Wind (Buryoku Book 4)

by Aaron Oster

  Now, this got everyone’s attention — Ikari included — but before Duncan could offer his explanation, Komura’s towering presence all but vanished. The four Sovereigns all looked down to see the Scion’s Belt changing to Purple, presumably to match Roy’s.

  Hermit suppressed his Core, followed swiftly by the others. If the Scion had reigned in his power, it could be considered rude if they didn’t all do the same. Hermit knew it rankled the others to have to bow before a superior opponent. Although it was common knowledge amongst the Sovereigns that the Scions held the real power, it wasn’t very often that any of them were forced to face this truth, so he could understand why they were so uneasy.

  Of course, not all Sovereigns were made equal. Both he and the Herald Sovereign were close enough to the next stage to understand the vast difference in power, and while it might bother him to back off, if they all survived this, he was sure the man would be reaching those heights before long.

  It was only once all of their power had been reined in that Hermit turned his attention back to the arena and understood what was about to happen.

  “We need a way to get Roy away from the Scion without making it look like we’ve interfered,” Hermit said. “If he discovers that Roy isn’t who he thinks he is, things may end badly. Not only for us, but for this entire city, and possibly, all of our clans. I understand that none of us really see eye to eye, but in the spirit of mutual interest, I recommend we put our heads together for a solution quickly.”

  Unsurprisingly, Duncan was the first to agree, followed quickly by Pelata. When they all turned to Ikari, though, they saw that she looked reluctant. The anger she held toward him warred with her need to survive. Thankfully, in the end, her own selfish needs prevailed against her need to get even.

  “Fine,” she said, all but spitting the word at him. “But when this is all over, I will be returning the favor for stealing my Cavern Beast Core. And the Herald Sovereign will be giving me an explanation as to why his son is such a freak!”

  Hermit felt his anger flare at his sister’s insult of his student. Roy did not deserve such venom, especially after what Ikari had done by trapping him in the Trials of Water. Still, that didn’t mean he wasn’t curious about Roy. By now, he was certain he knew why Azure was so interested in him – after all, who wouldn’t be? He was a Green-Belt who advanced to Purple in a matter of weeks and had a Core that no one could sense. All of it was abnormal.

  A flare of Power Qi caught all their attention, and Hermit turned just in time to see Roy slam his fists together, unleashing a storm of Qi that could have been nothing other than a full-area technique.

  “I second what she said,” Hermit said, his attention fixated on the impossibility of Roy performing. “We need to hear everything you know about your son. Especially what led you to abandon him in the Outer Edge to be raised by savages.”

  Duncan’s eyes narrowed in anger, but the man schooled his expression and nodded curtly. It wasn’t like he had much choice, especially if he wanted to get his son out of danger.

  “Great,” Pelata said.

  Sovereigns couldn’t really sweat, as their bodies were technically not made of flesh and bone anymore, but he was coming as close to sweating as was physically possible.

  “Can we please get to the planning part? I’m not sure my clan can survive if Komura decides to actually start fighting.”

  Hermit’s eyes flicked to the stands, where people – finally freed of the crushing force of their spirits – were panicking, shoving and pushing to try and get out of the arena. The weakest among them were being trampled underfoot, and several already lay dead. The people who watched these bloody games were no better than animals, and now, they were acting like them.

  If it were up to him, he’d have locked them all in here and allowed the Scion to blow them all to pieces. Better yet, he’d have done it himself. Luckily for them, he was more concerned with freeing Roy than he was killing them. He leaned in, along with the others, to begin brainstorming a way to retrieve Roy without angering the Scion and make it look like Roy had been the one to leave, without any help.

  To say that this was a monumental task would have been a massive understatement, and they had to come up with the impossible before the Scion decided to strike back.

  45

  Roy felt his body practically overflow with power, Qi pouring out of him in waves as he tried to intensify the technique. He was close to getting it perfect, and so long as he could keep the Scion at a distance, he would remain alive. The Qi twisted through his channels in a complicated pattern that he didn’t quite understand on a physical level. Rather, just like everything else he’d done up until now, he understood it on an instinctual one.

  He breathed out, watching as his Qi flooded the area, rushing toward Komura in rapid waves. The Scion spread his wings wide, and with a single downward motion, took off into the air, the flap creating such a powerful gust of Wind Essence that Roy was knocked clean off his feet. He rolled several times, his concentration broken and his technique shattered.

  Roy shoved off the ground, pushing himself back to his feet with a blast of Power Essence, then struck out blindly with a Void Sphere in the direction he was sure Komura was in. He felt the technique strike home, but when he oriented himself, he saw the Scion flying straight through the conflagration of Essence.

  His hands flashed out once more, sending a barrage of Void Spheres at the Scion, who easily avoided most and simply flew through the rest. Roy used his Shockwave then, the sand beneath his feet exploding as he shot across the arena, Komura hot on his heels. The Scion’s hand flashed out, a long baton forming from nothingness and expelling a powerful gust of Wind Essence.

  Roy dove to the side to avoid the attack, and when it struck the ground, sending a howling tornado rising into the sky, he was happy he had.

  “You need to pin him down!” Geon said as Roy darted forward, using his Void Spheres as quickly as he could create them.

  He was lucky he had so much Essence in reserve, as forming the Qi techniques, while easy, wasn’t something he was used to. It was far easier to default to what was familiar, and in a situation as stressful as this one, he really wished he had more powerful Essence techniques.

  Komura flapped toward him, his wings sending plumes of sand flying into the air. Roy spun in place, ejecting a stream of pure Essence into the ground and obscuring his view, then used the Shockwave to put some distance between them once more.

  “He’s too fast!” Roy complained as the Scion came flapping out of the sand cloud. “How am I even managing to keep up?”

  “He’s restricted himself to Purple,” Geon said.

  “So?” Roy exclaimed. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’m a Green-Belt!”

  “Not according to the Belt around your waist,” Geon said.

  “Show me something more interesting!” Komura yelled, then flapped his wings again.

  This time, they glowed with the telltale signs of a Movement technique. The single flap carried the man halfway across the arena and within striking distance of Roy. Having no other choice, Roy simply allowed Power Essence to blast from his body in all directions. Since he didn’t have the speed to hit the man and didn’t have the time to properly form his Containment technique, this was his next best option.

  But, unlike the others beforehand, Komura didn’t seem fazed by his massive expenditure. He blasted through the wall of Essence, one of his glowing green batons – he had two now – flashing out to strike Roy in the temple. Roy dodged back using the Shockwave, at the same time using Trace.

  The first triangular plate barely got up in time before the baton struck, shattering the technique and slamming into his shoulder. Roy was driven bodily into the ground with an explosion of sand. Pain bloomed in his shoulder, and Roy felt as though he’d been attacked both physically and spiritually, both his channels and body crying out in unison.

  Still, the pain was hardly as bad as he’d been expecting and seeing as his sho
ulder was still attached and his bones were probably unbroken, Roy counted himself lucky. The mere fact that he was alive was miracle enough, but it gave Roy a piece of vital information — so long as Komura suppressed himself, he was as safe as he was going to be.

  He was still shocked that someone with the power of a Purple-Belt hadn’t crushed him already, but right now, he couldn’t focus on that, as Komura was moving in for another strike.

  Roy blasted power Qi from his feet, sending himself skidding along his back and causing the Scion’s swing to miss, sending another tornado spiraling up into the sky.

  “Come on! Are you even trying?” Komura called as he sprang back to his feet.

  The Scion rushed after him, covering the distance in a single flap once more, but this time, Roy knew what to expect and had prepared. He used his Shockwave Airstep, leaping into the air and kicking to one side, avoiding the leading baton. He then expelled a blast of Qi from his left foot, spinning his body around midair.

  The Exploding First-Strike crackled along his leg, headed on a collision course with the Scion’s head, but at the last moment, the man intercepted the attack. He was so nimble that Roy had a hard time believing he was limiting himself to Purple. Then, he remembered that this man’s body had been reforged several times and was permanently altered as a result. No matter what he did, Roy knew he wouldn’t be able to scratch him.

  Well, no use trying to hold back then, he thought as Komura shoved back with the baton that had caught his leg, sending him flying through the air.

  Roy only just managed to avoid colliding with the arena wall, then threw both arms up as Komura struck. His baton slashed down, and a line of destruction raced across the arena, sending a massive plume of sand into the air. The force of the blow drove Roy a full inch into the stone wall. Thankfully, he’d breathed out as the attack struck, saving him from being winded. Still, the creaking of his ribs and the pain flaring through his back told him that he couldn’t take very many more of these hits.

  “You need to use something bigger. You need a Conqueror technique,” Geon said as he tore himself from the wall.

  Komura was right on top of him once more, and Roy leaped to the side, using his Shockwave and rolling to avoid the several follow-ups. Sand plumed in the air as more Wind Qi rushed around them, targeting him within milliseconds of missing. Slapping both hands down, Roy blasted himself into the air, avoiding yet another attack, only to have Komura appear before him and knock him back down.

  The ground shattered as Roy struck, stone cracking and sand pouring into the miniature crater the Scion had made with his body. Roy wheezed, rolling painfully to his side as another blast of Wind came flying down, striking the spot where he’d been just an instant before and ripping a hole some two feet into the ground.

  “I’m not gaining any wisdom from this,” Komura said, pausing to allow Roy to get back to his feet. “You’re just letting me knock you around, which really doesn’t serve any purpose.”

  Roy didn’t bother answering, reaching for his full-body Qi technique. This should buy him at least some time. His body began emitting a golden glow, and Roy felt himself growing stronger by the second.

  “Alright. Let’s try this again.”

  “It’s not going to work…” Geon began.

  “Shut up.”

  Roy dashed forward, feeling the twisting loop of his Qi running through, then back through the pattern in his chest. This caused it to back up momentarily, before being allowed to flow once more and gave his strides some extra explosive force, far more than his Qi technique normally would have been capable of creating.

  “Now we’re getting somewhere!” Komura said as Roy flashed across the arena and struck out with a powerful punch.

  His entire body drove into it, using one of the powerful stances of the Unaru Kuma to maximize the strength of his punches. Qi blasted out as his glowing fist impacted, striking the baton – Komura had raised it to block – and forked off in multiple directions. It tore trenches in the sand and walls, then shot into the sky before dispersing into the air.

  Roy didn’t let up, his attacks relentless and speeding up as he continued to build on his momentum and cycling technique. It was as though he grew just a bit stronger with every successive hit. He was a little faster and a fraction more accurate.

  Dozens of punches flew, one after the next, as Roy backed Komura around the arena, the man blocking each and every one of his attacks, using only a single baton. Roy moved through every combination he knew, pushing himself to strike harder and move faster. Still, no matter how much effort Roy put into the technique, he couldn’t seem to break through Komura’s perfect defense. It was as though the man knew exactly where all of his strikes would land and perfectly positioned his baton to take them.

  Then again, with his perception and speed, was it any wonder?

  Roy’s attacks probably looked so slow, that to the Scion, he may as well have been standing still. He was expecting the man to strike back at any moment, so when it came, it was hardly a surprise. Still, expecting an attack and being able to block it were two different things.

  The baton flashed out, the tip slamming into the center of Roy’s forehead and sending him sprawling. His vision flashed as he struck the ground, stunned.

  “I think I understand what you’re doing,” Komura said as Roy lay there, groaning in pain. “You’re not taking me seriously because I’m not putting up enough resistance. Not to worry, I promise to rectify that from here on out. So, come at me like you mean it!”

  Roy slowly got to his feet, fighting off the nausea that threatened to overwhelm him. The last thing he wanted to do was lose what little food he had in his stomach before the Scion. Worse, if Komura had been taking it easy on him within the bounds of his restrictions, then Roy was about to be in for a world of hurt, one far worse than what he’d experienced so far.

  Komura was expecting him to pull out some amazing techniques, but the problem was that he was already using everything at his disposal, and it wasn’t making any difference. He was confident that his last attack probably could have taken down even a Base Blue-Belt, yet Komura had blocked each and every one of his attacks without even trying. If they were on the same level, then what was he doing wrong?

  “You’re still thinking like a Green-Belt, idiot,” Geon chastised him. “Of course, your attack would have taken down a Blue-Belt. Because Purple is stronger than Blue!”

  “But I’m not!” Roy internally screamed, activating his Armorer technique and preparing for the worst. “I’m just a Base-Green who’s gotten in way over his head!”

  Komura attacked, his body all but vanishing, only to reappear a split-second later at an equal distance. It was only once Roy hit the wall and excruciating pain bloomed from his abdomen that he realized he’d been attacked. It had happened so quickly that his brain couldn’t register what had happened.

  The air left his lungs along with a gout of blood, and when he looked down, he could see a red stain spreading over the front of his robes. The world went dark as he collapsed to his knees, the bright sand of the arena giving way to the encroaching darkness of unconsciousness.

  46

  “Holy crap, that kid is tough,” Ikari said in grudging admiration as the four Sovereigns watched Roy hit the wall.

  It wasn’t his fighting skills that were impressing the Sovereigns. Beings as powerful as they were, they weren’t so easily impressed. Rather, it was the fact that after a full two minutes, the supposed Green-Belt was still on his feet and even managed to fight back. Even if Komura was restricting himself to Purple, according to Hermit, the Belt around his waist didn’t reflect his actual advancement.

  Of course, when pressed for an answer, Duncan neither agreed nor denied these claims, which left all of them wondering just how this boy was still alive.

  “Can we please just focus here?” Hermit asked, trying to hide his annoyance with his sister. “He doesn’t have much time left. At this rate, he’ll be dead in
under a minute.”

  They only had about half a plan so far, and even with all four of them, it was going to be tough to pull off. The half of the plan they had wasn’t even cohesive. It was more like bits and pieces of a greater whole that desperately needed to be put together in a way that could be used, and judging by the way Roy was looking, they didn’t have much time to spare.

  It was then that Komura’s attack hit him, and it came so fast that Roy couldn’t even react. The Scion flapped his wings, using an insane amount of Wind Qi to propel himself across the arena. His batons, both glowing with the signs of a Physical technique, struck Roy in the abdomen. Hermit was sure he’d heard something break before Roy hit the wall, blood spreading from the point of impact before he collapsed to the ground.

  “Do you have anything?” he demanded, turning to the Herald Sovereign.

  He sounded desperate and he knew it, but Roy was in real danger and they needed to retrieve him. Now.

  “My son will survive for as long as it takes us to come up with a plan,” Duncan said with unwavering certainty.

  “Are you sure?” Ikari asked, watching the boy curl up into a ball as the sand began to turn red beneath him. “He looks pretty done to me.”

  “He will survive,” Duncan said again.

  Hermit had no idea why Duncan was so confident, nor how the man could be so certain of someone he hadn’t seen in over fifteen years. Still, as he watched Komura scratch his head in confusion, he saw Roy struggling to get back to his feet. He wasn’t out of the fight just yet, but Hermit wasn’t sure how much longer the boy could hold out. They needed to complete this plan before Komura grew bored and decided to throw his self-imposed rules out the window.

  ***

  Roy slowly regained his feet, the only thing keeping him from collapsing being the Qi he was cycling through his body. Despite the massive amounts of Qi he’d been pumping through them, his channels didn’t feel strained in the least. His body, though, felt thoroughly thrashed.