Tsubaki quickly made her way with Dana out to the courtyard of the Sky Citadel. Thankfully, the damage to the exterior of the building did not appear as intense, allowing it to maintain a mostly pristine image. When they emerged, they saw the massive complex on the ground below, causing Dana’s eyes to twitch. “I know you said he made it big, but… I always had this image that it was just bigger on the inside, or something. Not… this.”
Tsubaki nodded her head in agreement. “I think it is also bigger on the inside, if that is any consolation. At least in certain areas.”
Dana let out a long sigh. “If I had known that he was doing something like this, I would have placed the building site in the ocean. Still, it looks interesting. With a bit of landscaping, I think we can get this area to mesh rather well with the architecture.”
Tsubaki simply nodded again, waiting for the Citadel to finish aligning itself with the centermost spire. Once it had done that, and fully stabilized its position, her body turned into a streak of light, rushing down and into the nearest ‘gate’. “Please take me to my Keeper.” She spoke in the calmest tone that she could manage.
“The Keeper is training at the moment.” The electronic voice of Hermes informed her. “Would you like me to send you to the observation room?”
“There’s an observation room?” Tsubaki blinked in surprise, before nodding her head. “In that case, then please do so. I can deliver my report once he is finished with his training.”
Thankfully, it seems like he is still concerned with his training. Tsubaki thought to herself in a satisfied tone. This meant that he was seriously considering her advice, and also that he had likely been too busy to notice that she hadn’t been able to complete her previous assignment very quickly.
Dana’s figure entered the passage just as the blue light flashed, catching her by surprise. “We just teleported.” She muttered, clearly able to feel the shift in space. “Did he really set up teleportation platforms all over the city?”
Tsubaki gave a small smile at that question. She didn’t know the extent of the teleportation network, but knew that there was at least one ‘elevator’ in every palace. Once the door opened again, there was a blue line lighting up on the ground, leading them to a room several doors down.
Inside the room, Tsubaki could see the lycan goddess Accalia watching a projection, alongside the ursa Keliope. The projection itself displayed none other than the Keeper. However, he didn’t seem to be doing any special training. Rather, he was simply repeating the same punch into the air. If there was anything significant about this training, it was purely the speed of his punch, which Tsubaki estimated at roughly two punches per second with a very steady rhythm.
“How long has he been doing this?” She couldn’t help but ask, causing Accalia to look over. It seemed that she hadn’t noticed their approach.
“From what I heard, he spent a few minutes helping some of the others get settled, and then he came right here. He hasn’t stopped once, yet. Just the same punch, and with the same pace.”
Tsubaki glanced at the projection when she heard that. There didn’t seem to be any differences in the Keeper’s punches, as if the video were simply on a loop. “Is he trying to master the essence of his fist in this manner?”
Keliope gave a small grin, nodding her head. “Sounds about right. Though, I don’t think he’s going to be able to get it as fast as he unlocked his gun will. There’s a huge difference in mindset when you compare fighting with a ranged weapon versus melee combat. And that gap only gets wider when you consider unarmed combat. Honestly, I would have chosen wires as his second style, not fists. He’s spent so much time training the Thousand Arms, Ten Thousand Threads that he knows how to manipulate a thread as if it were his own body.”
Tsubaki blinked at that, having not even considered that option. “How many martial wills have you mastered, Lady Keliope?”
“I lost count.” She answered with a shrug. “I didn’t go through the same awakening process as you guys. With me, and I think the rest of the companions, as well, we just felt it awaken within us. I probably wouldn’t have even known what it was that had awakened if Accalia here hadn’t taken such an interest. I know I have a few that should be at the ‘intent’ stage she mentioned before.”
Tsubaki offered a small nod, thinking that that made sense. Keliope was famous for her martial prowess. Even if she didn’t understand the new concept that was ‘martial will’, her expertise with various style couldn’t be underestimated. “What do you think he should do to train, then?”
“Honestly? I think he’s on the right track, just with the wrong approach. He’s focusing so single mindedly on his hand that he’s just kind of tuned out everything else. If he awakens a martial will like this, the only thing that will will be able to do is a straight punch like what he’s doing now.”
“If he doesn’t train it with a wide variety of techniques, it will be hard for his will to execute those techniques in the future, as the only thing it knows will be a single punch.”
“Admittedly, that one punch could become extremely powerful, but it will be lacking when faced with other techniques. No, he needs to go through every unarmed technique he knows, focusing on his hands.”
Tsubaki gave a small nod of agreement. “Have you told him as much?” She found it hard to believe that the Keeper was still doing this repetitive motion after they had come to such a conclusion.
“I wanted to, but sis stopped me.” Keliope chuckled slightly, Accalia smiling towards Tsubaki.
“He needs to figure this out himself. Otherwise… it may not be bad for him to pursue the extreme of a single punch. If he trains that one punch with the goal of dominating all foes, he may never need a second. Keliope speaks from the perspective of someone who has mastered a myriad of fighting styles. Her techniques in combat are constantly changing. What works for her might not work for someone like Dale.”
Tsubaki bit her lip slightly. It was true that the Keeper had yet to master many fighting styles. This was in part because of his relatively young age, and also because the styles that he most often encountered were those purchased from the Keeper market. These styles had step-by-step guides for how to train them. At the same time, these styles were often the pinnacle of what he could unleash with his level of power, removing the need for him to learn other fighting techniques.
His gun will was more flexible when I saw it. She thought to herself, thinking back to the time she spent on that mountain. But, that was trained in real combat, where his needs were constantly changing. His aim was not very good, so he forcibly made up for that by making his trajectory flexible, which was reflected in the will produced.
If he continued on the path he was on, Tsubaki could truly see it reaching the result that the sisters had mentioned, one where he trained a single punch to the greatest extreme. He’ll have his gun will for flexibility, and his fist will for power… it might not be such a bad combination.
Black lightning crackled along Sora’s skin as her eyes remained closed, a smirk tugging at her lips. She sat within a large spell diagram, one that was constantly sending bolts of electricity raining down upon her. Nearby, Thelsa stood watch with the others, looking nervously at the scene before her. “Is this really going to work?” She asked uncertainly, worried that Sora was putting herself in danger.
“The theory’s sound.” Petra spoke up. “At least, according to the reports from Lorek. She wouldn’t be the first to get it, though I doubt the others were putting themselves through such a… harsh training regiment.”
Sora had established the spell formation around her to generate natural electricity, removing the traces of mana from it before directing that lightning to crash into her. Then, she was absorbing that lightning into her body, circulating it through her energy network. This was a training method that Petra and the others couldn’t imagine. The sheer pain of being constantly electrocuted was enough to make them pause.
All of this was for a single purpose, an unconfirmed report from Lorek about someone that had mastered an elemental martial will. It was hard to tell whether this report was truly about a martial will, or if it was either a druid or someone that simply cultivated an elemental path. Regardless, Sora had been ‘enlightened’ by the idea, and immediately set out making this training plan.
As Thelsa was about to speak up, the array surrounding Sora shattered, the black-haired sorceress slowly standing up. “Did you succeed?” Petra hurriedly asked, Sora opening her eyes. There was an almost fierce glint in them that hadn’t been present previously.
A serpent of condensed electricity appeared in the air behind Sora, staring down at Thelsa, Petra, and Maria. Petra could sense the rich elemental ki flowing through the serpent, her eyes going wide. Maria, meanwhile, pursed her lips. “This doesn’t seem like a normal will, does it?”
“You’re right.” Sora nodded her head, dismissing the lightning serpent. “I think it’s because of mixing in the natural energy. This will isn’t as phantasmal as a normal one, and I can control it to take on various different forms. On the downside, it uses more energy than Petra’s axe will, or your hammer intent.”
“This will need more study later, but for now, I have a speculation. Given that the lightning will has a tendency to prefer animalistic forms, the ‘intent’ upgrade for it should be settling on a single form, and giving that form a higher degree of sentience. Almost like an elemental ki summon.”
“Yeah, but that’s just your guess.” Maria pointed out, shaking her head at Sora’s words. “For all you know, the intent will take the form of a weapon.”
After saying that, she turned her head to look at Thelsa. “Still, this should mean that you can train the rest of your shadows in various intent types now, right?”
Thelsa simply nodded her head, having already begun the process of doing so. “It’ll take some time, I think. Martial wills seem to be quite special. However, between what we’ve all managed to train, I should be able to create a training plan for them.”
Petra smiled, glad that she was able to be of some help. It had only taken them a few hours to ascend several more layers in Fyor, only stopping because they saw how strong the local monsters were. After deciding that any further exploration would simply be dangerous for the rest of the world, they stopped to consolidate what they had acquired.
Given that martial wills were ‘released’ almost immediately after that… it only made sense for them to spend some time training in this new combat style. Especially since both Petra and Maria had immediately awakened their own wills as soon as the change was made.
Sora rolled her shoulders, feeling the dip in her ki after her little lightning serpent experiment. “Sign me up for your monk course, by the way. I need a lot more ki if I want to incorporate that into my normal combat style.”
Thelsa blinked, nodding her head slowly. “Are you planning to become a frontline fighter?”
“What? Of course not!” Sora refuted immediately. “But it will be really cool to just be able to command a lightning beast like that in the middle of a fight without having to worry about spell diagrams or whatever.”
