Moving past the memory of Shuri's death, he watched over the memory of his past-self gradually amassing power. Amidst the gradually rising red aura, he noticed the black streaks of energy mixing with his aura.
"That black aura. What is that black aura? It feels like…"
He immersed himself in the feeling of his memories and gradually, he figured out what it was.
"Nature energy?"
.
|DxD|
Igor was able to fully identify that black aura as nature energy. He could see it gather around his past self and mix with his aura. The dark colour indicated it was tainted energy, but the fact that it surrounded his body confused him even more.
"I never learned senjutsu before. So how…?"
Learning the art never even crossed his mind before because he already had his plate full trying to further learn Spirit Control. Despite having purified his ki from the normal blue to its current transparent white, he was still far from the state of completely unifying his soul with his body.
But to now witness a situation where he subconsciously drew in nature energy interested him.
"Is absorbing nature energy the key then?"
He couldn't deny the possibility because he could find no other way to explain why his first and second time were so different.
"I haven't fought senjutsu users before, but I know their bodies become crazy strong when they absorb nature energy."
All the senjutsu users he knew or heard of were at the realm of supreme class. Besides Sun Wukong, he had met with a few other people who knew how to use senjutsu in the Heavenly Realm.
"I wonder though…"
His thoughts started straying towards Kyoto where there were a bunch of senjutsu users. According to what he currently knew about the supernatural world, the largest concentration of senjutsu users would be in or around Kyoto.
"Should I go there?"
He couldn't hide his interest in fighting a senjutsu user. It would certainly be a novel experi-
"No, Igor! Stop getting sidetracked!"
Palming his forehead a few times, the blonde stood. His legs were still a bit soar, but nothing he couldn't handle.
"I've thought enough for one day. Let me finish this set first atleast."
Activating his Kaioken, he lifted the barbell and placed it back on the rack. Getting underneath it, he cancelled his Kaioken and adjusted his feet.
"Alright. Two sets of ten reps. Let's go!"
Standing up straight with over eight tons of weight on his shoulders, the blonde stepped back, took deep breaths, and began squatting.
"One! Two! Three! Four!..F-Five!…S-SIX!"
Standing up straight, he opted to rest himself for a few seconds.
"Haaa…I'm really feeling that gravity now…haaa…"
Glancing at the gravity dial there by the door, he could see that 'x400' displayed on the small screen.
"Haaa…come on, Igor."
Adjusting his stance again, he got down.
"Come on, Igor! This is lightweight! Lightweight!"
Gritting his teeth, he slowly got up again
"S-s-seven!....E-eight!…come on, Igor!"Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to rise up again.
"N-n-niiiine…last one, come on!"
Lowering himself again, he tried to do the tenth one, but his legs wanted to give out.
"F-Fuck! Come on, Igor! This is lightweight! Lightweight!"
Yet no matter how he tried, he couldn't bring himself back up. He was breathing heavily now, his head thrumming from the amount of stress he was putting his body in.
"Damnit! If I can't do this rep, I'll change my bloody surname!"
Yet despite trying, his legs remained locked up. His knees were already buckling and knew that any longer, and he would fail.
[Do I have to use the Kaioken to get out of this?]
He was already losing feeling in his legs. Once that happened, whether he liked it or not, he would fail to perform the last rep. Although it was one rep, the last rep where the muscles were on the verge of failure was more often than not, the most important.
[Come on, damnit! We can do this! It's just…one…rep!]
Straining himself to pull out every last bit of power he had, he gradually mustered the strength to stand up. With his legs finally straightening out, he looked at himself in the mirror and let out a triumphant shout.
"Yeah! Just like that! Lightweight, lightweight, lightweight!"
Having encouraged himself and mustered every ounce of willpower he had, he finally made it to ten. Feeling the weight on his shoulders, he muttered to himself.
"Should I do another one just to-"
"NO! No, no, no!"
"?"
Looking in the mirror, he saw Aurelia glaring at him from the door to the bedroom. The silverette seemed to have just gotten out of the shower since she was covered in a pink towel. Her long white hair was wrapped in a rough ponytail. Her locks were still wet, an indicator that she had just gotten out.
"You've done enough, Igor. Put the weights down before you hurt yourself…again."
The blonde stared into her eyes through the reflection with a blank gaze. He could see that those ocean blue eyes that were always neutral were now filled with worry and disbelief.
But…
"Nope! Still haven't failed yet."
Without waiting for her response, the blonde squatted.
"Hoppa! Come on Igor! Let's do eleven!"
Watching the blonde squat again, Aurelia clenched her hands with fear. She knew the gravity that was on right now was over twice what she could handle even with spells. It frustrated her because she knew this wasn't the first time Igor broke or tore something while training.
Despite knowing that healing herbs exist, she didn't like how he was so casual about damaging his body to the point that he'd had to crawl to the bath.
"Damnit, Igor!"
"leven-huh?!"
Having heard Aurelia shout "damnit", the blonde was taken aback since she was never so crass with her language. This was quite literally, the first time he ever heard her speak so crassly.
Losing his focus mid squat, he felt himself falling down.
"S-shit!"
Reacting subconsciously, he burst out with his Kaioken x20.
Gruuu!
With his power having been multiplied twenty times over, the bar was now truly lightweight. Using one hand to stop himself from falling, he got up and looked at the silverette who was now covered in a blue aura.
Her hair had risen up and she seemed just about ready to enter the gym despite the significant amount of gravity in it.
But that wasn't what Igor was focused on.
"Did you…did you just say…'damnit'?"
"..."
Aurelia was shaking. Not from fright, but from anger and embarrassment. She blamed herself for worrying about him so pointlessly.
"Tch!"
Marching away, she disappeared into the room without answering his question and closed the door. But Igor didn't want to let this go. Smiling in jubilee, he hurriedly put the barbell on the rack before running after her.
"Wait, sister! Can you say it again?!"
Leaping over the bench press and weaving through other machines, Igor ran towards the bedroom and wrenched open the door. Entering the room, he found Aurelia sitting on the bed with a frown on her face.
Closing the door after himself, he gradually cancelled his Kaioken.
"Hahaha! Can you repeat that sister-ack!"
Feeling his legs suddenly cramp up, he couldn't stop himself from falling over towards the floor.
"?!"
Aurelia who was watching him with a frown reacted quickly.
"Igor!"
Dashing forward, she placed her hand on his chest and caught him and subsequently, Igor also reached out to grab her too.
""…""
The results were instant. One hand was on her shoulder while the other was on her chest. Feeling the sensation in his hands, the blonde couldn't help but squeeze a few times, his eyes widening in wonder.
"Woah. They're softer than I thought."
It amazed him that they could so surprisingly soft. Although it was never something he thought about, he assumed they would be harder than this.
"With how squishy they are, there would be no problem fitting them in a man's plate armour or wrapping them up in bandages. No wonder they didn't get in your way when we fought!"
"..."
Seeing him voice out the rather odd benefits of her mammaries, Aurelia couldn't even remain angry with how innocent his actions were.
"Oh Igor…"
She couldn't help but find his thought process a bit funny. She was curious as to how puberty would impact him when it finally hit him. But upon thinking about it thoroughly, she couldn't picture him seeing any woman in that way. He was more likely to confess his feelings to a dumbbell than a woman.
"Fufu~"
Helping him stand up, she gently sat him down on the bed and crouched down before him.
"Show me your legs. I'll heal them for you."
"?!"
…
The scene in front of Igor slowly changed. His view changed from his spartan room in the time chamber to a child's room with numerous toys and action figures ranging from Dragon Ball to Ben 10. In front of him was no longer Aurelia, but another woman with blonde hair. Her face looked almost exactly like an older version of Asia, with blue eyes just as kind.
"Show me your knee, Igor. Mother will heal them for you."
The woman then took out some ointment and rubbed them on his now, skinnier leg. Igor found himself to be wearing shorts and on his knee was a brutal wound. On the floor was an old soccer ball
"It hurts, mama…"
"I know, my baby. Mama will make it all go away."
…
"Igor? Igor?"
"Huh?"
Finally coming out of that sudden flashback, he was met with the soft feeling of Aurelia's palm touching his forehead.
"Are you alright, Igor? You were in a daze for a while."
"Oh, that? It's because I had a sudden thought enter my head. Shouldn't I be calling you grandma instead of sister? You're older than Aunty Shuri, so it would make sense, right?"
"..."
Calmly standing up, she fixed her towel before turning around.
"Your legs are fine. With a bit of bed rest, you should recover…"
Before she went out the door, she turned to give him a slight glare.
"...within a 'week'."
BAM!
"..."
Blinks once
Blinks twice
"Eh?! A week?!"