One month and two weeks had passed since Tobi completed his training. He had spent two weeks in Kirara and had two more weeks till the selection examination. He was staying at the Shirin's Inn, located just a few distances away from the Royal Palace.
Kirara was the nation's capital. It is the seat of the army's headquarters and the Royal Palace. There was only one way into the city – through the Great Gate of Zara. The gate was about 250fts tall. The city was bounded by a sturdy wall of the same height. Kirara stood at the centre of Sanemi, where all roads from the other eight districts meet.
Inside the city gate was a serene atmosphere accompanied. The people moved in an ordered manner, each minding their own business. Flowers were planted on each side of the road. Beyond the city gate, different paths led to different places in the city. The architecture was well built with the way some paths intersected. The sky above the city was blue, and the sun shone brightly, giving the city an outlook to die for.
In the middle of the city, the Royal Palace and the Army's Headquarters were positioned next to each other. Each one is visible beyond the city gate. The selection examination would take place at the Army HQ. The distance from the gate to the Royal Palace is 10km, with the Army's HQ a stone's throw away from the Palace.
The Shirin's inn had a wall fenced around it with a wooden gate at the entrance. The inn had different sections for different classes of people. The inn was run as a business. He would be staying at the Guwa section, which is meant for the Royals and Nobles. The Guwa Section had 50 rooms. Each room had a private hot bath, dinner and a large space to rest on. The furniture was of top quality, and the service rendered in this section was second to none. Tobi had been here for two weeks but did allow himself to slack up on refining his training lessons.
Two weeks went by, and the day of the examination had finally come. The day the door to the path of his destiny opens. The Army's Headquarters was in the Kasuhara area of Kirara. Tobi figured that all important buildings had a wall fence around them. Only these buildings, except for inns and clan houses, were not made of wood. They were made of bricks.
Tobi, alongside some other kids, went inside the Headquarters. Inside the Headquarters, a large space led into an inner building. The Space had an elevation for the seats of the District Commanders. The space was filled with kids from different places wanting to be a warrior just like Tobi. Everyone with their intentions. They were all scattered about. Some were gisting. Some stood alone, and more kids were still trooping in.
Tobi looked around. He sighted a familiar figure and decided to check closer. As he was about to touch the figure, the figure turned to him. It was a surprise. It was Inioluwa.
Tobi and Inioluwa hugged each other as they exchanged pleasantries. "Ini! Woah! Is this you? Long time no see!"
"Woah! What are you doing here? You were the last person I was expecting to see. What changed your mind?" Inioluwa asked as he was surprised to see Tobi.
"It's a long story.," Tobi replied.
"I had what happened to your sister, but that's all in the past now. It is time to look into the future. Let's ace this exam." Inioluwa said as he had a look of confidence written all over him."Well, it's good to see you again, Tobi."
They were loud noises in the space, with parents cheering on their kids and other kids running and playing around the venue. Suddenly, the gate closed. There was a moment of silence as faces turned to the closed gate, followed by murmurs from within and outside the gate. "Silence!" A loud voice commanded from the top of the elevation. All faces turned in the direction of the voice. It was a person heavily dressed in a grey cloak and grey sandals. He looked suspicious. But before any murmur arose again, he spoke with his arms wide open in the air.
"Welcome to the Warrior Selection Examination. The examination has three phases – survival, duel and selection phase. The survival phase shall commence now. The rules are simple. Survive and return with the two alternating scrolls. There are black and white scrolls. White scrolls find a way to return with a black scroll and vice-versa. This phase shall last for three days." Before the examiner could continue, the kids began to murmur again. "Three days? Is that even possible? Scrolls? What scrolls? Do you have a scroll? I don't. Where is the scroll?". The murmur continued until the voice commanded again. Meanwhile, Tobi was not shaken by any of these facts. He had trained for it.
"Silence! You will get your scrolls when it begins. You must not open the scroll under any circumstances. Remember the rules of this examination and the code of conduct. I wish you all good luck." The voice sat down and mumbled some words with his clasped together. "Where all souls go and become lost. Open. Forgotten World."
Immediately, a black circle appeared under the kids, big enough to occupy the whole space. In a blink, the circle swallowed the kids, and they all vanished from the headquarters.
Tobi was transmigrated to another world along with the other kids. This time he was alone in a jungle with a white scroll in his hand. How the white scroll got to his hands, he did not know. He quickly hid by the trunk of a tree. He ran through all that the person said about the mission. "The mission is to survive. I have to survive these three days.," he concluded.
Tobi made his move. He was going to first find shelter within this world. The best way to survive is to be away from danger, was all he thought. He ran in a bid to find a suitable place to hide before anyone saw him. He needed to survive.
"Where do you think you are going?"
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In the Forgotten World, where souls are lost and time is nothing. A man has been imprisoned here for almost a century. After trying to escape from the world, he figured that no one could leave or enter this world except at the administrator's will.
Over the years, he gained some experience in the world. The world is a prison for high-rank fugitives who somehow could escape death in the real world. Therefore, the world was used as an evaluation centre for prospective warriors. If they could survive for some time in that world, they would be acknowledged as a warrior.
He has witnessed it. Over the century, he had defeated over two hundred prospective warriors. Only three warriors have overpowered him so far, nearly killing him. He would have died at their hands if not for the warriors being transmitted back to the real world. He was always expectant of the exam period. The only time he would have fun and change his daily boring routine.
"It's that time of the year again. It's time to play. Game on.," he said as he sensed energy transmigrating into the world. The energies he felt were weak and a few strong. As he rose to leave his shell, he felt familiar energy. It was from within the jungle. He had found his opponent. "Ready. Player. Go.," he said as he sped into the jungle covering about four hundred metres in a second. "Found you."
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"Where do you think you are going?" an unknown said, hitting Tobi's face with a ball. The hit pushed Tobi fifteen metres backwards, falling to the ground. He coughed out blood, and he was bleeding from his nose and mouth. Tobi wiped the blood off his grimaced face as he staggered himself up. He unsheathed his sword and took his stance. He was not going to lose to a stranger he just met.
"What do you want?" Tobi asked. He scowled at the man in front of him. The man looked like a man in his thirties. "What do I want? I just want to play.," the man answered.
"I don't have the time to play with you. Go find another person.," Tobi said.
"You do not think you have a choice, do you?" the man said. Tobi knew he would have to fight this man and defeat him. It will not be an easy fight.
The distance between the both of them was twenty metres. A ball appeared on the man's palm. He threw it up, jumped and hit with enough force to send the ball towards Tobi, covering the distance in a second. "Serve!" he shouted. Tobi, able to block the ball with the edge of his sword, was pushed back about ten metres. "Serve!" the ball traversed faster than the previous. Tobi was only able to block the ball because his sword was just in place. He could not see the ball at all. It travelled faster than he could see or react to the ball. He was merely swinging his sword.
"Serve!"
"Serve!"
The man kept sending balls toward Tobi, with each ball traversing faster than the former. The ball hit Tobi in the stomach, leg, face and shoulder, sending Tobi to his knees. Tobi had a hard time reacting to the balls.
Again, Tobi stood up and took his stance again. Breathe in, breathe out. Tobi looked to see the man. This time he was bouncing the ball. Tobi paused for a moment. He realised that the ball he was bouncing was different from the other. The other was thrown and hit. He was bouncing this one. Could he be changing the balls? What technique is that? These thoughts were going through Tobi's mind.
The man stopped bouncing. He threw the ball forward. Jumping forward, he held the ball and pushed it down towards Tobi. "Dunk!" the man shouted as he slammed the ball against Tobi. Tobi managed to block the attack, which created a crater under Tobi's footing. The crater formed was 2 feet deep and 7 metres wide. Even though he managed to block the attack, he was still affected. He bled through the nose. Tobi took the opportunity to check out the ball. It was different from the other one. The first one was softer and required a hard force, while this was hard.
The man was bouncing the ball again, this time moving around as he bounced it. Between his legs, under his legs, behind his back, by his sides and front, he bounced it. He threw the ball at Tobi. Robins winged his sword aiming to hit the ball. An inch away from the ball being hit, it returned to the man's hand, who immediately face-slapped Tobi. Tobi was sent flying backwards, hitting the ground five times. He was ten metres away from his previous spot.
"I won't keep up this way," Tobi said. Tobi breathed in and out. He tightened the grip on his sword. "Firesword!" he said. The sword became cloaked with fire. He wanted to attack. He took his stance and sped towards the man. He swung his sword repeatedly at the man. Left, right, centre, round, slant, straight. He kept swinging. The man reacted to each of his swings before kicking him in the stomach. Tobi fell to the ground. The man kicked him further, sending him back again before he could stand up.
Tobi stumbled up, but before he could do anything, he was hit on all sides by a barrage of hard, soft, small and big balls. This attack allowed the man to switch positions with the ball at intervals. Switching positions, Tobi got hit by the man. It was a continuous homing barrage.
Tobi could not react to any of the balls. He was being blitzed. His strength was failing him. He was not faster than his opponent, to begin with. There was no way he was going to win. Was this the way he would die without achieving his goal?
Just as he was thinking, he remembered his father's words. "You were born with power". He recalled his father telling him that his energy reserves his ten times greater than an average warrior's. With that knowledge, he managed to stand. He siphoned his energy into his arms and condensed it for about 5 seconds. He held the tilt of the sword with one hand pointing the tip of the blade forward as if he were throwing a spear. Moves his left leg forward and right leg backwards and tilts the sword at the level of his head. "Fireball!!," he shouted as he pushed the sword against the air. The accumulated force and energy used for the fireball sent the balls flying hundreds of metres away.
The man protected himself by creating a wall made of balls. The man was unscarred though the balls caught fire. The man was surprised at the intensity of the fire and felt a familiar sting. It was that familiar energy—the energy of those who almost killed him.
The man calmed himself down and asked, "What is your clan name?"
"Shirin," Tobi answered. At the mention of that name, the man got infuriated and became angry. His countenance became deadly. His eyes became red, and his intent to kill was clear. Tobi immediately took his stance. He knew this was the real deal.
"Core Energy, Ball Parade." The man said and activated his technique.
Core Energy is the energy derived from the core of the energy system that lies within the body. The energy within the core is normally distributed to the parts of the body. The energy circulating to the parts of the body can be deposited into the core, and by activation of Core Energy, all energies within the body are deposited into the core. Core Energy gives a 100% increase in movement speed, attack speed, range and power. It increases the efficiency and sharpness of the user.
Ball Parade is the automatic play of all ball attacks. They swerve, dunk, kick and switch all together at once. Combined with Core Energy, Ball Parade is increased by 100%.
The Balls moved in multiple directions upon activation. The man delivered heaps of blows and ball attacks on Tobi. Tobi was not given the room to attack. Hit, hit, hit. He could not find an escape route. His body was not responding. He closed his eyes. He wanted to die. For a brief moment, he saw a picture of his sister. He opened his eyes immediately.
While still feeling the pain inflicted by the ball parade, he held his sword. He distributed his energy to his limbs, brain and heart. He condensed the energy in his limbs to the maximum. "Combo, Fire Whip -". The technique made his sword move in a whip-like manner scattering the balls in close range. "-, Flowing Furnace." Flowing furnace harnesses the speed of the user and gives the user a "sixth" sense. It allows the user to read the flow of attacks as if it were water and react instinctively to it, homing in on the target. It acts more like a heat sensor with speed. With this technique, he was able to dodge and slash the balls.
Tobi used diagonal movements to close the distance between the man and him. At about two centimetres away, Tobi blitzed the man's perception and jumped forwards to the man's back. Changing his position midair, he slashed the man coming down to the ground. The man could not believe what had just happened. He had been defeated. "How come? I had the upper hand a while ago.," he thought to himself. "Shirin Boy, what did you do? You were supposed to be dead. How did you not die?" he shouted as his body started to vanish into thin air.
Tobi fell to the ground. His strength has depleted. Fatigue had started to set in. He could not even move a muscle. He lay down there, not worrying about any danger. He was happy he had trained under his father.
Just as he closed his eyes, he heard footsteps closing in. He could not stand. He is in trouble. He had poured all his energy into that combo attack.
The footsteps grew nearer and nearer till a figure stood behind his head. He could not capture the face of the figure.
"Hey.,"