My body slipped into a molten bath. Flesh, exposed through damaged scales, are boiled in the molten metal. The pain, sparking through every nerve, overloaded every sensation and burned so brightly that everything became numb.

  “You neglect yourself,” Master stated.

  “I invest more in myself than most others do,” I replied with a wince. “Who else possesses what I do at my level?”

  “Nobody,” Master agreed. “But who is as brittle as you?”

  A thumb, flesh as hard as steel, pressed into my shoulder. It took no effort for him; it was the same as squeezing an egg. The scales gave no resistance. They crumpled and fell away, leaving exposed meat behind to burn in the fires.

  “Your physical form lacks stability. Stats will bolster your form, but it needs more than that. Your vessel will burst when your inner energy is constantly pressing outwards. As you are now, you are not worth fighting, not worth killing.”

  An icy sensation runs through my veins. I could not describe it, but, I imagine it was what despair was meant to feel like. I hadn’t felt such a phenomenon in my life as a man.

  I came here unready, I came here shamefully.

  “Sorry,” I apologized through gritted teeth. “I will try to fix my mistakes.”

  “Unnecessary,” Master denied. “It is the purpose of teachers to correct their student’s mistakes. I have had many students in my time. All with potential for incredible violence. You are one of the few that I have found worthy of appearing in my sanctum and you are the only one to do it in such a condition. That recklessness made you strong, but, like how the sky keeps the birds from flying to the moon, it will also be a what hems you in.”

  His eyes flickered with light and a stack of Sin-Gots appeared on the ground next to the furnace. Their shimmer, the mana that dwelled within; it was easy to tell that they were of the highest grade.”

  “Do not fret,” he assured, lifting one of the black ingots and placing it in the fire. “Everyone is lacking in something.”

  “Your other students, the ones that visited you,” I clarified. “Did they all also develop their own unique styles?”

  “The only student worth teaching is one that desires to forge their own path,” Master said with a nod. “To follow my path precisely is to exist purely and perpetually in my shadow. The ones who adore me most are the ones that are the most blind to this truth. It goes against the teachings I received in my past, but I tend to favor the least filial students. Do you know why?”

  “Because they’d make a fun fight,” I answered.

  A grin crossed Master’s face. I could feel that kindred energy flowing through him. There was only one thing on this planet he loved.

  Fighting.

  “That’s right. I don’t need a useless student that obeys me unquestioningly. I need someone who desires to eclipse my power. I need someone to show me a new fighting style, one that can defeat me. I have plateaued. I need something new to ignite me.”

  “Had any of your students succeeded?”

  “No. They all gave up.”

  The ingot next to him began melting into a molten liquid. He dumped the liquid on my body. Everything tensed up like I was in an ice bath. He raised a fist and smashed it into my chest. His anvil-like fists sent the metal directly into my flesh and skin. Despite the pain, it felt sublime.

  He placed another ingot into the flame and continued to hammer the puddle of metal into my body until in melded in with my body and disappeared.

  “Now, tell me about yours. Does it have a name?”

  “I hadn’t thought about naming it,” I wheezed through my teeth as another dose of metal landed on me. “It isn’t an ability. I just activate [Hoard] and move my stats around depending on the situation that I’m in. I picture it sort of like a sliding scale in my head that I move instantaneously to move, strike, cast, or block with extra power. Outside of that, my type of fighting hasn’t changed much.”

  My arm was jammed into a molten puddle. Consecutive punches hit every single inch of my limb. My muscles melted and reformed themselves; corded like steel cables. My scales formed in the drying metal. Metallic flecks appeared in the black armor.

  A vial of red liquid was dumped down my throat, instantly replenishing my flagging vitality.

  “That’s all?” Master asked with a raise in his eyebrow. “You fought the same way that you started but more efficiently?”

  “You could say it that way,” I responded as my other arm got the same treatment. “I learned some new tricks, facets of my abilities that I didn’t know that I had until I used it at a certain stat level. It’s allowed me more creativity, but I don’t think I’ve done anything else radically different. I prefer face-to-face brawls and that hasn’t changed regardless of everything else I’ve picked up along the way.”

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  “So, the rampage that you’ve been on has been fueled by those principles?” Master questioned with a wary expression.

  “Yes,” I confirmed. “How did you come to your realization?”

  “Hmmmm,” Master thought as his work moved down to my legs. “It occurred so long ago that it is difficult to remember. I recall finding myself frustrated with my elders because they would always embellish their stories. The only kinds of tales they told were with high stakes and higher triumphs. Compared to that world, mine was so mundane.”

  I felt my bones boil like chicken stock as my old flesh fell away. My arms were beginning to harden. I flexed my fingers and felt that they were more responsive. A set of new claws appeared on the tips of my fingers.

  I had forgotten that I used to have claws that prevented my punches from doing anything. I wondered if I should act as Senior Brother had and snapped them off again.

  “Are you going to rip off the claws I have returned to you?” Master asked.

  I paused, looking back towards Master working diligently on my legs. Claws were useful, but punches were more so. If I had to choose one…

  Why did I have to choose one? Were there not already cases in nature where an animal did not have its claws out at all times? Am I not superior to an animal? I can have both.

  I opened up the shop for the first time in a while and tried some different keywords before I found what I was looking for.

  [Retractable Claws].

  It was a cheap purchase, only around 5000XP in cost. Some lower level Boss probably dropped it and a demon down on the bottom rungs were selling it for some pocket change. I wondered if they knew what caliber of demon just purchased it from them.

  I activated the ability and my claws began to slip back into my fingers. It felt like they were disappearing into another realm entirely. I activated it again and they appeared in a split second. It gave my ideas. What would happen if I released my claws when my finger was pressed right up against something?

  A decent sized rock sat on the ground near the workstation. I retracted my claws and placed the tip of my finger right on the surface.

  I release the claws and the knife-like nail plunges directly into the stone. The internal force from the penetration creates a crack in the rock and it splits in half.

  “Ah, that’s how it was for me,” Master said with a sage nod. I felt my tail dissolve. “I was dedicated to the martial arts that I learned when I was a human. The only thing that mattered to me was finding the best way to make it shine. Trial and error, it was all trial and error. I sought out abilities I believed would help it and sold abilities that only made it more complicated.”

  I thought about my own roster of abilities; skills that I earned over my journey here. Were all of them helping me? Like the [Retractable Claws] were there more waiting for me that I could use better?

  “Then, I fell into the reflection pool,” Master continued. “I fought myself for decades. I lost or tied with that mirror of myself for a long time. The worst part of it was that the reflection rarely won through martial arts, it won through beating me with abilities I found to be dishonorable, boring, and unfair.”

  “What abilities were those?”

  “Things that you will see soon enough. It is ironic that my signature ability was one that I had little interest in. However, embracing that part of myself made me several times more effective. People I considered to be my peers were no longer a match for me. Yet, I was still incomplete. This is where I believe that you are.”

  I knew the ability that Master was referring to. [The Great Decay]. It turned my war against my clone into a battle of who would land the first blow. It constantly spoils near-even fights and turns them into a sad finale.

  “Maybe I should sell it,” I wondered aloud. “Someone would spend millions on it.”

  “Billions,” Master corrected. “It’s the equivalent of a signature ability. You are spoiled to not see that and arrogant to believe that it is all you need to win. All it takes is a fight against someone stronger before you realize there is no need to hold back. I once held back and still regret it.”

  “Who did you hold back on?”

  “The Aspect of Wrath,” Master answered.

  My eyes widened and I sat up in the crucible.

  “You fought the Aspect of Wrath?”

  “I did,” he said with a nod. “Two thousand years ago, there were no followers of Wrath, there were just a group of demons that reveled in violence. I was but a fledgling member then. Wrath was the strongest of them. He was a max level long before I even joined. He sat at the threshold to the top and fought anyone that he found worthy. Those that succeeded in impressing him were given his permission to move upwards.

  Then the Alliance of the Eight came and challenged Wrath all at once. One slipped through and conquered the pinnacle. They made new rules, one of which being that any faction leader can progress from anywhere in the realm. The other seven, ready for this, escaped during the fight and ascended, leaving him unsatisfied and bellowing at the sky.”

  “I’d be pissed too,” I agreed with a nod.

  “The warring demons, unsatisfied with the change in status quo and the stripping of the meaning in the journey of the individual, banded together to form a faction that would invade the pinnacle as one. The only issue with battle crazed individuals that need to form to rise, will not tolerate being ruled over by someone weaker than them. We decided to settle it with a one thousand year tournament. Everyone had to face everyone and only the best could ascend.”

  “How did you do?” I asked eagerly.

  That was a beautiful concept; an endless tournament where new demons are constantly joining. You had to conquer everyone in order to reach the peak. Fighting for one thousand years with only the strongest available. That was a world I would have loved to see.

  “I emerged as one of the top four. I felt proud of my accomplishment and I also grew arrogant in my standing. I had yet to lose. My next opponent would be Wrath.”

  Once again, I was doused in molten metal. My torso and abdomen received numerous concussive blows. I felt my organs boil their contents and my lungs fill with fire. A belch of heat was forced out of my mouth.

  “I thought that I could face him head to head,’ Master continued. “I didn’t need my tricks because I was the strongest. I would make my victory indisputable and I would be the one to punish those at the top.”

  I sighed. This story did not end in triumph; otherwise, we’d be having this conversation at the pinnacle of the world.

  “How bad was it?”

  “Five moves. He killed me in five moves,” Master answered. “Worse still, he allowed me a rematch saying that I disrespected him by not showing my best. That I needed magic to stand up to him because my soul was weak.”

  “How did that go?”

  “Ten moves,” Master answered. “I never stood a chance. And, as his way of punishment, he made me the blacksmith of the faction. I forge weapons that I proudly announced that I did not need. But, that humbling was what I needed to piece together the rest of my moves. It’s a shame that even that wouldn’t be good enough to win.”

  Master’s story was made to dissuade me. But, all I could feel was unbridled excitement. Even if I had not betrayed him when I did, it was to be inevitable. There was no universe where I did not wish to face him.

  “I will show you the fighting that can kill Wrath.”

  “Pray that you can support those words. I have heard them before.”