"Newspapers! Get your daily news for cheap!"
In the village of Buraun, a civilian presented ten thick stacks of inked newspapers, clapping his hands loudly to garner the attention of nearby villagers. Nothing too interesting was ever written in the newspaper anymore; all that was discussed was the village's sad state—politically charged conversations.
However, today had something new to offer.
"Learn about how Shanti closed their gates off from the rest of the world! Will it spark a war? Read and find out!" The vendor waved his hands, animating his movement.
With those mere words, a crowd of pedestrians swarmed the vendor, their greedy fingers reaching out to cling onto the newspapers. The vendor had to practically fight to swat away some of the incoming clientele.
"Oh, gods!" One villager spewed out in shock, her tight grip on the newspaper wrinkling the paper. "Shanti abandoned us!"
At the top of the newspaper, a bold headline said: "Shanti Cutting Ties From the World."
"Does this mean that they're no longer peaceful with Adonai!?" Another villager queried with fear and bulging eyes.
Unfortunately, the print in the news was no lie—Shanti, on all ends, had closed their borders; nobody was allowed in or out. Such an event was certain to cause panic in the neighboring nations.
The stability between the three nations represented a new era; it was supposed to exemplify how bloodshed was no longer a necessity and that peace was not a fictitious concept. But with Shanti isolating itself, it struck fear into the hearts of everyone.
"Adonai is falling apart! It needs both Zebulun and Shanti!" A new voice erupted over the crowd, increasing the stressful atmosphere.
With utmost haste, the idea that Shanti had abandoned both Adonai and Zebulun stirred rampantly, growing in popularity among the villagers of Buraun. If so much turmoil had reached Buraun, then surely the rest of the nation was shocked, including the radical facets of Adonai.
Suddenly, a random man hopped onto the vendor's newspaper stand, his rotund body making it difficult for him to balance himself.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Clearly this is a sign of discord between the nations! Those wretched Kyuujo are going to repeat the same events that led to the Keisan War! Abandonment and thirst for power!" The rotund man exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air.
Silence filled the area immediately, everybody's eyes drawn to the man standing above them all.
Then, an unnamed pedestrian raised their hand and asked, "What if they're just on lockdown?"
The rotund man's eyes squinted dubiously.
"If that was the case, then explain this!"
With an abrupt thrust, the rotund man flashed the newspaper once more, but had flipped to the next section.
"Adonai boy held hostage in Shanti riot…?" The words were promptly read out loud, enabling everyone around to be informed.
Under those words, a clear image captured in Shanti had successfully captured the scene: numerous people piled up outside a burning building, a group of belligerent villagers of Shanti, and a jet-black-haired boy with a traditional Adonai bandana. From this image alone, the event was far too easy to misinterpret.
"See!" The rotund man hollered, "that good-for-nothing country is already attacking our own! A mere boy!"
A hand shot toward the sky. "Hold on! That's the boy with the Aura Amalgamation!"
Once again, the crowd's impression of the situation became uncontrollable. The moment that the boy in the photo was identified, anger and fear overwhelmed everyone in the vicinity. Cries of indignation could be heard throughout the village.
In the midst of all the mindless disruption, a blonde-haired boy with a curious countenance meandered through the wild and ear-piercing crowd. Naguru Akogare, a student in Class 1AB, had previously heard the commotion from a few blocks down. Succumbing to his perplexity, the blonde found himself entering the chaos, his eyes darting everywhere for answers.
Akogare scratched his cheek. "What is going on?"
After a few moments, Akogare's gaze finally landed on the focal point of the noise—a fat man with a newspaper standing atop a stand. At first, the boy thought it was odd; the stand had not surprisingly collapsed under the man's weight. Although, the further Akogare looked, the more he noticed.
In the newspaper, big words assaulted Akogare's eyes, but the blonde pushed through and studied the paper intently. Afterward, the boy spotted an image, most likely taken by a camera.
"...Is that…Tanjo!?" Akogare perked up, his expression appearing flabbergasted.
The image, which depicted Tanjo in the midst of an attack in Shanti, was all Akogare needed to know that his former best friend was further away than he and his classmates had assumed.
The typically frivolous boy's mind was bombarded with worry and confusion, sweat escaping out of every pore in his body. All Akogare knew was that…
…He had to tell everyone else! Tanjo might be in trouble! Perhaps Oshieru could help!
…But wait, Tanjo might still be far away, and from what Akogare read in the newspaper, Shanti closed its gates—Tanjo might still be Shanti, alone and afraid!
"He must be so scared! I have to tell Naderamu and the rest!"
XXX
"You're not done yet, Tanjo! You still have the rest of the day ahead of you!"
Chuckling deviously, Asami enjoyed the sight of Tanjo struggling to lift himself up from the ground, performing a simple push-up. The exercise was quite simple and did require quite a bit of body strength, but the boy had induced his training with something more than just his own body.
Since Tanjo had asked to resume his training, both he and Asami had searched for the nearest mountain to begin. Asami favors mountains, as they're far away from anyone else once you're at the top, and Tanjo simply wishes to not destroy anything on the ground.
'Damn you, Kronos… this sphere is heavy as hell!'
Tanjo had to strain himself just to complete one successful push-up while carrying a sphere that weighed the same as a planet—the weight of Earth, to be precise. After the God of Time gifted the sphere to Tanjo, the boy barely had the time to use it for training and building control over his body, but now, with time and effort, the teenage boy could finally suffer from its overwhelming weight.
"Hey, Tanjo, what is that little ball on your back?" Asami questioned, pointing at the sphere with an arched brow.
Tanjo inhaled, then exhaled; he needed to use his Aura Amalgamation to activate the planetary weight of the sphere, so the boy would be lying if he simply said that it was just a tool for lifting. It assisted him in harnessing his Aura Amalgamation much easier.
Though, Tanjo would also not be lying at the same time… entirely.
"It's just a weight…" Tanjo breathed, feeling as his arms shook. "A weight to help my training."
Sadly, the boy's arms became too heavy, and his palms slipped on the mountain top below him. Luckily, Tanjo managed to deactivate his magic and decrease the weight of the sphere before it collided with the ground. Making an object the same weight as Earth would be catastrophic.
"Awww, are you hurting? Too bad! After a few more exercises, you and I are sparring!" Asami asserted, folding her arms.
Tanjo coughed. "F-fine…!"
Asami blinked. "You're more resilient than you look, Tanjo. Good job! Now, your next exercise—"
The cloaked woman outstretched her arm and flattened her palm, erecting a lengthy pole of ice from the skin of her hand.
"—is to balance on top of this with your hand! Since you can't do any more push-ups, I thought that this would be a bit of an incentive to not give up next time!" The blue-haired woman declared, grinning.
The boy forced himself off the stone surface. "...Y-you just want to see me push my Aura Amalgamation to its limits!"
Asami's grin grew wider. "Yup!"
"Cruel… woman…" Tanjo murmured, ambling over to the tall pole of cold ice, looking up toward the top.
"You got this!" Asami encouraged the boy, jabbing her thumb in the air.
Tanjo bent his knees and lunged into the air, flipping his body and extending his palm outward to land at the top of the pole, balancing his entire body as his hand was becoming frozen.
In Tanjo's free hand was the sphere, inactive as the boy's Aura Amalgamation was not in use.
"Here goes nothing…!"
Tanjo tossed the sphere into the air and caught it with his shoe, attempting to prevent the sphere from rolling away. In a second, the boy fueled his body with his Aura Amalgamation, and brought the planetary weight back to the little object.
"Arrgh! This is so much harder!"
Primarily using the strength of one arm increased the difficulty of his training by a significant margin—he could no longer rely on any more muscles, all of his concentration going toward his arm and staying balanced atop the thin, lengthy, and freezing pole.
The cloaked woman laughed. "Quit complaining or you'll get worse!"
Obviously, Asami would not want to push Tanjo too hard if he could not handle any more strenuous tasks, but to fully exercise the body of an aspiring warrior, especially one with uncanny power, they would need to push the boy to the max, even if it was grueling. A warrior could not feasibly grow in strength unless that warrior pushed themselves to new limits. The warrior's past strength would become their base strength, and their new limits would eclipse anything they could do before.
"Be ready, Tanjo! From now on, you'll experience Hell!" Asami proclaimed, smirking.
Tanjo, despite the pain, nodded. "Bring it on!"
XXX
This is where the story really starts to pick up! Buckle your seatbelts as we won't be slowing down from here on out! What will happen if everyone in Class 1AB spots Tanjo in the newspaper? How much stronger can Tanjo grow? Stay tuned for more!
Have a Great Day!
Peace - Cr1ticalz_