74 King Fire Sprint

A few miles away from the Jarkalen Stronghold, a large river cut through the landscape.

On one side of the river, Barabin held out his hand, activating Ki Suppression, while on the other side Korlen monitored Howard's form.

One of the skills Howard had learned was called King Fire Sprint, which temporarily sent a massive amount of Ki towards his feet in order to rapidly increase his speed. For the Six Horned Lizard King, this skill had to be one of the most important skills he taught his younger generation.

In times of hardship, when every angle and escape was covered by an endless amount of foes, the best thing you could do is have the speed to escape into the distance. Unfortunately, they had to try and teach this skill to Howard in a day when his daughter Perelel took weeks to learn it.

"Howard, if you can activate King Fire Sprint, you should easily be able to make it to the other side of the river!" Barabin yelled, holding out his hand and sending a crushing burst of energy into Howard's torso. "It's not that difficult! You either drowned or you live!"

"I-I'm trying! It's just so hard!" Howard tried to send Fire Ki to his legs before the entire surface of the water got engulfed with flames. "It's like when we trained with Reslan! It's too hard to control."

"You're trying to hard," Korlen said, crossing his arms. "Just use it, Howard! You already died three times in the river! Do you want to die again!"

Korlen stomped into the ground, feeling an anger rising inside of him that he couldn't describe. To say that Barabin's training was brutal would be an understatement. When he had trained his daughter, he'd simply challenged her to run back and forth between two valleys, and didn't harm her once in the process.

Barabin, on the other hand, had no problem temporarily killing Howard to speed up his training. Perhaps this cruelty would bring out the best in Howard, however, he couldn't help but feel disdain towards the methods humans employed.

'He's just a kid? Is that really going to make him stronger faster?' Korlen had agreed to this only because Barabin insisted this was the best method. "He still has 5 other skills from the Authoritarian covenant. He might never want to learn them again if he gets killed trying to learn those too!'

Korlen sighed, trying to encourage Howard while Barabin did everything he could to make his journey across the river harder.

Every few minutes, a burst of flames would spread out around Howard as he tried to activate King Fire Sprint. The reason this was so important, however, was because the Jarkelen excelled at Ki Supression. Once Howard went into their base, if he didn't know how to move quickly against foes stronger than him, he'd truly die and never come back.

"Howard, you almost got it, push yourself!" Korlen screamed, stomping the floor. "Would Monica want you to drowned again? What are you doing?! Just make the energy go to your feet and slaughter all distractions in the way."

"For Monica?" Howard said, seeing nothing but a blur in his face as the water went into his mouth. He felt another death coming, his eyes growing weary as the Ki Supression against his flesh got stronger. "I-I have to slaughter all distractions? Otherwise, she'll die?"

Boom!

A surge of energy burst through Howards body as his horns grew on the top of his head, causing the air around him to pop from the voilent energy he manifested. Suddenly, his entire body got covered in flames before he looked into the darkness ahead and shot all the energy he could towards his feet.

Instantly, the river water around him evaporated, before a maniacle look appeared in his eyes. He instantly moved ten feet to the side of the river, causing an explosion of dust to shoot into the air.

At the same time, his legs had been injured beyond measure. His legs had been bent in five places and shattered down to the bone.

"Well, he still can't use the skill yet," Korlen said, crossing his arms. "However, I have to admit this training works faster, Barabin. Yet was it worth it for him to shatter his legs?"

Korlen jumped across the river, and landed next to Howard, watching his legs crack back into place as he twitched in agony. "You-you're really his teacher? Shouldn't teachers be kind to their students?"

"He has ten minutes to heal, and then we're doing it again. Korlen, two broken legs is better than him losing his head. He managed to move under Ki Suppression of someone in the A rank. If the Jarkales are as strong as you say, I'd rather break him now than him get broken later."

"Perhaps you're right, but I still think he could've learned it just as fast with encouragement." Korlen looked at Howard coming to a stand, his last bone cracking back into place, as he wiped the sweat off his head. "He's just a fourteen year old. He's not an adult!"

"Heh, and that's where you're wrong," Barabin picked Howard up, and returned him to his feet. "I'm being nice to him by not underestimating him. I'm giving him a chance to reach his potential. Now, Howard, how about we do that one more time without you shattering your bones? What do you say?" Barabin gently wiped a few droplets of blood from Howard's forehead, pointing back at the tide separating the two parts of the valley. "What got you to cross the river?"

"Korlen, you're right. If I can't use a simple skill like this, how can I protect Monica?" Howard cracked his leg joints back into place and jumped in the water. Feeling the gentle tide touching against his legs, he closed his eyes, tuning into that feeling of Fire Ki traveling in his feet.

To use King Fire Sprint, even normally, required the ability to guide Ki from the air into your pores and send it to the ligaments in the feet. Normally, this would be impossible. Channelors used Chemical Reactions to turn Ki in the air into elements. Like lighting a match and throwing it into gasoline, this process was naturally very voilent.

However, if you knew the right places to throw the match, sometimes you could make symbols appear even in the destructive nature of the flames. King Fire Sprint described 5 locations in the lower legs that if located properly could cause a massive surge of speed. Once someone mastered this skill, the only destruction that they'd bring would be death to their enemies.

Howard had suffered a few injuries, but nodded his head at Barabin and Korlen. "I-I know I'm weak still, but I'm going to get stronger." Howard nodded his head. "I don't care if I have to die a hundred times. If I don't stop the Jarkelen, we'll be in danger. For Monica, I'm willing to shatter my bones if it will make me faster!"

"Well then, it seems like our plan worked," Korlen said, patting Barabin on the back. "I'll keep playing the good guy, and you keep playing the bad guy." Korlen laughed, staring at the small human with a nod of approval. "I now consider both of you my family. If you ever need help in the future, let the Six Horned King Lizards know."

"We might very well need that," Barabin held out his hand, crushing the air around Howard. Seeing him submerged beneath the surface, Barabin only increased the pressure. "Because of his little girlfriend, Monica, we're going to need all the help we can get."

###

Monica and Zack turned into a gas station, and stopped, finding a familiar bus on the side of the glass windows of the store.

Inside the store, a few girls had shopping carts, and grabbed everything from chips, to soda, to a magazine from 50 years ago. They had planned to meet Monica here two weeks ago, on the outskirts of the Furnace, and started stuffing their coffers with all the junk food they could find.

Unfortunately, in the Furnace, finding fresh meat was harder than running into a Dream Beast. Needless to say, whenever pigs fell from a Ki Storm, it would become their feast for the next few weeks.

"Monica? Is that you?" Reece instantly rushed outside the store, a large smile on her face. "Zack? Zack you're okay! Zack!"

"Hoh, if it isn't boss?" Zack held out his arms, hugging Reece with all his might. "You look the same! Ow, you're so strong I feel my spine cracking!" Zack felt like vice grips had gotten placed around his body, with Reece's two arms closing in on him.

She hadn't ever expected to see Zack again, and couldn't help but shatter him in her embrace. However, backing up, she couldn't help but notice one traveler missing that left on their journey.

"Mmm, so nice to see you Zack," Reece smiled, pointing over at the bus. "Where is Una? Did she have to get another motorcycle because you stuffed yourselves with food on the way."

"She's waiting for us to rescue her," Zack said with a smile. "Now where is Barabin? I'm sure that monster can save her from the Aresoul in no time."

"What?" Reece said, dropping the plastic bags full of food she'd grabbed from the gas station. "What do you mean Una is with the Aresoul. She-she was with Monica a few days ago?"

"It's my fault," Monica wiped a tear from her eyes. "She-she wouldn't listen to me! She chose to go with them to save Zack! I should be the one in her place!"

Monica still felt so much resentment and anger towards what happened that she wanted to cry. If she'd gone with the Aresoul, her brother and Una could've been happy together! Now-now the love of his life was missing, and she had to walk in her place!

"Monica, I understand. Una made a smart choice," Reece smiled, holding her thumb up. "As your leader, I demand you go into the store and get something to cheer yourself up. By the way, how much time do we have to save her?"

"Next month, there will be the competition between the three nations," Zack said, crossing his arms. "Kreal, the Aresoul, promised he'd take Una there. I'm sure we'll be able to get her back if we go."

"Then we have nothing to worry about," Reece wiped away a tear from Monica's eyes. "Now, don't worry. In a few days, Howard will be back with Barabin and we can discuss it with him."

"What do you mean back with Howard?" Monica suddenly felt something inside of her shatter. "He's not in the bus! What is that idiot doing with Barabin! I-I'm going to kill him when I see him!"

"He's trying to protect you." Reece put her arm around Monica, guiding her into the flickering lights of the gas station. "I'll explain everything to you and Zack, okay?"