For the past few days, Jay hadn’t felt a thing from them. No matter what he, or anyone else, did. They were a black hole of sensation. Even his essence perception was completely blind to their existence.

But now he had arms. Arms!

Every cell inside Jay's arms buzzed with life. He felt the bandages crumple and strain, unable to handle the energy beneath them. Paint sloughed off the gauze, the once immaculately crafted channels now merging into a slurry and dripping onto the floor.

SSZZTT.

The bandages encasing Jays fists ripped. His fingers spasmed, uncontrollably contorting and pressing against the dressings. One moment, all ten of his fingers stretched out. The next they formed two fists, crumpling up any unbroken gauze. Jay's hands glowed bright white, radiating energy like his legs had moments before.

Tears in the fabric crawled their way up to the elbows. Ripping channels through weaknesses in the fabric. Jay wrestled some control over his limbs as the glowing light dimmed. He unravelled the remaining bandages off and inspected his new arms.

They didn’t look too different, although Jay felt the same vibrancy within them as the rest of his body. It seemed the bandages didn’t seal off any benefits from the trial by lightning.

Running along Jay's forearms were a series of whisper-thin, jagged white lines. They didn’t just arc across his arms, like the smokes weaved by the High Matron. They ebbed and flowed along the natural lines of his body. They fell in step with the striations of his muscles, before twisting down the meandering trail of an artery. Each line carved its own path of least resistance down his arm using the existing channels of his body to guide their way.

When Jay lost focus, the lines disappeared, melding into the skin itself. When he looked back, they carved a different path. Each reformed pattern forged anew yet guided by the same brush as its predecessor.

Jay held his hand in front of his face, twirling his wrist and watching the hand morph to his will. Much like the rest of his new body, the disconnect between thought and action was non-existent. Jay had world-class hand-eye coordination before, but this was on another level. Mind and muscle coexisting in flawless synchronicity.

Jay activated Eye of the storm. His signature technique didn’t help him channel electricity through his kicks, but could it teach him about his arms? He felt his neurons constrict, detail fading from the world, and threw a jab.

His fist responded instantly, cutting through the air with practiced ease. Jay had barely even commanded his left; it was like it’d felt his instinct, his urge to punch, and was all but thrown before he even gave the order.

Just like the first time he’d used the technique against shadow Akira. His brain only gave out the bare minimum of information, but his body still responded.

At least it appeared that way.

Before, Jay clashed with his nervous system. Modifying it to suit his needs as a fighter and relying on his years of instincts to plug the gaps. Now, all facets of his body functioned with such harmony that it was barely necessary.

Through landing that kick, Jay had severed his reliance on his body. He’d clipped the chains that had once tied him to normalcy. Jay didn’t need to adapt his nervous system anymore. The essence of electricity no longer flowed through his neurons like the essence of lightning once had.

Because now Jay knew it didn’t need to.

There were still some remnants, relics of a fading reality, the world still blurred as detail fled the moment everything slowed down. But Jay had taken a step forward. The first step to shedding the constraints of physicality.

But although Jay loved Eye of the storm, he couldn’t ignore the incessant voice in the back of his mind reminding him how it had failed him. How it was incompatible with attacks using the essence of electricity.

He’d already found a more suitable technique to replace thunder strike. Would he have to do the same for Eye of the storm? Light bounced off the thin white lines that ran across Jay's arm. Maybe he didn’t have to discard it, maybe he needed to reforge it.

Jay left those thoughts for another day. It would certainly be useful to restructure Eye of the storm, but right now he was on a timeline. Luckily, less than two hours had passed since he'd entered the trial. Jay stepped out of the ring and walked towards his brother’s.

He had a fight to win.

----------------------------------------

Jay stretched and shook his arms as he stepped inside the fourth ring. Excited to finally get to use his arms. The sight of his brother pained Jay, but the fact that he got to box him brought a small smile to Jay's face. Even if it was a bittersweet one.

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The problem with having a brother six years your senior is that there's always a physical gulf between you. Well, until you’re both adults.

Jules never got that far.

Jay looked at his older brother’s youthful face, now he was six years the elder. The realisation struck Jay as he raised his fists and fell into step with his opponent.

He’d never fought his brother as an equal before.

Jay pushed his feelings back down, stowed them away for another day. If Julian really was somewhere out there in the coliseum, then Jay would find him. But right now, there was nothing he could do about that. Now he had to focus on completing the sage’s trial.

Jay kept his palms glued to his temples in a textbook boxing stance, hoping Julian would drop the knife and exchange fists with his younger brother.

He didn’t.

He threw the knife directly at Jay's neck. Jay swept to the left, dodging the same direction as last time. This time, he left his right hand trailing and caught the knife’s handle mid-air.

He wouldn’t have even thought about that manoeuvre last week. Eye of the storm combined with his enhanced coordination made it trivial.

Jay latched onto the blade. As Julian neared him, it grew unbearably hot, forcing Jay to release it. Always another trick. Jay threw it off to the side and watched his brother swerve to follow it.

Jay's chest ached with the realization that he couldn’t properly box his brother. His lifelong dream appeared like it would stay that way.

For now.

But Jay wasn’t a boxer anymore. Julian wasn’t a boxer anymore.

There was no such thing as punching below the belt in a ring where one fighter held a knife, and the other could beat him without one. He was a gladiator now, and maybe Julian was too.

Being with his brother was great, especially after so many years. But it wasn’t real. If Jay truly wanted to meet Jules, it would start by completing this trial and surviving his next fight.

Eye of the storm made dodging the dagger easy. But the next time it flew towards Jay, he dodged purely on instinct, slipping his head to the left and sidestepping only using his natural reflexes. His stormforged body felt even faster after the addition of his arms. Perhaps not having two limbs sealed off improved its synchronicity?

Jules was already in range; he’d closed the distance almost instantly. Jay didn’t hesitate. He set up a leg kick, the essence of electricity humming within him. He was about to fire. A flash of gold shot into his periphery. Jay aborted his attack, reactivating Eye of the storm to ensure he dodged the returning knife as he ducked away.

He had to remember he was in a fight. Even if he was fast enough that landing an attack on Julian was trivial, he could never count his opponent out. That’s what the Goldenback gorilla did, and it paid the price.

Jules closed the distance, launching the dagger again as he rushed in. Since learning Eye of the storm, Jay had started to rely on mid-fight breaks to strategize. A luxury he couldn’t afford if he wanted to land an attack using the essence of electricity. Jay didn’t have time to overthink the intricacies of each move anymore. When he saw an opening, he simply had to attack.

The surge of electricity roused beneath Jay’s skin. The first time, it had taken several exchanges to awaken the energy within him. Now it came naturally, as if it was always there and he just needed that one spark to bring it to the surface.

When he was first teaching Jay, Akira likened essence to a muscle that you’d never trained before. The first time was always tiring, but the more you practiced the easier it became. Although the analogy had helped him, Jay now saw its flaws. He wasn’t as familiar with essence as he was his own body, but he now knew enough to differentiate them.

A muscle you’d never used was still part of you, even if it was weak and uncoordinated. Training improves its abilities and your control over it, but not much more. With essence, the growth is far more drastic. At first, you’re floundering in the dark. Clutching for any semblance of knowledge. It’s far more confusing than moving a muscle, because it isn’t even close to being a part of you.

But once you get it. Once you truly get it. Everything changes. Once you crest that initial hurdle, everything slots into place. Once you accept the essence as a part of your existence, wielding it is easy.

Why shouldn’t it be? It’s a part of you.

Jay activated Eye of the storm for a brief surge, assessing the situation one final time before going in for the kill shot.

Dagger’s over three metres behind me, not a threat yet.

He's already closing the gap.

Time to move.

Electricity pulsated beneath Jay’s skin. The thin white lines accentuating his arms flared as hairline channels flowed down to his fingertips. Jay itched to unleash the energy with a punch, but that would wait. He’d focused so much on kicking over the past two fights, it only felt right to end on a kick.

Jay set the energy free, unleashing a rapid kick towards Julian’s thigh. He wondered how the armour would react; would it still form a barrier to block the strike? Would it even help?

Gold conducts electricity, after all.

The barrier did form, although Jay barely caught a glimpse of gold with his regular time perception. Jay had intended to barely tap Julian's leg, letting the electricity carry through the armour and deal damage that way. But the glowing white kick almost had a mind of its own, and it drove directly into Julian's thigh.

There was no fizz or pushback this time. Jay's shin slammed into the gold plating. He hardly felt a thing. His leg felt almost incorporeal, it wrapped around Julian's thigh and bent in a way no bone should be able to.

Jay couldn’t see the electricity burrow through the gold and into his opponent’s body. He felt it. He felt it glide through the armour as if it didn’t exist. He felt it slither into Julian’s individual cells and pump them with uncontrollable power, ravaging his body from the inside out.

Jay's leg twisted back into a normal shape. The light retreated within his body. He caught a glimpse of the golden dagger dropping to the ground beside him. Its unconscious wielder no longer able to control it.

Julian's body slumped at his feet.

Not unconscious, but dead.

Jay knew it wasn’t real, but it still cut him to his core. He forced himself to remain still.

I’m no-

“I’m not running away again.” He said. Announcing his intent to reality as if that made it more real. He knelt down. Held his hand out to touch his brothers lifeless face. “If you’re out there, I’ll find you. No matter what.”

No matter what.