Chapter 9

The group started pouring over the weapons to see what they wanted to use. The suave man instantly picked up a straight sword while the others were hesitant about their decision. Yuha as well was thinking about what she should pick. She looked at the swords but shook her head as they didn't suit her. Spears and the other polearms were also not an option. Her eyes slowly settled on a pair of long daggers.

She grabbed them and tested their balance before deciding on them. As she was sheathing them she noticed a small roll that was tucked underneath them. She unrolled the roll unveiling a row of needles. Her eyes lit up as she could think of the devious uses they could have in battle. After a few moments, everyone had chosen their weapons. After everyone had chosen Icewind appeared on the stage. With a wave of her hand, an eight-foot-tall iron puppet appeared on the stage.

"The next test will be for you to battle this iron puppet. It has a damage record array on it so once the damage hits a limited the puppet will stop. Also, the puppet will be restricted from striking fatal blows but will still harm you. So, who wants to take the first turn?" Icewind asked as she descended from the stage.

The group looked at each other to see who would go up first. The suave young man smiled and stepped onto the stage.

"State your name or title," Icewind commanded.

"My title is Wandering Silver but everyone can just call Silver," the suave man said as he drew his sword. The iron puppet came alive as its eyes glowed with a faint light. The puppet suddenly rushed towards Silver moving much faster than one would expect from a massive hunk of iron.

Yuha was focused on observing the puppet's movement and was surprised to find it was extremely fluid compared to the training puppets in the Soulblood realm. She realized that this puppet was not used for training but for actual battle.

Silver smoothly sidestepped the punch while simultaneously drawing his sword. With a fluid slash, the puppet stumbles forwards and stopped moving. Yuha frowned as she was not able to see the attack that Silver had executed.

Icewind smiled but felt down as she knew that her peak was not suitable for such a genius. She figured Silver would end up on Blade Peak as he seemed to be trained as a swordsman. She could only hope that she and her brother Darkwind would get a genius for their peak.

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Silver gracefully left the platform appearing completely unflustered as if he has had taken a stroll through a garden and not engaged in a battle.

Up on the elders platform they were discussing Silver’s performance.

"None of you old farts better fight with me over him," a bald middle-aged man said while glaring at the other seven people in the room.

"Fine, since your Blade Peak fits him best but, no throwing a tantrum if another genius appears," Darkwind replied coldly.

"Yeah, Aura-edge you have Dreamblade and now Silver so don’t get greedy," Runeheart agreed with Darkwind. Seeing the other peak masters ganging up on him he could only grumble under his breath.

Back down on the arena, Icewind had reset the puppet for the next contestant to battle. "Who's next?" Icewind asked looking at the group of recruits. Yuha stepped forward as she was prepared to face the puppet. "Good, it will attack when you draw your weapon. Yuha nodded as she had been wondering why the puppet had attacked as soon as Silver had drawn his sword.

Taking a deep breath Yuha drew one of her daggers causing the puppet to charge at her. Dodging to the side she threw a needle at the puppet. With a faint clang, the needle bounced off the puppet before sticking into the ground. Moving quickly Yuha dodged around the puppet throwing out needles.

The recruits were watching nervously as the attacks seemed to be doing nothing. It was a different story in the observation platform where the peak masters were watching. They were staring in surprise as they could see how the battle was progressing. They were simply waiting to see the final outcome.

Down on the arena Yuha had run out of needles and unsheathed her other dagger. With her eyes wide open she focused all her essence on the needles that were strewn across the arena. A faint black rune appeared on almost the needles as the curse energy she had infused them with activated. She stomped down on one of the needles activating the reflect rune that was on the needle. This caused Yuha to be sent flying forwards much faster than she could normally move.

As she moved towards the puppet she pointed and shouted. 'Bind!" A rune appeared on the chest of the puppet that matched some of the runes on the needles. Black threads sprang out from the needles and wrapped around the puppet causing it to be rooted to the ground. Yuha used the reflect runes to move behind The pupped before launching her self at it. Just as she nearly reached it the puppet freed itself from the binding rune. Turning around the puppet swung its arm at the charging Yuha. Yuha kicked out causing one of her shoes to explode due to the power of the reflect rune that had been embedded in it. This caused Yuha to rotate in midair narrowly avoiding the puppet's arm.

Yuha landed on the shoulders of the puppet. Before the puppet could react Yuha stabbed her daggers into both sides of the puppet's neck. A loud hissing sound echoed out as black smoke erupted from the daggers. The puppet stopped moving as the daggers crumbled into sand.

It took a moment for Icewind to react as she had not expected such ferocity from a youngster. While Silver won by using pure force Yuha had won through careful planning and tactics.

On the viewing platform the nine people were grinning ad they seemed to have picked up another genius.

"She's mine!" multiple voices shouted out at the same time. Before an argument could break out the sect leader cleared his throat loudly.

"Before we make any decisions we should interview her as her background is very questionable," the sect leader commanded.

The other eight nodded but could not conceal the light of competition that had lit in their eyes.