Titus took a gulp of his orange spirit wine, sighing in bliss. Sitting across from him at the table was a red-haired woman dressed in beautiful robes, exerting an aura of dominance. The Red Star’s powerplay would surely work on anyone else, but he knew she wouldn’t raise wands against him. At his side, sharing impassive expressions, were his star students.
“Gwendolyn, it isn’t a matter of if you’ll tell me where I can meet Raider, but when,” Titus said. “Now. A massive figure in this region would surely know where to find him. Perhaps point me truthfully in the right direction.”
The Red Star laughed. “And why do you have such thoughts over a mysterious rumored person?”
She was good. Too good, in fact. Titus couldn’t pierce through her defenses, couldn’t get any hints. This battle of words and dancing around each other took frustration to a new level. Even worse, he couldn’t turn to her husband, since he hadn’t actually met the man, which prevented any kind of magic from sneaking hints of truth from him.
“Ten billion gold,” Titus said. “You’ll be on your way to a higher-tier noble position in no time.”
It didn’t work. Gwendolyn continued to play clueless, but somehow, Titus just knew she was protecting Raider. This wasn’t a woman cheating on her husband, whom she clearly loved. This was someone protecting a friend… or a monetary investment. No matter what he said, she wouldn’t budge, even if he had the power to defend against her infamous blue flames.
She had grown so much in strength; however, the atmosphere seemed… off. This wasn’t the proud woman he’d always known. She seemed… tired? On edge?
“Gwendolyn. Did something happen? I’m not talking about Raider. You have a look, as if waiting to be struck down. I have known you and Manthis for a long time now. You can tell me your troubles.”
Even Titus’s students had looks of concern for the two.
“Keep this a secret, unless you want the Lord Ruler to strike you down too,” the Red Star said after thinking for a moment.
Titus’s blood nearly froze upon receiving the information. The Lord Ruler was her biggest worry, but the political fallout also held a position of doom for Wingston. He’d known the Lord Ruler for too long. He wouldn’t vouch for Gwendolyn, not without the right motivation. She… she was dead unless she chose to flee.
“Wh-what are you doing!?” Titus snapped, fear for her overflowing. “You have to flee! This place isn’t worth your life.”
“Only the guilty flee,” Gwendolyn answered coldly. “If he decides to kill me, so be it, but I will look into his eyes. He will feel my gaze burrowing into him as my breath fades. I will not be labeled dishonorably in front of my people, nor should they be slaughtered in my stead.”
Her mind was made up. The Red Star refused to abandon her people. She may be a coldhearted twit when it came to running her family, but the will of a leader burned brighter than any flame. Titus needed to save her.
“Fine, I will talk to the Lord Ruler,” Titus said. “I will plead your case. Don’t argue with me. I will ask nothing in return because you are my friend. Even if you never acknowledged it. We fought in that foolish war together and we made it out alive. Should the Lord Ruler put me down…” He turned to his students. “Simon, Luna, tell my wife to search the safe for my letter.”
Gwendolyn squeezed her husband’s hands, trembling. But no tears fell from this woman. Only fire raged in that gaze.
Having just fought a troll, I knew I shouldn’t have so much power remaining, yet I brimmed with energy. No, seriously, where the hell did it come from?
So yes, training them was also training myself. Sort of. I knew unleashing this power could be considered reckless. But unlike aura, I had to target whom I wanted affected by the killing intent. As for aura, I actually wasn’t sure if it could extend that far, like the Black Knight’s, but testing that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon.
Suddenly…
Mandi roared, jumping to her feet, eyes burning with a fire of determination so strong, I almost lost concentration. With no fucking powers whatsoever, she started toward me, eyes bloodshot.
But she didn’t get far before collapsing into unconsciousness, blood oozing from her nose.
“Your resolve is why I allowed you to apprentice under me. Rocky start, until the mask came off, revealing someone who simply had no idea what she’s doing. Her family’s guidance, if you can call it that, sucked ass, so here she is today as one of my star apprentices. And with no fucking powers.” I clapped a few times. “I’m giving her this one. She’ll make her family proud someday. What kind of crazy powerhouse will she become after her core forms?”
“Yes!” Opal cheered from the rooftop. “That’s my friend!” She flew right into Chenzu’s face, who currently sat next to her. I laughed.
“It’s unpleasant, isn’t it?” I asked Chenzu. The beastkin grumbled before peeling off the hugging pixie. “Could you move Mandi for me? I won’t slam you with any killing intent.”
“You’re doing all of this with just killing intent alone,” Chenzu said as he leapt off the roof next to the small young woman. “Without being a warfighter, no desire to kill, and is in fact the opposite, preferring peace.”
“I’ll do what’s necessary,” I said. “But the constant quest for immortality magicians kill each other over isn’t for me. In the end, they will never truly be satisfied and the hunger for power will keep going. Instead of doing that, I’m just going to enjoy this new life granted to me. Build and progress my own projects so that they’ll actually help people. Maybe make me a little gold on the side.”
I didn’t expect the unfiltered truth running out of my mouth to actually trigger anyone’s resolves, I was just talking to Chenzu like any good buddy. But a light awakened in Milia, her eyes widening and then expression softening. Smiling at me, she forced herself to stand, which appeared to be far easier this time. The difference between this attempt and the others was that aura didn’t blast from her body. It retracted instead, flowing internally and with mine, putting up no fight.
I figured the technique out when fighting the Black Knight, but didn’t realize it at the time. He was realms higher, yet couldn’t restrain me. I originally thought I’d gotten lucky.
Grinning, I aimed a hand at the dryad and fired a weak baseball-sized Dragon Magic Burst. She sidestepped and continued toward me.
Instead of aiming at her, I aimed at Harmony and fire three. Two at her side and one directly at her.
“Dammit, Nate!” she snapped as she got blown backward.
“No special treatment,” I said. Originally, I didn’t target Harmony on purpose just to see if she’d get complacent. Like any human being, she did. Milia walking easily through my killing intent distracted the teenager, but hopefully would give her something to think about.
Milia reached me, accepting my hand, before that became a hug.
“I must meditate in the spiritual room,” she said, kissing me before hurrying off.
“You’re amazing, Milia, and good luck,” I called after her. “Oh, and keep in mind that the technique may not work on true monsters, those many, many realms above even myself.”
Turning to the others, who still struggled, I smiled. “Learn from that. Think hard. But I won’t give any hints. Or, you may want to duck, Nuwa.”
I fired at her and to my surprise, she actually listened. I applauded her. “You may take three free steps. If you can.”
I blasted Lucas into Harmony. Well, at her side, but he had quite the goofy landing. The two teenagers glared at each other, then laughed.
“Come on, you two,” I said. “Or will Mandi be the only one of my apprentices capable of solving this riddle?”
I glanced at the hero’s party and to my surprise, Kelvin was far ahead of the others, moving at a relaxed pace. I fired eight Dragon Magic Bursts at him in a flurry to make them somewhat annoying to dodge. He jumped over one, ducked under another, and sidestepped more.
“Woo! That’s what I’m talking about,” I said as I clasped his hand. “Take a break over there.”
I removed the killing intent. He thankfully ran to the bushes as far away as possible before puking up his lunch.
“Nate… How the hell are you emitting this kind of power continuously?” Chenzu asked as he peeled two apples, passing one to Cheetara and the other to Wolverine. He tossed a whole apple to Beakwing, who chomped it down in a few snaps. The eagle-like creature purred, then returned to his rest.
“Come on, Lucas, you’re getting used to it,” I said. “Yes, go Harmony, go! And you may want to jump.”
She couldn’t. However, Lucas knew I was addressing them both and jumped over the energy ball. He couldn’t dodge the follow-up ball that was hidden behind the decoy.
“What? Is life unfair?” I asked, tilting my head, smiling. Kelvin returned after rinsing his mouth with water from a flask. Or what I decided to assume was water, though I didn’t see the man in the tavern much, if at all. “Come on, you two, get it together. Or you’ll be running fifty laps tomorrow.”
Ramon Thunderblade was the next to start moving. Unfortunately, I blasted him back with a flurry just as difficult as Kelvin’s, but no more. He couldn’t complain either, having watched Kelvin’s attempt, learning nothing from it.
“You call that an attempt, hero?” I snapped, pushing the killing intent intensity beyond my max briefly, focusing it on him. I quickly lowered it back to the max, wiping the blood that oozed from my nose. Electricity sparked from my saint aura a few times, as if I was a Dragon Ball character that reached Super Saiyan Two. Fortunately, the effect didn’t last long. As cool as it looked, I had no idea why that happened, nor if it was a good or bad thing.
The dawning of understanding appeared in Iris and Maxus’s eyes, and soon they were dodging the flurries, only to meet the same fate as Ramon, blasted back to the beginning.
“Oh, so close,” I said, then sneered at them. “Learn to crawl before you walk! Kelvin’s something else, having used his instincts to dodge. Even though it was unnecessary, since he had already passed my test. However, with anyone else that attempts to brute force without learning anything, know that getting here will be nearly impossible. What? Did you think I let Milia make it here for free? That woman’s a real genius.”
My eyes widened as Lucas roared, retracting all of his aura into himself. Flames burst around him briefly before also vanishing. Soon he walked casually toward me. I subjected him to quadruple the Dragon Magic Bursts that I gave Kelvin. I only decoy-trapped one, but the brilliant fucker avoided them all.
However, one almost got him until something unexpected happened. Harmony, under the full assault of my killing intent, leapt in front of the half-dwarf, tanking the attack with her own magic bolt.
“You both passed,” I said. “You both passed on the level of stardom, like Mandi. I’m proud of you.” I looked at the gaping audience. “I didn’t say teamwork wasn’t allowed. Harmony not only figured out how to break the killing intent in a split second, but she also reacted instantly to save Lucas from losing all of his progress. Honestly, Harmony… performed the best.”
I gently released the two from my killing intent just in case they’d experience a feeling of vertigo.
“Remember, this is training to stand up to the Lord Ruler,” I said. “Every bit of it is important. More important than anything you’ve learned. This is helping me too, pushing me to mold my aura into something, though I’m not sure what. Perhaps making it denser.”
Ronica was next to move, and I made sure the twerp got the course as difficult as possible with several decoys.
When Ramon himself actually moved in to help her, though significantly slower than Harmony, I halved the assault. Both of them made it to me. The others followed through, helping each other, tanking the energy balls with their own magic until at last all made it, including Alexander. Alexander did manage to stand and move a few steps, but rather than let him collapse, Iris helped him through. I sent a good barrage at her too, but she managed to dodge them all and tank any that strayed too close to the kid. Not that I’d hit him. They were decoy balls.
“I’m impressed,” I said as I retracted my killing intent. “Take a break and meditate on this. I can feel all of you breaking through.”
Mandi was back up by this time, working vigorously on some charm. I walked over to her.
“You were the first to pass and inspired the others,” I said, which gained the smile I hoped for. Being the person that passed out wouldn’t feel great to anyone. “Keep up the good work, kid.”
The others congratulated her too. Harmony hugged her friend.
[Mandi received 10 contribution points.]
[Harmony received 5 contribution points.]
I silently thanked the system for being kind to the teenagers. To sweeten the pot, I also awarded both of them the final contribution point I could give for the week.
[You received 5,000 spirit coins. Number of spirit coins: 69,901. Heavenly spirit coins: 3.]
Nice! If the system kept rewarding me like this, it wouldn’t be long before I could finally start purchasing some of the more expensive options from the MMABS. With this many spirit coins, I may be considered one of the richest people in the kingdom, that was, if this wasn’t exclusively traded by magicians and businesses catering only to them.
[Master Nate Sullivan, will you accept the hero’s party as disciples? You have rejected their apprenticeships, as it would require them to learn your trade. Disciples, however, are followers of you, your ideas, your laws, to say the least. You do not have to answer this prompt now, but accepting this could mean becoming an unofficial clan. If so, contribution points will no longer be tracked by your system, but each individual. They will also become automated, awarded for achievements only. You become only partially responsible for a few rewards.]
“Training’s not over yet,” I announced, “but this one will be for the hero’s party only. Wolverine, Cheetara, I’d like you to help the apprentices practice for a while.”
I pulled out an energy potion and they watched in increasing nervousness, perhaps horror, as I consumed the entire bottle.
“What are you planning?” Kelvin asked.
“You’d like to stand up to the Lord Ruler, so here’s the deal,” I said. “All of you will take me on at once.”
“Wha—”
The words died in Nuwa’s mouth as I cranked my killing intent up to the max.
“Two hits on me to win, that’s it,” I said as I blocked Kelvin’s sneak attack with a finger. “Oh man, I was afraid no one would volunteer to be knocked into the forest.”
“Huh—aghhhhhhhh!”
I grabbed him and effortlessly threw him somewhere into the forest. The others gaped at me, but before anyone of them could pull their heads out of their asses, I blurred, appearing behind Nuwa.
“Bye!”
“Wait!” she said as the energy in my hand flickered into existence, blowing her away a moment later.
Finally, they all mobilized into action, Ramon attempting to direct them.
“Come on, now! Are you trying to stand up to the Lord Ruler, or do you hope he falls asleep while hauling you guys away like cattle?” I said.
Ramon activated his hero’s soul. Or at least he tried to, but I emerged from his shadow to knock him out. I didn’t really hit him, just the space next to his head. The shockwave carried enough power to carve out a section of the forest, but at the last second, I directed my punch in a way for it to curve upward. The point still reached the hero, his sweat and trembling visible.
“The hero’s soul is more of a hindrance than a buff,” I said coldly. “You fall into the habit of relying on it. Train it, but let it be your ultimate.”
The hero’s party all summoned their spell books.
“One more thing, if all of you are knocked away, the training exercise ends for the day and you will meditate,” I said. “Right, Yukihara?”
This time, I unleashed my saint aura into the mix. The earth began to shake, though I didn’t intend for that.
The twerp made the first move, unleashing streams of pink lightning. I countered it with blood lightning, using fingers to wield it, similar to how the Black Knight asshole had. As much as I didn’t want to come across as arrogant as that guy, using my fingers to direct this spell was easier than full palm. Full palm was perfect for blasts. Big blasts especially.
Lucas couldn’t focus on meditating, not with this level of power being thrown around casually. His mind reeled, eyes as wide as saucers as he watched as Nate essentially dismantled the hero’s party singlehandedly. Honestly, the boy didn’t think something like this would be possible. Sure, in a duel, Nate would be unmatched, but to take on all of them. This… this was unreal, absurd.
Wanda’s wiggly tush, master magicians were truly frightening.
Nate easily dodged all of their attacks, some of his movements appearing as blurs and afterimages. Lucas pushed his mind to its limits to keep up with the man, to learn as much as possible, but a lot of the things Nate did followed no expectations. He was… unpredictable.
Like as Maxus rushed to deliver a dagger strike that should’ve connected, only to fall into a hole that Nate stomped into existence.
Lucas reforged his resolve to make his master proud.
Eventually, Nate delivered the final blow, sending Iris to the ground.
“Training exercise is over,” Nate announced. “Meditate now, learn from this. Don’t just focus on me, but think about what you could’ve done better. Think about why I can take the momentum of your attacks and send it back at you. Bring those realms up. Milia’s coming out of the spiritual room. Feel free to use it today. And no, I’m not going to charge you.”
Rather than look offended, there was reverence in the eyes of the hero’s party, Lucas could tell. For the first time in their lives, they had a real teacher, someone far stronger than they could’ve possibly imagined.
Lucas knew something that they didn’t. Or perhaps they did, which was why they seemed to ogle him.
In taking down the hero’s party, Nate barely used any of his power. However, the single spell he used, the blood lightning, was to counter Ronica’s bizarre pink lightning. He didn’t send the tiny woman on a trip to the forest, but mostly because she switched to being defensive.
That allowed Nate to easily exploit her movements, which seemed extra sluggish compared to Nate. Downright sloppy.
“I hope you four were paying attention,” Nate said to Lucas and the other apprentices. Wolverine and Cheetara ran up to him excitedly.
“You’re right, it’s time for lunch,” he said to the spirit beasts.
End of Phase 3…
