Shadow Fist had arrived two days prior. He had asked the commanding officer who turned out to be Lesly, the neighbor girl, where Tristan was.

She had looked at him a little confused, “he’s out on a delivery run.”

The girl obviously didn’t make the connection. It was something that Shadow Fist was grateful for. There was no good way for someone to perceive his situation. Either they hated the silver devil and shadow fist by extension or they were friends with him and despised his father for obvious reasons. Regardless, he had done what he did for the sake of his second child, and he would do it again.

“I was sent by Elder Forest to retrieve him,” he said, “his abilities, are needed at the mine.”

“Well, he just left a little over a week and a half ago. I expect him to be back in a few days along with his team, “Lesly said.

Shadow Fist nodded, “ is there any way that I can make myself useful in the meantime.”

Despite the fact that he was on a mission to find the silver devil, Shadow Fist intended to use this as a networking opportunity. He had been working on building a relationship with the Golden Heart family for quite a while. Unfortunately, their patriarch seemed to be quite hard to find. He was not sure why, but he knew the family was important to Elder Forest.

Lesly thought for a few minutes, she obviously knew who Shadow Fist was and that his claim to notoriety in the forest Caldera was his martial arts. It was what got him into his place near the head family. “You have a unique fighting style. it would not be a bad idea for you to train some of the more militant Hunter teams.”

Shadow Fist had no idea what a hunter team was, but he gave his approval. Like most men who were only strong compared to their peers, he appreciated the chance to show off his abilities. The martial arts practiced was an uncommon one in the Caldera. It was most suited for those with a dark kern, which was an uncommon kern to use in combat, as it did not become truly dangerous until tier three.

While one did not attain the ability to blend with the shadows until higher tiers, It was possible to make your movements harder to track. Shadow Fist was not aware of the science behind it, however, he was a warrior, not an alchemist.

Over the next few days, he gave pointers and demonstrated his superiority over every other tier two. Things got a little bit more uncertain when the threes started getting interested. Shadow Fist was good, he was not good enough to face somebody half again stronger than him. He still put up a good fight winning one and drawing most, though this was mostly due to it being a weapon-free demonstration.

Then the crowd that started forming petitioned for him to duel a warrior named Kale. He had no idea who this Kale was, but he must have been impressive. When he finally met the man, Shadow Fist was surprised. The man was old, at least for a warrior he was. Most retired before they hit fifty, and this man had a full set of white hair and wrinkles.

Kale had a slight limp, but Shadow Fist still mentally placed him near the top of tier-three warriors. He was not the absolute peak and did not hold a candle to the tier fours he had met. It felt odd to say tier four in the plural. Unfortunately, Kale seemed to have a bone to pick with Shadow Fist.

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The first duel was not done to first blood, strike, a certain number of points, or performance. No, Kale forced the match to last until exhaustion. No strike Kale launched was damaging, and no strike of Shadow Fist’s landed, each missing by a hair. It was almost as if he were shadowboxing, except the shadow hit back.

Eventually, he recruited Keith, the chatty guard from the Forest Caldera’s gate, to help. It made things more even, but only in the sense that Kale had to block. They were still hopelessly outmatched. Shadow Fist knew internally that most of the warriors staffing the forts were scions from the premium families in the caldera. Most of the warriors were not warriors, and it irked Shadow Fist that he was part of the head family, but that Forest banned him from rising to tier three.

They were attempting a match with weapons, which was unfair, as Kale still had the shortest weapon when he heard some commotion in the crowd. He paid no mind to it, his attention on Kale. However, Kale seemed conflicted about the commotion, as if he was dreading this day.

Someone in the crowd stepped into the ring, at first Shadow Fist did a double take. It looked like an older version of Tristan. However, on closer inspection, the boy had golden eyes as opposed to the red Tristan inherited from his mother. His skin was tan as opposed to the pale hue that most of the Forest Caldera possessed. The most telling difference was the mid-level tier two kern that Shadow Fist could sense. He had been notified that Tristan had a tier-one kern. It took Shadow Fist by surprise, but he did work in a mine that was littered with artifacts.

Kale did a double take, he felt the tier two kern as well. He also knew that Tristan had been nowhere near the mine this time, so it raised some questions.

Shadow Fist met the boy’s glare, unsure of what he had done to get his ire. Not that he was worried, “So, boy do you want a lesson, because I’m teaching while I wait for the silver devil to get back.”

The boy’s glare went from angry to dumbfounded and then back to angry. Kale slowly backed away, as if he was waiting for an explosion and wanted to be close enough to watch. Shadow Fist glanced at Keith, who was looking at Shadow Fist in confusion.

“What?” Shadow Fist asked both the boy and Keith.

Keith answered slightly before the boy, “Shadow Fist, that’s your-.”

“Screw you, Dad!” The boy yelled, before charging like a bull.

Shadow Fist only had a moment of surprise before dropping into a defensive stance, planting his staff like a pike. Dad? Did that mean that Tristan had jumped a tier again? Shadow Fist pushed those thoughts out of his mind, he could not see the boy as Tristan, he had to see only the silver devil.

He knew that the silver devil had been around the absolute elite of the caldera for multiple years. Shadow Fist knew that expert training for over a quarter of his life would make the silver devil dangerous beyond what his tier might indicate. What he did not expect was the silver devil charging straight onto the staff, and breaking it.

The body of a tier two human was roughly one hundred and twenty-five percent stronger than a basic tier zero human. Thanks to that, and the fortitude a metal kern naturally offered, the silver devil rammed through the defense designed to give Shadow Fist time to analyze. Instead, he had to dive to the side as a fist whipped through the space his head had been.

Shadow Fist was fast, dark was not normally considered a fast or slow essence, it was an absence. The element of the void. He was on his feet in a seamless roll and struck out with a punch. His eyes widened as the kidney shot did nothing. The flesh barely deformed. Staggering back, Shadow Fist barely avoided the retaliatory strike.

Metal kern indeed. Shadow Fist grimaced. This would be a long slog of a fight if he was forced to run the silver devil out of essence. The muscular build of his opponent had reduced the amount of metal essence needed to defend dramatically. Shadow Fist gritted his teeth, he did have a trick to win, but it could permanently harm the silver devil.

The boy faced Shadow Fist, “You know the first thing I ever killed was two tier three dark elementals. I was fighting things more dangerous than you at tier zero.”

Shadow Fist blocked a roundhouse, which he instantly regretted. Normally a roundhouse kick was easy to block safely, but it felt like he had just been hit by a steel bar. His forearm visibly flexed. Shadow Fist winced and abandoned his plan to block the punch that followed up. He should see why metal kerns were feared. Not all elements were created equally, each had its advantages and disadvantages. Unfortunately for Shadow Fist, he was starting to realize that metal was the best for creating a killing machine.

He would have to use his hidden technique, one warning was needed, “Stand down, I don’t want to hurt you.”

The silver devil sneered, “As if you could.”

Warning given, Shadow Fist let the duel play out. An opportunity would present itself eventually. It took a little longer, as he could not risk grappling with the silver devil. After one strike, Shadow Fist slipped behind the silver devil’s guard and activated the technique that caught Elder Forest’s father’s attention. He had no name for it, but if Shadow Fist had to give it one he would call it, hunger.