The Adventurer Exam
Back in the present, Kanami was one of many examinees who had come to take the Adventurer Exam today. They were a mixed crowd, from teenagers to grown men, and they filled the main hall with nervous noise.
Kanami sat alone near the wall.
The hall was nothing like the backstreets he came from. The walls were thick and white, built from tightly packed stone cubes. Above him, the ceiling glittered with gems of every color and shape, and in its center a mosaic panel poured light over everyone below. He took in every detail, and he didn't realize he was staring until someone slapped his shoulder.
"Hey! Can you hear me? Hey, you!"
Kanami flinched and turned. A boy about his age was grinning at him. He was of average height, with yellow hair and a smile far too big for a room this tense.
"Don't be so nervous. This is your first time, right?" The boy held out his hand. "I'm Lux. Nice to meet you."
Kanami hesitated, then shook it. "Kanami."
"Don't worry, Kanami. The exam isn't that hard." Lux leaned closer, as if sharing a secret. "You just need to win the masters' recognition. They're the elite of the guild. It tests your skills, your strength, and whether you're ready for the outside world." His eyes shone. "I've never left my village. I want to see everything out there with my own eyes. I'm not going to settle for what people say is true. So let's both do our best."
Kanami didn't know what to say. Nobody in the backstreets had ever talked to him like that, with no angle and no price. Maybe this place isn't so bad. The thought loosened something small in his chest.
Then the speakers crackled, and a guild worker's voice rolled across the hall.
"Attention, all examinees. The first exam begins now. Head to Arena One. Master Rien is waiting, so don't keep him long."
Chairs scraped. The hall filled with the clatter of boots and armor.
The first exam was combat. Each examinee wore three pieces of armor: a helmet, a chestplate, and arm guards. Each piece changed color as it took damage, from green to yellow and finally red. The rule was simple. Survive five minutes without letting all three pieces turn red.
Arena One was an old colosseum, built in the age of the kingdoms for entertainment. Now the guild used it for training. Its stands were weathered, its stone floor was scarred, and Kanami felt the weight of old battles in it.
He was first in line.
The special fabric of the armor pressed stiffly against his skin, and he couldn't get comfortable in it. He walked down the tunnel toward the arena, and cold air filled his lungs. His pulse picked up.
A real fight against a real warrior in this world.
His last fight had been about survival, and the memory of it still sat at the back of his mind. This one was different. For the first time, he could fight without fearing a brutal death. He realized he was looking forward to it, and that surprised him.
A man was waiting in the center of the arena, wearing the same armor. He smiled warmly, as though they'd met before.
"Nice to see a new face. We expected fewer examinees this year. The monsters have been getting more aggressive lately, and fewer people are willing to leave the city walls." He tilted his head. "I'm glad you came. You can just call me Rien. What's your name?"
Kanami froze.
He hadn't prepared a fake name. In the back of his mind he'd planned to hide who he was, but the words wouldn't come. He swallowed.
"Nice to meet you, Master Rien. My name is..." He paused. There's nothing to hide here. I can just be honest. "My name is Kanami."
"Kanami?" Rien raised an eyebrow. "What an unusual name. Well, let's begin. There's only one rule: a five-minute timer, and the fewer red pieces you finish with, the better. There are levels, but we can talk about that after the exam." He tapped his chestplate. "I'm wearing the same armor, by the way. I want to test myself, too."
He drew a silver sword with a firm, practiced grip and settled into his stance.
"Ready? Actually, I forgot to ask. Which weapon do you use? Or do you fight with a style?"
Kanami slid into his own stance. Out of nowhere, a long black weapon appeared in his hands, golden silk ribbons fluttering in the wind around it.
"Oh," he said lightly. "My bad. I forgot."
Rien stood still, his eyes locked on the blade in Kanami's hands.
"I've never seen a weapon summon itself," he said slowly. "Is that your family's trigger? And why is it so black? I can't even tell what it is."
Kanami didn't answer. He gripped the hilt with both hands. The air went cold. A black, faceless mask crept over his face, and the world narrowed to a thin slit.
Then the fight began.
Rien moved first. His sword came in steady and precise, every step measured. No wasted motion. He wasn't playing around, and he never planned to.
Kanami read it in a heartbeat. The one who waits for the first blow is the one who loses.
He lunged, a fast, light thrust aimed straight at Rien's head. Rien tilted away, and the blade only cut air. His counter came right behind it, low and vicious, going for Kanami's hand.
Kanami didn't retreat. He let the weapon vanish.
His empty hand closed into a fist. His knuckles cracked against Rien's jaw, and Rien's head snapped sideways. A kick to the ribs followed, and the two of them flew apart, boots scraping across the stone.
Dust drifted between them. Kanami's hand stung. Good. That meant it landed.
The first hit was his.
Rien spat to the side and let out a short laugh. "That was unexpected. Isn't it cheating to use your power like that, Kanami? I was planning to go easy on you." His eyes sharpened. "And you didn't even use your weapon. Don't look down on us, boy."
He drew a second sword. Its blade was dark purple, and as Kanami watched, an orange glow crept along the edge like fire spreading through paper.
Something shifted in the arena. The crowd went quiet.
Rien vanished.
Kanami called his weapon back. Dark matter coiled around it, thick enough to hide the edge, so no one could track where it would strike. He jumped.
A mistake. In the air he had nowhere to go, and Rien saw it. With a blade in each hand, he spun and drove his heel into Kanami's body, fast enough to blur.
Then Kanami's blade stopped.
Not blocked. Stopped. It hung in the air as if the air itself had caught it. No clash, no sound, no reason.
Rien didn't care. He kept the kick coming.
Rien's weight was already committed. Kanami didn't dodge. He let it come.
The kick slammed into his chest, and his armor flashed green. Rien smiled, because it was exactly what he'd expected.
The smile died.
Pain hit him like a wall, huge and sudden, from nowhere. His breath broke.
And Kanami's blade, still falling, picked up where it left off. It was aimed at Rien's right shoulder.
Rien threw up his silver sword. Too late. It shattered the instant they met, and shards scattered across the floor like falling glass. His armor flared yellow.
He stared at the empty hilt in his hand. The blade he'd carried for twenty years was gone in a heartbeat.
Two minutes had passed. Three still remained.
Rien stood in the dust with a broken hilt in his hand, and for the first time in years he didn't look amused. Across from him, Kanami swayed, one hand pressed to his chest.
"I never expected this," Rien said. "A teacher, a master of this style, struggling against a boy who isn't even in the guide yet." He tossed the hilt aside. It clattered across the stone. "Sorry, Kanami. I'm done acting like a master. Time to fight like a man. I love being pushed to my limits."
Kanami forced a grin, and his voice came out light, almost playful. "Careful, Master. Everyone's watching. Are you scared?" He tightened his grip. "Neither of us has used his full power yet. Let's go. These next three minutes will decide whether I'm worthy."
The wind changed.
Rien began to fade, edges first, then his outline, until the breeze seemed to carry him away. Fog rolled across the arena and swallowed both of them. The crowd's whispers died.
Kanami ran.
He circled blind through the white, blade held low. A whistle, thin and sharp. He threw himself sideways, and a slash of wind tore past his ear and split the stone where he'd stood.
Another. He barely dodged it. His lungs burned.
Rien kept moving somewhere in the fog, sending slash after slash. One clean hit would cost Kanami a limb, and both of them knew it.
So Kanami stopped running.
He planted his feet and swung. The first slash broke against his blade and scattered in pieces. The second twisted and warped as he cut through it. Each impact shook his arms down to the bone.
The air itself felt heavy now, pressing on both of them. Rien's wind and Kanami's dark matter ground against each other, and the fog began to tear. They were both reaching their limits, and neither would be the first to admit it.
Where is he? If Kanami could just learn where the attacks were coming from, he could solve this. But the slashes came from everywhere.
His defense was wearing down.
Rien's strikes grew sharper, faster, more precise. Professional. A cut opened on Kanami's shoulder. Another on his thigh. Blood dripped from his fingers and spattered the stone, one drop at a time.
Losing. The thought was cold and clear.
Then Kanami heard something.
Click. It was so faint that only Kanami could hear it, a soft mechanical sound like gears turning in the air. Click. Click.
He closed his eyes.
The arena disappeared. The crowd, the fog, and the pain all fell away, and only the sound remained. He didn't know where Rien was. Not exactly. But he knew the fog couldn't hide everything.
He stepped forward and brought his blade down on the ground itself. The stone split into thin slabs, and with one sweep he sent them flying into the white.
Somewhere in the fog, Rien saw them coming and smiled. Clever. The slabs would mark his position the moment they struck him. So he raised his blade to cut them down and let the pieces fall harmlessly, leaving no trace of where he stood.
But the slabs never fell.
They stopped.
Every slab hung in the air, frozen where it was, as if time had caught them. Rien's cut met nothing. Kanami had done to the stone what he'd done to his own blade.
Rien's smile faded.
He doesn't know where I am. The thought came slowly, and then all at once. The slabs aren't a trap. They're a wall. He's hiding behind them and daring me to move.
If Rien attacked from the side, he'd give himself away. If he waited, the timer would end, and the master would be the one who looked weak.
On the other side of the wall, Kanami opened his eyes. He couldn't see Rien either. But he could feel him, a pressure behind the stone, like someone holding his breath.
Neither of us can see. So we don't have to.
Kanami let his weapon vanish. His empty hand closed into a fist.
Rien dropped his blade, and the sword rang against the floor.
For one heartbeat, nothing moved.
Then both of them struck.
Kanami's fist slammed through the gap between two frozen slabs, aimed at the place where Rien's face should be. At the same instant, Rien's fist came out of the white, aimed at the place where Kanami's face should be. They didn't see each other. They only guessed.
Crack.
Both blows landed. Kanami's head snapped back, and blood filled his mouth. On the other side, Rien's armor flashed yellow, and the slabs between them shattered and fell like glass.
They stood a step apart, bleeding and breathing hard, fists still raised. For the first time, they could see each other clearly.
Rien laughed through the pain. "Well. That was stupid."
Kanami grinned back with red teeth. "Yeah."
Somewhere above them, the timer ran out.