Kai sighed, resting his chin on his hands as he watched the scene play out before him. It had been a couple minutes since they arrived at the "hill" which actually wasn't one.

Before they even reached it however it took them about 5 minutes of walking and during the whole journey the group walked in silence.

Kai attempted to create conversation and while Rachel was at least attempting to speak back as if she cared, Joy refused. She wasn't showing open animosity but she was still giving off a slightly unapproachable vibe.

Joy didn't care to talk at the moment. She was too engrossed in her thoughts as well as the beautiful flower field all around them.

Despite them inching closer and closer to their destination she couldn't see an end to the flowers in sight.

She assumed this was some dimension or space, much like the void that Aku made but specifically for this test. This was her theory seeing how while there were some natural looking flowers like lilies and roses, there were some that looked significantly different.

For example, one flower in particular had blue petals with bright red seeds in the center, the stem to it was pitch black also which made it have a more ominous undertone. Despite its strange color Joy still thought it looked pretty though.

After a little more walking they had made it to their destination and once they did it became clear what the "hill" really was.

It was a tall tower, one that had an ancient and rusted exterior. From the outside it looked rusted as well as having very strange symbols and inscriptions on it. The inside was about the same as the out, being very ancient and rundown looking, the only difference being that unlike the walnut brown that encased the outside, the inside was more dark brown.

For the most part it was a simple tower, having one long staircase that took the group up. Once reaching the top there was one large open room and a door to another room, it was open.

The separate room was simple, having a bed and a bookcase inside which surprisingly had no books in it. It seemed fairly clean, unlike the rest of the tower.

However, as soon as they finished checking the place out, that was when the drama began.

Joy and Rachel started arguing over who should be king.

Rachel claimed it should be Joy since she apparently could have dodged her earlier punch with ease, saying she only raised her guard to see how powerful she was. Joy tried to get her point across that Kai could be the King since for one, the implied role for it would be a man and also because Joy wanted to prove Rachel wrong about her being a slow puncher, to show her skill off in actual combat.

Joy knew she wasn't much of a fighter as well as not enjoying violence but she wanted to contribute in an important way and so, insisted on being one of the knights.

She felt she couldn't say she did her best as well as earning her spot for the next test if she simply sat down and rested while her teammates did the hard work.

In truth she was being needlessly stubborn and while she realized this herself, felt that she was justified in her feelings with the matter.

Kai was simply laid back on one of the tower walls during the whole encounter, staring at the pair with a look of exhaustion. To make things worse, all the other teams had already picked their Kings.

Each time the announcement would be spoken by the familiar voice in their heads, "Northern team has crowned their King, Eastern Team has crowned their King" and so-on.

Their group was the only one left, and until they picked their king, the test would stay at a stand-still in its setup phase.

Rachel held her head with one hand while the other held the crown, which she made sure was out of Joy's reach, "Listen. I don't care what you think you'll be doing going out there. Just be the King already! Stop being so stubborn!"

Joy was jabbing her hand, trying to grab at the crown, "No you stop being stubborn. We don't have all day! Make Kai the King and we can get this dumb test over with. You don't have a problem with being the King, right Kai?" She turned to him, a look of slight pleading in her eye.

Kai jolted up, "U-uh sure!" He hadn't expected to be drawn into the discussion so his response was rushed. His plan was to simply let them work it out themselves, knowing better than to get in the middle of a cat fight. But now, thanks to Joy's efforts, he was right in the middle whether he wanted to be or not.

Rachel started moving away from Joy, keeping the crown ever so far out of her reach. Joy still followed however but Rachel was watching her cautiously, "Come on Kai. You told me how you were such a great fighter earlier, being a former boxing champion and all. Or was that a lie?"

He shook his head, "No way. It took me years to get as good as I was. I'd never lie about my career. While I was a champion my record was nearly flawless. I'm very confident in my skills… There's one small thing that worries me though." He turned his head, facing a board a bit to his left.

Rachel and Joy had been so engrossed in their debate that they failed to notice it.

What Kai looked towards was a black board with one large rack connected to it, sticking out. On it lay an assortment of weapons. There were some pocket knives, hammers, and even butchering blades strapped down to the rack.

Rachel stopped moving, completely zoned in on the rack. She had a confused expression before one of realization emerged a second or two later.

Out of nowhere Joy snatched the crown before stepping back a bit, looking at her with a smirk on her face. Rachel was still looking at the rack however, seemingly unbothered by the loss of the crown.

"I see…" Rachel had a darkened expression on her face, "So it truly is a death heavy game huh. With weapons like those, permanent or life threatening injuries are 100% guaranteed."

Joy had been so taken with her triumph over Rachel that she didn't pick up on the atmosphere shift in the room. But that was only until she noticed Rachel's expression and after hearing her statement had a more serious face. She was looking at the rack as well now.

Kai scratched his head, "I have a suggestion. Maybe we should go into this test remembering there's always a bonus test if we don't win. We don't know if the risk is going to be worth it."

While Kai didn't look completely unbothered when voicing his concern, he carried a certain calm on him. The calmness might've been a bi-product of his career being a boxer and all.

Boxing, while a serious combat sport, is also entertainment so there's a lot of publicity that comes with matches, having press-conferences and the like must've given him nerves of steel or at the very least a very strong poker-face.

Joy rested her chin in her fingers, stroking it, "That's true. We could always just hole up in this hill and defend it, so we're one of the teams with just one crown left."

Rachel started to open her mouth, no doubt with a disagreeable notion based on her expression of annoyance before a voice rang through all of their heads, interrupting whatever she was about to say.

The voice carried a slightly nervous tone, "Okay. Aku doesn't like waiting and you in group 4 are taking too long so one of you put the crown on already. I'll give you till the count of 3…2…1!"

What could be described during the three second countdown could only be called confusion.

Rachel, Joy, and Kai were all taken aback by the sudden announcement at first.

They heard what it said but the time it took to process left them mostly immobile. It wasn't clear if becoming immobile for the most part was a side effect of the whole telepathic communication experience or if this was due to the test being prolonged for its early stage.

Out of the 3, Joy in particular was the most unprepared for the situation.

She had been so vocal in wanting Kai to be King but in this situation it didn't seem likely to reach him in time.

Also despite the voice counting down from 3 seconds, the count was faster than that by quite a bit. Evident that they didn't even have a full 3 seconds to waste any longer.

Seeing that Kai was too far, her second best option was Rachel but after taking one look at her she shook the idea away. She was sure that if she did thrust the responsibility of king on Rachel not only would she be angry and probably complain, but she was a good fighter at least by her own metrics. Joy knew that's what they'd need in this test, a good fighter.

On paper both Rachel and Kai were the best candidates for knight so unfortunately, she would have to take Rachel's earlier suggestion and so, in a panic, placed the crown on her own head.

There was a second of pause after Joy donned the crown. There was a dead silence to the room, all 3 patiently waiting for what was to come.

"Alright. So, the Southern Team has crowned their king, finally!" The voice was a little more joyful now, unlike the annoyed tone it previously carried, "Now with that out of the way, you may all begin this test. You can grab any assortment of weapons that are within your tower under the condition that you only take two. That's the limit. Okay, that's all from me! You all have fun and goodluck!"

With that, the voice ceased the announcement, leaving all in the tower silent.

The silence wasn't as nerve-racking as the previous time, but it still carried an air of wariness. It lasted a good couple seconds, all processing what to do next.

Joy broke the silence when she sighed however, a dejected look was on her face. She had to do the one thing she didn't want to do, be a bystander.

"It's okay, Joy. We'll handle things," Kai gave her a thumbs up to try and alleviate her frustration.

Rachel didn't share his delicacy however. She crossed her arms, a smug smirk on her face, "You heard him. It's okay. You'll just sit down while me and Kai do the hard lifting, no big."

Joy clenched her fist. She wanted to complain. Maybe try and swap her role, to be a knight too but she knew it to be pointless. Once a test began there was no other preparation that could be made, nothing she could change.

She started walking toward Rachel, who was beaming from ear to ear that things went exactly how she wanted.

"You just make sure you two pull through, okay?" She stopped in front of her, their faces inches away from each other's.

Rachel, maintaining her smug face simply nodded without saying a word.

Joy walked past her now, giving Kai a small wave before walking into the separate room, closing the door behind her.

Rachel turned, walking over to the weapons rack, "Alright. Time to get started!"

- - -

As the two stepped out of the tower doors, the sunlight blinded them for a moment. Kai raised his hand to try and block the light before glancing upward.

The sun, which had been lower in the skyline earlier, was now high up.

'Ah, it must be close to noon now,' He thought.

Kai wasn't sure what exact time all the contestants had been called to the Conference Room at due to the mansion being a no-clock having zone, but the thing he did know was it was early.

Aku greeted them saying goodmorning so the very latest the time could've been was 11:59, the earliest 8. There was no exact proof of course but from the information they'd been given, that was his best guess.

Once the two got accustomed to the lighting outside that's when they saw it.

Rachel and Kai looked on in shock as the flowery meadow they expected to see was no more. In its place was a large forest, trees and bushes being the only thing in view.

Rachel smiled, "Well isn't that just perfect."

Kai chuckled, "It's anything but perfect if you ask me."

She gave him an empty stare, "....I was being sarcastic."

"Oh. My bad, I haven't known you long enough to pick up on that." He was being genuine in his confusion.

Rachel sighed, a look of annoyance written all on her face, "This is the worst."

She started walking forward into the forest, Kai following from behind, "We have to find the enemy's hill, possibly battle other contestants, and then be expected to make our way back to our hill and give our teammate a crown!? I can't believe this!"

Kai scratched his head, "That is a lot when you think about it.... You know what, we should leave markers so we find our way back here. Gives us one less headache to worry about later."

Rachel's eyes widened as she turned to him with a look of shock, "Kai. That's actually smart." Her voice held surprise, awe, and disbelief all in one.

"You don't have to act like that's such a rare thing for me. We just met! For all you know I could've been top of my class at college!" He exclaimed, slightly offended by her surprise at his smart idea.

Rachel simply smirked, completely ignoring his rebuttal before turning away, "I got the perfect thing for leaving markers."

She reached down into her back jean pocket, moving her hand around for a second before pulling out a small pocket knife.

"Wow, smart idea. You could use that to leave a marker. I only brought this mini hammer so it wouldn't have gotten the job done quick enough." He looked in his palm that had the hammer in it with a look of dejection. He had swiped the only thing he not only felt comfortable using and it turns out a hammer isn't the best thing for woodcarving.

Rachel swiped her hair away, a proud smirk accompanying her face.

She was a fan of two things, praise and being useful, and currently she received, and was doing both, "Yep. What would you do without me."

Now walking over, she started carving an x into a nearby tree. She chose to put an x so while it didn't outright tell where Joy was, it would give a general idea for them. The x marking was also used so in case contestants found their way there, it would still be difficult to pinpoint Joy's exact location.

While she was carving the mark Kai was nearby. He was on watch-duty, making sure no contestants were around while she handled her business.

It took her a minute or so but once she was finished, the two started making their way further and further through the forest.

They walked in silence for a long while and after a bit, she would mark another tree while Kai watched still. This system repeated for about 20 minutes as they continued progressing through the massive forest. The whole time they stayed on guard, in wait for the appearance of anyone or anything that could harm them.

Rachel was thinking intently, 'I don't remember our trip from the entrance of the testing ground to our tower feeling this long. Did they expand the place or something?'

Even though the sun was shining down in full effect, the forest still seemed darker than it should've been. Maybe it was due to the trees blocking some of the light but it had a creepy vibe to it.

"So, what's your story?" Kai inquired, breaking the silence which had been hanging in the air.

"Depends. What do you want to know?" Rachel didn't turn to look at him when she responded, she was too focused on her surroundings.

Kai looked up in the sky for a moment, searching for a question before becoming grounded again, "What about what you were doing before getting brought to the void?"

Rachel continued her normal pace, still not looking at him, "Nope. That's classified."

"Okay then.... what about hobbies? You have any?"

"Hmm, also classified."

"Okay, so what isn't classified!?" Kai was holding back his irritation at her dismissive attitude.

"Nothing. Okay, listen." Rachel stopped moving, quickly turning to face Kai who also was brought to a halt since he had been walking side by side with her. "Just because we're partners doesn't mean we have to be all buddy buddy, okay?"

Kai threw his hands up in the air as a sign of surrender, "Got it. Test first, over all."

Rachel sighed before turning back around, starting to continue walking on.

"Wait."

She rolled her eyes, before turning to face him once more, "What is it now?"

Kai had his index finger over his lips as his eyes darted from left to right.

"Come on, you actually have to talk to explai-"

Kai quickly covered Rachel's mouth, pulling her with him behind a nearby tree.

Shocked by his sudden movement, she attempted to break from his grasp, grabbing his arm which was holding her tightly to try and break free but that was when she heard it- footsteps.

Or to be more precise the sound of twigs and leaves crunching a bit away from them. She instantly stopped struggling and loosened up her grip on his arm, letting her hands drop by her sides.

He whispered, "Get it now? We have to be quiet. Can you do that if I remove my hand?"

She nodded.

After getting released, the first thing she did was peer around the tree. She saw 2 people a bit away from them. They were from one of the other groups, she forgot which one but they looked familiar.

One was a taller middle aged looking man with a huge bald spot on the side of his head. He was dressed in a office-looking suit and besides his hair mostly being black, there were noticeable gray's in there.

Stress was clearly a main cause for it, seeing how aside from the gray, he seemed to be a relatively healthy looking guy.

The person beside him however was strange. From the angle Rachel could see them at, his face was blocked off. He was wearing a large black hoodie that had a cute anime girl with brunette hair on the back, his sleeve said "I love Miko."

Aside from that she couldn't get any major features from him but he was shorter than the middle-aged looking man. Not by a whole bunch but maybe a couple centimeters less.

She turned to look at Kai, "What should we do?"

Kai gripped the hammer in his hand tightly, "I say we handle business."