by Aaron Oster
The stone beneath his face cracked wider and wider until, with a splintering crack, the stone gave way beneath his face, leaving him to stare through dazed eyes at the edge of a platform floating below. Then, Roy was falling toward that platform with astonishing speed, impacting with all the force both of his attackers had put behind their techniques.
However, he didn’t just hit the stage. He went sailing straight into a technique thrown by the third attacker, a gigantic spear seeming to be made of Wind Qi. Roy was too dazed to do much more than twist his body, taking the spear straight through his gut, instead of his heart where it had been aimed.
The pain snapped him back to reality right before he slammed bodily into the ground, blood pooling around him from the open wound.
“You should probably do something before you get us both killed,” Geon commented, as the squat man dashed over with a burst of air, tendrils of whipping air already wrapped around his fist.
From up above, he could see two streaks as they made right for him, the large male and female attacker preparing to drive him through yet another platform on his way to the bottom.
“Damn it all,” Roy slurred, right before a massive wave of golden light exploded from his body.
3
His Containment technique, the Overflow Plus, was nearly as draining as his Full-area technique. Additionally, it had the downside of not causing any damage. The problem with using a Full-area technique was that it took an immense amount of concentration to activate, and Roy didn’t have nearly the focus needed to keep a technique like that going. As the golden light exploded from him in a wave, the two falling attackers abruptly turned in the air.
Fire exploded from the bottom of one, carrying him to a nearby platform, while earth gathered under the woman, keeping her floating just a few feet above. Roy staggered to his feet, feeling blood dripping from the multiple wounds he’d taken, but he did his best to ignore them. He debated trying to widen his Containment technique, but keeping even one of these shadowed figures locked in place was extremely difficult.
Even now, the bulky man was breaking free, wind blasting all around and tearing at the bonds locking him in place. Worse, the other two were building up some pretty massive techniques. Above the woman, stone formed and condensed, taking on an ominous, reddish glow, while around the man, fire spiraled outward, sharpening to dozens of points and growing brighter and brighter by the second.
Not having much time to act, Roy flashed forward, hampered a bit by the heavier gravity of this new platform, but still managed to land a heavy blow on the squat man trying to break free. The man’s head was rocked to one side, but unbelievably, he didn’t go down. Growling, Roy tapped into both his Movement and Physical techniques, unleashing a barrage of blows. Five, six, seven, eight… One after the next, the powerful attacks hammered into the enemy’s solar plexus, angled slightly upward to rip into his Core.
It took an astounding fifteen techniques to finally disrupt the enemy’s concentration enough for Roy’s attacks to make a difference. As the man’s Core faltered, Roy’s upper body twisted as he threw all of his power and weight into a final attack. With a massive boom, Roy unleashed his Projected technique at point-blank range. The Void Sphere-Pulse rocked his head to one side before ripping it clean off his shoulders.
Roy whirled back around, ending his Containment technique, and faced down the two massive attacks bearing down on him. A whirling, circular saw made of fire and a condensed, glowing boulder the size of the entire platform bore down on him, closing with frightening speed.
Roy breathed deeply, cycling Qi from his Core throughout his body, and began to feel his channels strain. He was at the very peak of what any Purple-Belt could be and would likely give some Red-Belts a run for their money. If he hadn’t known better, he’d have sworn that all three fighters he was up against were at least at Base Red, if not a Dan or two higher.
He pulled his concentration inward, his Qi flowing into the world as the attacks bore down. Everything seemed to slow in that moment, the looming boulder and whirling wheel of death bearing down on top of him. Then, Roy triggered his Terrain technique. The Constellation Cluster formed in an instant, seven spheres forming in the air and firing a single point before joining and blasting upward in a bar of golden power half as wide as his torso.
It slammed into the falling boulder, and for just a moment, the boulder pushed back, falling another couple of feet before slowing to a halt. For a couple of seconds, the beam of gold and glowing boulder struggled against one another, then, with a splintering crack, the boulder split in half, the golden beam punching through.
The woman shot downward, plummeting to the platform as though expecting the attack to come, only to realize, too late, that Roy had leaped upward. He whirled in the air, using his Airstep to give himself the extra power he needed, and slammed a foot into the center of her chest.
The force of the blow alone wasn’t enough to finish her, but when her body came into contact with the whirling saw of fire, she was summarily torn in two, the blazing saw continuing downward. The woman fell in two pieces, bisected by the attack, as the twin halves of her boulder slammed into the platform, ripping huge chunks off the stone.
Roy grabbed onto the top of a nearby platform as he began to fall and swung forward, using his Airstep again to bring him within striking distance of the huge man, who was the only opponent who still stood against him.
The hulking form turned to face him, fire kindling along his body in an obvious Armorer technique. He was just in time, too, as Roy’s Void Sphere slammed into him, driving him back half a step. The ground buckled beneath Roy as he landed, and he let out a grunt of surprise. The gravity here was intense, many times greater than anything he’d dealt with before.
He strained, trying to straighten, only to feel a bone-jarring impact against the side of his face. He spun away, the skin on his cheek burning. Two blows hammered into his ribs, the Essence Armorer technique he’d hastily thrown up shattering under the second blow.
Roy fell on his back and rolled, slamming a fist into the ground and blasting himself off the platform. He was assaulted by a painful kick in his ribs, one which punched straight through his skin, cracking one of his bones despite the reinforcement and leaving a searing pain in its wake.
Roy didn’t so much land on a platform twenty feet down as slam into it. Thankfully, he landed in some water, which soothed the horrific burning in his side. Additionally, this platform’s gravity was only slightly different. He was beginning to see a pattern of how gravity was affected on the different platforms.
It seemed that those which sustained life, such as trees or water, would be normal. The plain ones would have denser gravity, and the ones with small pebbles and rocks would be lighter. It did seem to be a toss-up as to how intense the effect would be, but as Roy staggered to his feet, water sheeting off him, he decided that he would try and avoid those other platforms as much as he could.
“You might wanna do something about that.”
Roy looked up just in time to see a flash of red as the burly figure loomed in his vision. The impact drove him straight through the platform to the one beneath, and Roy groaned as he landed, his body full of new cuts and bruises. He was taking a serious beating, and although his Core still blazed with Qi, his body could only take so much punishment.
He struck with both fists as the man followed, flashing through the hole in the platform and bearing down on him. The force of Roy’s attack bore him to the ground despite the lighter gravity on this platform, as twin beams of gold shot up to meet him.
The man didn’t even flinch, allowing both attacks to slam into his Armorer technique and slide off.
“Well, that’s not good,” Roy noted, right before the man slammed into him again.
This time, Roy caught both fists directly to his chest, and with the force of the man’s fall and the Physical and Movement techniques he was using, Roy felt a couple more ribs go. Painful bruising soon follo
wed as his back slammed into the final platform between him and the bottom of the space.
He lay there for a moment, dazed, the world swimming in and out of focus as Geon counted the number of platforms he’d smashed through on his way down there.
“You really should put up more of a fight. It’s pathetic, really.”
Roy could similarly feel the disapproval of the Spirit of Power. The disappointment fell on him like a physical weight, not unlike the weight he felt now as the intense gravity kept him pinned in place, watching the looming form of the shadowed man, blazing with fire, coming down on him.
Roy knew that if this attack hit, he was done for, but he’d already seen that this man’s pure physical power was too much for him to take head-on. He needed a plan, some way to hit him from a distance.
The man came down, fire blazing around his fist, and golden light exploded from Roy’s body. The Containment technique caught him as he fell into its range, unable to avoid being trapped due to his own momentum. Roy felt the strain as the man impacted, threatening to rip through his technique. But for at least a few seconds, he knew it would hold.
Roy was on his feet in an instant, one hand flashing out to send a Void Sphere at the man’s chest, ripping into his Armorer technique. At the same time, he used the Constellation Cluster, and at point-blank range and pinned in place, there was nothing the shadowy figure could do to defend himself.
The bar of golden light blasted through him, shattering his Armorer technique in a blinding flash. Roy pulled his Containment technique back, wincing as he watched the man fall to the ground in a heap…only for him to start pulling himself upright! Roy was there in a flash, power crackling around his fist and slamming it into the center of the man’s back.
There was a moment of resistance, then the bubble of force that expanded around his fist blew the man back into the ground, the jagged lightning wracking his frame and shattering his weakened Core. The force of the last attack caused the platform to splinter, and with a groan of effort, Roy leaped to the closest one, having to use his Airstep to reach it as the platform broke apart.
He fell to his knees on the platform when he landed, grateful to be on a normal one. Blood dripped from dozens of cuts, and his chest and side burned with the grating of bone. His face throbbed, his jaw, cheek, and nose all having been battered by the enemy combatants. In addition, the back of his head felt like it had a lump the size of a melon. Having taken that many attacks in short succession, he was honestly shocked he’d even made it through that round.
“So am I,” Geon said.
Apparently, Roy was so exhausted that his thoughts were leaking through.
“Well, don’t get too excited,” Roy groaned. “We still have another round.”
“Where exactly are you going to fight?” Geon asked. “Sure, your attacks were all very impressive, but look what you did to the fighting area.”
Roy finally looked up, taking note of the damage that had been done to the floating platforms. Over two-thirds of them had been shattered or smashed, some floating in thousands of pieces and others drifting around in larger chunks. Unlike the relatively stable platforms, these smaller pieces moved around at greater speeds, turning this way and that, assuring that any fight on them would be far harder.
“Guess we’ll just have to stick to the platforms which are still intact,” Roy said.
“Speaking of fighting, you’d better get through that last round,” Geon said. “I don’t want to die, and if you fail the test, we’ll be shoved out as a Purple-Belt, and I will explode into a million tiny pieces.”
“Your concern for my well-being is heartwarming, as always,” Roy grunted, getting shakily to his feed.
“Well, obviously,” Geon said, completely ignoring the sarcasm in his voice. “If you die, I die right along with you.”
Before it could become a full-fledged argument, the voice spoke again.
“Challenger! How do you battle your closest allies?!”
Roy felt his heart sink as very familiar figures began appearing on the remaining platforms. Aika, Ferry, and Hermit all shimmered into being and stared down at him with expressions of utmost loathing.
“Wow. That’s new,” Geon commented.
Up until now, Roy had been facing enemies. Granted, the trial claimed that the second wave of attackers was going to be made up of his enemies, but they had been enemies, nonetheless. Now though, in order to clear this test, he was going to have to face off against the people he cared for most, and while he had sparred with them, sparring and fighting to kill were two entirely different things.
Apparently, no one had told them that, as Aika flashed down, her staff blazing white as Light Qi ocellated across its surface, aiming to take his head from his shoulders.
4
The setting sun blazed behind him, its light feeling warm on his back, especially some ten-thousand feet above the ground. Although a war raged below, tiny figures clashing over a small speck of land, Hermit just couldn’t bring himself to care. He knew that whatever happened, interference on his part would be a mistake. And besides, he’d allowed Duncan to take charge, having never really liked the idea of leadership himself.
Instead, he sat up in the sky, far from the worries of the war and the Ancient Cavern Beast sweeping across the Windblight. Right now, everything seemed serene, the noise of the battle drowned out by the howling wind that ripped at his robes and hair.
Hermit didn’t even notice it, so focused on the light of the Sun and the Fire it radiated. After advancing to Black-Belt and gaining the power of a Scion, Hermit now truly understood the scope of the world and how far away the Sun was from Buryoku. In addition to that knowledge, he had also learned that the closer he was to exiting the planet's atmosphere, the less diluted the Fire Essence entering the world would be.
Unlike most Essence types, the strongest source of Fire came from outside the world. The Sun also generated plenty of Light Essence, but so did the moon. No Fire came from the moon. Only Light.
When sunlight entered the world's atmosphere, it was at its strongest, slowly dissipating until it reached the ground below. In areas like deserts, the Fire Essence was much stronger since there were no obstacles like trees getting in its way. Additionally, in areas already rich with Fire Essence, such as volcanoes and other areas of extreme heat, the sunlight would be less diluted.
But up here, close to the atmosphere, the Fire Essence was at its most potent, no matter which area of the world. Hermit had tried leaving the world altogether but had quickly realized that once outside the atmosphere, the sun became far weaker.
He wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but some component of Buryoku itself strengthened the sunlight to the point where it generated an immense amount of Fire Essence.
So now he sat there, legs folded up and hands on his knees as he pulled the burning Essence into his Core. It came flooding in in a rush, cycling through his channels as he converted it first to Qi, then Chakra, and finally to Reiki, where it streamed to the center of his Core and sat in a dense sphere, not unlike a liquid so viscous that it was nearly solid.
“You’re up against a wall,” his Core said, the voice echoing in his mind.
“I know,” Hermit replied, not even bothering to open his eyes.
He’d felt it as soon as he’d advanced. A wall, as deep and impenetrable as he’d ever seen, stood in the way of his next advancement. He’d come up against walls before, of course; all Martial Artists did. But this was a wall unlike anything he’d ever faced before.
“It’s a hard one to crack,” a light and melodic voice said. “It is the very reason that none of us have managed to advance to the 1st Dan.”
Hermit’s eyes cracked open, and he found himself facing one of the most stunning women he’d ever seen. She was fair-skinned, without a single blemish marring her perfect features. Her eyes, a brilliant gold, slanted upward, and her lashes, matching the solid black of her long hair, had a light sheen to them.
; She was slender, dressed in a traditional robe that had fallen out of fashion some four-hundred years ago, and both of her hands were tucked inside the widened sleeves. Hermit had felt her coming, of course. The time when a Scion could sneak up on him was now in the past. But still, despite knowing that he now technically matched this woman in power, he still felt a small fluttering in his chest.
Hana, the Scion of Tales, had met him once before, back when he’d still been known as the Sage of Ruin. Her words had set him on a different path, one that he was confident he’d never have found on his own.
A Belt of solid Black, so dark that it seemed to swallow all the light around it, sat around the woman’s waist, trailing behind her and rippling in the wind. Hermit knew she was doing it herself, as the Belt had no place in the material world. His Belt, the same, solid Black, didn’t budge as he unfolded his legs and stood, his feet placed on the air as though on solid ground.
“Itachi Hakai,” the woman said, the smallest hint of a smile touching her lips. “You have changed much since last we spoke.”
“I no longer go by that name,” Hermit said, making sure to keep his tone respectful. “I am now Hermit, Scion of Honor.”
He didn’t like using titles, but when addressing someone as powerful as a Scion — even if he was one himself — it was probably wise to be a bit more formal.
“That you are,” Hana said, her lips pulling up into an actual smile this time.
“Why are you here?” Hermit asked when she didn’t say anything else.
While he and Duncan had managed to keep themselves grounded, they hadn’t expected any of the other Scions to appear. When advancing, their world views changed, shifting to a much larger scale. After all, what were the lives of a few million weaklings when compared with an entire world or worlds? Time would see them recover, so it was best to let those who were still stuck on the ground fend for themselves.