Inferiority

After hearing his answer, Rome stared at Raijah.

"That is your reason?" Rome said in an annoyed tone.

"You truly believe that you can defy your destiny by simply never giving up?"

An injured Raijah nodded his head.

"That's illogical!" Rome yelled, "there are many people who continue to live by that quote and, they still have not lived a life as good as a royal! They cannot change the fact that they were born with a destiny of peasantry and inferiority!"

"How long will you continue to deny it," Rome said as he blinked.

Raijah felt another explosion in his legs.

"I can't keep taking this damage," Raijah thought, "I need to figure out what his ability is."

Raijah raced at Rome as he thought, "I'll have to watch his movements to understand how he attacks."

Just before Raijah could reach him, Rome blinked again and, Raijah felt an explosion in his right arm.

The explosion caused Raijah's arm to fall off and roll away on the ground.

"I don't get it," Raijah whispered, "where are those attacks coming from?"

"You've lost an arm," Rome said as Raijah's armless body leaked blood.

"Now, do you see that it is pointless? You cannot beat me by simply not giving up! As I said before, you, me, and every other peasant cannot change the fact that we were born with a fate of inferiority."

"I don't understand why you think so little of yourself," Raijah replied, "titles like royal and peasant don't mean anything. Do you think that someone who is called a king is more valuable than someone who has the qualities and mindset of a true king?"

Rome stared at Raijah blankly.

"The answer is no," Raijah continued, "most of these royals are not deserving of what they have. People like King Hendrix of the Fang Family use their royal status as an excuse for mistreating others. He is someone who does not possess the qualities of a true king and, he is still someone who is titled a king."

"What are you trying to get at?" Rome said.

"What I am trying to say is that you shouldn't let titles such as peasant and royal influence what you think of yourself. You aren't a peasant just because other people gave you that title. If I allowed myself to be influenced by titles, I would be sitting around sulking about being called a peasant."

"But I would never do that," Raijah said proudly, "I'll never give these so-called kings and queens the satisfaction of seeing me at my lowest."

Rome stared at Raijah and began to form a slight smile, "is this boy actually persuading me?" he whispered.

"You are stronger than King Kaijo," Raijah said, "he hasn't even awakened his prana because he relies on other people to do things for him. So, why do you continue to obey a false king?"

"You talk big," Rome said, feeling moved by Raijah, "but you will still lose this fight and return to your life of peasantry."

Although he still had one arm, Raijah could feel that his knees and chest were fully healed.

With one arm, Raijah dashed at Rome at his full speed.

"I can't give him an opening," Raijah said.

"Doragonken: Dragon Fist!"

Raijah attempted to punch Rome in his jaw but, before his attack landed, Rome blinked.

Raijah felt an explosion in the side of his stomach, but he noticed Rome's blink and pushed himself to continue.

"Doragonken: Fang Strike!"

Raijah pointed two fingers and at Rome and aimed for his eyes.

"Good try," Rome said as he stopped Raijah's attack by catching his wrist.

Although Rome gripped Raijah's wrist, Raijah's fingers were still pointing at his eyes.

"I've got you," Raijah announced.

Raijah shot a lightning bolt out of each finger and, each bolt shot into one of Rome's eyes.

Rome released Raijah's arm and grabbed his eyes as he yelled in pain.

"Damn," Rome said, "he's figured it out."

Raijah's arm began to grow back as he let out a proud grin.

On the other side of the castle, Teo's samurai slammed its sword into Gio.

Val's samurai disappeared and, she and Cora walked towards where Gio was.

"Did we win?" Val asked as they stared into the crater that Teo's attack had caused.

Teo's samurai also looked down at the crater.

At the bottom of the crater, Gio was lying on the ground with noticeable injuries.

"That wasn't a bad attack," Gio said as he dissolved into wind.

Gio appeared above his opponents, using his wind prana to fly.

"Sergio is going to kill me for this but, I have to hurt her. If I don't, she'll exploit it and use that against me."

Gio twirled his finger in a circle and, an eruption of prana followed.

Teo, Val, and Cora felt an increase in air pressure, and a large tornado appeared around all four of the fighters.

The tornado reached the top of the lightning wall that Raijah had put around the castle.

Inside the castle, the king was growing more impatient. He could feel the winds of Gio's tornado and, he shouted, "where the hell is that captain! These fools are going to destroy my castle!"

Gio stared down. Teo was still in the chest plate of his samurai and, Val and Cora were on the ground.

"Do you have any information on this tornado?" Teo shouted down at Val.

Val shook her head as she said, "No. I've only seen him turn into wind."

Gio shouted down at them, "Cora and my experiment. All you have to do is agree to return to the castle and, I will forget that any of this happened."

"Shut up!" Teo yelled back, "I'm not your experiment!"

In the forest, Aziel and Hahira saw the tornado form at Kaijo castle.

"Now I need to go," Aziel said to Hashira, "I'm not sure if they'll be able to beat that wind user."

Before Aziel could leave, Hashira stretched his arm out to stop him.

"Not yet," Hashira responded, "have faith in your students."

Inside the tornado, Gio began to feel annoyed.

"It was your choice," Gio said as he stretched his hand down at them.

"Wind Prana: Wind Blade Shower!"

The three on the ground began to sense blades of wind above them.

Val and Cora began to dodge the attacks but, they kept coming.

Dark prana swirled around Teo's sword and, his samurai pointed the blade up.

"Dark Prana: Dark Beam!"

A beam of dark prana shot out of the sword and soared towards the wind blades and Gio.

The attack destroyed all the wind blades and, Teo looked up and noticed that Gio was no longer in the air.

"Watch out!" Teo alerted Val and Cora, "he's turned himself into wind again."

Gio reappeared in front of Teo's samurai.

"It's time to get serious," Gio said as the wind speed began to increase.

"Ririsu Prana: Gale Palm!"

Gio struck the samurai's chest plate and, the following wind sent the samurai, Val, and Cora flying in different directions.

Gio's attack destroyed Teo's samurai and, Teo flew out of it and slammed into the tornado.

Teo felt the tornado tearing his body and, he dropped to the ground and landed on his knees.

Teo's sword, which had been enlarged, shrunk back to its regular size and began to float beside him.

Cora and Val landed on the ground. They were sent flying, but unlike Teo, they did not hit the tornado.

The three of them were now on different sides of the tornado's interior and, Gio was alone in the middle.

"What was that?" Cora asked, "those winds were much stronger than before."

"That is my first ririsu ability," Gio explained, "I named it gale. It multiplies the strength of my winds by several times."

The three of them dashed at Gio.

"Didn't I just explain?" Gio said as he stretched his hands in opposite directions, "my winds are much stronger."

"Ririsu Prana: Gale Blast!"

Powerful winds shot out in every direction and caused Val, Teo, and Cora to slam into the tornado.

The tornado ripped through their skin and caused their backs to bleed.

"What do I do?" Teo asked as he and the others dropped to the ground.