“All of you…” Serith exhaled, shaking her head with the weary patience of a scolding parent.
Amei seized her arm, urgency shining in her pink eyes. “We can spare just a single action, can’t we? If even three talents could access their Inner World, the security of my territory and yours would be assured.”
“A private match,” Serith decided at last, and Amei’s eyes lit with renewed hope. “The others will come as guards. I’ll inform the Elder.”
Her swift agreement startled me. Perhaps Amei’s plea carried more influence than I’d realized. The idea of them teaching others my cultivation method didn’t unsettle me much, though I couldn’t help but worry a little. Spreading my powers to them, then them to others… What changes could that lead to?
Still, if everyone wielded similar powers, the balance shouldn’t tip too far. True, those with real talent would advance further as long as they trained relentlessly, but that was the way of things in any case.
Even so… I only hoped they’d ask when the time came to bypass the original teacher. For now, I stayed silent.
“That will only be a good enough excuse for a couple of weeks,” Serith continued, her voice measured. “By then, whatever knowledge you need should be secured. After that, what the denizens of territories choose to do no longer concerns us.”
Sei grinned, shaking his head with unshakable confidence. “That’s no problem. I’m a genius.” Then he turned toward me, his gaze sharp. “And in return…”
I hadn’t requested anything, but refusing him outright seemed foolish.
“Protection,” he declared.
That… wasn’t exactly something I lacked. Still, indulging him wouldn’t cost me anything, and keeping someone of his caliber could only help. “Right. So, when do we head back?”
“Mei wants to take you shopping,” Sei said, his eyes brightening feverishly as he launched into a list. “Then I want her to meet her mother. Then we should show you more of the food here, and—”
“A day,” Amei cut him off before his enthusiasm carried him further. She turned to Serith. “I’m guessing it won’t take much longer to prepare.”
Serith only nodded, her expression unreadable, while Sei strode closer, resting a firm hand on my shoulder.
“So then it’s settled. Mei and you will rematch, and I will become your master.”
I narrowed my eyes, rifling through memory. At no point had I agreed to call him my master in any official sense.
“Instructor,” I corrected evenly. “And don’t forget. I’ll be teaching you as well.”
He shook his head with unyielding conviction. “Master and student relationships often work this way. If the master refuses to learn, he stagnates. And besides, your other master is the one who told me to seek you out.”
He’s talented at spouting nonsense, Wyrem muttered. It may not be such a bad idea to humor him.
Ignoring the worm’s commentary, my eyes widened. “Griffith asked you to come?”
Sei inclined his head. “At first I went to him with my questions, but he told me to speak with you instead.” His eyes flicked upward, as though distracted by a distant thought, before he murmured, “Though I imagine he has plenty of secrets of his own.”
I didn’t doubt it. Griffith had been the one to uncover the path to an Elemental Essence. At least in part. Extreme exposure. I still wondered just how deep beneath the earth he buried himself to forge his own.
“Tomorrow then,” Amei interjected firmly. “Be ready by tomorrow evening.”
There was a strain in her voice, a weight that hinted at the confession she carried. With a brisk wave, she and Serith stepped away, vanishing through another opening.
“Well?” Sei called out, his gaze fixed on me.
I squinted. “‘Well’ what?”
“Do you want to continue? There’s plenty more I could—”
I shook my head before his rambling could spill further. It wasn’t that I didn’t need more combat training, but right now, other priorities pressed heavier on my mind.
“I’ll resume my cultivation,” I said, steadying my tone, “then we can go again if you like, but it may already be morning by then.”
Sei pressed a hand to his chin, feigning deep thought. “The big guy said you might not even be available… How about this? You finish up… take a bath—”
I clenched my jaw, irritation threatening to surface, but forced myself to let it pass.
“Aaand, then we fight again. Maybe you could even show me that strange energy of yours,” he finished with an eager gleam.
Somehow, the arrangement he proposed felt tilted entirely in his favor. And there had been that one moment during the fight that still gnawed at me. The pull I felt. It wasn’t a sensation I was eager to experience again.
“Did you use Extraction on me during the fight?” I asked flatly.
He only smiled, sly and evasive, and gestured toward the door. “We should head back if you want to train. I don’t know what it is you’re using, but I prefer not being cut off from the natural world when I practice with energy.”
That aligned with the home he chose for himself, nestled deep within nature. Though truthfully, I wasn’t convinced it made much difference. At least it would be quieter out there. And if he didn’t want to share his secrets, I wouldn’t press. He was strong enough to refuse me outright.
We walked together a short way until he offered a casual wave and went off, leaving me in solitude once more.
Things seemed to have worked out, Luna’s voice echoed softly in my mind.
I nodded and exhaled a long, weighted breath. Yeah… but now everything might grow far more complicated.
It was bound to eventually, Wyrem muttered, pragmatic.
I returned to the stone I had been using before and lowered myself onto it, giving the two a quiet warning. I’m going to finish my purification. Nothing dangerous has ever happened, but the transformation can be a bit drastic. But, don’t be alarmed.
Alright, Luna answered, her tone cautious.
I closed my eyes, sinking inward, following the process that had become second nature by now. The end was near. Little by little, my Internal Force carved away the last stubborn impurities, thinning the barriers that prevented Body Refinement.
And yet… something was wrong. I couldn’t isolate the where purification was occurring. It was obvious before. The skin, then the muscles. But now? It seemed woven through every part of me. Muscles, organs, skin, and even bones. No section was spared.
And considering I had already purified two of those regions, the situation only deepened my confusion.
Suddenly, a shift.
A tremor rumbled through me as the final Partial Core dissolved.
Then came the heat.
“Ah—”
“ARRRGH!”
It was as though molten magma erupted through my veins, coursing from fingertips to toes, burning a path up my spine. My bones felt as if they were dissolving, liquefying under the impossible heat.
And then the truth struck me with the merciless pain.
Blood.
It was my blood that was transforming.
And I could feel it all. Every drop ignited in torment, each pulse of circulation another wave of fire. My eyes flew open, instinctively trying to resist, but the process was inescapable.
“Rnnngh…” The scream lodged in my throat, reduced to guttural grunts as I toppled onto the ground, clutching fistfuls of grass. My nails tore into the soil, fists clenched so violently my knuckles whitened.
Even my mind began to fracture beneath the strain, as though cracks split open inside my skull. A low, indistinct ringing filled me, an echo that only amplified the pain.
My vision blurred, and I prayed for what I knew was coming—the merciful numbness of unconsciousness.
My plea was answered.
The world dissolved, smearing into black.
#
It had been years of accompanying him. He examined, prodded, studied, but nothing tangible ever came of it. I’m certain he understood, as the others had before him, that I could be placed at the core of his power. Yet he never did.
When he departed on his journeys, leaving us in the pouch we shared at his side, my companions remained silent. It was then that everything changed.
Before this man named Kazriel, the strange creature without horns, had a simple life. He was carefree, wandering from world to world, reveling in the vast mosaic of creation. I do not know whether the rest of my kin could see as I did, witness and feel the majesty of the cosmos, but in time it mattered less.
It had been too long since anyone had lifted me from stillness, rescuing me from the edge of madness and eternal slumber. Sometimes I wonder if he even realized I was here, imprisoned in this seed-like husk that once belonged to my body.
I like to think that is why he never used me as others had.
But all things end. He did. And so do I.
I watched him age, the mortal shell weathering with time, yet his essence never seemed to alter. At times, he could be merciless. Extinguishing entire species without hesitation, his gaze cold, his actions without remorse.
And yet there was compassion too. Even what might be deemed atrocities were often tethered to purpose.
He always returned to defend his home world, to shield his people, ensuring their survival. He never intervened too far, save when calamity demanded it.
Then he would leave again. And I, bound to him, would follow.
It was only when his enemies conspired, striking in the moment of his absence, that their cruelty revealed itself fully. They cloaked themselves too well. They were merciless.
When we returned, we found nothing but smoldering ruin. A sea of ash and embers stretched where life had thrived. His kind, the animals, plants, and kin were all obliterated without distinction. His wife, his children, his grandchildren, and futher—entire generations had been erased.
His rage was a force I could almost comprehend, though mine was but an echo. He had lived longer, poured more time, more care into his people. For me, the annihilation had been just my people. For him, it was everything. The world in its entirety was ruined.
Age became an adversary to conquer. Mortality, a shackle to break. And people, a weapon to wield.
Only I remained, left adrift in the haunting shadow of a single form. Eyes that saw everything. Eyes that pierced through all concealment.
Perhaps it was better this way.
The screams had grown unbearable. What began as indifference twisted into delight. Suffering became entertainment. Affection turned into domination.
Even after vengeance was wrought, the path to return was forever sealed.
His enemies bound in eternal torment. His blood spread wide, inextinguishable. Only one had escaped. Golden radiance threating to ruin chains with creation.
So I waited. Sat in silence, and in time, he grew tired of me. Or perhaps there was some remnant buried deep within me that allowed him to cling to the former identity. But I doubted it. So he stored me here. Surrounded by eyes of another of his remnants.
This is all I am now.
A prize.