Chapter 15

Huff.... Huff.... Hiro struggled to steady his breathing as he laid on the cold ground. As he squinted his eyes tightly Hiro knew he had reached his bodily limit.

[Ugh! It's happening again. Both right leg and left hand have gone numb, there is blood leaking from my right thumb, must have happened when I tightly gripped the shard during the fall. 'Heh.. who do you think you are?', I can feel the world mocking me. Put a scratch on Vi with just one day's training? You must be dreaming Hiro...Nobody becomes perfect in a day. What do you think Vi was doing throughout all this time? Sleeping? Look at his form, flawless.. I really want to give up...I don't wanna die!]

[All these feelings vanish in front of adversity. There remains only you and your necessity. Necessity for your survival.]- came a wise answer to his questions.

With great strain Hiro picked himself up, his legs screaming to give away yet held by his necessity. His eyes half lidded, on the verge of blacking out yet choosing to remain open, hands devoid of any weapon and splashed with blood. Hiro held his fists close to his chest as he attempted to put on a defensive posture.

"I will... still fight... while I can. Come at me and show me my worth. Test my limits and help me bre...."

"Let yourself fall today, so that You shall rise up tomorrow. Should it be necessary, let your body break... break past all that holds you, for all your sacrifices shall lead to victory. Pave your way with failures if that's what it takes-Wisdom of The One"

Grow so strong that even failure thinks twice before striking you again.-Wisdom of The One"- Imparted a worried Infi in a singsong voice, all the while holding him in her arms.

"Success is the key but failure is the catalyst of the reaction. Break yourself to be reformed again. Into a better, stronger You.", they said together.

Hiro's eyes widened when he heard the all too familiar phrase, it was of the kind orphanage lady.

Hiro felt happy to hear those words after such a long time. so much he struggled to contain the waterworks that were threatening to overflow from his eyes.

Seeing her precious brother like that must have stirred something as Infi immediately hugged him despite his injuries.

But before she could do it, only one word came out of Hiro's mouth, "Again!" and the training started again.

Both participants were up and ready, a wise old Geezer("Oi!Oi!") and a foolish brat("Hey!!") facing each other. Hiro closed his eyes and tried to search for calm, against unsurmountable power what could he possibly do?.....

A smirk found it's was into his face, he can smile and take it head on. So he positioned his reformed and hardened shard in a draw downward draw position and pushed himself forward.

[Petro Kinesis=Control over crystals and ability to create them, Petrosapian/Daimondhead's ability. ]

The Unimatrix was really powerful is used correctly. Master control would let him turn into any of the 75 of the unlocked aliens, for any duration, change between them. But in Unimatrix, he can just take all the alien abilities, combine them or combine and form new aliens. And he just had...how much is 1000,912 minus 75? ...to unlock....

Shockwaves of air were left in his wake as he ran, launched much faster. He clenched his muscles and a bubbling sensation spread through him, condensed power hidden inside. Dragon slayer's physiology, must have happened when he accepted Ben and Natsu. Hiro now moved with alertness, relying on all of his senses, determined to test his new powers.

This time though, when the sharp weapons met, a slight crack found itself on the seemingly unblemished surface of the simple katana. When it was not in use, the weapon looked rusted, almost blunt, useless, yet when Vi used it, it will shine with utmost radiance as if surpassing even the glory of the legendary weapons he had imagined in his head.

Vi slightly pushed back and Hiro was sent flying again. But not making a mistake, Hiro backflipped mid-air and landed straight on the ground. His eyes were trained on Vi's figure, his body twitching with Vi's every movement. Hiro for a moment felt as if he had acquired tunnel vision as he couldn't see anything besides Vi. His surroundings were nothing but a blur. He couldn't see Infi but knew her location somehow.

Hiro tried to calm down but to no avail. His brain was being fried with some sort of sensory overload, his depleted body only supported with the ever increasing adrenalin coursing through his veins. [Come on Hiro, think! What could I do to at least repair myself in these limited conditions?]

Think or get your ass kicked! Vi said only physical prowess no enhancements or magical abilities....hmm what could be something that is inside me but not exactly me suing any skill?....oooh I am such an idiot! Why didn't I think of this before? At least taking those blows would have been less painful afterwards!

Suddenly Hiro smirked, his hope in landing a good hit rekindled. [If I am gonna get ass-kicked anyways, I would rather go out in style. Why am I doing this?.....I really hope this works.]

All of Hiro's wounds started healing at a fast rate, as if the flesh itself was reintegrating itself. Hiro steadied his posture again and said, "My aliens are a part of me. So I hope using Swarmfire's innate healing ability is not break the rules, ....right?"

Hiro created several other shards and threw four of them at Vi. As Vi readied his sword, Hiro suddenly jumped in the air, simultaneously kicking two shards he had formed just before jumping, like a football. Those two shards zoomed past the others, aimed straight for Vi's left foot and right knee.. Next thing he knew, Hiro was running ahead full speed, along those shards sailing through air. [Huh! I threw the shards and then started running. This should be physically impossible unless I got a serious boost in speed. Hmm... must be an anime thing... Still thing is exciting...]

The first two shards were quickly disposed off with just one lash form Vi's katana.[Yeah...Think again Me...not gonna catch him on that one...], number 3 and 4 were slashed side away but Hiro still kept moving. Just as another was vapourised[Yikes! He just vapourised Daimond!] Hiro quickly hit the bottom of his last shard and increased his speed to as much his legs would take him to. The last shard quickly changed trajectory with an increased momentum. Seeing this Vi decided to slash downward yet again destroying the shard.

[It's now or never!] Hi quickly jumped over Vi, shifting his momentum forward, he drew his blade upwards, and hoped again...[I am leaving much to my luck, aren't I?...]

Vi had dropped his strength to Hiro's level but even then he was a good swordsman. As soon as he slashed the last shard, he had expected Hiro to strike. But he somehow decided to jump past him. The boy was trying to slash from behind...But he would not succeed.

Vi quickly turned around to slash at Hiro. But just before his blade was moments away from Hiro... he heard it... Another shard was falling downwards over his head. Heh! Clever! Give the opponent such a situation where he either defends against your strike and let's himself be pierced or parry your other strike only to be slashed by you... Brat was using his brain correctly. He almost had him fooled....almost.....

Hiro quickly slashed at Vi but something amaizing happened. Vi who was facing him swung his blade with greater force. A force so great, it broke his shardwhile going a full verticsl circle ad slashed his surprise shard in two.

A huge shockwave was created. the blow was so great, it made Hiro hit the floor and bounce back to a good distance...Now Hiro was struggling to decide whether to puke his guts out or pass out from his injuries.