Rising Power

As David releases his magic, a sudden surge of air charges from inside the forest.

around him and Chris, a tiny whirlwind emerged from the sword. The misty haze that covers them both is removed by the breeze. Chris was astounded by his friend's recent development of air magic. He lost himself in the endless possibilities of why and how his best friend could be able to start a mini-tornado.

Chris looks in the direction where he heard his friend's voice. To be honest, he thought he was hallucinating because of the wind, but David has yet to release his spell from his grasp. Chris's eyes widened as he realized this could be their first time fighting with magic together.

He knew they could both use magic in some way, but he didn't think David would have powerful magic.

"Is this how it will end?" David wonders. His blue eyes are fixed on Chris as he poses the question, his body still facing him.

Chris looks behind them, realizing he was too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice his surroundings when he was suddenly thrown through the air. He groans and opens his eyes to find an empty tree line.

Chris then counterattacked with his dark long staff imbued with Darkness' power.

Both magic users fight as if it is the last battle they will ever fight in their lives. As if this were a simple duel between old foes. David deflects every incoming blow with his sword as he blocks Chris's attack. They dance as if they are one. They know how to move perfectly, so one wrong step could result in death. This alternates as both David and Chris attempt to dominate the other.

Both parties were exhausted, panting heavily and sweating profusely as they prepared to conclude this duel.

As the sun set, the sky turned red, orange, and purple. When the two heralds finally came to a halt, they were drenched in sweat. Both are exhaling heavily in an attempt to catch their breath. They were both tired. Their hands were tightly gripping the handles of their weapons. Both were panting and sweating profusely.

They look up and see each other's eyes meet for a brief moment before laughing.

It wasn't funny at first, until they realized they couldn't stop laughing and began crying with laughter.

The Heavenly beast from David's armor then let go of its armor and spoke.

"I'm sorry if I have to do this, David."

"Do what?" David asks, his head tilted in confusion.

The Heavenly beast then took David's consciousness and entered his body.

"I'm tired of this Thror and Chris. You want to know how strong David is? I'll show you," David exclaims.

The beast then unleashes its powers, causing David's entire body to become heavy. His muscles are hardening and becoming more defined.

His clothes became tighter and tighter until his muscles were larger than his arms. His skin became rougher as his hair grew longer and unkempt until it reached his mid-thighs. His bones solidify, making him appear much taller than he is.

Chris's eyes widened as he saw what David had transformed into. Someone else was standing in front of him, not his friend. Something he couldn't even place.

Chris was getting nervous now. At this point, he was terrified for his life.

"What did you do to my friend?" Chris exclaimed, enraged and terrified.

The Heavenly beast laughs and walks toward Chris, pointing his sword at him.

"You see this? All this power that David could unleash right now but I choose not to? Well, why not give you a chance to see me use that power!, Thror you're no animal to question and judge the one who is chosen!" the Heavenly beasts exclaim.

The Heavenly beast then approaches Chris slowly.

"What do you mean? What happened to David?" yells Chris.

"You betrayed him, the one person he trusted! You betrayed everything he ever stood for, everything he gave of himself!" exclaims the heavenly beast.

"That's not true!" exclaims Chris.

"Yes, yes it is," the heavenly beast said, "because you let him down! You betrayed his trust, you broke his heart! Now I want to give you your chance to apologize."

"No, no, I refuse! I am David's closest friend, the most important person in his life."

The Heavenly beast who is controlling David then drew their Akim sword and was about to throw it at Chris when they were interrupted by an evil laugh.

A masked man floats through the sky wearing a hooded black cloak He has something shiny in his hand.

"This is not how you treat a guest, my lord," says the hooded man.

The Heavenly beast growled and spun around, his sword aimed at the individual.

"What do you know about a man named David?" inquired the Heavenly beast.

The man in black inserted the object he was holding into his pocket.

"I don't care about anyone but myself; that is the truth about my identity and how you should act in response to me," the man stated.

The Heavenly beast growled once more as he raised his sword towards the man but abruptly stopped.

The masked man then disappeared. Leaving no trace of dust behind.

The heavenly beast then emerged from David's body and spoke.

"It's not yet time for Chris, David, or even you, Mr. Raven, to release your power."

Then a blinding light appeared, rendering them unconscious.

"Heavenly beast, forgive me, but is it really necessary to clear this memory out of them?" Thror inquires.

"Yes, hide until you're needed, and Chris discovered his power on his own; we can't bid their power in a duel, and I have a bad feeling about that masked man," Heavenly Beast responds.

The setting changes to a city laboratory.

"Professor!, what the hell is that light on the Ground Zero Forest? There shouldn't be anyone in there!"

"I know, right? It's impossible to be in there because that's where the monsters' nest is; there's no way a human could be in there," Professor Rowan responds.

A loud explosion echoed throughout the building, distracting everyone from their studies.

"Well, that doesn't look good," the second officer said.

"What happened?" the first officer inquired.

"Just before it happened, there was this strange light in the forest; I'm not sure what caused it, but whatever it was had to be powerful!"

Everyone began running outside the facility.

While they were looking around the forest, another light appeared.

It was unlike anything they'd ever seen before, almost like an alien. Everyone came to a halt and stared in awe and fear at it.

When the light stops at the edge of the forest, everyone flinches as it slowly moves towards them.

"You!" Professor Rowan exclaimed, motioning to an officer to summon the first and second captains of the Youth Forces Against Monsters.

He dashed back to his office to retrieve some files before heading outside. Then a figure in black robes and a white mask appears from the sky.

When he notices the soldier's presence, he looks down at them with a blank expression on his face.

"Halt!" exclaimed Professor Rowan, motioning everyone behind him.

"Who do you think you are?" one of the officers asked.

"Why should I tell you? It's none of your business anyway," the person says.

"Wait!, you're the masked man from ten years ago!, you're the reason for this!" Professor Rowan exclaims.

The masked man then notices what the Professor is holding.

"Oh, just what I need," the masked man said after teleporting behind Professor Rowan.

He grabbed him and threw him across the ground, causing the Professor to fall hard.

The masked man then begins to attack the officers with various attacks; they try to fight back, but the masked man hits them until they are unconscious.

He paused for a moment before teleporting out of a portal behind him.

"Where is the culprit?" exclaimed Professor Rowan.

"The Masked Man has fled, Sir". One officer replied.

After some minutes everyone regains consciousness except for one person.

"We're is the Files?!" Professor Rowan searched while panicking around.

"Sir, It's under the bench there." Said the officer pointing it out.

Professor Rowan runs towards the bench and saw a folder with a note in it, he quickly grabs it and opens it up. He gasps once he read the contents of the note.

"Looking for something? I have it." with the smiling face below the paper.

A familiar voice than can be heard.

"Professor!, Are you alright?". A Red hair teen who appears to be Sinzu.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking," Professor Rowan replied.

"Is there any danger here?" Sinzu wondered.

"I believe he has already left the city," said one of the officers who had recovered from his injuries.

"That guy seems so powerful... And what the hell is that strange thing above him!" Professor explains a purple glowing circle-shaped thing that floats above the masked man.

"That's the Mark of Leo.. I never thought someone would pose such a strange power rather than me, also the Mark of Leo isn't purple, it must have been combined from another power." Sinzu responds.

"That explains why it's been affecting us," one of the officers commented.

"Are we going to go after him?" Professor Rowan inquired.

"No, that could be dangerous," Sinzu said.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Another officer inquired.

"It's better to rest before deciding whether going after him will be dangerous," Professor Rowan advised.

"All right then," Sinzu said, as the other officers nodded.

They walk into the Laboratory and start talking when Marianna appears.

"I'm sorry if I'm late, but I need to deal with something," Marinna explained.

"We got something really big from that Masked man earlier today, and it appears to be connected to the attack in the forest," Professor Rowan explained.

Really? Then we must go after him before things worsen! " Marinna exclaimed with glee.

"Perhaps, we scan the forest and there appear to be three, and sometimes four, people in the area!"

Professor Rowan stated.

"And?", Sinzu inquired.

"Well, they were fighting so much that one of them managed to release some power, which resulted in the explosion, but because they were in the forest, the only people who could've done that were those three," Professor Rowan explained.

Marianna and Sinzu then looked into each other's eyes and agreed.

"We'll go inside that forest and create an emergency rescue," Sinzu and Marianna both exclaim.

"All right, we'll notify Captain Royce of your plan and contact the second and third captains," Professor Rowan said.

"No need for 3 and 4, we're already one man's army!" exclaimed Sinzu, and both Marianna and Sinzu vanished.

As they went upstairs to inform the Captain of the plans, Professor Rowan sighed.

City Training Grounds

Everyone was currently training with the Knights.

"I think I can beat all three of you!" exclaimed one of the Knights.

They were all dressed in armor with swords on their arms.

"Ha! I bet you all could lose to me!" The knight exclaimed.

"Let's see how many punches you can take without breaking a sweat!" exclaimed another knight.

Both knights then began to spar with one another. and a shout breaks them.

"You! Where is Clea?" Sinzu exclaims.

The two knights salute and respond, "We believe she is in her office, sir!"

Sinzu then proceeds to walk toward the office.

When he gets to the door, it opens, revealing Clea sitting at a desk facing away from the doorway.

"Clea, there are some urgent matters I need to discuss with you," Sinzu says, looking Clea in the eyes.

Sinzu takes a seat and turns to face Clea.

"We're off to the forest." Sinzu says with a slight smile.

Her mouth drops as her clear eyes widen at what he said.

She didn't say anything else and simply stood up and followed Sinzu. She doesn't want to question the decision, but she knows something is wrong.

When they arrived at the door, Marianna was standing there looking at the clock.

"Slowpokes! Come on!" Marianna yells at Clea and Sinzu. They then proceed into the forest.

Clea, Sinzu, and Marianna then walk around the forest, beginning at the entrance, and are greeted by a medium-sized monster pig with green crystals all over its body.

It begins to move in the direction of Clea but is stopped by the arrow fired by Marianna at the pig. It begins to grow rapidly as the forest is tossed about by strong winds.

"This is bad," Sinzu says as he prepares to fight the monster but gets tossed first and knocking him out of consciousness.

When the pig got close to her, it began to glow a bright yellow before turning black like charcoal. Marianna attacks it immediately with her bow and shoots an arrow at it, causing it to burn.

Clea simply observes the scene, watching Clea use water to heal the wounds of Sinzu caused by the pig's attack.

It wasn't until the dust settled that they realized what was going on. Another monster was lurking behind them. This one resembled the first one and appeared more aggressive than the pig.

They both assume battle stances and prepare for the battle ahead.

The monster was still glowing yellow, and it was getting bigger by the second. Even though they tried not to waste time, they had no choice but to fight back.

The monster was about to charge forward when it came to a halt. Its glow grew brighter and brighter until it was completely bright.

As it began to breathe heavily, the two girls were perplexed.

The pig started moving towards it, and it was getting faster and faster.

The pig begins to run faster and faster, and it begins to charge.

"What's wrong?" Clea asked, looking at Sinzu.

"I'm not sure," Sinzu says, his mind racing with the possibility of the monster evading Marianna's arrow.

He then notices Marianna's focus has shifted to the monster that has ambush them.

"Is this a new type of monster?" she wonders, trying to figure out what exactly happened.

Her eyes widened as a large hand was raised and then slammed down onto the ground, causing the trees to shake and Marianna to fall to the ground.

"Are you okay?" she asks, looking up at him.

His eyes widen in response to her question, and he shakes himself out of whatever trance he was in.

"Yeah, don't worry about me; you need to focus on the monster in front of you," he rushes over to her and kneels down next to her.

Clea looks away and walks over to the monster, shooting arrows at it in the hopes that it won't be too long.

The monster was starting to glow yellow again, and its breathing was labored.

It was almost gone when Marianna noticed something odd.

"Look!" she exclaimed, pointing to the pig who was still chasing the monster.

Sinzu shifts his gaze away from the pig and follows where she was pointing. The pig is still running fast. As fast as it can.

Sinzu then summons his flame sword, saying, "Leo, let us burn everyone in our path!" He sways it like a normal sword, but it is blazing hot. Leo appeared there.

Leo raises his right arm and fires a stream of flames in a straight line.

Sinzu swings his sword down, striking the ground and causing Marianna to fall on her back.

She lands awkwardly on the hard ground and groans.

Sinzu rushes to her side and assists her in sitting up. He turned towards the monster that was charging at them once she was sitting up.

Sinzu noticed that Leo was running out of steam.

"If we're going to make it through, we'll have to finish this in less than two minutes," Sinzu told Marianna.

"Got it," Marianna said, pulling out her bow and arrows.

She then stands up and points her bow at the monster.

Sinzu does the same, and his sword glows orange once more. As he fires his sword at the monster, his blade moves in a vertical slash across the air.

The sword collides with the monster's chest and knocks it away with a loud BOOM.

Sinzu collapses to the ground.

He's panting heavily and staring at the monster that's rising from the ground.

The monster then begins to glow red and charges at them once more.

Clea and Marianna rushed forward to assist Sinzu in slowly standing up.

As he caught his breath, he put his sword away.

"All right," he says between breaths, "we should probably hurry, there's an exit at that area, and the space might help us."

Marianna nodded as she took up her bow.

"Let's go," she said.

They all ran away from the monster, the monster following them.

"Wait! Don't slow down!" screamed Clea and Marianna.

They hadn't seen that coming...

Clea turned around to see the monster closing in on them.

"Dammit!" screamed Clea as she ran away from the monster, towards the forest exit.

"You're going to have to catch up with us soon!" warned Marianna.

Clea didn't respond as she continued running, dodging trees and rocks on her way to the exit.

When she finally got there, she began sprinting out.

"Wait!" she hears someone say behind her, and she turns around to see Marianna.

Marianna's footsteps follow her as she turns back to continue running.

Marianna comes to a halt and searches frantically for the monster.

"Where did it go?" she inquires.

The monster appears right next to Sinzu before she can respond.

Marianna screams and tries to avoid the monster, but she misses.

She falls to the floor and is struck by its tail, sending her flying several feet away.

Marianna rolls to the side and manages to get up after landing on her stomach.

Looking around, she notices Sinzu lying motionless on the ground.

She rushes towards him, attempting to rouse him. She yanks on his shoulders and shakes him.

She tries to say something, but due to her injury, she coughs.

Sinzu stands up, a large gash in his left shoulder. He looks at it as blood flows out of it.

"My sword... I need my sword," he says, struggling to stand up while clutching his wound tightly.

As the monster gets closer, the three of them rush to flee.

"We have to keep moving," yelled Clea.

They run as fast as they can towards the exit, following her lead.

A massive tree was thrown in the monster's face before he got his claws into Sinzu's face.

When the three look in the direction from which they came, they see a man wearing a white shirt and a military uniform.

The man was carrying a spear that was attached to a large hammer. He raises his fist, ready to punch the monster.

"Who are you people, and how did you get here?" he inquired of the three.

"We don't know who you are, but we came here to rescue three people," Marianna explained.

"A rescue mission?" he asked, perplexed.

A gust of wind blows past them before they can respond, and the monster that was fighting with Clea flies back and lands next to the man.

The man frowns as he looks at the monster that attacked him.

" this little pig bullying you?" the man inquires suspiciously.

"That thing was a monster!" exclaimed Sinzu, stunned.

"Yes.and it's so strong like we've never seen before," Marianna replied, "and no, we don't have time to explain."

"All right, you stay here and protect these kids," the man said, motioning to the trio. Then he walks up to the monster and punches him in the face, sending him flying into the large tree.

Clea screamed, "Wait! We can't leave!"

The man then turns to face them, hands on his hips, and smiles broadly.

"Girls, proceed to the exit; there you will see a cabin and two teens, and you, Sinzu, right? Fight with me," said the man.

The two exchange nods and turn to walk away.

"Hey!" they hear someone yell, and it sounded like they were their age.

Marianna and Clea come to a halt and turn around.

A young man approached them.

As he looked at them, the man held a wooden sword.

"How many of you are there?" inquired the man.

"Three," Clea replied.

"Just three huh? Alright," the guy sighs as he pulls some rope from his backpack.

The boy then points to the monster that had been attacking the man and Sinzu.

"Can we assist you guys in fighting that thing?" he inquired.

The man looks at the boy before turning to face the monster. He then returned his gaze and nodded, allowing them to join them.

The boy nodded and began drawing his sword, ready to charge at the monster.

"Heavenly Beast, summon!" the boy yells, and a glowing lion appears in front of them.

It has begun to attack the Pig Monster and burn it alive to the point of melting. The boy can be heard panting as if he is tired.

"Finish him, Mr Raven and whoever you are." As he collapsed on the ground.

"Thank you, David! We'll take it from here," Raven humbly repeats. He then turns to Sinzu and asks, "You're a fire user, aren't you?"

"Yes...I am!" Sinzu responds.

"Heavenly Beast, lend me some power, and Sinzu, let us charge together!" Raven gives the order.

Before disappearing, the heavenly beast bestows a small amount of power on Raven.

Sinzu and Raven charged at the same time, with Raven piercing the monster's skull and Sinzu burning it to a crisp.

Raven then invites them to rest at the Cabin while carrying David on his back.

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