by Aaron Oster
“A what?!” Roy demanded.
The Spirit just stuck out her tongue, blew a raspberry, and vanished in a flash of golden light.
“Geon…What the hell just happened?” Roy asked, blinking at the area the Spirit had been occupying just moments before.
“I believe that the Spirit of Power just compared your attitude to feces,” Geon supplied helpfully. “Really, she does have a good point about you being very silly sometimes. Why if I had a…”
Roy was forced to throw himself to the side, losing the rest of Geon’s insult, as the pig unfroze and continued its charge. All the aches and pains came rushing back at once as he came out of his roll and spun to face the Beast. He could clearly feel the Spirit watching him now, waiting for him to make his next move.
“Fine,” Roy muttered as the boar pawed at the ground, then charged. “I’ll do it your way.”
45
The smart thing to do when facing down a boar weighing nearly half a ton is to run the other way. Roy did the exact opposite of the smart thing and charged straight at it. The boar picked up speed, its eyes trailing smoke and its flanks heaving. Taut and powerful muscles rippled across its body as it sped towards him, outlined clearly under its tough skin. This Beast was no joke and not to be taken lightly.
It was far stronger than him, far tougher, and far more dangerous. Yet here he was, charging a monster that could squish him flat without a second thought. Truthfully, Roy would never have done something so recklessly stupid, but right now, he was on a mission. He wanted to prove that the Spirit of Power had given him an impossible test by forcing him to charge this Beast head-on, instead of doing the smart thing and attacking from the sides after dodging.
Roy streamed Essence from his Core, now down to only a fifth of his maximum capacity, and fed it into his limbs, strengthening himself and reinforcing his body as best he could. The Shockwave activated, just as he and the boar were about to collide, but instead of using its explosive speed to dodge, Roy used it to close the distance and throw the first punch.
His fist slammed into the pig’s nose at the same time as the Beast’s tusks began to pierce his torso. Roy was expecting the boar to simply shrug off the blow, for its tusks to tear into him and for him to immediately fail the test. What happened instead was entirely unexpected. The boar let out a loud squeal, its rear end came off the ground and its body literally flipped straight over Roy, the tusks leaving only the barest of scratches as it passed.
The boar landed on its back some six feet behind him, slamming into the ground and rolling several times before coming to a halt. Roy blinked several times as he stared stupidly ahead at his extended fist. He remained in the same pose, legs braced, one hand raised to cover the side of his face and the other extended straight out.
Not for the first time that night, Roy asked Geon, “What the hell just happened?”
“You know, you really need to stop asking me things that are ridiculously obvious every time you receive a shock to your tiny human brain,” Geon replied helpfully.
Roy turned as the boar got back to its feet, shaking itself and snorting angrily, wondering if that had been some sort of coincidence or a total fluke.
Well, he thought to himself as the boar snorted and charged once again, only one way to find out.
Roy barreled towards the Beast as it came for him, this time, using the Shockwave from the beginning and building up more momentum and speed. The Exploding Fist slammed into the pig’s nose as Roy collided with it, and just like the last time, the boar was flung skyward, this time, with a loud squeal of fear.
It flew much farther this time, soaring well over fifteen feet before coming crashing down once more. There was a very distinct crunching sound as the thousand-pound hog slammed into the ground, signaling the breaking of bones. The Beast let out a squeal of pain as it crashed, and this time, Roy didn’t simply wait for it to rise once again. He charged the downed boar, allowing Essence to flow into his leg as he swung it forward into a powerful kick.
The already broken bones shattered even further as the Shockwave-enhanced kick, coupled with the Exploding Fist, impacted against the boar’s side. The boar squealed as its body was sent tumbling once again, blood spraying from its open mouth. Roy stayed right on top of it, continuously kicking as it stopped. By the time he was nearly out of Essence, the boar’s entire ribcage was a mess of pulpy flesh, shattered bones, and damaged internal organs.
Roy approached wearily, his entire body throbbing and aching from the strain of keeping his attacks going for so long. Dozens of his scabs had reopened, leaving blood trails to fall down his arms and legs. Even so, the boar was far worse off than him. It merely lay on its side, gasping for air with its eyes half-lidded. Now that he’d had a chance to really fight it, Roy finally understood the logic behind fighting the creature head-on.
It was very front heavy, so when enough force was applied to its face, forcing its front legs to stop, its back half would lift off the ground. He’d noticed as much at the beginning of the fight, when the blow, which would only have staggered a more balanced Beast, completely spun it around. The result of his attacks, powerful as they were, had turned the boar’s own massive weight against it.
Landing from fifteen feet wouldn’t have been so bad for him, but he only weighed around two-hundred pounds. Take the boar’s thousand-pound bulk and add to it the force of its momentum, and suddenly, the ground was hitting it far harder than Roy ever could. It seemed that the Spirit had been right, and judging by the feeling of smugness practically oozing from overhead, she was feeling quite good about herself right now.
Roy, for his part, simply wanted to end the Trial. The boar was basically dead already, but until it was fully dead, he wouldn’t pass the test. Roy walked around to the boar’s head, looking down at the once-mighty Beast that had haunted his dreams for nearly a decade. It looked sad and pitiful, not at all like the terror from his worst nightmares. Roy took no pleasure in what he had to do next, but he knew it was necessary, so he did it anyway.
Swinging his foot up into the air, Roy poured the last of his Essence into the limb, then brought it crashing down. The ax-kick, powered by his Exploding Fist, blew the Beast’s head to pieces, coating his foot in gore and finally bringing the test to a close.
Roy slumped, dropping to his knees and then his back, chest heaving and feeling completely drained. Health-wise, this was probably the least injury he’d incurred during one of these tests. Despite all the cuts and bruises, he didn’t have a single broken bone, not even a sprain. And all the injuries were pretty much superficial and would heal on their own within a week. However, this had probably been the most physically demanding of all the tests, pushing him beyond what he’d believed possible.
True, he’d come a long way since that first test, but the sheer amount of time and Essence he’d used was staggering. Roy couldn’t even remember the last time he felt this drained. Not even during training had he pushed himself this hard, though that had more to do with him collapsing of injury than anything else. This was just pure exhaustion.
His Core was completely empty aside from the sphere of Qi still present, shining brightly and untouched at the very center. As he lay there, the sky overhead began to brighten, golden light starting to swirl into a funnel cloud and gathering fast.
“Well, I did it,” Roy thought tiredly. “I managed to kill a Green-level Beast.”
“Yes. You did. Maybe you’re not such a horrible failure, after all,” Geon replied as the sky grew brighter and brighter.
“What’s happening up there?” he wondered as the funnel of Power Essence began to descend.
“Your advancement, probably,” Geon replied. “What else could it be?”
Roy watched the cloud descend, spinning faster and faster as the golden light grew more and more solid. It was only right before the cloud struck him, that he realized what it was, but even if he’d realized it sooner, he wouldn’t have bothered moving. The condensed funnel of Qi
slammed into the center of his chest, flowing into his body and flooding his Core. The Qi stored inside reacted as soon as the funnel hit him, and it surged outward.
Roy’s entire body locked up, his back arching and muscles tensing as the Qi tore through his body. His lungs wouldn’t move, his heart refused to beat, and it felt like he was dying. The funnel continued to stream into him, coming down faster and faster, pumping into his Core and pushing it until it shattered.
Roy couldn’t gasp, couldn’t cry out, couldn’t do a thing, as black blood began streaming from the corners of his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. It tasted coppery and bitter, though it didn’t smell nearly as bad as he expected. His body had already been purged months ago when drinking from the Power Well, so the transformation now didn’t really have many impurities to target.
He’d been wounded in the fight, so the Qi was pushing out any dirt that had gotten into the wounds, along with any small impurities he might have obtained during his time since drinking from the Well, but it wasn’t much.
His Core began to reform then, compressing down before solidifying once again, now shining far brighter than before. The transformation wasn’t nearly complete as the Qi sank into his skin, muscles, tendons, and bones. They burned along his channels, reinforcing and strengthening them to handle the burden of the more powerful energy. Everything burned like it was on fire as the Qi fortified him, strengthening every aspect of himself. However, even after all that, there was still plenty of Qi left as the funnel continued pouring into him.
Roy still couldn’t move as the Qi flooded his Core, pushing and expanding where it could, before spilling over and flooding his body once again. A loud groan left his lips as the Qi burned through his body for a second time, reinforcing his lungs, heart, liver, and kidneys. It flooded back into his bones again, layering itself many times over as it looked for a way to burn itself out.
When no more Qi would fit in his bones, his muscles were treated the same, and when those were as flush as they could be, his skin was next. Even after all that, the cloud continued pouring into him. It was pumping his body so full of Qi that he was afraid he’d burn up. His Core was full to bursting and had expanded as far as it could go. Advancement felt impossible right now, so he couldn’t simply use the Qi for that. But Roy knew that if he didn’t do something to control it, it would tear him apart.
Reaching for the Qi, he began pulling it back towards his Core, but instead of pulling it into the already overstuffed source of power, he began layering it around the outside, compressing his Core down as much as he could. It was horribly painful, but something that Hermit had thankfully prepared him for. With each layer, he felt like he was losing more and more of his ability to breathe.
The Core resisted him with all it had, but as Qi continuously poured into his body, Roy forced himself to stay focused on the task at hand and not allow himself to slip up or fail. This part was too crucial to his future advancement and would assure a smooth advancement all the way to Red-Belt.
His Core continued to shrink, growing brighter and brighter as it did until finally, it began to absorb the Qi pouring into him once again. This process continued for the next minute, Roy frantically layering and compressing the Qi above his Core and feeling as though he were going to suffocate.
Finally, the last of the funnel cloud entered his body, and Roy pulled it into the loop he’d imagined, circling around his Core and pressing it hard to its surface. By now, his Core had regrown to two-thirds its original size, but the Qi packed within was so dense and pure that it made him feel almost ill. There was also the fact that his capacity had nearly tripled, giving him an almost ludicrous amount of power.
His Core might have seemed smaller now, but in truth, it was far larger than it had been before and stuffed to the absolute brim with Qi. The light in the sky faded as Roy simply lay there, panting hard and feeling as though he’d been put through a furnace. His entire body was crackling with energy and he felt like he could run for miles without tiring.
Slowly, his muscles relaxed, allowing Roy the freedom of movement once again. There was a flash from behind him, and Roy craned his head back to see that a green Torii gate had appeared, showing him the way out. Looking down, Roy could see his new Belt. Shining a solid Green, it told him that he’d finally done it. He was now stronger than anyone in the entire Shah clan. He had no doubt about it.
Korgo might have been a Green-Belt as well, but with his power and reserves, he didn’t think the other man would be able to stand against him for long.
Roy’s fingers pressed into the ground as he slowly sat up. Everything felt strange and foreign, the air tingling against his skin. The night didn’t seem quite so dark, and the air smelled quite ripe. Slowly lifting his hand, Roy examined his fingers. They were clean, aside from the bit of dirt sticking to them, but didn’t really look any different.
All the aches and pains of his fight were gone, which meant that he’d been healed, though that much had been expected as this was the end of a test. Placing his hand on the ground, Roy pushed himself to his feet. However, instead of merely getting up, he ended up throwing himself a foot into the air.
He grinned as he landed on his feet, testing his balance and coordination. He threw a few punches, feeling the increased movement speed, as well as the sharpness and accuracy of his blows. Looking around for a few seconds, Roy located a tree outside the ring of destruction caused by the boar. Gathering up his legs beneath him, Roy took off at a dead run. The boost in speed was so unexpected that he fell, tumbling face-first into the ground before he could catch himself and plowing a furrow in the dirt.
“Yuck!” he complained, sitting up and spitting out wads of dirt.
Despite taking a face dive, Roy couldn’t help but notice that it hadn’t actually hurt. Before the transformation, he’d have at least felt something. Maybe not pain, but discomfort at the very least. Instead, all he felt was annoyed at having gotten dirt in his mouth. Walking over the tree this time, Roy pulled his fist back and lashed out with a powerful punch.
His bare fist impacted against the tree with a loud thump, shaking the eighty-foot-tall giant and sending leaves scattering to the ground. Examining his fist, Roy saw that no damage had been inflicted, and judging by the lack of pain, he’d done nothing he couldn’t handle. Grinning, Roy punched the tree again, connecting with a solid thump once more. He threw several more punches, adding in a few kicks as well, before backing off.
Now it was time for the real test. Taking a deep breath, Roy reached for his Core, pulling at the Qi and willing it through his channels. It responded far faster than it had when he’d only been an Orange-Belt, flowing through his channels and flooding his body. There was no pain, no horrible burning, and no cracking of his Core this time, just the feeling of immense power running through his veins.
He didn’t yet have any techniques, so he just used a basic enhancement, strengthening and reinforcing his limbs. Then, he spun, slamming a powerful roundhouse into the tree-trunk. Roy felt the impact radiate up his leg, though there was no pain whatsoever. The tree, on the other hand, was not so lucky.
There was a loud crack as Roy pulled his leg back, lowering it to the ground. The tree hadn’t been toppled by a single kick, but Roy could clearly see the massive indentation where his kick had landed, as well as the thin lines spreading across the trunk. Several more blows could probably topple this tree, but before Roy could decide whether he should try or not, a very irate-sounding voice echoed from above.
“You passed the Trial, so leave! Do you have any idea how much work it takes to keep these places clean?”
Roy jumped, looking up and expecting to see the small golden girl floating above him. Instead, all he saw was a wispy golden cloud, already dissipating into the breeze.
“Sorry,” Roy said, feeling oddly embarrassed. “I’ll just go now.”
Tucking his thumbs into his shiny new Green-Belt, Roy did just that, heading towards the shining Torii gate. Geon was sti
ll silent, but this wasn’t unusual, especially after a test. His entire structure had been reformed to handle Qi when his Core-Body had been formed, so he wouldn’t be surprised if Geon were silent for several days. Not that he really minded. Having some peace and quiet for once would be nice.
Roy turned, taking one last look back over the wrecked clearing, before stepping through the open Torii gate and back into the real world. Aika was likely waiting for him, and he couldn’t wait to show her his newly acquired power.
However, it was not Aika’s familiar face that greeted Roy as he exited the gate, but rather that of a stranger with burning red eyes.
“Ah, so you’re the first one back,” the man said as the gate vanished. “It’s a shame, as I wanted a go at the girl, but you’re the real reason I’m here in the first place, Herald Leroy.”
Roy froze, his eyes immediately moving down to the man’s Belt, Purple with a single red slash on one end. No matter how strong he felt now, he knew that there was no way he could win if he had to fight. Worse, the man knew his name, which meant he was most definitely here for him and had not mistaken him for someone else.
“Who are you, and how do you know my name?” Roy asked, feeling his shoulders tightening up.
“I am Doragon, adopted into the Herald clan by your father, the Sovereign of Callers, Herald Duncan. And I’m here to bring you home, by means necessary.”
Roy froze, his eyes going wide with shock and disbelief as the information washed over him. There was just no way he was…
The man appeared beside him in a flash, his hand clamping down on his arm as he retrieved a shining rainbow-colored stone from his pocket and crushed it in his hand. The world flashed with light of the same color, just as a Blue Torii gate appeared, and Aika walked out. He only got the briefest glimpse of her, their eyes locking onto one another’s for a split second, before the world around him dissolved into rainbow-colored light.