What does it take to truly become strong?
Kai initially thought that he had what it takes to pursue power so that he would never be tormented and bullied ever again. If he didn't have what it takes, it's fine. He would supply it by never giving up.
But all of that was only the rage talking.
Blind emotion that doesn't really know how hard it is to become stronger.
He is now making his first step to become who he wanted to be, and yet, the pain he was feeling right now exceeded anything that had ever happened in his entire life. It was simply excruciating.
Crack—!
Tears wetted his face as his right humerus broke.
The Perfect Slash is a fragment of Noxian's name. His power. And he achieved this strength through countless years of training and perseverance. Kai could benefit from that, but to make use of it, he needed to feel the intense training of a hundred years condensed into this one moment.
Five seconds in, Kai already struggled to hold the katana steady.
Both his arms were hot; his muscles were strained beyond the limit, and torn apart.
And a few seconds later, the katana slipped from his hands.
Clank—!
"Raaargghk!!"
Kai crumpled to the ground, bending forward, and pressed his forehead against the hard surface under the shallow water. His arms were now mangled. Flesh torn and bones broken, splintering through his skin to create a bloodied mess.
However, it wasn't his arms that made him scream the most.
It was his mind.
Learning to master the Perfect Slash utilized the House of Night's power—and he felt like his mind was being melted while he remained conscious. He wanted to hold his head, to provide any form of liberty from the pain, but he couldn't.
All he could do was scream as loud as he could and press his forehead harder.
His voice turned hoarse, and he tasted blood in his mouth.
But the pain in his mind was simply too much, and he couldn't stop screaming.
"Keep recalling the thing that keeps you going," Noxian sounded concerned. He could see that Kai wasn't taking it as well as he expected. "Never let go. If you do, the night will devour you whole."
Kai kept recalling his sister.
Her smile. Her voice. Everything good about her.
He felt something embracing him from behind. He felt her touch as she wrapped her arms around him, providing him with the strength he needed to continue. Even in death, she's still here with him.
Before Kai knew it, the pain receded, and he could sit back up again.
Just then, he finally saw the notification that hovered before him.
[Perfect Slash Ending Mastery: 2% / 100%]
"All that for 2%...?" Kai looked down at the katana, then to his mangled arms. More tears slid down his cheeks. "It hurts… It really hurts. Can I do this? Do I even want to continue? Can I even continue?"
"Use the night to heal your arms," Noxian instructed. "As long as you want to keep going, then you can. Once again, this is your place. The night is yours."
Kai looked up at Noxian.
His expression couldn't be seen at all behind the mask.
Has he done this? Has he taught his power to another? He seemed to know a lot.
Considering that Noxian is a Nightborn, one of the countless creatures lurking in this domain, he found it quite odd for Noxian to know this much about his power. It really felt like he had done this before.
That Goddess… She said something about sisters.
Kai was almost certain that one of the sisters also learned from Noxian.
It's the only explanation as to how Noxian knew this much.
One of the stars above glistened brightly when Kai called for the night. A beam of light shone down on him like a spotlight from beyond the galaxy, and under its warmth, Kai could feel his wounds being mended from the inside.
Just a minute later, his arms were back to normal again.
"I can really heal…" Kai mumbled as he tried to clench his hands several times.
His bloodline stated that he's the First Son of the Primordial Night.
Now, at this moment, he really felt like one.
"Are you going to continue?" Noxian's question snapped him out of his daze. There was eagerness behind Noxian's gaze as he waited for Kai to answer. "Do you still want to learn my name?"
"Screw it," Kai grabbed the katana and stood up again. "Let's finish this thing!"
…
"How far are you in unlocking your second Divine Lock?"
"Eh, still far from filling it."
"Same. Maybe in a month? I want to open it quickly, but our quota isn't that much."
A group of three students wearing dirty gold armbands trotted through the forest at a steady, nonchalant speed. Unconcerned. Each was towing a bulging sack that carved trails through the earth behind them.
It was their morning routine for the last week.
Bringing the mined mana ores back to base.
Although it was quite a boring routine, it was far better than the miners'.
At least they had the time to walk and stretch their legs instead of being underground.
"I heard Dragon and Wolf almost open their second Divine Lock already."
"Duh. Those two got twenty percent of the mined mana ores each, and Lion got thirty percent before the remaining mana ores were distributed to the rest of us. It's natural for them to be that fast."
"Someone's jealous," One of them chuckled. "Even if you got the twenty percent, you would not be as fast as them. All of them are High Angels. We, normal Angels, should keep our heads down."
"Like hell. I'm not that far behind them."
"Yeah? What about Matilda? That hottie got the same mana ores as us, but her Divine Lock felt fuller than ours."
Just speaking of Matilda alone made the three blush.
They couldn't stop thinking about her thighs. Many watched her train specifically for the view. She knew about it, but she didn't complain or even show hostility towards them, so she should be fine with it.
"Some of the guys saw Matilda going to Lion's place late in the night."
"Is that even supposed to be a surprise? She's of an enemy team. She probably has no other choice but to obey Lion."
"But I don't see Lion stooping to that. Fighting gets his cock harder than any girl ever could. Wolf likes to talk with animals more than people. Dragon is probably the only one who'd do something li—"
Rustle…
All three of them stopped abruptly.
Since they went through this path every single day, they remembered everything.
From the direction of how the paved road looks to the fact that there are no animals in the area, since they had already hunted all of them down to make the road safer. "It's an ambush!!"
Swoosh—!
A shadow emerged.
It kept very low to the ground, catching them off guard.
Clang—!
One of the students got shoulder-charged by the shadow and was hurled away. He tried to catch himself, but the momentum was too strong. It felt like being hit by a train that was going thirty miles per hour.
Another student blinked and saw that the shadow had a knife.
And with it, the shadow slashed, aiming for his neck.
'I have steel vambraces, you moron," the student sneered and raised his arm to block the knife. His mind already played out what he would do next after blocking the knife. 'I'll make sure to torture you real good, fucke—eh?'
Excruciating pain suddenly assaulted his nerves.
For a second, the student was in a limbo. Something happened, but he did not know what. Then he saw his left arm—the knife had sheared through steel vambrace along with bone, leaving a stump that sprayed blood like a fountain.
"Yaaarghkk!"
He fell down to his knees, screaming while clutching his severed hand.
On the other hand, Kai quickly grabbed two bags of Mana Ores and made a run for it.
"Go chase him!" the student who got shoulder-charged returned and pointed at where Kai had run to. "If we lose two bags, we'd be in big trouble!"
Snapping from the stupor, the other student nodded his head and immediately chased after Kai. His feet left behind sparkling dust of light, and with each step, he grew even faster than before.
It almost looked like he was sliding across dirt like it was ice.
Kai, who was running through the bushes, was no match for his speed.
In a single fluid motion, the student vaulted upward and hung over the side of the tree trunk with only his feet. He drew his bow, closed one eye, and aimed. A sadistic smile crept to his face when he saw the armband.
Red armband, which made it clear that he was dealing with Team Crius.
Or what's left of it after it was destroyed by his own team.
"Another rat trying to survive," He murmured inwardly. "You'll not be missed."
Mana flowed in a sparkling dazzle from his arms and into the arrow.
Once he was ready, he released—letting the arrow sing through the air with speed.
A grunt echoed as the arrow grazed Kai's leg and caused him to stumble and fall.
"Gotcha!" the student smirked and made a dash.
He found his prey soon after.
Like an expert hunter, he quickly pinned Kai down to the ground, pressing both his knees against the arms. "Team Crius has already lost. It's futile to struggle," He took out a knife from his leather belt, and pressed it against Kai's neck. "Any last words?"
In that moment, the student expected fear.
Or perhaps panic. Regret, maybe.
But what donned Kai's face was an unbreakable ice. He stared at the student as if he were a dead man. "The fuck are you looking at me like that for?" the student barked in anger. "Fine, no last words, then!"
Growl—!
Emerging from the bushes was an animal, and it tackled the student off of Kai.
It had the shape of a feline, but its skin was obsidian—dense, muscular, and almost metallic. Strangest of all, its back ran straight despite those powerful hind legs. A man and an animal, fused into something monstrous.
Brutally, the animal bites and tears at the student's face and body.
Blood and flesh spewed everywhere by the onslaught.
"Don't kill him," Kai climbed back to his feet and cracked his neck. "Not yet."
The animal growled at him—but didn't pursue killing the student who was now a bloodied mess. Alive, just barely. "After getting info from him, let's drain him of blood and stake his corpse on the road."
Dorian licked his bloodied lips.
Veins throbbed across his neck as his thirst for blood still hadn't been satiated.
"Huh?" Kai frowned. "Are you a psychopath? Why the hell would we do that?"