"This doesn't sit well with me at all." Vetel said with a frustrated tone in his voice, trying his hardest not to put his hands on his face and hair.
"What doesn't sit well with you? The fact I made you the Last Emperor's Knight or the makeover Karia and Idris gave you?"
It was so fun to tease Vetel.
"You already know. Why are you even asking at this point?"
"I wanted to hear you say it."
Vetel remained silent for a bit, but eventually gave up. "The latter..."
"You know, you should thank Karia and Idris for giving you this makeover. You look handsome now." I said as I tried my hardest to suppress my laughter.
"What? I was handsome before. Now I look like a damn pretty boy!"
He really did.
The Last Emperor's Knight is a title that comes with a lot of power. I bestowed it upon Vetel after I made sure he was ok with it. Now our lives are link. If either one of us dies, the other one dies as well. Our destinies were intertwined now, for the better or for worse...
We went back to Valachia right after to plan out our undercover mission in further detail. That's when Karia brought an interesting detail to our attention. It turned out that one of Quon's younger sisters was in charge of the recruitment and testing process. She was very into pretty boys.
That's when Karia and Idris got the idea to make us look like pretty boys. Fortunately, I already looked the part. All they had to do to me was trim my hair a bit and tie it in a pony tail. Vetel did not get off so easy.
His appearance changed when I made him my knight, the same way mine did when I became the Last Emperor. His light brown hair became as long as mine was. It reached all the way down to his lower body. It turned into a pitch black that oddly suited him. His light brown eyes turned into a lighter shade of sapphire blue.
Karia and Idris cut almost all of that hair, leaving enough to make his sides short, leaving a fallen crest hang on his forehead. In addition to that, they also gave him lots of piercings. He had 5 on each ear and one on his lower lip.
The two looked pretty proud of their work and even seemed to like him looking like that a lot. When Karia complemented Vetel, he blushed. That was something that I've never seen happen to him. I am suspecting that Vetel might be into Karia. It makes even more sense when you take into account the fact that they are pretty similar people.
After that, we looked up online whether the agency was recruiting and fortunately, they were. We completed a few forms online using the fake identities Vetel made and received a reply 10 minutes later, saying that we were welcome to come to the recruitment center.
That's where we are heading now.
"I have to say, you have a really large variety of suits in your wardrobe."
"Hmph. Who do you think I am?" Vetel replied, full of pride.
He was wearing a suit the same shade of blue as his eyes with a black necktie. I, on the other hand, was wearing a white suit with a lavender colored necktie.
"Are you sure we are allowed to come dressed however we like?" I asked Vetel who seemed to be deep in thought.
"It said so in their rules. There were no uniform rules on their website." He replied coldly.
"What are you so in deep thought for, Vetel?"
It didn't seem like he heard me, but he would reply soon enough.
"Ah. I was thinking about the power you gave me."
Right after he inherited the knight's power, I had him show me what his weapon was.
"Keiran used a bow as well if I remember right, it might be worth to ask him for some advice."
Vetel put his hand on his chin.
"I thought about doing that as well... but I'd rather figure it out on my own and see how far I can go. Is that not what you're trying to do? Do you expect me to fall behind you?"
The fiery resolve and competitiveness he would often showcase came out in full force.
I turned my head to look in front of me with a smile. "Suit yourself."
We only needed to walk a little more until the recruitment center came into view. We double checked the address on our navigation apps as well. That was it.
It was a tall building with a wide base. It's exterior was lined with countless windows, like an office building. There was a large sign just before the stairs, made out of marble with the words Vk. Corp carved into it with illuminated letters.
We gave each other a reassuring nod and stepped forward into the den of our enemy.
As soon as we stepped inside though, everything went white for a few seconds. A few seconds later our vision turned back to normal and we found ourselves in a large, seemingly underground training area. The floor, walls and ceiling looked to be made out of countless panels stuck to each other, leaving a small gap in between.
A few meters in front of us looked to be 50 people. Thirty seven of them were men and 17 were women. They were all wearing the same pale blue colored suits with black neckties. They looked like they were standing at attention.
We quickly joined them and were greeted by three people. One of them looked like the younger sister Karia was talking about. Her hair was blonde and her eyes were a fiery red. Her eyelashes were abnormally long, as per Karia's descriptions.
Next to her, on the right and left sat two men who looked to be from the Vikas family as well. They must've been her bodyguards... But if she is qualified enough to be able to take care of the testing process on her own, did she even need bodyguards? She was bound to be pretty strong. It was weird.
She gave us all a look over, from left to right and began her speech.
"My name is Lilia Vikas. The Vikas clan thanks you for your participation in this recruitment process. Recently, a large amount of our bodyguards died and we are in a desperate need for new recruits. As such, we don't have time to properly test you and nurture you the way we would've preferred."
Everyone stayed silent and so did we.
"Since these are our circumstances, we won't be able to conduct the testing the same way we would usually."
She stopped again, probably to make sure everyone understood what she was saying.
"Usually, we would test your basic physical capabilities first, then your blood manipulation skills, culminating into the last practical stage where you would have to fight each other one on one. Since we do not have the time, we will jump straight to the last practical stage."
The entire time she was talking her gaze was stuck on Vetel. It looked like she really was into pretty boys.
As the other people were doing their own fights, I and Vetel split up and made sure not to interact with each other unless needed or asked for.
From all the information we were given, I could only infer that only vampires go through that door and end up here. Normal people probably go through a regular test in that building. We were separated from the outside world.
Everything went as usual until our turns came. Vetel made us brothers in the fake identities he forged. That may have been why we were put against each other right at the very end. I didn't complain, however. I waited for an opportunity to fight against Vetel again for ages. I was so excited it almost showed on my face. It was difficult to control the smile forming on my face.
"Ogen Balcik and Vetel Balcik. It's your turn now."
One of the men on Lilia's side shouted.
Even though I would have loved to fight at full power, my full power is comparable to one of a clan's leader. I had to regulate how much power I used.
Fifty percent is enough... I thought.
Vetel on the other hand didn't have to because he just got his power and couldn't use it to it's full extent anyway. I saw it in his eyes. He was planning to step all over me with all his strength. That was good. I wouldn't want to have it any other way.
The same man who just spoke started counting down from 3.
"Three."
I sharpened my senses and started building up power leading to purple mist starting to appear around me. Vetel was doing the same.
"Two."
That purple mist aggregated in the palm of my hand and turned into the spear made out of blood that I used in my fight against the Sozim clan leader. The blue mist around Vetel turned into his very heavy duty looking bow. It looked similar to the bows used in competitions.
"One."
Both of our eyes were opened as much as they could. We were both waiting for the signal to start and a slight movement that would act as the catalyst to get us moving as instinct takes over.
"Start." The man said as he swung his hand down and got out of our way.
We both moved so fast, to weaker vampires, it would have seemed like we disappeared. I dashed for a back side attack but Vetel didn't even need to turn to see me with his eyes. He dashed away the moment my spear came inches of his neck.
Dozens of arrows came from the direction he dashed toward. I twirled my spear in my hand creating what was effectively a fan spinning at very high rotations per minute which allowed me to shred his arrows as soon as they came in contact with my spear.
He disappeared from my line of sight again and I could feel his presence behind me, seconds before he let his arrows rip. I dodged the three powerful arrows he shot from behind me by side stepping and accelerated to a speed beyond his, allowing me to turn my body to face him and throw my spear at him.
He dodged it just before my spear pierced his stomach. He was a few meters away from me. He seemed slightly out of breath, but he made sure to not let our testers notice. He pointed his bow and arrow to the sky and shot an especially powerful arrow.
That arrow then turned into a small orb from which countless arrows came out of and rained over me. That sly bastard. He said he wanted to figure it out by himself, but he asked Keiran about that technique anyway.
I moved at high speeds in an attempt to get away from the bombardment, but the rain arrows followed me even as I sped up beyond Vetel was capable of. It looked like Vetel added his own spin to the technique, since Keiran's didn't work like this.
I tried to run in large strides to cover as much distance as I could with each step while I had to deflect the arrows coming from above and the ones that Vetel shot at me. Since he had time to charge up, these arrows were much stronger and required a lot more forced in my swings to deflect them.
I could hear the faint sounds of the other applicants cheering us on. They seemed to be thoroughly entertained by the spectacle we put on. I couldn't blame them, as I was enjoying myself very much as well.