The Broken Halo

Chapter 1050 - 1049: Worthy

The Asura stared at Akaza for a few moments.

A Firstborn Titan, and a hybrid carrying both Uruqath and Nine-Tailed Byakko bloodlines.

And this boy had been travelling with them as a demon?

The girl had only recently awakened her Royal bloodline. Had she also started as a demon, or had she advanced from another Daemon race? Either way, Firstborn Titans were powerful enough to stand alongside Asuras.

The hybrid was even harder to understand.

How had someone carrying those two bloodlines been born?

The Asura glanced at Akaza’s restored arms.

His envy was beginning to make sense.

”Then you understand why you cannot stop here.”

Akaza straightened.

”If you want to stand beside those monsters, show me that you deserve this bloodline.”

All six hands opened.

”I’ll use only my physical strength. No abilities. Defeat me under that restriction, or impress me enough, and I’ll allow you to become an Asura.”

Akaza frowned.

He needed that much help?

The thought stung, but he remembered Sonya describing the Titan she called Grandpa. The old man had taught her and corrected her mistakes during their battle.

Pride wasn’t worth returning with a weaker bloodline.

”Fine.”

The Asura nodded.

”Whenever you’re ready, you can-”

BANG!

Akaza vanished from his position.

His heel swept toward the Asura’s temple.

A palm caught it.

”You’re rather impatient.”

Akaza’s expression remained cold. He pulled his leg back, twisted, and drove his other foot toward the Daemon’s ribs.

Another hand intercepted it.

This time, the fingers closed around his ankle.

Akaza felt himself being pulled downward. A fist struck his chest before he could free his leg.

BOOOM!

The path trembled beneath him.

For an instant, everything went black.

He woke choking on blood.

His gravity had pushed against the descending fist and slowed his collision with the ground. Without that instinctive response, the blow might have gone through his chest.

The Asura released his ankle and raised another fist.

Akaza thrust both palms upward.

A blast of gravity struck the descending arm, slowing it for a fraction of a second.

He rolled.

BOOM!

The fist buried itself where his head had been.

Akaza scrambled out of the depression and forced his trembling legs beneath him.

The Asura was already approaching.

Akaza threw a punch at his jaw and a knee toward his stomach. Two hands stopped them. A third struck his cheek, while a fourth caught his shoulder and pulled him into another blow.

BANG!

Blood splashed across the golden breastplate.

Akaza tore himself free by throwing his weight backward with gravity.

The Asura followed.

A kick swept his legs out. Before he could fall, a hand caught his collar and dragged him upright.

BAM!

The punch split his lip.

Akaza made himself lighter and let the next strike throw him away. He landed on his feet, skidded, then bent sharply as a fist passed over his head.

’Don’t block. Move.’

He no longer had time to attack.

He dodged one fist but another was waiting. Ducking beneath an upper arm brought him within reach of a lower one. Even when he reached the Asura’s side, an elbow met him there.

Every strike forced him farther back.

He tried pulling the Daemon off balance, dragging his weight toward one foot.

The Asura simply stepped through the pressure.

Akaza’s sweeping kick struck an ankle that might as well have been rooted in place.

A backhand sent him tumbling.

He rolled onto one knee, panting.

The Kharad’s ability could absorb some of these impacts, but only some. His bones were already aching from the force he had stored.

He released it through a punch as the Asura approached.

Two palms met his fist.

The impact snapped through Akaza’s arm and numbed his shoulder.

The Daemon hadn’t moved.

’Six arms. Every opening has another fucking hand behind it.’

Akaza retreated again.

The Asura stopped.

”I expected more from the one who fought the Vardran.”

Akaza looked at him through the blood running into his eye.

”You’re not good enough. All you’re doing now is trying not to be hit.”

His teeth ground together.

He was keeping himself alive.

What else was he supposed to-

”I’m not finished yet!”

Akaza charged.

He punched without waiting to recover his stance. A lower hand knocked his wrist aside, but he followed with an elbow, then drove his knee toward the Daemon’s waist.

The Asura blocked them all.

A fist sank into Akaza’s stomach.

He coughed blood and stepped closer instead of moving back like he usually did.

The Asura’s brows shifted.

Akaza caught the striking wrist against his ribs. Another hand reached for his neck, but he ducked beneath it and drove his forehead into the Daemon’s mouth.

CRACK!

The Asura’s lip split.

Akaza released the stored force in his bones through his right elbow.

It struck the cheek before the Daemon could completely turn away.

Blood ran toward his jaw.

”Again!”

Akaza swung.

The Asura caught his fist. A second hand seized his other wrist, holding him open while a third arm drew back.

BOOM!

The palm struck his chest as the grip on his wrists released.

Akaza flew backward.

BANG!

He struck a broken pillar shoulder-first and fell amid the debris.

Pain tore through his back.

He tried to stand, but his right leg folded beneath him.

The Asura wiped his mouth.

A cut across the cheek. A split lip.

Akaza looked down at his own shaking hands.

After all he had done, he had barely hurt him.

The Daemon approached again.

Akaza forced himself upright, pushing against the ground with gravity when his legs threatened to fail.

His gravitational field spread.

Loose fragments trembled around his feet.

The Asura continued walking despite his gravitational field.

Akaza stared at those fragments.

He remembered them flying toward the Vardran’s fist.

Not down. Not up.

Toward a point.

His new bloodline stirred as he tried to reproduce that pull.

A knot of pressure formed between him and the approaching Asura.

Debris scraped across the path.

The Daemon’s next step slowed slightly.

Akaza’s heart hammered.

It worked.

But it wasn’t nearly enough.

He drew the edges of his field inward. The pull tightened around an area barely wider than his shoulders.

The Asura finally stopped this time around.

Akaza compressed it further.

His fingers curled, though there was nothing in his hands. He was concentrating the force he usually spread across several paces into a space smaller than his fist.

Grit shot toward the centre.

It crushed together, then vanished beneath more debris.

’Smaller.’

His energy rushed into the gathering pressure.

Blood ran from his nose.

The knot trembled, threatening to scatter. He caught it with his Will and forced its pull inward from every direction.

The rubble vanished.

A black point remained.

Akaza stared with an utterly focused expression.

It grew to the size of a fist. The light around its edges bent inward, and the path behind it appeared distorted.

Even Akaza’s blood changed direction as it dripped from his chin.

His sleeve tugged toward it.

Then the ground between them began breaking.

Chunks lifted from the ground and disappeared into the blackness. The air screamed past his ears.

One of the Asura’s feet slid forward.

His expression changed.

”A black hole?”

Akaza’s knees nearly buckled.

The thing was taking far more energy than he could sustain. He couldn’t release it safely. He couldn’t even make it smaller anymore.

But he could keep it open for another moment.

He pushed both hands forward, forcing the black hole toward the Daemon.

It lurched less than a pace before Akaza nearly lost control. He held it there, his arms trembling.

The Asura’s red hair whipped across his face. His feet tore grooves through the path as the pull dragged him closer.

A pleased smile spread across his bloodied mouth.

Akaza barely saw it.

His vision was blurring. Pain stabbed through his heart, and his flow of demonic energy faltered.

He forced the remainder into the technique.

”Come on!”

The Asura planted both feet.

His six arms drew back.

Akaza felt the black hole swell.

Then all six fists struck inward.

BOOOOOOM!

The darkness buckled.

For an instant, the Asura’s hands disappeared inside it.

Then... the black hole shattered.

Air and debris burst outward, throwing Akaza onto his knees. He caught himself with both hands and vomited blood between them.

The pull was gone.

So was the last of his strength.

He tried to lift his head.

The Asura stood a few paces away, flexing fingers marked with shallow cuts.

He had destroyed it, but even that hadn’t been enough to defeat him.

Akaza’s shoulders sagged.

He had nothing else.

His arms shook beneath his weight. Trying to draw more demonic energy only sent another stab of pain through his chest.

The Asura approached and stopped before him.

”That was a dangerous thing to create without knowing how to control it.”

Akaza breathed through his open mouth.

He couldn’t argue.

”You’re not the most talented descendant I’ve encountered,” the Daemon continued. ”And you have a great deal to learn.”

Akaza’s hands tightened against the ground.

”But your Will and determination are impressive. You were barely able to stand, yet you found a way to make me take your attack seriously.”

He looked up.

The Asura smiled.

”You pass.”

Akaza stared at him.

For several breaths, he couldn’t understand why the words were so difficult to believe.

”I told you that impressing me would be enough.”

The Daemon placed one hand against his chest.

”Welcome to the Asuras.”

Warmth spread through Akaza’s body.

The hand broke into light. The rest of the manifestation followed, flowing into him before he could answer.

His heart convulsed.

He bowed forward as his broken bones began mending. New joints pushed outward beneath his shoulders, and the skin along his sides split.

Four more arms slowly unfolded.

Pain dragged a hoarse cry from his throat, but beneath it came strength unlike anything he had felt before.

His hair turned blood red. Black markings extended across his chest and along the new limbs, while his blood answered the power settling within it.

Six hands pressed against the ground.

Akaza drew a trembling breath as the new strength steadied his body.

He had become an Asura.

The pain hadn’t completely faded, but he was smiling when he closed his eyes and slowly exhaled.