by Aaron Oster
Still, when the Constellation faded, it left no visible damage, leaving the oversized brute to come after him once more, no worse for wear.
“I don’t think Qi can even hurt this thing!” he yelled, turning to run and trying to put more distance between the two of them.
“Could be,” Doragon said with another shrug. “I guess we’ll see how this plays out.”
Roy, who’d been expecting him to deny the fact he couldn’t win, actually came up short for a moment, giving up the precious ground he’d managed to put between him and the monster trying to murder him.
It was only when he felt the ground shaking that he was reminded of where he was and began running again.
“If we get out of this alive, remind me to kill him,” Roy internally yelled to Geon, whirling around and using another Projected technique.
Whether Roy would actually be able to even attempt to kill the man remained to be seen. He was at a severe disadvantage. Aside from being a full Belt lower at Base Red, Roy was also severely injured. One of his arms was completely useless, his head was throbbing nonstop, breathing through his nose was impossible, and his vision was impaired by the blood now leaking from the corners of his eyes.
Additionally, while not broken, his legs didn’t exactly feel great. One throbbed where the construct had grabbed onto him during Roy’s brief stint as a demolition tool, and his other twinged in discomfort each time he put his weight on it. Using his Movement technique on top of that didn’t exactly help.
Compound that with the fact that he was already at a massive disadvantage by being forced to use only his Qi techniques, and winning suddenly looked less like overcoming adversity and more like a literal impossibility.
Whether he could have defeated the construct or not would forever remain a mystery though. Because, as Roy darted aside, trying to find a new angle from which to strike, a few unexpected guests decided to come in for a visit.
Roy felt the presences enter the training Dungeon before he saw them. There were five blazing spots of power, appearing as though from nowhere all at once. The construct, which had been preparing to attack him again, froze mid-swing as Doragon turned to face the intruders. Roy stumbled, not having expected the construct to freeze, and slammed into one of the nearby walls, bouncing painfully off but somehow managing to retain his footing.
“Hello, how nice of you all to visit,” Doragon said as Roy turned blurry eyes on their intruders.
It didn’t take Roy long to figure out why these strangers were here.
“Stay out of our way, weakling,” one of them said, addressing Doragon. “We only want the Herald. Don’t interfere, and we’ll leave you alone.”
“Great,” Roy muttered as he turned to face the new threat. “I just can’t seem to catch a break today.”
“Hey, look at the bright side…” Geon said.
“What bright side would that be?” Roy asked, taking in the group of five Red-Belts before him.
“None actually,” Geon said. “I was just trying to be positive. You’re totally going to lose. No doubt about it.”
Roy let out a sigh, his eyes flicking to Doragon in some vain hope that he might help. That hope was dashed as the man flicked something at him. One of the others tried to intercept, but they weren’t quick enough.
Roy caught the Pill easily enough, though with closer examination, he could see that it was nothing like anything he’d taken before.
“Just consider this another test,” Doragon said, giving him a small wave.
Then, the man just sat down and waved his attackers on.
Roy didn’t even think twice, immediately popping the Pill into his mouth and preparing for yet another impossible fight.
45
Roy let out a strangled gasp as his muscles locked up tight, his body going rigid as the Pill slid down his throat. He hadn’t felt pain this intense from something Doragon had given him since he’d taken that Awakening Elixir. There was a horrible, twisting, grinding sensation as the Pill dissolved and his broken body began resetting itself.
Within just a handful of seconds, all of the broken bones, torn muscles, fractures, bruises and cuts were completely gone, leaving Roy to drop to his knees, gasping for air as the lingering effects of the Pill buzzed through him.
He didn’t exactly feel good, but all of the injuries were gone, returning him to his full mobility and strength.
Roy quickly got back to his feet, looking to Doragon, who was now engaged with all five of the intruders, all of whom had presumably attacked him the moment he’d tossed Roy the Pill.
“…come now,” Doragon was saying. “It’s pointless to try hitting me.”
He was right, too. Roy could see that he hadn’t even budged from his seated position, somehow avoiding all of the attacks simultaneously.
Roy didn’t mind the short reprieve, as it gave him an opportunity to examine his attackers. They were all Red-Belts, the weakest being at 2nd Dan and the strongest at 5th. There were two men and three women, all looking distinctly different.
None wore any Clan colors, which told him that this was indeed a group sent to either kill or capture him. The lack of any Clan affiliation meant that if they were captured, it wouldn’t lead back to whoever had sent them.
All three women did look quite a bit different. One was nearly six feet tall and covered in bulging muscle. Another was slim, with long dark hair and fair skin. The third had tanned skin, with short cropped brown hair.
The men also appeared different. One was tall with fair skin, with long black hair pulled into an intricate bun on the top of his head. While the second and weakest of the group was a dark tan, with a series of long scars tracing both of his bare arms.
“You really should stop,” Doragon said. “This is pointless. Besides, aren’t you here for him?”
Roy silently cursed the man, as the attacking Martial Artists — realizing they couldn’t hit him — turned their attention back on Roy.
“He’s right.”
Surprisingly, this came from the 2nd Dan Red-Belt, the man with the scarred arms.
“We’re here for Herald Leroy, not some red-eyed freak with a death wish. We can take care of him later.”
“Yes, you do that,” Doragon said. “Oh, and don’t ask him to surrender. He definitely won’t go without a fight.”
Roy glared at the man, who didn’t look apologetic in the slightest.
“Oh, we weren’t going to offer terms of surrender,” the man said, eyes narrowing as he stared at Roy. “Not after the hell we had to go through to find you in this damnable place. So long as you’re still breathing, you’ll serve our purposes.”
The man’s lips curled into an ugly smile as he gestured to the others, who immediately spread out to flank him.
Roy’s muscles tensed as he prepared to give the fight everything he had, only for Doragon to call out to him.
“Same rules as with the construct, Roy. If you cheat, you know what will happen.”
“That settles it,” Roy said, all but shouting internally. “He does enjoy watching me get beaten to a pulp!”
“I thought that was obvious.”
Roy growled, feeling his blood begin to boil. Here he was, outnumbered and outmatched by people who wanted to cause him severe bodily harm, and Doragon was wrapping his body in two-ton weights, tying his hands to his feet and warning him not to take them off.
His eyes flicked around to the five fighters now surrounding him, each with their guards up. Although they outnumbered him, they still seemed wary, which was a good thing. He was limited in what he could do, which meant that his best bet to even the odds would be to try taking as many out as quickly as possible.
The ground beneath Roy’s feet cracked as he wrapped himself in a Full-body technique. His Speed Strike compounded with his previous techniques many times over and lent him astonishing strength and speed.
He appeared before the muscular woman in a flash, fist slamming into her gut and exploding with a
massive boom. Power Qi lanced into her body at the same time as she was sent hurling across the training area and slammed into the far wall. Roy whirled in place, flashing over to the nearest attacker — the slim woman with dark hair — and attempted to punch her in the face.
As fast as he was, he was only using Qi, and although clearly shocked, she managed to throw both arms up to block. The one thing she hadn’t accounted for — couldn’t have accounted for — was Roy’s monstrous strength, the sort of physical might that no human should have. The crack of the sound barrier being broken sounded an instant after she smashed into the far wall, resulting in an explosion of dust and debris.
Roy spun again, preparing to take on a third, only to find himself facing a glowing green twister. He barely had time to brace himself before it slammed into him. Properly braced, Roy managed to not be tossed off his feet, but only just. Golden hexagonal plates flashed across his skin as they tried to block the attack.
He might have been able to endure it, if not for the fact that he was outnumbered. A fist clad in shimmering blue stone, one larger than his entire torso, slammed into him from the side. Not braced for that attack, Roy was sent tumbling and bouncing across the ground. His halt was arrested by a pillar of blackness that shot up from the earth, and to add to the force of the impact, twin plates of darkness extended from the pillar as he hit, slamming shut on his head.
Despite the fact that he was using a Full-body technique, the enemy combatants were using Chakra, while he used only Qi. There was an alarming crack as the twin slabs of forged darkness slammed closed on his head. The technique managed to hold, but when the oversized blue fist smashed into him, it finally gave, shattering before the onslaught.
Roy kicked back, blasting himself out of range as he took to the air, only for a green twister to knock him right back down, smashing him into the floor hard enough to cause his bones to creak. The twister vanished, and in its place was the muscular woman he’d thought he’d taken out.
Blood dripped from the corners of her mouth and her teeth were bared in an enraged snarl.
“Crap,” Roy muttered, just before her fist, glowing white-hot, slammed into his face.
It wasn’t the actual force of the attack that hurt. Rather, it was the burning, scorching sensation that radiated from the hand that landed the blow. Had Roy not kicked upward at the last second, catching the woman in her stomach, the force of the blow would likely have done far more than the slight headache he was left with.
The woman staggered back, clutching at her stomach and howling in pain, more blood falling to the ground as she did. Apparently, his first attack hadn’t been completely useless after all.
However, the gap left by the injured woman was soon covered by the other woman he’d attacked. Her fingers, clad in gleaming silver metal, slashed down at him, forcing Roy to roll back over his shoulder and right into another falling tornado.
The ripping, tearing sensation of the wind was less than pleasant as it finally broke his skin, sending blood flowing down his back. Thankfully, the roll took him out of its range, and he was able to spring back to his feet, only to find himself facing the man with the topknot, the one whose fists were covered in blue stone.
He grinned, then punched. Roy thought the man was an idiot; he was over ten feet away. That was until the mass of stone detached itself from his hand, opening wide and clamping shut around his torso. Roy cursed as the force drove him back, and he attempted to break the Containment technique trying to entrap him.
Chips of stone flew as his Exploding Fists slammed into it over and over again. He felt himself impact against one of the walls, and the fingers tightened, trying to force the air from his lungs. Gritting his teeth against the discomfort, Roy punched down again. Chips of stone flew, but despite his massive strength, this technique was powered by Chakra. He probably could have broken it, given enough time, but time wasn’t something he had a lot of.
The muscular woman was back, and this time, he couldn’t easily avoid her glowing fists. Still, as he knocked aside a punch aimed at his face, Roy took advantage of his pinned position by the wall. Lifting both feet off the ground, he curled his knees in and kicked out, aiming for the woman’s injured stomach.
Red scales flashed across her skin as his feet impacted, and although the woman was sent skidding back, her technique saved her from the brunt of the force. Red claws made of Chakra extended from her feet, ripping up the stone as she slid back. Roy tried to take advantage of the opening and break away more of the stone, but his right hand was snagged by a silver ball of metal.
The weight on his arm suddenly increased to an astonishing degree, and despite his strength, a single arm couldn’t hold that much. With a loud clang, his arm was dragged down to his side, his shoulder feeling as though it were going to be ripped from its socket.
Roy spotted the next attack coming from the second woman he’d attacked, and another silver sphere came speeding toward him. Making a snap decision, Roy released his Full-body technique — it was doing him no good, trapped as he was — and triggered his Full-area technique instead.
His Power Shackle expanded in an instant, a massive dome of golden Qi washing out over the terrain and freezing all in its path. For just a moment, Roy stared at his five attackers, all frozen in various stages of techniques.
The muscular woman had her hands pressed together as steam poured from her skin. The woman with tan skin was summoning another tornado, and the slim woman was frozen mid-step, the silver sphere trying to take his other hand frozen as well.
The man with the topknot looked to be straining against the technique, veins in his temple standing out. Both hands were extended, likely trying to keep Roy from breaking the Containment. The only one who didn’t do anything was the apparent leader, the 2nd Dan Red-Belt.
The moment remained like that, frozen and still, as spheres of Qi began forming and exploding across the five attackers. With this many trapped, the damage would be minimal, especially seeing as they were all stronger than he was, but it might disrupt their concentration enough for him to free himself.
“Enough.”
This one word from the leader of the group made Roy’s entire body shudder, down to his very soul.
Roy’s technique shattered as Darkness Qi exploded from the man in a wave. The air distorted under the sheer force of his will, darkness wrapping around him like a cloak and forming into the likeness of a humanoid construct — much like the ones Roy had been facing. However, unlike those constructs, this one gave off an aura of the type that was unmistakable.
The second silver sphere caught Roy’s left hand as he was staring, dragging it down to his side and leaving him completely defenseless.
Even though he struggled and strained, he knew it was pointless. He was outnumbered, outmatched, and now, he apparently faced someone who was at least a Grandmaster. The fact that he was the leader made perfect sense. So what if he was only a 2nd Dan Red-Belt? He had what the others did not.
He had a Conqueror technique.
“You know what, I think it’s time I stopped handicapping you.”
The voice, obviously belonging to Doragon, sounded from over his left shoulder.
“You can go ahead and give it all you’ve got. I expect a good show.”
Despite his dire situation, Roy felt a wide grin begin to stretch his lips. Finally, Doragon was taking his shackles off and allowing him to fight for real. He wasn’t entirely sure how he would fare against a group of fighters this strong, but now that he’d been given the go-ahead, he was going to make sure to give them one hell of a fight!
46
Sora Gari hadn’t wanted to use his Conqueror technique. That was why he’d remained back for the most part, only intervening once where an opening had occurred. He’d believed that his subordinates could do most of the grunt work, and when Herald Leroy was all tied up, he could take his time beating the boy half to death.
The fact that Roy hadn’t displayed even a single Cha
kra technique and was only at Base Red further convinced Gari of his weakness. And yet, Roy had managed to land significant attacks on two of his fighters, going so far as to injure Inu Yenla to the point where she’d needed to use her Dragon Scale technique.
He’d been a bit nervous after that, up until the point where Itachi Peela had snagged one of Roy’s arms. Along with Inu Bona’s Grasping Hand, they managed to pin him effectively. However, just when it seemed that all would be well, Roy had surprised them yet again by using a Full-area technique.
Herald Leroy had to be impossibly strong to have trapped all five of them, despite his inferior rank. Gari had struggled against it for several seconds, even going so far as attempting to break free with his Dark Step — his Chakra Movement technique — but to no avail. The others had been similarly trapped, and when the attacks had started coming, Gari was left with no choice.
He stood in place, funneling all of his Qi into the monstrosity that was his Conqueror technique. The others had quickly backed away, leaving the area clear for him to strike.
He had no idea if this technique would end Herald Leroy permanently, but he honestly didn’t care. If Ame had a problem with it, she could have come here and taken care of this herself. Besides, in his mind, it was better this monster end up dead before he could grow too much stronger. No human should have this much power at Base Red.
It should have been impossible for him to even scratch Inu Yenla, nor should he have been able to put that much force behind a single punch, Full-body technique or not. Although neither Itachi Peela nor Yenla had had an Armorer technique active, their bodies had been reinforced by Chakra. Additionally, both were at 3rd Dan Red, which at their ranks, was leagues more powerful than a mere Base Red.
The air above his Conqueror technique’s outstretched hands began to warp as spheres of darkness condensed. As tough as this bastard might be, there was no way he could just shrug this off — not when he was trapped like this.