by Aaron Oster
“Your friend can’t fight on her own then?” Roy asked, hoping to antagonize the weaker of the two into taking them on alone. “Guess she still needs her hand held during a real fight.”
He’d been hoping to hit a nerve, and that was exactly what he got. With a scream, the bigger woman launched herself at him, rust-colored light blazing around her. Roy remained in place, giving her a wide grin as Aika’s staff blurred in from the side, on a crash course with the side of her head.
The Gold-Belt caught it, stopping the staff an inch from her skull, then flicked to her left, spotting the real Roy, just before the taller woman punched through the afterimage that Roy had left behind.
The taller woman stumbled, meeting no resistance where she’d expected to hit something and had to take several quick steps to regain her balance.
“You’re a tricky one, aren’t you?” the Gold-Belt asked, still holding the staff casually as Aika struggled to jerk it free.
The Gold-Belt’s reactions, while expected, showed Roy just how outmatched they truly were. She was fast enough to move nearly unseen, overtaking her friend, stopping Aika’s attack, and spotting his deception all in the blink of an eye. If they were going to stand a chance of escaping, they were going to need to tie her up for a good few hours at the very least.
Roy didn’t answer, flashing forward and throwing the Demon’s Hammer at her face. Calmly, the woman held up her other hand, catching the oversized fist and halting Roy in place as well. However, what she hadn’t counted on, was Roy’s strength. She believed she was fighting an ordinary human, so despite being able to stop the attack, she was forced to take a step back, letting out a low grunt of effort in the process.
Her grip on Aika’s staff loosened for an instant, and Roy’s friend used the opportunity to retreat, throwing an attack of her own at the Red-Belt.
Roy wasn’t going to give the woman a chance to recover or strike back, pulling the technique into himself and striking for a second time. The technique extended about a foot in front of his actual fist, thanks to its size, so he had plenty of room to change the angle of his attack, aiming for her face.
The blow wouldn’t be nearly as powerful as when the Hammer was on the outside of his skin, but it would be far stronger than an ordinary enhanced blow. To his shock, the attack connected, slamming into the side of the woman’s face in the exact spot he’d hit before.
She winced, taking another step back, the smirk slipping from her lips. Roy barely had time to back off before she struck back, her body twisting violently in a way that was very much unnatural, as one of her long legs blurred out in a sweeping kick. Roy could feel the air from its passing and hear the whistling of the wind as she spun around.
He tried to capitalize as her back was to him, throwing another punch using the Demon’s Hammer, but the woman slid under it, crouching and spinning. Her foot swept low, slamming into his ankle and sending pain flaring up his leg. He staggered, his balance nearly destroyed as the woman shot back up, using the momentum of the move to strike him under the chin.
Purple-brown light flickered across her fist the instant before she struck, and it was only thanks to Roy calling on his final technique that he survived the strike to his unprotected chin. Red-gold scales, much like those that made up his Demon’s Hammer, flowed over his skin, taking the brunt of the attack.
Unlike the Hammer, his Armorer technique clung tightly to his skin, layering on top of it like a particularly tight set of robes. It didn’t impede his movements, but there was a clear differentiation between the Demon’s Hammer and his Demon’s Hide.
Roy turned a flip in the air, his head ringing despite his technique greatly reducing the force of the blow, only to find the woman right before him. Dark purple gloves made of stone covered her fists, the air beneath her feet rippling in a way that meant she would be able to remain in the air.
She wasn’t smiling anymore as a trickle of green blood leaked from one of the corners of her mouth.
Her power blazed that like of a volcano, and the sky itself seemed to reflect that, turning a ruddy red color. Her fist blurred forward, and not having a choice, Roy kicked back, tapping into the final ability his Movement technique had. Technically, he’d already had this ability using his Qi techniques, but he hadn’t actually used it until now.
The air blasted away from him as he threw himself skyward, his steps far surer than they had ever been while using his Full-body Qi technique. The woman followed, her first attack having missed, and a vein throbbing in the corner of her temple. She dashed after him, seeming to need to run instead of sustaining actual flight, which was good for Roy, as he was able to keep retreating.
From his vantage point, he could see Aika darting around the other fighter, keeping her distance and peppering her with attacks. They didn’t seem to be doing much, but she was far too quick to be pinned down, and without the Gold-Belt there to hold Aika in place, she was managing to stay ahead.
Roy’s lapse in concentration almost cost him, as a pillar of the same purple and black stone suddenly shot from the woman’s hands. Only a quick change in direction saved him, but the Gold-Belt had predicted this and moved to place herself right in his path. This time, when she struck, the stone gloves made contact.
Roy managed to lessen the force of the blow by throwing his own punch, using the Demon’s Hammer, but her punch cracked several of the scales of his Demon’s Hide and sent him blasting up into the sky. His arm felt as though it had been nearly torn from its socket, though to his credit, he’d managed to knock the woman back to the ground.
She’d hit hard enough to leave a crater some three feet across, but unlike him, she’d managed to retain her footing. Before Roy managed to arrest his ascent, she was rocketing up toward him again, dark light coursing around her and under her skin. Her red eyes shone, and her teeth, which were bared, revealed themselves to be quite bestial. A pair of oversized fangs curved downward, having been tucked beneath her bottom lip until now.
Roy wasn’t focused on that, but rather on what was happening to her skin, which was now traced by dark lines, like visible veins running beneath the surface. Roy caught himself, then kicked to the side, leaving an afterimage in his wake. She immediately changed course, flying toward the real him with unerring accuracy.
He kicked again, dashing to his left then right, retreating higher and higher into the sky as the woman followed. She tried to close, but Roy opened his mouth and unleashed his Demon’s Roar. She attempted to avoid the attack, but in the air, her own Path worked against her. She may have had the advantage in speed and mobility on the ground, but up here, Roy was clearly better suited.
The attack slammed into her at full force, blasting her from the air and driving her back into the ground. She exploded upward the instant she hit, her long hair streaming behind her like a ribbon and twin boulders of stone forming beneath her palms.
Roy used his Roar again, waves of power blasting from his open mouth, even as she hurled both boulders upward. They streaked toward him with terrifying speed, seeming to vanish completely for a moment. One slammed into his shoulder, despite him trying to dodge, though the other missed, only thanks to the first one throwing her aim off.
The impact shattered his Demon’s Hide over the area and dislocated the limb. Pain flashed through him as the boulder latched onto him, thousands of tiny tendrils digging and piercing into his skin.
“You might want to get rid of that,” Geon commented unhelpfully as Roy punched at the creeping stone, which seemed to be trying to force its way into his body.
The Gold-Belt was there in a flash, using the distraction to strike at him. While Roy did manage to avoid taking the brunt of that attack, he still hit the ground with enough force to shatter his Demon’s Hide completely. Luckily, the impact also broke her attack, the creeping stone cracking apart and falling away.
Aika appeared next to him, worry stamped across her features.
“I’m fine,” he lied, dragging himself to h
is feet and trying to hide the pain.
Doragon had been absolutely right. He’d battled constructs who should have been on the same level of power as this Gold-Belt, but the real thing was a different beast entirely. Additionally, he was shocked at the difference in power only a few Dans made. Aika was managing to hold up against the Red-Belt, though her lack of techniques was working against her.
Despite that, they were far more evenly matched. The Gold-Belt, on the other hand, had taken his most powerful attacks and only sported minor injuries. Hell, she hadn’t even bothered using her Armorer technique. This, more than anything, helped Roy understand what they’d be going up against during the competition, if they even made it there.
Both women walked up to the lip of the small crater, the taller one looking beyond enraged, while the shorter looked as though she wanted to tear Roy limb from limb with her bare hands.
Roy and Aika prepared themselves, both settling into fighting stances and readying themselves for another round, when the Gold-Belt paused.
She cocked her head to one side, grimaced, then held out a hand, blocking the taller woman from advancing any further.
“You were lucky to survive this encounter, humans. The next time we meet, you won’t be so lucky.”
Then, they were gone, vanishing in an instant. They wrapped their Cores in veils just a couple of seconds after they ran, disappearing completely from Roy’s senses. He stared after them, wondering what in the hell could have caused their retreat when they were so obviously winning.
Their answer came a moment later when two figures appeared at the lip of the small crater, coincidentally standing right where the enemy had been just seconds prior.
“Looks like we made it just in time,” Tonde Kaeru said, looking to the two of them in relief.
Roy sagged, allowing himself to drop to the ground and let out a sigh of relief.
“I wouldn’t say we made it in time,” Itachi Violet said reproachfully. “Can’t you see the injuries?”
“Well, it looks like we almost made it in time, but still made it before they died,” Kaeru said. “How’s that?”
“Better,” Violet replied with an approving nod.
“Can you two please stop flirting and help?” Aika asked.
Now that the fight was over, she was clutching at both of her shoulders, which were still bleeding.
“Whoops! Sorry,” Kaeru said, extending his power over blood and stopping any more from escaping her body. “I think I might have some Pills in my pack. Would you mind getting them?”
While Kaeru and Violet tended to Aika’s injuries, the three of them chatting animatedly, Roy simply sat in silence, his gaze fixed on the horizon, where he could still feel the growing presence of the Ancient Cavern Beast.
They had just gotten their first real taste of what the enemy could do. If they had to battle fighters like that in just two weeks, he didn’t put their odds of success very high. Then again, they still had two weeks, and just because they had to travel to the exit of the Darklands didn’t mean he had to stop training.
The start of the competition was just over the horizon, and before it came, Roy would make sure his fighting abilities were up to the challenge.
Epilogue
“Damn it!” Ikari yelled, slamming her fist into the ground and shattering the communicator that was clutched there. “How did he do it? How. The hell. Did he do it?”
She sat in the underground hideout, alongside Inu Pelata and Sora Ame, the three of them having come down here when they’d been told their team was just minutes away from taking Herald Leroy. They’d rushed down here, eagerly awaiting the good news. The communicator had been left active so they could all hear the battle raging on.
But, in the end, Herald Leroy had bested them all, killing five powerful fighters and putting a stop to their plans of taking control of the clans back.
“It would appear the boy is stronger than we thought,” Ame said, seeming less than pleased, not that anyone would blame her.
She’d just lost one of her Grandmasters, a Martial Artist who had the potential to become a Supreme one day.
“We’ll just have to send more fighters,” Pelata said, his lips twisting down in a grimace as well. “This time, we’ll send Gold-Belts to make sure the job is done. If we act quickly enough, their presence might not even be missed.”
“Oh, it’s entirely too late for that.”
All three Sovereigns whirled as a crack appeared in space, revealing the form of Herald Duncan. When they’d built this place, it had been designed with every security feature they could think of. Unfortunately, stopping a Scion’s spatial travel would require another Scion as an anchor.
Still, the fact that Duncan had come alone meant that it would be a three-on-one fight, and as the cracks in space sealed up behind him, the three Sovereigns sized the man up.
“How did you find us?” Ame asked, slowly rising to her feet and flexing her fingers.
“I knew about your little plan for weeks,” Duncan said coldly. “I was informed the moment your fighters entered the Weeping Darklands.”
“If you knew about it, why not try and stop us earlier?” Pelata asked, similarly rising and preparing for the fight they knew was coming.
“Because I was assured that my son would easily be able to trounce them, and that it would be a good training opportunity,” Duncan replied. “Additionally, I needed to catch you all in the act to justify any actions against you, and I needed to find a way to broadcast it for all to see.”
He extended a finger and they all turned, seeing the small indentation in the wall, where a piece of reflective glass was now revealed.
“A remote viewing construct,” Ikari hissed, Darkness beginning to roil off her skin. “How many people are watching now?”
“All of them,” Duncan said calmly. “I placed the other half near the top of Mountain Moore, and this scene is being projected into the sky as we speak. Your treachery was broadcasted for all to see. So now, when I kill you, no one will challenge that decision.”
“You can’t kill us,” Pelata said. “You need us. We have a war to fight.”
“Maybe,” Duncan said. “But nothing is worse in war than an ally you cannot trust. Killing you is the safest course of action, and seeing as you went after my son, I think I’m quite going to enjoy this.”
Ikari snarled, then extended both arms, an immense amount of power building in an instant as she triggered her Conqueror Reiki technique. While those at the Supreme level and below needed words of power to invoke their techniques, fighters of her level could do so without the invocation.
It definitely helped with the element of surprise, especially when triggering the skill against a superior opponent. Darkness blasted out of her in a massive wave, disintegrating all in its path and assuring that nothing would be able to live in the area for centuries to come. She didn’t even warn Ame or Pelata, not caring if they were caught in the blast or not.
Despite that, both of the Sovereigns had acted almost instantaneously, Pelata calling on his city-destroying Diamond Apocalypse, while Ame called down her Terror Storm. Sharp diamond spines shot from the ground in a massive web, the millions of tiny holes destabilizing the ground around them and weakening the structure.
At the same time, the twister slammed down, crashing through their hideout and tearing into the spot where Duncan’s body had disappeared. Ikari, Pelata, and Ame all dashed back, tearing through the air and only halting when they stood over a hundred feet up, all watching the mass destruction below as nearly an entire square mile of desert collapsed in on itself.
Darkness roiled and diamond flashed as it tore up from the ground, and the wind howled as the twister intensified. Massive cracks ran along fault lines, sending sand streaming into the ground as it split wider and wider. Darkness boiled up through the cracks in the earth as plumes of dust were kicked into the air, blanketing the entire area in a makeshift sandstorm.
“Do you think that did
it?” Pelata asked, staring down at the raging storm below.
Ikari couldn’t help but notice that his Full-body technique was going, diamond armor coating his muscular form, while long blade-like spines extended from the shoulders and arms.
“It had to have done some damage, even if he isn’t dead,” Ame said.
She also had her Full-body technique going, spinning wind gusting around her body and sending her 8th Dan Gray-Belt fluttering. Ikari, who’d activated her technique as well, fixed her eyes on the ground once more. There was no way Duncan had managed to survive that. Sure, he was a Scion, but he’d been unprepared and struck by three Conqueror techniques at once. He had to be dead, or at least so seriously injured that he’d be easy pickings.
The three of them continued watching the mass destruction as the landscape collapsed into itself, leaving a massive crater interspersed with jagged shards of glittering diamond and bubbling pools of molten stone.
Collectively, the three of them had just unleashed enough power to level one of the larger cities, and in such a way that there would be no survivors. And yet, as the dust settled and the three Sovereigns watched the area carefully, a lone figure emerged.
Ikari felt her heart skip a beat as the form of Herald Duncan appeared from the dust, a transparent, silver bubble surrounding him. It was perfectly round, and not so much as a scratch marred its surface. Additionally, the man inside didn’t seem bothered in the slightest that they’d just tried to kill him, and with techniques that had left over a square mile of land completely uninhabitable.
“Allow me to show you what a real Conqueror technique looks like.”
All three of them jerked their heads upward as Duncan’s voice sounded from above, effectively stunning them. It should have been impossible. Their eyes had been on him the entire time. When the hell had he moved?
Duncan stood nearly three hundred feet up, his hand raised above his head and a finger extended skyward.
The world seemed to go dark, space rippling and warping as an enormous amount of power gathered at the point above his finger.
