Alex isn't one to back down from any sort of challenge. He clutches his cheeks as much as he shouts, and tries his best to follow Celleste's direction. He at least knows where to go, since the shadow and her steps still spread across the hallways, making her speed steps kind of obvious. 21st Floor is still a few corners away, so he regains his control over his spear that is still outside of his hand and moves it forward like a charm.
Celleste is right before the corner, almost disappearing around it, desiring to run fast like a lightning to the next floor. Before that, however, she only hears whistles, and sudden force slams to her face. It happened in a blink, and something stops her momentum completely before she gets away from Alex's field of vision. She doesn't even register the pain, the motion, or the spear itself. In another moment, she hears the clearer whistle, and in the next, she sways on the spot, almost falling to the ground in confusion.
Fortunately, she gets a hold of her steps, pushing her core and back muscles to remain on her feet. Then she glances to her right, noticing the spear's swirling motion closing to her face. It levitates in mid-air, turning and slapping her across her face for the second time. She has no time to even get her posture back. It is a powerful strike increased by momentum, causing her body to stagger far away until she is facing the wall. It is a blow that let her fly quite a few feet, ending with her on the ground.
Celleste grunts in displeasure, touching her face and spitting some blood. Her cheek is hot and a bit bruised, but it doesn't concern her at all. This youth before her is clearly on a similar level to the one before, if not better.
So she has no choice but to follow the law of fighting and this Trial's unwritten rules that may not make sense to her, but she isn't a coward. If the fight comes, and she has the ability to fight back, she welcomes it by clutching her hands to make fists. She straightens her back from the wall and readies her swirling black and white motes of waves around her right hand. They almost dispersed to nothing when she slammed into the wall, but she gets the hang of it when she is clearheaded.
By now, Alex arrives before her, close to his spear. Motioning with his pointer finger, he makes the following motions of his spear according to the desired control of his real finger. The spear follows every direction like a puppet, turning under the sways and directions of his finger. This is the well-known and popular method of controlling one of the many incredible Skills that a Vector user could ask for. Of course, it isn't useful for the high-level ones, but its effectiveness below the Rank 4 or even 5 is incredible.
Telekinesis is its name and it is a universal type of Skill that can do many things apart from controlling the weapon. It is without a doubt most useful at that, as its name suggests. It's a Skill that can allow the Walkers to move things with minds alone. Though, Alex isn't at that point yet, so he uses popular help of gestures to move things better. It works like a charm, and a couple of months later, the degree and efficiency of his Telekinesis improved by leaps and bounds.
“Y-you have Telekinesis? What rank is that... 2?” Celleste asks, grunting as she forces some blood from her nose too. This hit hurt a lot, and the spin attack slapped her quite well right to her face, hitting her nose and straining her neck like she was hit by a hammer. A slightly angled spear would mean a headless body, but of course, Alex wouldn't do that. The pain is nothing like what she endured in the wild, so Celleste calms down in a couple of seconds, focusing on what matters.
With the spear floating above his right shoulder, Alex points with his finger forwards and so does the spear. When he makes circles with the tip of his finger, the spear turns like a propeller on a helicopter. The motion power, direction, and curvature of movement will then make distinct usable motions with the spear itself. The finger isn't as rigid as the spear, so one has to practice a lot to make something useful out of this gesturing alone, while it has a surprisingly large amount of weaknesses and issues, the advantages outweigh them. For Alex, it forms the power of long-range attacks, and who would think that attacking with the weapon without actually wielding it wouldn't be that bad? It acts as a powerful tool against monsters that would eat and munch on their organs like a kid a candy.
“Oh? You can talk now?” Alex smiles, speaking as if it is surprising. “A little slap or two in the face and you can turn out to be ready all of a sudden. How about the third? Would you chirp like a parrot? Wait... do they chirp? Would you sing a song then? That would be... surprising. Should I make some change right away?”
Celleste sees his obnoxious smirk and works that carry a hefty amount of annoyance. In barely a moment, a gust of white and black waves envelops her hand, revealing a greatsword that she clutches in a single hand that stretches out of her body. Made of both matters of swirling dense waves, the greatsword appears straight out of the skies or starry seas. With her back straight, she doesn't hit him back right away but rather faces her own weapon like a knight. Her face appears decisive as her eyes shine with whiteness and light follows her both arm, but more so in the right, swirling around and from her Emblem.
To her, this youth sounds and acts like an absolute asshole, and she doesn't like his kind in the slightest. It is only fortunate that she understands the rules that appear to be quite comforting to her mind. There are no rules that state not injuring these students, which is a nice and welcomed thing for her. Like this, she has no regard if Alex gets some slaps or other injuries on his own. In fact, she looks forward to paying him back.
So, she attacks with a layered swing of black waves, which arrives at him in less than 2 seconds. Alex is around 10 feet away, enough for the greatsword to hit him with a step along an extensive strike. Alex sees the attack as a nice welcoming smile, almost resembling a shaking one's hands. He is completely unbothered by this attack, and a simple swing from his finger motions his spear to turn, curving a similar swipe like her own.
Of course, it isn't as wild as his own Vectors aren't the wildest, or widest. Even his own spear isn't as intricate as the sharp-looking lines of her own. They travel from the core of her sword, but one can't see the proper shape of a greatsword from the current form of her Emblem. It is like a tidal wave, spilling over one another while any motions carry a lot of sharp feelings. Black and white overlap one another, but she can decide what will fold first, or attack next.
Alex spins his spear, forming a strange pattern like a blade of a helicopter. The black tidal wave dissipates into a wild area of shadowy waves, thin and almost negligible in their firmness. This attack forced Celleste to back down a few steps. She almost felt another slap to her face, scrapping her face a couple of inches away.
After this brief attack that Alex seems to win, the pair get to know each other better. Alex feels more positive after this exchange, figuring that his spear is at a passable level. Stopping the spin of his spear he looks forward to seeing what she will do next. He sees the dissipating darkness disappear like smoke, leaving the place before him empty. There is no Celleste before him at all, so he glances forward, figuring that she probably fled since she is close to that corner than himself. He even forced her further from him, so who is he to blame when she fled?
“Damn, you! You have not a speck of shame and backbone? What a cowa..”
Smack!
A penetrative, and swift attack arrives right to his left cheek, coming from the further left, outside of his line of vision. It launches him straigh into the distant wall, causing him to grunt in pain. It isn't a hit by a sword, but the end of the boots will do just fine in Celleste's opinion. She would fear actually cutting his face, which isn't something nice thing to do to others. That much, she knows but she has no trouble or shame to cut some monsters at all. Still, she smacked Alex well enough since he deserves it from his shit-talking, and after smacking her twice with quite some force.
Finding his face on the wall, Alex briefly loses his concinnous, which makes the next course of action quite miserable.
Behind him, Cellese is looking at him as if he is a pig ready for butchering. Some further smacking is right in her alley, so she leaves her sword in her right hand while her left one will do just fine. Walking closer to him, Alex hears her steps and winces from the wall, stumbling afterward while his spear seems to lose touch, strangely swirling in midair without any proper form. When the finger gestures are lost, the form of this fighting no longer matters. That is one of the large disadvantages of this gesture. One can be helpless quite easily.
However, that isn't something Celleste knows. Even the fact that she recognizes the Telikenis without even knowing that name 2 weeks ago is a miracle. Without even knowing about that, Celleste completely negates Alex's style of combat.
“L-Listen... I am sor...” His words fall short when the fist of white and black slams into his right cheek, forcing him to the wall again.
His wails couldn't even matter, as Celleste isn't kind, nor a patient type of person. She continues for a couple more hits, before stopping. It isn't because she wants, but because a butler appears, standing between her and Alex. Once again, he appeared out of nothing.
“This is about the end of this... madness,” he tells, voicing this matter as being over.
Without a word but a single glance at the butler, Celleste retracts her Emblem, grunts, and looks at the smirking face of the helpless Alex. “Hm... Who takes the hits better now?” She comments before going back to her journey without any further concern. This time, she suffered 2 hits. That is twice as the previous fights combined together but it isn't as if this is a huge problem. She likes the rising tides of opportunities to view the potency of her Emblem. Fights or fleeting works in both ways, but fighting is more to her liking. As the proper Walker, she is still getting used to this, so she is yet to see or be comfortable with her own power, but she is closing.
Every first-timer feels this way, albeit some more than others. After all, some are different in their talent, forms, types, or even what they want from being a Walker.
Seeing her leave, Alex with half-closed eyes grins and gets to his feet without further problems. He even pats his shoulder, adjusts his vest, and checks his face.
“This has been a nice little surprise, Mister Izak,” he says, half grinning, half mumbling in pain.
“Listen... Alex... This isn't so nice.” Butler tells with deep emotions of disappointment, but a series of understanding. It is a different butler than the one William met. This one has a more vivid face and appears more approachable even though his purpose and opportunities aren't like his personality. “You are always like this... Who we are talking to when we consider sparing AND Trial? You don't take things seriously until they are fun... This isn't it... but.”
“But what? This was good and interesting,” he replies, feeling wronged that Izak gives him harsh scolds again. He likes some shit-talking. They always work with the other students and the spars or fights are then much better. “I did what I could. Nothing is against the rules or anything. I'll score her a decent 4. Why? Because of the lack of straightforwardness and her unhinged willingness to flee like a coward. With such speed and power, she could definitely work faster around my lack of controllability. Considering I've got my Telekinesis 3 weeks ago, then this was a good spar. If she would know better, she would defeat me with her speed without any issues. Also, her sword is incredible. I have no doubts about that. She would zip through the barely feasible spear that I readied in less than a week. She did fear or have some doubts herself. I bet the next rounds will be interesting so it is a shame I won't watch them.” Alex explains without any shame on his injured face. a small bruise is there, with even a few cuts as if made from a needle.
“Still... If I will see the 2nd round of yours ends in the same route, I will kick your ass myself. Butler or not.” Izik argues.
“Alright. Have a good one then.” Alex replies and pats his clothes and face clean of blood. Though his nice clothes are quite messed up, which leaves him a bit disappointed. It's just clothes. Not a big deal. He wishes to acknowledge that, but the fire of youth in his heart is raging in passion. For the 3rd foe, he won't be any less kind.
On the 1st floor, this spar has been recorded and watched by a pair of Academy Walkers. Both are special and unique instructors and high-class officers. One is Agatha, a high-rank butler of the Academy and the second is laughing Tiberon. He may be the first-time Overseer, but he enjoys it to his last speck of shame. This may be even his last time being one, so who is he to blame for enjoying this a lot?
“That's fucking hilarious. That Alex! He is such a young lad like myself. I swear to a goddess, this Trial has been going so great that I shame my past self over not wanting to do this earlier. ” Tiberon laughs and couldn't stop himself at all. “I am so glad I got an opportunity to work with these youths. I haven't laughed so much in decades.”
“L-listed... Tiberon. This has been just a bad setup, or... did you want this? What kind of thing Alex promised you?” Agatha asks, curious by his words as she has been quite busy with getting certain butlers to their rightful locations. Though she knows this has been quite a fight, she doesn't seem to get Tiberon's laughter at all.
“Bad setup of these youths? Alex? Nah.” he waves his hands, scoffing it off. “This is all random encounters and without a speck of my intentions behind it. Maybe... Mostly? You've seen how I decided on some fights, haven't you? See that box of crap?” Tiberon tells, appearing as if his pride has been hurt so he points to a dirty box of some papers.
“Great joke, I've seen some, but you aren't making much sense, but who am I kidding or talking to? I wouldn't expect anything else from you.” Agatha sights, knowing his setup to this building and 1st Trial has been his idea on all fronts. Even the individual-placed students that shift from corner to corner is his idea. Their respective calls to them are from the butlers that Agatha coordinates, but they also act according to his will.
Tiberon is calculative behind his actions, but he doesn't like to show it. He is curious about the potential of the biggest talents that the years can offer. He is clearly great at this, but all things considered, of course, he is quite chaotic. Agatha knows it, and with how he is, she can't help but accept whatever results will even happen in this Trial itself. This is still the 1st one, while the 2nd one is something he is yet to reveal to her. The 3rd is always the same, so that is at least a piece of good news.
“Still... I hope you will place someone better against Celleste. I am interested in her but the fights have been quick so far.” Agatha begs, but she doubts it will do much.
“She will get her time. Don't worry. Everyone will. Alex is too proud of a lad, and his other issues aren't that great in this way... but his little try has been worth it. I will get going with other plans, as the following ones go according to my calculations. I reckon the little Annihilation guy is coming next? Or... wait. More are also fighting! This is chaotic! I love this thing.” Tiberon cheers himself again, his face glancing at the dozen screens at all times. Looking at many angles that work with few cameras but also because of a couple of butlers, he sees every little detail.
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Meanwhile, on the 15th floor.
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William is right to go with his chances, and apart from the spars, fights, or however he sees it, there doesn't seem to be anything important at all. Even the basic challenge of getting up isn't that hard. His stamina is great, and when he thought this would be an endurance fight, he now feels like laughing at his 3 hours old self. This is also quite strange to call it a Trial, but he isn't one to judge such wordy choices.
“Well, here goes the 15th floor...” He says to himself, carrying the bag around his shoulder while praising his new uniform. He already tested it enough. His Annihilation filled Claws or swirling Vectors in his special forms don't affect the structure of this uniform at all. Nw, he doesn't have to fight half-naked, which is something he prefers.
“It also seems it's a different kind of situation on this floor. Unlike the 4th and 9th, this upcoming 3rd opponent isn't on the 14th floor. Is he, or she here, or should I move towards the 16th floor?” William assumes, looking throughout the floor in a try to find the option to ascend to the 16th floor. As before, he feels lost. This place is terrible to navigate through, or his sense of direction is worse than he thought. He wouldn't expect it, considering he is quite confident in his sense of adjusting to the new locations. He always did well with the new camps, while their structures are always different. Then, the Federation comes into play with its structure that is dozens of times larger, and he never got lost.
He knows there are multiple ways to get up, and he even notices some apartments, that have two floors, but they aren't as rare. They have individual stairs to each floor, but finding them is harder. There are a few of them per floor to spice things up, but there was nothing about them in the diagram again. Now, Willaim has certain doubts. He can't remember if he should trust what he read on that diagram like a madman for dozens of minutes, or simply move on.
He chooses to do half of this and move on while still occasionally looking around.
There are already hundreds of apartments behind him, with more to follow. Each is furnished and ready to live in, but they are empty and without anyone. It takes some time until he finds the wide hallway that indicates a follow-up of no apartment but a larger section of hallways that usually means stairs.
In this case, the place is indicative enough, but there is something else. A youth further in is the best kind of answer, because William meets his 3rd opponent.
“The last one?” the youth lazily stretches his arms, sitting and almost napping beside the wall.
“I don't know,” William replies to the sitting youth who appears unenthusiastic and rather sleepy.
This one is Zech. The one who fought with Stark, and incidentally was the one who decided to not pursue Celleste and let her go. Now he meets William.
“Nah... You must be the last one. 4 people already passed by me, so I am sure I am right... Or, whatever. It doesn't probably matter anyway.” Zech tells in a carefree manner before getting to his feet.
William watches how his stature overlaps his own when he walks closer to him. Zech doesn't appear like a youth his age at all.
“Wow. You are quite a big guy. How old are you?” William asks, wondering what kind of thing he even eats.
“16 and a half and if you are nitpicky about my height...” Zech hesitates before thinking of an interesting thing to tell. “I will tell it if you will defeat me. How about it? Sounds like a deal?”
“Deal.” William nods without any hesitation and almost puts his palm forward to confirm this little promise. “That's great when you say it like that. Is your Emblem like your stature? Large and strong? You must be quite strong, right?” Wiliam assumes.
It seems both youths notice how each other appears to be friendlier than their last 2 opponents.
“Strong? That... isn't something I know for sure. I can't be bothered, but you can get to know it, right? Let's just go along with this spar, so both of us can move on. How about it?” Zech replies as if the matter of the spar doesn't matter too much.
Following the voiceless summon of his Emblem, he doesn't forget to go with the Rank 1 Mold this time around.
A tide of Vectors flows around his both arms, ending with a pair of large protruding heavy-looking gauntlets of purple Vectors. Each finger is at least 2 inches thick and long like a regular human palm. Unlike William, he has a mold to work with both hands, and their shape is also special. They are gauntlets, protecting the wrist, forearm, and even a bit of biceps in distinct shapes of purpose vector plates that cover what they should.
“Holy shit... Both hands? I am jealous... So jealous...” William complains, glancing at Zech's Emblem with wonder if his own Emblem would allow him to do this. His is rather chaotic and unkept like an evil dog that is hard to put on a leash. In return for his words that don't need answers, William doesn't complain nor cry over his own misfortune any further.
He also doesn't expect a reply coming from Zech, so William utters a simple “Arise” to start this show.
Zech sees an unfamiliar and rather impressive sight of the crimson Vectors spread from William's right forearm. It envelops his arm alone, swirling in wide strides like many snakes until focusing on the vision of a rough claw. Vector themselves are quite thicker than most would be, but they soon envelopes his hand in their normal clawed appearance. From Zech's perspective, they appear quite mesmerizing because of their unique color scheme. Such a vivid crimson color is hard to see.
“Oh, you really have a single arm for your Emblem? Interesting. Is it because of the Skills or the starting limitations of your Emblem? Or... is this affinity to some element? This crimson...” Zech surprisingly asks a few questions as well, seeing a rather nice form of a claw that doesn't seem like his, but they appear to be in a similar style. The fight will be close quarters for sure, albeit when one has one or two arms for use, it forms some questionable strategies. It could create more options, cover up mistakes, and allow more strategies from both sides. Of course, in this way, Zech has no idea how William's Claw is already his strategy and its forms aren't weak at all.
“No idea.” William shakes his head when he is ready to go. He swipes his claw before him, clutching it to feel its flow. Not that long passed since the fight against Rosemary, but not like it was a crazy battle at all. It was a decent part to get his blood pumping, and he even attacked her in the end and won fair and square. He has no shame to admit it at all.
“You see... I had 10 days and no time to come up with something better and this is the base appearance of this thing in my right hand.” William explains after all and gets to a fighting stance, which means, his right-hand faces forwards, with his right foot as well. Left one is behind him with a bended knee. His face is forcing forward, eying Zech and his relaxed posture. He is yet to pull any stance or punches.
“1st timer... of course. I guess this will be interesting. We are similar.” Zech tells and shows a rare interest for the first time today to the other.
“Similar doesn't mean the same. What was your Affinity in your Awakening.” William asks in curiosity because he wants to know how talented his opponent is. He forgot to ask about this his past opponents, so it is his mistake.
“89. Yours?”
“That high? You are quite good... I guess it goes as expected when one gets accepted to the Academy after overcoming this Trial. Mine is 75.”
“That low? You got over the last 2 people quite easy as you appear... fine?” Zech says, appearing confused and surprised to see an almost barely acceptable number.
“Should I take it as a compliment?” William replies with a smile.
Feeling a bit strange about William's words, but his otherwise honest appearance, Zech forgets what matters for now. Instead, he rather chose the direct confrontation, for once.
Taking a lower stance, Zech is the first to attack. A straigh jab to William Claw is there to gouge his strength, Emblem, and power.
William doesn't have to place his Claw forward. He swipes it instead, using the back of it to deflect the incoming attack. He knows this is the easiest way to deflect many kinds of moves. It was Roman's little idea that he forced to his head in the past day, so he started to incorporate it into his routines and spars. A single day is all it took to take some roots.
A simple deflect and a twist of his claw ends up as a turn to allow William to unleash a body slam into Zech's exposed torso, protected by his left hand that is angled away because of his single punch with his left hand. William strikes forward, and it is a good attack, but unfortunately, Zech doesn't even flinch. Instead of that, Zech grabs William's shoulders with both hands and pushes him down.
Like a ragdoll, William's body takes the brunt of quite a significant force that pushes his whole body against the floor. Feeling breathless for a few seconds, it is fortunate that Zech doesn't follow up with some stomps, or continuous jabs at his momentary barren and open defenses.
Gritting his teeth, William lifts his upper body and jumps backward to a retreat. He feels like an idiot for not using the Inner Enchantment from the get-go because Zech's inner strength and overall physical capabilities are much better than his basics.
He felt it more than he wished, and when his body slammed into his body, it felt like he slammed into a mountain. Even with his whole body weight, Claw, and his shoulder, it didn't help.
“You are quite strong. I bet you will go high in the Academy when you will train properly. 10 days aren't enough for shit.” Zech tells the honest truth, turning serious yet without any arrogance or confidence. He gives advice as one with more experience, talent, and nostalgia. Zech sees his not-so-distant past in William's face, so he has a certain amount of interest in this fight.
For once, he doesn't want to lose, which is as rare as his words.
William is similar, but not at the same time. He holds limited knowledge, but he sure feels dumb to not go all out. Now, he feels like an idiot, noting his previous mistake of never repeating it ever again. William turns his Inner Enchantment on and faces Zech much more seriously. He even considers his more approachable Annihilation Claws and its 3 forms.