~Nobody Else~ { M. Tokito}

Chapter 4 - Final selection

What is this place? Where the heck am I? Hello?
I have no idea where i am. Everything is crimson red, like blood.
I'm standing on what feels like a floor. But suddenly, ahead of me, i can see it crumbling and collapsing.

Oh my god...

I began sprinting in the opposite direction for dear life. The horrid sound was only getting pounder behind me, and i seemed to be running on some type of liquid.

Is this... Blood?

I started hypoventilating at the realization. The vibrations of the ground was now below me, and before i new it, i fell. Falling into the unknown abyss. But just as my head was lowering, someone shook me awake.

I sat up straight, breathing unstable.
"Hey, hey. You ok?" My sister asked you concerningly. She rubbed her hand on the side of my head, trying to calm me down. And it worked.
Once i caught my breath, i answered. "Uh, y-yeah. I'm fine. I just had this really weird dream."
For some odd reason, i kick in my sleep. But my family has always been aware of this, so I'd didn't concern them that much anymore. But this time, i were also crying in my sleep.

I looked around the room and saw that our brother wasn't in there. "Hey, where's (brother's name)?"
"He said he was going to the lake. I don't know why, though."
" Hm."

Time skip

Urokodaki has given each of us a special sword to fight with—the only type that can behead a demon. He then taught us the breath of water and total concentration breathing. All of us had already learned the breath of the Leopard cat from our parents, but they've told us ahead of time that we'd be learning a new one.

He had us do sparring sessions against each other and himself, and was very Impressed with how well we handled hour swords. Everyone except me had defeated him.

Since we already had a lot of experienced—had a natural gift, as he said— , he only spent 5 months with us. When the time came, he wanted to spar each if us, one last time before we set off.
We both stepped back a good distance away from each other. He motioned for me to make the first move. I strided toward him. The muscles in my legs were powered up, sending me onward at a fast pace. When i got close enough to him, he dodged me, but with cat-like reflexes, i managed to reposition myself in midair.
Sakonji was taken by surprise by how quick my body was moving, and before he knew it, i knocked his sword out of his hand A grunt left his mouth from the impact.
He looked at me through the eyes of his goblin mask. "Well done." He said. "You've don't an excellent job. You're ready."

Time skip

Today was the big day. This was the day i was going to try and survive final selection. (I've said final selection so many times. Oh my gawd. )

"You'll know where it is. Good luck"
" Thank you very much." My brother thanked him.
We all said goodbye before heading up into the mountain.
He stood and watched us leave. "Please, be safe." He said to himself before heading back inside.

Right at the start of the mountain, all i saw was the purple flowers Urokodaki mentioned we'd see.

Wow.

I was absolutely mesmerized by the beauty of these plants, and could tell that the other three were having a similar thought. The violet petals felt soft as my fingers brushed under them gently.

Most of the way up, the four of us walked on a smooth dirt path, now there was also a somewhat long set of steps going up the mountain.

As the four of us kept on walking up the steps, i started seeing more young swordsmen. A few of them looked at us, but not judgmentally.