Post by Bernael on Dec 25, 2015 12:07:00 GMT -5
Once more, the demonic boy from a little tiny town would return to the northern landscapes of his planet called earth. There was cold, fluffy snow all around and the time certainly called for relax and cheer! However, Bernael would instead be training, trying to control his ki a lot more in hopes of releasing a new form of skill for himself. He had been developing a neat little habit, of visioning a little picture of some weapons. The demon boy used these pictures along with some old history books he used to read in school, to work towards developing a handy little tree of skills, he had yet to be able to use all of them but he was making some sort of progress. Thus, he was very proud of his progress thus far. Aside from that little nifty tree of skills, he was also working towards being able to suppress his power. The power of suppression was much, much easier than the other skills he was working towards, as it just comprised of moving his ki around with focus so as to mask its powers from being noticed, which there seemed to be many ways for people to do so nowadays.
However, without a doubt the boy, with a lack of cheer and happiness, wasn’t going to be able to train all that much today, at least not in peace. For as he was getting the hang of his ki suppression, a little human man would run up to him screaming for help. “Oh no, not again, why does something always happen when I come here… what. a. hassle.” Bernael would mumble to himself, not liking this trend that he was meeting during his visits to the snowy north. “Sir sir would you please! Would you settle my towns unease?!” the man would plead, without even telling Bernael about what his problems were, Bernael didn’t really pay attention to that however, he was more stuck on the man's obvious rhyme. “What are you talking about… er, how about you tell me what is happening in your town instead of rhyming your sentences.” Bernael would say, with a very light sigh, he was still trying to focus on his ki suppression training as he was doing this, it was a little better training as it was harder to talk to the man and do the suppression at the same time.
“Alright sir, if you may. Will you hear out what I have to say?” the man would say to Bernael, with a tad little smile on his face of hope. “....Yes” Bernael replied, quite annoyed with whatever this man was up to. “Raiders aplenty, came into the town at night! Stole all our gifts, and proceeded to take flight!” the man would say, hurried for Bernael to help his problems. “...I don’t have time for this.” Bernael would say once more, obviously tired of this man’s rhyming, which was giving him a snore. Wait what the hell?! Did the man cast a spell?! Onto Bernael’s mind, his focus had resigned. “Alright alright” Bernael said in dismay. “I’ll help out your town…” the rhymes leaving his mind, none to stay. “Thank you kind sir! If we could leave right now, that I would prefer.” the man would continue on, starting to leave Bernael which followed him slowly and annoyed. The whole way back to the man's town, Bernael would struggle to train himself, attempting to work on his ki suppression some more.
It gave him just enough time, as they arrived at the town, he felt he had at least learned how to suppress his ki, to the point that he could be seen as less of a target or threat. If he hadn’t been able to learn it however, he wouldn’t mind and would just work on it again one day. [Ki Suppression Attempt point]. Bernael would look around the town slowly, it seemed to be out of place, nothing about it seemed like it could thrive in the snowy landscape, and most importantly it didn’t seem far away from his training spot, like he would have been able to notice it before. But alas, he didn’t mind, he just wanted to help these people and get back to his training. He would slowly think about it, and realize that if the bandits were strong, he could very well attempt to train his use of his new skills on those bandits, at the very least see if they would work out for his arsenal. He had used one of them before, but it was very imperfect, he needed to learn to use it properly, the difference between just using a skill and actually having the ability to use it is a major skill.
Once he got into town, he noticed a lot of people, like, absurdly a lot of people for how small the town was, and all of them were about half of his height too! When they saw him, a lot of them rushed over, saying many different rhyming questions, so many that he couldn’t make any of them out too his ability or answer them either. However, the man who had came and got Bernael quieted them all down in due time, and then spoke to them. “Alright everyone down~ This is our saviour, the one I brought into town!” he would say happily. Many would cheer, many would smile, they all looked happy to have had someone come to help their problem. “You… might want to find someone else though… I’m a demon boy… least part of me is…” Bernael would say with a sigh, not knowing if these people would reject him now that they knew of his hybrid species. However not a single one spoke up in a bad way or gasped or anything, only the one that brought him there spoke once more “Someone's bloodline doesn’t make them good or bad, it's the size of their hearts, that makes a fine young lad!” the man would say, looking very enthusiastic and happy with another rhyme that had good intentions.
Bernael would just smirk a bit before giving a chuckle. Once more he found some people that he told of his demon heritage, that would end up accepting it and not shut him down on it. They seemed a very cheery bunch, he no longer cared that they pulled him away from his training. However among the happy little cheers of the people, a booming voice came from behind. “What is this?! A bounty hunter marking my leader's head? I can’t let that happen, I’ll just leave him for dead!” said the man, who was very big and bulky. Much taller than any of these small members of the town. Bernael would slowly motion for them to go behind him as he made a stance. It seemed like he would get a fight before even leaving the little town. “That's one of the bandits that took our gifts!” one man would say “M-Maybe you should show him his crimes, with your fists?” replied another, rhyming into the others sentence. Bernael wasn’t caring too much about it however, he was getting used to the manner that everyone seemed to be rhyming up a storm.
It damn near instantly took off, Bernael rushing towards the man. He pictured the long sharp edge of a sword in his mind, the blade if you will. The demon boy kept picturing it and then a purple ki formation appeared in his right hand as he was running. “Demon’s Blade!” the boy would say, making a slashing motion at the bandit, but the ki energy fizzled in his hand, disappearing before contact as he almost hit the bandit with it. However since the blade wasn’t complete and it never hit its mark, it left Bernael wide open for an uppercut to his jaw from the man, this caused Bernael to fly back and land with a thunk on the ground. Everyone cheered for Bernael however, even though it appeared that he was losing the fight for the time being. The bandit would come over and place his foot on Bernael’s chest, pinning him to the ground.
“I would think they would find a good fighter. Not just some little blighter” the bandit would say aloud, grinding his boot into the demon boy's chest some more. However, Bernael would retaliate by forming the blade in his mind again, focusing more on the aspects and size of the blade, how it’d feel, how it’d be shaped, its thickness and its sharpness. Once he was done, the blade would appear in his right hand once more, and he would slash up at the man, causing the man to recoil in minor pain. The skill had worked! Though it was still imperfect, it didn’t do the full extent that he had hoped for it to do. He clenched his fists as he got up, he needed to use it at least one more time, one more time to be able to perfect and use the skill to his advantage! Once more the Bandit would rush Bernael, aiming to uppercut him again. But this time Bernael wasn’t wide open, and he wasn’t about to be hit again because he wasn’t guarding himself against this weak opponent. The opponent used the same hand for both of his attacks, it seemed that he was right hand dominant in at least fighting. In a quick action, Bernael caught the man's uppercut with his hand, the fist being contained lightly in his palm. The demon boy would slowly add pressure to the hand, the difference in power between the boy and the bandit becoming very apparent, as the man's hand would slowly get crushed under the pressure, the hand reaching its breaking point to where it would need to be reset and it would cause agony if used until then.
The bandit would cry out in pain, not even being able to say words that would explain how he was feeling, it was just a wide mix of agony and torture. While the man was in pain, Bernael would picture the blade of the sword once more. making it form in his free hand as he would quickly slash across, making a painful gash across the bandit's chest. The demon boy let the man's hand go and stepped back, leaving the man to his own pain. “Leave… and don’t come back to this town.” he would say firmly, wanting to not kill the man but leave him with a painful reason as to why to go. The bandit would slowly chuckle at Bernael “Yes yes! The first challenge, you have passed it, this is true. But I wonder how you will fare, with the rest that you’ll be put through~” he would say, chuckling even more as he disappeared into a cloud falling snowflakes, as if he was never even in the town. How did he get hurt then… how did he hit his target and stop his attack. Bernael didn’t know any of this, and got very confused but shook his head, happy that he had some sort of control over his demonic blade attack now. [Demon’s Blade Attempt point].
“Alright… I suppose it's time to move on to the next skill now.” Bernael would mumble, looking down at his hands as he set them up as if he was a knight wielding their blade in front of them before battle. He closed his eyes slowly and tried to imagine to the best of his abilities, how a knight's sword would look like. He would imagine the blade that he thought of before, but this time he gave it a physical hilt to be attached to, fitting like a glove to be attached to the sword, the blade sharpened once more to be a bit more durable but strong, and to more physically appear the blade to a knight sword. “Demon’s… sword” was what Bernael would mumble, the ki flowing through his hand and making a purple ki energy sword in his hands. It was much more than just a blade this time, the hilt, the knight sword blade attached in it. It was beautiful as he would hold it in front of him. But sadly enough it soon fizzled before he even got the chance to swing it. He sighed, as he knew he would need much more practice before being able to use it as an offensive technique all around.
He turned back to the people of the town, with a smirk on his face. “Just tell me where to go, I’ll get all those gifts back for ya~” Bernael would say, with a newfound cheer in his voice. All the people of the town smiled with glee, happy that the boy had accepted their ple- er, asking of him. “To the farthest north mountain, your journey shall take thee. An easy one it shall be though, for someone as strong as you, I can foresee” the man would say, giving Bernael one last rhyme for him to leave on. Bernael would chuckle very softly, he had been getting used to it enough that be found it quite adorable of the people to rhyme in such a way, it was as if it was part of their vocal culture. Before long though, Bernael would set off! In search of the large mountain the farthest north he could go, he wanted to retrieve the towns gifts before the day ended, he didn’t know why he wanted to, but he just felt that it was his duty to make it that fast, that if he didn’t do so, something bad would happen.
The demon boy contently kept using his ki energy to make the sword, each time it came out it lasted a bit longer before it fizzled. The blade got sharper, more refined edges, its hilt for more sturdy and the style changed to fit his hands shape. It was truly becoming a perfect sword for its master, even though he wasn’t even using a real sword, it being only a replica of older knight swords. After a while, he even began swinging the sword at the airspace, not wanting to just make sure that he had the sword at hand, but otherwise that he had the sword able to swing through his opponent, he didn’t want the first mistake that had happened in his first fight that day to arise again. However, it was time, he saw the base in the side of the northernmost mountain, it wasn’t exactly the biggest base but it looked like it could contain some strong people, and thus he slowly walked towards it before slamming open the front door. Intercoms throughout the base would blare as he did so. “Intruder Alert! Your full power, you must exert!” it shouted, it seemed that the base was bigger than he thought, it was probably put somewhere into the side of the mountain.
Bernael opened the first set of doors, and saw a wide opened room, a man was in the middle of it wielding a sword. “I will be your first opponent” the man said, “The outcome of this day… I will be a key component” was all the man could say before Bernael was already in front of him, a ki sword at the man's throat. “I thought they would send multiple people at once, I guess I won't have too hard of a time getting through.” was what he said in a threatening tone. The man spoke once more. “W-Why you! You won't be so cocky once my blade runs you through!” was the man's response while slashing his sword at Bernael. The demon boy only responded by slashing back, causing the sword to break in two as he would also cut through the man. A large gash only on par with the first techniques power being shown. It had work to be done on it. “It seems my counter was futile. The agony of this pain, is too brutal” was the swordsman's final words, just like the last he poofed into a cloud of snowflakes to Bernael’s surprise. Something was certainly odd about everything that was happening, he wondered if he was truly helping or if this was all just a trap.
However, he didn’t want to dwell on his findings as of yet, he pushed on into the next room, where a man in heavy armor was in a power stance similar to Bernael’s own, almost as if he was ready to melee combat Bernael into the ground. However, the demonic boy felt no fear, and stood still as the man took into a charge, before getting into a stance of his own. A quick palm strike to the armor itself sent it backwards some, shaking and clanging. “A martial artist should wear less clothing, and certainly no heavy armor that covers the entire body” Bernael would say to the still disoriented man. “When you do that, you leave yourself defended against sword attacks, but wide open for heavy melee attacks as it works as a giant bell surrounding you, plus your slowed from the heaviness of that armor set, you and the guy in the last room should have swapped gear. “T-To think that my weakness, was something I couldn’t see. This certainly can not be!” was all the man could muster out before Bernael made another Demon Sword, and the armor was completely defenseless in its power difference that the sword had. The armor fell to the ground, personless, only left with more snowflakes in its path. “The challenges that I will be put through… is this supposed to be teaching me something…” Bernael would mumble to himself, thinking if he was missing something that was being told throughout this small journey.
He shook his head slowly, it couldn’t be THAT simple, could it? It had to be something that these troops had, that was sending them away or leaving something behind in their place, like some kind of swift moving substitution technique… he couldn’t quite tell what it was but he pushed on into the next room anyways. Though at this point he thought that his sword was getting at least a little bit better with the sword technique, he wanted to move on to the third and final member of his tree that he was training for on that day. [Demon’s Sword Attempt point] He pictured in his head, the holy sword from legend, it wasn’t exactly his first pick for a legendary holy sword of course, but he liked his pick nonetheless. The holy sword, the dragon slayer, Ascalon. He pictured the great sword known as Ascalon, its definitive features exclusive to it and the fabled sword. There had been many different depictions of the sword so he just had to choose one and go through with using it. The sword would slowly glow in his hand, it was a great sword, the depiction of it that he was using, however his hand would burn, terrible “Hnnn, gah what is this!” he would yelp, holding onto his hand as the energy would go away. It seemed that being a demon, he wouldn’t be able to hold something like a holy sword… he would have to condition his body to be able to hold something like that. Or… he could corrupt the sword, which even though it was a replica and not the real sword, he didn’t want to do.
Demonic energies were flowing out of his body, just seeping out as if it was reacting badly to his attempts to create the sword. It was affecting him on a spiritual level as well as his physical one. From this, dis next opponent came to him, a man with a giant sword, probably one of the biggest he had ever seen, and was holding it on his shoulder with two hands, alas he was wearing light clothing. The man was probably the worst of the lot that he had encountered yet, a large super sword in light clothing. Even in Bernael’s weakened state from touching something with holy background, he would probably be able to wipe the floor with the guy. In fact, the guy didn’t even speak in a rhyme before he dashed at Bernael very quickly, Bernael could barely keep his eyes on the guy, but once the man was close, he swung his huge sword in a slow but wide arc. Bernael would quickly move under it before putting a hit to the man's chest, collapsing part of his lung of breath, causing him to cough. “Demons… Ascalon” Bernael would say, the holy sword once more coming into his hand, instantly sparking a very painful reaction, leaving him wide open just like all the other times, his demonic energies flowing out once again. The man took this time to dive his sword onto Bernael’s shoulder, cutting not very deep but it hurt nonetheless.
This caused the demon boy to wince, not enjoying any moment that the sword was burrowed into his shoulder, so he slowly grabbed it, and lifted it out himself! The man was fast, but he was weak, his power wasn’t anywhere near enough to be able to force the sword against Bernael if he was struggling. The greatsword was easily knocked into the air from force, and then Bernael kicked it directly into the opponent as it fell back down, cutting him deeply.”W-What the hell did you do… I certainly, have no clue.” the man said, finally breaking out a single rhyme as he was hurting. “Its simple, you were wearing weak clothing and were unarmored, but you decided to use a giant sword. That allowed you to be fast but swing slow and weakly, however that plays against you because your physical strength wasn’t meant for a big sword, however someone like me could use that sword fine if given the chance. Thus I overpowered you and killed you with your own sword. You were your own downfall.” the demon boy said, his demonic appearance especially in his eyes was incredibly apparent, as he felt no remorse at the moment, his emotions locked out from pain receptors from encountering holy backlash, he didn’t want to think much on it. “Seems you’ve come a very long way, but perhaps your emotions are being lead astray?” the man said with a chuckle, his end was met the same way as all the others, in a cloud of snowflakes that drifted silently to the ground.
Finally, Bernael got the resolve to push on once more, passing up the next room as he had already cleared out the person who would reside in it. He pushed on to the last room in the area, at least the last battle room. In the center was a man in the same metal armor as the third man, however he had the same sword as the second, except it looked like it was sharpened to the point of extreme strength. The man also had the same relaxed stance that appeared on the fourth opponent. Lastly, he was as big and bulky as the very first opponent. “What happens, when you remove everything weak? Well, you get something a little unique” the man would say, staring over at Bernael through his armored helmet. The demon boy would just look back with a blank expression, not caring about what the man really had to rhyme or talk about, in the end he was just another opponent that would fall before the males offense. “Have you learned not a thing? If you don’t take a moment to think about all this, I’ll kill you faster than a wasps sting.” the man would state out in a demanding tone. The hybrid boy would just get into a stance, ready for action “I don’t care to go over all I’ve learned so far, I just want to finish my mission for the time being” was all that he could come up with before running towards the armored man.
A shocked expression would grow on Bernael’s face as the armored man was next to him, holding an arm in front of the boy’s chest to stop him from moving and a sword at his throat. “I’ll kill you in one lethal strike. Such a waste of good talent, I very much dislike” the man said with remorse in his tone, as if he was sad to have to kill the boy. But as he was driving the sword towards the boy’s throat, a flash of ki energy would go out around the boy, as he powered up from sheer anger. “Who the hell do you think you are!” the boy shouted out, the outburst of energy causing him to slide back a bit. “Why am I being put through all these mind games! Why was I chosen for this huh?! There's no reason that this should be happening to ME!” the boy would scream out, his outrage growing bigger as time would go on. “I. Just. Wanted. To. Train! Why do I have to learn a lesson here huh?! My body is burning because of spirit clashing with essence! Do you really expect me to learn a lesson when I am being broken down like that?!” the boy would continue on, rage filling in his eyes.
“...So be it.” the man said, taking up his stance again. “Just know it wasn’t me, that drove you to such a hissy fit” he followed up with, just to continue the rhyme no doubt. Bernael shook his head, what was he doing? He had to calm down and regain his emotion… there was no way he was going to combat this opponent if he had to just stay on offensive. His mind was cleared once again, his power dropping back down to its normal state. He would return to his more casual stance while staring at the man before him. “You wanted me to realize that every opponent so far has had a weakness… and the lesson is that I can’t rely on just my own strength or the enemies weaknesses, as sometimes there’ll be an opponent that has all the pluses but none of the weaknesses… that’s why everyone I’ve met so far has had a very specific weakness correct?” was what Bernael would say, awaiting for an answer from the man, but the man just nodded.
“The first person, could hit hard but he wasn’t that fast so I could determine and counter his blows if I wasn’t letting my guard down. The second person had slow reaction times and a dulled down sword, causing it to shatter easy and not be able to stop my own powered blows. The third person had a fighting style that didn’t compliment his armor pallet, which was a close quarters melee style in an enclosed suit of armor against another melee artist. The fourth person had the biggest downfall with his speed and attire complimenting each other, but then his sword was too massive and heavy that he couldn’t swing it as fast as he could move and he himself was not strong enough to use it properly… all of them flaws” Bernael would continue on, searching for some sort of reaction from the armored man, but alas he still got none. “You however, you have the armor to protect yourself, the bulky body and strength to hit hard, you have a newly sharpened sword and good reaction time, as well as speed. All of it compliments each other so that you are a harder opponent to fight, than just anybody else. Thus I can’t rely on extorting your weakness, and I can’t rely on my personal strength to take you down, I have to do something I don’t like to pierce the veil and dominate you.” was the last thing Bernael would say before pausing.
Metallic sounding claps could be heard in the room, as the armored man slowly put his hands together after pulling them apart multiple times. “It seems, that the demon boy is correct. So I guess that means you had time to reflect?” the man would say, in a positive tone as he was no longer hostile to the boy. “So you know I am a demon… though I guess I didn’t really keep it a secret” Bernael would reply “Yes I had time to reflect during this entire journey” he would follow up. “That is very good, young boy. Knowing you’ve been a bit more enlightened fills me with joy” was the armored man's comment, keeping the conversation juggling. “What's the meaning of all of this?! If you’re testing me, and trying to make me learn all of this, why didn’t you just test me outright, why did you have to get a town of people to come find me and think of it as an emergency, and then have to almost kill all of your men… what's going on here!” the boy demanded, he wanted answers and he wanted them right now.
“You’ll know your answer soon enough. Face me now with what you’ve learned, if you don’t, this fight will surely be tough.” the armored man replied, getting back in his stance as he faced Bernael. The demon boy knew what he had to do… even though he didn’t want to use it this way, he had to corrupt and make the sword he pictured, an unholy sword, used to slaughter women and children alongside men and dragons. It had to be something as strong as it was made to be, but corrupted in some way. Once again he pictured the sword in his mind, except instead of picturing its details, he focused on its history and changed it to his own will. The sword would appear in his hand, this time not reacting badly or even glowing. It looked dark and sinister as it was in the boy's hand. “Demons Unholy Ascalon” was all the boy mumbled to himself as he was already on the other side of the armored man, walking slowly towards the opposite side door to the room they were in, the unholy sword of legend was already gone within that single strike. The man behind him would slowly poof, just like the rest into a cloud of snowfall particles, nothing to remain of the man behind the mask that he never even knew, but he learned so much from.
Slowly but surely, in the next room was a stockpile of gifts and a big bag, as well as a little note attached to some clothes nearby. “Put on these clothes and shovel all the gifts back into the bag, demon child. Take the bag back to the town while in the outfit and your mission will be complete. If you’ve come this far you have hopefully learned a minor lesson about combat that you didn’t want to pay attention to till now.” was all the note wrote. Bernael would sigh “What a hassle~” was all he said as he happily picked up a little red jumpsuit and a hat. “Why do I have to wear something so silly” was what he would then say as he put it on. He didn’t care too much for it but if the person who wrote the note said that he should, he was going to do it, he wanted to do it. The demon boy would quickly shovel all of the gifts that he found around the room into the big bag as he threw it over his shoulder and started heading back to the village.
It was a long trip back, as his mind flooded with ideas of what was going on, none of them made sense, so he just gladly delivered the gifts to the village, the same man as before smiling up at him with everyone else near by. “Look look, the hero has returned!” one would say “With a lesson hopefully well earned~” another would add on. “Yeah yeah, I got your gifts and I learned my lesson. Thank you guys for this, I probably needed it… It was surely better than training out in the middle of nowhere for a long time.” he would say back to them, happy with his experience. He slowly began to walk away, waving off to his new friends as he turned and began to walk away.
A weird emptiness befell his body, he felt like he was wearing a lot less. He slowly examined his clothing and head and realized that the jumpsuit and hat he put on were gone, leaving him with his normal attire. He would quickly turn and look towards the town that he just left, seeing nothing but the frozen tundra of the cold north left in front of him. All of it was gone and there was no remnants left of it for him. On the ground however, lie a small little box, it was wrapped in colorful paper and it looked just like one of the presents he put in the bag. There was a little card on it, it read “To: Bernael, From: Some Friends” on it, he felt like he was going out of his mind but the box felt all too real.
The demon boy didn’t want to open it just yet, he slowly walked off towards his old training spot. Once he got there, he slowly felt his ki sift through his hand, he once more thought of the unholy sword that he made up, and it appeared just like it had back in the building. It wasn’t fake, could it have been? Did he just have a spiritual journey and not even realize it… who knew. Well, if some of it had happened to exist, the people who were apart of it certainly knew what was going on, but he had no way to talk to them. Bernael felt like he possibly could continue to make the sword, however he didn’t know if his body could supply enough power to make it work. Only time and knowledge would be able to tell. [Demon’s Unholy Ascalon Attempt point].
“Well somebody was able to label this thing to be for me, I wonder what it could be” Bernael would say to himself, slowly picking up the box, all of these boxes were supposedly meant to be gifts, so whatever was inside was probably meant to benefit him, but he could only really wonder who these ‘friends’ were that made this for him, he couldn’t think of anyone that was out here with him that could just wrap up a box and have it for him. He sighed not wanting to spoil the surprise but something inside of him just was telling him to open it up before the day was over. If he waited till tomorrow, he felt like something bad would happen, or that it would be unlucky. He would slowly open up the box and look inside, within it was a bag, it jangled, most likely filled with zeni that he was going to be allowed to spend. The other thing in there was a decorated sheath, until then, the sword that he actually wielded was just shoved between his flak vest and himself, and with the he could actually attach it around his waist like it was meant to. “Well, whoever gave this to me” he would say, pocketing the zeni and attaching the sheath to his waist “Thank you, wherever you are” was all he said, before returning to his training in the now peaceful tundra, at least it had an odd peacefulness to him for the time being as he relaxed in the calming snowfall particles.
WC: 6056
Zeni for the normal solo
The makeup of this skill training goes Ki Suppression --> Demon Blade --> Demon Sword --> Demon Unholy Ascalon so if I am valid for any of them, it would be in that order I think, ki supression and the three demon stuff is interchangeable of course as they are separate tiers, but the Demon stuff goes B1 --> A2 --> M3 for those three listed.
However, without a doubt the boy, with a lack of cheer and happiness, wasn’t going to be able to train all that much today, at least not in peace. For as he was getting the hang of his ki suppression, a little human man would run up to him screaming for help. “Oh no, not again, why does something always happen when I come here… what. a. hassle.” Bernael would mumble to himself, not liking this trend that he was meeting during his visits to the snowy north. “Sir sir would you please! Would you settle my towns unease?!” the man would plead, without even telling Bernael about what his problems were, Bernael didn’t really pay attention to that however, he was more stuck on the man's obvious rhyme. “What are you talking about… er, how about you tell me what is happening in your town instead of rhyming your sentences.” Bernael would say, with a very light sigh, he was still trying to focus on his ki suppression training as he was doing this, it was a little better training as it was harder to talk to the man and do the suppression at the same time.
“Alright sir, if you may. Will you hear out what I have to say?” the man would say to Bernael, with a tad little smile on his face of hope. “....Yes” Bernael replied, quite annoyed with whatever this man was up to. “Raiders aplenty, came into the town at night! Stole all our gifts, and proceeded to take flight!” the man would say, hurried for Bernael to help his problems. “...I don’t have time for this.” Bernael would say once more, obviously tired of this man’s rhyming, which was giving him a snore. Wait what the hell?! Did the man cast a spell?! Onto Bernael’s mind, his focus had resigned. “Alright alright” Bernael said in dismay. “I’ll help out your town…” the rhymes leaving his mind, none to stay. “Thank you kind sir! If we could leave right now, that I would prefer.” the man would continue on, starting to leave Bernael which followed him slowly and annoyed. The whole way back to the man's town, Bernael would struggle to train himself, attempting to work on his ki suppression some more.
It gave him just enough time, as they arrived at the town, he felt he had at least learned how to suppress his ki, to the point that he could be seen as less of a target or threat. If he hadn’t been able to learn it however, he wouldn’t mind and would just work on it again one day. [Ki Suppression Attempt point]. Bernael would look around the town slowly, it seemed to be out of place, nothing about it seemed like it could thrive in the snowy landscape, and most importantly it didn’t seem far away from his training spot, like he would have been able to notice it before. But alas, he didn’t mind, he just wanted to help these people and get back to his training. He would slowly think about it, and realize that if the bandits were strong, he could very well attempt to train his use of his new skills on those bandits, at the very least see if they would work out for his arsenal. He had used one of them before, but it was very imperfect, he needed to learn to use it properly, the difference between just using a skill and actually having the ability to use it is a major skill.
Once he got into town, he noticed a lot of people, like, absurdly a lot of people for how small the town was, and all of them were about half of his height too! When they saw him, a lot of them rushed over, saying many different rhyming questions, so many that he couldn’t make any of them out too his ability or answer them either. However, the man who had came and got Bernael quieted them all down in due time, and then spoke to them. “Alright everyone down~ This is our saviour, the one I brought into town!” he would say happily. Many would cheer, many would smile, they all looked happy to have had someone come to help their problem. “You… might want to find someone else though… I’m a demon boy… least part of me is…” Bernael would say with a sigh, not knowing if these people would reject him now that they knew of his hybrid species. However not a single one spoke up in a bad way or gasped or anything, only the one that brought him there spoke once more “Someone's bloodline doesn’t make them good or bad, it's the size of their hearts, that makes a fine young lad!” the man would say, looking very enthusiastic and happy with another rhyme that had good intentions.
Bernael would just smirk a bit before giving a chuckle. Once more he found some people that he told of his demon heritage, that would end up accepting it and not shut him down on it. They seemed a very cheery bunch, he no longer cared that they pulled him away from his training. However among the happy little cheers of the people, a booming voice came from behind. “What is this?! A bounty hunter marking my leader's head? I can’t let that happen, I’ll just leave him for dead!” said the man, who was very big and bulky. Much taller than any of these small members of the town. Bernael would slowly motion for them to go behind him as he made a stance. It seemed like he would get a fight before even leaving the little town. “That's one of the bandits that took our gifts!” one man would say “M-Maybe you should show him his crimes, with your fists?” replied another, rhyming into the others sentence. Bernael wasn’t caring too much about it however, he was getting used to the manner that everyone seemed to be rhyming up a storm.
It damn near instantly took off, Bernael rushing towards the man. He pictured the long sharp edge of a sword in his mind, the blade if you will. The demon boy kept picturing it and then a purple ki formation appeared in his right hand as he was running. “Demon’s Blade!” the boy would say, making a slashing motion at the bandit, but the ki energy fizzled in his hand, disappearing before contact as he almost hit the bandit with it. However since the blade wasn’t complete and it never hit its mark, it left Bernael wide open for an uppercut to his jaw from the man, this caused Bernael to fly back and land with a thunk on the ground. Everyone cheered for Bernael however, even though it appeared that he was losing the fight for the time being. The bandit would come over and place his foot on Bernael’s chest, pinning him to the ground.
“I would think they would find a good fighter. Not just some little blighter” the bandit would say aloud, grinding his boot into the demon boy's chest some more. However, Bernael would retaliate by forming the blade in his mind again, focusing more on the aspects and size of the blade, how it’d feel, how it’d be shaped, its thickness and its sharpness. Once he was done, the blade would appear in his right hand once more, and he would slash up at the man, causing the man to recoil in minor pain. The skill had worked! Though it was still imperfect, it didn’t do the full extent that he had hoped for it to do. He clenched his fists as he got up, he needed to use it at least one more time, one more time to be able to perfect and use the skill to his advantage! Once more the Bandit would rush Bernael, aiming to uppercut him again. But this time Bernael wasn’t wide open, and he wasn’t about to be hit again because he wasn’t guarding himself against this weak opponent. The opponent used the same hand for both of his attacks, it seemed that he was right hand dominant in at least fighting. In a quick action, Bernael caught the man's uppercut with his hand, the fist being contained lightly in his palm. The demon boy would slowly add pressure to the hand, the difference in power between the boy and the bandit becoming very apparent, as the man's hand would slowly get crushed under the pressure, the hand reaching its breaking point to where it would need to be reset and it would cause agony if used until then.
The bandit would cry out in pain, not even being able to say words that would explain how he was feeling, it was just a wide mix of agony and torture. While the man was in pain, Bernael would picture the blade of the sword once more. making it form in his free hand as he would quickly slash across, making a painful gash across the bandit's chest. The demon boy let the man's hand go and stepped back, leaving the man to his own pain. “Leave… and don’t come back to this town.” he would say firmly, wanting to not kill the man but leave him with a painful reason as to why to go. The bandit would slowly chuckle at Bernael “Yes yes! The first challenge, you have passed it, this is true. But I wonder how you will fare, with the rest that you’ll be put through~” he would say, chuckling even more as he disappeared into a cloud falling snowflakes, as if he was never even in the town. How did he get hurt then… how did he hit his target and stop his attack. Bernael didn’t know any of this, and got very confused but shook his head, happy that he had some sort of control over his demonic blade attack now. [Demon’s Blade Attempt point].
“Alright… I suppose it's time to move on to the next skill now.” Bernael would mumble, looking down at his hands as he set them up as if he was a knight wielding their blade in front of them before battle. He closed his eyes slowly and tried to imagine to the best of his abilities, how a knight's sword would look like. He would imagine the blade that he thought of before, but this time he gave it a physical hilt to be attached to, fitting like a glove to be attached to the sword, the blade sharpened once more to be a bit more durable but strong, and to more physically appear the blade to a knight sword. “Demon’s… sword” was what Bernael would mumble, the ki flowing through his hand and making a purple ki energy sword in his hands. It was much more than just a blade this time, the hilt, the knight sword blade attached in it. It was beautiful as he would hold it in front of him. But sadly enough it soon fizzled before he even got the chance to swing it. He sighed, as he knew he would need much more practice before being able to use it as an offensive technique all around.
He turned back to the people of the town, with a smirk on his face. “Just tell me where to go, I’ll get all those gifts back for ya~” Bernael would say, with a newfound cheer in his voice. All the people of the town smiled with glee, happy that the boy had accepted their ple- er, asking of him. “To the farthest north mountain, your journey shall take thee. An easy one it shall be though, for someone as strong as you, I can foresee” the man would say, giving Bernael one last rhyme for him to leave on. Bernael would chuckle very softly, he had been getting used to it enough that be found it quite adorable of the people to rhyme in such a way, it was as if it was part of their vocal culture. Before long though, Bernael would set off! In search of the large mountain the farthest north he could go, he wanted to retrieve the towns gifts before the day ended, he didn’t know why he wanted to, but he just felt that it was his duty to make it that fast, that if he didn’t do so, something bad would happen.
The demon boy contently kept using his ki energy to make the sword, each time it came out it lasted a bit longer before it fizzled. The blade got sharper, more refined edges, its hilt for more sturdy and the style changed to fit his hands shape. It was truly becoming a perfect sword for its master, even though he wasn’t even using a real sword, it being only a replica of older knight swords. After a while, he even began swinging the sword at the airspace, not wanting to just make sure that he had the sword at hand, but otherwise that he had the sword able to swing through his opponent, he didn’t want the first mistake that had happened in his first fight that day to arise again. However, it was time, he saw the base in the side of the northernmost mountain, it wasn’t exactly the biggest base but it looked like it could contain some strong people, and thus he slowly walked towards it before slamming open the front door. Intercoms throughout the base would blare as he did so. “Intruder Alert! Your full power, you must exert!” it shouted, it seemed that the base was bigger than he thought, it was probably put somewhere into the side of the mountain.
Bernael opened the first set of doors, and saw a wide opened room, a man was in the middle of it wielding a sword. “I will be your first opponent” the man said, “The outcome of this day… I will be a key component” was all the man could say before Bernael was already in front of him, a ki sword at the man's throat. “I thought they would send multiple people at once, I guess I won't have too hard of a time getting through.” was what he said in a threatening tone. The man spoke once more. “W-Why you! You won't be so cocky once my blade runs you through!” was the man's response while slashing his sword at Bernael. The demon boy only responded by slashing back, causing the sword to break in two as he would also cut through the man. A large gash only on par with the first techniques power being shown. It had work to be done on it. “It seems my counter was futile. The agony of this pain, is too brutal” was the swordsman's final words, just like the last he poofed into a cloud of snowflakes to Bernael’s surprise. Something was certainly odd about everything that was happening, he wondered if he was truly helping or if this was all just a trap.
However, he didn’t want to dwell on his findings as of yet, he pushed on into the next room, where a man in heavy armor was in a power stance similar to Bernael’s own, almost as if he was ready to melee combat Bernael into the ground. However, the demonic boy felt no fear, and stood still as the man took into a charge, before getting into a stance of his own. A quick palm strike to the armor itself sent it backwards some, shaking and clanging. “A martial artist should wear less clothing, and certainly no heavy armor that covers the entire body” Bernael would say to the still disoriented man. “When you do that, you leave yourself defended against sword attacks, but wide open for heavy melee attacks as it works as a giant bell surrounding you, plus your slowed from the heaviness of that armor set, you and the guy in the last room should have swapped gear. “T-To think that my weakness, was something I couldn’t see. This certainly can not be!” was all the man could muster out before Bernael made another Demon Sword, and the armor was completely defenseless in its power difference that the sword had. The armor fell to the ground, personless, only left with more snowflakes in its path. “The challenges that I will be put through… is this supposed to be teaching me something…” Bernael would mumble to himself, thinking if he was missing something that was being told throughout this small journey.
He shook his head slowly, it couldn’t be THAT simple, could it? It had to be something that these troops had, that was sending them away or leaving something behind in their place, like some kind of swift moving substitution technique… he couldn’t quite tell what it was but he pushed on into the next room anyways. Though at this point he thought that his sword was getting at least a little bit better with the sword technique, he wanted to move on to the third and final member of his tree that he was training for on that day. [Demon’s Sword Attempt point] He pictured in his head, the holy sword from legend, it wasn’t exactly his first pick for a legendary holy sword of course, but he liked his pick nonetheless. The holy sword, the dragon slayer, Ascalon. He pictured the great sword known as Ascalon, its definitive features exclusive to it and the fabled sword. There had been many different depictions of the sword so he just had to choose one and go through with using it. The sword would slowly glow in his hand, it was a great sword, the depiction of it that he was using, however his hand would burn, terrible “Hnnn, gah what is this!” he would yelp, holding onto his hand as the energy would go away. It seemed that being a demon, he wouldn’t be able to hold something like a holy sword… he would have to condition his body to be able to hold something like that. Or… he could corrupt the sword, which even though it was a replica and not the real sword, he didn’t want to do.
Demonic energies were flowing out of his body, just seeping out as if it was reacting badly to his attempts to create the sword. It was affecting him on a spiritual level as well as his physical one. From this, dis next opponent came to him, a man with a giant sword, probably one of the biggest he had ever seen, and was holding it on his shoulder with two hands, alas he was wearing light clothing. The man was probably the worst of the lot that he had encountered yet, a large super sword in light clothing. Even in Bernael’s weakened state from touching something with holy background, he would probably be able to wipe the floor with the guy. In fact, the guy didn’t even speak in a rhyme before he dashed at Bernael very quickly, Bernael could barely keep his eyes on the guy, but once the man was close, he swung his huge sword in a slow but wide arc. Bernael would quickly move under it before putting a hit to the man's chest, collapsing part of his lung of breath, causing him to cough. “Demons… Ascalon” Bernael would say, the holy sword once more coming into his hand, instantly sparking a very painful reaction, leaving him wide open just like all the other times, his demonic energies flowing out once again. The man took this time to dive his sword onto Bernael’s shoulder, cutting not very deep but it hurt nonetheless.
This caused the demon boy to wince, not enjoying any moment that the sword was burrowed into his shoulder, so he slowly grabbed it, and lifted it out himself! The man was fast, but he was weak, his power wasn’t anywhere near enough to be able to force the sword against Bernael if he was struggling. The greatsword was easily knocked into the air from force, and then Bernael kicked it directly into the opponent as it fell back down, cutting him deeply.”W-What the hell did you do… I certainly, have no clue.” the man said, finally breaking out a single rhyme as he was hurting. “Its simple, you were wearing weak clothing and were unarmored, but you decided to use a giant sword. That allowed you to be fast but swing slow and weakly, however that plays against you because your physical strength wasn’t meant for a big sword, however someone like me could use that sword fine if given the chance. Thus I overpowered you and killed you with your own sword. You were your own downfall.” the demon boy said, his demonic appearance especially in his eyes was incredibly apparent, as he felt no remorse at the moment, his emotions locked out from pain receptors from encountering holy backlash, he didn’t want to think much on it. “Seems you’ve come a very long way, but perhaps your emotions are being lead astray?” the man said with a chuckle, his end was met the same way as all the others, in a cloud of snowflakes that drifted silently to the ground.
Finally, Bernael got the resolve to push on once more, passing up the next room as he had already cleared out the person who would reside in it. He pushed on to the last room in the area, at least the last battle room. In the center was a man in the same metal armor as the third man, however he had the same sword as the second, except it looked like it was sharpened to the point of extreme strength. The man also had the same relaxed stance that appeared on the fourth opponent. Lastly, he was as big and bulky as the very first opponent. “What happens, when you remove everything weak? Well, you get something a little unique” the man would say, staring over at Bernael through his armored helmet. The demon boy would just look back with a blank expression, not caring about what the man really had to rhyme or talk about, in the end he was just another opponent that would fall before the males offense. “Have you learned not a thing? If you don’t take a moment to think about all this, I’ll kill you faster than a wasps sting.” the man would state out in a demanding tone. The hybrid boy would just get into a stance, ready for action “I don’t care to go over all I’ve learned so far, I just want to finish my mission for the time being” was all that he could come up with before running towards the armored man.
A shocked expression would grow on Bernael’s face as the armored man was next to him, holding an arm in front of the boy’s chest to stop him from moving and a sword at his throat. “I’ll kill you in one lethal strike. Such a waste of good talent, I very much dislike” the man said with remorse in his tone, as if he was sad to have to kill the boy. But as he was driving the sword towards the boy’s throat, a flash of ki energy would go out around the boy, as he powered up from sheer anger. “Who the hell do you think you are!” the boy shouted out, the outburst of energy causing him to slide back a bit. “Why am I being put through all these mind games! Why was I chosen for this huh?! There's no reason that this should be happening to ME!” the boy would scream out, his outrage growing bigger as time would go on. “I. Just. Wanted. To. Train! Why do I have to learn a lesson here huh?! My body is burning because of spirit clashing with essence! Do you really expect me to learn a lesson when I am being broken down like that?!” the boy would continue on, rage filling in his eyes.
“...So be it.” the man said, taking up his stance again. “Just know it wasn’t me, that drove you to such a hissy fit” he followed up with, just to continue the rhyme no doubt. Bernael shook his head, what was he doing? He had to calm down and regain his emotion… there was no way he was going to combat this opponent if he had to just stay on offensive. His mind was cleared once again, his power dropping back down to its normal state. He would return to his more casual stance while staring at the man before him. “You wanted me to realize that every opponent so far has had a weakness… and the lesson is that I can’t rely on just my own strength or the enemies weaknesses, as sometimes there’ll be an opponent that has all the pluses but none of the weaknesses… that’s why everyone I’ve met so far has had a very specific weakness correct?” was what Bernael would say, awaiting for an answer from the man, but the man just nodded.
“The first person, could hit hard but he wasn’t that fast so I could determine and counter his blows if I wasn’t letting my guard down. The second person had slow reaction times and a dulled down sword, causing it to shatter easy and not be able to stop my own powered blows. The third person had a fighting style that didn’t compliment his armor pallet, which was a close quarters melee style in an enclosed suit of armor against another melee artist. The fourth person had the biggest downfall with his speed and attire complimenting each other, but then his sword was too massive and heavy that he couldn’t swing it as fast as he could move and he himself was not strong enough to use it properly… all of them flaws” Bernael would continue on, searching for some sort of reaction from the armored man, but alas he still got none. “You however, you have the armor to protect yourself, the bulky body and strength to hit hard, you have a newly sharpened sword and good reaction time, as well as speed. All of it compliments each other so that you are a harder opponent to fight, than just anybody else. Thus I can’t rely on extorting your weakness, and I can’t rely on my personal strength to take you down, I have to do something I don’t like to pierce the veil and dominate you.” was the last thing Bernael would say before pausing.
Metallic sounding claps could be heard in the room, as the armored man slowly put his hands together after pulling them apart multiple times. “It seems, that the demon boy is correct. So I guess that means you had time to reflect?” the man would say, in a positive tone as he was no longer hostile to the boy. “So you know I am a demon… though I guess I didn’t really keep it a secret” Bernael would reply “Yes I had time to reflect during this entire journey” he would follow up. “That is very good, young boy. Knowing you’ve been a bit more enlightened fills me with joy” was the armored man's comment, keeping the conversation juggling. “What's the meaning of all of this?! If you’re testing me, and trying to make me learn all of this, why didn’t you just test me outright, why did you have to get a town of people to come find me and think of it as an emergency, and then have to almost kill all of your men… what's going on here!” the boy demanded, he wanted answers and he wanted them right now.
“You’ll know your answer soon enough. Face me now with what you’ve learned, if you don’t, this fight will surely be tough.” the armored man replied, getting back in his stance as he faced Bernael. The demon boy knew what he had to do… even though he didn’t want to use it this way, he had to corrupt and make the sword he pictured, an unholy sword, used to slaughter women and children alongside men and dragons. It had to be something as strong as it was made to be, but corrupted in some way. Once again he pictured the sword in his mind, except instead of picturing its details, he focused on its history and changed it to his own will. The sword would appear in his hand, this time not reacting badly or even glowing. It looked dark and sinister as it was in the boy's hand. “Demons Unholy Ascalon” was all the boy mumbled to himself as he was already on the other side of the armored man, walking slowly towards the opposite side door to the room they were in, the unholy sword of legend was already gone within that single strike. The man behind him would slowly poof, just like the rest into a cloud of snowfall particles, nothing to remain of the man behind the mask that he never even knew, but he learned so much from.
Slowly but surely, in the next room was a stockpile of gifts and a big bag, as well as a little note attached to some clothes nearby. “Put on these clothes and shovel all the gifts back into the bag, demon child. Take the bag back to the town while in the outfit and your mission will be complete. If you’ve come this far you have hopefully learned a minor lesson about combat that you didn’t want to pay attention to till now.” was all the note wrote. Bernael would sigh “What a hassle~” was all he said as he happily picked up a little red jumpsuit and a hat. “Why do I have to wear something so silly” was what he would then say as he put it on. He didn’t care too much for it but if the person who wrote the note said that he should, he was going to do it, he wanted to do it. The demon boy would quickly shovel all of the gifts that he found around the room into the big bag as he threw it over his shoulder and started heading back to the village.
It was a long trip back, as his mind flooded with ideas of what was going on, none of them made sense, so he just gladly delivered the gifts to the village, the same man as before smiling up at him with everyone else near by. “Look look, the hero has returned!” one would say “With a lesson hopefully well earned~” another would add on. “Yeah yeah, I got your gifts and I learned my lesson. Thank you guys for this, I probably needed it… It was surely better than training out in the middle of nowhere for a long time.” he would say back to them, happy with his experience. He slowly began to walk away, waving off to his new friends as he turned and began to walk away.
A weird emptiness befell his body, he felt like he was wearing a lot less. He slowly examined his clothing and head and realized that the jumpsuit and hat he put on were gone, leaving him with his normal attire. He would quickly turn and look towards the town that he just left, seeing nothing but the frozen tundra of the cold north left in front of him. All of it was gone and there was no remnants left of it for him. On the ground however, lie a small little box, it was wrapped in colorful paper and it looked just like one of the presents he put in the bag. There was a little card on it, it read “To: Bernael, From: Some Friends” on it, he felt like he was going out of his mind but the box felt all too real.
The demon boy didn’t want to open it just yet, he slowly walked off towards his old training spot. Once he got there, he slowly felt his ki sift through his hand, he once more thought of the unholy sword that he made up, and it appeared just like it had back in the building. It wasn’t fake, could it have been? Did he just have a spiritual journey and not even realize it… who knew. Well, if some of it had happened to exist, the people who were apart of it certainly knew what was going on, but he had no way to talk to them. Bernael felt like he possibly could continue to make the sword, however he didn’t know if his body could supply enough power to make it work. Only time and knowledge would be able to tell. [Demon’s Unholy Ascalon Attempt point].
“Well somebody was able to label this thing to be for me, I wonder what it could be” Bernael would say to himself, slowly picking up the box, all of these boxes were supposedly meant to be gifts, so whatever was inside was probably meant to benefit him, but he could only really wonder who these ‘friends’ were that made this for him, he couldn’t think of anyone that was out here with him that could just wrap up a box and have it for him. He sighed not wanting to spoil the surprise but something inside of him just was telling him to open it up before the day was over. If he waited till tomorrow, he felt like something bad would happen, or that it would be unlucky. He would slowly open up the box and look inside, within it was a bag, it jangled, most likely filled with zeni that he was going to be allowed to spend. The other thing in there was a decorated sheath, until then, the sword that he actually wielded was just shoved between his flak vest and himself, and with the he could actually attach it around his waist like it was meant to. “Well, whoever gave this to me” he would say, pocketing the zeni and attaching the sheath to his waist “Thank you, wherever you are” was all he said, before returning to his training in the now peaceful tundra, at least it had an odd peacefulness to him for the time being as he relaxed in the calming snowfall particles.
WC: 6056
Zeni for the normal solo
The makeup of this skill training goes Ki Suppression --> Demon Blade --> Demon Sword --> Demon Unholy Ascalon so if I am valid for any of them, it would be in that order I think, ki supression and the three demon stuff is interchangeable of course as they are separate tiers, but the Demon stuff goes B1 --> A2 --> M3 for those three listed.
