EPISODE 11: THE BATTLE OF FIVE SERPENTS
Josec and Buern trained on top of the mountain for days. Buern had deduced that it would take some time for Innovain to send new opponents. Five days had passed since the appearance and disappearance of the stupid squad. Josec was shocked to learn from Buern that those idiots were actually among Innovain's elite forces. He didn't want to think of what would happen if they returned and he still couldn't shake off the intimidating intensity of their joki.
Josec's defense had improved considerably in the past few days but he still hadn't managed to beat Buern even once. He had finally managed to carry a rock half his size up the mountain.
"It looks like we're getting nowhere since you're hesitant to hit me. So I've decided that this rock will be your sparring partner" Buern said.
"But it can't fight back" Josec said skeptically.
"It doesn't need to fight back. Your aim will be to shatter this rock with a single punch. By that I don't mean divide it into halves. You are to shatter it into smithereens…like this!" Buern declared as she punched the rock suddenly. It exploded into insignificant pieces and the parts flew everywhere.
"YOU JUST SHATTERED IT! IT TOOK ME FOREVER TO GET IT HERE!" Josec screamed angrily.
"Go get another one" Buern said indifferently.
"TCH! I can now see why you don't get along with Harry" Josec said.
"Oh really?" she asked with a smile.
"Crap! She's angry! I didn't mean that Buern!" Josec pleaded.
"Then go get another rock or do you want the shortest path down the mountain?" Buern asked.
"No please" Josec said as he wasted no time in getting out of Buern's sight.
When he returned with the rock, Buern proceeded to explain the basics of the technique to shattering the rock.
"You belong to the Defender class of Jo-lan right?" Buern enquired.
Josec nodded.
"One fundamental difference between the Warrior and the Defender class is that with the Warrior class, joki resides inside the bodies of the warrior to enhance their strength and fighter attributes. On the other hand, with the Defender, joki encases their bodies in the form of aura to protect them from harm. When this joki is expanded, it can be used to defend others as well. The key to utilizing destructive techniques for a Defender is to absorb a part of the joki that encases their body and release it as a sudden explosive force. So for instance, to shatter the rock, you will need to start building joki from your feet, up to your waist, then through your chest to your shoulders, channel it into your fist and release it all with a single punch. Do you understand?" Buern explained.
"I think I do" Josec said.
"Well then, you can commence your training" Buern said.
Josec mumbled the instructions to psyche himself up for the technique. He rolled up his sleeves and took a fighting stance before the rock. He visualized joki rising from the ground through his feet, up his waist, through his chest to his shoulders and out of his fist but when he punched the rock, the backlash told him, he wasn't quite there yet. He screamed in pain and shook his hand blowing it to ease the pain. Buern laughed at him.
"Why don't you keep it up? You might get it in a few years" she said.
"You're mean" Josec complained.
Josec tried a few more times but the result was always the same. Buern began to realize that Josec did not actually know what joki was. He had been using his joki without actually being able to sense joki. The discovery surprised her.
"Could it be that you can't sense joki?" she asked in shock.
"What do you mean?" Josec asked her.
"Josec, have you ever used lightning consciously when your emotions were not heightened?" Buern asked him.
"Not really, no" Josec admitted.
Buern slapped herself in the forehead.
"So it's back to the basics huh? But we can't stay here. We'll have to keep moving or we'll be discovered soon. I'm sure the man called Fencer lives somewhere close by. You still have the map don't you?" Buern asked.
"Of course" Josec replied and brought it out.
"Okay, once more, let's check our proximity to Fencer's" Buern suggested and looked into the map.
"Okay, according to the map, we're really close! Fencer lives in a cottage in a forest just beyond this mountain range!" Buern exclaimed excitedly.
"It should take about two days on foot. Let's move" Buern said.
"Wha…? But I just carried the rock up here" Josec complained.
"Please forgive me" Buern said with a cunning smile.
"You meanie!" Josec complained.
So the two moved onwards towards Fencer's cottage. However before they arrived at Fencer's they would be attacked once more by the four black captains. In the meantime however, Buern focused on teaching Josec extra-sensory perception with regards to joki. It required an expansion of the senses, especially those of sight and hearing. Sharp eyes to see the joki that circulated the bodies of living organisms and sharp ears to detect its movement. Those would be honed through meditation and combat training.
Eventually, Josec began to perceive the joki around the things around him. Unfortunately though, he could not see any joki around his body. He could clearly see it around Buern but could not see it around himself.
"Buern, I can see your joki but I don't think I have any" Josec said with a funny expression on his face.
"That's not possible. You've been assigned a Jo-lan class and you've psychoraged multiple times already. That should not be possible without joki" Buern said.
"You can see joki. You know I'm right" Josec said.
Buern could not argue. She really knew. It was one of the reasons she initially detested Josec, because of his weakness.
But if Josec couldn't see it and she couldn't sense it, then how could Harry know it because Harry was the only one that seemed completely certain of Josec's power.
"I don't understand it Josec but if you can't see your own joki it's only going to make your training all the more difficult" Buern said.
"I suppose the best thing to do would be to head over to Fencer's. He would probably know what this is all about" Josec suggested.
Buern nodded.
"And the sooner we arrive the better for us. We should assume that we are already being pursued" she said.
Josec and Buern continued their journey and eventually arrived in the forest where Fencer was rumoured to dwell. As they walked through the forest, Josec began to feel a strange feeling of dread. It felt as though they were being watched and eventually Buern felt it too.
"I think we should make our stand here" Buern said as she bent down to the ground and picked up a number of stones.
Josec nodded.
"Just remember your promise Josec. Do not psychorage no matter what happens" Buern said seriously.
Josec looked at her. She looked serious. So furiously determined in fact that her determination bordered on malice.
"I will protect you, even if it costs me my life" Buern said as she threw the first stone towards the shadows in the forest.
Before it could reach its target, she threw a second stone with greater strength. The second stone struck the first and the force of their crash caused great sparks to illuminate the forest. In that moment, their enemy was exposed, the Four Black Captains of Innovain's elite forces. They had malicious grins.
"Discovering our locations won't change anything" they boasted.
"That is assuming…that is all I did" Buern said as she flashed towards the sparks with great speed.
She walked through the sparks and slowly but surely, her appearance began to blend with the bright crimson flames.
"WHAT IS THIS?! YOU ARE NO LONGER BONDED TO SOURYU! YOUR PSYCHORAGE IS WATER NATURED SO WHY?! H-HOW CAN YOU BE USING A FLAME PSYCHORAGE?!" Cobra exclaimed in horror.
"PSYCHORAGE ABILITY IMPROV. ALTERED DRAGON STATE!" Buern declared as her eyes assumed the likeness of a dragon's.
"I am not the daughter of Innovain for nothing you know?" she said in a cold tone.
Then she began to crack her knuckles angrily.
"Let the serpent crushing ceremony begin" she said as she appeared in the midst of the four black captains and knocked them to the ground with a single terrifying blow.
"INDIGNANT ART! TRISTRAN'S INTERFERENCE!" she roared.
Josec stared at Buern in awe and shock, almost in horror. He could sense that she was in a rage but the most frightening part of all of this was that she was in perfect control of her fury.
"ACCK! What monstrous strength!" Mamba screamed in horror.
"We were taken by surprise…but we won't underestimate her now!" Python exclaimed in anger.
"PSYCHORAGE ABILITY!" they called together.
"KING COBRA!" Cobra called.
"BONE CRUSHING PYTHON!" Python called.
"DIABOLIC VIPER!" Viper called.
"TREE SNAKE MAMBA!" Mamba called.
In an instant, three giant serpents were yelling to a fourth, "A MAMBA IS NOT A TREE SNAKE!"
"Wow" Josec stared at them in wry amusement.
Then he noticed that the air around him was beginning to get more and more humid.
"SUPREME MARINE PSYCHORAGE!" Josec heard an angrily determined voice call out.
He knew it was Buern.
"RAGING LEVIATHAN!" Buern roared as the water in the atmosphere surrounded her and encased her in an orb. Then out of the orb burst a huge serpent, blue in colour and almost similar to a serpentine dragon.
"What is this? Five serpents are about to duel in this forest? Isn't that a bit too much?" Josec wondered.
"No matter what sort of creature you may be. The moment we sink our fangs into you is the moment you lose" Cobra roared as the four serpents charged towards Buern.
"That is assuming you do sink your fangs into me" Buern said calmly as she charged towards them.
Python charged ahead of the others.
"It's best to crush them and devour them" Python roared as she lunged at the Leviathan.
The Leviathan evaded and she missed her initial attack. But she quickly grabbed the Leviathan around its neck and entangled herself around it in an attempt to strangle it.
"I will suffocate you!" she declared.
"I hope you don't end up getting paid in your own coin" the Leviathan declared calmly. "SERPENTINE STORM!" it declared as its body liquefied and overlapped the Python's body.
"You fool! I can breathe even in this water. If drowning me is your intention, you fail pitifully!" Python declared.
"I could always digest you" the Leviathan said.
A sudden realization hit the Python. It had not considered that possibility.
"I can easily solidify my body just as I liquefied it. You are sorrowfully naïve" the Leviathan said.
"You're bluffing!" the Python roared.
"If that's what you think, perhaps you should take a look at my tail" the Leviathan said coldly.
The Python turned its eyes to look and saw that the Leviathan's tail had begun to solidify. The solidification was slowly moving up its body.
The other serpents stared in horror.
"Seeing as I can liquefy my body and you can't and seeing as I don't seem to have any nerves in my liquefied state, I'm wondering if poison was your only strategy because if it was, you are sorely lacking in fighting strength!" Buern declared as half of the Leviathan solidified.
"NO! STOP!" the Python screamed in horror.
The solidification continued. The Python screamed in agony at its impending destruction and then just before the Leviathan's full body solidified, it liquefied its body again and detached itself from the Python.
"Consider that a warning. Now, at the very least, you understand what terror feels like. I won't be so lenient next time" the Leviathan said calmly.
The Python hissed and laughed happily. It couldn't believe its narrow escape.
"I live!" it declared.
"Buern, you sure can be cruel" Josec stared at the situation in slight amusement.
The four serpents were a bit more hesitant now to confront the Leviathan.
Meanwhile, a little distance further off into the woods, a man with bright golden hair and blue eyes was trying his best to get some rest. He was just about to drift into sleep when the awful sound the five serpents were making awakened him from slumber. For a moment, there was silence.
"I must have imagined it" he thought to himself and laid back on his bed but before he could drift into sleep, the terrifying screams of the Python pierced his ears.
He woke up, greatly angered by the ludicrousness of the entire situation. He had moved away from the hustle and bustle of major kingdoms so he could live in peace even going so far as to reject the honors of knighthood. The fact that trouble would find him here after all that sacrifice almost taunted the pain of his sacrifice. He grabbed a red coral necklace from the desk beside him and wore it. Then he grabbed his sword.
"I don't need some idiots to start trouble so close to home!" he roared and darted out of his cottage.
Meanwhile, King Cobra narrowed its eyes in anger.
"We may not be able to defeat you Buern Vane but see, after Souryu's reeducation quite similar to a concentration camp, our objectives were made clear…" King Cobra said as he recalled Souryu's malice.
"You have defined the term 'intellectually bankrupt' with perceptive accuracy but beyond that term is the term 'cretin'. Do you know what a cretin is?" King Cobra recalled Souryu's question.
"Buern, do you know what a cretin is?" King Cobra asked.
"How would I know? I am completely unfamiliar with the concept" Buern said.
"A 'cretin' is someone who pays for food he already owns. It may seem hilarious initially but when you think deeply on the saying it means engaging in needless struggle when the goal is right in front of you. Do you finally understand what I mean?" King Cobra smiled maliciously.
The realization of the weight of his words finally hit Buern.
"Our mission was to force Josec into Psychoraging. You are not a priority" King Cobra declared as the four serpents turned their attention from Buern to Josec.
"JOSEC!" Buern exclaimed in horror.
Suddenly, a tidal force cut through the forest forcing the serpents to draw back in horror.
"WHAT WAS THAT?! DID THE BOY PSYCHORAGE?!" the serpents roared.
"D-Did Josec?" Buern stared in foreboding.
Dust enveloped the area. And as it cleared, Josec was seen leaning against a tree and attempting to recover from his daze.
"WHAT'S WITH ALL THIS NOISE?! YOU DARE CAUSE TROUBLE SO CLOSE TO MY HOME?!" a voice roared in anger.
SPECIAL CHAPTER: THE RAGE OF EDGAR FENCER
The five serpents turned to stare at the source of the voice. A man was walking through the woods chewing on a reed and holding a sword in his right hand.
"Could that be?!" Buern exclaimed in shock.
"Is that really?!" Josec stared in admiration.
He had heard tales of one of his father's friends. A man with strength that almost rivalled Souryu's greatest general, Apollo.
"EDGAR FENCER! SO THE GREAT ANOMALY FINALLY SHOWS HIMSELF AFTER YEARS OF HIDING!" King Cobra roared.
"You guys are all a bunch of idiots. I already told Souryu I was going to beat him by running from him so why do you look so shocked?" the man chewed on his reed calmly.
"DON'T YOU DARE CALL US IDIOTS!" the four serpents roared.
"Okay, five serpents, one human. I will hear your reasons later but first we will start with the harsh discipline! Like a certain student council president once said…NONE OF YOU WILL BE WALKING HOME TODAY!" the man said as he cracked his knuckles with great emphasis.
"In some ways, this guy reminds me of Sinbad the legendary Voyager" Josec said with a weird look on his face.
"If I recall correctly, Edgar Fencer possesses no psychorage! He should be easy to defeat!" King Cobra roared.
"Is that true Marina?" Buern asked.
"It is. In many ways, Edgar Fencer is similar to Harry Bane but if there is one thing I've learnt so far from watching that boy…it's that, in the world of Jo-lan…" Marina paused.
"Well I wonder about that" was Edgar Fencer's reply to the King Cobra.
"…those without the obvious proofs of strength or talent for it are often the ones with unlimited potential for it. Simply put, in the world of Jo-lan, the most fearful of all are the ones often referred to as 'weaklings'" Marina said.
"You are entitled to your own opinions but there is a certain validity to rumour, especially when you hear the same thing from multiple sources" Fencer said.
"What is your point?!" King Cobra roared.
"Don't tell me…the legends of Edgar Fencer are actually true. The tales that he battled Apollo to a deadly stalemate!" Marina exclaimed in horror.
"Well that was fun. I certainly hope Apollo hasn't been slacking off after all this time or our next battle won't be very interesting" Fencer said with a hearty laugh.
"ACCK! What is he saying?! We should certainly be hoping that Apollo has been slacking off!" Josec exclaimed in horror.
"It's about time you were buried in the abyss of mythology for eternity Fencer!" the four serpents charged on him.
He chewed on his reed with lack of concern and muttered to himself. "…a bunch of morons".
Then the serpents crashed into him with full force.
"FENCER!" Josec and Buern exclaimed in horror.
Suddenly, they began to hear a whirring sound. It began low pitched and began to build in intensity.
"RELEASING ONE UNIT OF POWER INTO THE CORAL GEM! ENGAGE THE MYTHICAL PROGENITOR'S JO-LAN ART! SINGULARITY SHIFT! RUNE KNIGHT VER. SILVER!" Fencer's voice echoed throughout the forest.
Within his voice, Josec could feel the calm sense of rage he felt in Buern moments before.
"I wonder if this is the reason they call it a Psychorage" Josec wondered to himself.
In his heart, he knew that the events that were about to unfold before his eyes were a scene he would never hope to witness again. Then Fencer slowly rose into the sky. Fencer breathed calmly. You could almost see the mist escape his lips. With each breath, his presence became more and more focused. Then he raised his blade. It had transformed completely. It was no longer a thin sword. It was a decapitating blade with a jagged side and sharp edge.
"Technically speaking, there is a certain boundary of this forest I consider outside my area of concern. How fortunate are you if you can make it past the border I call my home before I swing my blade" Fencer said, his rage becoming more and more evident with each passing second.
Energy began to flow through his hands into his blade. His golden hair had become spiky and charged with energy almost like lightning. His silver armour looked so jagged, you could almost wonder whether it was there to protect or harm him and patterns of red lines decorated his armour and sword.
"You're bluffing! You wouldn't destroy your home!" King Cobra roared.
"That is an interesting assumption if you leave out the fact that the reason I live in such a secluded place is to keep my peace" Fencer said as his sword expanded to twice its original size.
The serpents were hit with a sudden wave of realization.
Now that they had discovered Fencer's location, it actually didn't make sense for him to stay in the same place. It wasn't a pleasant realization for them. Then Fencer's sword increased to twice the size of its increased size.
"I don't think you have much time and seeing as serpentine psychorages can't fly, you're sorely lacking in terms of mobility" Fencer said as his sword which was already now almost four times its original size further increased to twice its size. Each time it increased, the energy surrounding it would disperse and then refocus.
"This doesn't look good! Let's withdraw!" the four serpents hissed and then began to slither away.
Fencer watched them till they were quite a distance away.
"And so that you don't forget me, let me give you a little something to remember me by" he said as he swung his blade.
In an instant, the entire landscape was reformed. A tremendous crevice stretching from where Fencer stood to the mountains Josec and Buern trained on appeared.
The serpents screamed in horror and escaped narrowly falling into the crevice.
Buern quickly undid her psychorage. Fencer descended to the ground and approached Josec and Buern without saying a word.
"F-Fencer, I presume? M-My mother sent me to find you" Josec said as he showed the map.
Fencer ignored him and approached. Josec removed the letter and stretched it before him.
Fencer reached Josec and picked the letter and then he read aloud,
"Seven canons
Seven masters
Seven stones"
He sighed and slapped himself in the head.
"Ah, women! They can never be straightforward!" he said as he squeezed the paper into a ball and ate it.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Josec roared.
"Leaving no evidence" Fencer said plainly.
He had already reverted to his usual self.
"You're the children of Vega Fenix and Innovain aren't you?" Fencer asked them.
Josec nodded but Buern felt a wave of terror suddenly hit her. She hadn't thought of it before but if someone like Fencer perceived her as an enemy, regardless of whether she was on Josec's side or not, she wouldn't stand a chance.
"I know you are worried Vane but you are also the daughter of Lily Vern. As fate would have it you are also the true successor to the spirit of the Phoenix so I wouldn't hurt you even if you were an enemy…at least not yet" Fencer said placing an ominous emphasis on the final part of his sentence.
Josec frowned.
"That's not a very nice thing to say" he said.
"I am considering a possible future I don't hope for and if you were wise, you wouldn't just look at what is convenient for you" Fencer said.
Josec recalled Jo-lan's warning about Buern but he refused to accept that a future like that was even possible.
"Follow me" Fencer said with a smile and led them through the forest.
"You're going to love my hideout! It's a great place and I'm going to train you silly!" he said excitedly in an almost mocking tone.
But when they reached Fencer's cottage, all that remained was a pile of wood. The entire cottage had collapsed.
"NO! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?!" he exclaimed in dismay.
Buern recalled his great attack on the four Black Captains.
"Wow, talk about severe backlash" she said.
"Definitely divine punishment" Josec added.
"How could nature mock me like this?!" Fencer exclaimed in chagrin.
"This…" Buern pointed in severe disappointment "is the legendary Fencer?" she said.
"I almost wonder why we were so scared of him before" Josec said.
"This is wrong…this is really really wrong….thank God I have another hideout further into the forest!" Fencer suddenly laughed heartily.
Josec and Buern almost collapsed from shock of the anticlimactic moment.
"Way to get yourself worked up over nothing" Buern growled with a threatening glare.
"Killer intent dodge!" Fencer exclaimed as he attempted to evade Buern's glare.
"Something tells me Edgar Fencer isn't going to be a typical Jo-lan master" Josec said.
"And how many of them have you met?" Fencer's tone suddenly changed into a serious one.
"I learnt from my dad" Buern said.
"My dad would never teach me" Josec said.
"You are severely deluded if you believe there is such a thing as a 'typical' Jo-lan master" Fencer said with a sinister voice.
That evening, the three companions sat in the depths of a cavern. Fencer's so called 'other' hideout.
On the outside, the cavern appeared natural, on the inside however, the shape of the cavern made Josec believe that it could not have been formed naturally.
"The walls of this cavern appear…carved out by something…or someone" Josec said.
Fencer chuckled.
"Let's just say I found the mountain I wanted to call my home and leave it at that" Fencer said as he cracked his fingers by clenching them.
Inside the cavern were also hieroglyphs that seemed to recount Jo-lan's history but beyond Jo-lan's history, Josec detected that Fencer seemed to have carved his own history into the walls as well. Buern could see hieroglyphs that were similar to the tales Marina told her of her parents and Josec saw the glyph of a man with crimson wings.
"These paintings…they are Jo-lan's history aren't they?" Josec asked.
"What we like to refer to as 'Jo-lan's history' is a completed story. A finished work so to speak that is already written in the Book of Jo-lan. It unravels itself through lives. What you see in this cave is my story of Jo-lan and how it connects with the rest of Jo-lan's history. I add more to the tale with each experience" Fencer said.
"You are an odd person you know that don't you Fencer?" Buern asked.
"And I relish the fact. In fact, I derive no greater pleasure than to see people rack their brains in an attempt to figure out what sort of person I am" Fencer said.
"He just became less mysterious and very dark!" Josec and Buern exclaimed in horror.
"So Fencer…what did my mother's letter say?" Josec asked.
Fencer froze. His eyebrows were twitching angrily.
"That woman…that very annoying woman! Your dad never saw it but I can totally see through that smile that she is absolutely yanderic!" Fencer roared.
"Hey! That's my mother you're talking about!" Josec roared.
"Sure…and she's one of my closest friends. You are her son and you've known her for like what…seventeen…eighteen years?! Well I've known her for close to thirty three years and she's never once changed since then. She never fights in the presence of your father but when your father is absent…" Fencer left the sentence hanging.
"You're evading the question. What did the letter say?" Buern asked.
"It said…
Seven canons
Seven masters
Seven stones"
Fencer informed them.
"What does it mean?" Josec asked.
"To put it in simple terms, a wild goose chase" Fencer sighed.
"Fencer!" Buern and Josec demanded an explanation.
"I am against giving people obvious solutions to simple problems lest they don't learn a single thing from the problem but I will give you a clue.
The seven canons and seven masters are one and the same
If this mountain is my home, then each have their own
The mountains are separate but only geographically
They are tied together by the same history
But that is not all for there are seven stones
What is it that makes these masters unique?"
Fencer said.
"Isn't that too heavy a riddle?" Buern asked.
"Not if you were so bankrupt you couldn't afford to pay attention" Fencer said with a cunning laugh.
"Consider it training. Once you unlock the secrets behind those words, I can imagine you would have unlocked an incredible power as well" Fencer said as he pranced through the cavern nonchalantly.
"Now I know for certain that he enjoys mocking us. He is certainly sadistic in another sense" Buern said.