Play Duck to Lure the Hunter

[Arius POV]

"Come on. Do something more exciting else, I might get bored and kill you three!"

Ducking my head as another arrow flies over my head, I jump to a nearby building and group up with Big Brother and the guard before jumping down into an alleyway.

"We got a figure out a plan fast!"

"Yeah, we've seen a few of things that we can take advantage of. That guy seems to only ever use one arrow at a time. As long as he's able to get back his arrow, he won't go to grab another one from his coat. We can definitely take advantage of that."

"Anything else?"

"Not really. The guy is really strong, despite being an archer, he's got strong hand-to-hand combat skills and his coat is extremely thick and durable, probably a gold or higher-ranked item."

With the facts put in front of us, the situation looked much more bleak than before. I couldn't think of anything that could defeat the man, my dagger was useless in this situation with such a strong coat protecting him.

After a few more seconds of anxious waiting, Big Brother Jaque speaks up.

"I could probably do something. With my skill, I might be able to cook him alive. You two just need to bring him to a certain spot.

"Where?"

Big Brother then points at a large building a few blocks from here. Standing higher than the rest of the nearby buildings, it had a large clock face on one of its sides.

"The clock tower. The clock tower will do. Just lead him there in a few minutes and I'll do the rest."

"Alright."

Just as Big Brother was about to turn around and leave, I grabbed the cuff of his jacket.

"Wait, big brother, are you sure about this? You'll not going to cook yourself like last time, right?"

Hearing the concern in my voice, Big Brother looks back for a second before fading away once again.

"I'll try my best not to."

With that, Big Brother Jaque runs deeper down the alleyways before turning into the labyrinth of streets and paths. As I just stood there, a bit tired but mostly worried, I hear the voice of the guard behind me.

"While I don't know what you mean about being cooked, but there's no use fretting. Let's follow the plan to give the best chance of success."

With that, the lady grabs onto me before jumping off the ground. Taking a few extra steps off the side of the walls, we safely land on the roof.

"Alright, now where is-WOAH!"

Just as we start looking for the coated man, I feel a hand push my head down as I feel a breeze of air past my hair.

Bang!

Seeing the arrow firmly implanted in the roof tiles in front of me, I quickly get as the guard and I start to run around like geese during hunting season.

...

[Lorraine POV]

Ha! Take this! Clank!

Flying over another island where the sounds of fighting travelled through the air, we soon land at our destination. Looking around, the island looked nothing like it was from above. When we were flying above the island, it looked like a deserted island with a large amount of greenery coming off the sides of the island. On top of the island was a thick forest, hiding something magical beneath it.

Looking before me, there were numerous ancient buildings that hide beneath the canopy away from the sun's eyes. The ground was entirely covered by neat rows of tiles and bricks that matched the style of the buildings.

Further into the island, there was a large courtyard where many people were, probably waiting to take the test as well.

"Alright, this is as far as I'll take you. Take this token, it will allow you to register for the test. I expect great things from you Lorraine."

Fffff

Dropping a rusty-looking coin in my hand, I watch as Gale waves goodbye and a gust of wind appears between us. The next instant, he was nowhere to be seen.

'Thanks a lot, Mr. Gale!'

Holding the coin in my hand, I quickly look around and see a long line of people waiting in front of one of the larger buildings.

'That must be the place.'

Patting the locket under my shirt, I quickly go and get in line.

...

As I was standing in line, I start looking at the other people who were there to register. Most of them had some sort of weapon on them, from giant swords and spears to the smallest knives and daggers. Other than the weapon users, there were a couple of people who weren't carrying any weapons.

'They're probably martial artists then. I wonder how they fight. Master didn't really talk about them. Now that I think about it, she mostly focused on fighting magic users and other weapon users-'

Bonk!

"AH!"

"Jjjiii!"

Just as I was in my own thoughts, I feel someone bump into me from behind causing me to nearly fall on to the next person in line. After regaining my bearing, I quickly turn behind me to see who bumped into me.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

"I-i-i...Sorry!!"

Seeing the person who hit me frantically bowing while on his knees, he started mumbling a broken spew of apologies. Seeing the terrified face he was giving, I feel weirded out as I ask him to stop.

"Ok, ok. You can stop that. I forgive you."

After another few minutes of coaxing, the boy finally stopped bowing his head and I could finally see his face. A human boy, around the same height as me, had dark violet hair. In his hands, there was a stick that was as tall as he was.

What caught my eyes though was that he had different coloured eyes, one dark purple, the other light purple. Even now, he was still shaking a little as his eyes looked around erratically. Seeing him shake, I scratch my head. What is going on?

"Hey, are you ok?"

"Uh...uh... yes."

"Why are you so nervous? It's not like you are in any danger."

"Ah!...Ok!"

For some reason, after my question, the boy visibly jumped before calming down a little. With this weird situation in front of me, I decided to look behind to see how close I was to the building.

Closing the gap to the person in front of me, I realize that it was going to take some more time until it would be my turn so I turn back around to the boy that was just finished taking a breath of relief.

"So where are you from? You sound kind of funny."

"Wa?...Uh...I... really far away."

"Really far away? You don't know where?"

Seeing him shaking his head, I couldn't;t help but shake my head.

'How bad can someone be with locations for them to not remember where they're from?'

"I...Sorry!"

"NO, we're not starting this again. I'll introduce myself. I'm Lorraine, I'm from a small town in the Kingdom."

"I-I, Vein."

"Alright, Vein. Nice to meet you-"

"NEXT!"

Hearing a person from the building calling, I quickly shake Vein's hand once before turning around and getting myself registered. After jotting down my information and taking the coin, the registering people lead me to the courtyard where all the rest of the people were.

A minute later, I see Vein coming towards the courtyard so I wave my hand to get his attention. I see him look around for a few seconds before walking over to me with a head low. Before I could even say a word, I see an instructor standing on a platform near the courtyard that starts talking.

"Welcome everyone to your first test here at the Floating Islands of Legacies. For our first test, we ask that you remain in place as you enter the Bubble of Fortitude. As always, this is a bit of advice. Everything is in the mind."

...

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Aegis' Fun Fact: Past the weapon mastery of Unity, the user enters the realm of Manifestation. At this point, the user is capable of storing their weapon within their body and at any time, can call forth their weapon. At this stage, the user can also manifest their weapon's mana to produce a copy of the weapon completely made of mana.