My Path

Rowan stood across from his master for the second time as he stretched. The last time they had battled it had been for show, but this time there were real stakes. Rowan knew it would not be the same battle, though. His master was not going to limit his cultivation, he would need to actually force the strongest man to use more than 70 percent of his strength. He had his own reasons for what he asked for, but it would take time for his plan to come to fruition. But if it was going too, then it needed to start here. He had no choice in the matter. He had to do whatever he could to turn his dream into a reality, and he planned on doing just that.

Leon walked into the middle of the training field and began to tap on runes that glowed in the middle of the field. He looked at them both and raised one hand as a barrier rose from the ground, reminiscent of the one that surrounded Regius' own arena on the top of the Ark. Regius raised an eyebrow at the display. "I see Valentine did more than just come and visit you when he could. Leon could only shake his head. "You can't blame this one on Valentine. My darling granddaughters brought me your barrier technology." A look of betrayal came over Regius' face that he wasn't able to hide in time as he just shook his head. He did not know that his daughters had even found time to come visit their grandfather.

Rowan rejoiced at the look but quickly became serious as he stared at his master, wary of missing even a second of what was going to happen. Leon's hand came down in the same instant that his voice reached their ears. "Match start!" Rowan had no intention of being passive, but his master moved first. He was using the world sword, and it was chopping towards Rowan's throat. Rowan, on the other hand, looked calm as he stepped into his master's swing and his elbow hit the center of Regius' arm, causing a numbing feeling to shoot through his arm and him to involuntarily drop the world sword. Everyone watching was dumbfounded over what happened next except for Empry. Rowan stepped forward once more and his foot stomped right onto the top of his master's foot, trapping him in place while he threw a rapid combination. A left hook hit the side of Regius' elbow and numbed his other arm, stopping him from being able to defend against the right hook that would cause his jaw to creak and his vision to swim.

Regius' knees almost buckled, but he caught himself and teleported back to create space. Regius rolled his shoulders and looked at his surprised master with a smile on his face while Empry explained what had just happened to the confused Balthazar. "Young master Rowan met many interesting figures in his journey here, but by far the most interesting was a group of warrior monks that taught him their ways. He helped one of their kind in passing and in turn they taught him about the way they cultivated as well as their fighting techniques. The body naturally has channels that mana flows through, and the technique Rowan is using disrupts those channels. The warrior monks taught Rowan that his body, too, was a weapon. Regius was ready to regain the feeling, but Rowan had no plan to give up the advantage that he was building.

He tapped his feet on the ground and appeared in front of his master before he could retrieve the world sword. He feinted to the left and followed with a storm point to the middle of his masters knee that shot a bolt of lighting shaped liked a spear directly into another mana pathway and limiting his master movement before sweeping him off his feet with one kick before spinning and using the rotation to kick into Regius chest at full force. Rowan had grown to the point that he was indeed capable of injuring gods, and Regius was no exception. He followed with an ax kick that sent Regius back into the ground and cracked more than one of his ribs. It was then that the world sword moved. It flew towards Rowan's back blade first, forcing him to dodge while Regius shot up and snatched it from the air.

"Okay then Rowan, neat trick. My turn." Regius vanished from his position and appeared before Rowan too fast for him to even put up defenses as his fist connected and sent him upwards. He never got far because Regius grabbed him by the ankle and slammed him into the ground before flinging him towards the far end of the arena. Rowan righted himself just in time to see his master sword fully enter its sheathe. "Petal Fall" A string of sword light shot towards Rowan and caused the space to tremble as it appeared in front of him in almost the same instant that it left the sword. "Fuck" Rowan tucked his body in and summoned the storm glaive and morphed it into a shield at the same moment. Petal fall blasted onto the shield, and it was like the arena exploded into fireworks as a series of thumps rang out that shook the area. Rowan slammed into the barrier and each thump caused his arms to ache, but he held on until the soul force in his master attack dissipated and he could slide to the ground. He looked at his master and panted. He activated storm steps and vanished once more as the storm glaive became a sword. In his free hand, he threw a storm at his master that exploded. "Sword storm" Swords formed of different elements formed from the storm, forcing Regius onto the defensive as Rowan danced across the field. Regius was slicing down sword after sword, unaware that each shattered sword was forming into a storm point and dispersing mist.

Rowan smiled and snapped his fingers. "Powder Keg" The detonation that followed let both parties realize that this arena could not contain where this fight was going as it the barrier directly shattered and space trembled while two figures shot into the air and into Orbit while everyone else followed. Regius had activated his armament spell and the other arms had formed, and he had used a petal fall with all six arms to counter the petal fall. Golden blood leaked from a wound in his head as he fixed his gaze on Rowan. "Okay then, point proven. I guess forty percent won't be enough. Don't die, disciple." Rowan could almost tangibly see the jump in power, as he could feel the soul force pouring from his master. It was like he was standing before a massive, hulking beast. Rowan acted on instinct as he released his sword and threw a storm at Regius with either hand and they combined in the air. "Star storm" Space trembled as shooting stars burst from the storm and towards Rowan, who had begun to spin like a top. "Second Fang of the Heavenly Wolf, Dragon Descends and Wolf Eats" A dragon formed around his body and slammed into the stars, but that was not It Regius. Then launched the dragon forward and sent it flying toward Rowan. The dragon had absorbed a portion of his attack and added it to Regius' power and was sending it back.

Rowan took a step back and launched a wind storm assault to counter the dragon and the dragon made from mana slowly broke down before becoming a glowing white dot of soul force in space. Regius smiled though because while the dragon descended, the wolf still needed to eat. A massive wolf's image appeared behind Rowan and crunched down on him and the white orb. A massive explosion ensued that blinded anyone watching the fight. Something went shooting backwards out of the explosion and Regius activated ripple and gave chase. Rowan had been forced into his berserker state now and the two battled across the stars, destroying everything in their wake. They launched spell after spell at each other, wounding each other at different times while looking for an opening. At some point, Rowan pushed Regius to sixty percent, and he had stopped at sixty-five percent.

Rowan was covered in wounds, but so was Regius as they stood in space across from each other, panting. Regius wiped blood from the corner of his mouth and Rowan used one of his wings to remove blood from his eye as he stared at his master. He knew that he was at his limit but there was only one trick he had left. He looked down at his wrist and was forced to think about how Valentine had known that he would be in this place. Regius tread through space towards him while Rowan pushed his mana into the band. A suit of metal coated his body and wrapped him up. Rowan was not going to use soul manipulation on Regius, despite the fact that it was his sure kill skill. Regius froze in place as the mech that he had created and entrusted to Valentine unfolded across Regius' body as he cursed his son once more. The infinity cloud came out and nestled into the middle of Rowan's chest, forming a power core of sorts, but the infinity cloud was not complete yet, so its image was faint inside of the armor. The mech formed an extra two sets of wings underneath his own and the mech looked like it was made from metallic feathers wrapped around his body. It was completed by a helmet shaped like a falcon's head.

A sense of power like none other overwhelmed Rowan as his body and the mech linked to each other. "I have one last attack in me, master. If this doesn't push you past 70 percent, then it will be my loss. Storm Cast." Rowan vanished and appeared miles aways and hundreds of storm points formed but at the same time the storm giant game out. Iit was not a giant for long as it slowly broke apart into hundreds of falcons that all accelerated towards Regius at the same time. Regius' jaw dropped as hundreds of falcons executed storm stoop with the most storm points that had ever been used for it. He wanted his master to experience his path, and this was it. The storm giant was a figment of his soul and so were these falcons, but this was the limit of what he could do as a demigod without his strength plummeting. Space directly shattered where the cast of falcons passed as they followed the giant falcon that was Rowan. Empry grabbed Leon and Balthazar and teleported them far into the distance before he headed his master's call.

Planets were decimated in Rowan's wake and a black hole formed at the same time while Regius' voice could be heard.The world sword had turned white and shined so brightly it could not be seen. "Supernova" The two forces collided and the entire second layer shook at the impact. In fact, it was more than the second layer that shook, but the entire ark because in his final attack Rowan had pierced the Hull of the Ark and pushed both of them into true outer space. Regius stood in the sky, but not like before he was donned in something that he had not worn in a very long time. The magical mech, Empyrean, had been donned once more. Regius looked down at the unconscious figure in his arms. He had achieved his mission and forced Regius into using more than 70 percent of his strength. An outcome that not even he expected, but one that made him proud of the young man who, when he awoke, would have a whole new world to embrace.