It was much more obvious to see that time had passed just by looking at the state of the school. I flew overhead while Grendel scaled the side by foot. The sprawling campus invaded further and further down the mountainside like an invasive plant. The gray rock and sparse patches of alpine greenery was covered up with white wood buildings with red painted trims.
I landed at the edge of the bubble and waited around a minute for Grendel to catch up.
A new, larger gate that could fit at least five demons at once loomed overhead. Gone were the ornate carvings and golden inlays. What remained was brutalist and utilitarian to keep up with the rapidly growing population.
The new dormitories inside could never be called beautiful; a series of temporary structures built up by someone who had no expectation of remaining. Like a trailer park in Oklahoma waiting for the tornado that would take it all away.
The new recruits inside seemed to perfectly match this feeling. Their provided robes seemed shoddily made compared to their seniors. Many chose not to wear them at all. They were just bodies to meet a quota after all. They would receive their rudimentary training, given XP, and let loose to join the meat grinder that existed above us. There was no unity in their practice, no sense of formation. Their instructors were the same students I saw only a few years prior, pushed into service before they had achieved their own mastery.
I could barely spot a face I could even remotely call familiar.
“Where’s Huī and Gunagala?” I asked.
“They were sent to the next rung to scout out a new site for our school,” Grendel answered.
“That’s good. I didn’t mind them. Didn’t feel like killing them if it came down to it.”
“My Junior Brother has returned.”
Senior Brother’s voice, darkened by a cold anger, broke out over the school. The threatening tone held within was enough to make even the surliest looking demons straighten their backs a bit lest they be caught in the crosshairs.
“I was not expecting such a personal welcome, Senior Brother,” I said with an overly acted smile and a sweeping bow, “If I had known that you had warmed up to me this much, I wouldn’t have been gone for so long.”
“You left me no choice,” Senior Brother barked. “You left after saying such a ridiculous thing to Grendel that I could hardly believe it. I say you are not ready to learn the Master’s more demanding moves and you disappear that day on a so-called personalized quest from Master? For enlightenment no less? Unbelievable! Unforgivable!”
Senior Brother’s skin pigmentation was turning rosy. A grenade with a defective pin that constantly tried to keep it in place.
“But it’s all the truth.”
“Please, you should have come up with something more convincing if you were going to run with your tail tucked between your legs like that. Though, I do give you some amount of credit for returning. But your chin is raised far too high for my liking.”
“Ah, but, Senior Brother, I would not jest about something as important as enlightenment. Master offered me an opportunity that I could not pass up. I simply assumed that I was about to follow in your footsteps. That you would have understood my intentions if you had been provided the same opportunity. You were given a similar quest, weren’t you?”
The game of lathering Senior Brother into a rage was comically easy. Just press his insecurity over and over again until his pride could no longer take it.
Typically, it only took a single push.
Violent energy coursed off of Senior Brother’s body like a tempest. His charm billowed off of his face, revealing a rotted scowl burning red with rage. Shimmering mana coated his fists and I readied my body for the confrontation.
But, a small rumble of the mountain, shifted by an invisible hand, killed everything. The overflowing boil cooled to a simmer. Ten deep breaths passed through Senior Brother’s lungs before he returned to calm.
“Killing you will not prove my point sufficiently,” Senior Brother finally stated. “Your defeat at my hands will just say that I am stronger than you. To show you are a liar, I must make a bolder statement.”
Senior Brother spread his hands and brought them together in a loud clap. The thunderous noise spread over the training grounds with a gust of violent wind. A satisfied smile crossed his face underneath the bouncing charm nailed to his head.
“Newest recruits of Master, I bring you a golden opportunity. That lizard who stands like a man has dared to claim that he heard the Master's voice. Such claims are an offense to my master, an offense to me, and an offense to all of you. Kill him and you all shall have access to this school’s long accumulated riches and a spot amongst the elite of the highest rung.”
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Without another word, Senior Brother spun around on his heel and marched back up the stairs towards his abode. His silhouette was quickly blocked by the mass of demons that started to encircle me.
I could see it in their eyes. Hunger. A piece of bloody steak was tossed at their feet and eating it would grant them something better. Only one of them had to survive for all of them to benefit. It was all of them against only me. Grendel had already backed away from me, allowing me to fulfill my sole person alone.
They would be stupid not to pounce.
“If you fear him, you should fear me more,” I warned for my first and only time for this fight. “I have surpassed him and he knows it.”
My words were not taken seriously. The noose around me was still closing more and more. Words alone are never sufficient to accomplish anything. Proof comes from action and there is nothing more universally persuasive than violence.
I threw a great deal of stats into magic and drowned the complex in tar. The makeshift buildings went up in a beautiful blaze. Flesh burned and demons screamed as they rushed me in a frenzy to force me to retract my spell. A grin crossed my lips as they broke through the [Burning Rain].
One by one, without focus or cohesion, they ran at me. Most brandished weapons, the outsiders that they ultimately were.
I threw my fist at the first brave demon that breached my perimeter. I intentionally lowered my power; cognizant of the sheer volume of eyes that were observing me. I would not allow the range of my power to be captured by anyone.
Still, that did not stop the violent results of my attack. The opening blow to the midsection put so much internal pressure on their body that their eyes shot out of their heads like a cartoon at a curvy woman. Only a second after that, their body imploded with a shower of blood that mixed in with the black rain that surrounded me.
It was a joke, honestly.
The next one had broken through at the perfect time to see their predecessor be turned into a crimson fountain. Hesitation. Fear. Not only unnaturally brought through the power of my [Aura of Fear], but fear from deep within. Fear that is quickly supplanted by the solemn acceptance of impending death. The Zen-like state that befalls some people when they are in an uncontrollable airplane just before it hits the ground.
“That’s it, I guess.”
And, like the rapidly growing ground below, I turned the fear-frozen follow-up into a compressed can.
There was no hope here. What might have been enough numbers to bother me when I first arrived became little more than a paper tiger. Punch after punch was met with no bodily resistance. Armors were split in two like they were made of cardboard. The intricate weaving of muscles and cartilage and bone, was torn apart like it was a demon-shaped balloon.
It felt like I was fighting in a dream.
And, just like a dream, it ended abruptly and without fanfare. They all had simply died. Most died to the rain that was like being touched by the surface of the sun. The rest, to my fists.
The regular members of the school, the ones who had at least seen me once, were silent and still. They watched me with surprised eyes at the way I used the Master’s moves to a devastating effect. I could see hesitation within them; a flicker of the eye towards where Senior Brother had left. A moment of doubt that I was more than a blasphemer before their masters.
“Who amongst you still doubts that I am not loved by the Master?” I asked with my arms wide open. “If you wish, I will show you a much closer demonstration.”
The crimson light that exuded off my body told me all I needed to know about the caliber of the survivors. Not even worth the words I just spoke.
“I think it is clear to me that you are loved by the Grand Master,” Grendel spoke up, willing to put his neck on the line only after the battle was won. “I think it’s not the place of us grand-disciples to get between the squabbles of the main disciples.”
Grendel allowing himself to be the first coward removed the pressure from the rest. They stepped backwards with a look of relief that they had a scapegoat in case things turned poorly. It wasn’t them that made the error, it was Grendel that invoked the name of the Grand Master first. It was Grendel that would be punished.
The fact that one had to think in such hypotheticals ensured that they were not capable of victory against me. Silently, I strode forward, scaling the steps of the school to approach the final gate.
As I passed through, I was met with the aftermath of a great storm. A squall pushed against my scales, threatening to knock me over.
Senior Brother was not there, sitting in his favorite spot of meditation. What sat in his place was the indentation of a fist. A scorched circle sat around it. It sparked and danced with leftover mana.
I approached the circle and punched the indent squarely. The circle flared up. Orange mana rose high into the air and the inside of the circle opened up. The sounds of screams bellowed from within, reminding me of the last time that I was sent through here against my will. A score that I was eager to settle.
I plunged into the orange abyss. The screams swaddled me with suffering before I popped out on the other side.
The portal ended in a verdant valley. Wildflowers grew in abundance over a tranquil field. A stream babbled nearby and frogs croaked contently on the shore. Fog spanned between the mountains to create a bowl to keep us in.
A large pavilion much like the one in Senior Brother’s abode sat in the center of the valley. Inside, I could see the figure of Senior Brother sitting.
I entered. And, to my surprise, I saw that there were two steaming cups of tea cooling on the table. Senior Brother sat in front of one of them. He did not rise nor did his head turn to greet me. If I could not see his breathing, I would have believed that the spirit had suddenly abandoned the flesh.
“Is this for me or for Master?”
“Whoever arrived first.”
I gripped the diminutive cup in between my fingers and emptied the mild contents into my mouth.
“Were you expecting me so soon? Your new recruits could use some personal attention,” I teased, smashing the cup against the table.
Senior Brother did not react to my provocation. They took small sips from their cup before unsummoning it from existence. They tilted their head towards the silent sky.
“Weaklings and traitors,” Senior Brother muttered. “Weaklings and traitors, all of them. Even the ones that I raised with my own hands. I will thank you only for your exceptional work in showing me how worthless those I tried to cultivate ended up being. I can tell that you are stronger. Where did you learn it?”
“Let’s not drag this on longer than it has to be,” I said with a sigh. “I want you dead, you want me dead. There isn’t need for this pageantry”
Senior Brother rose to his feet. He held his fists up in front of his hands, accumulating mana on his chapped knuckles. Two violent gales emanated from his fists. The grass was uprooted, the paint on the pavilion peeled, and the very ground beneath me was pulled into the devastating pull of the wind.
“I agree.”