed up and went in expecting a fight, but since Koku was alarmed, not much was going to catch him off guard. Once Koku went in, he was faced with an old man and a young woman. "Hello there, may we ask you a few questions, kiddo," the old man smiled at him but gave him a chill running down his spine.
"Forgive this old man for his creepy presence; his name is Daen, one of the archmages in charge of Eldoria, and my name is Celestia Frostbourne, Koku is it?" Asking Koku to confirm his name, Koku spoke up, "Yes." After responding, Celestia proceeded to ask Koku about what he saw in the moment everything went wild, what happened a few hours ago, every bit of detail.
"Before I answer you, what is it I gain from this?" Koku asked the two clearly godlike people in front of him. "Hahahaha! I see, what a boy you are. Ask anything of me, and I'll give it to you, but the information had better be worth my time, boy." The old man (Archmage) clearly had a screw loose and showed signs of interest in Koku. "As for I, hmmm. I'll give you one thing from Paladonia's treasury." Koku saw this as an opportunity for him to win something great, so he took it.
"When those monsters chased me and nearly killed me at the end, I felt as if someone dangerous was around, and before I knew it, it was there, a monster so terrifying that all I could see were its hate-filled eyes; its presence was overwhelming, and I felt my consciousness fade. But before I did so, there was something resembling an angel and a demon next to it, all while it seeped purple cold mist. It felt endless and scary, then I woke up a second later, and everything was gone..." After giving them the explanation that wasn't by any means true, they seemed content, and as promised, Celestia led Koku to obtain his reward. But before that, the old man was asked to fetch the three best artifacts that he could get away with taking; the old man, however, told Koku he could only take one of the three.
Koku agreed, and soon after, the old man arrived at the vault where Koku and Celestia were at. "Well, young one, the information wasn't too bad, nor too good, but here pick one already." The old man held all three of the artifacts by making them float in front of Koku.
Lost Codex.
Jade Rune.
The Labyrinth Key of Eternity.
The old man Daen began to speak, "As you can see, these three things, of course, have intriguing names. The Lost Codex is a complete mystery to all since the language is impossible to decode, its contents are as one could guess… a mystery. On the other hand, we have Jade Rune and the Labyrinth Key of Eternity; the key itself does nothing special apart from opening the doors to the famous labyrinth of folklore. We aren't even sure it actually exists. Now finally the Jade Rune, this grants you the wielder defenses from dark magic to an extent, and it provides mid-tier healing. Best of all, if the wielder is close to death, the jade will destroy itself; in return, it teleports you elsewhere away from danger. So what'll you choose?" Daen asked Koku as he was intrigued by Koku's potential choice.
After a minute of thinking, Koku finally decided what he wanted. "The Lost Codex." The old man was pretty surprised, as he thought Koku would go for the Jade Rune. Due to this, Daen threw the labyrinth key in as well. "Think of it as a gift for catching me off guard." After the old man did this, Celestia fake coughed, getting both of the guys' attention. "Now if you'll please choose, Koku. All the descriptions are on the bottom of their display cases."
After seeing this, Koku walked in and began scanning the artifacts. "That's an interesting one, the Eye of the Storm Dragon... it doesn't even look like a biological eye. More like a crystal." Koku kept looking around, and he found things like the two fang daggers, the Eyes of Gluttony, and even the Phantom Guard. But what struck most of the curiosity in Koku was something in a completely different room.
It was closed off, and through the nearly or potentially airtight-sealed doors, a dark purple mist seeped through it. Walking closer, Koku felt someone's hand on his shoulder; it was Celestia. "Koku, you can't go in there; that thing will kill you if you get close to it." Telling him this, Koku needed to go in there, for some reason he knew he wouldn't die, for that purple mist was made from the same aura that Koku had.
"I want to see it; you said anything in the vault," Koku said this, and Celestia paused for a second and relented, "If I see that if you start to sustain any sort of negative effects from it, even for 1/10th of a second, I'll pull you out and the deal's over, okay?" Koku nodded to what she had said, and like that, she stayed where she was, and Koku walked closer to the door.
Hearing the sound of metal flying in the air, Koku looked behind himself and caught the flying key that Celestia had thrown for him to catch. "Now to see what's in there..." Koku walked up to the door and placed the key in and turned the lock. After that, Koku did it two more times, since there had been three locks in that door.
After opening the door, a sea of purple mist spewed out, completely consuming Koku within it. With this, he took a step forward, and then his eyes came across the sight of something so unbelievable. "So much power..." Koku muttered as he looked at a perfectly refined obsidian, shiny black sword. Its aura was powerful, 1/100th of the power when Koku enters rage mode.
However, seeing it made Koku realize something. The weapon was starving and running almost on nothing as fuel. Feeling it, Koku walked closer to it and went to touch the now brightly glowing blade. In that moment, it was a black sword with its edges glowing bright purple, but as Koku touched it.
The sword instantly bonded to his soul. Feeling this sudden bond being created, he felt his internal power being drained. Falling to the ground on his knees, Koku placed his hand over his stomach, as he did this, he let go of the blade.
"What?" Koku had let go of the blade, and his vision went blank, but he was still conscious. Words of purple began to form; the blade's name appeared, and its abilities along with it.
(Voidpulse)
Soul Bond: The wielder forms a deep connection with the Blade, and the weapon becomes an extension of their own essence. Not only that but the weapon can disappear into an un-materialized version at the user's will, and only the wielder can summon and use its powers.
Shape-shifting: By focusing their thoughts and willpower, the user can transform the blade into any weapon they want, whether it's a sword, bow, staff, or even a shield. The transformation is instantaneous and seamless.
Adaptive Properties: The weapon adapts to the user's skills and preferences, making sure that he is proficient in the weapon he chooses. For example, if the user envisions a spear but has no prior training with one, the blade will grant them the necessary skills to wield it.
Unbreakable Bond: The weapon cannot be separated from its wielder, and if lost, it will reappear in their possession, ensuring it can never be used against its chosen owner.
Personal growth: The weapon also grows in power with Koku's mastery over the void and in accordance with his own power.
Koku could tell he wasn't going to die from this, but he could also tell that it was hurting like hell. "Can't let them see me on the ground," Koku stood up as he said this and walked out with the sword in hand, acting like everything was fine. He thanked both Daen and Celestia and asked them to take him back to the test area.