Other than the meeting with Pete and his friends, nothing else interrupted Asher's trek to the Hana Association.
The Obelisk of White soon filled his vision, just as garishly white as he remembered.
He hid in a nearby alley, desynchronizing himself. Just for good measure, he wore his E.G.O as well. Walking through the Hana Association's sliding doors, he blinked in surprise.
The receptionist lady was the exact same person as last time. Her glossy white hair flowed to the ground.
Usually, the floor would be the one getting things dirty, but the polished white tiles actually looked cleaner than her hair. Asher didn't know how that could be the case with her hair being snowy white itself, but the tiles were so bright that he wouldn't be surprised if they were constructed entirely from light.
The woman looked at Asher and tilted her head slightly.
"Welcome to Section 12's Hana Association. Is there any assistance we might be able to provide?"
The same monotone voice. It unnerved him.
"Are you... not human, by any chance?"
"No, I am human. Thank you for asking. Now, is there any assistance we might be able to provide?"
The woman's head tilted further, staring at him. Shivering, Asher realized that the woman had not blinked once during their entire conversation.
"I'm here for the Fixer examination. My name is Asher."
The lady tapped on her computer.
"Thank you for participating in the Fixer examination. Wait over there. An examiner will arrive shortly."
The room was filled to the brim with Fixer candidates. He took a seat near the corner, quietly waiting for his name to be called.
He sat beside a muscular man whose face was riddled with ugly knife scars.
'System, can I see my stats?'
____________
Statistics:
Fortitude: 20
Insight: 30
Temperance: 45
Justice: 15
E.G.O: Fairy Queen
Skills: Scorched Girl (Synchronization), Fragment of the Universe (???), Echoes from Beyond
Description: Though relatively weak in physical aspects, your exceptional tolerance of pain and remarkable insight more than make up for it. Host of the Fragment of the Universe.
____________
'Hm... it's true, I am a bit weak physically. But pain tolerance is pretty good too.'
With Temperance, it wasn't that he couldn't feel pain, but it was more like it wouldn't interfere from his movements. Where an ordinary person would faint from the pain of their bones being shattered, Asher could still move with relative clarity.
Though having his arm ripped off at the Carnival was still a bit much for his mind.
The grizzled looking man scoffed as Asher fiddled beside him.
"Kid, this ain't a playground for children. Heh, did your mother make that pretty little costume for you?" The man smirked at his own insult.
To Asher, it only looked like the man was trying to pick a fight with him. He ignored the man, unclipping Wingbeat from his back. He twirled it between his fingers to settle his nerves for the exam.
"Haha, who glues an egg to a wand? I'll just-" The man used his hand to clench the egg on the top of Wingbeat.
His fingers trembled as the fragile-looking egg didn't budge at all.
Asher sighed. Some people didn't deserve to be Fixers. He wrenched Wingbeat from the man's hands before clamping down on the man's wrist in an instant, crushing it with his iron grip. Judging from the man's groans of pain, he was all bark and no bite.
"Sir, this is no playground for children. Keep that in mind as you insult me like a child. Understand?" The seams of Asher's uniform dripped with blood as he became vexed by the man's childish behavior.
Asher clipped Wingbeat onto his back, using his free arm to violently pull the man's chin to face him.
The man nodded his head in tears as he was forced to gaze into Asher's pitch black pupils.
[Careful, Host. The events of this morning have made your mental state unstable. Your E.G.O is distorting your emotions.]
Asher blinked, snapping out of his fervor. A puddle of blood had formed on the ground. He was standing on his feet, forcing the man to kneel below him. The other Fixer candidates had backed far away from him.
"Ha... just don't do that again." He released the man's jaw, causing him to stagger away from Asher like he was a monster.
"Joseph. Your examiner is ready." The man dashed out of the room to meet his examiner, eager to leave the demon child alone.
The other candidates kept a wide berth away from him for the rest of the wait. He didn't really care.
'System, any way to clean this mess of blood?'
[It will fade quickly. Just like the wings on your back, the blood is a projection of the E.G.O onto the real world.]
It was like the System said. The blood slowly vanished in front of his eyes, leaving the floor and chairs no worse for use.
"Asher. Your examiner is ready."
He stood up and walked to the door. The room, filled with 'experienced' combatants, seemed to heave a collective sigh of relief at his departure.
The waiting room slowly refilled with chatter, albeit quieter than before.
A breathtaking young woman nodded at him in front of the doorway, wearing the standard white uniform of the Hana Association.
Her caramel colored hair was loosely but elegantly braided down her back, contrasting her milky pale skin.
"Hullo, Candidate Asher. We will head to Testing 3 for your physical exam."
She shifted her thin-rimmed glasses up with a push of her finger, not giving him a chance to ask questions.
On the way to the testing room, he saw Harold in one of the rooms in the hallway, working on some chemicals and machinery in some sort of lab. He wanted to say hello, but refrained since Harold wouldn't be able to recognize him.
"You know Harold?" His examiner noticed his reaction. She flipped her hair back, eyes staring at Harold's face for a bit longer than was necessary. Of course, she was still expressionless as she did so.
"Yeah, one of my friends had him as their examiner."
"Is your friend male or female?"
Asher stared at her, narrowing his eyes.
The woman had the decency to drop the question, glancing away from the man almost hesitantly. Of course, she was still expressionless as she did so.
Before they could continue walking, Asher flinched as he felt a bony hand on his shoulder.
Looking back, he nearly choked. A pristine skeleton in a white coat grinned at him as its skull rattled.
"What's up? Don't think I didn't see what happened in the waiting room, bud. Mirinae, you'll have a blast testing this kid."
The skeleton released Asher's shoulder, its jaw chattering up and down as it saw Asher back away from it.
Then it snapped his fingers, popping out of existence with a sharp crack.
"W-What was that??"
Mirinae sighed, removing her glasses to wipe them down.
"That's our resident Grade 1. Each Hana branch has at least one 'Overseer', a Grade 1 Fixer to keep the peace. Don't worry about him, he's a good person... very, very, deep inside. Let us continue."
The woman seemed to regard the *literal skeleton* walking about as normal.
"No no, I'm not talking about that. Why is he a skeleton?"
"Oh right. Not every Overseer is like that. He just had an accident with some testing with R Corp a few years back. He decided to keep that appearance because it 'looked cool'." She clicked her tongue, judging her superior.
Asher had to admit, it looked pretty cool. And it had a lot of intimidation factor. No wonder Pete shivered at the thought of the Overseer, his tests were conducted by an animated skeleton!
And what was R Corp's singularity?
On the third floor of the Hana Association was 'Testing 3'. Just like the 7th one Harold took him to last time, it was a spacious white gymnasium for spars and physical examinations.
Mirinae held the door for him with polite respect.
The door behind them swung shut as both of them stepped inside.
"Now for introductions. My name is Mirinae; I am a Grade 2 Fixer of the Hana Association. All of us Hana Fixers specialize in information, but my subspecialization is Ego-Fragmentation torture." She swept her hands along her coat subconsciously, like she was wiping blood off her hands.
Asher stiffened.
The room's temperature seemed to drop several degrees, simply from the haunted, empty expression Mirinae made as she gazed at her hands.
Then that look disappeared, and she glanced at him for his own introduction.
"...U-Um. I'm Asher. I... close-quarters combat. Endurance?" He stuttered over himself as Mirinae stared at him.
The woman nodded.
"So it'll be a spar. What Grade do you wish to face? I will adjust my strength accordingly. It doesn't matter if you win or lose, your score is solely based on performance."
Mirinae was very accommodating for Asher's bout, even asking him for the strength she should use for his test.
Asher thought about what to say. He wanted the exam to be brutal, for obvious reasons. One would be to train his skills in a hopeless scenario without a chance of him dying. But he didn't know exactly what rank his E.G.O was at.
"I don't know what grade I am, but can you make it so that you are 2 times faster and stronger than me?"
She adjusted her glasses, pointing to a spot on the floor beside them. A punching bag emerged from one of the tiles on the floor.
"Hit that a few times so I can see."
Asher unclipped Wingbeat, switching to an offensive stance. He wished that Sophie's [Puppet Movements] was a general skill since it gave him so much freedom of movement, but he had to live with his E.G.O. It was strong in its own right.
He envisioned an enemy in front of him, replacing the punching bag with a shadowy figure.
Mirinae watched him as he sidestepped and ducked past imaginary feints and jabs, replying with swings of his own. As a light sheen of sweat covered Asher's forehead, she signalled him to stop.
"Alright, that is enough. Rest while I process your request."
She stepped up to the bag, pondering how to go about fulfilling his wish. Two times as fast... One of Asher's swings flashed in her mind. The reaction the bag made as it swayed from the blow was easy to imitate.
Clenching her fist, Mirinae punched once, with exactly two times greater force and speed than Asher. The bag wobbled violently as a loud boom of flesh on synthetic leather echoed across the room.
Asher gulped as she turned back to him, staring straight into his eyes with a cold amber glint.
But instead of shaking with nervousness, he stood up, grinning at the challenge that awaited him. He didn't have to win, and there was no way for him to die. He might as well enjoy the fight.
"I'm ready."
Mirinae ignored him, reaching toward the rack of weapons to grab a rubber whip. She flicked it on the ground with a sharp crack.
Asher's mouth twitched as a tile flew into the air, fractured in half despite the rubber casing on the whip.
"Your examination begins in three... two..."
The wings on Asher's back fluttered with anticipation.
"One."
Mirinae began to lash her whip around herself with methodical precision, forming a shield of flickering rubber around herself.