Just as Kilian was about to get closer, Haruo pulled the trigger once more; This time, he didn't fly all across the field, and he stayed firm and connected to the ground.
Large sums of energy radiated from the blast created by the gun, greedily devouring the ground as if a monster was nearly starved to death with its ration being nothing but the ground itself, leaving nothing behind but the damage it had done.
"That gun was the most useful and effective thing he had ever invented."
Kilian had dodged the attack by jumping up into the air, just enough for his hair to graze, and with zero difficulty, too. He performed a perfect backflip and landed quite softly on the ground.
He would then continue to twist his body to the side, allowing the short blade and the wielder to pass right by him. Ena could only click her tongue as she prepared to redirect her attack toward Kilian.
"One of the inventions, I actually acknowledged."
He spoke, before stopping Ena's trajectory, by placing his palm on her forearm. Kilian then pulled her arm with great force, forcing her to be in front of him. He changed his posture back to face Haruo and grasped the back of Ena's head before pushing it toward the gun.
Haruo momentarily stopped his finger from pulling the trigger, just inches away from tearing Ena's skull open.
Ena gritted her teeth and placed her hand on the chamber of Haruo's gun and pushed it to her side to face Kilian.
With the path now cleared, Haruo had shot one more time. This time, Kilian didn't bother to dodge, but instead placed his hand in front of the gun. The bullet was persistent, but it wasn't enough to pierce through Kilian's skin.
The energy went everywhere, sprinkling like water getting blocked by a finger or a flat surface. Rays of the energy went toward Ena's torso, frying her intestines and burning her, turning her pearl-like skin slowly to ashes.
"He always bragged about this gun, to the point where I'd get irritated each time…"
After the energy dissolved, no harm was done except cleaning his hand of any dirt. He was completely fine, no bruises, injuries, or blood; he remained the same way he was earlier. The same couldn't be said of Ena.
Blood poured out of her mouth and wounds as she rolled to the side, next to Haruo.
"How did it work again…? Oh, right, it transforms grip strength into energy."
He raised his hand upward and let it fall to where Haruo was sitting. With death getting closer as Kilian's hand descended, he grabbed Ena and sprinted away while she healed her own wounds.
"Who fucking talks this much in a fight…?" Ena said, her voice raspy as she knelt close to Haruo.
"Not sure if you can even call this fight," Kilian said, leaning closer while standing firm behind them. "Not to mention, I'm pretty fast, so all your attacks are nothing but boring to me."
He then threw a kick at Ena's wound, sending her flying before grabbing Haruo's collar and throwing him toward Ena to accelerate her flight further.
"The only thing that's fun to do right now is talk to you brats." He laughed. "Well, that and kicking you guys around."
"You asshole!"
The once lush field around them had turned to something less than ash. It's beautiful green grass turned into a battlefield, no different from those you would find in wars. Nothing but dirt and soil scattered around the place, burying the blood of both Haruo and Ena.
There is still some, but most had turned gray, no more life to be found, with only their corpses visible.
Those same gray grass slowly turned to light blue, turning stiff like a rock before it crumbled and fell to the ground. The color began to spread not only on the grass but also on the soil and earth, slowly infecting the place like a virus.
"So you aren't afraid of using your ability, which makes me wonder why you're only using it now."
"That's none of your concern."
Frost slowly began to spread through the handle of Haruo's sword, not only his weapon but his body as well.
Haruo took a steady breath, changing his grip on his sword, and launched it toward Kilian. Like always, he effortlessly weaved his head to the side and dodged it. He turned his head to gaze at the sword, and there he met his reflection—specifically his eyes.
He smirked at the sight while he awaited the spike made of ice that the sword unleashed. He caught it mid-growth and crushed the ice with his bare grip.
The icicle shattered into tiny pieces, falling on the ground along with the sword.
"Just because you redirected my attention to your blade, it will make me lose my guard, right?"
Kilian spoke, his smug smile still in the same place it usually is. That was when he decided to meet Haruo's gaze, only for his smile to grow wider as he saw him pointing his gun at him, gripping the handle with all he had.
There, Haruo took another shot, the bullet racing toward him. Kilian then threw an Ice shard he got from crushing Haruo's attack. The shard outpaced the bullet and pierced through it like a butter knife. The shard came into contact with the gun, the force making Haruo's arm fling upwards.
"You're using it quite a lot, aren't you?"
Kilian didn't stop whatsoever; he stomped his feet lightly on the ground, making the sword behind him spring up to his waist. Because of this, Ena's blade was interrupted. He grabbed the sword by the handle and turned to Ena slowly while she tried to slash him, just for him to deflect it.
Ena quickened herself and pulled her arm back, but to no avail, he deflected it once again. She shot her blade at him, but the same thing always happened: either dodging it or blocking it entirely.
"Don't you guys ever get tired of doing the same moves? Like you tried to backstab me two or three times already."
The same repetitive thing they kept trying, even when they mixed it up, he was always a step, no, but entire planets away ahead of them. He would anticipate an attack even before they threw it.
Kilian changed the grip of his sword, making it extend, before blocking Haruo's attack from behind. Whilst Kilian was fighting Ena, Haruo snuck behind him and launched himself diagonally, using the flying short blade that Ena threw as his substitute blade.
"See? Even you did." He said before tilting his sword slightly, making Haruo slide with the blade, and went in Ena's direction.
Just as the blade was closing in, Ena made a partial bubble in front of her, blocking the attack before it could land.
"How about… three more minutes, then let's call it a day."
***
An hour has passed—more time wasted than Kilian originally promised.
The duo looked incredibly disheveled in all physical aspects, which might also include mental ones. Their own blood drenched both, and even more so with Ena's ability scattered around the large field.
"Honestly, I'm impressed," Kilian remarked, not an ounce of sweat or scratch in sight. "I never knew someone could ever speak so many insults and curse words while fighting. Any plans on going rapping?"
"Considering how you're acting like this, the possibility that you're collecting attention because your parents never gave you becomes higher."
"Raise your head a bit, I can't hear you with your mouth full of blood."
"I wonder what went wrong in the womb when creating you."
Every time Ena ridiculed Kilian, he would just ignore it or use it as a comeback to irritate her even more. And with each word, their exchange naturally began to rise. It was surprising to Haruo, really, not because of their words.
But because Ena hadn't caught sight of what Kilian was doing to her, it was easy to understand what Kilian was doing; he was enraging her for his own entertainment.
"How long are you going to keep irritating her for? Don't we have a test to get to?"
Kilian only chuckled at his statement. "I guess you're right."
With a snap of his fingers, the whole area around them shifted and began to reform itself back to its original state. The scattered dirt around them began returning to its rightful place, and the pale grass slowly regained its lively color. As for the ones that were evaporated or turned to dust, they were replaced.
The injuries that were inflicted upon them were instantly gone as if they had never been injured in the first place.
"You guys are more than enough to qualify for the test, maybe too much in fact. So no need to worry."
"How long does it even last?"
"Not that long, about a day or two. But there are times when it can extend for a whole week, but that itself is as far as it can go.
Also, considering that you have the monarch - 13, just think of it as an easy pass."
"What about me!? Don't you think it's a bit unfair that he gets a cool-ass weapon while I'm stuck here with dull knives!"
"I've already prepared something for you, since you don't have a main weapon."
Kilian reached deep into his mana storage with his whole forearm. He searched until something finally crossed paths with his palm. Without wasting another second, he took out his hand and threw the object toward Ena.
Reacting to his throw, Ena caught the object that he threw. She gazed at it, with a face so disappointed she didn't even try to make a face.
"These are just large blocks."
In her hands were two rectangular blocks, the size of her forearm. The color was stale, so stale that she couldn't tell the difference between this and an average grey brick. She took a deep breath before raising her entire arm, then launched it forward toward Kilian.
Midway through, she paused and felt a slight pulse on her palms.
The pulse radiated from her palm through her body as if analyzing her. The strange pulse continued for ten seconds before it finally stopped. The blocks in her hand began to shift, changing their form in front of Ena's eyes.
Time seemed to have slowed down in Ena's vision; she saw the blocks themselves as something sharp. Her grip became smaller, easier to hold. Then, two blades were formed right in her hands.
Two daggers that had the length of her forearm and the width of a wrist, the sides were sharp and the fronts were thin.
"It's been a while since I saw that, too, probably since the valence happened."
"Wow, just earlier I was so disappointed because you gave me two blocks… Now I'm even more disappointed."
"Glad you like it, that thing no longer had any use for me anyway."
"Glad my ass! This is just a regular blade!"
"You'd be surprised at how many things that 'regular blade' can do. That thing nearly got me killed in my younger years."
"Well, if you don't want it, I can just give it to Haruo."
Ena's face contorted, hearing the words coming from his mouth. Without another thought, she pressed the blades closer to herself while shaking her gently.
"I never said I didn't want it, I was just pointing things out."
"Glad we're on the same page, since you accepted it, looks like we can continue to our destination now."
***
Kilian took them inside his manor, and there they found it quite spacious, as big as the palace, as it seemed. Many unfamiliar sights, but at the same time, many recognizable ones can be spotted just in the lobby alone.
Both futuristic and medieval elements overlap with one another, and many unusual items were scattered around the place; one of the more noticeable ones being a strangely shaped sheathed sword, as big as a door, neatly placed in an isolated wall with no furniture.
Many technologies can be seen, too, but not enough to be eye-catching; it was quite noticeable.
It was pure chaos everywhere, but other than the usual or foreign elements, the overall structure of the manor remained neutral.
"This place is almost as eccentric as you," Haruo said.
"Well, there's not much reason to hide my things, just me and Su-nae are here anyway," Kilian replied.
"You guys don't have servants?"
"None."
"What if intruders invade?"
"They can try, but they'll soon realize that this place isn't that easy to break into. And let's say they do get in, well, too bad for them."
They followed him through the foreign walls and engaged in small talk with Kilian, but each time, it resulted in them becoming even more confused. Overall, they stopped talking to him, knowing the wrong information might turn them feral for all they knew.
After what felt like an hour of exploring, they finally reached the destination where Kilian intended for them to go. The only thing standing between them was a door.
Even before entering, they felt a huge amount of energy seeping through the door's cracks and making its way to their skin—a similar feeling to when a person would touch snow.
Kilian turned the knob and pushed the door open, welcoming them to an open area; it wasn't that large, but it wasn't small either. At the end of the room stood a door-like structure with an arched opening. The arc was made of pure chiseled stone, with delicate runes integrated onto it.
The arc was glowing a blueish color that almost looked transparent. It was the physical manifestation of mana, magic—more specifically, a condensed form of ana that held many attributes.
"A portal? The test takes place on another planet?"
"We recently claimed a new planet, a very intricate one with past human activity. About two hundred years ago."
"How old are you to think that two hundred years ago is recent?" Ena said.
"More than a thousand, if I recall."
The portal hummed as they spoke, sending off a wave of energy across the whole room.
"It's about time we go in… I'll go in first, go inside once you're ready."
Kilian walked with a calm expression. As he entered the portal, his whole body began to disappear. It wasn't long before his body was immersed in the portal, disappearing from the room completely, leaving Haruo and Ena behind.
Ena blinked as Kilian's figure disappeared. She turned her body to the door and began to walk away. But before she could leave the room, Haruo grabbed her at the back of her collar, stopping her in her tracks.
"Ow! Hey, if you're going to stop me, be more polite about it!"
"Knowing you, being "polite" to you is practically a ticket to doing whatever you want. Where are you even going?"
"I'd appreciate it if you let go of my collar first!"
At her request, Haruo removed his grip from her collar, allowing her neck to breathe again. She turned to look at Haruo while fixing her throat. Haruo raised his eyebrow, expecting her to answer.
"You're actually following orders from that guy!? He's messed up in the head; he quite literally beat us up for hours using "Reviewing" as an excuse!"
"Didn't you hear what he said yesterday?"
—As per the contract, the contractees must follow my orders and obey them without hesitation. Failure to obey a single order will be punished as severely as getting tasered, to your soul—being extinguished.
"We don't really have a choice but to comply with him, now that we are contracted to him."
"So what? He said to enter when we're ready anyway, that just means we can stay here the whole day before the test is finally over."
"Seriously?"
"I. Don't. Care. And with that, I'll use MY time to pick a room."
Haruo only rolled his eyes, taking a deep breath before deciding to walk into the portal without Ena.
"Don't tell me you're actually going! Who knows what might be on the other side of that portal!"
Haruo only ignored her comments and continued to the light. Slowly, his body followed the same disappearance Kilian experienced. He was gone as well, leaving Ena alone.
"Ugh, seriously!?"
Without another word, she stepped closer to the portal, her mind filled with doubts as she assessed it. She hesitated, placing her hand forward, but not into the portal, but close enough to see her hand glowing.
Out of nowhere, she felt a strange pull from the portal. Her face was confused for a moment before taking a step back. Then again, she felt the pull, much stronger than the last; she planted her foot on the floor, keeping herself in place.
Before she knew it, she was dragged into the portal with a choice, leaving only the hums in the room present.