The young girl sticks out her tongue childishly. "No promises, alley cat."
Neijin snorts at the new nickname. Everyone, including Hadwisa, is thoroughly confused.
"Wait," one of the wanderers says as the girl approaches the crystal, "The Matriarch of the Hufang wouldn't have--"
Hadwisa feels a change in the room before a resounding boom explodes from the strike. A gust of wind blows throughout the chamber causing the lanterns to flicker. The scroll in Hadwisa's hands slips, making a clack against the floor of the platform. Tara grins as she glances at her score before being led away by a shocked priest.
Tara has reached a point in using Ember Gather and Rain Scatter that she can hide their physical manifestations from the untrained eyes. She is currently working on being able to use both moves in a single fist and this was her first attempt. It had been sloppy and unfocused but from the indent she had made, certainly powerful.
Hadwisa doesn't pick up her scroll for fear of what it would say. The information not only displayed the aurators current strength but also showed a predicted path of their talent and ability. Instead she turns to the leaderboard:
Three hundred physical, mental, and spiritual each. A ridiculous total of nine hundred overall!
Tara's quickly led further into the temple where another three hundred are gathered, a large diagram painted on the floor with strange symbols. Most are from various families with a small portion being wanderers. The Hufangs all cheer at the sight of Tara, rushing over to hug and praise her. Neijin ruffles her head with his large hand but refrains from asking her score. He would likely find out later anyway.
Many are confused on how an eleven year old girl who was smaller than most kids her age has passed. What kind of background did she have?
The group waits another hour but nobody else joins their group. It's as if the remaining number have lost the will to even try. Most of those from families just chalk it up to a lack of talent but many of the wanderers had come together. What had happened to cause their brothers and sisters to give up?
Before anyone can question further, an older person in their 40s appears from the diagram before them. Salt and pepper streaks through their hair, a cut right through their right eyebrow with a scar dragging across their face. Their muscles are rippling and they stand tall. Their aura presses down on the group with only a few able to stand without any difficulty. The Gaste trio among the Hufangs held on the longest compared to some of the weaker people but only Neijin and Tara stood solidly. The person looks over and locks onto Tara, their eyes twinkling with fascination.
"Good. Very good. We have some wonderful young brats this yeah, huh?" They rescind their aura. "My name is Alian. I am a Combat Arts instructor within the Eightsword Martial Academy, high tier Marrow Sparking level. Those of you that were still standing follow me. The rest I will come back for later."
Char watches with indignation on his face, his breathing shallow as he attempts to get his strength to stand back up. The weight was gone now but he wasn't prepared for such a thing. A high tier Marrow Sparrowing aurator, what kind of strength was that?
And yet here this tiny girl withstood it while he was in shambles. Char can only watch as Tara steps onto the diagram. Glaring, he sputters out curses when Tara pulls her right eyelid down and blows a raspberry at him mockingly before disappearing in a flash of blue light.
Tara feels a little queasy as they arrive in a different space. Neijin braces a hand on her right shoulder. They're greeted by a grassy plain with a blue sky, with both a sun and moon high in the sky. A black platform is in front of them with five spots while etched into these spots were inscription patterns. Several hundred yards away is a black tower that seems to touch the sky.
"I'm sure you understand how spatial rings are created, yeah? People who study the Darkness element have some manipulation over space. This is something similar but on a much bigger scale. Let's call it a pocket space." Alian tells them as they look around in wonder. The five that had still been standing from his aura oppression had never witnessed something like this before.
"Do you see that tower? That is your second test. You will sit on the diagrams and your mind will be transferred into what we call the Eight Sword of Death. The enemies you face and yourself will be created from psychic energy."
"Whereas the last test measured your aural energies within your body, this will test your combat skills. Go take your places and prepare yourself. I will retrieve the trash to watch." Alian tells them, watching as they sit down cross legged on a pattern.
The youngest pulls a pink and orange dagger from her ring and places it in her lap. It looks especially made, even decorated with a fake Soul Bead to make it look intimidating! How cute! Alian waves their hand, a screen appearing over each of their heads before dividing into eight sections. Alian smirks as they activate the transportation diagram beneath their feet.
As Alian leaves, and with everyone calming their minds, no one notices a very different blue dagger appear in one of Tara's hands. By the time the rest of the group arrives, the five within the patterns have finally adjusted themselves into a meditative trance. Alian snaps their fingers and the symbols beneath the quartet warms.
When Tara opens her eyes all she sees around her is a white room. She rubs the back of her neck in confusion only to have her hand brush against her ear. To her surprise, the seal placed on her to hide her animus features isn't present.
What was it that Alian had said? That everything here was created with psychic energy? With a thought her basic Twin Sphere daggers hover in front of her. It was easy for her to recreate them with her mind, as she knew the materials and inscription patterns well. The problem was she wishes to use Sun Claw and Moon Fang but she could only think of the form. Tara hadn't handled the raw materials that made them. Would they even respond with her mind elsewhere?
Tara turns her right hand over and imagines gripping Moon Fang.
In the physical world, the group watching was solely focusing on the two nobles or Neijin. A fire red light fills in the section over their head, indicating they had cleared the first level.
Only Alian takes an interest in young Tara. They had left out the fact that the Eight Swords of Death was a test that relied on skeletal age. The younger you are the better your results would be, so they were excited to see how far a talented child could go. They now notice another dagger has been pulled out by Tara, only for it to disappear into a turquoise mist from her lap.
A wrinkle of surprise appears on their forehead. Tara shouldn't have too much control over her aural energies besides psychic at the moment. And yet Alian feels her spiritual energy rush through her body as the dagger disappears. What was going on?
Within the tower, the lunar dagger's image warbles before turning into Moon Fang. Tara wraps her hand around Moon Fang, feeling a comfortable coolness over her body. The Soul Bead glitters with power this time. Tara grins at the weight she holds, giving a few perfunctory swipes. Then she closes her eyes and focuses on Sun Claw.
As the final person, a young woman wanderer, crosses the first level Tara is the only one who had yet to begin. Everyone's attention is glued to the nobles and her cousin until Tara's other dagger gives off a harsh glow of orange and pink.
The light covered dagger turns into a floating orb that hovers in the air before stopping between Tara's brow. The orb slowly enters into her forehead before disappearing entirely.
Alian scans her internal energies but finds nothing different. Just who or rather what was this girl?
Within her room in the tower, Tara feels a pleasant but dangerous warmth roll over her body. Within her hand is Sun Claw! After so many times, her attempt to bond with it and summon it had actually worked.
[Equip Requirements Met. Sun Claw Is Now Bound]
The moment she holds her second dagger, a low tier Skin Igniting Scorch Wolf lunges at her from midair. Tara merely points with Sun Claw causing the roar of a Spark Lion to echo. The sound wave causes the wolf to burst into light particles with two midtier Skin Igniting wolves returning in its place.
Tara quickly approaches the left, stabbing it in the head from both sides before flipping into the air and digging the blades into the other's back. They also disappear into phlox pink light. Tara marvels because even during the Aural Beast raid, it still took her several moves to kill a Skin Igniting beast. Now all it took was a simple wave of her weapon.
Next three high tier Skin Igniting Scorch Wolves appear further away. Tara whips out the two daggers towards two of them, using Sunny Dance to close the gap and blind the beasts.
The blades strike the right and left wolves as Tara comes crashing down onto the center one. Sun Claw and Moon Fang return to her hands as the wolves turn to dust. Stairs appear and Tara quickly climbs them.
The second level starts with two low tier Blood Directing Vapor Jackals and ends with four high tier Blood Directing in the third round. Tara has to put a little more effort in fighting these illusions but dispatches them to the point where she unknowingly passes the wanderer girl.
On the outside, everyone is stunned as Tara rapidly catches up with the others and moves onto the third floor. Char grits his teeth in anger! How could she possibly be so fast after starting so far behind?
A jian is stuck in the grooves of Moon Fang as Tara blocks the weapon upon entering the third floor. Three low tier Bone Crystallization humanoids encircle her and, as she is fending off the jian user, the other two move to hit her. Tara giggles, finally glad she could get a little more serious. As the two other weapons strike towards her, Tara uses Midnight Prowl. She appears behind the spear user but her daggers are gone.
Instead she hits a formless red figure with a Ember Gather palm strike, the amber sunlight covering her hand looking like flames. The blow sends them stumbling into the others but before they all can regroup Tara's already firing two waves of Rain Scatter into them with her free hand.
Tara stretches quickly before four mid tier appear. If this place tests her combat skills, she might as well hone them all a bit more before joining the academy officially. Tara combines the Hufang's Tiger Lunge with Ember Gather and Tiger Swipe with Rain Scatter as she mows down the mid tiers. The attacks compliment so well she easily starts the high tier level without too much trouble.
Tara had no way of knowing she was keeping pace with the two nobles and Neijin. Or that by doing so made many of the other participants either extremely nervous or overly confident. To deal with his disbelief, Char had taken the latter view. If a child could reach the fourth level then surely he could too. Alian feels he was missing something but could not place it. He would ask Head Priestess Hadwisa for Tara's results afterwards and maybe figure out what was strange about this child.