Epilogue III: Strength of Judgement

As the final exam began, the sun was moments from disappearing behind the horizon. 

Velmoria's courtyard had been cleared out. Only Alarak and Itsuki stood there, spears in hand and armed to the teeth. They stood about twelve feet apart, and waited for Vaelric to give the signal. Besides Vaelric and Shin, the rest of the spectators had decided to observe from the top of the perimeter wall. They didn't want to accidentally be caught in the crossfire. 

Itsuki waited with terrifying clarity and focus. He had been training for over half of a year now, and he was completely different physically from before. What was once a lanky nerd-esque body was now muscular, athletic and honed.

He had absorbed centuries of knowledge from the tomes he had been provided, and his body was almost entirely capable of responding as it needed to for him to be effective. 

As the sun finished setting and the courtyards were enveloped in shadow, Alarak's body pulsated and swelled with the energy of the night. As a vampire, his skills were enhanced several times over when the sun was not hindering him. 

He could now fight at full capacity. 

"Begin!"

The two immediately clashed, spears colliding as they both began exchanging blows to try and land something. Both were experts in the craft at this point. Alarak's vampiric speed and strength still gave him a distinct physical advantage in a straight-up fight. 

Itsuki, however, had more wisdom at his disposal. Alarak was old, but it took decades to master even one style of spear combat. Itsuki was able to absorb that experience instantly through his Godmark, and he had done so several times over for several different philosophies. His mental mastery of the spear, due to this, was far greater than what Alarak possessed. 

And so it was a battle of wisdom versus raw strength. Every time Alarak got the upper-hand, Itsuki pulled out some new trick to throw him off his guard and regain ground. He didn't need to be faster than Alarak, he just needed to be fast enough to pull off whatever maneuver was required for the situation. 

At this pacing, they seemed to be pretty evenly matched. Itsuki was wasting far less energy, but Alarak had a near-infinite supply at night, so it wasn't a true hindrance. Itsuki couldn't help but smirk internally. In such a short time, he had managed to close the skill gap with an incredibly powerful warrior. 

Plus, when his powers were in use, he could reach a whole other level. 

As he summoned forth the Godmark's power, a faint purple glow radiated from underneath his tunic. In response, the energy provided by the Dragon of WIsdom traveled up to his eyes and colored them in a vibrant purple color. 

Foresight - an ability that made maximal use of his newfound understanding of human anatomy and combat. With it, his eyes and brain could process every possible outcome based on a person's current movement. It was like being able to see into the future, for both offense and defense. 

Itsuki completely began overwhelming Alarak in this state. Every attack felt telegraphed, and Itsuki could see every fatal opening and weakness Alarak had. He promptly took advantage and had Alarak stumbling backwards within seconds. 

"Seems like we need to ramp it up!" Vaelric called out. 

Without hesitation, Shin acknowledge him and snapped his fingers. Almost immediately, about one-dozen Directive soldiers materialized in the courtyard. Each were wielding some form of melee or ranged weapon. All began progressing towards Itsuki immediately. 

Itsuki reacted instantaneously. He slammed the butt of his spear into Alarak, knocking the wind from his chest and stunning him briefly. That bought him a few precious seconds to launch himself towards the new adversary. 

He quickly maneuvered himself so the melee combatants were in the way of their ranged adversaries and got to work. Compared to Alarak, the Directive's soldiers were moving in super slow-motion. Two more would teleport in for each one he incapacitated, though, and they were being strategic about staying out of his field-of-vision. 

Eventually, one of them would get lucky and land a crippling shot. It would be all over if that happened. He needed to pull out a different tactic if he wanted to maintain control. 

He reached into his tunic, grabbed a small bomb-like device, and lobbed it high into the air. It reached it's peak around thirty feet high, and then erupted into a spray of rain that systematically scattered and soaked the entire courtyard. 

The Directive soldiers ignored it entirely, as the sprinkle appeared to be harmless. For Itsuki, however, it provided a vital advantage. 

The device had been one developed by the Directive on his behalf - a Nano-Bomb. The rain that had come down briefly was laced with several nanobots that latched onto his adversaries. As long as they remained undetected, Itsuki could use them to monitor the movements and actions of all of the opponents that were present. The nanobots would feed him back signals that acted as a second set of eyes for those who remained outside of his vision. 

Even when Alarak had rejoined the fight, Itsuki was able to hold him own. Alarak took the majority of his attention, but the nanobots provided him completely awareness of the Directive soldiers who were present. Any time they tried something, they were easily avoided and incapacitated. They were barely a hindrance as long as Itsuki kept Alarak off-guard as well. 

Itsuki was beginning to lose stamina, though. He wasn't sure how long this was meant to go for, but he needed to end this before he ran out of steam to continue battling. His Godmark began to glow once again, as he prepared another technique that would bring about the end of this sparring session...

"That's enough!" Vaelric announced. "Everyone, at ease!"

Immediately, Alarak disengaged and leapt away. The Directive soldiers all dematerialized as well, leaving Itsuki with no remaining opponents. He exhaled calmly and allowed his energy to dissipate. The test was over. 

"I'd say you passed with flying colors," Vaelric admitted as he stepped forward from his observation spot. "You were able to hold your own quite well, and that was without the majority of your abilities or gadgets. Your progress over these last six months is...terrifying, if I'm honest."

"I appreciate the feedback. If it weren't for everyone here, however, I would've never been able to get to this point."

"Don't sell yourself short," Shin noted as he approached. "You had assistance, sure, but you were the one who trained yourself to the brink of death each day to get here. That merits its own acknowledgement. Fortunately, I have a reward prepped for this occasion."

Shin snapped his fingers with a large smile on his face. A different individual materialized next to him. A girl dressed in a simple tunic with long green hair and a golden bow on her back.

Itsuki, despite knowing this day was close, immediately began tearing up. It had been forever, but it was finally done. 

"I'm back, Itsuki," Yuna greeted with a gentle smile. "I hope you didn't get in too much trouble while I was asleep."