5 Chapter 4: From One Freak of Nature to Another

Chapter 4: From One Freak of Nature to Another

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD and I never will….okay there I said it so stop pointing that gun at my head! We all know who the OC's belong to though. (Hint: It's me)

3 Years Later

Pierce sat in a lotus position deep in the woods; a waterfall was serenely falling behind him as he went into Zen Mode. Pierce could feel it all; the grass flowing in the wind, the insects under and over ground, animals running or hiding in the woods, I could see them all as bright auras and anything else that had life in a 10 kilometer radius was completely exposed under his Chi Vision. Pierce found out how to do this roughly 1 year ago when he was bored.

'The only time I ever find new and incredible things is when I'm bored, why is that?' I was really tempted to hit myself when I finally decided to pour Chi into my brain after all this time. Looking back, the main reason why I didn't want to pour Chi into such a sensitive and crucial part my body was because I didn't want to risk damaging it, until I realized something. Chi is life-force, energy that flows through every single part of my body, especially the brain. It took me 14 years to realize that.

'I'm an idiot.' With the self- chastisement out the way my 14 year old self slowly poured Chi to the brain and something interesting happened. My frontal lobe, in the Hindu religion often called the Mind's Eye, responded to the Chi and I was suddenly able to "see". I was in my room when I saw the different auras in my house and I recognized each one. I could see my mom in the next room humming while she fixed a dress on her weaving station, my dad was busy building a new wagon for the neighbor, and I could even see the auras of the flowers my mom planted and took care of in the front yard. I could feel all their emotion's, Mom was happy, Dad was focused, and the flowers were…..content (Mom did take real good care of them so it made sense). I also noticed another aura that I didn't recognize outside of the house and it felt….sad and in pain. Making my way outside I finally saw that it was a cow that made it up the path and was lying on the grass, I walked towards it.

"Hey girl." I crouched to get a better look. "You alright?"

The cow gave a small huff before laying her head against the grass, its breath was labored. Placing a hand on the cow's hide I used Chi Vision again and I found the problem, it was sick and whatever it had it was slowly eating away at its life-force. It was subtle but it was there. Taking a look at the cow's dead eyes I took a breath and tried something I was meaning to test for a long time. The hand that I placed on the cow lit up with Chi and I slowly poured some into the cow. My offered Chi, now belonging to the cow, seemed to attack the sickness plaguing the cow as it wiped some of it away but it wasn't enough. Ecstatic at the discovery I continued giving more and more of my Chi to the cow and after 10 or so minutes the sickness was completely gone. The cow lifted its head once more and stared at me after I stopped.

"Feeling better?" The cow responded my licking my right cheek drenching it in saliva. I laughed.

"You…" I didn't know when but someone was standing next to me and the cow and as I turned I saw who it was , it was Amie, who saw everything that I just did with the cow. 'Oh shit.' I started sweating.

Amie stared at me for a minute, than at the cow, than back to me. I had nothing. I mean what can I tell her? "Oh that? That was just me healing the cow with mystical life energy that I learned to control since I was 7 months old." I was half tempted to tell her that just to see how she would react but I stopped myself. Amie eventually walked up to the cow and the cow turned to face Amie. She ran her hand over the cow's head and it licked her hand. Amie smiled.

"Now there's a perfectly-" I started the conversation

"Thank you." Amie finished it

Being a man of great composure, I blurted out a quick "Huh?" Amie took out a rope and tied it around the cow's neck to lead back to her shed. "I said thank you."

"Wha…" I was on a roll

"It would be pretty ungrateful of me if I revealed your secret after you just healed my cow." Amie gave her reason; apparently she was out that day to take the cow to the town vet. Giving a smile she added. "I knew you were a weird kid anyway this just means I was right." Amie started walking home with the cow in hand

I watched her walk away and all that came to his mind was. 'Damn…that was really cool.'

"What happened?" Mason chose this time to come out and saw Amie walking away

Still looking at Amie, I answered my dad. "I helped her out."

Mason, raising a brow at my vague answer, soon smiled and rubbed my head. "That's my boy! Taking after your mother now are you?"

"Sure…"

"Well since your free help me out, I need someone to lift the wagon while I screw on the wheel." My dad walked back inside and I quickly followed.

Since then I learned that I can pour Chi into different living beings for all kinds of effects. I can make flowers bloom if their dying, I can heal minor wounds like the cuts of others if I focus hard enough (I mainly tried that on animals), I could even send Chi in small amounts inside anyone and control the Chi I sent inside. I found out that last bit when I chose to give my Dad a massage after a particularly hard day in the field. With Chi Vision I could see where his life-force was pressured (basically where he's tense) and poured a minute amount of Chi inside him and massaged the muscles that were in pain under the skin. Mason fell asleep in 10 minutes flat, with a silly smile on his face, and he was slightly drooling. When Mason woke up he looked 5 years younger and his small slouch that he always had disappeared. When Maddie asked Mason what he did Dad started going on about how heavenly my massage was, I blushed a little at that. I soon gave my mom one and she loved every second of it, bragging to her friends about it. It quickly got around town that I gave massage's that made all your worries go away and people started asking me to give them one. Even Dylan asked for one (something about old bones needing treatment). Having so many guine- I mean clients to work with I quickly got to trying new and interesting ways to maneuver my Chi through living beings. It got so hectic that I eventually had to limit the number of massages I give a day (about 20). That's actually why I was out today, to get away from the noise and to try out a new technique.

"This looks good." I stopped in front of a massive boulder; it was 12 feet high and would take 6 grown men holding hands to completely surround it. Forming a fist I channeled my Chi and my fist started glowing.

"Hah!" Giving a low shout I threw a punch at the boulder, a small wind picking up from the sheer force.

When the fist impacted the boulder, besides a small shockwave, nothing happened. Withdrawing my hand, I stared at the boulder before reaching out with a palm and pushed. The boulder exploded from the inside and fell down into hundreds of pieces.

'Nice!' I gave a wide grin to the smashed rock.

I learned that while I can send Chi inside someone's body to heal and comfort them, I could also use it to take them apart from the inside. I called it Seismic Fist (cause internal damage fist just sounded lame). Closing my eyes for a second I quickly went inside my subconscious and returned to the black space with the white ball I found all those years ago. Only difference being was that the white ball was now as large as a house and it shined like a miniature sun. Looking at the fruits of my labor of the past 15 years a shit eating grin appeared on my face and then I left the space.

Seeing the Sun high in the sky I thought there was still time to do some hunting before I got home. Picking another spot than my usual hunting grounds, I slung my hunting bag over my shoulder, tightened my sword holster around my waist and headed east.

20 Minutes Later

'Something's wrong…' There were no animals. Not just that, there were no insects' or birds either. 'But I just sensed a ton of them awhile ago, what happened?' Ever since I started walking east the activity of the forest just kept dropping until I couldn't feel any life at all, beside the trees and foliage. I noticed the steady decline but I assumed it was just because I was passing by the town's local hunting area, large groups of animals typically avoided this area after so much hunting was done here, but even after passing the hunting zone activity didn't pick up.

"I don't like this." I was getting a little freaked out but I was also curious so I activated Chi Vision and that's when I found "It". Here's the thing, with Chi Vision I could see the life of any living creature in a 10 kilometers radius but that's when I'm consciously doing it. My passive range that's always up and alerts me to life is about 80 meters…...and the "It" was standing 100 meters away, right outside my passive range. Slowly turning towards the unknown being I finally got a good look and my eyes widened. Slowly getting my guard up as the "It" walked towards me I had an idea of what I was looking at. I only had one response.

"Oh…

Same Time, Mayor's House

Two men were playing chess in a large room, many trinkets and animal pelts were hanging on the walls giving the room a novel appearance. The man winning, known across town as Doctor Miles Evergreen, was encroaching on his opponents king as Miles took out another knight. His opponent, his older brother and Mayor of the small town Eric Evergreen, was sweating trying to save what little pieces he still had. "God damn it!" By his soft cursing you could tell he had nothing.

"Checkmate." Mile's cornered Eric's king

"…well damn." Eric gave a soft sigh and smiled as his brother. "Well played."

"You went easy on me." Miles smiled thinking nothing of it. "Another game?"

"Sure let me just get some water, you want anything?" Miles shook his head as he rearranged the board.

Walking over to the water pitcher Eric Evergreen couldn't help the pride surging up in his chest as he looked out the window at his small town. It wasn't a great city like London or Chichester but the small town had its own charm and he was proud of it. When his father gave him the title of Mayor all those years ago he thought it would be hell running this town. 'I was right for a time.' Still Eric ran this town with honor, respect, and etiquette that pleased even some passing nobles and he hoped it made his dad in heaven proud. A loud bang was heard, bringing Eric out of his musings, and he turned to the door now wide open. A scout named Boyd was breathing heavily and was drenched in sweat, hands on his knees trying his best not to fall down. Eric gave a concerned look.

"Boyd? Is everything alri-"

"Tyrant…" Boyd interrupted Eric as he breathlessly said one word

Eric tensed up at the word and Miles took this time to come out and see what the commotion was.

"What's going on?"

"ha…ha…the Tyrant…..I saw the Mountain Tyrant…..I just saw the Mountain Tyrant! It was going east in the forest!" Boyd fell on his butt after finishing his report

"The Tyrant!?" Miles blood went cold at the mention of that title and turned toward his brother

Eric didn't react to Mile's reaction; all he heard was Mountain Tyrant and distant memories started coming back to him.

A cold rainy day as 20 strong able men with muskets and steel sabers walked through the dark forest.

A beast so huge it defied reason with speed not befitting its size. Grown men yelling out in fear and despair as the musket bullets failed to penetrate its thick hide and the top of the line sabers breaking against its sheer muscle. 2 men made it back that night, Eric and his father who successfully sent the beast away, at the cost of dying from his injuries 5 days later. That monster was back.

"Eric!" Miles brought his brother back to reality

Eric looked at Miles, than at Boyd (who looked terrified), and then finally at the distant forest that supposedly contained the beast. Like a true leader, Mayor Eric summed up the situation with one concise word.

…Shit."

Back to Pierce

It was a black bear.

It was big, black bear and no, I wasn't trying to be funny.

This thing was massive. Just by walking I could feel the ground quake with every step it took and when it got closer I could see the muscle it was packing, that wasn't just really thick fur. Its eyes shined with creepy red light that didn't belong on any normal bear.

'What deep, dark, holy hell did you crawl out of?' This thing was a freak of nature...not that I had any right to talk but still.

"So, you're the Mountain Tyrant?" I remembered mom and dad talking about a behemoth like bear that terrorized the small town 20 years ago before the last mayor chased it away. 'If this thing in front of me isn't that bear than I really don't want to meet the real thing.' From the hostility the Tyrant was sending my way and the low growl from saying its title I can safely assume this is that beast.

I had to hold back a wince after probing it with Chi Vision. It was overflowing with life energy, I figured since it was around 20 years ago since it came here it would have gotten older and weaker. Nope, this thing looked ready to live another hundred years and still be ready to take on the world. As we stared at each other a faint memory from my past life bubbled up to the surface.

"Hey Dakin check this out." I paused the video game that I was playing and turned to face his friend.

"What?"

"The Arctotherium angustidens, often called the South American short-faced bear, was the largest bear species to ever exist with the last known sightings stopping around 1879!" My friend got more passionate as he kept talking.

Giving him a bored look, I gave a quick "cool" and turned back to my game.

"Hey man I'm serious take a look at this." He padded me on the shoulder and sat next to me, a laptop on his lap. An article was on the screen about a large bear being hunted down by some Southern warlord. "This guy" My friend pointed at the warlord. "Took 20 of his best hunters and 40 of his strongest soldiers and went to hunt down this thing." Now I was paying attention.

"Isn't that a bit excessive?" I pointed out the obvious

"You'd be right except…." My friend clicked to the next page. "After finding the bear they proceeded to chase it down for miles on end, the warlord ended up losing 17 hunters and 35 of his soldiers!" I gulped at those numbers.

"You're kidding." He shook his head

"Nope. After losing so many men the bear was finally taken down and was stuffed as a personal exhibit for the warlord. Apparently it was 3.6 meters long, 200 cm tall, and weighed 1,900 kilograms!" My friend started getting passionate again before giving a small sigh. "It's truly a shame that it's dead."

Whipping my head around to stare at my friend as if he's crazy I asked. "How the hell is it a shame that something like that is dead?"

"Isn't it obvious? That bear was a king! It was a one of a kind predator that towered over all the bears in history and it was beautiful! Until some jerk off with a hunting fetish killed it, stuffed it, and placed it in his room like a damn trophy. How is that not a shame?"

"…you have an odd sense of beauty you know that?" I gave my friend a pitying gaze

"I know but I also know I'm right about this."

"Whatever, I'm just glad I never have to see something like that." I pitied the fool that had to fight something like that

"Yeah." He agreed with ne. "I know I wouldn't last a minute against that thing."

"A minute? I wouldn't last 10 seconds!"

"hahaha, yeah we wouldn't stand chance huh?" My friend made a wistful look before lifting his can of beer. "To never having to face something like that in battle."

"I'll drink to that." Clicking our beers together, we proceeded to chug them and laughed at the thought of ever facing a monster like that.

Poetic irony is a real bitch when you're on the receiving end.

'Now I know some higher power is messing with me.' The real gut punch in all of this? The bear that warlord hunted has nothing on the Tyrant in front of me.

This thing was at least 4 meters long, easily 300 cm high, and God knows how heavy (the quakes it was making said enough).

The Tyrant and I looked at each other, neither moving as if to wait for the other do something. Seeing nothing was happening I started it off.

"Wonderful weather we're hav-" The Tyrant lunged at me far faster then something that size should move. Quickly applying Chi Aura I side stepped the attack and the beast landed where I was and its sheer weight cause a huge crater easily 10 meters wide. I gulped hard. 'I'm really glad I listened to my instincts telling me not run. That starting speed is unreal.'

"Woah!" I ducked under a swipe from its claws and then rolled to the side as another tried to flatten me.

Everywhere the claws landed destruction was the result. A tree shattered there, a boulder pulverized there; even attacks that landed on the ground left huge claws marks. I constantly kept moving, just one hit lands on me even with Chi Aura and I'll be in bad shape. After a particularly heavy attack landed and missed I saw an opportunity. I unsheathed my sword ,applying Chi, leaped over the follow up attack and made a deep cut on the Tyrant's shoulders…that bleed for 2 seconds before its muscle closed up, stopping the bleeding.

"Oh you've got to me kidding me!" The Tyrant seemly enraged from the cut leaped at me and the battle continued. We kept moving (well I kept dodging) and the surroundings quickly became different and the battle started heating up. It was easy at first, wait, dodge, attack. I assumed that enough cuts and it will eventually bleed out even with all its muscle. He underestimated the Tyrant's intelligence. After giving it a particularly bad cut on its leg that it couldn't fully close up it gave an enraged attack, but it was actually a feint and I fell for it. I was rewarded with deep claw shaped wounds on my shoulder.

"Arghhhh!" Screaming in pain, I quickly sent my Chi to my shoulder to run damage control. I healed what I could but it became harder to dodge and the Tyrant knew that if the increased speed with its attacks were any indicator. It was an uphill battle from there. I continued slashing the beast with my sword leaving countless bloody marks on its body but it also got lucky 2 times when the white flashes of pain from my shoulder became too much and broke my concentration.

"Oh fuck you!" Leaning back as the Tyrant tried to bite my head off I poured a large amount of Chi into my sword's tip and pierced the top of the bear's head. It stopped short of its skull and the sword got lodged in its steel like muscles.

'Okay now that's just ridiculous.' I lamented as the Tyrant reared its head back and staying true to Dylan's teachings when the sword went up, since it was firmly stuck in the bears head, I was taken along for the ride as I refused to let go. Flipping over I found myself on top of the Tyrant's bloodied back and tried to pull out the sword to no avail. The beast didn't seem to enjoy the fact that I was on its back and so started going crazy jumping and flaying about trying to fling me off. The great battle between two freaks of nature quickly became a show starring the world's angriest bull and the world's stupidest looking rodeo clown.

'Don't throw up. Don't throw up. Don't throw up. Don't throw-hrg!' I didn't throw up cause I was busy being fling dozens of meters away when my sword finally decided to dislodged itself. Right into the cold river and I quickly swam out.

'We were nowhere near a river when this started!' I took a big gulp of air as I rested for a second, the cold water waking up my hazy mind. Tyrant jumped into the river causing rocks, water, and dirt to fly in every direction on its landing forcing me to shield myself from the debris. Before I could dodge it rammed into me sending flying through multiple trees and making me leave a long dirt trail. Nothing broke because I was able to use a large amount of Chi to cushion the shoulder charge but my wounds still got aggravated. Gritting my teeth I looked up at the bear as it strutted over nonchalantly to me, the look on its bloodied face showed arrogance, pride, and…disdain. All directed at me.

"Oh hell no." Rage building up inside, I poured Chi into my arms picked up one of the broken trees that I was flung through and swung it like a massive bat. Nailing it right in the Tyrant's face…..which just shattered the tree, made the Tyrant lean its head back slightly, and shoot me a face that seemed to say "really?"

"...You know what, we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. You want to start over and talk this through?" An enraged lunge was my answer

Back in Town

The town and it residents were in a panic and for a good reason, The Mountain Tyrant. Everyone knew the story and they've all seen the evidence of it 20 years ago when 16 wives became widowed (some of the men weren't married) and the mayor's position was passed down. After the current mayor, Eric Evergreen, announced that the Mountain Tyrant was back many people started to get worried. Eric didn't want to panic the people but he had no choice, the Tyrant was another level of monster that very few could stand up against. He needed his people ready to defend their home…or at least be ready to run like hell if the worst comes true. Many young able men and even women wanted to take up arms to protect their homes and Eric welcomed any who wanted to fight the beast. He also sent Boyd with a letter of help to London and some money but he didn't have much confidence he'll be back in time. 'He's a good kid; at least he'll be far away from here when this all goes down.' These were Eric's thoughts.

In a wooden house in town, 2 incredibly worried parents heard the news and were taking it in very different ways. The woman started putting on cooking utensils like pieces of armor and was holding a large butcher knife in one hand and a pitchfork in the other while the man…..was trying his best to stop his wife's insane idea.

"Let me go Mason! I need to go save my baby boy!" Maddies gone mad

Mason gave a wry smile to his wife. "Honey please be serious-"

"I am serious!" Maddie's tone turned hysterical. "Our son is out there with an unstoppable "thing" from hell and we have to do something!" Mason turned quiet at that

"I know he's different." Maddie started again. "I know he can do things that make no sense, I know he has thoughts no kid his age should have, and I know it's probable that he's completely fine and on his way home safe and sound as we speak…." Maddie's eyes took a turn. "But he's my son! I can't be calm knowing he's out there alone, so I need to…..I need to…." Maddie's breathing started picking up and she looked ready to have a panic attack before a voice spoke up.

"I'll go get him." Dylan at some point got to their door and stood there watching them. The mother and father pair turned towards Dylan.

"...I'm going with you." Mason chose this moment to speak up

"Okay." Dylan knew this wasn't up for discussion and started walking out

"What? No, wait! I'm going t-" Mason stopped Maddie at the door and said strongly. "No." There was no room for argument in his voice. "You need to be here so if Pierce gets back than he'll have you here at least." Maddie couldn't find a reason against doing that. Mason smiled softly and gave his wife a soft kiss. "I'll bring our son home." Maddie watched him run to catch up with Dylan.

"You don't need to hide it you know? If you're worried for your son then show it." Dylan gave Mason advice

"I can't."

"Why not?" Dylan asked curious

"Cause if I start showing my worry than Maddie will never let me live it down." Mason tried giving his trademarked goofy smile. It looked more miserable than anything. Dylan quickly stopped Mason.

"I know that kid. He's made of really stern stuff; honestly I'm more afraid of the kid finding the Mountain Tyrant and not leaving enough for everyone else." That brought a small smile to the proud fathers face. "Don't worry so much, that kid's probably okay."

Back to Pierce

"...I am not okay at all..." I opened my eyes as I sat against a cliff's wall. The Tyrant leaned against a large tree bleeding from the many cuts littering its body but the main damage was its head as it was bleeding from every orifice. That was the result from taking a Seismic Fist to the face and it staggered instantly. I dropped my guard when I saw no response from the bear and life taught me a painful lesson for doing so. The bear swiped my left side, which was completely unprotected, with its huge paw sending me flying; my arm dislocated as my internal organs were jumbled up. I puked a large amount of blood and was ready to pass out once I landed. Collecting myself I snapped my arm back in place (not the first time doing so since I had to something similar when I was experimenting with my Chi) ignoring the white flash of pain, and my Chi went into overdrive mending my torn muscles and placing my organs back in their original positions (man that felt really uncomfortable). Looking around I finally saw the war-zone that was our battle, we started somewhere a couple miles east and I saw the trail of destruction the Tyrant caused. 'It's like a bulldozer went through here.' The river long lost its original shape, countless trees and craters littered the ground. I looked at my opponent as we both used this moment to collect our breathes and I had to respect the damn thing. After taking one Seismic Fist the Tyrant made it its mission to not take another. So the hit and run tactic was quickly used by both sides and here we are.

"I should have never gotten out of bed today." I started regretting my choice of actions today, my muscles in my left arm were shredded with Chi barley holding it together, my internal organs were still very much in pain, and all the cuts over my body started making themselves known. All in all...

"I'm over it." I staggered to my feet looking to end this whole shit show. The Tyrant seemed of the same mind as it faced me, determination shining bright in its eyes. 'Or is that still disdain? Kinda hard to tell with all the blood.'

Staring at each other for a second, we both lunged forward the Tyrant lifted its paw high in the air and Chi coated my right arm. I had a plan, a very stupid plan, but a plan none the less. Winding my fist back I tried to dodge the claw but failed miserably. Long, deep claw marks scarred my chest and I fell to my knees and the Chi in my right arm faded. The Tyrant seeing all this relaxed for a single second, a second was all I needed. Its funny how things come full circle isn't it? Rushing to my feet, ignoring the searing pain and blood loss, my fist connected with the beast's face and my Chi entered its head. I finally saw with my Chi what happened. My first Seismic Fist just shattered its skull but its brain was still intact if not very bloody from the bone shrapnel. This thing fought that hard and for all this time with a shattered skull?!

'And it was kicking my ass.' Giving a wry smile I proceeded to shred the bear's brain, ending its life and winning this death match.

I let out a long sigh seeing the Tyrant's life force quickly fade and disappear completely before it dropped to the ground never to get back up.

"90 percent…" That's how much of my Chi I used in this fight and the rest was doing its best to stop the bleeding, well everywhere. I just looked down at the bear and saw its bloodied eyes staring up into mine.

"Heh…seems I was the bigger freak…" I laid down against the bear's corpse and slowly drifted off to sleep, Chi going on auto pilot mending my injury riddled body.

Several Hours Later

The Tyrant hunting team went into the forest and was shocked at what they found an area in the forest that was completely totaled, everything was a mess and it led westward. For a while the team just followed the path of destruction and the more they saw the more they started doubting their chances against the beast. 'Can we even kill something that can do all this with bullets and swords?' No, the answer was no. Eric knew that personally. He was planning to just take a peek of the beast and if a reasonable plan was brought forth they'd do it but he wasn't holding his breath.

'Still what was it fighting that it would cause all this destruction?'

A certain father in the group had an idea of who after finding his son's hunting bag at the beginning of the carnage.

'No, there's no way. Pierce can do a lot but he can't win against this.' That thought brought a chill to Mason's heart. 'No, that's not true. He could still be safe. He can still beat something like this…..right?' Mason never realized the group stopped as they all looked ahead at the figured walking towards them. Mason was too deep in thought and kept walking. 'Oh God no. What am I going to tell Maddie? What are we going to do? What am I going to….' His musings ended there and he finally looked up and came face to face with his son. Carrying a massive black furred figure on his back and a dead tired smile on his face.

"Hey dad, sorry I know it's late but I got caught up." Mason just stared at his son.

"I hope you like bea-" Before giving him a crushing hug and bursting into tears of pure relief.