The blonde wasn't a normal high-god class by any means at all. His sheer physique and extremely dense, yet pure ki made him an absolute monster that could make him fight over a dozen high-god class entities all on his own without using his Kaioken, Instant Transmission, or Instant Vanish.
This was a deduction that Aurelia noted after fighting him at least once every week for the past two years. It still amazed her to this day how he got so far with only pure grit and determination. She could only imagine how powerful he would become when he finally turned ten and awoke the power of their race.
But all in all, these two years were productive.
.
|DxD|
.
Deep within the cold regions of the time chamber, Igor was in the process of completing one of his early morning routine like always. Sitting cross-legged on his straw mat, the blonde had his eyes closed and his face calm.
Every second or two, a red aura would emanate from him and spread out wildly before being pushed back inside his body. His expression never changed and no muscle on his body even twitched from the large amounts of power he was releasing and contracting repeatedly within the space of a few seconds.
*Breathes in*
"Shuuu…"
*Breathes out*
"Haaaa…"
*Breathes in*
"Shuuu…"
*Breathes out*
"Haaa…"
Today was another day and as always, Igor started by meditating. By mixing his breathing with the technique of the Yin-Yang Breathing Method, it had become a staple way of meditating for him.
By releasing and contracting his aura in synchronisation with his breathing, he had succeeded in finally being able to subconsciously do it. He was able to do it initially, but it was his first time succeeding with his Kaioken on.
With him having stretched it to the 20th multiplier, the wild aura that was usually accompanied by the power gain was calm like a gentle flame. When he breathed in, his aura would surge like an uncontrollable forest fire that seeked to burn everything.
He would willingly let his aura spiral out of control for the duration of his breath as he powered up as much as he could. With his breath acting as the fodder for the flame, he would circulate his ki faster and push the limits of the 20th multiplier to its limits.
When he was done sucking in all the air he could, he would gradually breathe out, and in the process, retract all the aura he let out during the process of powering up. The aura that was previously like a wild flame would slowly recede into his body, barely leaving a faint red glow behind.
This was a testament to how much control he had over the 20th multiplier of the Kaioken. With the work he put in over two years, he was even able to sleep with it on, which significantly enhanced his recovery speed and allowed him to push himself just that much harder.
Continuously breathing in and out, synchronising his breaths with his aura, and clearing his mind of unnecessary thoughts, Igor stood up from his stray mat and slowly began going through his katas.
[One body.]
"Shuuu…"
[One mind.]
"Haaa…"
[Free from thought.]
"Shuuu…"
[Fueled by instinct.]
"Haaa…"
He moved like the flowing water, his moves naturally leading into the next. He would move slowly like a gentle stream, his movements flowing like a graceful dance. Then like a flash flood, he would strike quickly like a raging torrent, his movements overbearing like a tsunami.
Yet no matter what he did, his breath always remained stable. His aura always completely receded into his body with nary a wisp left behind.
It took a long time for Igor to finally master Kaioken x20 to the point that he could hold it for a whole day and a whole night without suffering any unbearable negative consequence. He hadn't quite reached perfect mastery where he could perpetually hold it forever if he wished to because he would begin feeling a slight strain on his mind and body after three days, and that was without fighting.
But as long as he continued to train like he did, he would end up reaching the state of holding it indefinitely. Nonetheless, that wasn't his current focus.
[I'm ready.]
Having went through his katas for over half-an-hour, he stopped and opened his eyes. At the same time…
"Haaa…"
The aura of the Kaioken quickly receded into his body without leaving a single trace behind. Previously, it would've caused his muscles and ki veins some strain if he withdrew it so quickly. But through continuous training, his ki and veins had been strengthened enough to handle the same strain that would've previously left him in pain.
Picking up his straw mat and rolling it up, he tucked it under his arm and slowly levitated.
"I'm ready to try again. But just to be safe, I'll ask Sister Lia to watch me."
While he would've wanted to attempt the Kaioken x100 on his own, he figured he didn't want to worry the silverette any more than he already did.
Su!
.
|DxD|
.
Today was another normal day for the silverette. While the blonde strutted away deep into the chamber with his trusty straw mat, she went over to the library with her notebook. Since the library itself was just one door away from the bedroom, it wasn't even a long walk.
However, this wasn't an advantage, but a disadvantage. With the gym just only being two doors away, the noise of Igor's intense training would reach her. This also made it so that she only had less than an hour before shouts of "Lightweight!" and barbells being dropped onto the ground ruined her precious silence.
"Haaa…"
Crying inwardly at the thought, she pushed open the door and entered the library. Moving past the three shelves in front of her, she made her way over to the desk by the corner where neatly arranged scrolls and a few books were stacked.
Sitting down on the chair, she didn't deign to waste any time. Placing her notebook on the side of the desk, she grabbed a scroll and unfurled it. The scroll revealed an intricate seal carefully hand-drawn with a pencil. It resembled a flower and at the bottom, it was written, "Fifth Design Attempt of The First Seal: Potential Unlock".
Carefully placing the unfurled scroll to one side, Aurelia took another scroll and unfurled. Upon unfurling it, it revealed the same, yet rather archaic design. Placing the scroll to her left, the differences were distinguishable at first glance.
While the scroll on the right looked new, the one on her left was clearly old. With its colour being a dull brown and its edges slightly torn, it was still in relatively good condition for a scroll from the ancient times spanning thousands of years before Christ.
The only thing similar between these scrolls was the flower-patterned seal drawn on the both of them. While one was drawn in ink and the other in pencil, the functionality would not matter because from the beginning, Aurelia wasn't going to use the scrolls as a medium, but rather, as reference.
Placing her hands on both the scrolls, she closed her eyes.
"This time, it should succeed."
Gently enveloping both scrolls in her mana, she focused for a bit more. Soon, particles of mana began coalescing in the air before they finally revealed a hologram of the two circles. While the one from the old scroll was grass green in colour, the one Aurelia was lime green in colour.
When the silverette opened her eyes, her pupils were gone, yet she looked directly at these two circles hovering in the air.
"Another failure."
The difference in the colour of the scrolls indicated that she was still missing something.
"All the concepts have been correctly interpreted. The matrices have been connected successfully. The lines connected seamlessly with each other."
With all the important aspects verified, she could not understand where she went wrong.
"Do I really need to use sealing ink? But that is irrelevant in this case. I'm not some low-grade incriptionist who needs to use…"
Realising she was losing to her anger, she reigned herself in.
"Calm down, Aurelia. Anger will not help you here."
Despite saying this, it frustrated her that she couldn't realise the application of the first seal. She had already studied it to the extreme to the extent that she knew every single aspect about it. But even after over six months of her complete understanding, she couldn't get the seal to function.
As patient as she tried to be, it was still frustating since she couldn't find the exact problem. Without knowing what the problem was, she couldn't get to work on completing the seal. And if she couldn't solve the seal, then bringing back her race would be nothing more than a pipe dream.
With her pupils having reformed, she aimlessly looked at the floating circles of mana in the air.
"Just what am I missing…"
She was about to ponder further when she felt Igor's nearing ki. She felt him come towards the library, a rather notable change of events since it's been well over a year since he set foot inside. She calmly waited for the blonde to enter and soon enough, she did.
Dakaang…
He walked into the room, bare-chested as always.
"Hey, Sister Lia. Can you spot me while I try to…sister?"
Aurelia wasn't paying attention to him, not after what she just witnessed.
"Of course! Of course that's what I missed!"
"..."
Taken aback by how abruptly Aurelia stood up in excitement, it was his first time seeing her like this. It also didn't help that he didn't understand why she was so excited.
[What's so exciting about two green circles?]
.
AN
.
I couldn't upload lately because I was working on chapters 120, 121, and 122. It wasn't writer's block, but style of delivery since those three chapters have the potential to decide the entire narrative of this story. I couldn't upload until I was satisfied with them.
Same as my patrons, I will upload three chapters now including this one. Then at night (it's morning now), I will upload two chapters. Thank you.