In said two days time Imuru got dressed in his room for his upcoming meeting with the Orcs. What he dawned was a simple white shirt, covered by a sky-blue overcoat and trousers, with simple black boots. Prepping himself, with some pre-speech talk. He twiddled with his hair for a few seconds, grabbed his sword and headed out.
Strolling through the hallway, Imuru hummed a mellifluous tone to himself, a casual motion to his demeanor.
He slid the door open with a soft rustle, and a cool brush of morning air swept into the hallway, carrying with it the gentle warmth of beautiful, golden sunlight. Forcent and Yosho were already there, waiting—Forcent a white calm, and Yosho attentive. Imuru held a casual, easy smile, his sword resting lightly on his shoulder.
They stepped down from the porch. Imuru's smile faded a little, noting they are missing someone.
As they waited a passing thought went through Imuru's head.
"Considering he's been so eager yesterday, I'd expect he'd be first… Arken."
Just as those words crossed Imuru's mind, he became aware of Arken's presence, stepping around to the front yard in a loud stomp of the feet.
"Hmph."
Imuru simply couldn't help it but to smile faintly, a little amusement in seeing Arken's antics this early in the morning.
"Morning, Arken," Imuru greeted, in a teasing manner.
"Same to you," Arken replied, his gaze sweeping over Yosho and Forcent.
"I shall not acknowledge the woman and the mutt," He thinks dismissively, shutting his eyes.
"Well shall we get going?"
Imuru asked loudly, breaking the ice. He tilted his head over to Forcent, and the Ennom gave a simple nod in response.
"Follow closely… I'll move as slow as possible, so everyone can keep up."
Forcent's words were sharp, yet still filled with disinterest.
Arken glared at him from the corner of his eyes, a tinge annoyed, having the feeling that Forcent's words may be targeted at him… So, naturally he had a few words of his own to say.
"Hmm. I agree. The people around here actually doing work would appreciate that."
"Ah, yes, I'm sure standing and watching must be… very tiring."
Forcent's reply was controlled, tight and most importantly truthful.
Arken gritted his teeth, the Ennom's impassive expression starting to aggravate him. He dropped his crossed arms to his side, then put them back up.
"Fool!"
Arken stepped forward to the Ennom's side.
"Move as fast as you can, you'll never lose me."
Forcent didn't even give Arken a glance, his eyes steady and forward, the aggressive Dark Devider growling beside him.
Behind them, Yosho and Imuru observed in silence. Yosho sighed, her eyes flickered down to Imuru.
"Great Imuru," Yosho called her tone weary, "do you wish for me to stop this?"
"Uhh… no, that's fine."
Imuru had his gaze on the two as he replied, voice just above a whisper, something ticking in his mind.
"Okay!" Imuru announced, getting in-between the two. "If you're so competitive, Arken… Forcent. Then I will allow this race to go forward. The rules are simple, this is a race depending on sheer, natural speed—no skills, understand?"
"Clear!" Arken replied, his fists clenched, eyes burning with competitive fury. "Watch closely, Imuru… as your favorite is left in my dust, chasing after the prints of feet, that cements my victory."
Imuru lowered his head, hand over his face, shaking his head subtly. "I adore the passion."
"Since this is on. Forcent a general direction to our meeting?"
Doing what was asked of him, Forcent gave the general direction. To start them off, Imuru ready them with a count…
"1…"
"2…"
"3…"
"And… GO!!!"
Upon Imuru's final word, Forcent and Arken were off in a dash, generating a power gust of wind behind them.
Arken breezed through the forest, his movement fluid like a stream. Whatever obstructed his path, he destroyed in a casual swing of the hand. Arken's eyes darted around in search of the Ennom—the probability of missing an enormous creature like that, he figured, was improbable, so grinned, confident he was surely in the lead.
"Excellent. Those fools underestimated me. My training these past days have proven fruitful. I'm no longer the same Dark Devider I once was… Hehehe… Right now I'm certain with my found strength I could even beat Imuru the first time I encountered him."
Arken had these pleasant thoughts rushing through his head, though he had to slow his movement to catch his breath, almost an hour into competition.
"Ugh! Damn it… Not easy to keep up such speed at a constant rate."
Before he dared be at ease, Arken scanned his surroundings, discovering nothing of suspicion.
"HA HA HA HA!!! Stay where you belong… right behind me."
Something bolted from the bushes, the noise giving Arken a fright—only for a second, as it was solely Imuru.
"The Ennom?" Arken inquired, demanding Forcent's location.
"No need to worry, you're ahead," Imuru replied, in a casual, playful jog. "Anyway, I didn't mean to disturb you, I just came to tell you, the challenge ends at the new region. So if ya get there first, you're the winner. I'll leave you be now, bye-bye."
As Imuru finished relaying this information, he allowed himself to fall back.
"That wretched mutt is toying with me," Arken thought in an incredulous manner. "I should conserve my energy for the last stretch. That must be his plan. Once the end is in sight and I'm exhausted he'll make the sprint. As much as speed, this comes down to a battle of endurance… Hmph."
Close on Arken's trail, Forcent moved at a casual pace—just enough to make small increments in his approach. The Ennom wasn't alone, Imuru and Yosho were hanging around at his pace.
"So, any plans to pass Arken? He's way ahead of you by now," Imuru chirped, like a commentator.
"Keeping my pace, there's no need to rush," Forcent replied bluntly, his disinterested expression and tone not even budging a little.
"Uff."
Imuru smirked from the response, half expecting Forcent to say something like that.
"To the surprise of no-one, Forcent the great Ennom, seems rather confident in his capabilities to surpass the Dark Devider. But can he back up this talk?! We'll just have to wait and see."
The minutes went by, turning into hours, the forest gradually changing around them as their destination drew near. Forcent's usual gaze of mild disinterest hardened into sharp focus, his ears twitching forward. Without a sound, he picked up his speed, gliding ahead of the group with sudden, intent urgency.
"Ooh!!! Now there's some urgency!"
Imuru lit up, his smile widening to a fiery grin, ready to follow suit in picking up his pace. His eyes flashed over to Yosho, and he promptly felt a sense of guilt, as Yosho was huffing and sweating barely able to keep up the pace.
"That was inconsiderate… I should put a stop to this."
Imuru pushed ahead to Forcent's side.
"Um. Forcent! How should I put this, maybe we should call this off… Yosho isn't doing well at this constant speed!"
"Personally this bothers me, little!" Forcent replied, "the Dark Devider on the other hand!"
Imuru sighed at Forcent's reply, knowing what he meant. Reducing his pace back to Yosho's, he had a word with her.
"Yosho! Are you doing okay?! We can stop this if you insist!"
"I-I—I refuse…!" Yosho stammered out, catching her breath in-between her words. "Please don't worry about me Great Imuru! This is excellent training in regards to my stamina. I… I can handle it."
"Uh." Imuru smiled at her resilience, nodding proudly. "We continue!"
Looking ahead, there was an interesting line of thought that crossed his mind.
"I will admit, for Arken this is impressive. Hmm. He didn't seem tired at all up there. This little competition is already providing something even more important—the capabilities of my closest friends. Hm-mm, useful for future input."
At the head, Arken heard the sound of heavy steps, shaking trees, feeling a pressure building behind him like a coming storm—instinctively he picked up his momentum, edging right to its limits.
"Grahhh!!! This beast!... I will not lose!… I will win!"
In his strained rush, Arken saw a white blur whisked past him to his sheer astonishment, leaving him to almost stumble from the unmitigated force that verge on clearing him right off his feet.
"Wha—?"
Arken blinked rapidly. He didn't quite catch what last him, but knew deep down in his gut who it was.
"Could it… really… even now, still far ahead…"
Coming to an end, Arken came to a gradual stop breaking into the other region—trees thinning, and shade of leaves a now dashing green-yellow.
Arken huffed under his breath, doing his best to mask his exhaustion, gazing at the Ennom. Forcent turned his head, to take a look at Arken's state; in comparison to Arken, Forcent was not last for breath, his exterior calm and cool.
The pair left behind finally caught up a few seconds later; Yosho stumbling toward a tree, gripping onto it to catch herself from falling over. She audible, huffed and puffed, drenched in sweat, barely able to grasp her breath.
"Hiya-Hiya~..." Imuru attended to Yosho's side, gently rubbing her back. "I never thought I'd see Yosho like this… not a good feeling," He thought, worried.
"I learned a lot today, the strengths… and weaknesses of my friends."
Imuru sighed, his eyes flickering around his surroundings. "Talk about a change… looks beautiful. Not as cluttered as Collon's or my region."