Kurai and Barghest traversed until they reached the floor. A grass land laid under their feet, a wonderfully blue sky above them, nothing out of the ordinary to anyone who had lived in the real world for a time.
Matsumi was already looking to the distance, trying to find a door, an enemy, or really anything. Each floor had done something different, so he was expecting anything now.
Kurai looked not to far in the distance. There were horses lined up to the side of them. She pointed outwards.
"Look. There's a bunch of horses. Looks like we have to ride or something along those lines."
"What are horses doing here?"
"…I suppose it's some kind of trial…I imagine we must use them to get to the next floor…It could be a conditional or it could be some kind of test."
"Alright, I'll get one!"
Matsumi approached the line of horses, stopping right next to one and putting his hand on it for balance before attempting to jump on its back.
Kurai followed Matsumi's lead. She jumped on top of the horses back landing perfectly. She rested and rubbed its head, smiling.
"Horseback riding was one of my favorite things growing up…I can help you if you want."
"I've never done it before, but it can't be that hard. How do you make it go?"
"It depends on if they're trained or not…If they're wild it may be difficult…but naturally because my Tokubetsu has to do with horses I may have more of a connection..since the flow of mana is passive. Maybe you could try doing something with your mana if it's not willing to follow you and your orders."
"Your tokubetsu is about horses?! What is it? Oh, right, you can't tell me. Stupid rule."
He turned his attention to the horse, placing both his hands on the back of its neck.
"Now, go!"
Kurai took off into the wind as the horse ran through the valley. A black crow followed her as she moved, matching her speed as it left a red trail of energy, an indicator that the crow was using its ability. Kurai could scope the area out with her Tokūbetsu
"I feel signs of life!"
Barghest didn't even bother with the horse. Largely due to the fact that her vessel was too small to control the horse to the degree that she would like, and she would miscalculate her strength and harm it. That wasn't in her best interest. She flew along side Kurai.
"Matsumi! Hurry up!"
"This stupid horse won't go! Hurry up, you darn-!"
Before he could finish his sentence, the horse suddenly exploded forward, almost making Matsumi bite his tongue. He'd catch up after a few seconds.
"This is bad…It seems like Mana is closing in on us from every direction…"
Barghest stuck her hand out and held Matsumi's horse so that it wouldn't run him out of the area.
"What do you mean closing in? Is the floor shrinking?"
"The opposite. It feels as if multiple sources are closing in on us..Making it hard to search for anyone else's energy…"
"You think it's more students?"
He tried to look into the distance.
"Don't be foolish. There's too many energy signatures for it to be the students. It's something else entirely…They have the mana of a beast."
His eyes lit up.
"Really?! Maybe it's bigger than last time! Come on, let's go to it!"
"I don't know if that's a great idea matsumi, It's not like the other times. Remember that the power level increases on each level, even at its lowest ones."
"Well, what if it's the trial? We'd have to go see it anyway."
"Matsumi I have an idea….but I need you to be ready."
"Hm? What?"
"While we're here I might as well train you a bit on the basics. You already know the flash step which, at its core is a very good thing…but the Flash step when mastered by the highest people can be used omnidirectionally, meaning you can double or triple your flash steps while simultaneously changing directions. If you get some air by jumping you can use the flash step and knock the earth between us and the source, enough for us to send a warning toward them. They may back off if they feel the large surge of energy you can output."
"A flash step in the air? Hey, that sounds sick! I wanna try!"
"If you can send a wave of energy out we may be able to get off here scott free. You're going to have to do a hell of a jump.."
"That's something he's experienced in. The movement of the body. Why don't you give it a try Matsumi?"
"Oh, I'll do a jump, hold on to your pants!"
Matsumi hopped down from the horse, the second he touched the ground he was already moving in the direction of the energy. With every step his momentum grew more and more, much faster than usual. He started to jump in between steps, each jump getting higher and higher, he did this four times before focusing his mana to his feet.
His imperfect flash step had already become something he grew quite accustomed to, using it to give him an incredible boost in his leaping ability. He soared high into the air, high enough to be able to clear a building.
"Woah!"
He briefly looked down to see how high he had just jumped, and still he was rising from the force of it. He looked to the front, things with mana were just getting better and better for him.
Matsumi spun around in the air, pulling his legs close for a second before fully extending them outward while he used an actual flash step, right in the air.
It did just as Barghest and Kurai had said, a wave of energy was sent out from him, a pretty substantial one. Only small downside now…is that he was falling.
"Alright Matsumi!"
Barghest flew into the sky and caught Matsumi. She smiled at him, a somewhat rare occurrence but it was welcomed by her. She did like to be friendly when she could be.
"Great Job. Now all we have to do is see who we're going up against."
"How was that for a jump? That was at least fifty six awesome points! Did it reach the energies?"
Barghest looked on and pointed east, watching the area.
"It got them alright..they're coming right for it.."
"Really? Let me see."
He looked in the direction she pointed to.
The beings watched the mana wave pass them by as they roared out. Dozens of men stood their ground a few yards away from Kurai, who was on the ground riding her horse. All of the men just like Matsumi and Company had their own horses, only that they were made out of nothing but bones and hair. Barghest held her hand over her eyes to watch the opposition.
"So, Bali Skeletons huh?….Jeez…I may actually have to try this time.."
"It's actual living skeletons! They're actually moving! What the heck?! What are they?!"
"They're skeletons that rebuild themselves if they're damaged. Kind of like regeneration…You have to crush them or incinerate them to get rid of them…they aren't necessarily bad in combat either."
"Skeletons always creeped me out when I was a kid! Time for some payback. Let's go!"
"Hmph! That's if you can fight..this is where the real testing begins!"
Barghest flew down to the ground with Matsumi and prepared as the Skeletons lead a charge towards the three of them, waving blades and weapons of all kinds through the air, their feet trampling in the sand and leaving their prints in the dessert.
"I'm ready!"
Matsumi ran head first into them with no plan at all, trying to just imitate what he'd seen Barghest do before. But as the skeletons came closer, he had a sudden thought burst into his mind.
"Umm…hey Barg, how do you throw a punch again?"
Barghest quickly saved him and sent a powerful blast of mana that incinerated some of the skeletons around him.
"Ball your fist…then in one fell swoop.."
Barghest imitated her words and balled her fist, her mana surrounding her hands before she moved forward and through a powerful punch that sent a bunch of skeletons flying back.
"Since you know the step already…try combining the two. I imagine you won't be able to throw multiple punches right now..So think of it as one big punch that only Matsumi can use that's super cool and awesome…as you would say."
Matsumi was actually listening very attentively, paying close attention to how Barghest did it. After he was taken a little farther away by Barghest, he replayed the image in his head over and over.
"Okay…I get it."
With that, Matsumi flashed away from Barghest directly to the small army of skeletons. Balling up his fist, his forearm getting ready for the impact before a solid crack was heard. His eyes were wide and almost glowing with surprise.
"I can…totally do this!"
Matsumi had thrown not only a textbook punch, but a very good one just for his first try.
He was able to knock the skeleton back slightly but it wasn't long before more started to turn their attention to him. He scurried around them, moving a little slow and sloppy, but still managing to avoid any damage. As always, something started turning inside Matsumi's body, something that both Barghest and Kurai could sense.
"Using them at the same time…"
It gained intensity, growing stronger and more defined as he kept avoiding the skeletons. It was only a few moments, but already he was drastically quicker to react, more stable in his movement, he started to look just like in his chase in the city. Matsumi palmed his fist, holding it to his right side as his figure bent down slightly. He got ready again, another flash step, a real one, a faster one, a deadlier one. In an instant, the sound of fist clashing against bone could be recognized anywhere, completely shattering the skull of this undead warrior.
"I like this..!"
"Nice going Matsumi! Come on!"
Kurai and Barghest continued clashing with skeletons of their own, destroying them and ripping them apart. More and more started to emerge, surrounding the three as they continued to fight.
Matsumi didn't slow down at all, he jumped a little off the ground and delivered a clean spin kick that hit several skeletons. His laugh kept ringing, this feeling in his chest pushing him forward more and more.
That's when they could sense it, when it really became clear.
Something else was at play, someone who had never fought should never be able to outmaneuver others the way he can. Everytime he did something that should be out of his league, his mana always followed suit with a certain pattern. For someone as experienced and knowledgeable as Barghest, it would surely click by now…Matsumi did have a mana ability of his own. He was a Curator, a natural born one at that.
When Matsumi would fit the condition of following the tempo imposed by his mana, his acrobatic and athletic ability would start to skyrocket. The longer he kept the tempo, the better and better he would get at what he does. It always happened. At the volleyball game, in their training, at the giant jump from earlier. His mana only looked tiny because it was constantly linked somewhere else, linked to the origin of the tempo, linked to the planet. Matsumi was a Jōken-tsuki, something he and everyone around him was completely blind to, until now.
"Ah…A Jōken-tsuki. I knew this kid wasn't useless after all..only took a little bit of my training."
Barghest's mana surrounded her as it formed into what appeared to be a beast. One made completely of Mana.
"Let me show you how it's done Matsumi!"
Barghest's mana like beast that surrounded her vessel would chomp through and rip apart dozens of skeletons at once, their numbers dwindling down by the second. Their barrage destroyed their army, even if they were at a massive numbers disadvantage. Mana spilled into the mouth of the beast as it grew in size. Barghest took the opportunity to feast as much as she could. The closer she returned to her original power the more comfortable in her skin she felt.
"You can transform too?! That's awesome!"
His efficiency kept slowly increasing, with no sign of stopping or slowing down. It was clear that as far as his ability is concerned, this is just scratching the surface of what his Jōken-tsuki can do.
Eventually at some point, Barghest and Kurai stopped ripping through the skeletons as there were none left to follow. A few feet away from them, a small door was conjured as it opened, the light shining from it.
Barghest's beast vanished as her power had nearly doubled from devouring hundreds of corpses. She yawned as she floated off the ground, descending a few inches to feel more comfortable.
"Looks like my training is working…This is perfect."
On the contrary, Matsumi's mana levels lowered back to how they once were when he completely stopped moving.
"Hey, it's the door again!"
"Looks like we're on to the next floor then huh?"
"Yeah, and Barghest is doing more cool stuff! So it's a win-win! I didn't know throwing a punch was so fun though!"
"You'll get to throw more…and much more powerful ones as we climb up. Now come on..we've got a tower to conquer dont we?"
"Really?! A cooler punch? That's what I'm talking about! We're making it to the top first!"
Barghest entered the door leading to the fifth floor, Kurai following along.