The Martial Unity

"Ack...!" The boy crawled away bleeding profusely from his mouth. "Rrgh."

He puked out some more blood.

STEP

Crea stepped over him.

"Get away from me!" He cried in fear.

Crea looked like something out of a low-budget horror film.

She turned him over.

"S-Stop!"

She plucked a badge out of his garb, pinning it on hers, before walking away. Soon after, an announcement drew everybody's attention.

"The second round of the entrance exam has come to an end." The proctor announced.

All the applicants paused. Some sighed in relief, some broke out in celebration. But most were disappointed.

"Huff..." Mana exhaled, trying to compose herself as she tended to her broken jaw.

"Fuck!" Max cursed as he gently caressed his broken ribs. "We're disqualified."

His expression grew more severe as he thought about Rui. "He's gonna be disappointed in us."

Mana shook her head. "Not unless we didn't give it our best. The ones who are truly disappointed should be... us."

"Big brother is kind." Max choked up a little before stifling his urge to break down in tears before his sister. "Next year."

His expression grew fiercer. "Next year. We'll definitely get through next year."

Mana nodded as she furrowed her eyebrows, wiping away a single tear, ignoring her throbbing jaw. She turned towards the distant figure of Crea, healed up after drinking a healing potion. She was surrounded by many proctors and other individuals wearing garbs with the emblem of the Martial Academy.

"She became a Martial Apprentice in the middle of the exam." Mana gasped in disbelief. "That's impossible."

"Whoever she is, she's fucking amazing," Max grunted. "Damn, I wish I broke through in the middle of the exam in a moment of hopeless despair! Urgh."

He grimaced in pain, caressing his ribs.

"Careful." Mana chided him.

A team of nurses came over to them, examining them.

"Here." One of them handed them potions. "This should heal everything, we'll give you stronger potions if not."

Thankfully, although their injuries had been too debilitating to allow them to pass the round, a potion had been enough to heal them each. The two of them thanked the nurses before leaving the Martial Academy.

Mana sighed after messaging Rui to come to pick them up, having retained their belongings. She didn't need to mention whether they had passed or failed. Rui instantly guessed that they had failed, they came out far too early to have passed.

The two of them simply stared at the Martial Academy, yet, only a minute later, the ground rumbled and the air danced.

STEP

Rui appeared out of thin air, stepping down gracefully before them. He took a good look at them. For a moment, none of them said anything.

"Big brother..." Max squeezed out.

"The future is more important than the past." Rui blankly stated. "What's happened has happened."

He looked at both of them. "That being said, only the past can teach you how to forge the future you want. Do not let this failure drag you down, instead, turn it into fuel that will propel you to even greater heights."

"Don't worry, brother," Mana told him with serene, yet sharp, piercing eyes.

"I'll get into the Martial Academy next year even if it fucking kills me." Max's eyes blazed with barely restrained determination.

The two of them were consumed in their own thoughts, they didn't notice the smallest of smiles crack at Rui's mouth.

('Perfect.') Rui nodded inwardly. ('I'm glad they lost, in hindsight.')

It's not that Rui wished ill on them, of course not. It was the exact opposite. Prior to the exam, Max and Mana had been passionate, curious, excited, and a whole other slew of generally positive emotions. There was nothing wrong with this, of course.

('But it's not enough.') Rui sighed inwardly.

He didn't sense a fire in them. Burning willpower that would drive them forward no matter what. That was the difference between them and Crea in his mind. Her determination and perseverance were strong beyond her years. In comparison, Max and Mana were much tamer.

('This is different from the first round of the entrance exam.') Rui noted. ('That test can be trained for, prepared for, because ultimately it is a highly controlled and superficial impediment to the mind, and the mind knows that. Over time, it can be taught to power through the subconscious fear generated by the immense sense of danger and risk that it knows aren't truly real.')

However, when that certainty of safety and superficiality disappeared, that was when the heart was truly tested. If Max and Mana had fragile hearts before, they didn't anymore. This outcome alone made the failure inconsequential in his mind. He grew even more certain, instinctually, that they would not only crack the entrance exam but also open the door to their Martial Paths.

Of course, he still put on a solemn demeanor. He didn't want them to feel this way, it was their failure, and they needed to feel the frustration.

He nodded. "It seems I wasted my breath. Hah. Truly, I'm proud of you."

"How do you want to get home?" Rui asked. "Rickshaw? Sky walking? Or-"

"Let's just... walk... slowly," Mana suggested softly, interjecting, earning a nod from Max.

"Well. Walking it is, then." He turned around, sauntering in the direction of the Quarrier Orphanage.

The three of them trudged quietly to the Quarrier Orphanage, wordlessly. Rui didn't try to start a conversation forcefully, he could see that the two of them needed and wanted solitude for a bit. They knew that they wouldn't get quiet for a while when they returned home. Alice would undoubtedly leap at them and smother them to death.

Once they left the town of Hajin, their surroundings grew quiet, having left the bustling commercial and industrial districts of the town of the Hajin.

Max sighed exaggeratedly as he inhaled deeply. 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝐧𝗼𝐯𝐞𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Feeling better?" Rui quizzed lightly.

"Yeah... Much better, honestly." Max was surprised.

Rui nodded, that was a good sign, it meant that they weren't holding on too strongly to the past.