47 C Rank

Thirteen days later,

Howard looked down at a hundred skulls on the floor, holding out his hand as an intense focus appeared in his green eyes. Reaching slowly forward into the darkness, his five fingers seemed to turn into flames that extended outwards, breaching the barrier between him and the skulls.

A second later, one by one the skulls began to spin in the air, turning into moving tornadoes of flames that began to circle around him. Seeing Reslan crossing his arms in anger, Howard tried his hardest to speed up, causing dozens of skulls to turn into fiery spinning masses while his teacher stared unimpressed.

Reslan had always expected for Howard to be a good student, but he got more and more angry when he realized how impossible Howard's achievements in the last two weeks had been. When he'd been dropped into the Furnace, the only teacher he had for ten years were loneliness and death.

Slaughtering his way through large armies of zombies just to reach a single store to get something to eat, Relsan had been trained in the harshest conditions. After three hundred years, he became strong enough to reach the entranceway to the S rank, and with a single finger could turn a mountain on its head in a bed of flames.

However, when he'd been in the D rank, it took him years of fighting internal battles to understand the properties of fire. By the time he reached 30 years old, even with help from the great original teachers of the Furnace that he met in his twenties, he still had barely got a grasp of the feelings required to enter the C rank.

Seeing Howard sucking up the Ki in the air, transforming it into spinning pillars of beautiful flames, Reslan felt his face begin to crack a smile.

'You little nightmare. I spent years learning from the best teachers, fighting inner demons, and in 2 weeks without me telling you anything you already are bordering on the entranceway to the C rank.'

'At first, I thought it be impossible for you to get strong so quickly.' Reslan laughed, and nodded his head. 'However, when I think about it now, you had something many people could only dream off.'

Reslan had noticed a strange disparity about Howard. He seemed to get stronger much more quickly when he stood by his side. Any time he left Howard alone for the night, he'd make little to no progress. In fact, by himself, Howard seemed to learn like a normal student, progressing at a speed that matched his other students.

Yet when Reslan stood close to Howard, a vortex seemed to appear in his eyes that seemed to take Reslan's experiences from the air. Standing a few feet from him, Reslan watched in disbelief while the hundredth skull turned into a flaming spindle, circling around Howard as sweat dripped down from his forehead.

Opening his eyes, Howard abruptly shifted forward before all hundred skulls crashed together, creating a gigantic tornado full of dead eyes moving in circles of fury. Suddenly, Howard seemed to be at peace, his knees trembling, before he collapsed into the sand.

A large cloud of dust appeared above him, causing Reslan to laugh and shake his head.

'That's insane. His body is still in the D rank, but his Ki Transformation has reached where he'd easily pass the test for the C rank!' Relsan smiled and looked outside, seeing Monica's ice mark glimmering from the distance. 'However, this still isn't enough! It's still not enough!'

Outside the West Branch,

Monica held out her hand, causing a large frost to shoot forward and crack the ground in half. Spinning and kicking in the air, two dozen more ice pillars left her body, freezing the earth in all directions.

Flipping back, she slid against the ground, creating a frozen wonderland everywhere she walked. Pushing her hand into the grand, dozens of ice spears shot into the sky, heading towards small lightning spheres that danced above the clouds.

"How many minutes has it been?" Monica wiped the sweat from her head, feeling her frozen blood drip off her body and break into pieces on the floor. "Has it been an hour yet."

"Was that ever the point of this training?" Teacher Annibell said, crossing her arms. "Or was it because you were afraid of losing to Howard? Monica? Is it so wrong for a man to protect you?"

"I-I don't know! I'm scared, okay," Monica pushed herself off the floor, and wobbled to a standing position. Looking down at her hands, she noticed the ice marks had grown larger, traveling up her arms in both directions like snake crawling up her veins. "I don't want to lose him because I'm weak!"

"That's not the issue," Teacher Annibell said, shaking her head. "The issue is you doubt yourself too much. Monica, I'd put you in the top 10 students I ever had. I stop counting a long time ago. However, did you forget we started training this morning, and it's already noon!"

"You mean? I did it?" Monica smiled, feeling an emptiness inside her chatter. "I-I lasted more than an hour? That's huge! You told me Zack took 5 weeks to do it, right?"

"It might have even been longer," Annibell yawned and pointed at the West Branch. "However, he had something you don't. He had dreams. What are your dreams, Monica? For yourself?"

Annibell had once been like Monica, hundreds of years ago, when she first met Reslan and saw him shatter walls with a single fist. His flames had drawn him into him, making her fall in love, before she realized she lost something from being constantly thrown in his shadow.

Her own inner belief, the light that caused her to constantly seek more and more power, got dim and vanished in the ember of his flames. Reslan had been considered by the teachers to be one of the best fire users in the last 100 years. Brajol, one of the teachers from the original four guardians, had been shocked by his progress and trained him personally for dozens of years.

However, compared to even Reslan, Howard shot forward with such progress that even a monster wouldn't be able to match him. One of Howard's best skills seemed to be devouring experiences from others. If Monica kept trying to beat him, in a few years, or even months, she'd be left in the dust, leaving her hopes and dreams to melt.

Knowing this feeling all too well, Annibell leaned down, brushing back Monica's green hair as tears began to fall out of her eyes.

"Girl, you're doing great. Damn it! How long do I have to watch you repeat my mistakes?" Teacher Annibell said, grinding her large fist into the ball, crushing the anger she had in her heart. "Don't you realize Howard's not normal! You have to get stronger for yourself?"

"My-myself? What am I without Howard," Monica said, shaking her head. "Besides, you have big footsteps. It-it's good to follow in them."

"Heh, then wouldn't it make sense to listen to me? Annibell gently massaged her cheekbones with her fingers, a warmth emitting from her fist that calmed Monica's heart. The ice marks disappeared off her body as tears began to fall form her eyes. "Stop trying so hard to be like him. You're a beautiful person. I-I just don't want you to get crushed. It really hurt me… When Reslan got chosen by Brajol a few hundred years ago over me. It took me years to finally get over it."

"That-that's your problem," Monica said, shaking her head, "Howard-Howard hasn't passed me yet! When he does, then I'll listen to you! For now, let me be stupid!"

Crack!

Something inside Annnibell seemed to snap before she looked over to Reslan, watching him walk over to her with his face held up to the sun, a strange urge surged inside of her.

Stepping down on her back foot, she instantly appeared in front of Reslan, her hands resting against his shoulder, as she closed her eyes and leaned forward and touched her face against his beard.

"It-it's my fault too," Annibell said, gently kissing Reslan's forehead as her legs wrapped around his body. "I-I also could have gone to the West Branch! I was just afraid if I didn't train, you'd leave me further behind!"

"Oh, you didn't even see what Howard can do yet," Reslan blushed, wrapping his arms around Annibell as a warm tenderness emitted from his body. "Does-does this mean you finally forgive me?"

"I forgive myself," Annibell kissed Reslan on the lips, pushing him forward before she spun and kicked him into the distance. "However, you still could of wrote letters idiot! I-I hate you!"

Boom!

Reslan crashed and rolled against the ground before a large smile seemed to permeate from his being. Feeling his lips, he laughed, happily flipping back onto his feet. Seeing this, Teacher Annibell scoffed, causing Monica to scratch her head.

"I-I thought you told me to be like you. It seems to me you want to be like me," Monica said, suddenly feeling an urge to try harder and harder. "That's it! I settled it! Once me and Howard free Zack, I'm going to do everything I can to kick his ass!"

"Wait, what did you say?" Teacher Annibell suddenly turned serious. "What do you mean, save Zack?"

"Uhm, ooops," Monica laughed ,"Teacher, I forgot to tell you. Howard knows where Zack is."