Barghest arrived at the next floor. She yawned once again, even though it was five floors she was still relatively tired from all the consumption she did. She floated around, waiting for the next trial or enemy.
Matsumi loud as ever behind her, threw his arms around her shoulder and rested his weight on her.
"What's this floor now?"
"I only sense one other energy besides ours...this could be dangerous...the energy itself is suppressed...and it's larger than all the skeletons from the last floor combined...seems like it scaled.."
"So it's just another guy to beat up?"
"On every fifth floor of Heldor's Tower there's a challenge that isn't like the first four that came before it...So yeah...another guy to beat up...but this is where the real fun begins Matsumi. Since this one person is probably twice as strong as all of the other enemies we faced."
Kurai stayed silent. She knew what was most likely coming.
"Is it really that strong? You're pretty strong too, though."
"With our current power we should be able to handle it...but even then this won't be a walk in the park...I still want you and Kurai to improve. I watched her against the skeletons..she's either hiding her true power or she has some work to do.."
"Hey, I think Kurai did good! She was looking pretty awesome and everything."
"T-Thank you Matsumi..I could've definitely done better though...even though i'm a Hatake and I'm more experienced than you this is a first time for me too. So let's try our best okay?...That's what being a leader means."
"Don't sweat it! I fell on my nose all the time when I was younger, way far from cool…"
"Enough banter...he's on his way now...Get ready you two."
Matsumi did as was told, gazing to see who was approaching.
A shadow slowly started to emerge from the darkness. The three were in a room, the floor covered in concrete. Barghest looked on and started to slowly push her mana outwards, warning the beast.
It did not care. It's hunger was high, and a further look had revealed multiple of the students and warrior's bodies on the ground as the darkness continued to dissapear, and the beast was revealed.
It housed three faces, and it was probably four or five times bigger than Matsumi and Kurai. It screamed out in terror, wailing it's multiple arms in the air as it's drool splattered and mixed with the bloodied ground. It eyed the three and stared making small grunting noises as it panted..it saw it's next meal...and it was definitely hungry.
"What the hell is that?!" *"
Matsumi covered his ears in response to the unbelieveably loud scream from this monster.
"Are those people that made it before us? It already got them bad!"
"It's the Mittsu No Me. Back in my day, Hundreds of them used to flood villages and pillage them..eating the souls and absorbing the mana of all of the humans that were around. I know the lady who initially created them…It's as if she was Lucifer himself."
Barghest crossed her arms.
"These seem to be stronger versions of the ones I've seen in my time….So this is already fishy."
"There used to be more of these?! How did you get rid of them back then?"
"Back when I had my prime strength I used to just destroy them with my Tokubetsu…However, they rarely targeted me because they knew how strong I was…It was humans and a man by the name of Toyoko who fought them off."
"I don't know who that is, but that thing looks like it isn't scared of you anymore. It just wants to eat us!"
"In my current stage I could probably still handle it..but I want you two to do it and show me what you can do. This is the first enemy i'll see you two face off against..so it'll be a good gauge to see what you guys need to work on."
"Just us two? Against that ugly thing? What do we need to do?"
"I assume the trial is that it needs to be destroyed. Do whatever you think is necessary to accomplish that. Think of it as having the strength of one thousand Bali skeletons. If it becomes too much i'll step in."
"A thousand?! Geez! You think one punch will kill it? Kurai, how many flash punches do I have to do? Actually, don't tell me! I wanna find out myself!"
"I wouldn't know anyways. It's hard to gauge…but we also don't know if these creatures can heal on their own. If I had to guess…I'd say let's attack it first and see what it does."
Kurai got ready in a stance, the black mana force appearing around her body.
"I'll follow your attacks."
"Wha-? You'll follow me? Alright! I'll make it extra cool then!"
He didn't even have a remotely functional stance, he wasn't looking very professional like his friend.
"Well I did say earlier that I would follow you to see where you go in this life..that includes battle. Consider me like your personal bodyguard or soldier moving forward. Your attitude is..strange and even dangerous..but it is motivating and I respect it."
The Mittsu roared and slammed its feet on the ground causing the ground to shake. It eyed the two after they took their stances, gazing at them with a fierce look in its eyes.
"Hey, I don't mind! You do-"
He stumbled as the ground shook, having a weak foothold for a moment. He managed to not fall by grabbing on to Kurai for only a second.
"Okay, for real this time."
Matsumi ran directly at the Mittsu, just like he had before. No plan, just going off feeling.
Kurai's mana followed Matsumi as it blocked the Mittsu's attacks like a shield. Her mana was definitely different from anything Matsumi and even Barghest had seen. It was almost physical in nature, and it splashed similar to water when it was hit by the Mittsu.
Matsumi continued to run straight at it, unsure of where to approach. He decided promptly, jumping in front of its face for an aerial flash punch. The mittsu blocked its punch and tried to chomp straight at Matsumi's arm.
In a flash Kurai was in front of Matsumi. She spread her hands as a few crows appeared from her palms. The birds were devoured instead of Matsumi as her mana followed her. She sent an attack with her mana that immediately sliced open the Mittsu's shoulder. She looked toward Matsumi and spun around, even mimicking him as she charged her fist up.
"Alright Matsumi! Punch at the same time as me! As hard as you can!"
"Thanks!"
Matsumi used a flash boost to remain in the air for a little longer before attacking at the same time as Kurai the only way he knew how to, a flash punch again. Kurai met Matsumi's hit as the force destroyed the Mittsu's chest. The Mittsu fell to its knees and cried out in pain as Kurai slid backwards.
"Hmph.."
Barghest watched on and studied the two's coordination, which was perfect on Kurai's end. Barghest could tell that she had irregular timing, timing that was so good that teamwork could work flawlessly. She hadn't paid much attention in the volleyball game since Kurai wasn't on the opposite side of Vermelha, but now she knew for sure. Kurai was great at mimicry. Matching Matsumi, Her or maybe even the both of them wouldn't be an issue.
"That was sick! How'd you copy me so good?"
He slowly fell back to the ground after their attack.
"My family teaches techniques to read body language and movement. It's a big part of fighting, predicting what your opponent will do before they do it. Think of it kind of like a game. You have to learn someone's programming so you can defeat them."
"She is right. You don't have the experience or style to go in blind against something..so your best bet is forming a plan. If Kurai can act as the brains you can act as the power."
"I never really thought of that before, isn't it kinda hard to think so much though? Well, it's fine by me! You can be the brains!"
"It could be..but it's not as if I have zero power. Sometimes you have to switch between protecting yourself and offense and go all in on defense or vice versa for attacks."
"You two will work it out…but the trial isn't finished."
"It's done, isn't it? We knocked it right out!"
The mittsu stood up with the hole in it's chest as it screamed toward Matsumi in anger.
"The Mittsu won't be defeated unless you destroy all 3 of it's heads. It's a mythical creature..and chances are you're going to run into enemies like this rather frequently."
Another scream startled Matsumi, he turned around quickly.
"All three of them? Oh! It's like Whack the Wrecker! But only three wreckers!"
"Don't you mean whack a mole?"
Kurai scratched her head in confusion.
"Is that what you call it? Lame…but we just have to make sure take out all three heads before it gets back up!"
"Alright then..you'll have to deliver 3 flash punches in a row then. I will follow up every single oneand copy you. If we can do it we should clear this floor.."
"Okay, you got it! Three super special flash punches!"
The mittsu swiped in the way of Kurai as she rolled out of the way. She mimicked matsumi from the first time and called out to him.
"Now Matsumi! Go For It!"
Matsumi quickly got in position, aiming his body slightly upwards as he let the flash step move him to the Mittsu's chin, punching it right under its mouth. The Mittsu held one of its faces in agony as it backed up. It fought back, smashing its hand into Matsumi while he was in the air, counterattacking his punch. Matsumi hadn't stayed in movement for very long, his ability hadn't activated yet. Something that should be easy for him to evade became a certainty without it…the strike from the Mittsu landed cleanly against Matsumi, hitting the left side of his body. He was sent into the ground.
"Matsumi!"
Kurai immediately stepped in front of him before a crow flew into the Mittsu's next face, pecking its eyes as it screamed, even with multiple arms it was hard for it to see and defend now with only one face, which was extremely angry in appearance. It yelled out as its mana charged up, about to send a blast toward the both of them with no hesitation.
Matsumi put his hands under him to get himself back up, his face looking down while drops of blood fell from his nose.
"That…hurt…"
He tapped his nose, looking at the blood. It was the first time in his life where Matsumi had gotten hit like that.
"Stay strong Matsumi. When you face stronger opponents you may be hit harder. It's not about if you're not..or how hard youre hit..It's about getting up after being knocked down. This could be adrenaline for you..It can be your advantage. Use what you feel in your heart to fight back!"
That's when the feeling came back, the same one that he had enjoyed. The urgency of moving to not get hit, to not get touched. He wiped the blood off his nose, he smiled.
"I can't look lame now…"
He disappeared from the ground and a flash punch came hurling right at the only face left. Just like Barghest had said, he just followed his feeling. Now that he found himself slightly above the Mittsu, Matsumi did it again, another flash punch. He struck downward to send the beast right into the ground.
Kurai had appeared shortly after him. He was in the sky as she took the appearance of a bird, not a blue jay soaring through the morning sky but one that existed in the night. One that gained its power in the night time. The black mana followed her. She followed Matsumi's attack, flying into the Mittsu's body that ripped it apart. The Mittsu ceased to exist in front of them as Kurai skidded around.
"Alright…!"
"That…that was sick, wasn't it! You see that?! I did two in a row!"
"Now imagine yourself doing one hundred in a row. Wouldn't that be even better?"
Barghest floated over to the door that started to appear to the next floor. She looked down and spotted something that was glowing next to it. A light from the sky that beamed down in front of them.
"Duh! It for sure would!"
He was hurt but he was having too much fun to really notice.
"What's that?"
He said as he moved in the direction of the light.
As Matsumi moved closer the light flashed and a small backpack appeared before him, it spun around like a special item in a video game.
"A backpack? How'd this get in here?"
Matsumi walked over to inspect it closer, grabbing it as it floated a little off the ground.
A small ping sound ringed and the back pack, almost with a life of its own wrapped around Matsumi on his back. Barghest analyzed it.
"Rewards were promised to us..Do you remember?..The one who climbs this tower reaps benefits that most other creatures do not. Maybe this is one of them."
He spun around as he tried to get a good look at the backpack now on his back, a little hard to do without taking it off.
"The reward is a backpack? What's inside? Hurry and look!"
Matsumi backed up to Barghest so she could check if there was anything inside.
Barghest unzipped the backpack, but as she started, it zipped itself. A small ointment floated around to Matsumi and poured on his face, it was cold, but the pain he felt subsided for a bit before the bottle magically floated back around and into the bag. She examined it silently.
"It appears to be a magical item..one that houses useful materials in it. I imagine it has more functions, but i've never seen this in my time. Perhaps as we go further we'll see more of its abilities."
"What the?!"
He was taken back by the sudden ointment on his face, he started to wipe it off before stopping.
"Hey, that feels pretty good! It's like a helpful thing!"
Barghest pushed on the backpack a bit testing it more, when she did, it suddenly morphed around matsumi slowly, the threads of the back pack formed around his arms and chest before enforcing itself to him, more like clothes. Matsumi could feel very small chunks of Mana being pumped into him, energizing him and even protecting him.
"Seems like a backpack with a life of its own. I've seen magical items like this before..There may even be more parts. Matsumi, if you can collect more of the items that go along with this back pack, you may have extra abilities through the use of talismans."
"Woah! A living backpack?! That's so cool! What do you think, Kurai? I look cool right?"
He started to show off his new look, the straps around his arms especially.
"I do think it's cool..but what i think is cooler is the usage we'll get out of it. Like Barghest said we don't know its full capabilities…for all we know it could be more to it."
"Maybe I can finally use magic besides the flash step! Maybe some fire! Or the cheering crowd!"
"Maybe not the crowd..but the fire is plausible because it attached to you..you'll have to command it to do what you want."
"Go fire!"
He pointed his hands forward hoping something great would happen. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened.
"Aw, what?"
"It could work differently than you think it does..for now we should move on. The backpack will get used on the other floors."
"Yeah, okay. I thought we were in the lead though, I didn't expect to see people already on this floor. Even if they lost."
"You have to remember that there are people here who have been here for years and years..Trying to climb the tower. It's unfair to compare us to them in that equation..it's maybe only been two or three days."
"They've been here for years?! That's so long. Can't they just leave if they go back down?"
"It may be possible at the lower levels..but the higher you climb it isn't easy to just leave..the only way you could is by trying to jump out of the tower..but then you'd need a new pair of legs..and maybe a new life if that."
"I guess you're right. Good thing that won't be us!"
He walked towards the door.
"Although, now that I think about it, I haven't eaten anything since we got here. You think they got some snacks in a floor?"
"Maybe..we'll have to see…It's possible that we can find something on one of these floors."
"Then we could all eat together! That'd be good! I wonder if the food is weird, just like everything else here."
He continued to speak even as he walked through the door to the next floor.