by Aaron Oster
He could feel the familiar presence of Power looming overhead and could sense the displeasure at all the dodging and running he was doing, but for once, Roy couldn’t bring himself to care. He didn’t have the strength to face the boar head-on, so he’d need to use all the tools in his disposal to win – Spirit of Power be damned. Before he could so much as begin to formulate a strategy, the boar came charging past, squealing its rage as it searched the dark forest for him.
Its eyesight must not have been that good, as it ran completely by him without stopping. He resisted the urge to breathe a sigh of relief, as that might have given him away, and instead concentrated on the essence of a Containment technique. He wracked his brain for an answer to how it could be visualized and how he could accomplish summoning one of his own.
The Containment technique, in essence, went against Power as a whole. Trapping an opponent so you could beat them fell more into the purview of Earth or Wind. Seeing as Irusaru had been a Grandmaster, he’d clearly mastered Containment techniques using both Essence and Qi. Now the only question was how Roy could trap someone in a way that wouldn’t buck against his Path.
A loud crashing sound brought him out of his thoughts, and Roy quickly crouched as the Boar came charging past, its body streaming blackness as it ran around in a blind rage. It passed without seeing him once again and Roy turned his thoughts back to the technique. He’d seen several so far, but all had been used by those on differing Paths. They all had the same end result, though, which was to trap an opponent or limit their movement.
Roy crouched lower as the pig charged by, still trailing black smoke and squealing loudly. He wondered if it would tire of the exercise soon and simply settle down to wait for him. Somehow, Roy doubted it.
“Do you have any ideas on how I might use a Containment technique?” Roy tried.
He was desperate enough to risk the wrath of Geon’s trash-talking if only to help him with some ideas.
“How about you stop looking at the technique from the angle of trapping and holding someone, and rather, focus on what application of Power you tend to use most,” Geon said, surprising him.
“Well, that much is pretty obvious,” Roy replied.
More than anything else, he applied force and momentum to his techniques. His Exploding Fist displaced the air, and the force of that expanding air was what caused the explosive damage. His Shockwave focused on throwing himself forward with explosive movements, and his Constellation used a similar theme to the Exploding Fist.
The only techniques he had that didn’t focus entirely on force and momentum, were his Void Sphere, which focused on destruction, and his Armorer technique which just protected him. Roy’s brow furrowed as something tickled at the back of his mind, but at that moment, the boar came charging past once again, screeching its displeasure.
However, as it passed, Roy finally noticed that the trailing black smoke was not dissipating as it had before. Rather, it seemed to be growing heavier, cloaking the ground and clinging to it like a heavy mist. Roy could sense the Darkness Essence mixed into it and only had time for a brief flash of panic as he realized what was about to happen.
The boar came to a skidding halt some distance away, its body glowing with black power. It then performed a maneuver that Roy would have thought impossible, gathering itself up and leaping straight into the air. The golden energy of the Shockwave outlined Roy’s body as he shot from his crouch, running for all he was worth to escape the attack, but it was too late.
The pig landed, and with a rushing sound like that of wind, hundreds of black spikes shot from the ground. Roy felt several slice into him, cutting the side of his leg, ribs, arms, and chest. A line of pain flared across his left cheek, but Roy didn’t stop running. He was bleeding from dozens of smaller cuts by the time he cleared the full-area attack just four seconds later, his entire body throbbing and stinging.
Roy looked back, seeing that all the trees in the area had been turned to splinters, having been shredded by the massive attack. The only reason he wasn’t dead now was because he’d been caught in the tail-end of it. He was shocked at the sheer amount of damage the boar had done. More than one-hundred yards around the attack had been completely destroyed.
The boar turned on him then, gleaming eyes locking onto his ragged form and narrowing just a hair. There was no longer anywhere to hide. The boar had effectively destroyed all his cover, and Roy would be forced to fight the creature out in the open. The squeal reached Roy just an instant after the boar exploded forward, its body turning into a dark cloud as it rushed at him.
Not having much time to really do anything, Roy simply did the only thing he could think of. Power Essence poured out of him in a massive wave, turning into the same swirling sphere he’d formed to keep the water away when fighting the last creature on the islands. The night sky was lit with brilliant golden light as the sphere expanded, Roy pushing as much as he could into the bubble before the boar arrived.
Of course, a little something like a big gold bubble wasn’t going to stop the Beast from attacking, and the boar charged straight into the swirling bubble. Roy braced himself as the tusks came through first, followed by its head. His brows furrowed as the boar continued coming through.
Am I imagining things, or is the boar moving really slow? he wondered.
After three more seconds had passed and the boar’s chest poked through, Roy realized that no, it wasn’t just him. The boar was indeed moving much slower. Not only that, but the smokey cloud that had surrounded it was vanishing as it came through. Then, it hit Roy all at once, and he realized what he’d done.
Back when he’d been fighting the creature underwater, he’d just assumed it had lost momentum and power due to coming out of the water. However, now that he really thought about it, the creature shouldn’t have lost access to its Essence, just the ability to move quickly without being tracked. Roy felt like smacking himself for not figuring it out sooner, but he supposed that it was better late than never.
He stepped forward, gathering up Power Essence into his fists, then proceeded to unleash a barrage of punches right into the boar’s unprotected snout. The pig screamed and thrashed as it tried to escape the entrapping bubble, its body continuing to slowly inch forward, but there was nothing else it could do aside from struggle.
Each time its head moved, Roy simply adjusted his angle, continuing to rain down blows upon the nightmarish creature. The Exploding Fist-Increase built power with each blow. After the tenth hit, the creature’s head started to be rocked side to side, and after the fifteenth hit, he started to see some actual damage. The boar’s squeals of rage turned to screams of pain as Roy’s sixteenth blow struck, flattening its already flat nose and sending a spray of blood into the air.
Roy’s next punch landed in its right eye socket, and he felt the bone give beneath the punch, shattering with the force of his magnified attack. The boar squealed again as Roy drew his fist back for another punch, this one aimed at its throat. Blood was freely streaming from his sliced-up arms and legs, droplets flying in the air and coating the Beast’s dark hide, so it was covered in equal amounts of his blood and its own.
However, as the next punch came flying in, the boar seemed to calm for a moment. Then, its body flared with power, shattering the swirling wall of Roy’s newly realized Containment technique and causing his attack to go wide. Roy stumbled, letting out a curse as he felt all the power and momentum he’d built flee in an instant, leaving him with not nearly enough strength to defeat the boar.
Worst of all was the fact that the boar’s eyes were no longer just a burning red color. They were now trailing the same wispy smoke, curling away from its eyes and giving it a far more menacing appearance. It wasn’t the new look that really frightened him, but rather, what it signified. New as he was to the use of Qi, even he could tell that the Beast had finally decided to stop playing around.
Roy had injured it, something the Beast hadn’t thought possible, and as a result, Roy ha
d done something far worse than making it angry. Roy had made the Beast afraid, and when wild animals were afraid, they became far more dangerous.
44
“On the bright side, at least you figured out a Containment technique,” Geon said as Roy was sent hurtling through the air.
Roy landed on his back, the Armorer technique, which was now splintered and cracked, finally shattering under the stress and vanishing into motes of golden light.
“Wow,” Roy groaned as he gasped for air. “Aren’t you an optimist?”
“I do try when I can,” Geon said, false modesty all but dripping from his voice.
The boar came charging after them, and Roy could only roll to the side, ejecting a burst of Power Essence from his hand to flip himself out of the way, as the Beast tore through the area his head had been moments before. Razor-sharp spines now extended from each of the boar’s wiry hairs, and several of them sliced into Roy as the creature passed, adding to the numerous cuts and bruises he’d already accumulated over the course of this test.
A blast of Essence threw Roy into the air, saving him the need to take his eyes off the boar as it turned back to face him. He landed painfully on his feet, then ran to one side, using the Shockwave. His Essence was starting to dwindle, Roy having used more than half his total capacity already in trying to kill this thing.
He was never more grateful to Hermit than he was right now, as he knew he’d have long ago failed this test had he had any less to work with. In fact, he’d probably still lose unless he came up with something quickly. Judging by the way Power was remaining silent, simply observing, Roy didn’t think he’d be advancing unless he defeated this creature first. Though he’d been able to win by advancing in his first test, his second had only rewarded him upon completion, and Roy had a feeling that it would be that way from now on.
After all, the first test was always the easiest, though Roy didn’t remember the fight against the mutant Shah Koya to be all that easy.
Focus! He chastised himself as the boar flashed past, ripping a jagged tear in his robes and nicking his side with one of its tusks.
Roy spun, tracing an outline around the boar as it turned to face him and set off his Constellation. As he’d feared, the Beast wasn’t even fazed, despite the massive series of explosions that targeted all the pig’s soft spots. The only way he’d been able to hurt it, had been by building up the requisite power and momentum using the second stage Exploding Fist. He’d lost all of it as soon as his attack missed, and that had been his best chance.
The boar charged again, and in a desperate attempt to slow it, Roy used his Containment technique again. Essence rocketed out of his body in a sphere, and the pig was caught mid-leap. Roy didn’t have much time to celebrate, as the Beast flared its Qi, shattering the hold and coming back down to the ground to continue its charge. Roy blasted Essence from his hand, throwing himself out of the Beast’s path.
He managed to avoid being cut by the bristling hairs, but that technique had cost him yet more Essence. Of all the techniques he had, the Containment was by far the costliest. He was sure that if he took the time to develop it properly, he could cut the cost down, but time wasn’t exactly something he had at the moment.
The boar turned again, and Roy dodged, now starting to feel the distinct displeasure of Power starting to bear down on him.
“What the hell do you want me to do?” Roy finally yelled, looking up at the sky, anger boiling in his chest. “Nothing is ever good enough for you, is it? You’re never happy! This is my third test, and I’m starting to sense a trend here. You’re the one making these tests so impossibly hard, so either help me or get the hell off my back!”
Roy dodged once again, barely avoiding the massive boar and suffering a new set of cuts across his stomach. He didn’t mind, as he could sense several new emotions from the presence above — anger, shock, and annoyance.
“Did you just yell at the Spirit of your Path?” Geon asked incredulity.
“So what if I did?” Roy said, purposely speaking out loud so that the Spirit of Power could hear him. “That Spirit is a total asshole! It constantly acts like I’m not good enough. How about it comes down here and fights this damn boar on its own while I sit up there and turn my nose up at its efforts?”
The boar let out a squeal of rage, its body exploding into blackness as it began burning through its Qi far faster.
“Yeah! Go ahead! Make the test even harder so that you can lord your ever-present snootiness over me!” Roy yelled, using his Shockwave and rocketing out of the way of the charging boar.
“I bet you’re not even a real Spirit!” Roy continued as he felt the roiling anger of the presence growing. “I bet you’re just some overweight, lazy old man who gets a kick out of watching other people suffer, and all while setting impossible challenges for them!”
This time, Roy finally got a reaction, though it was not one that he’d been expecting. The boar, which had been charging, froze mid-leap, its body suspended in the air as though it had suddenly turned to stone. There was a massive explosion, accompanied by a flash of golden light, and suddenly, Roy found a glowing golden figure standing before him.
“First of all, there was no need to be so rude!” the golden figure yelled in a very petulant, childish, and very female voice. “And secondly, I am not some old, ugly man!”
The bright light faded to reveal a girl made completely out of Power. She was small, standing at around four and a half feet tall. Everything about her glowed with many different hues of golden light — from her face to the robes she wore, to her long hair that reached the ground.
Her large eyes showed her outrage, her lips were pulled into a frown, and her small button nose wrinkled in displeasure. A pair of long pointed ears extended from the sides of her head, marking her as clearly not human, not that he didn’t already know that.
“So, the Spirit of Power is a little girl,” Roy said. “It’s no wonder everything is always so impossible.”
“I am not a little girl!” yelled the little girl, stomping her foot. “I am an ancient Spirit who is tens of thousands of years old! You’d better give me some respect!”
“Oh, I’m sorry, great Spirit,” Roy said, lacing his words with as much sarcasm as he could muster. “Would you like me to bow and kiss your feet? Perhaps offer you some tea? Maybe fetch you a nice meal? You are a great and powerful Spirit, after all, so it’s the least I can do.”
The little girl seemed flustered for a few moments, staring at him wide-eyed. Then, she did the very last thing Roy thought she would do. She blushed! Two dark patches of gold appeared on her cheeks, and the Spirit took a couple of steps back.
“No! No! That won’t be necessary, really!” she said, holding her hands up and averting her eyes.
What the hell? Roy thought.
“Well, you probably shouldn’t have been so forward as to offer such intimate services to the Spirit of Power,” Geon said. “What did you expect her to do, take you up on all those offers?”
“But I…” Roy began, before realizing that just like Geon, this all-powerful Spirit, the manifestation of Power itself, couldn’t understand sarcasm.
That realization took all the wind out of his sails, and Roy’s shoulder slumped.
“Look, I’m sorry about what I said,” Roy said to the still blushing girl. “I’m just frustrated that nothing ever seems to please you. I didn’t even know you could manifest like this. I just thought I was yelling at some abstract concept and wouldn’t get any response.”
“Well,” the girl said, clearing her throat. “You should learn to be more respectful of those who give you your power. Spirits have feelings, too, you know.”
Well, now I do! Roy thought.
“Anyway,” the Spirit continued. “Now that you can clearly see that I’m not some old man and you’ve apologized, I’ll be on my way
“Wait, that’s it?” Roy asked as the girl’s body began to glow once again.
“Why else w
ould I have come down here but to defend my honor?” she asked, the glow fading back to normal.
“I don’t know…” Roy said. “Maybe to offer some kind of explanation? Like why these tests are so ridiculously hard, or why you never seem to be happy with me?”
“Well, I thought that much would have been obvious,” the girl said, placing her small hands on her hips. “You’re always running away like a little coward instead of fighting, like a Martial Artist. Stop running, and I’ll stop getting angry!”
“Your tests are impossible!” Roy snapped back, some of his earlier fire returning.
“No, they’re not,” she snapped. “None of my tests are impossible, just hard.”
“Really?” Roy asked. “Just hard?”
“That’s exactly what I just said,” the Spirit replied, looking at him in confusion.
Right. No sarcasm.
“Then tell me how I, an Orange-Belt, lacking the ability to use Qi and lacking the same Core-Body as that boar, am supposed to defeat it.”
“Why would I tell you that?” the Spirit asked. “That would defeat the whole purpose of the test. Your human is very silly. You know that, right?” This question was clearly aimed at Geon, as she switched her gaze from Roy’s eyes to the center of his chest.
“Wait. You can see me?” Geon asked.
“Of course, I can see you, silly,” the Spirit said with a snorted laugh. “You literally are full of me, so it’s kind of like talking to myself.”
“I suddenly feel very violated,” Geon said, sounding sick.
“Oh, don’t be like that, silly Dungeon Core. All Power Artists are full of me, so you’re not the only one,” the Spirit said, waving her hand. “Now, I really do have to go. You have to finish your test, and I’ve made my point. I hope the next time you come in here, you won’t be such a poop!”
