Two men climbed from the shallow depths of the shoreline covered in only a slender crescent of moonlight from above on an otherwise pitch-black night.
The two men removed the thermal wetsuits they had worn to swim a mile from their offshore stealth boat to reach the shore undetected.
Jacek removed his backpack and opened a case. He reached in and grabbed a green stone.
Vega asked, “That’s not a stealth stone. What is that?”
Jacek smiled to Vega, “A gift from Erika. A ki stone.”
Vega raised his eyebrows in astonishment, “Wow. She really has progressed. With her added power, we should have no problems if we have a run in with trouble.”
Jacek replied, “So long as that trouble is not Empress Victoria, I agree.” He then crushed the stone in his hands and a warm rush of ki ran over his body and into him. He felt a surge of power just waiting and urging to be utilized. His power had easily risen by 50% and possibly more.
The two men then reached in as they each grabbed a stealth stone. As they each grabbed a stone, their bodies turned all but completely invisible. Once again, they crushed the stones within their hands to draw out the effect on to themselves.
Jacek looked to the cliffside before them and said, “Come! Let’s move. Erika has made great strides, but unlike her ki stone which will persist until the ki energy is utilized, these stealth stones will only last for but 20 minutes.”
Both began to scale the 100-foot cliffside. Although this was by far the most difficult route for approach, it was also the least guarded and landed them directly near the castle.
Jacek grunted as he lifted himself up, “Remember, engage no one unless we absolutely have to. And if we have to, incapacitate first. Kill as a last resort.”
Vega nodded, “Acknowledged. I don’t think we will have trouble until we are making our exit.”
Jacek replied, “I quite agree. The approach will be calm and quiet. We have both memorized the blueprints provided by King Ramses and Queen Zara. Hopefully, those blueprints stand true.”
The two men reached the top of the cliffside without much trouble owing to their incredible innate strength even without ki. They sprinted at full speed towards the castle. As they approached the castle, they went dark on communication.
They couldn’t speak for fear of guards hearing them, and they couldn’t motion to one another owing to their invisibility. They had to trust each other to arrive at the designated end point within the deepest parts of the dungeon.
Jacek sprinted up the majestic and ornate staircase. He had never been to the BloodStar Empire, and he wished he had more time to admire the culture and architecture of such a grand castle. Without even giving the castle his full attention, he knew it was a piece of ultimate art in the world.
Once within the castle, Jacek lost sight of Vega and made a full sprint to the dungeon entrance as he began to spiral down an ornate staircase which became progressively darker with the air also becoming heavier and more ominous.
Eventually, he arrived at a set of metal double doors that he swung open. The doors were so heavy that an average man would have no hopes of opening them alone. And certainly, no malnourished prisoner would ever be able to budge the doors should they reach this far during an escape.
Even though Jacek knew the most direct route to the lower levels, it took him five minutes to reach his destination as he had to pause to avoid guards in narrow, dark hallways from time to time.
At last, he came to a dead-end corridor nearly pitch black save for a torch of dim embers throwing flickering shadows on three doors.
Jacek suddenly felt someone bump into the back of him. He smiled and said, “It’s me Vega.” However, as he turned he saw a confused dungeon guard reaching for his communication link.
Jacek prepared to knock him out; however, before he could act, an invisible hand reached around the guard’s neck and mouth as the guard slowly lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
Vega’s voice could be heard, “Close call. Let’s get these doors open before anyone finds him.”
They quickly unlocked the three doors with the hanging keys next to each door to find two empty cells and one cell with a lone prisoner that looked worse for wear.
Vega knelt down and whispered, “Peter?”
The slumped over and dirty prisoner sprang to life with muffled screams, “Errrr. MMM! ERRR!”
Jacek said, “Stay quiet. This is Jacek Heraklinos and Vega Magnus. We are here to rescue you. Don’t make a peep. When I pick you up, you will become invisible by extension of my stealth stone.”
As Jacek picked up Peter over his shoulder, Vega looked down the hallway, “Clear! Let’s move!”
Jacek began to move with haste. Given his enormous strength in addition to the ki stone, Peter’s body didn’t slow him down in the least as he trotted down the cold, dark hallways of the dungeon making his way back towards the top side.
Both men were pleased to find the path towards the castle entrance completely unobstructed by guards or castle personnel of any kind. Given the time of night, very few guards were on patrol, and they made great pace back towards the cliffside.
Jacek could hear Vega’s footsteps behind him as they raced to the cliffside, “Hurry! Our 20 minutes is almost up.”
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As the two scaled back down the cliffside, the stealth stone effects wore off, and the two landed on the firm but sandy base of the cliff with Peter still in a weakened state over Jacek’s shoulder.
Jacek handed Peter over to Vega and said, “Take him. I will go and retrieve the boat for us.”
‘Shhhhhhing’. Both men whipped their heads around towards the ocean to see a dark figure holding a glowing red sword pointed directly at them.
Jacek calmly said, “You would draw the Sword of Victoria on two simple rescuers?”
The man with the sword stepped out of the darkness to reveal his hulking frame and chiseled muscular body with no shirt as he said, “By drawing this sword, I recognize the talent and strength of both General Magnus and Lord Heraklinos. Far from simple men.”
Jacek called out, “Likewise. You are no simple warrior yourself, Gladiator Champion Nero.”
Jacek took a few slow, cautious steps forward. Vega whispered from behind him, “We can take him together.”
Jacek shook his head, “He is an incredibly powerful warrior as it stands. And with that sword, we would stand no chance.”
Nero grunted, “Listen to your leader, General Magnus. You would be wise to surrender.”
Jacek yelled forth, “We will not surrender. But surely the great Gladiator Champion Nero does not need the aid of his Empress Victoria to fight me and me alone. Throw your sword aside and fight me one-on-one with honor like a true warrior.”
Jacek felt his insides churn with pain as he appealed to an honorable fight knowing that he made a dishonorable offer given Erika’s ki stone would be aiding him. However, he had no other choice in this tight spot.
Nero quietly said, “A smart man, Lord Heraklinos.” He tossed his sword and sheath aside, and then called out, “I crave a challenge from a true warrior. My primary objective is the protection of the heir. As she is not here, I will indulge in your offer to a fight with honor. Tell your General to flee. Any interference will be met with the full might of my sword.”
Jacek nodded to Vega, “Get going. I’ll handle this.”
He turned to Nero and yelled, “Perfect Warrior!” His aura went wild as it encompassed his body and shook the ground.
Nero smiled for the first time in a long time and assumed a fighting stance as he ignited his aura in return.
Nero lunged towards Jacek wasting no time as he began to engage him in hand-to-hand combat.
The two began to exchange blow after blow of punches, kicks, and more as they danced around the beachhead blocking and countering without either landing a convincing blow as of yet.
Jacek steeled himself knowing that the longer the fight went on, the better chance he had of winning with his Perfect Warrior technique activated. Even though he had Erika’s extra ki, he was taking no chances against a battle maniac who trained with Xenia herself.
While Jacek steeled himself and fought to keep pace, Nero was enthralled with the fight enjoying every second. He found Jacek’s martial arts level to be impressive albeit slightly below his. He decided to utilize new techniques of the 9th degree realm of black belt taught to him by Xenia.
Nero threw a lightning-fast punch which was immediately blocked by Jacek; however, Nero followed up with a grab catching Jacek off-guard. Nero then launched Jacek into the rocky cliffside base which cratered inward upon impact.
Jacek stood and lunged back at Nero who fired a ki blast directly at him. Jacek took it head on blocking it with his arms in an ‘X’ formation. As he recovered from blocking the blast, Nero caught him with a ki-reinforced kick to his left arm.
Jacek cried out in pain as the humerus of his upper arm snapped in the middle from the impact of Nero’s kick. Nero gave no reprieve as he followed with an uppercut powered by immense ki.
Jacek once again flew back into the cliffside with rocks tumbling on to him from above.
Vega could hear the battle as he swam to their boat towing Peter behind him. He looked back for a moment to see beams of light shining through a rocky accumulation at the base of the cliff with Jacek bursting forth with fresh energy.
Nero smiled and welcomed Jacek’s rush meeting him head on with an exchange of punches with each landing powerful blows sending them both stumbling back several steps.
Nero smiled as he thought to himself, “We are quite evenly matched; however, my 9th degree black belt level gives me an edge. The only thing I can’t quite figure out is where his energy is coming from. He is taking damage but growing his ki.”
Meanwhile, Jacek hurried to catch his breath as he thought, “Even with Erika’s extra ki, I am only an even match for Nero. I should not be surprised. He is a warrior of legend around the world. But… so long as he doesn’t crush me to death, I have a surprise coming for him.”
Jacek stepped forward and opened his arms, “Give me your best shot, Nero! Let’s see what the Gladiator Champion of the BloodStar Empire can muster!”
Jacek had a bit of anxiety as he began his gambit. He thought to himself, “If I can take this damage without dying or getting knocked out, I’ll have enough energy to take him out with one immense ki blast.”
Nero stood as a blinding white light began to gather in his massive fist hanging at his side. He then roared as he lunged forward with his ki-powered punch making contact with Jacek’s chest directly. Nero could feel Jacek’s sternum crunch under the pressure of his punch and as Jacek’s body went flying backwards, Nero took note of a couple of ribs breaking through the skin surface as well.
Nero grunted as Jacek fell against the cliffside once more, rocks crumbling down and covering him. “You fool! You are the heir to the great Heraklinos Empire? How can you lead a nation when you can’t land a single blow on me?”
Jacek stood from the rubble with his chest caving inwards and his left arm hanging broken at his side. Blood ran from his mouth as he shouted, “If you really want to test your might, stand right where you are!”
Nero took a defensive stance and welcomed him to try his attack. Jacek began to channel all of his energy including the excess energy from Perfect Warrior into a single-handed attack with his right hand gathering an ever-growing and frightening amount of blinding white ki that lit up the beach head.
Nero frowned as he recognized the amount of energy in the coming attack to be quite meaningful. Jacek then held his right arm out in front of him and began to yell as he shot a beam of ki directly at Nero.
Nero met it head on and caught it against his hands. He struggled to hold it back as sweat dripped down his face and he grit his teeth.
Jacek began to walk seemingly without effort towards Nero as he pushed him further and further back towards the water as Nero struggled to hold the beam back. Jacek yelled, “As you say, I am the heir to the great Heraklinos Empire. And I will not be outmatched by the likes of you!”
Jacek then gave a loud final yell pushing all of his energy into the blast. Nero lost control of receiving the beam as it crushed against his chest sending him flying into the sea behind him with the water breaking his fall as he splashed into the ocean and fell below the surface.
Jacek fell to his knees and then further collapsed to the ground. His body was broken, and he had only survived thanks to the added energy from Erika and Nero.
He heard the sound of a motor as Vega ran the stealth boat ashore as he hopped out and picked up Jacek, gently placing him aboard before pushing off again, “Hang in there Jacek. It’s only one hundred short miles to the destroyer fleet and you’ll be able to rest after some medical attention.”
Vega, Jacek, and Peter zoomed off in the small stealth boat. Meanwhile, the tide washed Nero’s body ashore. He lay unconscious for ten minutes until he finally woke and sat up.
He shook his head and looked down to see his entire upper body charred by the final attack from Jacek. He shook his head and smiled, “Well played, Lord Heraklinos. You have much more talent. But I will outwork you. I look forward to our next battle. I promise you will find me much more prepared.”
Nero fell back onto the beach and looked up at the stars as he fell asleep due to fatigue.