Earth (Buryoku Book 6)

by Aaron Oster

  Aika’s doubt visibly melted away and she gave him a crooked half-smile, the same she’d given him before leaving the first time.

  “I guess I’d better be going then. I don’t think I can afford to waste a second of training if I want to make it.”

  Roy leaned down and kissed her, ignoring the pain from his swollen lips and throbbing jaw as he did so.

  “I’ll see you in a bit under four months then,” he said, already understanding what this would mean.

  “Don’t go forgetting me,” Aika said, giving him a playful swat on the arm before backing out of his embrace.

  “Great. Now that you’re all done with your sickening display, can we please get back to training?” Doragon asked.

  Aika whirled, hurling a Light Lance at him, which he easily batted away, looking more annoyed than anything else.

  “If I find out that you hurt him in any way, I’ll hunt you down and kill every single version of you there is,” Aika threatened.

  “You do that,” Doragon said. “Now leave.”

  She glared at him for another long moment before turning and flashing Roy a smile.

  “The next time I see you, you better be stronger,” she said.

  Before he could reply, she was gone, dashing from the training Dungeon and disappearing into the outside world.

  “Finally,” Doragon muttered, extending a hand and unfreezing the constructs before Roy could even set himself.

  They weren’t any more powerful than before, but Roy could have sworn that they hit harder over the next few hours.

  It was nearing the end of the day, the constructs increasing their pace and vigor as they tried to pound him into the ground, and Roy was doing his best to hold out. He knew from experience that if he fell, they wouldn’t stop, continuing to beat him until he either regained his footing or was killed.

  Thankfully, he’d never gotten to that point just yet, but at the moment, he was feeling quite close to falling. His bruised and battered legs shook under each crushing impact, his Essence faltering with each successive blow. His enforcement was shaky at best and failing in certain areas.

  Roy was close to being finished, and the knowledge of that was the only thing that kept him standing. All he had to do was survive long enough for them to stop.

  Once more, he felt the displeasure of the Spirit of Power as the thought crossed his mind. She wasn’t unhappy with him for simply standing and taking the beating; that was facing your problems head-on. What she was unhappy about was his attitude. Simply waiting for the fight to be called was taking the easy way out. Actively searching for a way to end the fight was harder and, of course, that was what she wanted him to do.

  “You’re close to a breakthrough, I can feel it,” Geon said as Roy’s Core flared with a particularly heavy blow to his stomach.

  “No closer than I was when we started,” Roy grunted back, barely managing to block a kick meant to take him between the legs.

  “No, you’re definitely closer,” Geon said. “You’re just not trying to find the solution.”

  Roy wanted to snap back but found that he simply didn’t have the energy. He was too tired, in too much pain, and too hungry to bother. However, as the blows continued raining down on him, Roy found that he couldn’t get the thought out of his head.

  The idea that he was close to finding the elusive technique was tantalizing, as it would mean an end to the vicious beatings. It would mean starting real training, something which he desperately wanted to get to. He felt as though he were stuck, working on something that should have been well behind him.

  He was a Red-Belt now, with the ability to start searching for his own unique Path, and instead, he was trying to learn measly Essence techniques while being used as a training dummy.

  Essence kindled in his center as he thought of that, his mind flashing through each of the three techniques needed to use a Full-area technique. He remembered using each of his techniques for the first time — the Void Sphere, the Constellation, and his Overflow. Each had come at a different point in his training and was discovered when he most needed that specific technique.

  For the Void Sphere, it had been the need for a ranged attack. For the Constellation, it had been the need to hit something while his Core was somewhat depleted. For the Overflow, it had come when he’d faced a monster that was too quick to stop. All he needed was a technique that would stop all four of the constructs from raining blows on him, and he needed it now.

  In a rush, all of Roy’s Essence flowed back into his Core, giving up on his full body reinforcement. The attacks immediately landed harder, his bones creaking beneath the weight of the blows — that was, until a sphere of golden Essence exploded from his body in a cloud, locking all of the constructs in place.

  Roy straightened, breathing hard and staring through his single good eye, as spheres appeared from the cloud of misty Essence, slamming into the restrained constructs and exploding upon impact. At the same time, darker golden lines began appearing in the mist, tracing patterns over the straining constructs.

  Just ten seconds after Roy had activated the technique, they went off in a series of explosions, ripping chunks from the constructs’ bodies. The last one was completely destroyed within half a minute, allowing Roy to rein in his newly discovered Full-area technique and slump to the ground.

  “About time,” Doragon muttered as Roy lay on his back, his chest heaving. “Now, back on your feet. We still have twelve minutes until the end of the day.”

  “But…I…found the…technique,” Roy said between grabbing lungfuls of air.

  “Which means you can start trying to discover a Full-body Essence technique,” Doragon said. “On your feet. Or just lie there and let the constructs have their way with you. Either way, I’m fine.”

  From bitter experience, Roy knew his uncle wasn’t bluffing and quickly staggered back to his feet as Doragon placed his hand on the pedestal, summoning a batch of new constructs. He hadn’t gotten so much as a ‘good job’ for completing the task, which made Roy feel more than a little annoyed.

  On the bright side, he would only need to endure the pain for another twelve minutes before he could finally rest.

  39

  “We’re getting close,” Kaeru said, throwing up an arm and blocking the blurring blade of blackness aimed at the spot between his neck and shoulder.

  Ice solidified across the limb, repelling the blade and causing it to bounce back. Violet staggered a half step before recovering her balance and lunging in again, her sword flashing in a series of lightning-swift cuts as she tried to make it past his guard. Of course, that would be impossible. She might be strong and fast, but he was more than a full stage above her, and more than halfway to becoming a Sage.

  She had about as much chance of beating him as a White-Belt did her. Still, the point of this training wasn’t to win but rather to advance her skills, which were growing accustomed to fighting superior opponents.

  Hermit had told them of the competition, as well as his expectations of her joining. Kaeru was too strong to enter. Now a 4th Dan Gold-Belt, he exceeded the limit by quite a bit. She, on the other hand, was still at Base Red and needed to break past the wall to 1st Dan to qualify. After nearly three weeks in the Weeping Darklands, she could feel herself growing close to cracking that barrier.

  Her Core was full to bursting with Darkness Chakra, the slight green tint to the normally pitch-black energy, showing the advancing Path she had chosen to follow. She didn’t have a name for it quite yet, but she was close to settling on one. When she finally smashed through the barrier keeping her from the 1st Dan, she would definitely settle on one, but she would continue eliminating options until then.

  Violet shot forward again, leaving a small pool of darkness in her wake as she dove at him. Her sword flashed, trailing blackness, edged by the dark green, as she aimed for his torso this time. The blade, enlarged to more than ten times its normal size, slammed into Kaeru’s upraised arm, stopping the blow
short.

  Growing, she dissipated the Chakra around the point of impact, allowing the blade to run past Kaeru. The two halves rejoined as they reached the other side of his body, and she immediately cleaved downward, trying to split him in two vertically. The rain pattering around them froze over his head, a wall of water solidifying in an instant.

  To Violet, it felt as though her blade had come into contact with a solid wall rather than a few disparate drops of water.

  She kicked out though, black Chakra lancing from her foot as a coiled beam of almost liquid black. Kaeru extended a hand, and a shield of blue ice flowed outward in a wedge shape, dispersing the beam to either side. The blasts continued, tearing through a series of trees behind him. They tore through them with ease, the liquid blackness still clinging to the shattered stumps, beginning to smoke and spark.

  Black and green fire began to form a moment later, before Violet willed it to stop. It wasn’t real fire. It wasn’t hot, nor did it really burn. It only appeared as if it were fire, but the pain it inflicted was far worse than a simple burn. It would infect the living, tearing away at its life force. The green and black flames were the tree’s life energy manifested as it burned away.

  “You’re getting better at that,” Kaeru commented as she landed, retracting her sword until only the gleaming metal remained.

  “So are you,” she said, gesturing with her chin to where the rain was still shielding him.

  “From what you’ve said, becoming a Sage isn’t so easy,” Kaeru replied. “You, on the other hand, are close to a breakthrough. I know you can feel it, and I definitely can.”

  “It isn’t just a matter of power,” Violet said with a frown.

  “No, as I said before, you just need to take a harder look at your Ideal. How does it truly bind you, and what facet of it have you yet to discover?”

  Violet frowned at that, trying to think through what he said, just as she’d constantly been thinking it over since her advancement. She was right there. It was like trying to remember something you’d forgotten, with the answer right on the tip of your tongue. The harder you tried to remember, the more the answer would elude you. Then, at some point later in the day it would just come to you.

  Violet’s eyes went wide at the realization and she almost laughed as it hit her.

  “What?” Kaeru asked as the blade she’d been clutching tightly dipped toward the ground.

  “I need to stop thinking so hard,” Violet said, sliding the blade into its sheath. “If I keep trying the way I have, the answer will never come to me.”

  Kaeru looked at her worriedly for a moment, then shrugged. Everyone had a different process, he was sure. If this was the way she wanted to go about it, he wouldn’t argue with her.

  “Do you want to stop training?” he asked.

  “I want to stop my training,” she said, blinking at him through the downpour. “Right now, it’s pretty much pointless. I’m at the peak of Base Red, and nothing I do will change that. I think focusing on advancing your skill as a Sage would definitely be a better use of our time.”

  “Are you sure?” Kaeru asked. “We only have a limited amount of time until the competition.”

  “Yes, I’m sure,” Violet said, walking up to him. “Now, would you mind?” she asked, gesturing around them.

  Kaeru gave her a sheepish grin as he commanded the rain to part around them, leaving the two of them standing in a clear dome as water cascaded down on all sides.

  “Can you dry me off?” she asked.

  She was soaked to the bone, her dark hair plastered to her face and neck. Her robes clung to her in a most uncomfortable way and were heavy with water.

  “Afraid not,” he said with a frown. “At least not from here.”

  All Martial Artists exuded an aura with their own power. A full Sage would be in full control of their element, even when inside the influence of another Marital Artist. Kaeru’s Path allowed him to freeze the blood inside of other Martial Artists, but that was his Path, not his powers as a Sage.

  “Try,” Violet said, extending her arms to the sides. “You can control the water when in physical contact with me. So, the next step would be to try pulling it from me directly.”

  Pulling the water from her when he was inside the range of her aura was easy enough, but this part had been eluding him ever since Violet had first told him about his potential of becoming a Sage. The step after this would be to pull the physical water and hold it inside his Core, but he was far from being able to do that, let alone be in full control of the element.

  Violet had told him some stories of Sages, about how they could literally travel through their element in seconds, appearing thousands of miles away. All he would have to do was jump into a body of water and command it to carry him to the other side. A powerful enough Sage could even use the rain to his advantage, and on a much grander scale than he was currently capable of. It was a bit hard to wrap his head around the concept, as he would both become the element and command it in the same moment.

  He was sure he would understand it if he ever made it that far, but for now, getting the soaked woman standing before him to be dry was the thing to master. Once he did that, he could start concentrating on the third step. Hopefully.

  Kaeru extended his senses, feeling the rain all around him. He could feel the range of his ability as well. It was just over fifteen yards at this point, which should have put Violet well within his range. But, as his senses brushed over her, he found the barrier in his way once more — the sheet of invisible material that kept his will at bay.

  He concentrated on trying to break through it, to reach the water clinging to the woman with his will. He stood there, frozen for well over ten minutes, determined with all he had to break down that invisible barrier, but it repelled him at every turn. No matter which angle he tried to push through, no matter what direction he came from, the barrier refused to yield.

  “No luck?” Violet asked as he let out a long breath and relaxed, the dome of clear water wavering for a moment as his control slipped.

  “None,” Hermit said, reasserting his control over the element and keeping the rain from soaking them again.

  Violet looked thoughtful for a moment, as though trying to ponder what he might be doing wrong. The two of them had a strange dynamic. She was so much younger than he was, and yet, she was so much more knowledgeable in certain aspects of the Martial Arts. At times, it felt to him that she was the older one and not the other way around.

  “How have you been visualizing getting through my aura to the water?” she finally asked. “I think it works differently with varying Paths.”

  “I’ve been trying to smash through it,” Kaeru said, already realizing his mistake.

  Water was not the sort of Path that barreled through things. Water always found the path of least resistance and followed it. Over time, though, it could wear down anything.

  Violet gave him a wide smile and held her arms out wide, inviting him to try again. This time, when Kaeru concentrated on expanding his senses, he allowed them to flow out gradually, like a stream flowing down the side of a mountain. He tried to feel at each individual drop of water, to see its path as it fell to the ground.

  He watched how it flowed and moved around the small currents of air that buffeted them as they fell to the ground, and eventually, how it landed, splashing into various puddles. He saw how the puddles then ran, trickling through the sodden grass and around piles of snow that never seemed to melt, no matter how hard it rained.

  Soon, without even realizing it, he came up against the barrier that was Violet’s aura. He could feel the resistance her power put up, but this time, instead of trying to force his way through, he allowed his presence to continue on with the water, flowing around her and continuing on his path.

  He stood there over the next several minutes, allowing his presence to simply wash over her, and slowly, ever so slowly, the barrier began to give. Kaeru could feel his will inching deeper and deep
er into the barrier, pushing at the invisible wall repelling his will. It was slow going, but Kaeru didn’t even register the passage of time.

  Then, suddenly, the barrier gave, and Kaeru was inside Violet’s projected aura. With the smallest effort of will, he commanded the water clinging to her body and clothes to leave.

  Violet let out a small exclamation of pleasure, clapping her hands together as she was suddenly dried, the water being pulled from her sodden robes and hair in an instant.

  “You did it!” she exclaimed with a massive grin on her face.

  Kaeru returned the smile, only to see Violet’s slip. She staggered, a sudden exhalation forcing the air from her lungs. He was about to ask if she was okay when he felt it — the sudden expansion of her Core as she smashed through the barrier between Base Red and the 1st Dan.

  When she straightened, she was grinning like an idiot, though her brow was now beaded with perspiration. Around her waist sat the shining Red-Belt, now containing a single slash of brilliant Gold on one of the trailing ends.

  “Looks like you did it as well,” Kaeru said, returning her grin. “How about we get back to your training? 1st Dan Red is the bare minimum to enter. Let’s see how powerful we can get you before our time is up.”

  Despite having only just advanced, Violet drew her sword in a flash, eager to continue getting as strong as possible.

  40

  Roy let out a cry of pain as another lancing bolt of silver energy slammed into him, nearly shattering his concentration and causing him to fall. Unlike the constructs who’d attacked him when he was trying to discover a Full-area technique, these attacked from a distance, using beams of power to inflict their punishment instead of physical blows.

  They hurt no less than the myriad of punches and kicks he’d been forced to endure over the time he’d spent searching for the technique. Now, though, he was forced to mount a different kind of defense because the pain he felt at the end of each day was less in his muscles and bones, and more in his actual spirit.