Orion sat with his head in his knees in the complete darkness of his empty chamber.

Although this was a very normal scenario for him, he knew that today was special.

As if on cue, a telepathic voice rang in his head.

It was the only person he had spoken to in the last few months: his father.

“Orion, what’s your condition?”

Orion stood and looked up, as if his father was in the room with him.

“I am ready.”

“Hmph. Well, we’ll just see about that, huh?”

“Are you…not assured of my capabilities, father?”

“Enter.” This was not telepathic, as Orion heard his father’s voice reverberating from outside the walls of his chamber.

Following this, the door opened, revealing a young man dressed head to toe in combat gear. Compared to Orion’s simple tank top and combat pants, it was certainly much busier.

Orion only took one look at the man, his wide eyes, frozen blank stare, and fidgeting hands. Despite his solitary confinement, he easily drew one quick conclusion.

He is afraid.

This was to be expected. He knew well of his ability to induce fear in people. He also knew well not to underestimate his opponents because of it.

“I assume you know what comes next. I know you have a solid understanding of your power, but your ability to apply it in battle is something I have yet to observe. Not just your fighting, but your ability to effectively wield Potentiam energy as well.”

Orion kept his unblinking eyes trained on the man in front of him, who was still frozen. He knew exactly what his father would say next.

“Defeat this man in battle, and we shall move on to the next phase of our plan. I’ve ordered him to kill you.”

As he spoke, Orion shuffled towards the man, a full, black aura forming around his hands.

“Of course, father.”

The man finally reacted, swiftly taking out his dagger in his right hand and pointing it at Orion as if to halt his movement.

As Orion glanced at his left hand, slightly concealed behind his back, he saw that it was also covered in a black aura.

!!

Just as Orion jumped back, the man flung his left hand outwards, sending a massive wave of Potentiam straight towards him.

In response, Orion conjured as much energy as he could in that space of time to counter the oncoming wave with one of his own.

The blast from Orion wasn’t enough to match the wave but it weakened it to the point that any contact on him caused minimal damage.

It did, however, obstruct his vision.

As the two blasts dissipated, Orion looked to see the man charging towards him at full speed.

Orion continued his retreat to gain distance as the man rushed him with a flurry of swipes.

The man was certainly quick, but Orion was swift enough to avoid the man’s onslaught.

Little did the man know, that Orion’s hands, still covered in a black aura, were absorbing Potentiam from the atmosphere to increase his output.

For Orion, this was what separated him from all of his father’s fighters. He was born a weapon.

His whole life purpose was to become something more than even the strongest of the strongest. That is what made him valuable.

It is because of this purpose that he wanted to prove to his father that he was worthy of such a title—that he deserved it.

He knew that he was capable of storing and manipulating a far greater amount of energy than what was considered possible by the general public.

He cupped his hands and rose them up in the air—the man’s eyes widening in realization as he stopped—and slammed them against the ground.

The man’s subsequent retreat was fruitless as the resulting  shockwave, flying at all sides, completely engulfed him.

The man flew into the wall as the waves pushed against the fortified chamber. The chamber itself quaked and rumbled but remained intact.

As the waves dissipated, he fell limp to the ground.

Orion found himself once again inching towards his opponent, who was unresponsive.

He was certain that this fight wasn’t over. The man that his father selected to test his abilities and likely one of his highest-ranking men could not possibly fall from this alone.

The fact that his knife still lay under his hand was enough to deter him from claiming victory.

“I know you are not finished yet. Rise, my adversary.”

Despite his call, the man didn’t budge.

Orion skulked forward, unsatisfied and unsure how to react.

As he approached however, he noticed something off about the man’s left hand:

A black aura flowed between his fingers.

Another trap?!

Orion backed up, anticipating whatever attack he had planned.

On cue, the man swiftly rose on three of his four limbs, his left arm hanging in the air and swiping across.

Orion had prepared energy already stored in his hands to counter, however, nothing came out of the man’s hand.

Startled and confused, Orion froze in a defensive position, waiting for the man’s next move…

…but it didn’t come. A small smirk formed on the man’s face, egging him on.

However, the man remained in his stance, as if waiting for something to happen.

Wanting to take advantage of the man’s vulnerable position and calling his bluff, Orion charged forward…

…BOOM…

Orion had hardly moved an inch before an explosion blasted across his chest, sending him to the ground in pain.

The man, smirk still on his face, gripped his knife and stood up.

“Watch your step.”

Immanence: the manifestation of one’s unique affinity to Potentiam energy, allowing them to perform special techniques.

He must have set bombs around the area. I should’ve recognized that earlier.

Orion spoke as he rose to an elbow.

“Relying on your Immanence, I see.”

Though he said that, Orion did gain a small bit of respect for his opponent for effectively stifling his fear in the heat of battle.

The man scoffed and charged towards Orion.

“Why not use yours?”

As he rose to his feet, Orion knew he wouldn’t have time to retreat or charge an attack.

He stood his ground, eyes trained on the man’s movements.

Once he closed the distance, the man attempted a feint stab towards Orion’s abdomen before switching to a slash aimed for his neck.

Orion, anticipating this move, caught the man’s arm dead in its tracks and smacked his wrist.

The knife flew off and slid to the side of the chamber.

Orion then pulled the man towards him, rocking him with a hook to the face.

“I don’t need it.”

While Orion was thoroughly educated on his own Immanence abilities, his personal goal in this test was to prove to his father that he had improved on his primary weakness:

Body Control.

Being able to use his Immanences and store a large amount of Potentiam at once required little to no effort to him. He was born with both, after all.

However, he refused to deny the inevitability that his body’s structural flaws would cost him in battle if he could not compensate for it.

He was handed nearly everything on his path to power. The last thing he wanted was to be called a failure despite it.

Now left with just their fists, the two engaged in hand-to-hand combat. They traded blows, and neither one could gain an advantage over the other…

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…At least, not at first, as Orion slowly began to overwhelm his opponent.

One advantage of his body is that it does not process fatigue the way others do.

His only necessary source of energy is Potentiam. A conversion process must be performed where a decent amount of his Potentiam store at any point in time can be designated as body fuel and used to make his body function and move.

 Once converted, the fuel can be accessed at any point, and does not need time to be transported throughout the body.

This allows him to attack in extended bursts without tiring.

Just as Orion was about to finish his onslaught with a haymaker, the man snapped his fingers.

Almost immediately, another spontaneous explosion blasted at Orion’s side, dazing him. While he can’t see the bombs, the man evidently can.

This time, however, Orion merely staggered as he tried to regain his balance.

The man tried to use this chance to run for his knife, but Orion was relentless.

Amidst the smoke of the explosion, Orion grabbed the man’s arm and, using his strength, flung the man straight into the wall opposite the knife’s position.

Orion walked towards the man struggling to get up, his hands once again covered in the black Potentiam aura.

The man rose to one knee and looked up. Orion stood over him, his hands cupped together above his head for a double axe handle.

Now, this fight is over.

In Orion’s mind, this man was worn down, and, judging by how he took the first one, could not be able to take a point blank Potentiam shockwave.

The man barely rose his shaking arms above him to protect himself.

However, as Orion brought his attack down on the man, he was baffled to see that it was completely stopped by the man’s piteous attempt at defense.

What?!

Very little Potentiam was generated by the weak clash between Orion and the man.

The man was shocked as well, as the two men stood frozen staring at each other.

It then clicked for Orion why his attack was ineffective. In a panic, he stumbled away from the man.

I…need energy!

Orion realized that the Potentiam store he had gathered before their fight was running low. His body was weaker and less coordinated than before.

“What is this…” The man mumbled with a disgusted expression on his face.

Orion quickly concentrated on his hands, trying to gather as much Potentiam as possible.

He could recover by converting the Potentiam, but he needed to stay still for some time.

Time that his opponent wouldn’t give him.

The man, realization on his face, charged him with a punch to the face, bringing Orion down to a knee.

“I get it…”

The man stood in front of him, panting and out of breath but smiling, nonetheless.

“Heh. You’ve run out of energy, haven’t you?”

“You’re one to talk.”

“I have time on my side.” The man said as he strolled behind Orion towards his knife, hands in his pockets.

In that time, Orion tried to continue the conversion process, but was met with a blast of Potentiam in his back. The blast was light, but enough to throw off his concentration.

No point…

Converting Potentiam to body fuel was long enough already and having to draw a significant amount of energy while fatigued didn’t make it easier.

Orion stood up and faced the man, who was twirling the knife in his hand.

“Rather than waste my energy, I think I’ll just tire you out some more.”

As he said that, he pointed his left arm straight towards Orion, hand outstretched. Each of his fingers were covered in aura.

Another Immanence ability?

“Try and dodge this!” the man said, as a large beam of Potentiam shot from the man’s hand. As it approached Orion,  it dispersed into five smaller beams.

I see. The beams will track me.

Orion, recognizing the man’s ability, shot a weak wave of Potentiam at the beams, which promptly turned in various directions out of its path.

He’s the one controlling them right now…

Orion glanced at the man, resting against the wall of the chamber with a grin on his face.

I just need one last burst…

Orion’s blast, which quickly dissipated, wasn’t meant to be powerful. It was meant to verify the nature of the man’s ability.

It also gave Orion an open path straight towards him.

With as much strength as he could muster, Orion sprinted at full speed towards the man.

While he wasn’t as fast as he could go with full energy, it was enough to catch the man off guard.

The man glanced to his right.

Predictable.

He fired another weak blast at the man, who promptly dove to his right.

“Bold of you to ignore my Immanence ability.” The man said.

Still in pursuit, Orion kept his eyes on the man’s hands and began gathering Potentiam in his own hands again.

As Orion got close, the man grinned. He rose to a knee and clasped his thumb and middle finger together.

“…Both of them!”

Just as the man snapped his fingers, Orion jumped as high in the air as the chamber would allow him. The concurrent explosion had missed him completely.

The man scowled, yet his eyes were still trained on Orion.

He shouldn’t have much energy left. The only way he could attack me now is with…

Orion glanced at his surroundings. As he guessed, the beams that the man shot before were now hot on his tail. One came at his right, another at his left, and two from below.

He knew his body was weakening by the second, but he had to get rid of those beams.

Using the Potentiam he had gathered, Orion formed two large black waves of energy that nearly engulfed his whole upper body.

Rather than release them as a projectile, however, he kept them attached to his hands.

As he began to descend, Orion tilted his body horizontally and began spinning rapidly.

The two waves nearly covered his entire body as they spun with him.

All four of the tracking beams were engulfed by the fireball that was now Orion.

The man stared in shock. He tried to fling another Potentiam wave as Orion descended towards him, but it was dissolved just as easily.

“D-Damn you!!” The man said as he braced for the impact.

Suddenly, before Orion could come close to the ground, his rotation slowed to a halt.

His body was going limp.

Orion’s attempts to land gracefully were fruitless as his legs touched the ground and subsequently crumpled under his weight.

It took almost all of Orion’s strength just to keep himself on one knee and not collapse to the floor.

While his body could survive without a store of Potentiam for fuel, it was not optimized to move without it.

Orion looked up to see the man charging towards him, teeth bared and eyes wide. He held the knife in his outstretched hand.

I can’t move…

Despite the situation, Orion simply closed his eyes, showing no fear. His brow was furrowed, but otherwise his face was calm.

The man reared his arm back and swung straight for his neck…

…and his attack was once again halted completely.

The man’s eyes widened. Orion hadn’t moved a muscle, and yet his motion was blocked.

In the area where the knife would have sliced him, Orion’s neck was covered in a black, sludge-like substance.

Orion, brow still furrowed, looked up and glared at the man, daring him to try something.

The man stood frozen with his mouth agape.

“S-So, this is your Imman—”

Before the man could finish, the black sludge stretched out from his neck with the speed of a rocket, blasting him in the air.

Failure.

The sludge carried the man straight into the chamber wall and quickly wrapped around him, trapping him.

Almost as quickly as the sludge appeared, it hardened, now appearing like a large, distorted rock extending from Orion’s neck to the wall with the man crushed beneath it.

This was all a failure.

The man, in a panic, tried muscling his way out of the sludge, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Shit…” He mumbled as the hardened sludge suffocated him.

He looked to the other end of the chamber. A ball of Potentiam energy floated inert.

In that moment, however, it flew straight into the rock-hard sludge, causing it to break and crumble to the floor.

I see. He wanted me to think I had destroyed all the beams so he could save one of them to use later.

Well, not that it matters now.

The man collapsed, hacking and wheezing, as Orion spoke up.

“I’d say we can now declare this duel over.”

The man contorted in a look of disgust.

“What? Are you…forfeiting?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. There’s nothing you can do now.”

The man’s hands curled into fists, shaking.

“You can’t…even move. You think…you can just pull your abilities out…and now I’m screwed?!

As the man’s voice rose to a shout, he rose a hand and slammed it to the ground.

“Don’t play me for a fool! I’ll make you regret thinking you could hold back against me!”

The man stumbled to his feet. Still breathing heavily, he formed a black aura around his hand to absorb energy.

His final gambit, huh? He’s going to try to use Potentiam to decapitate me.

As Orion thought, he shakily clasped his hands together, forming some sort of gesture.

 The man looked on in confusion as he gathered energy. Unbeknownst to him, a large gray gas formed behind him.

If he could gather enough energy, then perhaps it would work.

However…

A black aura formed around Orion’s hands, as he closed his eyes to complete his conversion process.

The man scoffed.

“Your arrogance knows no bounds. I thought I made it clear that you have no time for that!”

Readying his attack, the man reared his arm back. The form of the gas behind him was much clearer now. An anthropomorphic shape loomed over the man.

Before he could release the attack, long, sharp claws tore straight through his chest.

His eyes widened as he feebly glanced down at his chest then behind him.

The human-like gray figure was floating above the ground. It had thin black slits for eyes, and sharp, elongated teeth. It let out a quiet growl as it stared back at the man and ripped its claws out of him.

The man collapsed to the floor.

Silence ensued for about a minute or two as the figure slowly made its way to Orion.

Orion, having completed his conversion, rose to his feet. He stood tall, as if he hadn’t just fought an arduous battle.

Nonetheless, he wasn’t satisfied.

He didn’t want to win through his Immanence. He wanted to prove, without a shadow of doubt, that he was the better fighter.

With Immanence, he required little to no energy or thought.

The figure, now in front of him, stared blankly at Orion. Orion formed a different gesture with his hands together.

In response, the figure nodded to Orion, and dissipated, leaving no trace of its presence.

“Impressive.” His father’s voice rang in Orion’s head.

“I aim to please you father. That is my imperative.”

“Yes, and what is your other imperative?

“To infect Earthling humans with the Dark Potentiam.”

“Exactly. That’s it. So why did you wait so long to use your Immanence? I ordered you to defeat the man and nothing else.” His father’s voice was not angry, but curious.

“Merely forward thinking, father. If I am to maximize my potential in battle, training my body to cover my weaknesses is the optimal solution.”

“Hmph. Well, I suppose that forward thinking is useful, but don’t think you could go without your Immanence in a fight. That is what makes you special.”

Orion winced at the statement.

“You’ll need it even more so once you’re out in the field. Come to the main room. We’ll discuss the details of our plan there.”

He spoke up before his father could leave.

“What should I do with him?” He stared at the man on the ground. A small puddle of blood formed around his body.

“He will die.” Orion added.

There was a pause on the other end.

“His service…isn’t needed. Up to you.”

With that, his father disconnected.

Orion walked over to the man, lying prone, and rolled him onto his back.

The man coughed as he looked up at Orion’s emotionless face and laughed.

“Hah. It’s funny, I definitely didn’t wake up today thinking I would go out like this.” He said before wincing at his wounds.

Orion stared, unsure how to respond.

“Why…not just end me now?”

“I defeated you in battle, as I was ordered. I have no interest in your fate, otherwise.”

The man turned his head away from Orion.

“Fine, make me suffer in excruciating pain. No big deal.”

“I don’t think you understand. The decision is yours, not mine.”

The man swung his head back to look at Orion.

“I can heal you.”

The man laughed again.

“And here I thought I was gonna die a warrior’s death, then you come in and ruin it for me.”

“Do you…want to live?”

“The hell kind of question is that?! Of course I want to live!”

“I don’t understand you.”

Regardless, Orion filled his hands with Potentiam aura once again. It’s form was much less defined as it was before and was a hazy gray rather than black.

He held his hands over the man’s chest. The energy flowed from Orion’s hands into each puncture wound.

The man’s eyes widened. He rose his hand and clenched it multiple times, testing its movement.

“Huh…”

“That is my Life Potentiam. Do not move. If you do, not only will it dissipate and be lost, but it may also mix with your own.”

The man chuckled nervously.

“Right…”

Orion then filled his hand with the sludge-like substance he used in their fight. It was about the size of the puncture wounds.

“That is normally the case, but I can secure it in its place.”

He eyed one of the man’s wounds with his hand over it, preparing to insert the substance.

“Man, your Immanence is really something! No wonder they kept it top sec—"

Orion shoved the substance in the man’s wound with little precision. The man screamed in pain.

“AHHHH! Bastard! What was that for?!”

“My hand slipped…”

“Like hell it slipped! God dammit…”

Orion continued to apply more of the substance in the other wounds, all with significantly less force than the first time.

Within minutes, the man sat up with relative painlessness.

He checked his wounds. The black substance where the man’s puncture wounds were covered the holes, and it felt smooth and flexible like skin.

“Freaky…”

“Give it some time.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll sit here for a bit. Get my bearings straight.”

Orion, with a sense of finality, stood up and walked towards the door to leave.

“Yo!” the man called out.

He stopped to look at him.

“We should spar again sometime. Name’s Revelin.” The man grinned.

“Orion.”

They nodded to each other, and Orion walked out.