Thankfully, it didn’t take long for us to get our Virtual selves into the training program, while also getting a set of virtual reality gear for Gerard. Once I was in the virtual environment, I saw Vivi standing there and waiting for me. “Do you not have to manage Vision Expanse?” I asked curiously, unsure why Vivi was able to be in this training program.
“Oh, I still do.” Vivi assured me with a shake of her head. “However, the popularity of Vision Expanse has dropped to the point that people are typically playing it now for a casual experience. Because of this, I can set up plots in advance, and focus my attention elsewhere. When Udona asked me if I would like to handle this training program for her, I naturally agreed.”
I gave a small nod of my head at that. “Okay, then. In that case, please guide me.” As she was the equivalent of a tutorial program, she must have already mentally downloaded the ten fighting styles. Or at least, such was my assumption.
Vivi simply giggled, tapping a finger in the air and causing a brief ripple. “I’m still processing all of the information myself, if I’m honest. Combat styles contain far more information than one might expect. After all, this is not a true video game where everyone has only a certain set of skills that must be used with certain movements. However, Udona and Ashley were able to set up the program for me to help you through.”
As she said that, ten figures appeared to her right, each one standing in a neutral pose. “Each of these avatars were created with their divine powers, embodying one of the ten fighting styles. Which one would you like to review first?”
I closed my eyes, recalling what Scarlet had named two of the ten styles. “The Twelve Shattering Hands and the Heart of Combat.”
Vivi pursed her lips, nodding as she walked down the line. “Let’s start with the Twelve Shattering Hands. From the summary of the style, this is a set of twelve techniques, each one possessing great destructive or disruptive power. Their names are all similar, such as Mortal Shattering, Magic Shattering, or even God Shattering.”
She tapped on the back of the figure’s head, and it suddenly sprang to life, assuming a pose with one hand extended forward, palm open. The other hand was a closed fist, pulled back to hold near the waist. “Mortal Shattering!” The avatar shouted, thrusting its fist forward. I could sense the intense fluctuations of ki, before that ki turned in on itself to swarm together in invisible spirals.
Vivi looked back at me with a smile. “Each avatar has fully working energy pathways, and you are free to study how their energy moves at your leisure. For the sake of convenience, you may ask for a certain energy to become more visible, and I will highlight it.”
As she said that, the avatar took a step forward, throwing out an open palm. “Weapon Shattering!” It shouted, its ki shooting out from the palm in a thin line, before branching off and spinning around. Ultimately, it came back to rest in the palm. I knew enough about ki to guess that this pattern was designed to destroy physical objects.
“That’s enough of this one.” I told her, shaking my head. This style would probably be a good match for me, but I wanted to get a look at the others first.
Vivi nodded, tapping on the back of the avatar’s head again before moving further down the line. The avatar froze, maintaining its position with one palm extended forward. “In that case, the next one you wanted to review was the Heart of Combat.”
As soon as she tapped on the head of one of the final avatars, there was a bloodthirsty sensation that filled the area. Red mist radiated from around the avatar, its eyes becoming piercing while Vivi explained. “The Heart of Combat is a technique that grows stronger through bloodshed. The longer you fight, the stronger you become while your enemy tires out.”
As if to demonstrate, another avatar appeared not far away from the newly activated one. The avatar for the Heart of Combat stepped forward, throwing a glowing red punch at the other’s chest. It was thrown back, a stream of red mist leaving their body and returning to the avatar that had attacked it.
“By injecting this special blend of energy into your opponent, any damage you cause them to sustain will release that energy together with their own, which is pulled back to you. This is a rather unique style in that it utilizes the chaotic nature of energy mixtures. Every strike you deliver will use some of the stolen energy and forcibly merge it, the resulting explosive force added to your attacks.”
I could see why Scarlet was interested in this style, nodding my head. A fighting style that revolved around turning the enemy’s energy against them fit her rather well, as she often did similar things even before being promoted to the Greater Pantheon.
“In that case, show me the styles of the other three base energy types.” I told Vivi, who nodded and paused the Heart of Combat tutorial. She moved back towards the front of the line, tapping on the head of the very first avatar.
“The fighting style devoted to natural energy, the Essence of the World’s End. It is a style that reads the natural energy that exists throughout the world, and can twist its nature.” As she spoke, a wide field appeared around the avatar, who clasped its hands behind its back. The avatar’s head slowly tilted upwards, every blade of grass becoming stiff.
“The world as my weapon.” The avatar spoke, the grass hardening and shooting upwards, as if a rain of arrows had been unleashed. “The sky as my shield.” The arrows of grass spun around to strike towards the avatar, only to be cast aside by a solid shield of wind that appeared around him. “The void as your tomb.”
Upon uttering the third line, the space above the avatar shattered like glass, triangular shards falling into a chaotic, black void. My eyes went wide, able to feel the destructive power in that last utterance. Many of these powers could be reproduced through magic or ki, but the difference lay in sustainability. Someone who wielded natural energy in such a way would not run out of fuel unless the entire world fell to ruin.
Vivi smiled, pausing this avatar before moving to the second. “Now, the art of using spiritual energy. This one is called the Twin Swords of Joy and Sorrow.” As she spoke, the avatar manifested a pair of bladed weapons, one in either hand. In its left hand was a black blade, and in its right was a white one.
“Apparently, the shape of the swords themselves are less important, as long as they are bladed weapons. You divide your soul into light and dark, joy and sorrow, and imbue each aspect into a weapon. This style is suitable for those who have experienced an extreme array of emotions, due to their effect. Those cut by the sword of sorrow will experience the greatest sorrow that the user has ever faced, with the reverse being true for the sword of joy. The intense surge of emotions can easily cripple an opponent during a fight, either causing energy bodies to crumble or offering a large opening.”
“However, the greatest technique of this style comes when both swords have struck the same foe. Once this condition is met, the user can activate the Twin Swords Retribution. According to the information provided, this will cause the spiritual energy embedded in the wounds caused by the swords to rise up in an attempt to devour the spirit of the target.”
“This can happen because the energy contains both extremes of joy and sorrow, attacking the target on both fronts. If their soul is not capable of withstanding the spiritual onslaught, death is the only end.” Perhaps because of the unique nature of this fighting style, Vivi didn’t prepare a target dummy for this one, instead explaining what she could. After all, the essence of the style was the creation of the weapons as opposed to the way that they were used.
Next, she skipped over the third avatar, who was the Twelve Shattering Hands user, and moved to the fourth. “Finally, the art of magic. When I first saw this one, I wasn’t entirely sure if it would work with various Keepers’ magic systems, but that doesn’t seem to be an issue. The name of this art is Absurdity of Fate.”
I couldn’t help but arch a brow at that name, but she simply tapped on the back of the avatar’s head. As had happened before, a training target appeared not far away. The magic avatar held a sword in his hand, slashing out a wave of energy. I expected the target to simply stand there and take it, as the other one had, but this one actually jumped out of the way. It was hard to tell at first how a missed attack was meant to demonstrate the style, but then I saw that the chest of the dummy had been split open.
“The essence of mana is the ability to impose your will on the world, and the Absurdity of Fate takes that to an extreme. By focusing on a desired outcome of an action to the point where it becomes a tangible concept in your mind, you channel that concept through your actions. What you saw just now was the concept of ‘my attack will hit’. This doesn’t apply to every attack, or every situation, but rather each concept has to be crafted for the attack you wish to use and the opponent you want to use it on. Similarly, when avoiding attacks, they need to take the situation around themselves into consideration, as well as the attack of their enemy. For that reason, it can only be used in battle by someone with an extreme level of focus.”
“That’s…” I started, only for Vivi to say what I wanted to.
“Absurd?” She grinned, nodding her head. “That is why its name is what it is, I suspect. This is an art I imagine that many will want, but few will have the power to wield in combat. In order to get the proper level of focus required to turn a thought into a tangible concept with their mana, the average person would require fifteen minutes for a simple action. Unless you can cut that time down to milliseconds, this art is unusable in battle.”
I nodded in agreement. No enemy was just going to let you focus on an attack for that long. Forget fifteen minutes, even fifteen seconds was beyond what you could expect in battle, unless you had someone distracting the enemy.
Glancing at the remaining five avatars, I briefly considered getting a tutorial on the rest of them while I was here. However, I ultimately decided to save that for another time. Although I had great expectations for these fighting styles, there was something that I had to take care of first. I had been putting it off because I wanted to make sure that everything was settled in my world, but now I could do so without worry.
I tapped on my virtual device, letting my real world counterpart know that I was ready to sync memories, before closing my eyes. When they opened, I was sitting at my desk in the library, eyes wide at the memories I had just received. It took me a moment to shake off the rush of information, before I moved back to the Admin Room.
It was time to call Aerial, and let her know about the results of the recent battle. She had suffered under BloodBrother’s attack before, so it only seemed right to let her know.
