46 Chapter 45: Test of Courage part (I)

I was outside of Millie's room alone in the dark, everyone is already asleep, and with me was Flint beside me.

Looking at Flint, I saw that he was bigger than before, and the blue line or mark that Talya saw on his skin was already making his hair blue.

When I carried him, he was heavier of course, but what strikes me odd is that Flint's body has started to heat up. "Your body temperature is high, are you sick Flint?"

Woof!

"Even if you grow so fast, you're still cute as ever!"

Woof!

"I decided, thanks to her." Ever since I saw that mysterious beautiful girl in my dream, I knew that I shouldn't be afraid anymore and take the sword.

After all, the past is the past right? It doesn't change what will come next.

Even if my father used it in the past to kill many people, the sword can still be changed to something different from the past.

"*Sigh* What am I even saying..? I'm like a stupid child." If my thoughts keep changing, can I do this?

I always change my mind the moment that someone is willing to help me.

At first, I was afraid of the sword yesterday, and now I'm already prepared to hold it just because of that mysterious girl who I haven't met in my life, but she knew me? What is even happening? Could this be some kind of time-traveling thing, and I knew her in the future?

"Hmm... Probably..."

"Haruki? What are you doing here still awake?"

When I turned around to see who it was, I saw Akemi, Ruri, and Talya walking together in their night suit.

"Oh you three, what are you doing here?"

"We were just going to the hot spring to take a bath to get prepared, what about you Haruki? What are you doing here standing outside in Millie's room?" Akemi asked me worriedly.

"Me? You know I'm just here, making sure that Flint wouldn't poop on Sora's bedroom, so we were going to the hot spring too..."

Akemi looked at me with a worried look after hearing that, while Ruri was disgusted and Talya was just confused.

"No! I mean outside! I was gonna go outside with Flint! Oww!" Why did you bit me, Flint? Do you really hate lies?

"*Sigh* Then, let's get going now Akemi; Talya."

"Wait Ruri, aren't you gonna?"

"*Groan* Okay jeez-! Then you two go first before me then, and hoy!" Ruri shouted.

I pointed at myself and asked. "Me?"

"Of course you! Who do you think is here with us beside you?!"

"Flin-"

Whoosh! Even before saying Flint's name, Ruri immediately fired her arrow at me.

Can this stupid girl even take a joke? "Hoy! Why did you fire another arrow at me again!? Do you seriously hate me?!"

Ruri didn't answer my question, and just let out a deep sigh as she answers me. "Stupid!"

"Then we'll leave you two, for now; come on Talya let's go."

"Okay! Goodbye, big brother Haruki! Goodbye big sister Ruri." As the two finally sets off in front of my own eyes, I looked back at Ruri and she was there looking at me angrily

So I asked her. "What's with that face?"

"*Hmp!* Nothing! Just follow me for Haruki, and bring Flint with you!"

"Okay!" Ruri was in front of me and Flint walking seriously to where we were headed, I want to ask Ruri where are we going and why, but because of her mood right now asking that is suicide.

Seriously, what's with this girl? Her personality keeps changing, first, she's okay with being with me, and the second is she hates me! What's with that? Does she like or hate me? Girls, I just don't understand them, which is why I'm still single.

We finally arrived in our designation, at first when I saw her going underground the castle I thought she wants to talk to me privately, or something else but let's just leave it like that.

But when we go deeper inside the basement, I was surprised to see that there's a huge dojo that I didn't even know existed here.

Wait a minute... dojo + a girl with anger management problems + her wanting to kill me = battle.

Yep, I'm dead, completely dead because she might kill me right here right now. "Hey Ruri, don't tell me that we're gonna-"

"Yes, I'm gonna test how strong and capable you are in a life and death situation."

"Life and death? Then..." This is bad, she's gonna plan to kill me.

She let out a sadistic grin that's directly pointing at me. "You're right, as of now I, the General of Vainglory Ruri Astaroth, will test how strong you are by trying to kill you. The rules are simple Haruki; if you knock me out or kill me then you win, but if I killed you then you lose."

"Wait, Kill?! There's no way that I'm gonna do that Ruri!"

"Oh, you'll do it; because if you won't." Crash! The door closed behind us and was locked tight. Ruri continued. "You won't escape this room unless our duel is over."

She's nuts, completely nuts, I can't believe that Akemi is friends with a girl like this, and why is Talya even close to this psycho?! She's a bad influence on her!

"Also, I'll give you a handicap because I know that you won't win if I don't give you one, the handicap is that you can use Soul Bound against me and Flint can fight with you."

She's even involving Flint in this battle?! That's not cool, that's animal abuse! She's not only physically ill but also mentally, she's that insane!

"Are you ready Ha-ru-ki?"

"Wait Ruri! can we talk this out! Because I still have something I want to do in life!" Yes, I haven't got a girlfriend yet, so I die as a virgin my pride as a man would vanish.

Whoosh! Bang! The arrow flew right beside me, almost hitting my head and when it hit the wall, the arrow exploded.

Seeing the explosion set off, Flint and I immediately ran to get as far as possible from Ruri.

"Where do you think you are going Haruki!?" Arrows rain on us, and I got hit on the leg which made me slowed, but I still ran as fast as possible.

Good thing Flint didn't get hit by one, but thinking about it now, running away from a bow user is a stupid idea.

Then, it means I have no choice but to fight her, but what will I use? The destructive power of Soul Bound might kill Ruri, which I don't want to happen, so the only thing I can use are my other skills then.

"Skill list!" Also, I forgot that the only skills I memorized besides Soul Bound are Fire and Electric Manipulation, so what are my other skills then. When I looked at my skills, I was shocked to see that there are only 5 skills that I can use, and I remember that I don't have 5 at all, what happened? Why are there only 5? I remember having at least 8 with me, then that means someone stole 3 skills from me, but who and how though?

Now's not the time to think about that, for now, I'll just have to use this 5 with me, but since Soul Bound is here, then I can only use 4.

"Why are you getting slower huh Haruki?!" Ruri again shot exploding arrows at me one by one.

"Sh*t!" Fire and Electric Manipulation is still here, and the other two are Foresight which can make me see the future a little bit to dodge the attacks, and Companionship: Flint? What the hell is that?

"Haruki!" Whoosh!

I created two swords made from both fire and electricity, and used the fire to burn the arrow to a crisp, and threw the electric sword on the ground near Ruri.

Remembering what both my father and Milicas told me, if I visualized or imagined what the attack will be in any manipulation skills, then I can get an attack that I want, but only if those types of attack I imagined are related to both fire or electric.

Then if that electric sword can release multiple small claps of thunder coming from it, will it work?

When I looked at the sword it was already releasing small thunders like a very fast machine gun on Ruri like I visualized in my mind.

Ruri smiled and with one swipe from his right arm, a strong gust of wind like I never or any human experienced before came out of her hand and pushed back all the thunder and the sword away.

"Hoy! That's impossible! How can you even push back electricity with wind!"

"Did you forgot Haruki? This is not Earth, the impossible can become possible here with the usage of skills and the supernatural."

How can I forget that? Logic in science is useless against magic, except if you're smart like Millie and Faust, then science is indeed on par with magic, but now's not the time!

"Hehe! Haruki, like you I have a skill that can manipulate an element, and that is Air Manipulation!" A snap from her finger came, and a bunch of smoke came from her.

When the smoke disappeared, I saw her behind me. "You're dead!"

Woof! A loud bark came from Flint, and the force of the sound was strong enough to push back Ruri away from me.

"*Tsk* Forgot that Flint is with you."

"With this chance, I looked at this Companionship: Flint skill, and I saw Flint skills in here. "Woohoo! You finally lose Ruri! Flint go to Ruri and fight her directly, but make sure to not kill her!"

Woof! Flint then went inside my shadow and appeared on Ruri's shadow.

One of Flint's skills: Shadow Step, which is handy because I can use this to defeat Ruri.

While Ruri was busy dealing with Flint, I created another fire and electric sword and threw both at Ruri.

When fire and electricity are mixed, what does it cause? "Kaboom!"

"Ventiacri!" When she summoned her real bow, both Flint and the swords were all thrown back by the strong gust of wind.

"Sorry Haruki, but I'm not losing." Wind gathered around the bow and formed an arrow made out of the air and before she shot it at me. "This arrow can kill you instantly Haruki if it touches you." Fling!

The arrow traveled so fast at me that before I knew it, the arrow was already near my stomach. Is Ruri serious about killing me? Am I really dead?

When the arrow got near me, Flint let out a howl and when he howled, the arrow that Ruri shot burned.

"I see that you're taking this seriously Haruki, then come and fight me seriously then!"

I opened my eyes to check what happened, and I saw that I was using Soul Bound without me even saying its name, and beside me was Flint.

He was bigger than before, more specifically Flint is the same size as an adult lion.

The blue line that was on his body has blue flames coming out of it, and his fur turned to a dark-bluish color and has a black mane on him.

His eyes were fiery blue and he also has armors made out of bones like my Soul Bound.

And all I can say to this was. "Cool!"

Someone then talked on my mind, the voice said (This is Flint Master, to save your life I activated your Soul Bound, and if you are wondering why I look like this, it's because when you fought the General of Pride, you forgot that I was sleeping on your shirt which made your soul combined with mine, so I can use Soul Bound too only if you used the skill.)

Flint is talking to me, and he can also use Soul Bound? This is the coolest thing that happened in my life!

"*Sigh* Don't tell me you're just gonna stand there Haruki? My patience is running out."

"Ruri!x I pointed my finger at her and said with pride. "As you can see me and Flint can both use Soul Bound, so please surrender now, I don't want to hurt you."

"*Tsk!* Coward as ever! I told you that no one can escape this room unless one of us dies!"

***

[Akemi Leviathan POV]

Akemi who was with Talya were both running worriedly to Sora and the other's room to wake the others up.

After following the other two then going to the hot spring, both of them instead followed them and listened to what will happen in the dojo.

Hearing that the two were fighting to the death made Akemi both upset and angry, so right now she was going to get help from everyone to help her stop them.

Because when she tried forcing the door to open, it won't open and even if she used her skill the door still didn't open.

Now at Sora's room, both Sora and Lucas were there sleeping. "You two wake up and follow me!"

Both who were deep asleep were shocked by the shout of Akemi, and Sora asked. "Hoy! Why are you shouting early! You know that people are sleeping right!?"

"There's no time to sleep, I'll wake up the others too because right now Haruki and Ruri are trying to kill each other in the dojo! I want to stop them, but the door is closed tightly that even my skills aren't working!"

The two worriedly stood up immediately after hearing what Akemi said, and Lucas asked. "Do you know why they are trying to kill each other?" Lucas asked.

Both Sora and Lucas know that Akemi is not the type to make jokes or pranks, so hearing what she said, they knew that this is gonna be messy.

"I don't know why the two would want to kill each other, so let's not talk about that right now and stop them! Lucas since you're the fastest among us four here, can you wake up Chizuru and Faust?"

"Sure, I'll go there now!" Lucas then ran immediately outside after Akemi ordering him to move.

"Wait Akemi! As I remember the dojo is below the storage room, so let's go there and dig below the room."

"that's not possible Sora, since the King and Queen made sure that you can't destroy the dojo, so going below is impossible."

"Jeez! Why did they even create that unbreakable dojo anyway!? Then the door is our only option."

"Yes, let's go there now!"

"Roger!" Sora shouted.

Akemi looked at the confused Talya and kneeled at her with a smile to talk to her.

Talya asked Akemi in confusion. "Big sister Akemi, what's happening? Why are big brother Lucas and Sora worried?"

"Talya, there's something dangerous happening in the castle right now, so can you stay here and wait for us?"

"But Talya wants to fight too! I'm the General of Melancholy, so isn't Talya's duty to protect the castle?"

Akemi again smiled and patted Talya's head. "Talya, a General listens to the higher-ups, so can you listen to me please?"

"Of course! I can because I'm a General!"

"Good girl, then I'll go then, goodbye Talya."

"Goodbye, big sister Akemi."

When Akemi finally ran outside and left Talya in Sora's room alone, Talya went and lay on Sora's bed. "Why is everyone lying to Talya? Why is everyone sacrificing themselves but Talya isn't? Talya doesn't want to be alone, Talya doesn't want to be left behind again, so please I wish that everyone won't die." As Talya's cried alone in the room from remembering her painful past, she kept saying in complete sadness. "Please... Don't leave Talya..."

Everyone was already outside of the dojo trying to break the door, they all started to panic.

Lucas told everyone to stand back a bit so that he can try to destroy the door with his weapon. "Libido Perves!" Lucas shouted, and a spear appeared and he threw it at the door.

His spear didn't even scratch the door, which shocked everyone. "Akemi use Invigelida to freeze the door, Sora use Dulcesomnia to make the spirits used on the door to fall asleep, and Chizuru use Indmala to power my spear!"

Everyone said at the same time. "Roger that!"

So everyone summoned their weapons: Akemi's magical book Invigelida, Sora's daggers Dulcesomnia, and Chizuru's magic circle Indmala all were used to open the door.

Lucas shouted. "Now go!"

When Akemi used her book to freeze the door, but not even a piece of single ice formed on the door. "*Tsk* Make the spirits sleep first Sora!" Akemi shouted.

"Sure!" Sora used his daggers on the door and was surprised to see that not a single spirit on the door was affected by his dagger.

All of them were confused about how their weapons won't work, and seeing how their weapons didn't work they now remember why their weapons didn't affect the door.

One of the powers in Ruri's bow is to disrupt any magic, which is the spirit that was placed in the door.

"What do we do now?" Sora asked.

"Wait, Mammon's weapon, we can use it."

All of them agreed on Faust's suggestions, so everyone went immediately back to Millie's secret lab to try and contact Mammon because Mammon left a way to contact him when he was last here with them.

Back in Sora's room was Talya getting ready to sleep, and she was checking her skill list. "Talya won't let the two of you die, big sister Ruri and big brother Haruki."