Caelus pressed deeper into the forest, surrounded not just by towering trees and thick undergrowth, but by that unsettling sense of familiarity.
Where had he felt this before?
The air was heavy, dense in a way that barely brushed the senses but clung to his skin all the same.
So where...?
"Whew, this place sure is spooky, huh?" a voice called from behind.
Caelus let out a quiet sigh and turned.
Trailing after him was Kain, aimlessly glancing around the shadowed canopy as though expecting something to lunge from the trees. For reasons Caelus could only guess at, he'd decided to abandon the others and tag along.
Caelus didn't reply. He simply kept walking.
It wasn't until he passed the nearest tree that Kain realized he was being left behind.
"H-Hey! Wait up, man!"
For several minutes, the two trudged through what barely passed for a path. It was little more than a break in the underbrush, winding aimlessly between trunks and brushes.
Caelus kept his pace steady, lost in thought.
What an elaborate test.
Clearly, it was a surprise trial to gauge the students' instincts and resolve. It made sense. Most of the new initiates had never set foot beyond the empire's walls. A forest of this scale is sure to rattle them.
For example—
"Hey... C-Caelus," Kain whispered nervously, scanning around like a madman. "Did you hear that? I-I think it came from over there. Agh! Whoa, what the—?! I swear something just touched my foot! Did something touch yours too?!"
For what felt like the hundredth time that day, Caelus let out a long, weary sigh.
The pair continued their journey through the seemingly endless forest. No matter where they went, how many corners they took, they ended up surrounded by trees.
"Hey, not to be that guy, but... are we lost?" asked Kain.
Caelus stopped, keeping his posture straight and gaze forward. As always, he said nothing, then he kept moving.
With tears in his eyes and a forced smile, Kain thought, 'Yep. We're definitely lost."
Minutes passed like hours. What felt like a pilgrimage to the Holy Kingdom was nothing more than a hike through the woods, but Kain couldn't tell the difference.
"Hey, Caelus~ Are we there yet? Here? Wherever we're going?"
Once again, Caelus stopped. This time, however, he turned around to meet his gaze. Not that Kain could see anything past the glare of his glasses. Even then, he felt nervous.
Caelus lifted his finger to his lips, a signal for silence. Kain took the hint immediately, as a low growl could be heard. It wasn't like before when the shrieks echoed from afar. This time, wherever it was coming from, it was close.
Slowly, Kain reached for his waist, where a scabbard hung. He steadied himself with a readied expression while resting his hand on the handle of his sword.
The growls continued. It wasn't just one. There were multiple. As far as Caelus could sense, there had to be at least two.
Two of what?
They were about to find out.
Suddenly, a blur of pitch black darted out from behind the vast thickets, aiming straight for Kain. Caelus quickly stepped over to assist, but he realized he didn't have to.
In one swift movement, Kain unsheathed his blade and spun around with a horizontal slash. The blade sliced through the opened jaws of the beast, slashing its body clean in half. The separated pieces flew past him before splattering on the ground.
Caelus' eyes widened as he studied the beast. It was a wolf, but there was something strange about it. Its fur was darker than the night sky, and as it lay there to die, the body faded into a swirl of dust carried off by the winds.
"Phew. Almost got me there."
"...You can fight," Caelus said.
Kain chuckled before sheathing his sword.
"And you can talk. Almost had me believe that you were mute for a second. First, you gave me the cold hand yesterday, then you gave Taylor and Rosalina the cold shoulder, and lastly... the crown prince himself. You've got a pair on you, you know that?"
Before he could say anything else, another wolf sprang out, aiming its fangs at Caelus. Right as he was about to take the hit, he effortlessly grabbed its snout and plummeted down, crushing its head. Just like before, there was no blood. Only the auric trail left by blackened dust.
Caelus stood up, shaking off the pain in his hand.
"Some people just aren't worth the effort."
Kain stood in awe, still smiling yet also surprised.
"Hah. I knew there was more to you than just some no-named fallen."
"You're mistaken."
"My ass. You just grabbed a demon and choked it to death. Takes some guts to do something like that."
From the depths of the woods, shadows began to writhe.
Like ink bleeding across parchment, they took form. Pitch-black wolves with glowing, hollow eyes. One after another, they slinked from the darkness.
In a matter of seconds, Caelus and Kain found themselves encircled, a pack of nearly a dozen closing in, step by step.
Kain let out a scoff and crossed his arms, wearing a grin that didn't match the situation in the slightest.
"Well, Luvelaine?" he said. "Care to finally show off a bit?"
Caelus didn't even flinch. His lavender eyes sharpened behind his glasses as he took a step forward.
In the next instant, chaos erupted.
A wolf lunged at Kain, only to be met by a swift uppercut from the hilt of his sword, sending it airborne. Before it could hit the ground, Kain spun on his heel, his blade flashing out like a streak of silver light, severing two more as they leapt toward him. Their bodies burst into trails of black dust, fading before they even touched the earth.
"Haha! Now this is more like my style!" he exclaimed gleefully.
On the other side, Caelus was a storm of precise lightning strikes. Another wolf pounced, and with a flick of his wrist, he caught its throat midair, hurling it into a nearby trunk. Two came from either side. Caelus ducked, drew a sword from beneath his robe, and drove it upward through one's skull while sweeping the legs out from the other. A stomp crushed its head, snuffing it into nothingness.
Another wolf came from behind, its fangs inches from Caelus's neck.
Then, a flash of steel.
Kain had rushed over to assist, slashing the wolf's head clean off. Dust scattered around him, but his grin never faded.
"Phew! Now this is what I call a test. Hmm... I wonder how the other students are doing. If it's anything like this, I'd wager more than half of them won't last very long. What do you think, Caelus?"
Caelus, standing amidst a pile of vanishing ash, cast a glance toward the remaining few circling them.
"Focus. There are four left."
"Heh... You know, if you're tired, you can sit back," Kain said, rolling his shoulder.
Another unspoken signal passed between them.
They moved.
In perfect synchronicity, Caelus darted forward with supernatural speed, weaving through the shadows as though gravity itself meant nothing. His blade collided with the side of one wolf's head, reducing it to dust. Kain handled another two with a flurry of rapid strikes, carving through them like paper.
The final wolf, perhaps sensing its fate, hesitated for a fraction of a second too long.
It was all the opening Caelus needed.
A blur of motion, a crushing grip, and a twist.
Silence returned to the forest, save for the faint, eerie whisper of wind through the trees.
Kain exhaled, resting his sword casually on his shoulder.
"Well... that was kinda fun. You surprise me, Caelus. Shunned by all, branded a deserter who left his family to die — a fallen noble and a coward."
Caelus's fist clenched at the words, and Kain was quick to notice.
"But after seeing how you handled yourself just now, I can tell those rumors don't hold up. Not that they ever had much weight to begin with."
"...Do you really think that's the case?"
"Heh. At this point, I wouldn't doubt it. You've earned my respect, Caelus de Luvelaine. And I suppose that means you really did fight on the frontlines, eh? Against the Archdemon himself."
"I did."
"Then—" Kain pointed his thumb at the fading corpses, "—does that look familiar?"
Caelus stared at the swirling dust, his expression darkening. He hadn't seen them often, but enough to know.
"The incarnations of strife," he said quietly.
"Bingo. No rhyme, no reason. They exist to stir chaos, nothing else. And dropping them on students who've probably never stepped outside the empire's borders?"
Kain's grin faded.
"Looks like this 'orientation' is a little more than just a simple test."