by Aaron Oster
“Are you sure you want to go in there?” Roy asked one last time. “I know Hermit said we could survive, but he never said it was going to be easy.”
“I didn’t climb all the way up here just to go back now,” Aika replied.
And without so much as a backward glance, she dove headfirst into the Dungeon. Roy let out a long sigh, taking one last look at the spectacular view his vantage afforded him, before he joined her in the Dungeon.
***
Tonde Kaeru stood at the center of the now clear battlefield, though clear was somewhat of a misnomer. The area before him was littered with the corpses of his family and that of the enemy. Anyone who was still alive was running for all they were worth, Tonde and Beast alike. No one wanted to be here when the two Supremes clashed.
He flexed his fingers, feeling the new power contained within as the Beast King’s presence grew ever closer, seeming to blot out the horizon with his tremendous power. Kaeru had never been one for showboating and thus kept his aura contained, calm and collected, while the Beast King acted like the creature he’d once been, wild and untamed.
They were polar opposites, which was perhaps why the two of them hated the other as much as they did. Still, it seemed that while Kaeru was content never to see the man again, the Beast King had other ideas. He was determined to wipe him and his clan from existence no matter what. Had Kaeru not had the breakthrough he did, the Beast King may very well have succeeded.
A glimmer appeared in the distance, shining for a single moment. Then, the ground before him exploded as the Beast King landed ten yards away. He’d landed hand enough to crack the stone beneath his feet and form a crater that stretched all the way to where Kaeru stood, stopping right before his feet.
“I see that you are as reckless as ever,” Kaeru said as the dust cleared, revealing the Beast King.
“Is it reckless if I cannot be hurt?” The Beast King replied in kind.
He stood, dressed only in his loose-fitting pants, the rest of him covered in thick fur. Around his waist, his Belt sat, displayed for all to see. His body was cloaked in a red aura, similar to his Belt, allowing his aura to pour from him in waves. Kaeru could feel the savagery of his Carnage wash over him, threatening to overwhelm his senses. He let out a snort of derision, then flared his own power, pushing back the encroaching Chakra.
“Do you really think to intimidate me with such paltry tricks?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. “And here I’d thought better of you.”
A smile twisted the Beast King’s lips, revealing his enlarged canines.
“Not at all, I was just…”
Kaeru threw an arm up, his Chakra rolling over him in an Armorer technique. There was a horrible shrieking sound as the Beast King’s claws, tinted red and extending a full foot, raked across the solid shield.
Kaeru gestured then, and a torrent struck the Beast in his chest, washing around to the sides as he deflected it.
“Ha, that was a nice try, but I could see that attack coming from a…” The Beast King abruptly cut off as the water around him froze solid, pinning his arms to his sides and freezing his legs to the ground.
“Seems like you should be paying more attention to your opponent,” Kaeru said, pulling Charka into a fist and forming a spiraling lance of water wider than his body and nearly fifteen feet long. “Maybe then you might have noticed that you are outmatched!”
He thrust forward, aiming for the Beast King’s Core, but he was strong. The ice shattered, and the man threw an arm up, infusing his own Armorer technique and turning it aside. But he didn’t manage a complete block as Kaeru had. The tiniest fracture appeared in his armor, forcing him to jump back.
“I see you’ve somehow broken our stalemate,” he said, eyes narrowing as they shot to his Belt. “Don’t let that make you think that you have a chance of beating me! One Dan won’t make much difference at this level, and when I’m done with you, the Tonde will finally fall!”
Kaeru simply grinned a grim smile that promised death.
“For all the pain and death you’ve caused my clan, I’ll make your end as painful as possible.”
Then, the two of them fully released their auras, and the sky for miles around was painted in two colors. Half a blazing red, and the other, an icy blue.
***
“Would you look at them go.”
Two men stood atop a tall spire, watching the two Supremes engage in battle. One was tall, broad-chested, and had a Purple-Belt tied around his waist. The other was a native to The Crater, his Blue-Belt now at 3rd Dan after months of rigorous training.
“Yeah, so? This is what we wanted, wasn’t it?” the Blue-Belt asked.
“It was, but I was expecting them to be more evenly matched. It’ll be much harder to take them out if only one is injured. At this point, it looks like the Beast will fall by Tonde’s hand, and neither of us will get a chance at revenge.”
The Blue-Belt glared down at the fighting pair, watching as the Beast King was sent flying over a mile, smashing through spires and toppling them, a blue blur following closely and raining down attacks.
“I honestly don’t mind as much if Tonde lives. Though he should die for what he did, the Beast King is the real monster here!”
The Purple-Belt didn’t say anything, merely continuing to watch the battle. This whole thing was a long time in the making, and he would see the Tonde dead no matter what. Failure wasn’t an option, though by the looks of things, he may have to wait a while before enacting his plans. In all of his scheming, he hadn’t accounted for one of them advancing to 1st Dan, not that it would make such a huge difference.
Normally, a single Dan didn’t cause this much of a deficit. A Base Purple-Belt and 1st Dan Purple were likely to be evenly matched, with the 1st Dan having a slight edge in terms of power. But, when one started getting that highly leveled, personal power, as well as the Path chosen, could make all the difference.
In fact, a particularly talented Base Purple could defeat even a 5th Dan, given the right circumstances. If, for example, the Base Purple happened to be a Grandmaster, he would have a serious edge and might even take down a Purple-Belt at the peak of Red.
Speaking of Grandmasters, he thought, as he felt a pounding sensation from the Prison Capsule at his waist.
“I’ll be right back,” he said, pulling the small cylindrical disk from his Belt.
“The prisoner getting rowdy again?” the Blue-Belt asked, in disinterest.
They’d come upon him by pure chance while out in The Crater and had capitalized, sealing him away in a Red-level artifact. It was old, though, and one of them would need to “visit” from time to time to keep their guest quiet.
“Yes. I do think he can sense the battle happening and is straining against his bonds. I won’t be but a moment.”
The Blue-Belt grunted as he sat, then went completely still as his spirit traveled into the item. The artifact couldn’t trap the body, merely the mind and spirit of a person. Their physical form needed to be stashed somewhere else entirely. The biggest downside to this was that the sealing of the spirit made the body nearly indestructible. Using it to seal someone away, then kill their body, was out of the question.
If it had worked, then he wouldn’t have had to go through all this in the first place and could merely have sealed the Beast King and Kaeru, and been done with it. Then again, he doubted whether either of them would be so careless as to allow themselves to be trapped the same way as their prisoners had.
The Purple-Belt opened his eyes, revealing a small room made of stone. It was dark, with only the light of a single torch illuminating this prison’s only occupant. He was currently on his feet, hands wrapped around the steel bars of the cage that kept him in place.
His eyes narrowed, his ancient face wrinkling in disgust and hatred as he materialized before him.
“My, my. I’d almost think you weren’t happy to see me, Master,” the man teased, leaning against the back wall.
“Do not ca
ll me that, filth! You do not deserve such an honor, not after the way you betrayed the clan and my son!”
“You know why you’re stuck in here, old man?” he asked, still keeping his half-smile on his face. “It’s because of sentimentality like that. You’ve become weak, careless. You’re slipping. You haven’t moved up a single Dan since the last time I saw you, while I’ve only grown stronger. Soon, I’ll be strong enough to kill you, Master.”
“Doragon! When I get out of here, I will tear you limb from limb and paint The Crater red with your blood! I will have the skin flayed from your bones and shatter your Core before stringing you up for the entire clan to see!”
Doragon simply grinned, his eyes glinting in the flickering torchlight.
“Then I’d best become strong quickly. After all, I wouldn’t want a Grandmaster escaping and coming for me. Not when I have so many plans to still carry out. Now I have to get going. It seems like this fight is about to come to an end, and I wouldn’t want to miss the finale. But don’t you worry, I’ll be back soon to visit, Irusaru Sensei!”
The old man’s scream of rage was cut off as Doragon exited the Prison Capsule, coming back to himself.
“So, how’s the geezer holding up?”
Doragon smiled, turning his gaze back to the fight.
“Angrier than a trapped hornet. But I’m more interested in what’s happening out here, wouldn’t you agree, Moramor Kaido?”
The Blue-belt twitched, turning sidelong to glare at him.
“How many times have I told you not to use that name? The Moramor clan is dead and gone, and I would appreciate you not reminding me of that.”
Doragon held up his hands in mock surrender.
“But of course, how foolish of me. I suppose you wish to be addressed by your new clan name, the one from which the Sovereign, who sent me to save you, rules.”
“He did adopt me into the clan after all, so it is only right I bear his name.”
Doragon nodded as though agreeing.
“Very well. From now on, I shall endeavor to call you by the family name of our great Sovereign: Herald Kaido!”
35
“This was not at all what I’d been expecting,” Roy said as he looked around the sprawling ruins surrounding him on all sides.
“Oh yeah,” Aika said, looking around as well said. “Dungeons come in all shapes, sizes, and instances. You can walk into one underwater or up in the stars. They can be in the belly of an active volcano, or deep in the bowels of the earth.”
“Really?” Roy asked, quite intrigued. “Do you have any idea what types of Beast we may encounter here?”
Aika had a thoughtful expression on her face as she looked around. Before them stretched a wide-open grassy field. A light breeze rustled through the stalks, sending them swaying in the wind. Further down the sloping hill stood the ruins of what had once been a massive castle.
Stone blocks lay cracked and broken. Moss grew over most of the stone in patches, painting the overall tan with patches of green. Ivy climbed up the few standing towers, keeping them from collapsing like the rest. All in all, it looked like a place that had been hit by a natural disaster many years ago.
At the same time, Roy had never seen architecture quite like this. Though there were palaces in Buryoku, he’d never seen one built in this way. He’d never seen a palace in person before, but he’d seen pictures in books. The palaces in Buryoku were long, low complexes made of carved stone, wood and jade. Never before had he seen something with soaring towers like the palace before him, even if they were in ruins.
“I’m honestly not sure,” Aika replied. “I’ve never seen a building built like this one, so I wouldn’t be able to guess what the Beasts could be like inside of it.”
“It doesn’t seem to have any aspects either,” Roy replied as he opened his Spirit Sense.
The world glowed in a rainbow of colors, all eight Paths of Essence floating freely and in equal amounts.
“I’ve noticed that as well,” Aika said. “I can’t sense anything past those walls. Not a thing. I’ve never seen a Dungeon like this before.”
She sounded worried, something which Roy could understand perfectly. They were headed into an unknown, with no idea of what they were getting into.
“At least we’ve got a good view from up here,” he said, scanning over to the far side of the ruin.
A single building stood on the far end. It was a domed, circular building roughly twenty feet tall. He guessed that that was likely to be the end of the Dungeon, where their prize was located.
Aika nodded and drew her staff.
“Well, we’d better get a move-on. The faster we get in there, the faster we’ll be finished.”
Roy nodded and reluctantly followed her. The air was strange in this place. It was oddly still and somewhat menacing, not at all like the other Dungeons he’d explored previously. As though to confirm his concerns, Geon spoke up as they approached the entrance to the ruin.
“I don’t like this place. Something feels very off about it.”
“Like what?” Roy asked in an undertone as he followed Aika through the crumbling archway.
“Like the fact that there isn’t a single thing with a Core in here, for starters,” Geon replied.
“What do you mean? Like no Beasts?”
“Exactly. I can feel the Dungeon’s Core, so I know this place is alive. But I can’t feel a single Beast anywhere.”
Roy began cycling then, using the walking technique he’d discovered on the scroll after advancing. He wanted to be ready for whatever might come at them. He also relayed what Geon had said to Aika, so she would remain on guard as well.
The two of them walked on in silence, their footsteps echoing off the cracked stone underfoot and ivy-covered walls rising to either side. They were coming around a corner when a peculiar clattering sound reached his ears.
“Aika,” he said.
“I know,” she replied. “I can hear them too. Whatever they are, they’re close.”
Roy nodded, preparing to launch forward at a moment’s notice. He’d grown considerably stronger since his advancement to Orange. His reflexes were sharper, and his muscles were denser and more powerful. He was confident he could dodge any attack headed his way. Or so he thought.
“What in the hell are those?!” he exclaimed as they both came around the corner and came face to face with what looked like walking bones.
“I have no idea, but they don’t look friendly!” Aika replied, getting into a defensive stance.
“I do believe those are the human skeletal system, but they’re somehow operating without the use of muscle or tissue. This is definitely unnatural.”
“You think?” Roy yelled as the group of five skeletons turned burning red eyes on them.
To Roy’s spirit sense, they were lit up green, blue, and red. Rather than the Essence coming from within, it came from the outside of them. A tendril of Essence emerged from the base of each of their spines, disappearing off into the distance. That was all the time he had to examine them, as the group charged, covering the distance with frightening speed.
Aika dashed forward then, her staff blurring as she caught one of them in the side, cracking two of the rib bones. The skeleton attacked in turn, forming a sword made of Fire Essence in the blink of an eye and swiping at her neck.
Roy threw a punch as one of them closed with him, aiming for the neck. He was hoping that if he could destroy the spine, the connection to whatever was controlling these things would be cut off. The skeleton was quick, though, slipping past his attack and slamming a bony fist into his stomach.
It hurt.
Luckily, he’d breathed out when striking, so there wasn’t much air to knock from his lungs. Still, the force of the blow staggered him, pushing him back a couple of steps. The skeleton followed quickly but not so fast that he couldn’t follow.
He used Shockwave, slipping around behind the skeleton and lashed out with his Exploding Fist. Right befor
e it could make contact, something slammed into him from behind, throwing off his attack. Instead of hitting the base of the neck, where he’d been aiming, his attack blew out the lower portion of the skeleton’s ribcage.
“Better keep your eyes peeled. You won’t be able to sense these things coming,” Geon said as Roy whirled in place, blocking an empowered strike from the skeleton who’d snuck up on him.
He winced as he redirected the blow, knocking the glowing green fist aside, then lashed out with a throat chop and finally landed a clean hit. The skeleton’s head was ripped from its body, sent flying through the air. As soon as the head was gone, the rest of it simply collapsed into an inanimate pile of bones.
“Try and knock off the head!” Roy called, whirling to face his other opponent.
The skeleton was missing the bottom three ribs on its right side, but other than that, it seemed to be doing just fine. It charged him, air swirling around its body and speeding up its movements. Roy was ready for the attack this time. He used his own Movement technique, slipping the punch and knocking its head clean off.
This skeleton also collapsed, and Roy spun to see if any more enemies were approaching. Aika was fighting off the other three at once, blurring through them and trying to land a good hit. However, it seemed that the ones that were fighting her were a lot tougher than the ones he’d had to face. They were faster, stronger, and seemed to have better Essence control.
Roy debated whether he’d even be of any help. In the end, he decided that if he could just serve as a distraction, Aika might be able to finish them off. Conjuring his Void Sphere, Roy shouted, “Get back!”
There was a flash of light as Aika jumped back and up, seeming to vanish and reappear ten feet up. The skeletons were momentarily confused at her disappearance, and Roy used the opportunity to lob the whirling sphere of destruction right into their midst. The golden sphere expanded, shredding the ground and the skeletons caught within to a fine powder.
Only one managed to escape unharmed, while the other two simply fell apart. Roy was shocked that he’d managed to defeat them when Aika had been having such a hard time. The last skeleton whirled on him, its burning sword vanishing, just in time for Aika’s staff to come down on its head. The fragile bones shattered, and the Essence keeping the skeleton alive dissipated, allowing it to collapse into a pile and remain still.