Jacek stood in the mountain side field powering up. His ki flared around him destroying anything it came into contact with. He roared and condensed the energy into a dense ball. He then hurled it at the mountain side. The energy ball collided with the already scarred mountain side causing a massive eruption of power and Earth. The ground quaked beneath his feet, and he resumed a peaceful stance as he regulated his breathing.
Then, the process began again. This time, he gathered even more ki as his aura swelled to new heights around him. He roared even louder than before. He then heard an unfamiliar voice call out to him, “Throw it at me. I could use a bit of training too.”
Jacek looked to the side of him to see Pope Gregory standing there in white karate pants and no shirt. Jacek had no plans to attack Gregory; however, Gregory called out again, “Attack me! You have my permission! I am no pushover.”
Jacek shifted his stance towards Gregory, and Gregory said, “Very good! Now come!”
Jacek condensed his energy into a dense ball once again. He then yelled as he hurled it straight at Gregory.
Gregory took a defensive stance and received the energy attack head on as he put his hands palm-out and received the blast. The energy attack crashed against him, and Gregory held the ball at a standstill until finally, he began to yell himself as he raised his aura.
Then suddenly, a loud reverberating noise could be heard as Jacek’s energy attack disappeared. Gregory stood with his hands out and held his position. His hands were emanating smoke as he worked to bring his respiratory rate back down to normal.
Jacek frowned, “You canceled that blast out with your own ki? You are just as much a monster as my father tells me. How are you Pope Gregory?”
Gregory stood in white pants with a 9th degree black belt across his waist. With no shirt, his muscular physique was on full display, a rare sight given he usually wore regal and loose robes. He laughed and walked towards Jacek, “I am happy to train with you if you would like a sparring partner. You may have heard I have a big match myself coming up.”
Jacek smiled and nodded, “I have heard. You’ve come to scout your enemy have you?”
Gregory outstretched his hand and shook Jacek’s hand. “Something like that. I am a gifted ki user. I am a veteran of war. I am a Master in this world of ours. But nonetheless, while she may not be the head of her family, she is a BloodStar. And for that reason, I have been counseled by many, including your father, to be cautious. You were the last to spar with her. What can you tell me?”
Jacek and Gregory stood on the scarred and torn up fields. The two walked together as Jacek told him, “It was just sparring. What I can tell you is limited.”
Gregory jokingly said, “I hear you two may have wrestled after the sparring. She is a beautiful and powerful woman, Jacek. From man to man, I ask that you tell me everything you know. I will treat the information as confidential, and I promise you will only gain more of my respect than you already have. I will judge you none for that is God’s purpose.”
Jacek nodded, “You see that black belt you wear? She is one degree higher. She is a 10th degree black belt. A grandmaster. And I can tell you it is not honorary in any way. She was trained by her very own mother who is a freakishly talented grandmaster herself. On the scale of 10th degree black belts, Xenia is not at the beginning either. She is deep into the 10th degree realm.”
Gregory seriously listened to this information and said, “And how does this translate onto the battlefield?”
Jacek replied, “I would strongly suggest keeping your distance. Close combat battle will result in you either taking hits or wasting energy. Landing a blow on her will be nigh impossible unless she wants it to happen. Furthermore, her meditation and breathing are impeccable. She will be in peak physical and spiritual form before the battle. I suggest you strive to be in a similar state.”
Gregory nodded, “Duly noted. Thank you. And what of her ki control and special abilities?”
Jacek said, “If you think her expertise in martial arts is impressive, then you will be floored by her ki control. I have trained with my father, and I know his ki. Her ki is different. It can be rampant and wild. She can lose focus. However, at moments it will be sharp and crisp. It is in those moments you had best be on guard. She is capable of creating the smoothest ki I have ever felt, and with it comes great precision, power, and destruction.”
They continued walking, and Jacek said, “Her martial arts and ki control and frightening. If you can handle those aspects of her combat style then you will still have one more aspect to conquer until you can have even a chance of defeating her. She can control blood. She calls it bloodbending.”
Gregory quietly said, “Yes, I have heard of this despicable ability. My concentration and ki aura are much too powerful to be affected by this ability though.”
Jacek stopped and looked at him, “I thought mine was too. Do not underestimate her. She will split your focus and your energy during battle, and she needs only a sliver of an opportunity to capitalize on it. She won’t look to completely immobilize you. She will look to put your movements off by a millimeter with her bloodbending. In this regard, a second of mental lapse leads to a millimeter of a misstep which leads to death.”
Gregory frowned, “I see. You speak quite highly of her.”
Jacek nodded, “She is a true warrior. Her mental and physical capabilities have been honed by her Gladiator Champion, Nero. They help train one another, and it shows.”
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Gregory smiled and said, “Is that all I should know? I think I can handle myself if that is all.”
Jacek abruptly said, “No, there is one more thing. One more very important thing.”
Gregory silently looked to him, and Jacek continued, “She can heal. She can heal quickly.”
Gregory angrily said, “Yes, it is that dastardly ability of hers that saved her life after our encounter in Houston. Were it not for that ability, this war would be over.”
Jacek nodded, “It is unlike her pedigree. She can heal much faster, much quicker. If you get her down, it will be important to keep her down. If you have the chance, I recommend smashing or decapitating her head. Until you completely obliterate her, be wary of her death. She can come back from nearly anything.”
Gregory clapped his hands, “Now that bit of information is crucial! You have been a great deal of help to me, Jacek. After my victory, I will be sure to shower you and Erika with gifts to show my appreciation! Now… shall we train together?”
Jacek smiled, “I thought you’d never ask!”
Gregory assumed a fighting stance and said, “Hold no punches! I may be an old man, but I am strong!”
________________________________________________
Elsewhere, atop a mansion rooftop in San Antonio, Texas, Xenia sat across from Nero. The two faced each other while sitting in the lotus position meditating.
Nero quietly said, “The mind is the root of all power. It controls your physical prowess. It determines your focus. And it is the gateway to reaching maximum aura.”
He stood and called to her, “Now that your mind is ready, stand and face me!” Nero turned his head to the side and said, “Constance! We are ready!”
Xenia stood and opened her eyes to see no fewer than twenty copies of Nero standing before her ready to attack. She grabbed her obsidian hilt, Bloodbane, and summoned her bloodborne blade of ki and blood. Her sword glowed dark red against the solid black obsidian hilt.
She twirled the blade gracefully and said, “Come! If you dare!”
The twenty copies of Nero ran at her ready to attack, and she began to slice through them as she danced dodging attack after attack. As she made contact with her enemies, the bodies simply vanished into thin air as they were illusions created by Constance. The real Nero was amongst them but where?
Each time Xenia sliced through an illusion copy, another one popped up. She was getting nowhere. Nero called out to her from every direction through his illusions, “Focus! Your lack of it nearly cost you your life in Houston! Focus! Choose a target and pursue it. Do not get distracted by the illusions!”
Constance increased the illusions to thirty copies encircling Xenia. Xenia steeled herself. She took Nero’s words to heart and genuinely focused her mental efforts on wading through the false signals to find the real target she was after.
She built up a huge amount of ki surrounding herself and filtered thousands of false signals of input as she searched through a complex web of information to find the real Nero. She could process ki signals incredibly fast owing to her spiritual training and massive ki strength.
Suddenly, she found him! She turned to look directly at the real Nero. Although he knew she had found the true Nero, he gave no physical indication she had succeeded. Instead, he grabbed his sword and prepared to attack. His copies all mimicked his own actions.
She flew with great speed towards him holding her sword upright and close to her. She arrived in less than a second and swung her sword directly at him. A loud ‘buzz’ of sizzling energy rang out as her ki blade encountered his imbued steel blade.
They released the standstill of their blades, and Nero threw a mighty sword slash at her. She dodged and flipped her own sword behind her back as she twirled behind to Nero. As she came out of her twirl, she flipped her blade up and cleanly cut his arm off at his shoulder.
Nero gave only a hint of a grimace as he simply picked up his sword from the ground with his remaining hand. She darted towards him again on the offensive. Nero held his sword tightly and met her blade once more.
He looked over the top of their struggling blades and opened his mouth wide as he fired a point blank ki burst from his open mouth directly at her. She miraculously dodged, something no other warrior would even have a chance of.
Nero stood surprised at her lightning-fast reflexes. Before he could gather his thoughts to reset his stance he found his balance to be off kilter.
He looked down to see one of his legs severed. Xenia twirled around his body gracefully like an ice skater while flipping and twirling her blade beautifully. She swung it as the blade whirred with flying energy. She severed his other leg at his hip, and as he fell to the ground she severed his remaining arm.
His torso lay on the ground completely at her mercy. He coughed up a concerning amount of blood and said, “You are ready, my Warlord. I am proud. Your skill with the blade is unmatched, and I do not give such a compliment lightly.”
She retracted the energy-blood blade of her sword back into the obsidian hilt and bloodbent it to stay pinned against her back by bloodbending alone. She looked down at his torso as blood spilled from all four of his severed limbs and smiled, “Thank you Nero. That means a lot coming from the long-reigning Gladiator Champion of the BloodStar Empire.”
She walked around his limbless body and gathered a ball of healing ki, “Now take this. As a token of my appreciation for aiding in my preparation for the upcoming duel.” She threw the healing ki at his chest, and the short but painful process of growing bones and healing flesh began.
Nero made not a single cry of pain, and after a few minutes, he stood, “Thank you Warlord BloodStar. I am yours. My body and my mind. I aim to help you succeed in whoever or whatever you may choose to conquer.”
She smiled at him and said, “If no one defeats you to earn the right to be by my side, will you be my lover and emperor one day, Nero?”
She ran her hand down the side of his cheek. He firmly said, “You know my way is the warrior’s path.”
She scoffed as she ran her hand down his muscular chest and chiseled abdomen, “Okay. But what if the world is void of those capable of matching you? Especially as we grow in strength together?”
Nero once again firmly stated, “It is my duty to be by your side. I am already yours, empress. I am your Gladiator Champion.”
She scrunched her nose up and said, “Come Nero. You know what I mean. Although I doubt I can wrench the words out of your mouth there may yet be a day when I order you to love me.”
Nero responded, “I do love-“
She bloodbent his mouth shut and bloodbent his cock into a raging erection as she said, “You know what I mean. You’re the one man who has never wanted me. When I am empress, I may just order you to want me. Be ready for that day if it comes.”
Nero looked down to see himself rock hard. He had long since steeled his mind to forego seeing Xenia as anything but a person to respect and help reach greater heights of power. Until he received legitimate orders to do otherwise, he would not indulge in the games she currently played.
He firmly said, “If that day is to come, you will need to defeat Pope Gregory. This is no small task. As your Gladiator Champion, I highly recommend you garner spiritual and physical perfection through peaceful sleep… alone.”
Xenia crossed her arms and gave a “Hmph!” She turned and walked away from him. She called out, “Fine! I will! Alone!”
Xenia retreated into the mansion, and Constance and Nero looked at each other. Constance said, “You know she will be our empress one day. You had better be ready.”
Nero smiled, “Surely someone will come to defeat me in the meantime. I am not worthy of such an honor to be by her side as an equal.”
Constance smiled as she looked off into the night sky, “No one is. No one ever will be.”