Skidding to a halt on the edge of the beach, Roy reached desperately out for the Essence that had begun to gather on the shoreline. It was slow to respond, due to his split focus, and he could feel his panic mounting as he fought for control. Slowly, the Power Essence began to drift towards him and Roy bent his entire will on gathering it all in one place.
His arms were trembling with the strain of holding the Essence together, and his head felt as though it were going to split open. Still, he kept going. He had to survive, and in order to do that, he had to succeed. He kept his breathing technique as best he could and pulled the Power Essence closer to himself.
He concentrated and tried to make it halt in place. At first, the Essence continued approaching, and he was afraid his plan was doomed to failure. Miraculously, it worked. The Power Essence slowed to a crawl, then stopped advancing altogether. Now, Roy concentrated on pulling all of it into an area, condensing the Essence into a single spot.
His breathing was becoming ragged at this point, and sweat was pouring off him in buckets. This was as ready as he’d ever be.
Taking one deep breath, Roy concentrated on pushing the Essence gathered on his hands outward. It complied, slowly forming into twin spheres of crackling energy hovering over his palms. He attempted to throw them in an improvised Projected technique, but as he’d feared, it didn’t work.
That left him with the second, much more dangerous, and not at all desirable option. Concentrating on the twin spheres in his hands, he attempted to link them with the Essence gathered further down the beach. He then pictured the biggest explosion he could manage, figuring that the simplest form of Power Essence, would have to be force.
For a few breathless moments, he was afraid he would fail again, just as with the Projected technique, after all the effort he’d put into it. Finally, with a rush of air, the Essence crackling across his hands seemed to fly off them. It rocketed across the beach and collided with the natural Essence. The subsequent explosion sent a mushroom cloud of sand and dust billowing into the sky, and the backlash was enough to throw Roy clean off his feet and bouncing painfully along the ground.
He finally came to a halt, ending up on his back, feeling a new collection of bruises and gasping for air. Once he’d caught his breath fully, he began laughing out loud and whooping in triumph. When his Physical technique had failed, he’d thought he was done for, but he’d done something that Martial Artists who’d been practicing for years had yet to accomplish. This had been an attempt at creating a Physical technique, but he’d succeeded in doing something far beyond that.
“I suppose congratulations are in order. Not even a week as a Martial Artist and you’ve created your first Full-area technique. Or most of one, anyway,” Geon piped up. “Unless you’d like to be tossed around every time you use it, I’d recommend learning both a Containment and Terrain technique.”
“Thanks,” Roy replied, brimming with pride at his accomplishment, despite his aching body. Sure, he hadn’t gotten it completely right, but the accomplishment was still there all the same. Leaning back, Roy let out a contented sigh as he watched the dust from his first-ever technique begin to disperse.
***
Shah Koya stood before the council of elders. They had all gathered together, a rare occurrence to be sure, to administer his punishment. Not for killing Herald Leroy, no. The only ones who knew about that, were standing up here with him. He was going to announce it in just a few more days, but then this had happened. The reason they were now standing before the eight angry elders, and the clan leader himself, was because their Dungeon had vanished.
After doing some digging into the Dungeon’s use, they had discovered that Koya and his co-conspirators had been the ones on watch the night someone had stolen the core. The Dungeon was the clan’s main source of income, so losing it would effectively cripple them. This would make it easy for either the Diadei or Felrin clans to strike at them directly in an attempt to take over.
Koya hadn’t thought that leaving early would be such a big deal. After all, he and the others had only left about an hour before the next watch took over. They had decided that they should go and celebrate, rather than waiting around. No one had been spotted in or near their borders for weeks, so he’d had no reason to suspect that someone might be nearby. And now, he had to face the consequences of his actions.
His fists clenched at his sides as the elders continued their hushed conversation, as the clan meeting hall gradually filled with its most important members. This wasn’t a public hearing, rather a hearing held by the elders and anyone above Orange-Belt. They would be influential enough in the clan that their votes would count towards his fate.
Koya wasn’t focused on them. He was inwardly seething at that damned cripple. If it wasn’t for him, this never would have happened. In fact, if he wasn’t already dead, he would probably have hunted the freak down and killed him himself. As it was, he already wished he could resurrect the dead, just so he could do it all over again — personally, this time.
The noise in the room increased as the last of the clan members entered and were seated. Aside from the elders, there were one hundred and eighty-seven others who were qualified to be here. Despite himself, Koya shivered as he felt the power gathered in the small room. This represented the main bulk of the Shah clan’s military power, and any one of them could obliterate him in an instant.
“Everyone, please quiet down.”
A hushed silence filled the room as Shah Korgo, leader of the clan, stood from his seat. His solid Green-Belt stood out in stark contrast to his lighter blue robes and immediately drew the eye.
He was a tall man by the standards of the clan and appeared to be in his late forties, though his actual age wasn’t widely known. If Koya were to guess, he would say he was around sixty, maybe seventy. He had long black hair that was streaked with gray, tied back in a braid that fell halfway down his back. He had a slim face, with coal-black eyes and a narrow, pinched mouth. He practically radiated power.
He was flanked on either side by the other eight elders, their Belts hidden under the long dais that stretched from one side of the raised area to the other.
“We are gathered here today to discuss the fate of Shah Koya, and to a lesser extent, that of Shah Izu and Kozu. Their crime is as follows: negligence of duty, resulting in the theft of our Dungeon core. Since Izu and Kozu are both lower-ranked, the brunt of the punishment falls on Koya. As the one in charge, he should not have left his post. I will now allow the elders to voice their opinions on what a proper punishment should be for this heinous crime.”
Korgo finished speaking and took his seat once more, waiting for the first of the elders to begin. This wasn’t a trial, so Koya would have no chance to defend himself, no chance to say anything at all. The elders would voice their opinions, and then it would be put to a vote. Whichever verdict received the largest number of votes, would be his fate.
“If I may begin, honored leader,” Shah Haru said, rising from her seat. She was a severe old woman, who had gained the title of elder after single-handedly driving off an invading force of Felrin Orange-Belts. Aside from Korgo, she was the highest-ranked in the clan. That was made obvious by her bright Orange-Belt bearing four slashes of green.
Korgo inclined his head, and she turned to address the crowd, looking right through Koya as though he weren’t even there.
“Honored members of the Shah clan,” she began, “for the negligence shown by this boy and his compatriots, and the price it will cost our clan, I propose they all be put to death. The Dungeon was our main source of income, and these boys did not only leave their posts, but they left it unguarded for an entire hour. An hour is more than enough time for an outside clan member to enter the Dungeon and steal it. The argument could be made that most of the blame should fall on Shah Koya, but I believe that all are equally responsible.”