Erebos let himself float back to the ground, an awestruck nature to the way he watched the ripple of Ki move. With how often he fought energy users, he didn't find it hard to perceive, but to see it be used in a calm environment and actually understand it was an entirely different sensation. He allowed himself to nod, pretending to have sage insight, and let his finger and thumb rub against his chin.
"I see. Makes sense, makes sense. Now that I've seen you do it, though, should be pretty easy."
Again, he raised his hand, aiming at the same tree. He allowed his breath to be slow and methodical, and slowly, but surely, he could feel the Ki ripple in just the right way. Imperceptible energy escaped from between his fingers. The only issue was he hadn't thought to regulate the output, and so instead of a simple wave, it came out as a violent torrent of shredding winds.
In mere seconds, the tree was gone. A crater took its place, as deep as a foot or more.
"Hm. Can't exactly defend Namek with a technique like that. I'd end up causing more trouble than I'm worth. How do you do it the way you do it?"
Ramen stared at the crater left behind by the unpracticed kiai. While it was impressive enough that the demon had managed to grasp the concept that quickly, it only helped to prove his control was totally lacking. She turned away from him and strode several paces, towards the edge of the hillside. She drove the base of her staff into the hill, lodging it there firmly. Then, she let a spark of ki form at her fingertip, igniting one of the leaves on the staff.
The staff would burn for hours if it needed to: the wood it had been constructed from was a particularly dense and hardy material, unlike anything on Plant. But Ramen didn't intend to let it get that far. It would either burn to the end of the sprouting leaves, or the demon would succeed.
"With control," she stated, entirely unhelpfully. "It's like pulling a punch. If you can limit the strength you use with your body, you can limit the ki you release. It's the same concept, but you'll need to figure out for yourself how it works."
"Practice it as many times as you need to," she said, before gesturing to the staff. "If you can put out the flame without damaging the staff, then I'll consider teaching you a little. If you damage the staff itself, then you're on your own."
She stepped away, folding both hands behind her back. She made sure there was a safe distance between them, before watching the demon. She doubted whether or not he could do it, but the manner in which he failed might be just as enlightening as the success she least expected.
Erebos followed Ramen's movements with razor-sharp attention. Never before had he been so latched to a task set out before him. Not since the age of his earliest days did he follow along with such vigor. It was with careful steps that he walked along her, stepping back as the flame lit itself. Such precision! Sure, he could do that too, but not with Ki!
"Got it. Like pulling a punch."
Now he'd earned his test. His game. If he failed to keep the staff intact, he'd lose his access to her teachings. A high bar indeed, and one that lit his competitive spirit ablaze. He had to do this. For his pride. For his honor. To prove to Ramen that he wasn't some immature titan. That he was Erebos Herosbane: Protector of Namek.
Hey. That sounded pretty good when he put it all together like that. Maybe he was a hero!
The time he took to practice was long and arduous. Slow, careful movement, mimicking the motion a dozen times, before finally aiming a Kiai at a nearby boulder and turning it to dust. A failure, but not one that destroyed the staff. Another chance, then.
So he tried more. Pulling his hand close, pushing it out with an open palm, and breathing slow. The process took what felt like hours, but in truth, was akin to minutes. He could sense the Ki within him moving. Flowing. Breathing. It was much like shadows in that way, now that he thought about it. Not having put much stock into Ki before made him disregard it entirely. It was a living thing within him, and it needed to be cared for.
That thought was what finally unlocked the first step.
He pushed again, and the Kiai released. A sharp crack found itself on the hillside, but it was surface deep. The hill did not buckle, and no splintered rock burst from the scar. A start, but still not calm enough.
"I think I'm getting the hang of this..."
He turned to Ramen, a smile present that he couldn't hide if he wanted to. "So what got you into martial arts, anyway? Family thing, I assume?"
Ramen watched with what appeared to be only mild interest as the demon practiced. In truth, she was studying him far more carefully than he let on: not his attacks themselves, but the way he controlled his energy when he made him. Even if he failed to extinguish the flame, the more important question was whether or not he even had the potential to control his energy in the first place.
Most beings did. But there were some, often among the more naturally gifted aliens of the galaxy, who seemed to lack the basic body discipline to achieve it.
It seemed he was making quick progress, and while his kiai was still far too forceful for the task she had set him on, it was still remarkable improvement in only a matter of seconds. She couldn't tell what was going on inside his head, but she took it that her metaphor had resonated a little more than she'd suspected. "My family were criminals," she stated, bluntly. "Bandits. They preyed on the innocent in the wastes and made common cause with the villains and monsters of Earth. I only took the chance to train as a way to get away from home, and to see the world past that limited viewpoint."
"It became a way of life after that. Even if there were moments where I forsake my lessons."
She paused.
"But that's a matter best left in the past," she stated, with a note of finality in her voice. She wouldn't discuss it any further.
”Sounds like you got off easy.” He huffed out another attempt between each sentence. More cracks in the stone, slowly growing smaller with each strike. ”The title I gave wasn’t for show. Dubious Prince; that’s what they used to call me in my home realm. Demons wouldn’t call themselves criminals, but most mortal folk definitely would.”
He felt a sting of nerve hit him, and the flush of embarrassment. For some reason, this woman of all people was one he wasn’t keen on sharing the fullness of his past with. And yet, with hesitation, he would do so anyways. Giving in to fear here, in this passive environment, would have been a sign of doom to come.
”I’ve killed plenty of folk. Far too many to keep track. Not many of them I enjoyed doing, at least not the way my kin does. They relish in violence. I do too, sometimes, when I’m too in the moment. Makes me worry just how alike I really am to my father and the other horrid offspring he puked from his darkest bits.”
The words brought him back to recent battles. When he lopped off Derry’s arm, he was toying with him. Despite the fact that they were evenly matched he taunted and belittled his foe, and when he struck the final blow he laughed. Surely he would have done the same to Kamae if he’d won that day, no? Did he want that? To lord over his foes like they were cattle to be slaughtered?
”Makes me wonder if our folks would have gotten along.”
Another Kiai, this time, left no mark. No dent or scratch; not even a misplaced stone. Now he’d gone too far in the other direction. Too weak. To find the right space between— that was the goal.
”You can judge me harshly if you wish, by the way. Most do. Not that I don’t have mortal friends, it’s just that…”
He trailed off as another batch of shockwaves came from his hands. Still not exact. The problem he was facing was this inner turmoil. Not knowing who he wanted to be, or whether or not he was ashamed of his past in the first place. Maybe that was why his Ki couldn’t be controlled.
"Another demon prince," Ramen remarked, in a lazy tone. "How many princes and princesses does the Demon Realm need?"
She fell silent for a moment, again studying the demon as he spoke. He seemed conflicted, that much was obvious--but there wasn't much she could do for him. She knew full well from her own experiences that when you fell down that path, the only thing that could really pull you out was your own resolve. The best anyone else could do was provide a little push in the right direction.
"You can be as different or as similar to your father as you want. It's your choices which matter, and your choices which will matter. Don't overestimate the importance of blood or heritage. Too many people have spiraled off-course in some delusion that their birthright in some way dictated their destiny."
"If you don't want to be like him, and if you don't want to relish in violence--then don't." It sounded simple, but Ramen knew it was a little more complicated than that. "Discipline your mind just as you discipline your body. You'll only ever reach your potential as a warrior when you're not only sure of movement, but sure of spirit as well."
"The Demon Realm's big. Each quadrant has about a dozen claimants to the throne of their region. Some claim to rule the whole place, and other decree themselves rulers of aspects. My father is King of Blood. I'm... Dubious."
The words Ramen spoke, however simple, seemed to be exactly what Erebos needed to hear. Similar enough to his own philosophy, but in a new light. Somehow, he knew all those things, but never acted on them.
In a very odd way, this was the final step.
His Kiai sent itself out as he was about to speak, and nothing came of it. No crack in the stone. No shifted rubble. Nothing but a blade of grass. Was this it? Was it the right force? He turned to the staff, and, for the first time in centuries, felt anxiety in his chest. Butterflies, twisted gut-- whatever you could think of, he felt it.
"I... Okay. Here goes."
A deep breath. Eyes closed. Fist pulled back. Feel the Ki and let it flow. From the deepness of his chest to the tips of his fingers. His heart, quick and excited, calmed down, and he exhaled.
He thrust his hand out, and the flame was snuffed.
Erebos stood there for a moment in stunned silence. Did he do it? Blinking rapidly to ensure there was no trickery afoot, Erebos rubbed his face anxiously, and smiled.
"I... I think I got it!" Turning to Ramen, his smile grew. "And you said you weren't mystical. Whatever magic your words weaved definitely worked. Intentional or no."
"Dubious," she repeated. "If I were you, I would throw away the prince title entirely. Titles born from birthright tend to do little more than inspire envy in others, and misplaced ego in their holders."
Over the years, Ramen had met princes before. She had all too much experience with what could happen to them when they felt their birthright had been denied to them, as it so often was: without the power to back it up, nothing could force powerful warriors to pay any heed to titles or honorifics passed down by blood.
The days of royal families and noble blood meaning anything had passed long ago, whether anyone cared to realize it or not.
She lidded her eyes momentarily, as if to offer Erebos a little more privacy as he took on the prescribed task finally. When she opened her eyes again, the flame had been extinguished as she'd instructed. She was at least a little surprised, but she did a good job of concealing it.
"Good," she finally said. "If you can learn control that quickly, then you'll have no trouble learning to control your energy as a whole. My own power won't impress you in the slightest, but--"
She let out a sharp breath, and allowed her energy to bubble to the surface. In mere moments, and at the appearance of a flickering crimson aura, her power increased a dozen-fold, leaving her far closer to her true maximum than she had been before.
"Like this."
Ramen raises her PL to 12,000 (40% still suppressed).
Erebos stood up straight, cracking a few fingers absentmindedly as Ramen revealed some of her power. He'd felt a glimpse when she first attacked his home, but comparing it to what he'd been sensing all this time, it was almost a different beast entirely! The Shadowmancer nodded, genuinely impressed at the act.
"Talk about fancy." He whistled, tapping his chin as if he were recalling something. "Come to think of it, I run into a lot of folks who hide their power like you. Only normally they shut it out completely. Usually I just assume they're strong enough to take seriously in that case."
Perhaps it was as simple as she meant it. Maybe this whole spirit power thing as a concept was just more straight forward than he realized. That, or his particular school of magic made it easy to use properly. Either way, if Ramen said he was making good progress, that was enough for him.
"I can kinda do it, but its either this or max juice." He tensed his muscles, and suddenly the fullness of his Kili came forth. Dark waves of energy wisping off in thick, foreboding clumps. The purple aura revealed his maximum output, or at least, how much he could exert without endangering himself.
As he thought that, however, he did feel a slight sting in his chest. It seemed unleashing his full power was feeding the leech. How unfortunate. With a sigh, he calmed down, allowing his power to return to its resting point.
"So, in theory, if I try the same thing I did with my attack, but with my whole body, I could kinda... Do what you do with your Ki?"
Base Form (x5) briefly activates, raising power to 450,000, before dropping back to 90,000
Apr 6, 2024 1:21:15 GMT -5
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