Bolin slowly and stiffly removed his shirt as Ilka requested. His battered muscles revealed themselves to show his true god-like form. Ilka slowly paced around his body, examining all of the bruises that weren't visible before.
"Wow... he really would've killed you." She glanced over at Obai, who was still seated on the ground. He wasn't crumpled anymore, but he wasn't strong enough to stand. He also didn't care to.
"I like you a bit more now." Her eyes scanned up and down as she examined his body once more, focusing on his face.
"Gray eyes... that's unusual."
Obai's heart suddenly dropped.
'She... wouldn't connect me to Nova just because of eye color, right?'
While suppressing his surprise, he responded coldly, "I'm unsure of where I get them too."
Ilka frowned as she continued to watch him. As Bolin's shirt fell onto the ground beside her, she simply nodded as she turned back towards the giant.
"You take your shirt off too!" she called over her shoulder.
Her hand reached out as she paced back to face Bolin's front, each of her fingertips circling around the large muscles that guarded his heart.
She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them to reveal a spark of light.
The air around Bolin seemed to swirl as energy danced between the two. Ilka continued her light hold on his chest as her eyes burned brighter. After just seconds of the quiet exchange, she glided back.
A strange sort of invisible aura had surrounded him, filling the room with warmth and delight. His skin started to heal, and the color of his torso returned to his usual tan.
"Good! Your Body Trait has been unlocked now."
She started walking towards Obai, who watched the whole process on the ground. Her smooth legs halted in front of his own as she looked down at him.
"Stand up. And I told you to remove your shirt, young man."
Obai stared into her eyes, his own swirling rapidly. Then begrudgingly, he pushed himself up, wincing from the injuries in his back.
Ilka didn't move, watching as his eyes climbed an inch above hers.
He slowly removed his shirt, just as Bolin had. As the fabric covered his head, he asked dejectedly, "Is the shirt really necessary?"
Ilka smiled once more, genuinely happy about the question. It was probably the happiest she had been the whole meeting.
"It isn't."
'Huh?'
Obai paused and pulled back, but Ilka quickly yanked his shirt off his arms anyway, her other hand planting itself on his chest. Each fingertip circling his heart, just as she did to Bolin just seconds ago.
Obai gasped as a surge of foreign energy ingrained itself into his body and started to fight the energy hidden behind his latent Body Trait. The feeling tingled, and he could feel his muscles tense tightly as something else happened.
Before he registered the energy's attack, his Spirit Trait also started responding to the foreign energy, moving itself to fight against the pickpocket that was Ilka.
As panic shot into his eyes, he focused on his Spirit Trait, doing his best to call back the energy and let Ilka unlock his Body Trait. He wasn't sure if she would recognize the extra forces fighting back against her, but hopefully the added second of time wouldn't alert her to Obai's true power.
Thankfully, after a few long seconds, she pulled her hand back without saying anything.
Obai felt reprieve as his energy quit fighting and instead washed over his whole body, ascending his soul. The cuts and bruises healed, and the cracks in his bones reshaped themselves. His eyes widened as he felt the new power of the unlocked Body Trait.
'Finally...'
A smile climbed across his face as he admired his arms, turning them over and admiring the perfections done to his skin. He felt an urge to manipulate the energy to see what strength the Body Trait offered, but held himself back. If he were any other soldier, he shouldn't be able to know energy manipulation just yet.
'I'll train it later.'
He glanced back up to see the delighted Ilka admiring his reaction.
"Perfect! Now off to war you go!"
Everything happened so fast. She waved her hands out in front of her, pushing the both of them out of the room with the icy guard following them. They didn't even have time to pick up their shirts, suddenly finding themselves outside the open doors as if they had just arrived.
"Juno will explain everything! Have fun in Kokoro!"
The doors slammed shut.
- - -
"We're leaving today?"
Fully refreshed with the new bodies granted to them by the unlocked Trait, Obai and Bolin were busy redressing into dark uniforms provided by the Karada, while Juno explained what they were ordered to do.
Everyone that joined the initiation battles had accepted that if they were to win, they would immediately join the army of the Karada. Experienced fighters and bunches of nobodies who hoped to be great had participated.
Juno reinforced that every loser except for Obai had been used to strengthen the new soldiers.
Obai had calmed himself since leaving the presence of Ilka Merric, but he still felt a roaring fury in his soul at the mention of the tossed away lives. He didn't want to fight Juno over it... just yet, because of his wariness of the unexpected strength of the Karada higher-ups. He also desperately needed the time to train his newly acquired Trait.
Bolin sat quietly with his back facing the guard as the information was retold.
"Yes, the ships will be departing the bay this evening, and you two will be boarding the one I captain. There isn't any time to waste, so your training will be brief. You'll have four days to learn the simplest stages of Body Trait. Once we land at the capital, all of the new recruits will be on standby to ward off the attacks initiated by the Rogue Commander's minions."