29 Elemental Balance

As Arata floated in the strange space like place, he stared dumbfounded at the King before him. He had a such charisma and authority exuding off of him that Arata felt that it would give his Father a run for his money in terms of aura and presence. But Arata just couldn't get over who the King before him was.

"You're the guy from my dreams. That strange castle."

Sadness crept into the man's eyes for a brief second before disappearing. The King nodded.

"Yes. It seems my memories have already begun to seep into your subconscious. But we can discuss this another time. For now, your stability is the most critical thing. Can you put this conversation to the side for now so we can focus on the more imminent threat?"

Arata paused for a second. He desperately wanted to know who this King was and what he meant by his memories seeping in. But he knew what was more important at the moment. He needed to control the energies within him. He nodded. The King gave a small smirk.

"So you can take orders."

Before Arata could retort he felt something strange, a powerful aura. Two aura's.

"Time to deal with this. You need to do everything I tell you to do, understood?"

Arata wanted to make a snide comment but he knew that now wasn't the time. He really didn't want to die so soon so he nodded in response. The space seemed to distort slightly. A flash of white light burst past Arata. He then saw a dark blackish light stream towards him, he moved and just barely missed being hit by it. Before he could ask, the King seemed to be channelling energy around him. In his hands, he had created a swirl of black and white energy. It was swirling violently. He looked at Arata.

"I can only start the process, but you will need to continue it as this is your body. I will quickly explain this to you so pay attention."

Arata focused and nodded. The King continued.

"I am pulling out all the Dark Energy and pushing it to one side, then I am pulling the Holy Energy and putting it to the other side. This is obviously a lot harder as we don't have complete access to your Elemental Reservoir or your body in general. So, instead, we are going to use your will and your mental fortitude to order the Energies to obey your thoughts."

Arata looked at the King like he was crazy. That sounds nice and all, but it is impossible to do so. Without having control of your body or Elemental Reservoir, you have no way of connecting and imposing your will on to the Energy. The King gave Arata a serious look.

"You can stand there and not believe me, or you can try and prevent your death."

Arata sighed. The King was right.

"How do I do this exactly?"

The King brought the swirling energy in his hands over to Arata.

"Just order them to move where you want them to go. That is all you can do. Bring out the domineering authority you have within you, understand your power, your Father and your Clan. Who you are. Control it. Take ownership. Rule."

The King sent the energy flying towards Arata. The Energy entered Arata's chest and the pain from before suddenly hit him. He closed his eyes in pain. As his eyes flickered open, he was back on the stage. He didn't know how long it had been, but he guessed that not much time had passed. The pain continued to hit him, torturing his every being, yet he found that although the pain was immense, he was able to think clearly. Well, at least more than before.

Arata thought about the King's words. Order the Energy. Impose your will over it. Rule. Arata focused. He concentrated every thought and every piece of his will into his body. He sent a single thought with every ounce of effort into his body.

"Separate! I order you to separate!"

Akari stared at Arata. She did her best to conceal it, but she was immensely concerned and worried for Arata. After everything that happened yesterday, she felt close to both Arata and Ryouma and she saw them both as precious friends already. She didn't want to see them be taken away after they just became friends.

As she was worrying, she noticed something in the corner of her eye. A slight movement. She turned to look at Ryouma. She first thought that it was just her imagination at first when nothing more happened and then there was another bit of movement. A piece of the cracked charcoal that covered Ryouma fell on to the floor. Tallis gasped in the back.

"It has been barely half an hour, yet Ryouma is about to exit the Cocoon phase already?"

Teacher Takuma turned to look at Ryouma. Her eyes went wide open. One of the students called out.

"Teacher Takuma, I thought you said that Ryiuma would probably exit the Cocoon in 5 hours or so?"

She observed Ryouma more. Her eyes glowed as she nodded.

"I did indeed say that. But I said that in regards to Ryouma's physical state during class yesterday. This is not the same Ryouma from yesterday. His body has been slightly altered since class yesterday. I don't know what happened but he is clearly stronger than before."

As she said this, another piece of the charcoaled skin fell off Ryouma. Then another. Bit by bit, the charred skin fell away, turning to ash as it landed on the ground. Ryouma's skin underneath the black charcoal was bright red, like he had been sunburnt extremely bad. His skin began to glow a bright red which caused many of the students to squint. Teacher Takuma however kept her eyes wide opened as she continue to observe what was happening.

Larger pieces of the black charcoal began to fall off. Most of Ryouma's clothes had been burnt through leaving just a few burnt rags here and there. As the charcoal fell away, many of the female students, including Akari, looked away embarrassed. Teacher Takuma didn't care as she stared intently. She could see that the Cocoon had basically been shed by now and Ryouma was a few moments away from completing his Tempering.

Ryouma's skin was still glowing red, yet it was slowly dimming. The red was slowly disappearing and Ryouma was going back to his normal skin color. As his skin changed color, the heat being radiated off of him also began to lower and subside. Teacher Takuma felt the temperature decreasing and grabbed a blanket from the side of stage and then covering Ryouma's body with it.

She put a hand on him and sent her Energy through him. She looked down at him impressed.

"Ryouma has successfully succeeded with his Tempering."

The class felt a wave of relief, especially Akari. However, there was still a tense atmosphere as everyone's attention now turned to Arata. It had now been 45 minutes and the situation clearly wasn't improving at all. If this continued to go on, Arata was certain to die. A student politely called out.

"Teacher Takuma, how much time does Arata have left?"

Teacher Takuma glanced over at Arata. She thought for a moment while observing the Energies and Arata's body. She sighed.

"Based on the current flow of things. I would say he has close to another hour left. If he is unable to bring balance and order to the Energies in that time..."

The students all understood as they looked at him grimly. Arata was currently screaming internally. He had tried every combination of words he could think of to order the Energies to move.

"I order you to move!"

"Split!"

"Part ways!"

"Black left! White right!"

"I am your ruler! Obey me!"

"Move a part! Listen to my will!"

"Segregation!"

Nothing was working. No matter what he tried, nothing was working. Hearing Teacher Takuma say he had around an hour caused him to panic. He didn't have much longer before....Arata continued to shout and order the Energy to do what he wants it to do.

"The words are not important. The will and intention behind the words are."

Arata paused at the King's voice. 'Will and intention? What does that even mean?'

Arata tried to think about what the King had said.

"Bring out the domineering authority you have within you, understand your power, your Father and your Clan. Who you are. Control it. Take ownership. Rule."

Arata calmed his mind and focused. His body was hurting more than ever as he was slowly dying away due to the Energies. Arata thought about who he was. His Father was Azrail Sato, the Angel of Death. His fighting style involved complete domination. Controlling the battlefield with an iron fist. He was the Angel of Death's son. He had that same capacity and power within him. He was the future head of the Sato Clan. He had power and authority. Not just in name, but because of his training and upbringing, he had the ability to step in to that power and authority confidently.

He was Arata Sato. He poured his will power into his body.

"This is my body. All that is within me is under my control. My rule. Cease your movements."

As Akari and the others looked over to Arata, Ryouma slowly opened his eyes. His skin color was back to normal now. He blinked a few times before trying to move. His body was still aching from the Volcanic Turtle's blood but he managed to move his arm. Teacher Takuma signalled to one of the students who came and helped Ryouma up. Although he was in the cocoon state, he could still hear everything around him and looked to where Arata was.

Ryouma was pale from the Tempering but his eyes were filled with emotion. After what the two boys had been through, Ryouma was obviously affected by Arata's diagnosis. He had his fist clenched, his fingers pressing into the crystal in his palm. Akari suddenly stood up.

"Teacher Takuma! Look!"

Teacher Takuma looked at Arata. She didn't understand what was going on and then she saw it. The black and white skin of Arata had stopped moving. Previously, his skin seemed like it was alive as the black and white that covered his skin seemed to fight and push back and forth against each other. Now his skin had stilled, his Energy also came to a stop. After a few seconds, it seemed like Arata had died as there was no movement, they couldn't even sense a heart beat or a pulse coming off of him.

Then the white and black on his skin began to move again. But this time was different. The white and black were no longer clashing, instead they seemed to rush across his body in an orderly, uniformed manner. Teacher Takuma and the class watched in shock.

The black seemed to rush to the right side of his body while the white rushed to his left side. Teacher Takuma went wide eyed in shock. She turned to two students.

"Put him in a seat."

The students came on and carried Arata on the seat, sitting him up. Teacher Takuma observed the black and the white moving on his skin. With him sitting up, it was easier to see what was going on. The black and white on his skin flowed around him. The class all watched anxiously as the two colors moved around his body.

The black began to settle on his right side and the white on the left side, right down the middle of his face, there was a moving halfway point. The center was shaking as the black and white still pushed against each other. Teacher Takuma's eyebrow went up.

"He's actually stabilizing the Energies."

The middle slowly stopped shaking before becoming a perfectly straight line. Although the class couldn't see due to Arata's clothes, the line went straight down his body, his right side was black and the left side was white. The room felt a strange aura coming off of Arata.

Then his eyes opened.

His right eye was now completely black and his left eye was completely white. He seemed to stare off into the distance with a blank and empty gaze. He sat there for a few seconds just staring into the distance. Then the white and the black seemed to be sucked in and absorbed into his skin. The black and the white slowly began to disappear piece by piece. The class watched in complete silence as Arata's skin color slowly went back to normal.

After 3 minutes in complete silence, Arata looked completely normal besides his eyes, which, as the skin had turned back to normal, began to dissolve as Arata's pupils could now be seen. Then he blinked a couple times before looking around. He then looked at Teacher Takuma.

"If my Father ever sends you something again, I recommend that you send it back."