Wind (Buryoku Book 4)

by Aaron Oster

  “Well, I guess it’s time,” the woman said, rising from the ground and dusting herself off. “If I’m not back before Hermit returns, just tell him where I went, would you?”

  Aika nodded dumbly as the woman, who was nearly two years her junior, walked through the gate to test for her Red-Belt.

  “What I wouldn’t give to recruit someone like her into the clan,” Kaeru sighed as the gate vanished. “Hey, no need to get all huffy and upset. I didn’t mean it to insult you!” he said, holding his hands up as though to fend off Aika’s glare.

  “If you like her so much, why don’t you just marry her?” she snapped.

  “She is a bit young,” Kaeru said. “But if she were willing…”

  “Ew!” Aika exclaimed. “She’s eighteen!”

  “Making her a full adult by the reckoning of any clan,” Kaeru interrupted.

  “You’re, like, five-hundred!”

  “So?” Kaeru said. “In the world of Martial Artists, the young and old marry all the time. I mean, I might be quite old by your standards, but if we were to run into one of these Scions, they would see me as a child. Also, I don’t look that old!”

  Aika wanted to snap back at the man, but in his defense, he was right on every point. Back in the Tonde clan, people of all ages were married, especially if they believed their union would bring about strong children. Her parents were just such an example. While her mother had been in her early twenties, her father had been nearly one hundred. Her grandfather was well over three, but he was a man who actually showed his age.

  Kaeru, on the other hand, appeared to be only in his mid-twenties. In fact, had she not known how old he was, that was what she’d have assumed.

  “This is a pointless argument anyway,” she huffed, crossing her arms. “She doesn’t want to marry you. She wants to marry Hermit.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Hermit said. “I think Kaeru would be a much better match for young Violet.”

  Aika jumped at the sound of his voice, whirling in place to face him.

  “Unhand me, you bastard! Do you know who I am?”

  Aika’s eyes went wide as she saw who Hermit was holding by the neck, dragged back from wherever he’d vanished to. It was the person she hated most in the world.

  “You!” she screamed, whipping the staff from her back and lunging at the man.

  She found herself jerked to a halt as Kaeru clamped a hand down on her shoulder.

  “Let me go!” she screamed, thrashing in his much more powerful grip.

  “I can’t do that,” Kaeru said, although she could tell by the tremor in his voice that he wanted nothing more than to do so.

  “Ah, what a strange place for a reunion,” the man said, his red eyes boring into hers. “How’s your mother?”

  Aika screamed in rage, white light exploding from her skin as she lost control of her Qi. Lances of white light flashed, burning furrows in the sand and tearing through the abundant Wind Essence that pervaded the area.

  “Enough of that,” Hermit said, extending a hand and enclosing her in a sphere of his own Qi. “You need to calm down. I don’t know what this man did to you, but he’s the one responsible for taking Roy.”

  It was only once Aika heard Roy’s name that common sense began to reassert itself, and with a monumental effort of will, she suppressed her Core, forcing her Qi back into place. That didn’t mean she was calm, though — she was far from it.

  “What does that snake want with Roy?! Where is he? Did you kill him, too?”

  Hermit had not removed his barrier, and although she knew it would do her little good, she was tempted to attack, throwing herself at the barrier with all her might. She wanted to shatter it, just so she could get her hands around the neck of the man who’d betrayed her clan and his best friend – her father – and killed him.

  “I’m sure if you give Hermit a chance, he can get him to talk,” Kaeru said, stepping out in front of her. “But, if he can’t, I’m sure I can.”

  The rage Kaeru felt was a calm one, controlled, unlike Aika’s wild need to attack the man who’d stolen her father from her. Kaeru hadn’t known Aika’s father all that well, but he had known Irusaru. The old man had been a lifelong friend and ally, and the betrayal had cut deep. Irusaru had never been the same since the loss of his only son, and this man was the one responsible.

  “There is no need to worry about getting answers,” Hermit said mildly, his fingers curling into the man’s shoulder just a bit harder. “I’m sure he’ll be cooperative, isn’t that right?”

  “Do you have any idea who I work for?” the man demanded. “I work for a Sovereign! The mighty Herald Duncan! If you don’t release me, you’re all going to regret it!”

  “A Sovereign, you say?” Hermit said, not releasing his hold. “Funny you should mention that.”

  The air, which was already blazing hot, became scorching, and if Aika had not been behind the barrier Hermit had erected, she was sure she’d have felt the full force of it. The world itself seemed to turn red as a line of fiery light traced across Hermit’s waist.

  “You see,” Hermit said as the shining Gray-Belt came into view. “I, too, happen to be a Sovereign, and as you probably already know, our kind doesn’t particularly enjoy being talked down to.”

  Aika’s eyebrows shot up as black slashes began appearing on Hermit’s Belt. There were five in all. His entire body was shrouded in red, and judging by the way her most hated enemy’s face turned from haughty indifference to outright terror, he realized the predicament he was in.

  “S-Sovereign or not…” the man said, trying to put up one final front as the world around him burned. “The Herald Sovereign is still…!”

  “Still what?” Hermit asked as a sixth black slash appeared on his Belt. “Because if you were going to say stronger, I’d suggest that you seriously reconsider your words!”

  The very air seemed to grow solid as a seventh black line appeared on Hermit’s Belt, making Aika wonder how much she’d underestimated her teacher’s real strength. Could the Cavern Beast Core really have given him such a massive boost, or was it something else entirely?

  The man’s red eyes no longer looked so self-assured, and every drop of self-important arrogance was completely gone, but Hermit still was not done. An eighth black slash appeared on his Belt, and as it did, Aika felt his power increase exponentially. She had no idea what was going on, but his power was now so massive that it seemed to cloak the entire world.

  “Now, you’re not only going to tell me where Roy is, but you are also going to personally escort us there. Is that understood?” Hermit boomed as a final black line appeared above the eighth, and the man’s power finally stopped intensifying.

  This was definitely a first for Aika, and after witnessing Hermit’s power up close, she finally understood what it was like to possess true power. Not because of the physical might her teacher possessed, but because of what it had done to the man who had never once bowed his head in all the time she’d known him.

  Doragon was thoroughly beaten, and Hermit hadn’t even needed to raise a single finger.

  26

  “If this cage didn’t prevent me from doing so, I would kill you where you stand,” Roy said, glaring at Xu.

  The other man seemed completely unperturbed.

  “It was nothing personal,” he said with a shrug. “Getting rid of you, Remy, and Marrie would have been the fastest way to end the fight. We couldn’t have beaten that thing, even if we had attacked it all at once. It would have just brushed us off, and in the end, we’d have been met with the same result.”

  “So, instead, you go after single targets with a team, assuring that you’re not one of them,” Roy said, the disgust clear in his voice.

  “Everyone wants to live,” Xu said, still completely unapologetic. “And, in case you haven’t noticed, you are still among the living, while my friends are not.”

  “Well, maybe next time, you’ll think twice about trying to p
ull a sneak-attack,” Marrie said as she strolled into the cell.

  The door clanged shut behind her, leaving the three of them alone. Without Remy, Noko, and Sue, it felt too big, and their absence was quite noticeable. Roy didn’t care about the deaths of the latter two, as they’d tried to kill him. Twice. But Remy had never done anything to him either way, and Roy had gotten the impression that the man just wanted to live.

  “That’s just the way of the arena,” Xu said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to cycle.”

  With that said, the man retreated to the opposite side of the fighting cell and sat down with his back to them.

  “I knew it was a possibility, but I never imagined they would be so underhanded or come after me as a group,” Roy muttered as Marrie sat down next to him. “I guess I should thank you for saving my life.”

  “A debt repaid,” Marrie said with a shrug. “You saved mine, and I returned the favor.”

  “Does this make me trustworthy then?”

  Marrie gave him a smile and patted his arm.

  “We’ll talk more when we’re away from prying ears.”

  She then pulled her legs up onto the bench, folding them in and getting into a cycling position. Roy was a bit surprised that she chose to cycle so close to him, but he just shrugged to himself and began to do the same. That last fight had placed a serious strain on both his body and Core, and he’d depleted a good deal more than he normally would, due to his need to lock three Green-Belts in place.

  “You know, even I can admit when you did well,” Geon said. “You held your own out there and managed to avoid being killed. Good job.”

  “I don’t know if congratulations are really deserved,” Roy replied. “I was nearly killed because I let those three go.”

  “But in the process, you earned yourself an ally, one who is worth having. Normally, I’d call you an idiot for letting an enemy live, but you were faced with a tough decision and chose the wiser course.”

  “Oh, yeah? And how would you know that?”

  “I might not know a lot about your kind, but I do know one thing. In all my time fighting off humans in my Dungeon, I learned that those who are from the same family would go to great lengths to assure the others’ safety. So, while you were very nearly killed, you found someone willing to kill to protect you. In my book, there’s nothing more valuable than that.”

  Roy resisted the urge to laugh. It was so very much like the Dungeon Core. The only lesson he took about family was that they were good to use to kill other people.

  “I already have people who would be willing to kill if it meant protecting me,” he said, thinking of Aika, Hermit, and Ferry.

  He hadn’t seen them in nearly two weeks and wondered where they were. Ferry was okay, that much he knew, but he had no idea how the others were.

  “You do,” Geon agreed. “But none of them are here, right?” He paused. “What is that?”

  Roy’s eyes snapped open as he and everyone else sensed it.

  “What the hell is going on?!” Marrie exclaimed, her eyes snapping open.

  Even Xu stood up, all three of them moving to the bars of their cell and staring up into the sky. The current arena fight, some Blue-Belts facing off in a match, all stopped as well. Even the crowd, who had not shut up once since they’d arrived, was completely silent.

  The world outside was completely red, the burning light seeping in through the cracks and blanketing the entire arena.

  “Is that a person?” Marrie finally asked, her face pale and hands trembling.

  “Geon, do you recognize this power?” Roy asked, hoping against hope that he was right.

  “I’m fairly sure I do. Best to keep it to ourselves, though, at least, for now…”

  “What about her?” he asked, looking sidelong at the first person he’d met that shared familial ties.

  “Later,” Geon said. “For now, play dumb. You should be good at that.”

  Roy resisted the urge to plunge his hand into his own chest and crush the Core to dust. Though that would have been satisfying, the joy would be very short-lived.

  The power continued to intensify, the world growing an almost crimson shade and the sky showing through the cracks in the ceiling growing ever darker. By now, he no longer had any doubt. This was Hermit’s power, and somehow, the man had become even more of a monster than he had been before.

  ***

  Inu Granite sat up in his private box, accompanied by several of the higher-ups in the clan. All thoughts of the previous battle, where a Base Green-Belt had somehow detained three others at the same time, quickly faded. That Green-Belt had displayed some feats of power that Granite hadn’t even known was possible, like walking on air. Sure, those who were powerful enough, such as Grandmasters and above, could attain some power to defy gravity in their own way, but never before had he witnessed someone at Base-Green do so for any amount of time. This had only further cemented the idea that Choi was playing them all.

  Now, though, with the entire world turning red and the massive power shadowing their entire city, Granite had something else to worry about. He had been around the leader of their clan, Inu Pelata, long enough to know that this was the power of a Sovereign. The only problem was that it didn’t match any of the ones known to him.

  Worse, the power continued to grow, becoming denser, heavier, and more oppressing, and the entire arena was feeling it now. Everyone was looking around, trying to find the source of the power, although there was only one man present who could actually find it.

  Granite could sense the source, nearly three-hundred miles away and well inside Inu territory. He had no idea what this Sovereign was doing here, but unleashing that much power in another clan’s territory was tantamount to declaring war. If he could feel it, then he had no doubt that their leader could as well. In fact, he’d be shocked if every Sovereign on the continent couldn’t feel it.

  Sure, they were much further away than he was, but Sage or not, a Sovereign’s power was far above what even he could comprehend.

  The power grew heavier still, and the air continued to thicken with the Essence of Fire. Granite wracked his brain for any mentions or hints of who this could be.

  Maybe one of the other Sages had finally broken through.

  Granite dismissed that thought. Even if one of them had, none of them were on a Fire Path. But it wasn’t just Fire he sensed. There was also wrath, destruction, and ruin. Granite felt his face grow cold at the realization.

  It was impossible. The Sage of Ruin had supposedly died hundreds of years ago. However, with this level of power and this signature, it was unmistakably him.

  Granite’s skin grew even colder as he realized the implications. If the Sage of Ruin was back and had this much more power, then the Itachi clan was now the most powerful of them all! Even with rumors of Herald Duncan’s supposed ascension to Scion, he couldn’t stand up to this level of power, in addition to that of the current Itachi head.

  Granite’s eyes widened, and his hand clenched on the armrests of his chair as the power increased by magnitudes in an instant, the weight of which bowed his back and forced all the others in his vicinity to their knees.

  No, Granite thought. This isn’t just a Sovereign declaring war. This is someone sending a message.

  His eyes flicked, unbidden, to the cage where the Green-Belt stood. From his vantage, Granite had a perfect view inside, and unlike everyone else here, who were clearly terrified, the boy seemed completely unfazed. Despite the oppressive weight bearing down on them all, his back remained straight, his gaze steady and his demeanor calm.

  Granite felt his blood all but freeze in his veins as he saw that. If this level of power hadn’t forced that boy to his knees, like it had the others in the cage with him, then he was clearly far more dangerous than Granite had first realized. In his mind, there was no longer any doubts as to what this boy was.

  A Scion in disguise!

  Granite had never met any of the Scions before, but he
knew they were eccentric, and something like this was exactly their style. He had no idea what a Scion could be doing here, but if he knew he’d been found out, there was a chance of the entire city being wiped out, along with a significant portion of the clan’s power.

  Granite felt beads of sweat rolling down his back as he fought to contain himself in front of his subordinates. A Sage of destruction returned from the grave and was more powerful than ever, and there was a Scion sitting inside his city. He had no idea what was happening here, nor did he want to find out, but one thing was clear — he needed to get their own Sovereign, Pelata, here as soon as possible. He wracked his brain, trying to figure out some way to prevent the coming conflict.

  It took more than two minutes for the crimson light to fade and the crushing presence to lift, and although it was a relatively short amount of time, it had felt like an eternity. The announcer looked over to him, a questioning look in his eyes, and Inu Granite, someone who had never backed down from anything since he’d attained the title of Sage, motioned to end the day’s fights.

  He might be powerful, but on the level of Sovereigns and Scions, he was no more powerful than a mouse attacking a mountain. His eyes flicked to the boy once more, only to find him staring directly back. Granite nearly recoiled in shock and only just managed to school himself in time, keeping the expression of disdain he’d felt for the boy fixed on his face.

  27

  Roy sat in the empty arena once more, breathing deeply and cycling the Essence that still lingered heavily on the open sands. The fights had been cut short after Hermit’s little display the day before, and now, in the early hours of the morning, they’d all been let out of their cages. Of course, no one was up yet, and being an early riser had its perks.

  He breathed deeply, allowing the cooler morning air to fill his lungs, and enjoyed the peace and quiet that came along with it. Essence was cycled more easily at this time of day when there was no distraction. Geon was snoozing, a habit that had only increased since his advancement, leaving Roy completely free and clear.