Another World

Chapter 22 - The Miniature Tower

I rapidly close the gap between me and the tower to the point that I'm 40ft from it. I stare up at its looming figure. Each floor is quite large and tall and I feel auras of awesome power as the levels increase. The top layer, of course, gives me the most sense of pressure. I fly towards the first floor and see that it opens revealing a pitch black interior and a large slender 6 eyed black dragon which roars at the top of its lungs. I unsheathe the nodaichi and feel a legacy transferred to me. I see a tall handsome young looking man garbed in golden robes with black hair and piercing golden eyes. His voice is smooth and he speaks in an unhurried manner. He unsheathes his blade and gets into a fighting stance with his blade in front of him, the hilt held with both hands. "I will show you the sword arts I have taken so long to perfect as well as the complete dao of the sword". He stands alone in a large lush field, the grass sways slowly without care. Then Goldsun proceeds to show me multiple sword movements, some slow, some fast, some ethereal, dominating, intricate, simple, I believe this to be the dao of the sword in all its glory. As Goldsun moves his blade arcs with golden light and it seems like each stroke of his sword carries the power of the stars with him as he moves. After he shows me the dao of the sword he straightens then says "Now I will show you my personal sword art". Then the area changes to a starry environment. As I strain my eyes I see distant planets around us. Then he says that the name of his sword art is heartsword. "My sword art comprises of 15 stances which increases with difficulty after every level. At the 10th level your power should soar to the skies enabling you to battle those of a higher level than yourself. At the 15th level then you should be able to easily kill those that surpass your power level". After what I assume to be hours of him showing me his sword movements - slowly at first, then medium speed, he goes through each stance clearly so I can easily them. Then at the end he performs all the stances with full power and speed ripping space around him as he does so. Then his figure and the illusionary world disappear. 

I plunge the blade into the earth as I kowtow 5 times. The large dragon stays back as I do this, not interfering. I ask myself - what is my goal? My goal..is to roam this mulitverse without fear, without anxiety. I will walk this earth as a carefree scoundrel and I aim to be so strong that no one would dare impede my path or attack me, I will become unrestrained by royalty, governments and individuals. No one but me would decide my own fate. 

I slowly stand up as I draw the long golden blade from the earth. The black dragon roars and immediately charges towards me with its aura flaring. In seconds it will be upon me. I snort at the sight of it 'Hmph, nothing will impede me'. I bring the blade over my head holding it high. When the dragon is 20 feet away from me I roar unleashing the first stance of the heartsword technique. Dark golden light trails from my blade and  a large amount of sword light comes forth from my sword and as I swing down the tip of my blade touches the earth. I hear an earth shattering bang as my attack hits. I watch as the dragon is slams back into its allotted chamber which caused another loud boom as its hide collides with the unknown metal. Immediately my blades tip touched the earth I followed the dragon to its lair incase I had to slash repeatedly. However the dragon changed its form to that of a grim looking young black haired man which gets on one knee when I enter the first chamber.  I look around to see a large room which has low tables, wine, food, manuals and some items I have yet to identify. The black haired man says "Master, now you have defeated me I will swear my oath to you, and as normal you can obviously take everything you see here to the outside world and use it your hearts content. My name is Terrordragon." I nod and tell him to stand. Once he stands I walk over to him and sheathe my blade. I ask him "Tell me what you know about this place, tell me about yourself and what objects are here". He nods once then says "This is a vastly inferior tower compared to the other one which you encountered earlier. Our former master created this tower to help those who cant conquer the larger tower yet. He was a solitary existence depending only on himself, he constantly wandered the Realm and acquired a unique legacy which he based his sword arts from, he also acquired other legacies and items which he has strewn about here. The 10 of us were placed here to serve the person who comes here and as you beat us you can use us whenever and wherever you want to. However you can only use those you defeat and not someone you have not. Those you have defeated can aid you in defeating those in the higher floors. My race is of the dragons and I have studied the dao of darkness, I can create illusions and confuse enemies. I also have an invulnerable form so I can be used as a shield if you require it. Most of the manuals here pertain to the dao of darkness as well as the weapons, and the rest are the dao of light." I turn around and take 5 steps forward then drop my sword on the floor as I sit in the lotus position. I stretch my aura out to encompass the whole room and start to draw all the manuals to myself and store the weapons. After I store all the weapons Terrordragon says "Master, the wine and food you see strengthen the body, soul and mind, it also helps with cultivation". I nod in thanks then I go through the manuals. After about 4 hours I've gone through them all and I decide to meditate on what I've read. After a few minutes I stand and as I open my eyes a dark gleam shines then disappears quickly. 'Time to go to the second floor then'. My body flies outward and I move towards the second chamber which opens slowly. Again there is nothing but darkness, the being charges and I see a green dragon turtle which is quite larger than the terrordragon. In a rumbling deep voice the dragon turtle speaks "My name is Gebu" Then without warning its upon me, its maw open wide aiming to devour me whole. I snort, but then I realize that the space and time around me is distorted and then my eyes grow bloodshot. With my blade still sheathed I put both arms forward. My left hand vibrates rapidly attempting to distort space and my right hand brings forth the most potent blackfyre I can produce. The pink open mouth slightly quivers and I quickly backup and the jaw closes with an audible click. I change into slightly baggy black trousers without a shirt as I keep looking in front of me. I unleash 50% aura then teleport rapidly around the beast looking for openings but finding none. I strike at its eyes but even that doesn't yield anything. I grunt then sheathe my sword, I land on the grass and unleash 100% of my aura as I charge my right hand with black lightning then I add in blackfyre and vibrational energy. I put my right leg forward as the turtle charges. My left foot digs into the ground denting the earth as I think 'Nothing will stop me, I will become the strongest'. I roar "Let lightning com from the heavens, flames from the sky and instability from the earth". I rush forward black flames and lightning swirling about my right hand as 3 figures come to greet us: the constructs of Seiryu, the nightmare dragon and Byakko. The skies turn black as purple and black lightning spark across the world, Seiryu forms black as night with purple and black lightning arcing across his body. The nightmare dragon accompanies him as blackfyre swirls around me and the dragonturtle chaotically. Lastly heavy vibrations shake the earth as I see a tigers head appear. 4 seconds before the 3 constructs hit the target I swoop in an attack under its left eye and retreat. After the dragonturtle is attacked I see a flash of white before I regain my sight. The area is desolated and the dragonturtle bleeds profusely under heavily cracked armour. It also has a crack under is eye which I grin at when I spot it. Gebu bows his head and says "Master". I nod as I throw him a small green ballwhich he swallows and his wounds heal immediately. I see amazement in his eyesas he says "Master, which great healer created this product?". Ismirk and say it was me. As a reply I get a snort from Gebu which causes my righteye to twitch. I sigh and ask what his own area contains. "It mostly hasdefensive techniques and one of them is far more powerful than the rest". I nodand teleport to his chambers. He doesn't change his form but shrinks to a fewcm. I scan all the techniques on the tables, there is also food and wine on the tables but no weapons or armour. I sit in the lotus position as I read all the techniques and meditate on them. I keep the best for last, I see that its name is ]Defense of the Great Turtle] and smile deciding to practice it immediately. My body grows with a faint green light and the pattern of turtle shells can be seen all over my body. In total the ]Defense of the Great Turtle] has 10 levels, I reach the 3rd level as torrents of sweat wash over me. I breathe in and train in the arts given to me by Kate and her father and in the books given to me by Aradon after considering which will be useful at the moment. I feel my body becoming more flexible and lighter as the training increases. After 5 hours I stop and got to the 3rd floor. The shape that walks out is humanoid, a female of a height with me and it appears that she has silver skin. It gleams in the light when she strides out and looks at me with a smile. She says "Another one is here, my name is Elle". Then she like Gebu attacks immediately aiming for my solar plexus. Saliva comes out of my mouth as I take the punch and my body bends forward. Elle murmurs "mm, not enough I'll add more juice then". I feel a force on my face like a human being hit by a truck. I dont even have time to react seeing a blur near my face and I cant stabilize myself as I'm knocked to the earth. I stand slowly and shake my head, blood running from my nose and mouth. I grin at her and say "Good, haha. Its only in the face of death that cultivation can increase". She nods at this and advances. 'Body modification: Both eye abilities should reside in my right eye from now. And the abilities of my hands should switch places'. I hear a response 'Actions approved - Both eye abilities have been transferred to the right eye of the user, and the vibrations will now occur on the right hand primarily and blackfyre will be its secondary ability'. I take a deep breath as Elle rapidly approaches me and a small lizard crwals up my left arm: The terrordragons miniature form. I laugh to myself as I think 'I'm such an idiot, the vibration energy is actually space-time'. Elle's fist draws near and just before impact she hits a wall shaped turtle shell. I substituted with Gebu just before impact. I appear at her right crouched down, I hit her side with both palms extended left covered with black lightning and   space erratically shifting around my left hand. I hit my target and she grunts. Gebu disappears then reappears on my shoulder as a small shoulder guard. I deliver a roundhouse kick which she effortlessly blocks. My eyes shine with madness as I activate my greatest self created movement art: [Assassins Cloak] as Elle's fist rapidly closes the distance between us my whole body is cloaked in black mist and I wear a partial mask which covers my left eye and armour that covers the top half of my torso and half of my right leg from foot to heel. Elle's fist descends and wreaks havoc on the already damaged earth. Like a shadow, mist trailing after me I already got behind her the moment my body was covered in mist. I clap her temples at full strength and move back. Slightly dizzy her fist hits where I just was and I advance striking her stomach and larynx. Then I strike her temples with lighting fast blows, then her forehead then I sweep her legs out from under her. I jump 5 steps back after my assault expecting her to pounce back up but she instead goes on one knee and says "Master". I dispel the armour and nod at her "Phew, I thought you would counter-attack so I retreated but it seems I'm safe. Why is your skin silver? And what does your own area contain?". She replies "When I was wandering I found a Sithe artifact which is used to increase strength. I used the artifact and my skin became like this. My defense, offense and speed rapidly increased beyond what I thought possible. My own chamber contains some Sithe artifacts as well as some knowledge of their techniques and weapons". I teleport to Elle's chamber and scan it as I sit in the middle and get into the lotus position. I bring all the books, scrolls and diagrams to myself and attempt to read them. I take 12 hours to go through all the material and feel enlightened at the end. Elle smiles at me, her long silver hair gleaming. I start to meditate on the techniques adding to a certain techniques I will use in future. After 6 hours I stand up packing all the Sithe artifacts without looking at them. Then I go to the lower levels taking the wines and food too. Then I teleport back telling Elle to stay there that when I need her I'll call upon her. She agreed. I see that my clone has vanished. Emilia stands in her green robes and there's a muscular, tall man next to her. She smiles upon seeing me "There you are"  She tells the man to stay back which he does, jumping back by 10 meters. I don a casual black long overcoat and move my sword to my inventory. Gebu changes location forming a larger shoulder guard for my left shoulder and terrordragon stays dormant on my left hand. Emilia charges forward with a fist raised high. [Darkness: Forest of mist] Black mist shoots out from terrordragons body quickly creating a large cloud in seconds which surrounds what I estimate to be 500ft of space and rapidly increasing as my goal is to cover the whole forest. Emilia stops short moving her arms to her sides and when her companion calls I use that as a distraction as I activate [Assassins Cloak] then brutally lash out with full power hitting her with my left knee in her stomach. I quickly and efficiently drag her face up by her hair using my left hand then I hit her larynx with my right elbow and her groin with my right knee at the same time then I let her body collapse as I silently run away. 'Hmph that serves you right you psychotic bitch'. I hear a groan and her companion rushing towards her. I hear a curse as he brandishes his blade and slashes. I advance again with my right hand manipulating space rapidly forming a drill like structure. I can clearly see them and hear them but they are as good as blind in this mist of mine. My right hand moves forward aiming to skewer Emilia but her companion takes the attack in the stomach at the last second shocking me momentarily. He brings his cleavers blade down with full force but I've already moved behind him. He looks around after he heavily damages the earth. I activate my pentagram as Emilia stands with difficulty. The man puts his arm around her as she leans on him, he changes his blade to a rapier and sheathes the butchers blade. I charge forward punching Emilia full in the face in a boxing stance with a right jab. I feel my fist connect solidly but relying on instinct I dodge to the left as he sweeps his rapier around. I crouch under his extended blade as I pivot on my right foot and put all my strength and weight behind my punch towards his damaged stomach 'I will kill you both' I think coldly. I hear another connection, I jump up and kick at his hand breaking his fighting hand as his rapier drops. He drops to the ground and screams in agony blood and organs spewing from his mouth. Emilia attempts to drop with him and I take one step forward with my right foot aiming to damage her with a charged punch but some person infiltrates my mist and slashes at my arm with a dagger. I roll backwards before contact. I look at the figure and see a young lithe handsome male who says "My big sis is coming here so I'd advise you to leave now. You were able to sense me when it should be quite difficult, and you evaded my strike too". He nods in my location "My name is Arden what is yours?". I reply using the mist "Wanderer". Then without further ado I immediately teleport a thousand km to my left leaving them all in the mist.