Let The Fighting Begin

Next, with Heian Ciemnosc letting only his back be seen by the now silent crowd, only allowing the Teacher and other teachers to observe what he was doing, Heian Ciemnosc began working on both the handle and the blade. His slightly muscular torso showed his body's movements, even some parts of his bones among all that muscle, and his arms moving about were also enchanting views for those who liked it.

Tsiick, shhh- pah, tick.

In front of Heian Ciemnosc, the workbench was being hit lightly with some material here and there. Heian Ciemnosc had only spent about 10 minutes doing all of this. But he was sweating down from his face and chest as his dark Power Energy was also being consumed fast and deliciously by the creation he was making. He wouldn’t have needed so much effort if he had at least a Supreme Powerful Stone, but all that had broke apart… or eaten, long ago.

Alyona nor anyone from the Crimsonbreaking Faction wanted to give him money. The Faction only focused on giving him a place to stay, a beautiful pair of young women to sleep on, and learning things many more can’t say they have the same chance to. Especially with the people that taught him, those were the most incredible things and moments Heian Ciemnosc had instead of learning the most basics of some things and not thoroughly.

After a couple more minutes, and with a final burst of dark Power Energy, Heian Ciemnosc stopped moving so much about on the same spot and slowly let his palms rest on the workbench. Once he could support his body, Heian Ciemnosc rested his back and slowly breathed in and out. Then he turned around slowly with his arms forward to grab something.

Step step step step.

Without letting the crowd take a really damn good look, Heian Ciemnosc quickened his steps towards the Teacher, who was already nodding slightly once upon looking at the item in Heian Ciemnosc’s hands. The latter arrived before the former and presented the small blade. It was a knife with notorious separations every 2 to 3 inches and half a meter long. Those separations were distinguished by ‘lines’ that were 4 inches long. The handle was only about 10 cm long.

“What is it? It looks like a ruler. A pretty short one.” The Teacher said as he took the blade and started examining it with his eyes alone. Heian Ciemnosc took the edged weapon back and, without much expression, said as he swung it to his upper back. “It’s a dagger, throwing dagger.”

While the Teacher had a questioning expression and tilt of his head, Heian Ciemnosc hopped backwards with his right hand holding the dagger, its flat placed against the center of his back. After tracing more than 3 meters, Heian Ciemnosc stopped and lowered his stance, the knife on his back shining with the sunlight. He then swung the dagger out of his back and aimed at his 5, some ‘ticking’ noises went out, and before the Teacher or anyone within the crowd could react, some of those separations broke off from the dagger.

The separated bits of the blade had some sort of string attached to them, brown and obscure in color. As 3 of those separated from the shaft, now visible, they began dancing without Power Energy in the air, just with a little swing from Heian Ciemnosc’s potent bodily strength.

Whooosh whoosh whoosh, swip- tick tick tick tick tick, whoosh whoosh- whistle whistle.

Heian Ciemnosc swung it once more, this time as if it was a great sword, heavy and grand in every volume, as he held it with both hands. Another 5 bits of the blade separated from the shaft, strings attached to them. They flew randomly at their own angle, and made whistling noises besides the robust and fearsome whooshing sounds each time they traveled close to one another.

The flying bits of the blade flew together but not next to each other all the time. But when they did fly next to each other, they cut through the air like nothing could stop them, even making a few tiny ripples within the air that made Heian Ciemnosc more secure of his feelings. Because just as he began to pour a little dark Power Energy into it and such traveled quickly all over the dagger’s body and bits of its blade, everyone could tell it was a Mortal weapon!!

Only the great, knowledgeable Craftspeople blacksmiths who already have an almost flawless success rate in creating a weapon of a higher grade than a Mortal grade can create the latter without using pure energy. Who was this devilishly handsome teenager?!

Swip, whistle, whoosh swing- swish.

Heian Ciemnosc began to practically dance with the dagger, his body appearing wot have some sort of mastery, resulting from battling two enormous beauties who wanted to do nothing more but humiliate him with some groping and teasing every time. Heian Ciemnosc, of course, had become really skillful and capable in order to avoid the beauties’ perversion,

The bits of the dagger’s blade flew and danced along him, making little, tiny trails of wind that whipped the air, the world, and everything the eye could see. Even as the air was cut through, the bits of blades were slower and made no mess, unlike what Heian Ciemnosc had thought they would. Indeed, this Kingdom was like a godly being to the Sinvonnia Kingdom, the laws of everything and nature had a more solid footing, and their practicality was beyond Heian Ciemnosc’s knowledge.

Only after a short while did the pale teenager finish showcasing his powerful Mortal weapon’s might and special, unique feature. The teenager went to the Teacher and presented him with the dagger again. The strings of its shaft retracted faster than possible and without endangering its handler. Seeing such a cool, flexible feature in a Mortal weapon, many wanted to buy it and become masters in the art of the dagger.

But seeing the satisfied smile and pressed lips on the Teacher’s face, they all fell silent with the thought of perhaps, the Teacher would gift it as he had done with the incense. But the Teacher said after giving the crowd a lot of false hope, “The Academy has received a gift today from one of its possible students. It hadn’t happened in a few generations of the Academy. I thank you on behalf of the Wrath Nihility Academy, Heian Ciemnosc.”

Afterwards, the Teacher kept it in his Covert Space bags and made the crowd that tensed up to fight for the dagger feel like falling down the bottomless abyss of the legends. The Teacher then looked at Heian Ciemnosc and said with a little smile as he observed the sweaty and slightly tired teenager. “Will you do something with array formations? Caretaking can be ignored. It takes a long time to show the true gifts and natural talent one has in them. Though you have shown some quality in those already.”

“Mn.” Heian Ciemnosc nodded, looked behind his shoulder, returned to face the Teacher, and asked. “How long will this last batch last? I need to rest.”

“Mm… Probably around 2 hours, thanks to your incense.” The Teacher said with experience after glaring at the participants, who were now working harder, seemingly incensed and encouraged at the same time by something. And that something, the Teacher looked at ‘it’ after saying the answer. Heian Ciemnosc nodded and went 25 meters away behind the Teacher, sat cross-legged, and intertwined his fingers as he usually does.

When the crowd became aware he was going to rest, most looked at each other in expectation, no longer even remembering they were mocking the teenager just minutes before. Seeing him walk behind the Teacher made them feel strange, however. Yet, as soon as Heian Ciemnosc began cultivating, slurping pure energy into his body, the crowd understood the reasons.

Whiiiiiiiistlee, wheeeeeesh.

At once, Heian Ciemnosc’s short-medium hair fluttered along his pants, his shoes seemingly wanting to come off his feet and become free of his beautiful, charming body. The grass around him began to dance, swaying from the right to the left in a circular fashion, a reverse clockwise motion. All the grass surrounding him within 50 meters around him swayed while pure energy charged into Heian Ciemnosc’s body.

Copious amounts of transparent, translucent white energy materialized in their visible form, congregating towards Heian Ciemnosc, leaving some participants wide-mouthed as they temporarily stopped working on their doings and looked at Heian Ciemnosc’s cultivation… What cultivation method did this monstrous teenager have? Who the hell is he now?!

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… One hour later, Heian Ciemnosc stood up. The pure energy around him slowly dissipated high up into the sky in spirals. The grass no longer swayed and danced to his cultivation. And on his face, satisfaction and pleasure were plastered all over. He stretched a little until the grass 50 meters around him no longer swayed. Its last few movements were those of their tips before settling in like ordinary grass.

“...” However, the Teacher’s face was helpless and enigmatic as he observed the grass and seemed to find something in it without even needing to check it with his Spirit Sense or eyes. It was the same for the hidden experts. There was a sensation of disbelief as a mere Obsidiafying realm cultivator made such changes to the world around him.

“Ok, I’m ready.” Heian Ciemnosc’s words echoed into the Teacher’s distracted mind, who could only look at that pale upper back as it walked in front of himself once again. Then, with the dark Power Energy showing itself again, the Teacher attentively looked at Heian Ciemnosc as it appeared at the tip of his right-handed index, middle and ring fingers.

Most of the crowd also looked at Heian Ciemnosc, his back and torso, as they were all around him, appeared intrinsically attractive to all pair of eyes as he began to move his right arm. Heian Ciemnosc’s face also became deadly serious, his eyes concentrated hella good, and his right arm was slowly lifted to this shoulder level.

Pshift, swiiishh~.

Heian Ciemnosc began to work. His right arm moved in circles and formless shapes. His right hand twirled, thrust, and traced with swiftness or smoothly and slowly at times. Dark Power Energy became more proficient during this time of the day, and nobody could miss it, as the other color surrounding the surroundings was green.

In a matter of several tens of minutes, Heian Ciemnosc inscribed with seriousness and showcased outstanding manipulation of his body, able to be slow and smooth. And fast and swift whenever he wanted. In a long rectangle, 6 meters wide and 20 meters long, with a height of only 2 meters. Heian Ciemnosc created a very packed-up inscription with several intricate sketches on the sides.

In the middle, some lines of dark Power Energy were traced, making a type of 20 meter-long tunnel. It was situated in the exact between up and down and left and right. But to the sides, there were inscriptions that, although simple and basic, were too many, and each complemented the other. Some barely touched and shared the same trajectory, while most were simply like a drawing where Heian Ciemnosc repeated identical movements of his right hand to give his sketch a color. But it was all dark in color.

The Teacher was frowning and looking with rapt attention, let alone the other teachers and the crowd around them. Not many showcased their array formations in the Wrath Nihility Academy’s test, majorly because they were too low compared to what the Wrath Nihility Academy is capable of, surpassing the capabilities of even some peak Fourth Step organizations.

But as Heian Ciemnosc showcased simple inscriptions, that head yet an intricate work of art to itself and began to make some sense in the brains of the hidden experts. The Teacher and other teachers felt as if they needed to look harder in case they missed it, not knowing why they didn’t want to miss it in the first place.

Pshift~, wong~...

“Excuse me,” Heian Ciemnosc said as he traced backwards, turned around, and looked at the furnace with tired eyes. His body quickly lowered, crouched, and grabbed the furnace carefully. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t lift the many tons-heavy furnaces or he was tired. Instead, Heian Ciemnosc was simply being careful as he moved towards on extreme of his array formation, still dark in color.

The array formation oozed with dark Power Energy. It was so powerful the crowd couldn’t tell Heian Ciemnosc was just an Obsidiafying realm cultivator without inspecting him. Yet, the Teacher, Sub Teachers, and hidden experts could tell more about it as it glowed and remained instinctively strong. That was: Heian Ciemnosc’s strength, from his cultivation base fluctuations… they were well over his own… realm!!

“Here I come.” Heian Ciemnosc held the furnace tightly, letting it slowly lean backwards as he placed its ‘feet’ first and then let the rest of its body enter his array formation. The crowd would’ve slowly raised to their feet if it wasn’t because today was the last day of the second part of the test, and soon, the few thousand would be selected to beat the shit out of each other.

Slowly, tensions rose higher and higher as the furnace fully entered the dark array formation and hovered right at the entrance. Its rooftop was directly put against the perimeter of the array formation as it slowly began to ooze off with a black cloud, smoke-like property. The ‘dark’ disappeared, and the smoke replaced it, just like what had engulfed Heian Ciemnosc and the rest of the encampments to be brought to the first part of the test.

The Teacher nodded, and this signified the array formation should work. But there was also confusion in his eyes, and his mind asked silently, ‘Isn’t it supposed to be violet?’

SWOOOOP!...

“!!” The Teacher’s eyes immediately became widened, shocked and mesmerized, all at the same time! The furnace hovering simply and in tranquility at the array formation’s entrance suddenly shot into the rest of the array. And before anyone could react, it instantly shot above the crowd for only 4 heads above their height, only to shoot higher and higher as it disappeared into the sky.

Heian Ciemnosc stood on the spot without any feelings of at least being surprised, it was within his expectations, and the wide-mouthed and wide-eyed crowd could see that after connecting dots and finding matching colors in their minds. They looked at the black smoke and the still functional array formation. Then, the Teacher did the question they died to make in their stead.

“Is… this also possible for living people?”

Heian Ciemnosc slowly turned his head around, looked at the Teacher, and nodded as his arms crossed before his chest. The Teacher blinked exaggeratedly once, turned his body to the side, breathed a long burst of air into his lungs, and then focused his eyes on Heian Ciemnosc again. “Is… could this… Be a gif to the Wrath Nihility Academy as well?”

“No,” Heian Ciemnosc lowered his arms, his face turning as ultimately old as his eyes were. Slowly, he picked a few worms underneath his feet and placed them into the array formation as he elaborated slightly. “The findings of this array formation were the sacrifice of many good people, their shed of emotions, and their long gone honor. It’s mine.”

“Ah… I understand,” the Teacher was going to say something else, to the worse of his mentality. But stopped and ended up not doing so. His eyes fell on Heian Ciemnosc’s shoulders, only now did he, and only he, notice they looked heavy.

“You’ve shown us great things, Heian Ciemnosc. And your bodily strength has also shown us prowess we only see when it comes to a Step much higher than your own.” It was all over, Heian Ciemnosc had shown what he had, and the Teacher understood that too. The Teacher said clearly as Heian Ciemnosc looked back at the Teacher in confusion. The latter nodded upwards to the 3 workbenches. Wich crumbled as soon as they both set their eyes on them.

Crrrr- accckkk…

Heian Ciemnosc’s calm and quiet voice was not heard again as he nodded to the Teacher after the workbenches broke apart. Meanwhile, the crowd felt dumber than dumber, their faces strictly silent and their eyes darting between the batch of participants going at it and each other. Everyone felt equally awkward. Nevertheless, those who spoke with less shame among them wouldn’t be sold out… that easy.

Since it finished, and Heian Ciemnosc was also over with his things, a few tens of minutes later, the last batch of participants finally concluded. And the last batch of testers, containing the ‘best’ participants had the crowd tense up again, even more than when Heian Ciemnosc demonstrated what he could do. Becoming tenser when the Teacher began to have the ‘elite’s’ chests. Most also thought Heian Ciemnosc would be free of that glow, and he was indeed. But he was also positioned all the way to the back.

The Teacher decided to finish selecting the last few who would go on to the 3rd and final part of the test this way, having them lined up in that square formation again and going from the left to the right and right to the left sequentially. The Teacher would take 3 seconds to ‘decide’ whether he would or not choose someone to pass on. Like this, the entire time the last batch was being selected, tension and impatience built up slowly but surely.

Many in this elite batch showed good and impressive capabilities and specialties. Some even garnered attention from some Sub Teachers and many Assistant Teachers. Very few gained the hidden experts’ attention, or the Teacher’s at the very least.

Yet, only 1 out of 3 people that the Teacher went through would be free of any glow, giving sound to many ‘sssss’ among the crowd. So many cringed when they thought that more than half of those 4,000 would be selected to go on. They clearly saw it the wrong way, and those given the blue glow couldn’t help but feel frustrated yet kept it deep inside.

And when it came to Heian Ciemnosc’s turn… the Teacher took more than 3 seconds, more than double that amount, before finally, the Teacher turned to the side and walked away without giving Heian Ciemnosc a blue glow on his chest. Only then did a lot breathe a sigh of relief, somehow.

Then, the Teacher announced as he made his way back into the buildings around. “Take the next day to rest! On the 7th day, you’ll fight your way into the academy against each other!!”

“Yes, Teacher!!!” The crowd could only respond in kind, their blood and hearts seething and their skin numb. Everyone except for Heian Ciemnosc felt their entire bodies tremble a the prospect of entering such a prestigious, honorable and respected organization worlwide.

…