"I… c… can't move." His heart pounded quickly in his chest with extensive dread. He felt the cold grasp of the undead hand grow stronger the more he tried to yank his feet away from it beneath him.
"What was that man thinking?!"
But as he tried to turn downward, Asahi noticed that it wasn't just a hand that had grabbed him, but an entire arm.
A horrified scream blared out of his mouth as he slammed the front door desperately with his weak first, trying to grab the attention of anyone inside to open up.
(KNOCK)
(KNOCK)
(KNOCK)
"HELP!"
Absolute silence answered him. Disbelief bloomed in the boy as he looked up and saw all the windows shut. Asahi mumbled frustratingly with a pale face.
"Why is no one answering?!"
Disbelief fluctuated inside him as he heard the crickets chirp amid the cold night.
"Rawr!"
"What… d-do I do? Surely, there must be one person out there to save me right?!"
And then, a metaphorical light bulb shone above his head.
The first person he could think of that had a chance at saving him was Chloe. No one other than her was one he knew for more than a day, and in correspondence to this, he managed to breach from the grasp and flee.
The adrenaline that pumped inside his body burned so many calories, that all left of his stomach was empty.
"Is this part of the test?!"
As he dodged and averted his way around the rising arms, Asahi grabbed his breath and sprinted as fast as he could over to the third window on the right wall of the huge mansion.
His trembling gray eyes caught sight of a silhouette of a red-haired girl standing in front. With no options left, Asahi waved his arm repeatedly and screamed at the window.
"Hey! Can you open the door!?" He tremblingly pulled the golden door knob of the back door but noticed that it was sealed shut, which then forced Asahi to scream.
"Open up! Please!"
"Rooar…"
He heard loud groans behind.
A tone of despair and hopelessness flew in him.
Was this really how it will end for Asahi?
"No… I have to…"
After that, he knew no one inside the mansion would help them. With this thought in mind, he then dragged his feet painfully across the stone pavement and felt several creeping, slender hands wrap around his leg.
(Wait, just why do they have zombies here in the first place? Is this house a trap?)
He gritted his teeth and turned over to the sea of stars, mumbling as he paced away from the chasing zombies across the seemingly tame environment.
"W… What is going on? Why is the man doing nothing?!"
The more he circled over the mansion and the bridges, the more zombies that emerged from the ground.
(CRUMBLE)
(ROAR)
His body was surrounded by a huge horde of green undead figures.
All fifty of them swarmed and grabbed Asahi's body.
His eyelids started to get heavy, he slipped and tripped from a branch, and collapsed to the floor, crying and screaming.
"HELP!"
Yet, no matter how much Asahi did that, no one answered his calls.
When he looked at his arms, he saw goosebumps rising over. His trembling, fear-filled eyes watched as each individual limb of his body relentlessly torn.
(SHUNG)
Two hours of suffering had passed, sparkling white dust spewed out from his gushing wounds as he crawled desperately and kicked the zombies away as much as he could. He screamed as he saw the glowing eyes of the zombies illuminate his dead skin.
"G… Get away! P… Please…" It was hopeless for Asahi to ask these alien, undead creatures to move away. He tried everything in his best to defend himself, and although he had lost a few parts of his body, the teeming determination surging inside his mind urged him to continue.
Meanwhile, a man who stood behind a window watched as the white-haired figure punched, kicked, and crawled desperately away from the grizzly zombies.
He forced his eyes shut and turned his head down, praying as he saw the moonlight stream over the dark hallways.
"Don't give up. Just use your heart, not your fists."
A worried grin emerged from his face as he recollected the memories of his past students that had endured this exact challenge.
"The first one is always the hardest challenge. But once you finally realize…" The man grabbed a sleek, shining iron sword from the wall of weaponry in his room and dragged it slowly down the stairs.
As he grabbed the keys, shoved them through the hole of the door knob, the blue-haired man whispered. "That if your mind is willing, the flesh could go on without anything."
What he had said matched directly to what Asahi currently endured.
"H…Help…"
Although his dust spilled and he had felt almost every limb in his body get gnawed, damaged, and injured; when he saw the front doors finally open, he felt a feeling that pulsated and burned in his mind, forcing Asahi to endure every second of this pain.
"I… I have to… do it."
The man smiled proudly as he saw the boy crawl toward the stairs.
A patience worthy of admiration beamed on the man's face as he tossed the iron sword and kicked it to Asahi's only hand. The man commended him.
"Impressive, I have never seen any of my past students so determined before."
Tears of relief flooded Asahi's dust-covered face as he heard the zombies growl at the man. He quickly pulled the bruised-tattered boy and forced the silver sword to be grabbed on his hand.
"However, this lesson isn't over."
A look of wrath, disdain, and anguish lingered in Asahi's face.
"W… What?! N-No… just let…"
Toivo shook his head in denial, pushed Asahi back to the crowd of zombies, and answered as his arms remained at his sides.
"You have two choices. Either you cease yourself and flee to the mansion like a coward, or you trust your mind and finish this challenge like a bold man."
"W…What?"
Asahi rocked his stinging body back and forth and tilted his head to the invading ghouls behind. Then, his view adjusted to the golden, hopeful yet false light that leaked through the two open doors.
It was a sign of hope and faith for Asahi, but it was recognized as cowardice to Toivo. Asahi mumbled as he stared at that light.
"I… can't… do it."
"Sigh…" The man's sharp eyes lashed at Asahi.
That sight beguiled the weary soul in Asahi as he felt an unimaginable amount of temptation fluctuate in him.
"I understand."
An hopeful look beamed in Asahi's face as he slowly adjusted his gaze toward the open doors and dragged his tattered body over to the direction of the mansion.
But as he caught glimpse of that disappointed look overshadow Toivo's face, a fortuitous series of happy memories suddenly emerged in Asahi.
The first smile he made, the silly acts of everyone in Linuxinia, and the friends he made along his journey. Those memories were enough to eclipse his infectious cowardice, and pulsate so much adrenaline, that it was enough to warm the chilling feeling he felt from the zombies that devoured-half of him.
The determined, handicapped boy picked up the blade and looked over to the reflection of it.
The steel surface of the sword was so polished and shiny, that he could see his bruised and tattered face refract on it like a mirror. It displayed the pain he went through.
"That's… me…."
He mumbled as his eyes leaned over to it.
"No. I… have to do this."
Asahi did the impossible. He went against his every doubt, and chose to gamble his life to defeat this challenge.
At a glance, he tightened his grip on the hilt of his blade, slowly turned his body over to the monsters, and stepped forward with last hints of hope.
A bitterness crept into his emerging, brave grin as Toivo's face beamed with pleasurable anticipation.
"Yes. Like that." He said as he made a glance of extraordinary meaning to the boy. "Feel the flow of the soil resonate within you. Let the body… let the flesh… persist. Only then will the magic of Linuxinia take you."
A surge of energy overwhelmed Asahi, feeling a furtive breeze of triumph circulate around his presence. Asahi slowly assailed toward the sprinting monsters with a smile.
"You're right."
He felt as if everything in the area was with him, and with his trembling mouth, he mumbled.
"Yes. Let… i… it…"
The shining sword gleamed with aspiration.
Birds were fluting in the trees as the cold, black inky night gently faded into a sky borne with hope.
A bright orange glowed on his white hair and his cheeks furrowed by strong purpose and feeling. With a manner so full of hope, Asahi hurriedly sprinted with his one-armed blade, kicked his dusty feet off the ground, and impaled one of the zombies with the sharp blade. Goo scattered out and stung the floor.
"ROAR!" The zombies growled as they scrambled angrily to Asahi, jotting their arms and spitting. Quickly, the hopeful, handicapped boy with one arm averted and dodged their strikes, then gashed up at the throats of the zombies. Adrenaline surged within his strikes as he sprinted and catapulted himself toward the monsters.
A smile dawned up Toivo's proud face.
"He did it. I knew he would."
Before the sun had risen, Asahi clashed and punctured his sharp blade deeply through all of the monsters, detaching their arms, and spreading its blood into the air. A cry of joy came out from Asahi's determined attacks.
"YEAH! I FEEL IT!" He quickly skidded on the grassy ground and charged at the line of slow green figures in front of him.
(SHING)
All their torsos were immediately cut and shriveled, torn, and impaled from his attacks. "Yes!"
But then, something even greater happened.
As Asahi immersed himself in the absolute onslaught and massacre of the zombies, a brilliant green line of luminance entangled over his body. It didn't affect him or anything, but it signaled Toivo that what Asahi was doing, triggered the magic of The Sealed Beatific to activate.
His eyes widened in surprise as he saw several of those magical lines encircle Asahi's hand.
"The joy in him is even greater than I expected. He…"
Suddenly, as Toivo came to his senses, the color in Asahi's eyes glowed from a dark gray to a bright green. He quickly backflipped, created a green magical circle consciously, then unleashed a potent green explosion which obliterated each and every zombie among the hill.
As the dust settled, Asahi cheered and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.
"YEAH! THAT FELT AMAZING!"
A patience worthy of admiration shone on Toivo's face as he approached Asahi with the other maids. His glimpse shifted over to Kendra, whose eyelids were still half-shut and then ordered her. "Kendra, are you willing to escort this young man and grab Opui to heal him."
Her bright glacial blue eyes broadened in shock. "Did he pass?"
A genuinely shocked look came from Toivo's eye as he replied.
"Yes. He is… very special." His eyes leaned over to Asahi's tattered face. "There's something different about how he used The Sealed Beatific compared to the others. I… I can't believe he survived the entire night. He's… already growing."
Kendra's face flushed with embarrassment as she tried to heave the unconscious boy toward the front doors. "A-Are you serious? Wow… I never knew he was like that."
Toivo shook his head, pushed Kendra toward the doors, and raised his gruff voice.
"Just get him healed, now! I don't want that boy to die. He doesn't deserve it. Matter in fact, this will be the first time in a while to give a reward for what he did."
Kendra nodded her head, entered the door with Asahi's body, and replied with an interested giggle to the boy.
"Wow… if he keeps it up, maybe he'll be…"
"What did I say?! Escort that boy now, and grab the nurse! Stop day-dreaming and listen to my commands, please."
Kendra gulped, sprung up in shock, and replied.
"Yes sir!"