Water (Buryoku Book 3)

by Aaron Oster

  Roy suddenly found himself airborne, only to land in the water, soaking through his recently dried robes and knocking the air from his lungs. He was on his feet quickly, water lapping up at mid-calf and facing down the creature once again. Its body glowed blue as it entered the water, and Roy activated his Movement technique as well.

  He knew that as long as he was in the water, he’d be at a severe disadvantage, so instead of charging the creature, Roy attempted to circumvent it and head back to land. He’d underestimated the monster’s speed as it moved to intercept, finally throwing an attack of its own. Roy ducked the swiping claws, only to have to throw his arms up to block the Projected technique that it had perfectly placed in his path.

  Pain flashed through his body as the water tore into him, ripping at his forearms and nearly making him lose his balance. The creature spun then, lashing out with a powerful kick and driving Roy back even further. He stumbled, feeling the gritty sand and pebbles beneath his feet shifting as the ground sloped ever downward.

  The creature advanced, moving swiftly through the water that was now lapping near his knees, and threw another attack. Roy knew he was on the back foot right now and needed to recover. He tried to dart to one side, using his Void Sphere as cover, but the creature countered with a sweep of its hand, sending a wave of water to intercept.

  The glowing golden sphere slammed into the water, tearing a hole through its surface before vanishing. He cursed silently to himself as he struck out again, hurling another destructive ball in hopes of catching the creature with a lucky shot. The monster continued avoiding his attacks with uncanny ease, striking back in-between his blows and driving him deeper into the water.

  It was now lapping around his waist, and Roy was starting to run out of steam. Blood dripped from his arms through the shredded remains of his robe’s sleeves and his chest was really starting to hurt. His channels were already burning, his exertions over the last hour having pushed him too far.

  The creature followed, its arms slicing through the air and sending blades of water whistling towards him. Roy used his Shockwave, but the deep water slowed him. He suppressed a groan as one of the blades tore into his shoulder, cutting through his skin and sending pain shooting down his arm.

  That’s not a good sign, he thought.

  Roy struck back, using his only viable skill, the Void Sphere, once again. This time, he sent a literal hail of the spheres at the creature, throwing over a dozen in the span of a handful of seconds. Then, as the creature countered, throwing up a wall of water, Roy used Shockwave, dashing to one side and trying to circle back to the island.

  “I could really use some help here!” Roy yelled as he pushed through the waist-deep water in a bid for land.

  “What do you want me to do?” Geon replied indignantly. “I don’t have any hands.”

  “A plan! I need a plan!” Roy yelled as the water began to recede.

  The creature was suddenly before him, its massive clawed hand slashing out and cutting several bloody lines across his chest. The only way Roy could avoid deeper injuries was by jumping back once again, surrendering the small amount of land he’d managed to gain.

  “Use your head,” Geon snapped. “I know your squishy brain isn’t good for much, but you have to think for yourself!”

  “Fine!” Roy yelled, throwing his back hand forward just as the creature charged.

  In it, he held the spinning sphere of interlocking multi-layered destruction. Roy’s blast momentarily blanked all sound, as he used his Void Sphere’s second stage. The massive sphere expanded to five feet, engulfing the massive creature before it could get out of the way. The flash of light was nearly blinding, and when it faded, it left nothing in its wake.

  Roy watched the area for a few moments, noting the spreading pool of dark blood on the surface of the water.

  “Would you look at that?” Roy said, allowing his shoulders to relax. “Looks like I can think for my…”

  Roy was cut off as something slammed into his torso, knocking his breath from his lungs and sending him staggering deeper into the water. He gasped, whirling in place, and looking for the source of the attack. He was struck again, this time in the lower back, and Roy let out a cry of pain as his spine bent the wrong way.

  “Looks like the thing is still alive,” Geon commented.

  “You think?!” Roy yelled internally, trying to make a run for land.

  “Well, I’d have thought that was obvious, seeing as I just told you.”

  Roy stopped listening as the creature slammed into him again and he felt a rib crack, but so long as the creature was underwater, Roy couldn’t counter effectively. Even with his Spirit Sense trained, he couldn’t find it, as the creature was using Water Essence while being surrounded by water. This made it all but invisible, both to his senses and his regular vision.

  He stumbled to one side, now chest-deep in water as the creature continued hammering him from all sides. He knew he was in a bad spot, worse than any he’d been in before. He was at a major disadvantage, as Water and Power were pretty much opposites in every way. Because he was literally surrounded by it, he was in a really bad place.

  While most might think that Weakness, the opposite of Power, would be the worst matchup, they still shared many similarities. Water, on the other hand, was the antithesis to everything Power related. Where Power was rigid, Water was flexible. Where his demanded overwhelming might, Water used precision and redirection. To put it simply, Water was the worst matchup for him.

  He stumbled again, gasping as something sharp tore into his side. He could feel the blood, even through the water, and had to fight to remain standing. If he lost his footing now, he was pretty much done for. The creature struck from his left, and Roy whirled, throwing a punch into the water. The Exploding Fist displaced a bit of it, but he knew he’d hit absolutely nothing with that blow.

  “Use your Essence!” Geon yelled as Roy continuously turned and attacked.

  “What do you think I’m doing?” Roy shot back, feeling a blow connect with the back of one of his knees and buckling it.

  For just a moment, Roy became completely submerged, but that was enough for the creature. His legs were swept out from under him, and a moment later, his back was driven into the ground, with about five feet of water between him and fresh air. The creature was atop him, its body glowing blue with its Armorer technique to prevent Roy from throwing it off, not that he didn’t try.

  Roy threw punch after punch, but without the proper leverage or being able to even breathe, they weren’t doing much.

  “You’re going to run out of air if you don’t get that thing off you!” Geon yelled.

  Roy didn’t even bother responding, letting out a mental scream and thrashing in the creature’s powerful grip. For the second time that day, he was drowning, and this time, there was no hope of getting to the surface without dislodging this thing.

  “Listen to me for once!” Geon yelled as Roy began to feel his muscles slackening and his blows weakening. “You have a lot of Essence, so use it!”

  Finally, Geon’s meaning penetrated Roy’s panicked mind. He’d been using his Essence sparingly, the way one might if they didn’t have much to burn. He, on the other hand, had plenty to spare and then some.

  “I really hope this works,” he thought, then let out his breath in an explosion of bubbles.

  Along with it came the blast of uncontained Essence, projected from Roy’s Core, throwing the creature off him and tearing through the water as though it weren’t even there.

  22

  “See? What did I tell you?” Geon crowed, sounding extremely smug.

  “You were right,” Roy said, slowly getting to his feet.

  He could feel his robes clinging to him and the damp sand beneath his feet. He was standing on the bottom of the lake, water reaching well over his head, yet not touching him at all. The water surrounded him in a bubble, leaving a clear opening to the sky and allowing him the air needed to breathe. Po
wer Essence coursed all around him, pouring from all of his channels at once and pushing the water back, giving him what he so desperately needed.

  Roy knew he couldn’t keep something like this up for long. The sheer amount of Essence he was projecting was staggering and would have drained most Martial Artists in a matter of seconds. But, as Geon had pointed out, he had Essence to spare. He began walking, the Essence pushing the water back as he went.

  Despite having the Essence needed to maintain this bubble, he was in a great deal of pain. His chest was constricting horribly, and his channels were on fire. That was not to mention the broken ribs and all the cuts on his arms, chest, and torso. Still, he was headed for land, and the creature was nowhere to be seen.

  His bubble afforded him a protection that pushed back all other types of Essence, and although he was surrounded by Water, the sheer outpouring of Power was enough to keep him safe and dry. A shadow loomed in his peripheral vision, but with so much of his own Essence in his surroundings, Roy could now sense the creature’s approach.

  It streaked through the water, leaping through Roy’s Essence and swinging viciously at his head. Its claws were coated in sharpened blades of water, and its mouth was open in a frightening approximation of a grin. The creature had made one critical error in its thinking. It had assumed Roy would still be vulnerable.

  However, by leaping into Roy’s bubble, the creature essentially robbed itself of its biggest advantage, the fact that Roy couldn’t strike back. Now that it was out in the open and attacking Roy through his field of Power Essence, Roy had no trouble countering.

  His Constellation traced a straight line across the creature’s shoulders before exploding, tearing huge holes in the monster’s skin and painting Roy in a mixture of unpleasant substances. The creature stumbled, thrown off balance, and hissing in pain. Roy made sure to continue walking, the water now only at waist-level, and the creature was swallowed by the water once again.

  Roy didn’t think it would give up that easily and was already tracing another Constellation, this one in the complete opposite direction of where the last attack had come. Despite his earlier pounding, Roy had noticed a pattern in the creature’s movements. No matter where it attacked from, it always attacked from the exact opposite direction the next time, before changing angles.

  The problem Roy had had to deal with was the fact that he didn’t know when the creature would be striking, and thus, couldn’t prepare a counter. Right now, it didn’t make a difference. Golden lines traced through the air as he tightened his focus, feeling the creature barreling towards him.

  This would be its last opportunity to attack him while still in the water, so it was coming at him with everything it had. Just as the creature closed within striking distance, Roy flared his Core, gritting his teeth against the pain, and expanded the bubble a further two yards. The creature, suddenly finding itself without water and unprepared for the attack, was left completely defenseless. It hung in the air for a few long moments before Roy’s attack struck.

  The Constellation had been perfectly traced to match the creature’s proportions, and though the angles were a bit off, they still had their intended effect. The monster screamed as it was thrown clear out of the water, its neck, and the joints of its elbows, hips, knees, and ankles, all being caught in the multiple blasts of the Constellation.

  Blood sprayed in a fountain, tracing through the air in an arch as the creature flew back, slamming into the ground with a crackling, crunching sound. Roy finally stepped onto land then and allowed his Essence bubble to die down. For a moment, he staggered, the massive fatigue of needing to keep such a huge amount of Essence flowing from him, taking its toll.

  His Core was barely at ten percent capacity right now, and even that was absolutely astonishing. He’d used so much in keeping the water back, even going so far as to double his output for the last few seconds, and he still had some Essence remaining. There was no time for celebrations just yet, as the creature began to stir, trying to get back to its feet.

  Its joints were dislocated, and there was a sizable indent in its neck. Still, the creature posed a significant threat, and Roy wasn’t going to allow that to stand. Staggering forward on tired legs, Roy dropped a knee into the monster’s ribs, driving it back down to the sand with a loud crunch. The creature only had time for a single hiss of pain before Roy drove his fist down, slamming it into the creature’s already damaged neck and expelling a blast of Essence.

  There was no technique involved with this attack, much as there hadn’t been any with his earlier stunt, but the expulsion of Essence was more than enough to finally do the job. With a sickening tearing sound, the creature’s head was torn from its shoulders, finally ending the battle and allowing Roy to collapse next to it, completely exhausted, both physically and mentally.

  ***

  Hermit had been running through most of the early morning, avoiding any towns or villages and taking the quickest route to the area where his brother and most of the Itachi’s top fighters were located. He could already feel it, all the way out here — the distinct lack of Essence. It was as though the entire world had gone dark, yet, at the same time, everything still looked the same. It was only when one opened their senses that they could see how wrong the world looked.

  He also knew that if this continued for much longer, the effects would start showing on the landscape as well. Without the constant nourishment of Essence, everything would start to wither and die, and he couldn’t allow that to happen. His honor would not allow it. The landscape blurred by as he ran, speeding past the first deserted village he’d come across.

  From here on out, there was nothing in his way. All the people had been evacuated, moved from the Beast’s path, and led to safety by other members of the clan. He picked up speed, tapping into his reserves and switching his Movement technique to use Chakra instead of Qi. The world seemed to warp somewhat as he moved his Aoi Furea, the Blue Flare, to the fifth stage.

  With each refinement of energy, one gained far more power, and shockingly enough, burned far less of it. Qi was burned at a fifth of the rate that Essence burned, even for someone who had terrible control. Qi was just a purer form of energy, so there was less waste involved. Likewise, it was far denser, and therefore, burned much slower. Chakra was a significant step up from Qi, burning at one-hundredth the speed of Essence, and Reiki burned at a thousandth.

  The only reason he didn’t use his Reiki now simply had to do with the time necessary to craft it. It took hours of work to produce even a single drop, and thus, had to be used sparingly. However, Chakra became significantly easier to craft, and Qi, even more so. Refining Essence down to its purest form took only a matter of seconds for him now, whereas it would take hours when he was just a Yellow or Orange-Belt.

  As far as he knew, Scions didn’t use a different type of energy, though he’d yet to confirm as much. They had a far easier time crafting Reiki than a Sovereign, or so he’d read. Much to most people’s shock, Hermit, or Hakai as he’d been known back then, was a very learned man. When it came to the Martial Arts, he viewed knowledge as the single most important tool to promote growth.

  While others thought differently, he didn’t think that Pills, Elixirs, or Potions were the way to go about growing. He saw it as a way to cheat to gain a new advancement faster. No, the one and only way to become the best version of yourself and assure continual growth was through seeking out new knowledge. He attributed that to why he had a clear Path to Black-Belt, while his sister was faltering.

  She’d always allowed her pride in her natural ability to drive her forward, not listening to anyone’s advice and thinking herself above all. Back then, she had been, and even now, she remained as the most powerful Martial Artist in their clan. But Hermit knew those days were numbered. While she had reached an Advancement Rank most could never even dream of, she would never join the ranks of the Scions.

  Though Ikari didn’t want to admit it, even to herself, Hermit could see t
hat the realization was beginning to set in. Her growth was stagnating, and she was at the end of her Path. It was true that she would never die, not unless someone killed her, but to live on forever, stuck at the same advancement level with no way of progressing, would be torture. And to think that if she would have simply listened to him, even when on the brink of advancing to Purple, she still could have managed it.

  She likely wouldn’t have advanced past Base Black, but she would at least have joined the ranks of the Scions. As things looked right now, Hermit, the biggest failure of the family, would be the only one to achieve that goal — if he managed to live through the upcoming battle.

  Hermit slowed as he felt a group of Martial Artists up ahead, all in the Red Belt stage or above. The strongest stood out in stark contrast to the others. It was a bright white Core, blazing with an inner light, yet seeming to be full and at the end of its journey. That would be his brother, Geki. He was the other prodigal child, the one whom everyone believed could be equally as great as Ikari.

  As children, even after merging with the Dungeon Core, Hermit had always been lagging behind the others. When Ikari was testing for her Green-Belt at the ripe old age of ten, Hermit was still a White-Belt, while Geki, just six years old, was already on the verge of Yellow. By the time Geki was advancing to Green at the age of nine, Hermit was pushing to reach Orange, and Ikari was already closing in on Purple.

  But Hermit had to do something that the other two hadn’t. He’d had to work for his advancements. That was not to say that Ikari or Geki slacked in their training, but everything that came easy to them was difficult for him. While he spent weeks or months on one particular problem, they simply breezed straight through. So, by the time Geki was an adult at the age of eighteen, he was already pushing at the bounds of Red-Belt. Ikari, at twenty-two, was already a 2nd Dan Red-Belt, while Hermit, at twenty-four, hadn’t even passed his Trial to advance to Green.