The examiner stood before the two of them.
He was a rather large, intimidating, middle-aged man who hardly looked like a practical examiner.
"Alright kids, I'm Goishi, and I'll be your examiner today. I'm a bit tired, so how about this - you each just fight me and i'll get someone to add data from you core results and stuff"
"Sure", Takara actually sounded quite happy about the method. Honestly, so was Akuma.
"Kuro - you first."
Akuma slowly stood up and walked towards the examiner.
His slow walk was threatening, making even the cocky examiner's confidence waver slightly.
When several feet from the examiner, he stopped and mumbled, "Kuro battlefield skill - Yomi-no-kuni."
"What kid?", the examiner hadn't quite heard him properly, but couldn't've done much even if he had.
The whole area turned to shadows, like a black sea cast over the battlefield and, the darkness began swarming around him.
Goishi felt his senses growing duller by the second. All he could sense was darkness.
Without even noticing, he was hit by sealing fist and the terrain had returned to normal. Akuma began to think of the people watching outside, and felt guilty that there was so little to see.
"Wow." Takara was incredibly stunned, and that was all she could see. After having grown up in one of the strongest clans, you would expect her to have seen something better, but no clan had a battlefield skill that powerful.
When the examiner regained consciousness, he stood, confused but unharmed, and not entirely sure what had happened. All the knew was - the kid was strong.
"Congrats". the examiner pretended he knew what was going on. "You beat me, an S tier. Be proud. That should put you around A tier to start off with."
"Is it me now?" Takara's excitement reminded Akuma of his cousin.
Takara stood face-to-face with the examiner, and raised her hand.
Several thorny vines quickly formed around Goishi's feet and began gripping onto him from all sides.
Finally, the examiner got a chance to use a skill - blaze.
Fire began to spread all across the ground beneath him, quickly incinerating all the plants around him. Luckily, Takara had prepared for that.
A large vine had grown behind the examiner's head, with the root just out of blaze's reach. It crept up close to him, but, of course, he was aware of it.
The second it came close enough to hit him, Goishi chopped it with his hand, splitting it into several pieces. But Takara had prepared for that as well.
While the thorns didn't hurt him, they still touched him, and just happened to be covered in a powerful toxin, which lead him to become disoriented and to concede. He didn't want a proper fight after all.
"You're both incredibly strong, about A rank. You're both assets and we're happy to have you at the royal guards."