With his head still pulsating, Ryuusei gave the judge a semi confused look, mixed with tired feelings of "are u serious?" in his gaze, but eventually tossed the pen in the judge's direction.
He had used to kill birds with stones back in his human days, in order to bring food on the table, so this task was almost stupidly easy for him.
The eighth judge raised his hand up just slightly before the pen reached him, reflecting the pen in a different direction. When his wrist moved the pen away, the pen sunk into the wall that it was aimed towards with a loud crack.
The judge’s silvery eyes reflected the lights around the room as he got out another item; a deck of cards.
”Wanna take a guess…?” the judge asked Ryuusei with a tone of curiosity in his voice.
Ryuusei felt a little discouraged when the judge sent the pen flying into another wall, but at least he didn't have to pull it out again. Right now, he was quite baffled by the deck of cards the judge had pulled out. Was he going to throw them at him like a bunch of blades? Were they gonna play cards?? He honestly had no idea what the cards were for.
"I've no idea, my lord."
The eighth judge threw the cards upwards as his irises turned purple. Purple aura like substances surrounded every one of the fifty two playing cards. The judge glanced down at the floor as the cards enlarged in size and started to form an obstacle course between the judge and the man; thirteen levels of fours built vertical, horizontally, diagonally, into different shapes, and with tight spaces between each level.
Thankfully, the room was big enough for this activity to be preformed. Now that the cards have increased in size, comes the third test.
”Run through this course without touching any of the cards… they would burn if you touch them…” the judge ordered.
Since each layer was built different, Ryuusei had to slide, jump, leap, crawl, and so on, pass each layer.
.
.
.
In reality though, the cards wouldn’t burn Ryuusei nor would they do any damage, the judge did not have that kind of power but he had to lie to scare the man and stress him out even more.
Ryuusei stood still for a little bit, inspecting the obstacle course, trying to map it out in his mind. He wasn't exactly great at parkour, mostly because he used to avoid trouble back in his human days. He had gotten chased around by some thugs at one point, but back then, he had the advantage of knowing the neighbourhood better which allowed him to easily evade them. Right now, he wasn't chased after nor was he in a dangerous situation, so his parkour instincts were a little dull. Besides, these cards were not roofs or trees.
He warmed up some of his limbs while he tried to imagine a route through the obstacles, before sprinting towards it.
His performance was, to be honest, mediocre towards decent. He was quick at dodging obstacles, but still tripped or brushed against them every now and then, the contact bringing chills to his skin, convincing him he had gotten burned - most likely the purple aura's ghost effect.
When he was done, he was bent over, with his hands on his knees, as if trying to catch his breath. He had plenty of stamina so he wasn't tired, but given the fact that he had underperformed this test, - his time was not the best and he had touched almost half of the entire obstacle course which would have spelled disaster in a real situation - he waited for the judge's response, as he straightened himself, looking in the judge's direction.
The judge gave Ryuusei quite the cruel eye before he gestured towards the cards, shrinking them and having them be stacked in his hand like they were before they formed the obstacle course. He looked back at Ryuusei with his eyes blazing in what appears seemingly to be rage…
”You…” he started with a cruel tone and a crooked and angry expression before he smiled warmly at Ryuusei ”… are truly a brave one, challenging yourself to such a hard task and doing it decently…” the judge accepted with a small nod.
”You should take a rest before we continue, I want to train you, not break you after all” the judge ended as he kept the deck of cards.
The boy was expecting an icy cold lecture from the judge, lowering his head when the other began speaking. Yet, when he heard a concratulation instead of a lecture, his eyes shot up again, looking at the judge with surprise in his gaze. At first he was unsure of what to do, in the end deciding on a small smile and a polite head bow.
"Thank you, my lord."
”Would you like something to drink?” the officer who had been watching for while walked up and asked Ryuusei directly while handing him a towel. As for the judge, he was cracking his knuckles, making a very unhealthy sound come out from his body.
”Lord Dushi may look and sometimes act a cold hearted man, but he’s actually much more sympathetic than you may think” the officer whispered as the judge who had his back turned spoke up…
”I heard that Oscar”
”Apologies, my lord” the officer giggled when he apologized. These two seemed to be close to each other.
(i love them sm aaa)
(Yeah, the eighth judge’s one of my favorites honestly— wait, I love all of them)
(Proceeds to hug the ten judges)
(Fifth Judge : LET.ME.GO!!!)
”So… would you like something? Rather, is there something I can get for you? Drinks, snacks, cloth, anything?” the officer repeated himself out of habit. He was still masked even though the room was closed and clearly hidden.
"Mn, no thank you. I'm alright." he replied, taking the towel offered by the officer, giving him a shy smile in return.
He was starting to like these people, the way they behaved so nicely with him and just how warm they were, giving him the feeling he was going to enjoy his time here. He had been curious about his training before, but right now he was starting to feel downright excited about it.
(i need art of them so i can luv themmmmm qvq <3)
The officer nodded and chuckled a bit under his mask before he went over to the judge and asked the same question. The judge just asked for water and the officer went over to the back of the room and got a glass of cold water as the judge downed it in one gulp.
”Oscar—“ the judge started ”—get the wooden blades for me” he asked as the officer nodded, went over to the table of items and got two wooden and slightly curved blades.
The judge turned to Ryuusei and tossed a blade at him with normal speed this time.
”Meet me outside the court” the judge stated as he walked pass the painting and back out into the court’s main area.
(I would very much like to draw them… thing is, I don’t have time ;-;)
Ryuusei caught the wooden blade with one hand, while putting the towel down. He got up and walked after the judge, actually eager to see what would come next. He was quite unsure about this test however, he had never gotten his hands on a sword before, nor did he know much about it - his training had been mostly with long ranged weapons - but he was positive he might learn something from this.
The eighth judge had his wooden blade at hand as he kept his distance from Ryuusei. The man eyed the surroundings around him and the mist that was getting thicker by the moment.
”This will be simple and really, it’s just a test because I understand that people can have different preferred weapons so swords may not suit you…” the judge mentioned as the mist completely covered the area, leaving the judge only in a shadowy form.
”Your test is to hit me only once within three minutes. I will not attack you back, but I will only dodge, block, parry, and maneuver around you in this thick mist…” the judge gave the command as he began to move slowly through the thick fog.
”Your time starts… now”
(should i keep going or leave some room for the others? :"D)
Ryuusei's hands tightened around the wooden blade as the fog grew thicker around them, obscuring their features. He knew a thing or two about swords, but hadn't managed to put them to good use yet.
As soon as the judge announced the start of the timer, he dashed forwards, aiming for the other, only for his sword to stab the air. The judge was a fast dodger as well it seemed, either that or Ryuusei was a slow attacker.
For the next 2 minutes, the boy kept coming at the judge, yet the other kept doging and parrying his strikes with ease. It was only after the timer had 4 seconds left that he managed to barely brush his sword against the man's arm, stabbing at the sleeve. Ryuusei may have been good at physical tasks, yet in the field of fighting, he was quite bad.
(As much as I want to wait, the urge for me to keep going is stronger. Besides, I made it easy to catch up since everyone’s in different places)
The mist around the two started to fade as the judge looked at his arm.
”When you attack, no matter the weapon, don’t attack directly. Try using the battlefield and your weapon to your advantage…” the judge mentioned as he backed away from Ryuusei, having the visitor stand still.
He then dashed forward, almost straight at Ryuusei before he was about two feet away from him that he used his sword as a vaulting point, pulling it with him as he jumped right over Ryuusei’s head, now having his blade by the visitor’s neck.
”Something like this, you can easily outsmart numbers of enemies like this” the judge suggested as he retracted his sword.
"Mn, understood." he nodded, making a mental note with the judge's words.
He admitted to himself he kinda sucked at fighting - he was actually horrible at it - but ever since meeting this man, he wanted to learn more and get better. The more he could learn the better. It seems that his aspiration to become a fighter was finally going to come true after all.
”Though as I’ve mentioned, not every weapon suits a man… so, follow me” the judge restated his words as he walked back in the court.
There was another painting on the other side from where the resting room was and the judge had walked right pass it.
Inside was an equally beautiful room except for the fact that it held home to tens to hundreds of weapons; ranging from bows and arrows, spears, lances, swords, daggers, bombs, and many more, all of different designs, colors and textures.
”Look through them, these are made by one of the royal blacksmiths… though they aren’t as great as the weapons on the freezing mountains by the third court, they serve as a great start” the judge accepted.
”I’ll take you to the mountains once the training ends and I’ll help you look for the one which suits you best… another thing, the weapons on the mountains, they can be modified once we bring them down to ground level but they’ll never lose their signature magic”
As soon as he had entered the hidden room, Ryuusei's eyes were captured by the hundreds of weapons arranged neatly in the room. Some he recognized easily, others not so much - they were most likely from other parts of the world or not from his time. Yet, he stopped to admire the swords hanging on the walls, internally praising the skills of the royal blacksmiths for creating such beautiful and intricate weaponry.
It was quite normal for a boy in his time to fanboy over swords, they were the hot stuff in his days, so walking into a room filled to the brim with masterfully crafted weapons was like a dream come true.
It also seemed it would be a good idea to learn to use multiple weapons, not just a sword or a staff - you never know what might happen in the future, so it was best for him to be prepared, just in case.
"The Freezing mountains?" he asked, quite curious about this strange location.
The judge nodded when the question was shot his way.
”The physical landform which divides the third court and the seventh court, said to be one of the four most dangerous places of the afterworld, it is home to hundreds if not thousands of weapons which were created from the intense magic from the ten courts and scattered throughout. The higher you go up the mountains, the better the weapons will be. The weapons of the judges were from the mountains… as well as the haunting souls of the people trapped on the mountains. The third judge is an electric magic user while the seventh judge is an ice magic user which meant that the mountains will always be active when it comes to icy storms and electric fields. Though the reasoning behind the name is that the icy storms’ and avalanches’ damages are far worse than that of the electric fields…” the judge explained as he went over to the weaponry, shaking his head.
”I don’t advise you to go pass the barrier around the mountains anytime soon unless you’re looking for a death wish… when the time is right, I will accompany you on your trip if you seriously want to go there” the judge promised subtly.
"Ah, i understand." the boy nodded.
From what he understood, he would get to see that place, but not before he was properly trained. He was familiar with rumors of such a mountain, only what was on that mountain differed from tale to tale. Regardless, the idea of having a magic weapon that was perfectly fit for him raised his enthusiasm levels; that meant he had to train good and hard until then, so he could be ready.
Where to now, my lord?" he asked, curious about the next test
”Well… I guess physical training can come later… let’s go visit another one of the judges… the ninth one specifically…” the eighth judge mentioned.
The judge walked out of the secret room and out of the court.
He stared off into the misty fog as the mist faded away in a straight line of his sight, revealing the silvery and gray castle not so faraway from the eighth court.
”I’ve already contacted him… he’s prepared your next test and there… you will also regroup with one of yours…” the eighth judge claimed.
"Mn." the boy nodded as he walked after the judge.
He wondered what this new judge was going to be like, as his light steps barely made any noise on the damp ground. He was really liking the afterlife so far, nice people, nice places, a little too much fog, yes, but it didn't ruin his pleasant impression.
He wondered whom he'll be meeting now.