“I’m back?”
Hiro opened his eyes to see darkness. Just like his first encounter with his subconscious, he was floating around in the cold empty space. However, Hiro wasn’t like he was in the past. He had a defiant gaze, still full of life; it was still too early for him to die. He didn’t panic, as if a wave of confidence enveloped him, Hiro maintained his calm and composure.
“How do I get out of this problem?” Hiro muttered quietly, hoping that there was some way Tenga could hear him. After a couple breaths of silence, Hiro sighed and tried to think of a solution by himself.
This problem wasn’t something easy to solve. Unlike the time with his father, the dagger would pierce him before he could say anything. Just one nick from the dagger and Hiro would succumb to its poison. While pondering for a solution, the answer presented itself to him.
In the shape of a small flame, the alien object appeared from the darkness and floated over to Hiro. Puzzled, Hiro could only stare in astonishment. Within the mind, as long as the owner’s mental strength is strong enough, they could create anything within this space. The strange maroon fire in front of Hiro wasn’t created by him, the strangest thing of all was that it seemed to have a mind of its own.
“What are you?” Hiro asked, while reflexively pulling back his arm in fear of getting burned.
As if understanding speech, the flame, that was as large as a palm, flared up. Hiro jumped back in fear of getting burned, but then he noticed something: he didn’t feel any heat. Curious, Hiro slowly extended his arm toward the flame. The closer his arm was, the higher the flame grew; it seemed to express glee as Hiro drew near. Just a hair’s width away from the palm-sized flame, Hiro finally decided to touch it.
*BZZT!*
“Auuuggghhhh!”
An electric shock ran through Hiro’s ethereal figure, with enough voltage to fry a man, Hiro would’ve died if it were his real body. Within the unrelenting pain, images of a man flashed through his mind. The man was young, around the age of his mid-20s. Within his palm was a sword, 125cm long and two-finger wide blade. The strangest thing about the man was, he wasn’t training; he was dancing. Flowing from one form to another, the man looked as if he were a lone reed, conforming to the whims of the wind.
The blade in the man’s hand seemed as if it were his dance partner, dancing back and forth effortlessly as the man continued to go through the various forms. At times, the blade would jump from one hand to the other and other times, the blade would separate and let the man dance alone. Only one word can describe this enchanting dance: Beauty.
After these images slowly faded away from Hiro’s mind did he finally manage to recover from the intense shock. Coughing up a large amount of stomach acid, Hiro’s body was still convulsing slightly. Even though it wasn’t his real body, the shock was real, similar to how Tenga made him experience the strength of a mental attack.
“The i-images…” He managed to stammer out. “The first form: Approaching Gale!”
Suddenly a plan began to form in his mind. He would have to do everything within his power to carry out the plan, but anything was better than death. Reviewing once more what he had just learned and his current abilities, Hiro understood what he had to do.
Slowly, the black world began to dim. Before he knew it, Hiro once again was in his body. The world was frozen, as if the concept of time didn’t exist. Hiro’s static pupils were looking straight at the dagger that was about to pierce his chest. Without thinking another stray thought, Hiro commenced his plan.
Breaching the barrier within his consciousness, Hiro began to feel the motions of time. He didn’t not even a moment to waste, as soon as time return, the dagger would break into his skin and he would die. Even if time were to return gradually, he still wouldn’t have enough time to commence his plan; his only hope was to achieve his goal before time returned.
With energy flooding into his body, Hiro began to separate his body from himself. To be more exact, his Astral Body from himself. His own self-created skill, a skill that he hadn’t named yet, was the pivotal part in this plan. Beginning to feel a part of himself separate, Hiro couldn’t hold back the slimy sensation, and groaned inwardly. If humans could shed, this would probably what it was like.
After he felt that as soon as he moved, his Astral Body would remain in place and solidify, Hiro began the next part. Though recently learned, the form: Approaching Gale, would be the next step in the plan. However, this would all depend on timing. With everything prepared, the time that was forcibly held back began to break free from its constraints. Leaking out like a dripping faucet, time gradually began to quicken; the dagger pressed onto his leather armor, deeper and deeper.
Quickly reacting to the change, Hiro fell back. In his place, a clone, stood.
*Thunk!*
Everyone within the Colosseum froze. The final blow had just landed on the frozen body, sunk in all the way to the hilt. Kairn had used all his strength when he threw the dagger. However that wasn’t what caused the whole place to freeze. Behind Hiro, on the ground, was another Hiro.
“”“What?!””” Everyone under the pavilion suddenly stood up. If their seats weren’t attached to the ground, the seats would’ve tipped over already. Even the man with the cloak couldn’t help but widen his eyes that were hidden under his hood. The most astonished of all was Allaya, she remembered from the scriptures, only gods and immortals have the power to divide themselves. What she was witnessing could possibly be the birth of a god or a monster. A surge of regret washed over her as she remembered how she had treated the youth.
“Impossible…” Siberus uttered, he was clutching the railing at the edge of the field. Never in his life had he achieved this level of skill. The later stages of his famous movement skill would’ve introduced the afterimages, but they were a far cry from a physical body like what Hiro had just produced. If anything, Hiro was on a totally different realm from him.
King Forst couldn’t help but thirst for that power. He unconsciously licked his lips as if he could taste the skill that Hiro possessed. No matter what, he had to include Hiro within his plan; with the power to create a copy of himself, there would be endless possibilities. King Forst’s brain already began to reformat and make appropriate changes to the plan that he had spent countless days to create.
Romulus, though he tried greatly to look disinterested, couldn’t help but stand up from his seat. His mind was currently working at breakneck speed to add Hiro into his tutelage. Not only did he find a gifted person, during his travels, he managed to find another genius just right under his nose. He quickly stole a glance at the man hidden under the black cloak. He could see the cloaked man’s surprise as they both stared at the youth on stage. Romulus’ only regret was, if the cloaked man wanted Hiro, he wouldn’t be able to stop the man from taking the youth away.
People and adventurers alike stood there with their mouths gaping open. Some were in shock, some were in confusion, but most were in fear. Not only did the black-clothed youth know Siberus’ [Shunpo], but the youth was also able to create a physical copy. Anyone with a sane mind would know just what Hiro had done. There were legends of gods and immortals that had the power to divide, these countless legends were told from mouth to mouth for many generations. Everyone had dismissed these stories as myths and untrue, until this day.
Though many were astonished from fear, a small group weren’t. These people were some of the stronger adventurer’s and fighters. Their eyes grew large with greed, the greed for power. They began to hatch sinister plans to capture the youth and force him to vomit out his secrets. These adventurers weren’t the only ones though, behind the scenes, a trio of finely clothed men were discussing the turn of events.
“He’s a threat.” The first said.
“Yeh.” The second agreed.
“What should we do about him?” The third asked.
“We could kill’em?” The second offered.
“No wait, let’s first extend to him, an invitation.” The first grinned evilly.
“Magnificent idea!” The third chimed in.
“Why can’t we kill’em?”
“He might be useful, a person like that doesn’t come by every day.” The first smirked, concluding their quick conversation.
These three were the most influential men within Adet. Right behind the King, these men have the most power. Right now, these three men had their eyes on the youth on the stage. Actually, right now the whole city had their eyes on the youth on the stage. No matter if he won or lost, he would become well-known.
Back on the stage, Hiro’s clone had already sunk down to his knees. The blade, embedded deep into his chest, had caused the clone to become deathly still. Blood began to drip down from the clone’s closed mouth as the clone became paler and paler. From behind the clone, Hiro finally managed to get up. The first thing he did was remove the dagger’s that were painfully stuck around his shoulders. With a quick [Héill], Hiro closed all his wounds.
Now fully healed, Hiro managed to look at the frozen Kairn. Upon Kairn’s face was confusion, what should’ve been a fatal blow was somehow avoided. Not only that, his opponent looked fully recovered as if he was never in the match to begin with. Kairn’s eyes darted back and forth between the deathly still clone and Hiro, within Kairn’s mind he was quickly deciding what to do. He was out of options, within a minute the physical enhancement pill’s effects would end and he doesn’t have a weapon anymore. His pouch was nearly empty, the only thing left was a small ointment used to treat cuts.
Hiro watched as his clone fell over, cold and dead. He couldn’t help but shiver at the thought that the dead clone in front of him could’ve been him. He silently watched along with the rest of the audience as the clone gradually turned into a cloud of black smoke and disperse. The dagger, the only thing that wasn’t cloned remained behind after the clone disappeared.
Stepping forward, Hiro picked up the dagger. The blood that should have been there from the clone had already disappeared. Looking at the dagger, a cold hatred emanated from his core and shot outwards. His gaze focused on the muscular boy in front of him and his hand that was tightly clutching onto the handle of the blood-vessel rupturing weapon.
Noticing Hiro’s gaze, Kairn’s eyes narrowed, “You wouldn’t dare.” Kairn began to silently panic. After seeing the cloning skill, he wasn’t sure what to think anymore. He began to worry, he had just attempted to kill the man in front of him. Not only did failed to kill the man, he even handed his weapon over to the man. How much more could he possibly mess up? He knew that no matter what, one of them would have to die. The look within his opponent’s eyes told him that even if that match ended, he would never be able to sleep without worrying about death.
Hiro silently watched as a hint of fear crept into Kairn’s face. With the dagger in hand, Hiro quietly walked back and picked up a dagger that he had pulled out of his arm earlier.
“Hear.”
*Clang*
Hiro threw the dagger he had picked up at Kairn. The dagger bounced off the stone and landed by Kairn’s feet. This was a direct challenge. Kairn couldn’t do anything, he could only silently fume and regret as he picked up the paralysis dagger off the cold floor. Glancing back up after picking up the dagger, he couldn’t see the youth anymore.
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“Hng!” He quickly jumped to the side as a horizontal slash passed by his head. Kairn quickly got up and faced Hiro. Though he was confident in the toughness of his skin, he didn’t want to risk it. Just a small scratch would mean the end of his life.
Looking at the muscular opponent, Hiro coldly glared. Just now he had used [Shunpo] to get close to Kairn, the slash was a warning. He wanted to show Kairn that he was serious, no matter what either Kairn or himself would die by the end of the day. In his eyes, Kairn was no longer a human being, someone who was willing to kill another over something so trivial could not be seen as a human being.
Another reason why Hiro didn’t outright kill Kairn was because he wanted to test out something. Approaching Gale, the first form from a series of swordplay named “Dance of Reeds”, Hiro wanted to test the knowledge he had just acquired. So far he was only able to comprehend the first form, earlier when he began to split himself, he had utilized Approaching Gale. Though he failed in executing Approaching Gale, he still managed to survive.
Approaching Gale, just like the name suggests, is the concept of wind. As a strong burst of wind rushes at someone, they would unconsciously brace for impact. The meaning behind this form was the opposite of the natural reaction. Approaching Gale’s form was to embrace the wind, in other words, to go along with the wind.
“Raah!” Not wasting anytime, Kairn attacked. Closing until he was within reach of Hiro, Kairn unleashed a flurry of random swipes, all targeting the vitals.
Confident in his skills, Hiro used Approaching Gale to dodge the dagger. As soon as the blade came close to his body, his body would shrink back, as if blown away from the wind of the attack. Just like a reed dancing to the force of the wind, Hiro’s body became a flexible steel rod. ‘Dance of Reeds’ wasn’t a normal sword-style, this style used the forces of the enemies’ to attack. Approaching Gale was the natural form of the body as it prepares to receive the enemies’ attacks; you could say ‘Dance of Reeds’ was a counter-attacking sword-style.
Under the flurry of swift attacks, Hiro’s lithe body bent back and forth. Thanks to his natural flexibility, Hiro was able to accomplish the first form. Though I say ‘natural flexibility’, it was still an embarrassment when compared to the man in the images that ran through his mind. Hiro could only dodge while using Approaching Gale, he wasn’t strong enough to attack during the openings that Approaching Gale gave him. If it was the man in the images, Hiro was sure that the man would’ve countered during the first move and killed his enemy.
Under the astonished gaze of the audience, Hiro’s body waved back and forth, weaving in and out of Kairn’s attack range. Many were amazed at the sudden change, Hiro was barely dodging the edge of Kairn’s blade, as if taunting at the near miss. In a way, Hiro resembled a dancer, using his body to control the movements of his partner.
With each near miss, Hiro gained more insights on Approaching Gale. Only 20 seconds have gone by in this short time, but Kairn was already panting. Hiro on the other hand didn’t have a drop of sweat, which is to say that the effort of attacking was more than defending. It meant that as long as Hiro kept up barely dodging the blade, Kairn would have to exert more strength and try to his Hiro. To Kairn, Hiro was like a speck of lint in the air, as soon as his hands reach out to grab it, the lint would easily slip through his fingers.
Hiro was falling into a rhythm, by this point, Kairn had lost all his cunning. Kairn’s attacks were on automatic and his mind was slowly turning his anger into fear. The longer Hiro held out, the closer Kairn was to death. Seeing the panic slowly surface unto Kairn’s face, Hiro began to smile. Barely dodging the slash aimed at his throat, Hiro’s body bent back and spun around. Pivoting on his right foot, Hiro used the force generated by the throat slash to spin counter with an attack to Kairn’s abdomen. To onlookers this move seemed as if Hiro had just spun around and ducked under the dagger to attack, but to Kairn, it looked as if Hiro had disappeared.
Approaching Gale was to create an opening to counter, so what move was this? Reed’s Reply. Just like a giant stalk of reed, Hiro’s body whipped back into place. The second form.
Feeling a sharp pain from his abdomen, Kairn looked down.
“Ahh!” He screamed in fright. He was frightened at the flexibility of Hiro’s body, he was only little over 4ft tall and yet the youth in front of him who was 6ft (180cm) was crouched below him. The point of the dagger within the youth’s hands was pressing against his muscled abs. If it weren’t for the tough skin, he was sure he would’ve been dead by now.
Suddenly jumping back in fright, Kairn stared wide-eyed at Hiro. He was speechless, only ten seconds left remain on his enhancement. After that, he would be weakened to a state where it was hard to even stand up. After ten seconds, Kairn would lose and possibly die. However, he can’t do anything about it, even under his increased speed and strength, Hiro still managed to dodge his blade. The most frightening thing however, was the calm and calculating look within Hiro’s eyes. Everytime Kairn looked into Hiro’s eyes, Kairn couldn’t help but be filled with insecurity. That was because Hiro’s eyes told him that everything Hiro was doing now, the minimal dodging, the abdomen thrust, even unsettling him was intentional.
“A-a-a- I g-give -u—“
*Thwack!*
A blade smacked into the side of Kairn’s head, knocking him straight into the ground. In his fear, Kairn was about to surrender and run into the shelter of his master. No matter what, Hiro would never be able to touch him if he was under his master’s protection. Kairn silently cursed himself for stuttering and tried to get up.
Hiro continued his cold glare, right now Kairn was little more than a trapped animal. Hiro was done playing, silently thanking Kairn for being the first thing he tested his skills on, Hiro moved in for the kill. Remembering the male bear from the forest, Hiro went for the eyes. No matter how touch the skin of a monster was, the eyes would always be the weakest point. Looking at the 4 foot bundle of muscles, Hiro casually strolled toward, holding the dagger in his hands menacingly.
“Heee!” The pupil’s within Kairn’s eyes dilated wildly.
3…
Kairn’s heart began to race.
2…
*Chk Chk* Hiro’s quiet footsteps drew near.
1…
Hiro bent over the poison-user. Within his eyes, no mercy was shown.
0…
Game Over. Kairn felt his body weaken, all his bulging muscles shrank at once. Kairn could feel his last moments slowly coming to a close, within this moment an intense fear gripped at his heart. He couldn’t help but discharge the remnants within his bladder as he saw Hiro chop down.
“Ahhhh!!!!” Shutting his eyes tight, Kairn began to regret deeply. He regretted everything he had done to this point. Unlike his master, who loved to work in isolation, Kairn had dreamed of the fast life. It was because of his desires to be well-known that he left his master and joined the tournament. Kairn was an orphan, both his parents had died from a strange illness, it was only by chance that his master had traveled by his small village that he was saved. Kairn was never a good child, he never listened, he was stubborn and most of all he was restless. If Kairn had another chance, he would gladly redo everything once more.
Kairn silently closed his eyes as he began to feel the blade pierce through his chest.
*Boom!*
The barrier surrounding the field shattered once more.
*Bam!*
Hiro was sent out of the stage, flying more than 20 meters before landing on the dry soil underneath. A streak of blood exited from his mouth as he struggled to breathe from the pain to his chest. A palm was imprinted upon the leather armor that Hiro was wearing.
“You…” Hiro growled as he got to his feet.
On the stage, a man dressed in a dull grey Hanfu stood on the stage. The man’s face radiated great wisdom and intellect, the old man stood tall with pride. There was a hint of anger upon the man’s brow as he quickly pulled out the dagger that had sunk in a couple centimeters. Quickly popping a pill into Kairn’s mouth, the man forced Kairn to swallow it and stood to face Hiro.
“Explain yourself.” The old man demanded, his white beard shook slightly from the strength the man exerted.
Overcome with anger, Hiro gritted his teeth. He stood up to face the old man and yelled, “Look here old man, the match wasn’t over. Everyone within this place can attest to that, that person over there still hasn’t admitted defeat. You should be the one explaining why you are interfering.” The crowd was silent, the pressure emitting from the man had suddenly increased after hearing Hiro’s tone.
*Shup!*
Before Hiro could take another step towards the old man on the stage, the black-cloaked stranger appeared in front of him.
“Pill-Master Gu He! It’s a pleasure to see you here, what brings someone like you into such a crowded place.” The cloaked man’s voice was full of calm.
Hearing his name, Gu He expressed his shock. “Who are you? To be able to recognize this one, you must not be a simple man.”
The cloaked man smiled, “I’m just a lowly traveler. My name is insignificant.” He looked at the wounded Kairn behind Gu He, and said, “I apologize for what this young man had caused. If I had known I would’ve prevented the situation from getting out of hand.
Knowing what the cloaked man was implying, Gu He snorted, “Hmph! Big words coming from a lowly traveler. If I hadn’t arrived in time, my DISCIPLE would’ve been a corpse. How do you think I would feel about that? Would one not lose face if their student lost so badly?” A thick aura began to emanate from the old man. As if sharp blades were shot out, the aura suddenly rushed at Hiro.
*Sh!*
Abruptly blocked, the sword aura was stopped by the cloaked man. Surprise appeared upon Gu He’s face for a split-second before getting covered up by indifference.
“I implore you kind Pill-Master Gu He. Please do not harm his child.” The cloaked man gestured towards Hiro.
Just now, the cloaked man had blocked his aura attack. Someone of his strength was so easily stopped, because of this, Gu He watched the cloaked man with caution. Someone with that strength couldn’t possibly be a lowly traveler. Giving the cloaked man some face, Gu He asked, “Who is that child? What is his relations to you?”
The crowd stared quietly at this exchange, not saying a thing because of the strong pressure pressing down on them. Under the pavilion, under the protection of the masters there, the VIP’s were watching the scene unfolding on the field.
“Why of course, it’s a simple answer. This child, is my disciple.”
“””!!!”””
Everyone that knew the identity of the cloaked man gaped in shock. Under the pavilion Romulus could do nothing but sigh in defeat, he knew there was no way he could snatch Hiro away from that man. Romulus could only think back to Colin, and silently mumble, “Colin, a monster has just been born.”