Itoyea ran through the maze of a forest they were in, he'd left his flag with the other person on his team, it annoyed him to she how nonchalant she acted, Itoyea had tried to discuss a plan with her, but she had remained completely aloof, he had them just left her with the flag, whilst he went to capture others.
Itoyea came across a group that had both persons in it, neither had left to capture flags, once they noticed him, they smiled and one went after him, Itoyea brought out his sword and stood before his opponent.
" A wooden sword! You better bring out the real blade or you might end up-" He said, tracing his hands on his neck, with a weird smile.
"It would be enough for you" Itoyea said, his opponent became agitated, and shot towards him.
" First form; lonely wind!" Itoyea said and swung his sword vertically downwards at the opponent, who felt a sharp slash, that cut through him, blood gushed out, and he fell unconscious.
" That's one flag, collected" Itoyea said picking the flag that was holstered at his hips.
***
" There sure are a lot of promising candidates this year" A man said, he was watching the candidates through a screen that was split into segments, each segment showing a different team's safe zone.
" That's true, instructor Tedorinzu" Another man ; Gladys Pwain said, the room they were in had several people in it, all of them were professors in Fours Stars.
As Gladys spoke in agreement to what Tedorinzu had said, the other instructors nodded in agreement, but their eyes were all on a single candidate, who had already captured twice the necessary flags needed to pass the exam.
This candidate had throughout the exam displayed abilities that were definitely not in the the same level as the other 1st stage trainees.
They all watched him storm through several safe zones without break, like he was running a marathon, their eyes were all so focused on him, that it seemed observing him was necessary for their very existence.
" This year should be interesting" A female instructor said as she rested back on the sofa, enjoying the show.
***
" No! Leave me alone!!" A boy begged as he inched back, crawling, his leg seemed to have given up.
" Leave me alone!!" The boy screamed and dug his hands into the ground, moulds of earth shot towards his opponent, who with the most minimal of movement, dodged them, he pointed at the boy, with lazy eyes.
" Blood style, piercing pins" Aitken said, as pins made of blood formed behind him, Aitken dropped his hands and the blood pins fell down on the boy, who closed his eyes and tensed his muscles in anticipation.
When nothing happened he saw the blood pins had stuck through his cloths pinning him to the ground.
The boy knew he had almost died, if not for the no kill rule, he was certain those blood pins would not have missed.
" Hand over the flag" Aitken said squatting to the boys level, with his hands shaking he reached to his back and brought out the flag, and handed it to him.
" Thank you, may the god who rules the night give you peace" Aitken said as he got up, bowing ever so gently as he went on his way.
Ding!
Aitken looked at his arm, 17 flags, not bad, he thought as he moved through the forest, it still wasn't as much as the his elder had done, he wanted to break his record of 19 flags, which was the most any single individual had gotten ever, since this was added as one of the exams..
Deep in the forest, Itoyea moved stealthily, had his eyes on a team just ahead of him, he moved through the grass gently.
Bzz!!
A buzzing sound in his ear made him, lose focus and he mistakingly stepped on a load branch, Itoyea hid, checking if his prey has caught on yet, but no they were still oblivious to him, slowly he entered the teams safe zone, still the person did not move.
Itoyea unsheath his wooden sword, swiftly bringing it to the person's neck.
" Your flag!" He said, holding the sword to his neck.
" Uhn-uhn" a bright female voice said behind Itoyea, who froze. How! he thought, when did she sneak up on me!, he thought to himself.
" You're confused, right, right" the girl said quite pleased with herself.
They baited him, they probably were already aware of him stalking them, so they intentionally used one of their members as bait, Itoyea reasoned.
Till this point, the person Itoyea was pointing his sword to had not moved, finding it weird he decided to try something out, immediately he spun around, swing his sword to cut the person behind him, but the sword only through air, in the same moment he held the person's neck with his sword to him.
" Give me your flag, or he gets it" Itoyea repeated, a laugh burst out from in front of Itoyea, but he saw no one there, invisibility?, he thought.
" Haha, you, you haven't noticed have you!" The voice said laughing on.
Itoyea wondered what was going on, it's true, he thought, why hasn't this person responded, is he that confident in his ability or his team mates, just then the person he held literally turned to dust, right in front of his eyes.
Shocked he stepped back, confused, the girl laughter borderlines near hysterical, it was then he noticed it, a fly.
No! he gasped as his mind slowly pieced things together, still he wasn't sure, then what happened next confirmed his theory, he had indeed been baited.
The fly suddenly became bloated, it's body becoming more human like, before his eyes he witnesses the fly turn human.
"Surprised" she asked, she was naked but she didn't seem to mind, just then a robe fell on her head.
" I have told you, to ensure you have a spare, whenever you transfigure-" a voice said sweetly, from behind her, "- not all men are chivalrous like me" Aitken said, the girl giggled as she doned the robes.
" Now, to the intruder!" Aitken said, all the life in his voice gone, now he sounded like he was ready to kill.
Itoyea gritted his teeth and squared his shoulder, getting into stance.