Light (Buryoku Book 2)

by Aaron Oster

  Roy followed the Dungeon Core’s instructions, condensing and layering his Essence over and beneath his skin. It felt odd at first, moving Essence to areas where it wouldn’t normally flow. But, after nearly an hour of sitting in the darkness and working on perfecting it, he could finally feel what Geon was talking about.

  Before, his Spirit Sense was a little like a sixth sense. Like he could sort of feel Essence up to a distance of about fifty yards but not with any great detail. He could feel a person’s cultivation if they weren’t trying to hide it, but only if they were within visual distance, and even then, the feeling would be hazy at best.

  He’d always been able to tell a Martial Artist’s level simply by looking at their Belt. Now, however, it was very different. The Essence was layered over his skin, making him sensitive to the energy of the world in a way that had previously eluded him. He could now feel the Essence in the air as easily as he could breathe.

  He knew he’d still have trouble sensing people at a distance, but within close proximity, he should be able to feel their cultivation more accurately. Of course, if they were attempting to hide it, there would be little he could do about that, but if they didn’t try to suppress their Cores, he should get an accurate reading.

  The biggest change, however, was one that Geon had predicted. He could feel it now, pulsing through the Beast Core in his palm. At the very center of the gem-like Core, he could feel a much more powerful presence. It presented itself as a dense ball sitting at the center of a lake. Except this was like a sphere of water somehow floating in a cloud of gas.

  The purity of the energy was unfathomable to him. As in, he could not fathom it. At all! He could feel the energy, like a lightning storm contained within a pinprick. But he could not so much as touch it, or even understand how it was made.

  “Geon?” Roy asked, trepidation tinging his voice. “Is the energy I feel from the center of this Beast Core Qi?”

  He was almost positive it was. What else could this unfathomable power possibly be?

  “Yup! Got it on your first try! I must admit, I’m impressed. Perhaps advancing to Orange-Belt has boosted your mental faculties.”

  “Oh, ha, ha. Very funny,” Roy grumped, shifting his legs out then pulling them back into his cycling position.

  He would likely be here for several hours, pushing for an advancement. Just because the Beast Core had the energy that he needed to push all the way to 2nd or 3rd Dan, didn’t mean it was possible to do overnight. It would take him at least a week, maybe even two, to draw the energy needed to even make it to 1st.

  Now that he was an Orange-Belt, he would need a lot of Essence to push for advancement and it would take a long time to make it to where he could test again. But he had the Essence needed, both in his hand and buried in the ground. He wasn’t worried about Beasts coming for him as he cycled. He was still close enough to Hermit’s camp that they would likely stay away.

  He was also close enough to where Aika was being held to make it in just under an hour if he pushed himself. When he would make the final approach, he would need to slow down so as not to be detected, so that time would likely be closer to two hours. He was planning to enter the camp just before dawn when guards would be the most sleepy.

  Even Martial Artists needed sleep, or at least he hoped they did. Orange-Belts wouldn’t need more than five hours a night to function, and at the higher Dans, they could even do with four and a half. How little sleep did high Dan Green-Belts or their commander require? He shook his head, reminding himself that no matter how far one advanced, there was still human nature to consider.

  Unless these Martial Artists were decades old and had become accustomed to never needing much sleep, the time before dawn would leave them feeling drowsy. He knew there was a barrier around camp which would warn of any trespassers, but he was pretty sure he’d figured a way around that.

  Mind now at ease, Roy concentrated on the Beast Core in his hand. He reached for the Essence, already feeling the energy entering his body when Geon interrupted once more.

  “You know, I do have more information you may be interested in.”

  “Do you purposely wait until the most inopportune time to interrupt me?” Roy asked, getting annoyed as his concentration slipped.

  Geon declined to answer, instead dodging the question and continuing.

  “Oh. I’m sure this is information you don’t want to miss.”

  “Really? And what could it possibly be?” Roy asked resignedly.

  “I finally remembered what comes after Red-Belt.”

  Now that got his attention, and he immediately perked up as Geon began talking once again.

  25

  Hato sat in her brother’s small room, muttering darkly under her breath. It had been over a week since her lazy good-for-nothing brother had just walked into his cultivation room and basically shut himself off from the world. She’d tried calling to him several times, but he’d simply ignored her.

  If there was ever a time when he was needed most, it would be now. Chui, their most powerful Grandmaster, had fallen in battle just two days ago. It had been an ambush, one set up by the Beast and Kyofu clans. Their three remaining Grandmasters, as well as two Purple-Belts, had trapped and killed her. She’d managed to take one down and severely injure another, but the head of the Kyofu clan, Kyofu Ma, was still very much alive and in good health.

  The Tonde now only had two remaining, since Irusaru was still nowhere to be seen, and while they were now even with the enemy, in terms of Grandmasters, it still wasn’t good. They had another six Purple-Belts who were not Grandmasters, but they would be far less effective. Their forces were spread thin and for the first time, looked like they might break.

  The Beast and Kyofu were pushing hard at their flanks. Porto was hard-pressed to hold one while Kygo, their other Grandmaster, was holding the other. They wouldn’t last too much longer at this point, and their only hope was her brother’s direct intervention. And of course, the lazy lout chose now to go off and ignore everyone.

  She’d tried to make them disable the room, going so far as to attempt it herself. But each time she’d been gently, if a bit firmly, repelled. The clan elders, those in charge of keeping the room running, had said that if the clan leader was in there, it was because he was training and wished to be left alone. And so, she had been left to manage in lieu of his absence.

  Hato ground her teeth together as she read over yet another report detailing their losses, lost assets and land, and resources, which would take decades to recoup. This war wasn’t simply costing them lives but a fortune in pills and elixirs to keep their fighters going. Their Dungeons were overtaxed, being stripped dry the moment anything respawned. And even that wasn’t enough to keep them going.

  The way things looked now, if they weren’t overrun within the week, they would run out of supplies. Either way, this war was going to be coming to a very sudden, bloody, and bitter end. They’d most probably be the losing side.

  An urgent pounding on the door caught her attention and Hato looked up to see a pale-faced messenger standing in the doorway. He was breathing hard, and she couldn’t sense a spec of Qi in his Core. She recognized him as a front-line scout. For him to have made it here so quickly, he must have sacrificed an enormous amount of power.

  “Yes, what is it?” she asked, feeling suddenly very nervous.

  “Kygo’s flank has buckled, and the forces are moving to surround us. He managed to escape and is trying to close off with Porto, but they won’t make it in time. I hate to say this, my lady, but I do believe that this may be the end.”

  The man sagged then, collapsing on the ground from exhaustion. Hato stared for a few long moments, feeling dread rising up in nauseating waves. This was it, the end she’d been dreading. Though she knew she had no chance, she quickly tightened her Belt around her waist. A single Martial Artist of her advancement wouldn’t make much difference, but this was her family. No matter the cost to herself, she had to do somethi
ng!

  ***

  Tonde Kaeru exited his cycling room a full nine days after he’d entered. Power radiated off him in waves, despite his best efforts to keep it in check. It had taken a bit longer than he’d expected, but, in the end, he had succeeded. He had his first breakthrough in fifty years.

  He’d scarcely made it down the hall when a group of elders came barreling around the corner, not looking at all like the dignified and wise pillars of the clan they often pretended to be.

  “Oh, thank the heavens you are out!” one of them crowed as the group came to a skidding halt before him and dropped to their knees.

  “What’s happening?” he asked, sensing the urgency of the situation.

  “Our flank has been broken. We are surrounded and losing badly. Our forces will not hold long under these conditions.”

  Kaeru’s good mood vanished immediately. He hadn’t expected things to get this bad so quickly.

  “Where’s Hato?” he asked, noticing that his sister was not among the group of quivering elders.

  “Hato?” the man asked, licking dry lips as sweat beaded his brow.

  Kaeru felt like caving the idiot’s head in. They hadn’t tried to stop her from going out there. Despite him wanting to act on his anger, he knew there would be time for reprisals later. For now, he needed to get to the battlefield and protect his clan.

  The elders didn’t even have time to blink before Kaeru was gone, dashing down the hall and only making a brief stop in his room to retrieve his fancy robes, allowing his Belt to be drawn forth from his Core. Though it really wasn’t his style, if ever there was a time to wear them, it was to make an entrance on the battlefield.

  ***

  “Fall back! You! Take his spot in the line! Do not let them pass!” Hato was nearly hoarse from shouting orders and nearing the point of exhaustion.

  She’d arrived here on the front lines almost a day ago and had been directing the forces here, fighting intermittently when she was needed to hold a spot in the line, though by now it was less of a line and more of a circle. Enemies pressed in on all sides, and their forces were falling quickly.

  The man she’d ordered into place moved as she commanded, but she could see that he, like everyone else here, was completely exhausted. They were fighting a losing battle and they knew it. Thunder crashed overhead as the remaining Grandmasters fought against those of the Kyofu and Beast clans, sending debris and rubble scattering in all directions.

  The fluctuations in power were diminishing. While their Grandmasters were exhausted, those of the enemy were well-rested. Even if the Beast clan’s resources were less than theirs, they’d apparently been planning this attack for quite some time and had prepared the necessary provisions for a sustained war.

  In addition, their forces outnumbered theirs more than two to one. They could continuously supply fresh fighters while their exhausted ones would have to keep going, with shorter and shorter rests in between. In all truth, Hato was surprised they’d lasted as long as they had. In all likelihood, it was due to the Grandmasters and the few Masters they had remaining to keep their protections going. Though, in their exhausted states, it was quickly beginning to cost them.

  Hato leaped to the side as something came plummeting out of the sky, slamming into the ground where she’d been standing just a moment before, sending up a shower of stone. The dust cloud cleared an instant later to reveal Porto, lying bloodied and half-conscious in a crater a foot deep.

  “Tonde Hato, it seems your brother has left you out here all alone without any protection.”

  A familiar voice boomed out over The Crater, silencing everyone. The fighting on both sides stopped as Kyofu Ma made a rapid descent, landing on the ground not ten feet from her. He looked much the same as ever, though he did look to have taken a few blows.

  Another explosion of dirt and stone came as Kygo landed in front of him, blocking his path, and the few remaining Purple-Belts formed up around her. They were far too few in number for her liking, and Hato could feel despair start to sink in as Kyofu Ma didn’t seem fazed at the show of force.

  He gestured, and a blade of darkness shot from his hand, slamming into Kygo, whose body flashed blue in response.

  “Did you really think you could just land in the middle of enemy forces and leave with your life?” Hato blustered.

  Ma simply smiled grimly, then sent a barrage of blades cutting through the air so fast that she couldn’t keep track. Kygo vanished at the same time, seeming to appear in multiple places at once, stopping the attacks before they sheared the heads off their men.

  Then, their forces broke, and the Kyofu clan, no longer impeded by the Grandmaster’s barrier, swarmed in. They broke up their meager defense while Ma kept Kygo busy, cutting the exhausted Martial Artists down until they began to break and run. Kygo took a nasty blow as he tried to shield one of the fleeing clan members, losing his left arm. His concentration wavered and he lost control over his Armorer technique. The moment he did, a concentrated blast from the enemy Purple-Belts slammed into him all at once. The man didn’t even have time to cry out before his body was completely obliterated.

  Hato fell to her knees then, staring in horror as Kyofu Ma approached, a smug expression on his face. Porto was their last living Grandmaster as far as she knew, and he was out cold. Their forces were in retreat and Ma would not allow her to escape with her life. It was well and truly over. They had lost.

  “Bow your head in defeat, Tonde, and I promise to only torture you a little bit,” the Kyofu clan leader said, an unpleasant smile curling the corner of his lips.

  Hato stared up at the man, rage clouding her features. What was the point of all of this? Why did this have to happen? She screamed, Qi blazing around her as she triggered a Full-area technique in an attempt to kill the Kyofu clan leader. The area in a fifty-foot radius around her was suddenly consumed as the earth ruptured, and molten lava spewed up in a volcanic eruption, swallowing everyone within in a fiery conflagration. Then, the molten stone froze, trapping any who still lived within.

  She fell back on her rear, panting hard and her vision going hazy. A twenty-foot tower of twisted stone rose before her, still steaming from the heat. She sat there, the world oddly silent around her as the members of her clan ran, pursued by those of the Beast, Kyofu, and Moramor. Then, a crack appeared in the stone.

  Her eyes widened and sound came back to her in a rush. There was a massive explosion as the stone was blown to pieces, revealing Kyofu Ma, whole and unblemished.

  “Was that the best you could do?” he taunted, walking over to her with a swagger in his step. “You’re weak, just like your pitiful excuse of an older brother!”

  Hato didn’t have the strength to move anymore, staring up into the face of her enemy through half-dead eyes. It seemed that this was truly it. The end had come. Ma raised his hand, a nimbus of black Qi swirling around it as he prepared what looked to be a Full-body technique. Something on that scale would obliterate her completely, not even leaving ashes behind to bury.

  “I’ve been waiting a long time for this, Tonde! The day your high and mighty clan falls…!”

  Kyofu Ma’s words were abruptly cut off, and Hato watched as though in slow motion, as his body fell backward. His head hit the ground a moment later, encased in a solid block of ice. Then, she felt it. An overwhelming power the likes of which she’d never felt before. It was like feeling the entirety of the ocean - if the ocean could somehow be bottled up and contained into a single spot.

  Then a hand fell on her shoulder, and she looked up into the eyes of her big brother. The battlefield had grown utterly still, the presence of a Supreme demanding everyone’s full attention.

  “Kaeru?” she weakly asked, blinking up at him in confusion.

  “I’m sorry I’m so late,” her older brother replied, looking around at the carnage of his clanmates. “To all of you!”

  Hato winced at the sudden increase in volume as her brother raised his voice.

 
; “My clan means more to me than my own life, and I have allowed so many of you to perish because I refused to act. You can now all rest assured that this war is over. No one else is going to die today!”

  Hato then felt something drop into her lap and looked down confusedly, before recognizing the Restoration Elixir glowing a pale green. She didn’t even question her good fortune or where her brother could even have dug something like this up. Immediately drinking half of the potion, she turned and forced the remainder down Porto’s throat.

  He was still alive, but he was unconscious, so it would take him a bit longer to digest than it would her. She rose shakily to her feet, feeling strength slowly returning to her body. When she was fully standing, she finally noticed what everyone else had already seen, the one thing that was keeping them frozen, despite the urge to run for their lives.

  She could sense the Beast King approaching, a monstrous mass of power on the horizon. Though he was miles away, at his current speed, he would be here in just a few short moments. What truly had her attention, despite the Beast King’s imminent arrival, was her brother. For once, he was dressed as a clan leader should be, his long black and white robes billowing out around him as he stood in the center of the battlefield.

  “Kaeru. When did you…?” she began, but her brother shook his head.

  “Later. I have some unfinished business with the Beast King. Once I’m done with him, we can talk.”

  Hato hesitated for just a moment longer, then nodded.

  “Retreat! Back to the main fortification! Now!”

  It was as though everyone was waiting for her orders, and the Tonde clan sprang into action, running in the direction of their closest fortification. Not a single enemy followed. They were smart enough to know that if they so much as took a step in their direction, they would be dead before they could process anything more.