Tokita was in a universe of black.
A pure, endless void that seemed to go on forever.
He attempted to speak but found that he had no mouth. He looked down at his hands and they were ethereal like he was a ghost. He looked around, confused as to where he was.
Suddenly, he heard a voice.
"Seriously, you passed out?" A feminine voice asked.
He turned, seeing...Akane?
She looked at him with a face of disappointment. She waited for him to speak but he couldn't.
"And you're not going to say anything?" She sighed.
He reached his hand out, trying to speak as much as he could.
"See you later, Tokita," Akane stated simply, as she began to walk away.
Tokita started to run after her, but the more he ran, the farther the distance got. He ran and ran, faster and faster, then...
His eyes opened, his face half covered in bloodied dirt. He breathed heavily, sucking in as much air as he could as he pushed himself off the ground.
That's right. He had forgotten his goal, to catch up to Akane. He couldn't stagger now, not with the gap being this big.
He had to survive and pass this test.
Easier said than done, though.
Aila is likely looking for him right now, so he has a few precious seconds to think of a counterattack.
Aila was a completely different combatant than Nolan, the two weren't even comparable. Ignoring the difference in combat capabilities, Aila also doesn't have any physical or mental weaknesses that Tokita can take advantage of like he did with Nolan, at least not any that he's aware of.
"What to do..." He pondered.
Wait, maybe there was a weakness that he was aware of.
She's a sadist, at least when it comes to hitting him. She for whatever reason finds it enjoyable to hit him.
He can use that as an advantage.
He looked at his surroundings, thinking for a moment, and thought of a plan.
Aila blitzed around the forest leaving afterimages as she moved. She had kicked Tokita through a range of trees, now she couldn't find him. She continued dashing through the forest till she caught a whiff of something.
"Blood," Aila stated, a smile growing on her face. She suddenly altered her direction, blasting off in the direction of blood. "You're mine!" She screamed as she saw Tokita behind a bush.
She grit her teeth, disgusted at the idea of him hiding. She crashed down, creating a shockwave that pushed Tokita out of the bush and uprooted the trees beside him.
"You coward," Aila stated, her anger beginning to escalate. She dashed forward, raising her fist and throwing a straight towards Tokita. He had his arms against his chest prior, likely expecting her attack.
She had expected to destroy both his arms but was surprised when she hit something that felt far more bouncy.
She had hit a medium-sized mushroom that Tokita had used as a shield. On contact, it erupted into a thick gas that shot directly into Aila's face.
She began to cough and swat away at the gas. "Y-you bastard!" She screamed out. She wiped it off her face as her bloodshot eyes looked down at Tokita. "This is why you don't deserve to be on this team, you're nothing but a sniveling cheater!"
She reached an arm out in an attempt to grab him, only to be blinded again by a blue substance that was thrown into her face, covering the upper portion of her face.
She yelled out once again, attempting to rip the sticky substance off her face.
Tokita turned and began to run, picking something off the ground and putting it into his pocket.
Aila continued to try to remove the blue substance, before she screamed, creating an airwave that ripped it off. She rubbed her eyes as they became even more bloodshot, opening them to see Tokita had vanished again.
She clenched her teeth in anger as she continued her chase.
He was almost finished with his plan.
Tokita had been collecting different items in the forest based on their color. He had green, blue, red, tanned, and brown. He only needed one more, something black.
He continued sprinting until something caught his eye, the roots of a tree. A chunk of it was exposed, a moss covering it. The color was more dark brown than black, but it would have to work.
He crouched down next to it and began to carefully peel off a layer of the moss, which had long strands of hair-like fibers coming off it.
"This should work..." He stated, getting the other items he had collected out of his pockets. He turned his head to a noise in the distance, knowing Aila was approaching.
He looked around for a couple of rocks and got to work.
Aila continued after the smell of blood that trailed Tokita. As she approached, she leaped into the air to get a better look.
She saw Tokita's upper half just around the corner of a tree, as he was perched over seemingly looking at something.
She smiled with murderous excitement. She wouldn't let him get away this time.
Mid-air, she brought her feet to her chest, before kicking off the air with a sonic boom as she blasted towards Tokita. She raised her leg, waiting till she got closer and swept the air. She cut straight through the air, damaging the tree that Tokita was under and cutting him in half.
Her eyes widened as she landed on the ground to see Tokita's body. "I didn't think the fucker was that weak..." She stated, walking over to...only his upper half. Only his upper half was there, and in fact, there wasn't even any blood...
She sprinted over, kicking his body upwards to face the sky only to see it wasn't his body at all. It was a bundle of rocks, painted a light tan using mud and berries with a poorly drawn smiley face, and pieces of moss on its head to represent his hair. He even put his shirt over it to seal the look.
"If this is just a fake...then where.." She pondered, looking around in confusion.
A rustle from above.
Abruptly, a shirtless Tokita dropped from the tree above, balling his fist as he brought it back. His entire body hurt and he had lost most vision in his left eye. His eyes had a very small blue glow, a spark of determination.
He was falling towards Aila, gaining speed. By the time she looked up, it was too late.
"I need...to knock her out...with this!" Tokita thought to himself, falling down and slamming his fist into the back of her head, a loud 'bang' reverberating throughout the forest.
Tokita looked down at Aila, truly at his limit.
He prayed to whatever god existed in this world that she would stay down. He couldn't fight anymore. That attack truly was a last-ditch effort.
Unfortunately, it was for naught.
She stood up after about two seconds, the only real damage she had taken being damage to her pride.
"Shit," Tokita said, wearing an accepting smile. He had lost, there was nothing more he could do. But still, he'd fight until this was all over.
In the very back of his eyes...the small blue flame grew just a tiny bit.
"You little fucking cheater...I'll-"
With a gust of wind, Grensvall appeared between the two.
"That's enough Aila, Tokita has passed," Grensvall stated.
"What!? He hasn't even damaged me!" She screamed back.
"The point of our inauguration isn't to defeat the Tester, that's what the Knight Initiation was for. Our inauguration is more a test of dedication and a test of character." Grensvall stated, looking at Tokita with a small smile. "For which I believe he has passed both."
A feeling of relief followed the wave of relief Tokita had felt. He dropped his arms, falling on his ass.
"You people...and your fucking tests..." He said between heavy breaths.
Aila merely grumbled before dashing back to their Knight headquarters.
Grensvall reached into his pocket and pulled out a glass vial with a red liquid inside and handed it to Tokita who looked at him questioningly.
"What's this?" Tokita asked.
"It's a healing potion, It'll regenerate your wounds, albeit at a far slower speed in comparison to the 'Miracle' that's used by the Royals.
"You had me at healing," Tokita stated as he chugged down the potion. The bruises on his body slowly began to heal.
"It'll probably take two to three hours for the injuries to heal." Grensvall stated with a 'sorry' look on his face. "My apologies for what Aila did to you."
"You mind telling me why she hates me now?" Tokita asked.
Grensvall sighed. "Nolan Chronbridge was Aila's childhood friend and crush, she's wanted to win his affection since they were kids," Grensvall stated.
"Ah...that makes some sense I guess..." Tokita stated.
Grensvall nodded and continued. "She viewed your win as a fake result and believes you to be a cheating coward," Grensvall stated with a disappointed look on his face. "When I brought up the idea to recruit you, that's when she became violent."
"I assume she wanted to recruit him?"
"Precisely, she had been telling me the benefits of recruiting Nolan and desperately wanted me to fight for him, despite the fact he had his mind set on another guild," Grensvall stated with a tired tone.
"If I had lost the fight, would you have fought for him then?" Tokita asked.
"Potentially, but I doubt it," Grensvall stated.
"Why is that?"
"He wasn't the underdog, he didn't push through explosions and risk damaging himself forever without the knowledge it would be healed," Grensvall stated, holding a hand out for Tokita.
Tokita grabbed his hand and pulled himself up, ready to ask more questions but Grensvall cut him off.
"You can ask any other questions you have later, to your fellow Knights," Grensvall stated with a small grin. He turned to Tokita with his hands behind his back, the light of the midday sun flashing over them. "I hope you don't run off too quickly." He chuckled.