EPISODE 14: THE TENTH RULE: ‘HE WILL ATTAIN THE STRENGTH NEEDED TO UNLOCK THE ANCIENT SEALS!’ PART I: THE PREPARATORY PHASE

It was finally morning. Ciella opened her eyes. The sun shone brightly into her room through the windows. She sat up and reflected on the conversation we'd had at dawn. Then she freshened up and headed downstairs. My Mom and siblings were at the dining table. Saito offered to prepare breakfast for Ciella. When breakfast was finally served, the family ate in silence.

"Has San left already?" Ciella suddenly asked.

"Yes, he's left. But how did you…?" Ariel wondered.

"San told me a lot at dawn, about the Dream World and the Dream Knights and a lot of other things" Ciella said.

My Mom smiled.

"I see. For San to take such a risk after repeatedly reaffirming his resolve to evade the family 'curse', he must really like this girl" my Mom thought to herself.

"I'm glad San's well. I'll be heading home now" Ciella said.

"We'll help you get your things ready" Ariel volunteered.

Meanwhile, my Dad and I stood in my Gramps' presence.

"I'm ready to commence my training Gramps" I said with a determined expression on my face.

"Before we commence your training, I must ask. Do you still recall what I told you earlier on about the seals right before we released the seal of Endregen?" my Gramps asked.

I thought back and nodded.

"You said the Seven Limiters of the one known as the Nightmare King's Successor can only be released as one comes closer to fulfilling the Thirteen Rules that grant the right of succession. You said I can currently unlock three of the limiters since I've fulfilled roughly half of the Rules" I said.

"Since then, you've fulfilled three more Rules. You should currently possess the spiritual fortitude needed to unlock roughly five of the seals" my Gramps explained.

"Roughly?" I questioned.

"You might also be able to release a third of the sixth seal's power" my Gramps said.

"You said the power of the seals are not necessarily physical abilities however the limiters each grant a unique set of abilities and that after the release of the seventh seal, reality itself can be altered" I recalled my Gramps' explanation of the seals.

"You do recall after all. However the strain exerted upon you after the release of each seal will continue to rise dramatically. By the time you release the seventh seal, you'll be enduring seven times the strain you endured after the release of the first seal which is why you'll need to raise your physical and spiritual fortitude. This will lessen the effects of the strain exerted on you after the release of each seal" my Gramps explained.

"I see" I said.

"I'll explain the unique traits of each seal when you attain the strength to release a particular limiter. Releasing five seals and a third of the sixth is no longer impossible for you however your body won't be able to handle the strain so we'll start with raising your ability to endure the release of the first seal. Are you ready?" my Gramps asked.

"I am" I said.

"Then I'll remove the inhibiting seal I placed on you however, I'll do this gradually so that you'll get used to various levels of your strength" my Gramps said and laid a hand on my chest.

I suddenly felt my strength increase but I didn't feel quite as strong as I felt without the inhibiting seal. My Gramps took his fighting stance without summoning the Nightbane. I was a bit surprised.

"You won't use the Nightbane this time?" I asked.

"My body is enough for this phase of your training" my Gramps said.

"Don't regret this" I said with a smirk and took my stance.

I crouched and in the next instant I'd disappeared. In less than a moment, I crashed right into my Gramps' lariat. I coughed and fell to the ground.

"You could follow my movements?" I coughed and wheezed.

"Of course. You output much more strength than you're used to so your movements are angular. It's very easy to anticipate and counter your attacks. You shouldn't be resorting to charge attacks when you can hardly control your movements" my Gramps said.

I stood up.

"Want to try this again?" my Gramps asked.

"Of course!" I declared as I took my fighting stance.

I approached my Gramps slowly till just a step separated the both of us. I commenced my attack with a high punch but my Gramps sidestepped and deflected my punch. At the same time as he deflected my punch, he moved his hand along my arm and aimed a chop at my throat. I leaned backwards just as his chop passed over me, dropped to the ground and rolled backwards to put some distance between us, then I somersaulted to my feet.

"That was scary!" I thought but my Gramps had reassumed his stance with an unperturbed look on his face.

"He nearly countered my attack" I thought and approached him slowly.

I attempted a sidekick but my Gramps blocked it and aimed a blow to my chest with his free hand. I leapt back in time as his punch narrowly missed.

"Your attacks are not half bad however your movements are sluggish. You're putting too much effort into suppressing your current strength" my Gramps said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Think of it this way, if your body were a vehicle and its top speed was tremendous and all it took to achieve its top speed was a slight push on the accelerator, then of course it'd be hard to effectively gauge distance and acceleration speed. To deal with this problem, you've been attempting to accelerate while simultaneously applying the brakes so your movements have become sluggish" my Gramps said.

"Are you trying to say my movements are sluggish because I'm attempting to suppress my current strength? I thought that was the entire goal of this phase in my training" I argued.

"Yes, it is. However you've been going about it all wrong. You're attempting to accelerate while simultaneously applying the brakes so of course you'll self-destruct. However, if you were to factor timing and direction into when you apply the accelerator and brakes, you could use the friction of the road as well as centrifuge to your advantage" my Gramps explained.

I opened my eyes in surprise.

"The key lies in how you make the most of your current strength and transition seamlessly between attacks. It's alright to go all out but you need to be able to transition from one attack to the next before you self-destruct or are countered" my Gramps explained.

"Theoretically, your explanation makes sense. It's not so easy to translate it into actual combat though" I said.

"Let's keep going. I'm certain it will come to you naturally…eventually" my Gramps said and reassumed his fighting stance.

I reassumed my fighting stance as well.

"The key lies in transitioning between attacks huh? I've got to factor in timing and direction" I thought.

In the next instant, I disappeared. A tidal force cut through the path I was headed in. I noticed my Gramps initiate a punch. I leaned backwards and let the force of my charge carry me onwards transforming my initial attack into a sliding tackle. My Gramps leapt into the air as my charge carried me beneath him. I noticed that the force of my charge was going to carry me right into the wall at the opposite side of the arena. Using my hands, I lifted myself off the ground, somersaulted and aligned my body in reverse eventually landing with both feet unto the wall. I crouched to lessen the impact while converting the force with which I landed on the wall into a spring like charge. This greatly multiplied the force of my initial charge. I headed towards my Gramps. He was smiling confidently.

"It looks like you're beginning to get the hang of it" he said with a smirk.

The force carrying me towards my Gramps was so great it kept me suspended in the air.

My Gramps sighed.

"Aerial charges tend to create a lot of openings in combat especially for one who can't fly. You're basically locked into the direction of your charge and can't alter direction making it easier for an opponent to anticipate and counter your attacks" my Gramps said as he aimed a blow at me.

"I know that Gramps. Just how many games and anime do you think I've played and watched?" I said as I used my palms to deflect my Gramps' punch downwards.

Instead of simply deflecting his punch, I held tightly to his hand as well. My Gramps didn't budge. His strength surprised me greatly, however, that strength also channeled the entire force of my charge into my lower body which was elevated higher than my upper body. I folded my knees channeling the entire force of my charge into my knees. This caused my body to rotate two hundred and seventy degrees over my Gramps and would have resulted in a tremendous knee kick to his spine however at the final moment, my Gramps sidestepped. I attempted to let go of him to lessen the effects of his move however I was too slow. His sidestep altered the direction of the force flowing through my body and as my double knee kick missed, he countered with a backhanded blow to my chest. His blow sent me flying. I crashed to the ground and rolled a distance away from him.

"That was quite impressive San" my Gramps congratulated.

"Yeah, even I could tell but something's off. You're beating me much easier than before. Don't tell me you've been holding back in all our previous training sessions" I asked.

"Nope, I didn't hold back with regards to the amount of strength I needed to match your ability. However…I am holding back now. You seem to have forgotten that in our previous training sessions…I fought you…with the Nightbane" my Gramps said.

My eyes widened in surprise.

"He's right. In other words…I'm the one that has gotten weaker?" I muttered.

My Gramps nodded.

"The sudden dramatic increase in your physical ability has in a sense made you a foreigner to your own body. Uncontrollable great power in a sense imposes its own set of limiters. Until you adapt to your current level of strength, your attacks are going to be angular instead of fluid and your movements will generally be awkward. It's like learning to walk all over again as you put it" my Gramps explained.

"And how powerful exactly was the inhibiting seal you imposed on me?" I asked.

"Well let's just say at the moment I released enough of it to allow you to utilize a seventh of your current strength" my Gramps said with a smirk.

"A seventh?! You mean I'll have to adapt to seven different levels of strength before I can unlock the seal of Endregen?!" I exclaimed in shock.

My Gramps nodded.

"So what are you waiting for? Let's get this started" my Gramps said seriously.