Chapter 5: Second Trial

Shohon was sprawling on the black sandy ground, being happy. His transformation wore off. 

He was breathing fast and heavily, looking exhausted.

"We have passed!"

Akashi, who turned off his transformation, came near Shohon, and said that with a grin.

"Congratulations, boys. You have passed the first trial."

Both Shohon and Akashi could hear Elora's voice from the sky.

"Your second and final will begin now."

Suddenly, the pentagram circle appeared once again on the ground where they were. It was big enough to cover them both. Then they got teleported to another location.

But, by this Akashi didn't look happy at all. Because, his trial was suppose to end at the first trial or so he was toldl. So, when they got teleported to a dark alley, Akashi shouted:

"Why am I here? Didn't my trial end?"

meanwhile in the room where Elora and her other companion was:

Elora cleared her throat, and said with a smirk:

"True. But, there's been a change of plan. You must take part in the second and final trial....Good luck with that."

On the other hand, Akashi, after hearing that got really furious, but tried not to show it Infront of Shohon. Though, he could put on an angry expression on his face, since Shohon was laying on a pitched road, trying to rest his body, closing his eyes.

But after a while, smelling foul scent in the air, he opened his eyes, and stood up slowly. He was still feeling pain all over his body, so he was having difficulty standing on his feet.

"Anyway, we should clean ourselves first... Let's go find a bathing house or something."

Akashi said, looking clearly miffed.

Shohon understood the reason behind him being annoyed. Because, Akashi told him that he was suppose to be freed from this hell in the last trial. Not knowing what to say to him, he just stayed quiet, and looked forward.

Then he saw just outside the alley, a city, where people were walking by one and another. He noticed a shocking fact. Right Infront of the eyes of people who were passing by there, a man was murdered by another. He killed him by slashing his throat with a small knife. Seeing this, those people stopped walking and stood there laughing like a bunch of maniacs.

"Look, another shit has died."

A man with a torn cloth said that while sneering and laughing.

" I wonder, who I am going to kill next."

another man with black beard said that, while clinging a woman close to his chest.

Seeing this odd sight, Shohon was greatly riddled by the cruelty and inhumanness of these people.

Looking a bit raged, he said:

"What is up with these people?"

Akashi chuckled, and said looking at those people:

"Don't know... Let's get going."

They then began to walk towards those people. If they want to get of out that alley, they had to go through them. So, they slowly walked out of there lowering their heads. Those people notice them, but didn't pay much attention to them and again went back to their gossiping.

***

As they were walking across the night road illuminated by red moon, they both remained silent. Akashi was walking Infront of Shohon, who looked like he was lost in some kind of thought.

Shohon, on the other hand, was wondering about this crowded location. Unlike the last trial, this one was different. Because, in the previous trials there weren't any people. But, in this last there was. He was beginning to think something bad was about to happen. If a horrid were to appear in this crowded location, then this place would turn into a bloodbath.

"By the way, you are a shrewed one, huh?"

Akashi asked looking forward, with a serious face.

Hearing that out of the blue, Shohon was a bit taken aback.

"What makes you say that?"

"You are not only shrewed but also a reckless fellow, no doubt. First of all, when fighting that 8 arms horrid you faked being unconscious, didn't you?"

Hearing that he put on a dampened smile, and said:

"Yeah, you are right. I intentionally made that horrid pierce my chest. Right before it pierced my chest I disabled my hardening power on only chest. Though, I wasn't sure if it would work or not. But I took the risk anyway. After being pierced I pretended to be unconscious. Then, after that naturally the horrid would turn it's attention to you and let me out of his sight. This would be a perfect chance for me to rest for a few sec and then use my Extreme Sight, to locate its heart and pierce it. And it actually worked.

Akashi laughed confirming that his judgement was correct. He turned his head slightly towards Shohon, and said:

"Man, I could have died, you know?

Shohon lowered his head.

"I am sorry, man. I didn't mean to use you as a punching bag."

After that they didn't talk much. Finally, they saw an open inn. So, they looked at each other, thinking whether they should get in or not.

After thinking for a while, they entered inside the inn. The inside of the inn looked like a bar. There wasn't anyone in here other than a middle aged woman with long black hair sitting before a table. Behind her was a big shelf of many kinds of drinks. 

The woman has black eyes. She looked like a person of cold character, also strong. Moreover, she looked rather young for being a middle aged woman.

She was shocked seeing especially Shohon, who was soaked in blood. Though, the blood on him had dried out. 

But, then again she maintained her expression like she was used to seeing this, infact that she was, and said:

"Welcome, how may I help you?"

"We need to take a bath."

Akashi said raising his eyebrows, a little captived by her beauty.

Shohon was looking down. Though, this is nothing new. She was a woman after all. So, he was a bit shy and kept his head lowered until they got into bathing room.

"You go first."

Akashi said to Shohon.

Since he was soaked in blood, Akashi felt that Shohon should be the one to take a bath first. Sending him in the bathroom, Akashi sat on a bench against the wall of the outside of the bathing room, looking worrisome for some reason.

***

After finishing bathing, both Shohon and Akashi sat before the table. Shohon was wearing a white t- shirt and a black short pant that the inn's woman let him borrow out of kindness. But, Akashi was wearing his same old clothes: a black t-shirt and a full- jeans pant. Because, his clothes didn't get all that bloody like Shohon's. 

The woman put mugs filled with milk Infront of them. Shohon frowned thinking he didn't have any money on him. So, he can't pay.

"There's no need for that." He said.

The woman understood that the boy might have money problem. So, out of kindness, she said:

"Don't worry, it's free of charge."

Both Shohon and Akashi looked up, and looked at her in bewilderment. Seeing her dampened smile they lowered their head, and began to take sips of the milk.

"If you want you can stay in the inn. Don't worry about paying." The woman said.

"Nah, we don't need to stay in the inn."

Akashi refused with a plain, yet gentle face.

"Are you sure. It is already night time. And as you might have already notice that this city is full of ill-mannered people..So, if you wander around in the city like this they might kill you..And you know what? Nobody would bother saving you too..After all, it is the city of criminal."