“So,” He said. “You survived.”

  My mind bnked and for once, I decided to forgo all filters. To just let myself… be.

  “That’s it? You send me to hell and nearly get me killed and that’s all you have to say? You survived?”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “The conversation has just started.”

  “Fuck you.”

  The words came out of me like a whip, hatred searing the sides but my emotions were still too complicated. They didn’t have the right heat, the right anger. But I couldn’t even tell if I was angry, or, rather, just angry. I was feeling too much, too overwhelmed. I saw a monster before me, an uncaring and powerful creature, a master dedicated to making me my best regardless of whatever else, a nonchant old man that cared about nothing. I saw it all and made a startingly easy realization.

  “You aren’t a good person… are you?”

  He blinked at that, actually looking surprised for once. And then, to my surprise, he seemed to actually think about the question for a while. When he finally spoke, his words were slow, as if he were trying them out.

  “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever really thought about it. Definitely never been asked the question. Hmm. Well, I guess it depends on person? I like to think I’m mostly good. More the ‘end justifies the means’ kind of guy if I’m being honest though.”

  Now anger took hold.

  “You could have warned me! You could have told me, prepared me, let me get stronger! There was a fucking level [7] rat the moment I ended up there! I only survived by luck and miracles-”

  “Wrong.”

  “What?”

  “You were level [3] when you left. No one survives down there like that purely by luck. Regardless of anything else, you earned your survival. Be proud of that Mutai.”

  “What is even with you?! You don’t, how can you even, say that? You don’t care about anything and then you try to tell me to be proud? You nearly got me killed! I could have died, so many times, and you barely did anything to help me! I was barely as strong as a teenager and you threw me into the sewers.”

  “I told you. You didn’t have enough dissatisfaction. Enough pressure. Tell me Mutai. Truly. How does power feel now? Do you still feel the same about it as you did when you left?”

  I wanted to yell and shout and scream at him but the words bit into the core of what I’d realized long ago. Burning embers of vengeance were great in the long term, I’d always want to kill and rip apart Vega until he’s a bleeding wreck on the ground, torn to pieces. But…

  “I need it.”

  I needed it. I needed it so badly it was like I was starving and dehydrated and delirious. I needed it right the fuck now. I needed it like I needed air. With it I’d never have nearly died to a giant rat and then a horde of them. Never gotten diseased and poisoned and lived in fear of anything finding me. Never nearly had my heart stop at every sound, smell, and movement. Never had to eat raw, disgusting rat. Never had to dive in shit to escape an explosion, even while my body was boiled in it. Even when I’d been rexing with Ragual, the thought had pgued me. The month where my power level had actually gotten lower had felt like one of the worst hells I’d ever experienced. Losing progress hurt me spiritually to the point I nearly went back to drinking.

  It felt like dying. Losing power felt like dying and not gaining it felt like I was suffocating.

  I needed it.

  “You were getting too strong too fast. You’d have been power level [10] in no time and then sending you there wouldn’t have been a life and death struggle. Not unless I just wanted to kill you, that is.”

  “Why didn’t you do more? Even if you don’t care about anything, about me, it’s been so long. You couldn’t have known I was coming back.”

  He snorted.

  “You’re talking like I see you as an investment. I suppose I do but Mutai. You’re my disciple. You’ll never grow strong being protected. You needed that experience, you needed to barely survive. You might’ve died, I even thought you’d probably die, but you’d never be strong enough without it. You couldn’t beat Vega like you were, so I did what I had to. I do a lot of that.”

  I gred at him. My blood felt like it was boiling as my heart sputtered between ice cold and lukewarm rage. My lost arm and destroyed hand were quickly igniting the fury higher though. The memories, the awful horrible memories, caused them to feel like they were bursting. He had done that to me. This person, this old man, had caused me to experience pain unlike any other. Everything I’d had to endure, he was the cause.

  Which only made me hate that was he right all the more.

  I’d never have been ready to let go and let my family no longer just be a source of pain if I hadn’t ended up on death’s door. That alone had me nearly ready to forgive him. It was a form of relief in my soul that I’d have done anything to have. Even now, remembering the smiling faces of my mother and father seemed to calm me like a balm to the soul.

  I’d learned so much. Broken my limits, pushed harder than I thought I could, I wasn’t the same Mutai as I was before. He’d have died. He’d have died a lot.

  I tried to stop, to really think about it, to focus. I closed my eyes, even the sight of the man making me want to punch him to death. And as soon as I did, another realization struck me like lightning.

  I couldn’t do what he had done.

  I could never send a power level [3] into a pce where [7] was common, there was no real food, where water had been a lucky break, and monsters in the same range as [15] wandered. That was death.

  “How many others have you killed like me before?”

  I wasn’t his first student. I might not even be the st if this was the degree of ‘training’ he had in store for me. Like always, Master was always honest I’d found. Or at least answered questions fully.

  “Too many.”

  My heart felt crushed. Had some of those skeletons I’d seen been other disciples? I hadn’t agreed to this, to be trained by an uncaring monster of a madman. Callous. That was the word. He was so damn callous all the damn time. He didn’t really care whether I lived or died. He’d lost empathy somewhere along the way. Or at least most of it. He only cared about goals, both mine and his. His strongest form of caring was simply doing everything he could to help me accomplish my goals and I wasn’t convinced it wasn’t entirely just for his own revenge.

  I looked at him and felt disgust roll into me. This was what revenge with no empathy was like, what vengeance without happiness was. It was a stark lesson. I’d kill Vega, I’d do anything to kill Vega, but I’d never become master. I’d be stronger than that. I’d never discard empathy and kindness.

  I took a deep, deep breath.

  He was a monster but he would push me more than anyone else ever would. He would run the deadly edge between growing me in every single way I could, and killing me. He’d either have me break my limits or die trying.

  I could live with that. I’d do anything if it meant getting strong enough to kill Vega. Even being trained by this… awful person.

  “I think you’re evil.” I said.

  “Some people have said that before. You’re not the first.”

  Those damn eyes of his, nearly empty. That cold pit of steel and ice went deep.

  I sighed.

  “I need your help.” It was true. In more ways than one. He was dedicated to making me able to kill Vega? To kill this mysterious enemy of his? Fine. Even if it killed me, no it wouldn’t. I’d survive, I’d endure, I’d grow stronger, and I’d take everything he could throw at me and more. I’d break through and rid this world of that monster, even if I had to work with monsters to do it.

  “Now those,” He said. “Are the eyes of a Warrior. Now come on. It’s chilly out here. You’ve been gone for six months and we need you back in shape to continue our training. I’d thought you’d be stronger though. How did you even lose your arm?”

  “Oh.” I said, as I walked into the Dojo, passing him by. “That was from when I used Ki.”

  Master froze, unmoving, as I passed him and headed toward the healing tank. It was a long few seconds before he suddenly appeared in front of me, eyes staring at me with more emotion than I’d ever seen on his face.

  “What.”

  I smirked.

  “You can learn all about it… after you heal me.”

  *****

  The one known as Master sat in his room, brows furrowed in concentration. He couldn’t understand. There was no way Mutai should’ve been able to use Ki.

  He’d tried to force it out of him but couldn’t. Mutai had been frustratingly stubborn about not giving him what he wanted till after he was healed. The boy had grown a spine down in the depths but now there were certain consequences of sending a young man to a death zone. Such as this.

  Truthfully, he had already prepared for Mutai to die. He hadn’t been simply waiting these st six months but regardless of his searches, he hadn’t found anyone with the same potential. Not a surprise. He only found someone like that roughly every five years.

  But now he was back with an outndish story. Ki? That wasn’t… possible.

  “This is serious. Life and death.”

  Mutai snorted.

  “It’s been over a month now. Pretty sure it can wait till I’m healed. Hopefully you can help with my lost power level too.”

  “Your what?”

  The man felt a headache coming on.

  “It’s not… how could he…”

  Ki was the life source of every being. Everything had it. But it was a completely different thing to use it. Yes, some things could use it at birth. That wasn’t that surprising. The problem is, those beings were born above power level [25]. Almost always. Some prodigies beyond prodigies could use it earlier but never below [10]. That was impossible.

  That was like paper surviving a jet engine, even for a second.

  Ki was the very power of your essence. Your body, mind, and soul as one. They fed into each other but primarily needed the container, the body, to achieve higher heights. Power level was measuring your essence in effect. The amount of Ki you were empowered by.

  It’s no wonder Mutai lost a power level, he didn’t have the power level needed to generate ‘spare’ Ki. He would’ve had to pull from his essence itself. He’d only seen that done through sacrificial rituals before but never through a man simply willing it.

  It was the equivalent of hearing about a person who’d set their own arm on fire and unched it like a rocket, just by thinking about it.

  He’d used his own soul as kindling.

  But it still didn’t make sense. That shouldn’t have been possible. Mutai broke a dozen different rules of Ki by doing that. Hell, he only knew of three real ways to lower power level and this wasn’t one of them.

  “It seems… I may have found the one this time.”

  The man simply known as Master sat and thought, his mind spinning, dozens, hundreds of different pns coming together and being discarded in an instant. He had been around for a long time. He’d trained many, many people for a long time. Many died, unable to take it. Many left, no longer wishing to pursue their own goals. Killing Vega wasn’t even a new one.

  “If he can take it… no. He must be able to take it. That’s the only way. Hardship breeds strength. And he’s going to need all the strength in the world and more.”

  The Master’s eyes hardened until they were like the burning coals of hell and even in his sleep, floating in a healing tank, Mutai shivered.

  Warix_Viviana