Two weeks later

  At the summit of a rugged mountain, bathed in the soft glow of twilight, Chael, Eclipse and Celestia stood as their silhouettes etched against the fading light. The wind howled through the jagged peaks, carrying with it the scent of pine.

  "What is this, another test already?" Chael said, rubbing one over his almost mummified body. His upper body, lower body, and arms were all bandaged up. “We haven't even fully recovered.”

  Eclipse was in the same boat, snoring away ever so slightly. Unlike Chael, his face was wrapped in bandages, too.

  "I have a hundred broken bones..." Eclipse said lazily as he fought the urge to fall asleep there and then. “And that's on each limb.”

  "Okay, stop being so dramatic. The math doesn’t add up." Celestia said. “Now listen up, you two. I'll now explain how the second test is going to work."

  Eclipse focused, and Chael readied his composure. If the first test was that hard, then the second might be even harder.

  "Rest assured. You don't need to be in your best shape for this test." Celestia smiled, "This test is nowhere near as brutal as the first test... because this will test your mental strength!"

  "Ooh? Really?! This might not be so bad then." Chael said with a look of relief on his face.

  Eclipse narrowed his eyes, "How’s this going to work, though?"

  Celestia retained her smile and then clicked her fingers, "I’ll show you. Brace yourselves."

  Nothing happened for a good three seconds.

  "What do you-"

  Just about when Chael was about to say something, an overwhelming feeling bore down on him. It was so intense that he fell straight to the ground.

  Eclipse’s pupils quivered. He felt dizzy, and the world around him seemed to spin. It was the same kind of blur he had experienced when Celestia summoned that giant sun in front of them during the test of physical endurance.

  Next to him, Chael fell on his front so hard that the ground cracked underneath him. If he hadn't slapped his palms to control his motion, his nose would've been flattened.

  "What... is this?!" Chael said through gritted teeth. A strange sense of dizziness and anxiety overwhelmed his entire being. It was unlike anything he had felt before.

  Chael tried to force himself up, but he felt as though he was trapped in an inescapable void. He just couldn't get up. Eclipse clawed at the ground but could barely move.

  "This... is the second test - the test of mental endurance! I can tell you that both of your bodies have what it takes to go for a nice stroll in this condition... but your mind doesn't!" Celestia exclaimed. "To pass the test, you must stand upright. And you have 24 hours to do so."

  Chael took a deep breath, and then his eyes flared with determination. He put out his palm on the floor and pushed himself off the ground, and slowly got to his knees. Eclipse let out a triumphant smile as he slowly got up, one limb at a time.

  They couldn't see it at the moment, but Celestia's pupils were trembling as she saw them move in this condition.

  Finally, having got up halfway off the ground, Chael let out a very tired and anxious laugh, "Ahaha… this isn't too bad after-"

  Just as he was about to get up all the way, an even more powerful wave of emotions bore down on him, sending both of them face-first onto the floor. They lost all strength in their limbs, and their eyes quivered in panic, stress and anxiety.

  "You…" Chael's wail was muffled by the earth in his mouth.

  "Kahaha! You dumb little kids, you thought it was going to be this easy?!" Celestia laughed.

  "You stupid old ha-!" Before Eclipse could finish his sentence, Celestia pushed his face into the earth with her feet.

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  "Now now, we've got work to do." Celestia said, "I'll be back by dusk tomorrow, and if you haven't gotten up by then, you can forget about being my student. KAHAHAHAH!"

  And with that, Celestia walked away. After she was quite some distance away, she looked back at them and frowned, "To withstand such an emotional pressure… just what are these kids?"

  "Gah!" Chael gritted his teeth as he desperately tried to push himself off the ground, but he wouldn't budge. "Man...! I was… doing just fine earlier. But then she... gah!"

  Sweat poured out of Chael's head as he tried to move himself. "Shit. At this rate, we'll never make progress... huh?"

  When he turned his head enough to look at Eclipse, he felt like jumping off a cliff, "NOW'S NOT THE TIME TO BE SLEEPING DUMBASS!"

  Eclipse lazily opened his eyes, drool clinging to the side of his mouth, "What happened... where are we...?"

  And just like that, Chael wanted to give up.

  Eclipse's eyes turned from lazy to determined, and he tried to push himself off the ground.

  Chael looked at him, dumbfounded, "It's crazy how your mood changes so quickly."

  "What?"

  "Nothing..."

  Five hours passed, but with no progress.

  Both of them were in a pool of their own sweat, and they forced themselves up, but it felt like they were trying to push a fortress. Their legs were weak and tired, and the overwhelming emotional pressure in their minds still remained, but now they had somewhat adapted to it.

  At one point, Eclipse just gave up. Not only was he tired, but he had run out of motivation temporarily. He brought his head to the side and entertained himself with Chael struggling. He smirked, "Work a little harder, you can't even lift yourself off the floor."

  "Ahaha, you dumbass. You’re in the same boat as me!"

  All of a sudden, Eclipse's eyes widened.

  "I just realised..." he said, his eyes wide open, and he stared directly at the pool of sweat underneath Chael as he struggled with all his might to get up.

  "Why’re you staring at me?"

  "This is a mental strength test, right?”

  “Uh? well yeah…” Chael’s voice trailed off as he also came to realise something.

  “So why the fuck are we sweating?!" Eclipse exclaimed with furrowed brows.

  Some distance away, a light smile curled across Celestia's face as she sipped on her tea.

  "Yeah, you’re right," Chael said before laughing to himself. "Bro, why didn't you think of this sooner?"

  "Why didn't you realise this at all?"

  Eclipse gritted his teeth and focused his mind. He stopped focusing on his physical body and only concentrated on his mind, where he was in pitch black darkness, nothing but emptiness all around him.

  "Focus!" He shouted inside himself. At this moment, he completely blocked off his senses from the outside world and focused on himself alone.

  Inside his mind, blue chains that glowed in the darkness materialised around him. He gripped one of them, "So it was these things holding me back?"

  He slowly tugged at the restraints tightening around him and forced his mind to move even when his body refused to.

  It felt impossible.

  Every time Eclipse attempted to shift these chains, it fatigued him mentally. But Eclipse kept grinding his teeth as he fought the chains that dug into his limbs.

  Little by little, he felt one of the bindings loosen.

  Time passed.

  The longer this went on, the more clearer he felt something in his body. They were almost like... pressure point he didn't even know he had that were spread out through his being evenly.

  Eclipse didn't know what these dots were, or why they were getting more clearer the longer this went on, but he decided to ignore them and focus on the task at hand.

  After what felt like hours of constant pushing, his right foot finally lifted in the mental world, and his real leg responded with a weak jerk.

  He didn’t stop.

  Sweat pooled on his body, while inside, he felt his emotions growing less suffocating..

  Eventually, his second feet moved free, and soon, his real fingers clenched on the earth under him.

  He kept pushing.

  After a while, he managed to draw himself onto one knee.

  Time slowly progressed, and before he knew it, he was standing upright. He finally opened his eyes and saw the light of dusk. Apparently, Chael had figured out how things work just as quickly as Eclipse. The duo were drenched in sweat from head to toe, and there was a small puddle of sweat under them. As they looked at each other, a wide smile formed on their face and they let out a delighted roar which echoed far into the distance.

  CLAP CLAP CLAP

  The sound of Celestia’s claps echoed into their ears, and she walked up to them, "Not bad. Not bad at all. Congratulations! You've passed the second test."

  “We actually did it!" Chael fist bumped with Eclipse with a conceited grin on his face.

  “KAHAH!” Celestia laughed, “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised.”

  Eclipse looked thoughtful for a moment, then asked, “What were those chains?”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Celestia crossed her arms, “I’ll let you guys in on a few secrets once you become my students. For now, there’s still one final test that you need to do to qualify.”

  Eclipse’s eyes narrowed, and Chael straightened, "What's the third test?"

  A cold smile crept across Celestia's face, which made the duo extremely uncomfortable, "Oh, don't worry. The third test is quite simple, actually... since we're here, we might as well do it."

  “We’re not going to get a break?” Eclipse asked.

  “It won’t make a difference,” Celestia said, her expression dead serious. “Now for the third test…”

  A sudden gale washed past them, sending all of their hair fluttering in one direction. As the sun rose over them, Celestia muttered, "I can only take in one student."

  Eclipse's pupils shrank and trembled ever so slightly.

  Chael was still confused, "But aren’t there two of us?"

  "That's exactly right.” Celestia furrowed her brows as she glared at them, “Fight each other. That will be the third test. I'll take the victor as my student!"