Blind Phoenix

No Time to Relax

Byur had returned to the unique room he had met Lynn inside of. It would be his last bit of training before they set out to confront Tenno. Whether or not this was a foolish decision was not a thought that passed through anyone’s mind anymore. Action had to be taken, that is how they felt. Yet…Byur himself began to feel anxious.

            “I feel like I won’t be much help. I’ve come pretty damn far recently, I feel good about it. It still bothers me, though…I’ll try as best as I can in the fight, but if the people we’ll be fighting will mostly be stronger than Anthroph, then I’m not sure I will even survive” said Byur.

            “Don’t worry,” said Lynn, “we have Nico to take care of Tenno, the rest of them should fall to us.”

            Byur took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself, “You guys aren’t much older than me and you’re so easily putting your lives on the line. What if they have someone stronger than you?”

            Maria was walking around and gave a small chuckle, “You think we’re coming unprepared? There are billions of fighters who would gladly come and assist us. It’s not going to be just us, but dozens of the most legendary fighters known in the universe.”

            Byur gave a dumbfounded look and said, “Ahah, what? That’s crazy, I thought it was just going to be us…in that case, there’s no way I’m backing down! I’m getting my revenge one way or another.”

            Kal gave Byur a stern look, asking, “You seem quite happy, have you forgotten what we’re about to do?”

            “What?” responded Byur, “I don’t understand.”

            “You did it during your fight with Yuig, you killed him” Kal said. “Do you think you can do something like that again?”

            “I…wasn’t myself after he took out my eyes. It’s true that I could not control myself. I’m lucky to have known you guys or I might have been in some space jail right now. Whether or not Yuig deserved it could be argued…but people like Antroph, people like Tenno. It is without a doubt I say…no one will feel remorse for those two or their group when they’re gone.”

            Kal looked at the ground and clenched his fist, “We’ve already lost them a long time ago. We aren’t just fighting enemies; we are fighting our friends, shells of their former selves. The c****x of their fate is no doubt nearby. That is why we must not forget who they were. Whatever changed them…whatever they’ve become, it doesn’t matter now. All I know is it’s time to put them to rest.”

            Byur was at a loss for words and remained silent while giving a nod.

            “It would be best to keep that in mind…” said Kal, “Lynn, Nico, Maria, the three of you still remember, right? How they spoke so highly of those two?”

            Nico crumpled his lips, “Yea, bruv. Made a bunch of friends in the organization. Their story comes up quite often even after all this time. A few people said that maybe it was all an act, but hell, from what I’ve heard there isn’t anyone who could fake that.”

            “Yeah,” said Maria, “maybe they’re being forced to do it? It could be a possibility, but by who? I can’t think of anyone who would think it would be a good idea to do such a thing.”

            Lynn scoffed and replied, “They’re not the type of people be “forced” into murdering thousands. If everything about their past is true, there must be a deeper reason to it all.”

            “Well whatever it is…I still can’t forgive them for what they’ve done. Not a chance” said Nico.

            “I understand your feelings,” said Kal before smiling and continuing, “that aside…I fully expect you to show me your real power when your fight with Antroph arrives.”

            “I think you’re making a mistake there, I didn’t hold anything back against you. It was the least I could do” responded Byur.

            “Yes, and I believe you. Although, we all know you become a great deal stronger every time you fight. I just don’t want you to hold back even a shred. Even if it’s overkill, show us everything. I think it’s only fair; I’ll have to see your best moves to prepare for our rematch some day!”

            “Sounds great!” responded Byur.

            After finishing up their conversation, the five of them headed to the center of the room.

            “I have a feeling we’ll be using this place a lot together in the future” said Byur. “I’m ready to get started.”

            For the first time since they met, Nico gave off a strict mental atmosphere. He undid his tie, took off his suit and threw his sunglasses off to the side as if he didn’t cherish them even slightly. All that remained on him was a black pair of martial arts pants similar to Byur’s, but not as puffy.

            Kal asked, “Ah…I thought you liked the stuff you wore, isn’t it kind of rude to just discard them like that?”

            “I have dozens of duplicates waiting for me in my drawers, now’s not the time to worry over clothes” asserted Nico.

            Kal scratched his head and chuckled, “Alright, alright. I’m interested to see what you’ve got planned. Also, forgive my words, but I did not expect you to have such defined muscles. This is quite the surprise!”

            Under Nico’s suit you could not tell how well trained he was, but now, with it off the fruits of his training was out in plain sight. He readied his bodies and his muscles expanded further, surpassing Byur’s. As Nico warmed up you could notice the movement of every tendon in his body. Despite lacking vascularity, his body seemed like it would burst at any moment.

            Byur looked at him in awe, “God damn, how much do you weigh?”

            “About 100kg. I could be heavier if I wanted to be, but I like where I’m at currently.”

            “100kg?!” yelled Byur, “that’s crazy! You’re over 200 pounds of muscle.”

            “Hah, my height, 6’2”, inflates my weight a bit. Anyways, let’s begin.”

            “Alright, what first?” Byur asked before Nico rushed forward. “Uh, what’s going on?!”

            Before he could react, Nico sent a powerful right and dug it into Byur’s face before it launched the poor young man into the rocks that had formed mere seconds ago. As his body came to a halt, he opened his eyes to see his friend standing over him with a big smile, “Ah bruv, I’m sorry, I had to do it! We’re going to need to rough you up a little bit so that you’ll have more of a need than a want to learn how to meditate!”

            Nico helped up Byur and patted him on the back, “A few more hits should do it! But listen, this time I want you to try and defend yourself. No point in not taking the time to get a little more practice before a big fight like this.”

            “Y-you’re kidding…I can barely stand up” said Byur with an inquisitive face.

            Nico shrugged and said, “Well, I mean, I guess we can start the actual meditation right now if you want.”

            Byur gave a large grin and hit Nico with a left hook, “not a chance, come on, let’s go then!”

            “YOU BASTARD,” Nico happily yelled as he easily regained his footing, “let’s do it then bruv, give it all you’ve got!”

            The other three laughed at the situation and carefully watched the other two fight each other. Byur was hardly keeping up while Nico was using only his left leg with his hands behind his back. He wasn’t even breaking a sweat. A steady flow of kicks aimed for Byur’s head and they got closer to their mark each time. There was no time for retaliation. A single offensive attempt on Byur’s part would have definitely caused him to get hit.

            “Kal,” Lynn said, “what do you think is going to happen?”

            Kal turned to her and replied, “Well, he’s going to get hit of course. Nico is using a single leg and yet he isn’t even trying. He’s slowly increasing the speed of his kicks. The poor boy won’t be able to react”

            The kicks kept flying, the next one grazed Byur’s cheekbone and the chance opened itself. Yet, instead of another simple kick, Nico pivoted his body and spun around midair. Byur raised both his arms and blocked his head, reinforcing himself further with a small barrier of energy concentrated right in front of his forearms. Then, a thunderous noise was heard, the kick hit something. He had not aimed for the head as one would think, no. He had aimed for the body instead. Byur keeled over and was met with a swift kick on the right side of his abdomen.

            Right after finishing his two-kick combination, Nico prepared an axe kick. Byur then forced himself to stand up and intercepted the kick by catching it with both hands. He took a deep breath and launched an impressive straight at his friend, but Nico was able to swiftly free his foot and completely escape his line of sight. Before he could turn around, Byur was grabbed from behind and thrown into the air. Nico threw a ball of energy that formed into a wall behind Byur who then impacted onto it. He looked around, but his opponent was gone again.

            A flying knee came from the left side; his arm was grabbed as he tried to absorb the damage and he was flung into the floor yet again.

            Grunting on the hard, rocky floor in pain, the grey haired hero propped himself up on his elbows.

            “I think I’ve had enough. You’re seriously on a different league, Nico.”

            “I know it doesn’t seem fair for me to use more of my energy during the fight, but you must keep in mind that when it comes to real fights outside of comfortable arenas, your opponents will often be stronger than you. You need to be prepared to survive a beating until you’ve gathered enough energy to at the very least overpower your opponent. This early into fighting that is the only way you’ll defeat Anthroph. He is no doubt more skilled than you, but only due to experience. You definitely have more talent than him and you seem to have a knack for evolving mid-fight.”

            “Agreed…” said Byur, “Well, now that I’m all beat up…can we start the meditation training?”

            “Bah! That’s all you have to say? No insight on the subject? Nothin?”

            Byur embarrassedly responded, “Ah! I mean…yes. I will have to outplay Anthroph somehow. I won’t rely completely on my instinct. I’ll use everything I have and get the upper hand however I can! I’ll think of some strategies by the time the fight is near.”

            “Now that’s better. Do you know what his energy level is?”

            “No idea.” Responded Byur

            “If I’m not mistaken, the last time I saw him he was at 50,000…but it’s been a while. He doesn’t really train much because he relies on Tenno so much. I’d say he’s at about 75,000 by now. That’s just a rough estimate. He could be much higher or even a bit lower.”

            From a distance Kal yelled out, “Hey! I heard you’re talking about energy levels. Don’t waste your time. Numbers may be objective but there’s no need to go into specifics so much! You’ll feel for yourself how strong someone is, if you need those tiny little details then you might as well just stop fighting as a whole!”

            Nico turned to him and shouted back, “Man you have some good ears! Come on, though, be serious. There ain’t nothin better than knowing everything to an exact.”

            “Trust me on this, it doesn’t matter! He’ll be better off learning how to gauge power naturally.”

            “Psh,” responded Nico, “why don’t we just let him decide, then!” Turning to Byur he said, “Now then, bruv, what do you think?”

            “Don’t get me wrong…” said Byur, “scalers and stuff are useful and all, but…it’s kind of lame, don’t you think?”

            “L-lame?!” spouted Nico, “What’s so bad about em?”

            “Kal is pretty much right. When I meet him I’ll know how strong he is. Besides, it’s not like you can’t suppress your energy to make the number appear smaller. I’ve felt how much it fluctuates during battle as well. Going off of energy levels isn’t as consistent as I thought it was, now that I think about it.”

            Nico hung his head, disappointed in the answer, “Fine, fine. I won’t talk about energy levels if they bother you. We’ll do it your way for this decision.”

            Byur smiled to comfort his friend, “Besides, it’s not everything. Just like you saw with my fight against Kal, I was no match for him despite being stronger and faster. He out skilled me, plain and simple. To be honest I think he did the swift knock out more for my sake.”

            Kal laughed and replied, “Oh no, that kick was definitely for my sake.”

            “Ahahah, I’m glad to hear it. I’ll win next time!”

            Nico tapped Byur on the shoulder and said, “Oi, you’re all busted up now. I think it’s time I teach you how to meditate.”

            “Ah, yes” Responded Byur, “what would you have me do?”

            “Sit down right there” said Nico. “Next I want you to take a deep breath and exhale, just once. After you’ve done that, cease your breathing and close your eyes.”

            Byur sat on the pebble littered rocky floor with his legs crossed, he looked up at his friend and said, “You want me to hold my breath after I exhale? For how long?”

            “As long as you can” said Nico. “During meditation the goal is to sustain yourself with only your energy. Let your energy flow through you. You’ll want to concentrate about half of it around your heart.”

            Byur clapped his hands and rubbed them together, “Ok, got it! I was expecting a more scientific explanation on how this works, but I’d rather get to it.”

“Thanks for saving the author the trouble, bruv.” said Nico.

            Byur nodded, “yeah…wait what the hell are you talking about?”

            “I…don’t know. What were we discussing, again?”

            Byur could not recall the last few sentences the two spoke and said, “I feel like I’m forgetting something. Either way, I’m going to try it now. Wish me luck…”

            The young man took a substantially deep breath and then emptied his lungs. He shut his eyes and began the process. He was barely able to feel his energy going through his body and was unable to fully control it. Everyone noticed Byur’s energy was starting to rise and Nico blurted “Wrong! During meditation you’re not trying to increase your energy, you’re trying to control is to near perfection. This takes a great strain off your body and also focuses you. Increases the energy you are expending will completely negate the meditation.”

            Byur responded “Well jeez, you could have told me that.”

            “I didn’t mean to sound mad, let’s get back to it then.”

            Byur resumed his attempts and his energy levels did not increase this time. He was sometimes slow when it came to certain concepts during training, but his gift in resilience and power could be considered quite unfair. He had endured hard times throughout his life and even before meeting the Organization of Legends, Byur was not one to falter. The advantages he had been given were a reward, a counterbalance to all the suffering. No one knew how far he would go. The only thing that is certain is that his strength and willpower is great.

            Half an hour passed, a decent amount of progress had been made, but he was unable to completely learn mediation.

            “Not too bad, bruv. You’re a bit slow, but you’ll get it eventually. It usually takes an hour. At this rate, though, we have at least 45 minutes or more.”

            Byur was on the floor panting. The constant need to hold his breath was very difficult. Learning mediation was also relatively grueling. It asks of a person to force their energy to flow in an unfamiliar way, which is not a miniscule feat. It was imperative he learned it, though. For without it, a martial artist that uses energy would be out of the fight much longer than needed and would one day succumb to binding physical tension. Their bodies, no longer able to facilitate all they held inside, would wilt and molder like a flower in a box.

            The room was now silent. Everyone was sitting and waiting for a breakthrough. The anticipation of the upcoming battle no doubt increased the time it was taking for Byur to finish. Just then, an unexpected event took place. The young man’s body seemed to just barely recover as he faced up and said, “I think I got it.”

            “I see some of your lesser wounds went away. That’s good. Still, I don’t think you’ve quite gotten it,” said Nico.

            “Just give me 10 minutes,” said Byur. “I’ll have myself fully recovered in no time.”

            This was no hollow promise. The deed was swiftly done and the wait had ended.

            “Great job! You’ve learned meditation. How do you feel?” asked Maria.

            Byur responded “Pretty relaxed. I wasn’t injured severely in that fight or my…sparring. It was just a matter of time, nothing much else. I was just having trouble getting my energy to listen to me.”

            Nico then said, “You’ve done well today. You can go home for now. After that, we’ll all meet up here again tomorrow. We’re going to push our bodies to their limits to prepare ourselves. Do not make the mistake of being mentally unprepared, all of us will be exhausted by the time we’re done.”

            The others would be wise to take his word. A silly and relaxed man was what he was when it came to everything. Fighting and training was a different story when it came to him. Some considered their selves blessed to have never trained under him. If there was one thing he gave no room for error in, it was martial arts. Lynn and Maria were aware of this, but Kal and Byur would be in for a surprise.

It would be a fitting training session that would lead to one of the greatest fights Earth had ever seen. This time, a fighter’s record was not at stake, it was the fate of an entire planet. Maybe even the entire universe. Tenno’s intentions were shrouded. Just like himself, his plan was covered by a black wall of ambiguity. There were no rational explanations for the insurrection that troubled the entire organization.

Byur saw it as a chance to exact revenge. Though he tried his best to convince himself otherwise, he realized he would only be fooling himself. The main motivation for him was never the safety of the planet but thankfully his morality would not allow him to completely ignore it.

As Byur headed home with his friends, they all parted ways. He was able to find his way home with relative ease. The day’s cold air gently brushed past his body. His heart raced like the engine of a car despite his calm surroundings. As he took the steps up to his apartment he felt someone was standing beside his home’s door, leaning onto the wall.

“Ah, hello. What are you doing around here, James?”

“I thought I’d pay you a visit. There’s a powerful emotion in the air. Even a regular human could feel it.”

“That’s your reason? Rather strange. Do you want to come in?”

James gave a look of confusion before speaking, “Now that’s strange” said James as he chuckled.

They slowly made their way in and sat on the couch. “I’m all ears” said Byur as his head faced the ground.

“Looks like you were expecting an explanation. You’re right, but not completely. I just wanted to know how you’ve been feeling recently.”

“I’m good. My sight may have been taken away from me again, but it’s nothing new to me. It might sound melodramatic, but most of my emotions were numbed not too long ago. Not to say that I’m incapable of emotion, though. What about you? You seem kinda down.”

James laid back and let his head fall back onto the couch, “Life’s not looking good. Sometimes knowledge isn’t a good thing, and I sure wish I knew a bit less right now.”

Taken aback, Byur responded “Well I’m not exactly sure where you came to that conclusion. After what happened to me all I could do was take in knowledge. Without my eyes I didn’t have much else. Care to tell me your problem?”

“I can see where you’re coming from. I’m just sounding foolish under the pressure of my situation. The problem is something you’ll have to find out about later. More importantly, tell me about your power. I want to know just how strong you feel you’ve become. The last time Anthroph was being chased by us he was able to attack us before we could even react. His speed is out of this world.”

“Well,” said Byur, “That attack could have been a certain technique that increased his speed, or maybe that’s just the type of fighter he is. He’ll no doubt lack some power if that’s the case. I don’t like to go by energy levels, but Nico said Anthroph’s might be around 75,000, so that would explain why he was able to knock us out in an instant. I still don’t believe it. They probably miscalculated or something. I didn’t feel like that guy was anything special. He’s just an eerie individual to me.”

“I dunno, man” said James as he scratched his head. “Not sure why you don’t want to acknowledge his strength. He feels dangerous. That guy must have been holding back a lot of power. Otherwise I’m pretty sure we would be dead. “

“You can’t be too sure of that. Like I said, it might just be an ability of his. I know you don’t want to come to the fight for whatever reasons you have, yet I wish to show how strong I’ve been able to become in less than a month.”

James put his hand on his friend’s shoulder and said, “Alright, don’t worry about it. I’ll be there”.

“Really? I didn’t expect you to change your mind so easily” said Byur. To which James replied, “Don’t think about it too much. I’ll be a little late when I do show up, so I apologize in advance.”

“Well, whatever it is, it sure as heck must be important to show up late to a fight like this.”

“Oh trust me,” said James, “it’s far more important than even I could imagine.”

“Well I hope you’ll be ok. You want some tea?”