It was puzzling. But I also understood. It was giving me confusion and understanding at the same time. I did not know how to feel. So I turned to the old man, and seeing my puzzlement, explained.
"Defeat her, and you qualify. Be defeated, and I guarantee you that you will never get the chance to enter our institution. It does not matter who is your benefactor. I will not allow it."
I wanted to protest. But he gave me no chance. He vanished, leaving me a little speechless. I noticed then that people around me like vanishing like a ghost. I glanced at Amy and saw that she was still as cold as ever. She drew her sword, as she was getting ready to fight.
The moment our eyes collided, she lunged at me giving me no chance to talk.
She sliced her sword, narrowly missing me by a few inches. It was so close that I even saw my reflection on her blade. I unsheathed my Hokuto, parrying her next attack, letting me widen the distance between us.
Giving me a chance to breathe, I said.
“Just wait a second Amy. Please, can we talk about this?”
“No.”
“Look, I don't want to fight you. Mostly because I know I'm going to lose, but it's more so because I don't want to end up hurting you in any way.”
“Arrogant.”
“Wait that's not what I me-”
She ignored my words. Leaping from her position, her eyes turned scarlet red, while her blade matched the sheer intensity of her bloodlust. Shining with a red hue like blood. She sent various slashes and stabs, each one aiming for my vital points. It was not even a battle to the death, so I didn't know why she was acting like it was.
I wanted to speak to her again, but the sheer amount of attacks she was giving out did not let me. There were even a couple of times when I thought my life was flashing before my eyes. Thus, I did not have the luxury to speak to her.
Amy sent a massive wave of sword energy, the size of a full-grown tree. Knowing that there was no way in hell I was blocking it, I sidestepped it and knew I made the right choice as I heard the ground behind me cave in and slice it apart. She tried surprising me the moment I dodged her attack, but I saw and defended it.
I don't want to fight. I have to end this. I withdrew my weapon and stood there.
“Cosmo, fight me.”
“Nope.”
“Fight me.”
“Nope.”
Amy, seemingly growing incensed by my response, tried resorting to insults.
“Fight me, you idiot.”
“That means to say but, still no.”
I dodged another slash, but this time I felt something hit my sides. Not able to react in time, I was sent flying through the white space, and thought that I was not going to crash into anything, I did still indeed crash into the walls. Figures that there was a limit to this space.
Coughing, I shakily stood up, feeling the pangs of pain in my sides. Amy came close, staring daggers at me, and I smiled back. She sighed, putting away her sword, as the aura she was emanating calmed down. It was like a storm that finally stopped its destruction.
“See, it wasn't that hard. So can we please finally talk?”
Something strange happened in that moment. Amy early smiled, putting up her fists as she replied.
“Nope.”
Oh god.
…
“This is a dumb idea.”
“This is your dumb idea.”
“No idea what you're talking about.”
Samuel replied as he watched the crystal orb with a grin on his face. The two of them were back in the real world, the lush greenery was seen around them. Abraham was glaring at Samuel, but the receiver of it ignored it and continued watching the spectacle unfold.
Samuel looked away from the orb, noticing that the battle was taking a boring turn. Cosmo had to endure a beating before he took the situation seriously it seemed.
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“So nice weather we're having Abraham.”
“Indeed. And tell me Samuel, where was the Spear of Heaven that you borrowed from me?”
Abraham queried, as he coldly glanced at Samuel. Samuel, played oblivious as he looked at the sky, and with a fresh smile, replied.
“Good weather indeed.”
Abraham frowned, knowing that he would not be getting back his spear any time soon. He conjured up a pair of chairs and a table, as he said.
“Let us sit while we wait. I do believe that this might take a while.”
“Sure. Got any beer?”
As he said that, beer materialized in front of him. Samuel happily took it and proceeded to sit down opposite Abraham. He took a large swig of it, licking his lips as he savored the taste. Abraham looked at Samuel, thinking that maybe this was the opportune time to ask about that.
“How is the situation.”
“Be more specific. Information is flowing like a waterfall in the guild, you have to be more specific than that.”
Abraham, hearing this, just replied with the same words but with a little more emphasis.
“How is the situation.”
Samuel furrowed his brows, putting his beer down on the table, and replied.
“Ah, that. Complicated. Those bastards still haven't given up for some reason. They want him, and they want him enough that they might start a holy war because of it.”
“That seems to be an exaggeration.”
“Wish it was.”
Samuel swirled his glass around, seeing that his beer was slowly filling back up to full. He smiled, thinking that maybe he picked the wrong class. He took another swig while Abraham asked another question.
“You know. You know why they are reacting the way they do.”
“Whatever do you mean.”
“Samuel. The others may be believing this act, but not me.”
Samuel looked back at Abraham who was sipping his tea as he stared back. They both held their stare, a quiet atmosphere pervading the forest. The wind gently blew past them, calming their nerves. Samuel pulled back and replied.
“As I said, whatever do you mean.”
“I guess that it has something to do with Old Hag.”
Samuel did not reply. And instead focused on his drink. Then he felt another presence appear, a smirk appearing on his face as he felt that he had a one over Abraham.
“Still bitter as ever I see, Abe.”
Another person appeared. A purple witch's hat donned her head, her back hunched as she sat between the two of them. She was coldly glancing at Abraham, seemingly without fear as Abraham glared back.
“You old hag.”
“You old crone, I thought you died in the Mountains of Epsilon.”
“You wish. That measly little lich could barely compare with my fingers. And what about you? I thought you chose to go into seclusion.”
“Some things happened and I'm just here to see my little Cosmo pass his test. You better not be making my Cosmo suffer you old crone.”
Samuel looked on, entertained as he felt that he was out of the woods, even though he was in the middle of a forest. They both argued back and forth, without stopping. It stopped when Abraham sat back and continued sipping his tea, trying to ignore the uninvited individual.
Amanda had a carefree smile on her face, feeling that she won this bout. She then remembered why she was here, and looked at the Crystal orb. She saw that Cosmo was enduring a beating by a girl. It was then that Amanda felt that she should step in when Samuel stopped her as she was about to do so.
Amanda lightly glared at Samuel, but he shook his head and said.
“He has to solve this on his own.”
Though reluctant, Amanda sat back down and drank her tea.
All was silent. The atmosphere rang with a proverbial silence. None of the three-spoke a word, and when Samuel was about to stand up and stretch his legs, he saw a change in the situation.
…
“Fight me.”
“No.”
Amy then sent a kick to his stomach, as Cosmo lurched forward.
“Fight me.”
“No.”
She grabbed me by the collar, raised me in the air, and pulled out her sword. She leveled it against my neck, with it being a few centimeters away from reaping my life. But I stood, no wait floated firm, and refused to give in. Maybe dying this way isn't so bad.
I did at first, try to defend myself. But as the fight progressed, and the more fists and kicks I took from Amy, I knew that I was inferior in hand-to-hand combat compared to Amy.
I'm here. Bloodied and broken in body, but in spirit, I was still standing.
“Just why.”
I coughed, spitting out blood into the white floor. I wanted to reply, but I felt too weak to even open my mouth. So instead, I just smiled back. Amy gazed at me with cold eyes, staring at me for a few seconds, before letting me fall to the ground.
But I closed my eyes, waiting for even more hits to come.
It didn't.
I warily opened my eyes as I saw that Amy turned her back on me. She looked at the white sky and said.
“I concede.”
The room suddenly dissolved into nothingness, revealing the other side of it. It was then that I saw Mr. Samuel looking at us with an interested expression, the old man with an incredulous expression.
The old man came forward to Amy, demanding what she meant by this.
“No reason. I simply concede.”
She said, before turning his back on the old man and walking into the forest. All while this was happening, I looked at my body and saw that my wounds were gone. Wow, it felt so real. If I thought back hard enough, I could still feel the immense pain.
Gazing at the old man, I saw that he had a conflicted expression on his face. Mr Samuel then said.
“Well, thems the rules Abraham. The rules you made. You didn't specify that she could not surrender.”
Mr. Samuel grinned, walking past the old man, and approached me. He looked at me, nodded, and reached out a hand. I grabbed it as he raised me to stand. I knew that the exams were over, but there were still some things I wanted to do.
“Sigh* indeed you have technically passed. So on that note, I'd like to”
This is going to end up bad or even worse. In a split second, I unsheathed my scythe and lunged at the old man, cutting him off in the middle of speaking. The old man, caught off guard by my attack, for some reason didn't move and instead looked at me in rage.
Thinking that I was about to make a hit, I put all my power behind my scythe. Yet something strange happened. I made contact but I wasn't able to pierce through. Confused, I pushed my Scythe harder and still felt that there seemed to be an impenetrable space between me and the old man.
“What. Are. You. Doing.”
“Payback. You tried to make me hurt Amy.”
“Naive.”
The old man flicked his hand, as I was flung across the place and crashed into a nearby tree. I ignored the pain and stood back up, taking a position. Yet just as I took a stance, I suddenly saw that the old man was already in front of me.
‘Yup, I made it even worse.’