The test: Part 3

Slowly, I picked Natsuki up and carried her over to the house's frame and laid her down on the floor. She had passed out in the short time she was in my arms and wasn't looking like she'd wake for hours. In the distance I could see Alce standing. It looked like she was inspecting the crater from the arrow. My body had frozen from the pain in my knee and chest. My vision had started to grow blurry and unfocused as more blood escaped my body.

"I must say. I was surprised when you two pulled off that arrow but, I am highly disappointed that you were beaten so quickly. Even if she's an expert in her fighting style I still expected you to do better," Alce said, now sitting me down.

"When the hell did you get over here?" I asked, struggling to stay awake.

"You can be quite fast and powerful and yet you still don't take the time to gauge your opponents. Even then, you still don't quite understand everything about you or your weapon," She said as she pulled a book from a bag on her back.

"What is that?" I asked faintly as she set it down.

"It's a book full of information as to how to harness both your power and Natsuki's power." She said while reaching back into the bag.

"Why help me? Doesn't that just put your goal further away?" I asked.

"That is true, but I have a feeling like you'll make my life interesting. Besides, I only want that girl dead, I'd prefer you survive." She explained while pulling out medical equipment.

"If you're going to help me then you also have to help her. That will be the only condition I will give for the two of us to ever get along." I demanded. Alce froze for a second before looking over at Natsuki.

"Accept helping her? I have been hunting her for so long that neither of us will ever accept each other." Alce said, looking over at me.

"Then I'm afraid that all we will ever be is rivals and enemies." I said, trying to stand up. I failed at standing up and fell onto the floor.

"So you would rather die than accept help from someone who doesn't like someone you do? I swear I'll never understand why you try so hard for her. Y'all aren't dating or family so why do you go so far?" Alce asked, picking me back up.

"We are not dating, that much you have correct. However, she is family to me and I have no intentions of leaving her to die." I replied.

"No matter what the question as to why, you can still give an answer as if you had time to think about it beforehand." Alce said while she started to remove my pants.

"It looks like she got your leg pretty damn good." She said, inspecting the wound.

Slowly, she wiped the blood from around the wound. It was so numb that I couldn't feel when she bent my knee. Once most of the blood was out of the way, she cleaned the wound using some water from the river. Once the water had cleared from the wound and it was ready to be closed, Natsuki started to wake up.

"What the hell is going on here? You want us dead yet you refuse to let us die." She said, climbing to her feet.

"Correction, I want you dead, not him." Alce said, looking Natsuki in the eyes.

"That still doesn't explain why you are helping him." Natsuki said as her hand started to burst into flames.

"If you are looking to fight then I'll be happy to end this right here and now." Alce said while setting my leg down and standing up.

"Both of you, cut the shit already. If she's willing to give us some help then it doesn't hurt to accept. However, fighting in this condition is already a mistake." I told Natsuki.

She growled for a second while clutching her fists tightly. Fire started to erupt from her as she thought through what I said.

"Fine." She growled. Her fire started to calm down, as she walked over.

"I can handle the wound from here. Thanks for cleaning it." Natsuki said while heating her hand back up.

"Good luck to you Derek. I hope that you survive past this week." Alce said before turning to smoke. Natsuki was still smoking from the heat and the floor beneath was singed.

"I will never understand that woman nor do I think the two of us could ever get along. You however, need something done about your wound." She said, crouching down next to me.

I could still feel the heat of her anger boiling out. Slowly, she started to close the wound. Once the wound was closed she sat there for a moment.

"Do you mind if I lay on you?" She asked.

"You can lay on me, but no further than that. Any further and it would be weird." I replied.

A smile quickly jumped across her face as she fell over into my lap. She was out in the blink of an eye. I reached over to the book that Alce had left and pulled it to me. It was wrapped in a black cloth that looked old and worn. Unwrapping the cloth revealed two, very old books. The book on top was a personal journal about Alce's experiences with how to use her soul. The second was a straight guide book that the first was based from. I started with the guide book as to better understand the journal.

For the rest of the sun's light I read the book. However, about two hours in I found myself dozing off and eventually fell asleep on top of Nat. "It will always surprise me at just how well those two always work. It's funny, he sees her as family but they seem closer than that." Alce said, sitting in a tree across the river.

"You're not lying. Those two seem to have some kind of bond but he refuses to see her as a romantic partner. She seems to just like that kind of attention though." Rosel replied while cleaning her ax.

"How long do you think?" Alce asked.

"How long till what? How long they survive? How long they stay together? Or how about how long till they actually get together?" Rosel questioned. Alce smirked while chuckling silently.

"Till he gives in and just stops. This isn't the life he wants but it's the life he's living right now. He also knows that it's possible to leave this life behind so how long till he wants his life back?" Alce replied. Rosel looked at her for a moment before realizing something was off.

"What are you planning?" Rosel demanded. Alce stayed silent for a moment.

"Oh nothing much. It's just a little scheme to make him just want to leave." Alce replied.

"A little scheme? Just want to leave? Alce, you aren't planning to try and use your body are you!" Rosel exploded.

"Calm down. One night won't change much if nothing happens, but it wouldn't be too hard to rope him in. Why, you want in on it too?" Alce offered while smiling.

"You really would go for an underhanded trick like that. I don't want anything to do with it. Though I highly doubt it will change him much. You can't make him miss something like that when he already has her. Whether he wants her like that or not, it won't work." Rosel replied. "It'll be more than just a night, let's just say some magic will be going on." Alce said. Rosel shook her head out of disappointment and disapproval.

"You can do what you want but if you don't want to listen, that's on you. All that will come of this is that you'll be the one affected." She said before walking off.

"I think it'll work in my favor so you can just think what you want." Alce said to herself.

We were both out till around sunset. Despite Natsuki falling asleep first, I woke up before her. I shook her a few times but she didn't wake. "Oh yeah, I forgot that I was reading before I fell asleep." I said to myself when I noticed the books sitting to my side.

I picked it back up before deciding that it wasn't time to read. Slowly, I wrapped the books back in the black cloth and set them to the side. I slid Natsuki to the side and stood up. Looking around, not a single animal was in sight. I knew we were both starting to get hungry but, without Natsuki we had nothing to aid in hunting or building. I stood there for a moment thinking of what to do when I thought of some rocks that were at the bottom of the river. I slowly made my way to the river and took off my shirt. Looking at my reflection in the river I noticed something that I hadn't seen before. I was covered in scars and bruises. I took a deep breath in before I finally jumped in. I quickly swam to the bottom and grabbed as many rocks as I could hold before pushing off the ground to swim up. I climbed onto the river side and looked into my hands. I successfully grabbed around 10 stones. They were smooth but could easily be shaped into a fine point. I walked over to where we had cleaned the trees for wood and grabbed a branch. It took a moment to clear a vine so I could use it as a lashing. I managed to slowly make a spear and an ax. Though they were crude, they would work for their intended purpose. I went back over to the riverside and started to spear fish. I kept at it till around midnight when the light had disappeared. I had caught around 20 fish before the light was gone. Walking back over to the house I saw Natsuki awake.

"I was starting to worry that you abandoned me." She said while smirking.

"Abandon you? Why would I ever do that?" I joked while advancing to the house.

When I got close enough Natsuki pounced off the house's platform into me. She ended up tackling me to the ground causing the fish to go flying. Looking over, she was in tears and was squeezing me tighter than ever. I put my arm over her back and held her tight before starting to stand back up. With Natsuki in my left hand, I started to pick up all the fish I could find. Carefully, I placed the fish on the platform before climbing onto it with Natsuki in my hand. She was still squeezing and crying with her head buried in my chest. She stayed latched for nearly an hour straight before finally calming down. Once she was finally back to normal she cooked the fish and we ate for the first time in the day.

"Three days left." Natsuki said with tears in her eyes.

"You're right. Three days to learn how to kick ass. I think we have good odds." I assured.

"You're wrong, they are way ahead of us. We don't stand even a small chance." She replied sorrowfully.

"I know the odds don't look good, I know all hope seems gone, and I damn sure know just how this fight will probably go but, we still stand a chance. It's not a large chance but it's a chance." I replied, trying to calm her down. At first the attempt seemed meaningless, but after a minute of contemplation she stood up.

"All right then. If we have a chance at surviving then we need to make it as large as possible. First thing is first, we have to he-." I stopped her,

"We don't have time to heal. Three days won't change anything about our wounds. We'll just have to fight through the pain and train. We can't babystep it if we want to have even a slightly larger chance." Natsuki had a look on her face that I had never seen before.

Worry? No, I've seen that already. Sorrow? No, I've seen that too. Anger maybe? No, she would be quite literally exploding with rage. This could only be one thing, a broken resolve coming back. She stood there for a moment before finally speaking again.

"So, you want to just forget about the fact that we nearly died in a few seconds and just move ahead?" She asked. Her voice was unnaturally menacing.

"We don't have much of a choice in the matter. We don't have time to dwell on anything so we just have to continue to forge ahead." I replied. She closed her eyes for a moment before a sudden rush of power fell over me.

"If you think you're ready, then there's no point in holding back." She stated as her eyes changed to a more fiery red.

"Her mere presence would be enough to kill a person, what chance do I have?" I thought to myself.

"Ok then, all out it will be. No more holding anything in." I told her, while standing up.

The force of her presence was heavy making it nearly impossible to stand so force was the only way to get up. I had gotten stronger through my training with Alce but nothing could have made me imagine the horrifying strength that Natsuki possessed. For the first few moments I couldn't even think of how to approach her. Any time she closed the gap, one hit was all it took for me to go flying. Around a minute into the fight I had finally found an opening and dogged her initial strike. My first strike of the match to her was just under her ribs at her side. Her body felt like hitting a tree, if the tree also felt like a furnace. She quickly kicked me away before rubbing the spot I had hit. Every time she connected with her hits it felt like a truck had slammed into me. Standing back up, I could feel every hit she had landed but forced myself to stay standing. I lost focus for a second allowing her to close the distance yet again. Quickly, I closed my fist and struck hers. Her strength still far exceeds mine causing me to spin backwards. I quickly struggled back to my feet while dodging as many of her attacks as possible. While dodging, I failed to keep the environment in mind and backed into a tree. With no way out, I quickly forced myself to hit the side of her arm out of the way causing her to hit the tree instead of me. A massive explosion could be heard as her fist created a massive hole in the tree.

"That strike was meant to kill!" I yelled in my head.

Before she could recover I punched as hard as I could while aiming for her head. A sharp pain flowed through my fist as the hit landed but this time it actually did something. She staggered a few steps to the side while holding the side of her face. Quickly, another rush of even heavier force came over me. Under her feet the ground was scorched and her body was burning in an inferno. I felt the ground shake when she dashed forward at me, leaving behind a crater. Before I could think, a sharp pain entered my ribs as I went flying into a tree.

"So she wasn't even going all out? I guess that's a titan for you." I thought to myself knowing just how dead I probably was.

The tree started to fall when I realized that she had destroyed the bottom. Before I could get crushed, I rushed to the other side of the tree. Upon the tree hitting the ground Natsuki pounced me off the tree and to the ground. Her body was burning hot, scorching me in every place she touched. We slammed onto the ground, nearly killing me. Quickly, she raised her fist into the air and a similar feeling came over me.

"Too weak! I'm still too weak! I won't die here! I can't die here!" I yelled in my head.

My life blinked and I no longer felt anything. Finally, she brought her fist down onto me. With my eyes closed, I moved my hand catching the hit. At first Natsuki was confused and scared. Slowly, my eyes opened back up. The eyes that were there were not the same as mine. They were now black with a red center.

"So you are a demon." Natsuki said as I stood up with her fist in hand.

Quickly, I pulled her arm to my side, sending her flying behind me. Upon landing, she stopped herself on the ground before releasing her full terrifying power. The ground was starting to crack and the area around her became engulfed in flames. She had turned into a walking supernova. In the blink of an eye, I dashed at her getting behind her. Before she could turn around, I kicked her in the side sending her flying into the river. Her shear power evaporated all the water that even came close to her. Quickly, I dashed into the river with her.

"So, you really do just let yourself go. You're no better than me." She said as I slowly approached her.

With every step from both of us, the ground shook. In a blink, we clashed with each other. The resulting energy created a massive crater in the river under our feet. I struggled to overpower Natsuki but I managed to get my leg between us and kicked her into the riverbed creating another scare to the land. The moment my feet touched the ground I dashed back at Natsuki and kicked her into the air. I jumped up to her and kicked her back to the ground. Quickly, I dashed back at her the moment I got to the ground. Right as I was about to punch, she did the same causing us to clash. Slowly, Natsuki was starting to win as my eyes started to close. The second my power waned, she gained the upper hand, sending me flying in the other direction. Slowly, the black resigned back to white and the red cleared out. The pain started to flow over me and so did the fatigue from the fight.

"I think we can call this one a draw." Natsuki declared before falling over next to me.

"Yeah, you look like you just went through all the rings of hell yourself." I chuckled before falling unconscious.