21 Preperations

"Just like this. You need only to let me guide you and you will learn all that you need to know to become your greatest version." Hao said to his new partner, Helios, while the two of them trained together in a rather remote corner of the Holy Orchid Institute, surrounded by thick trees and lush green grass that grew from under their feet.

In order to teach his spirit the best way to move in battle, at least for the basics, Hao had fused with Helios, using the age old technique employed by nearly every shaman that has ever existed, called Hyoi-Gattai, which transforms the spirit under the ministrations of the shaman into a small sphere, which is then injected into the shaman himself, sort of like a willing possession.

Through said technique, it is possible to both give the spirit an actual human body through which the shaman can best show and demonstrate his technique and experience to his partner and vice versa, since the spirit shares all that the shaman experiences at that moment.

Obviously, the knowledge taught to Helios would be remembered by said spirit once Hao and him separated once more, which would then have given the spirit a treasure trove of knowledge on how to move, granting Helios a basis for his own personal fighting-and movement style rarely shared between spirit and shaman, if ever.

Thus, the two of them kept on training, moving together through the whole set of forms used by the Onmyodou that had been ingrained so deeply into Hao's mind by now that it had literally become second nature to him.

"Good, this should do for now. We'll return to this some time, once you have fully assimilated the knowledge and made it your own." Hao spoke, holding his hand before his chest, before he flexed his Furyoku slightly with which he then separated himself from Helios and pulled his partner gently out of his body once again.

Looking down upon the small dark red sphere in his hand, Hao gave his partner some time to get used to the new feelings he had so far experienced, until he deemed it enough time and continued with their training plan.

"Next you'll need to work together with me a little bit. While I will handle most of the work and control your part will be to fuse and accept what is going to happen to you.

The technique I'm talking about is called Oversoul, which is also the most popular style a shaman fights together with their spirit.

It practically is the same as the Hyoi-Gattai but instead of fusing with my body you will be fused with an external medium. That can literally be anything, ranging from a stone to a mountain or an ocean, though your control over either a mountain or an ocean would be so bad, and your spirit stretched so thin, that it would literally be useless in a fight.

In the past, when I was bonded with the spirit of Fire, I normally used the oxygen in the air as the medium for him, which in turn made it possible for him to move at unbelievable speeds and with literal unpredictability due to the oxygen's invisibility.

That however, is only possible due to me being an Onmyodou, which brings me back to the point I made earlier. If you have no control over your medium, you can't use it and will instead be hindered by it.

And since you are also a spirit formed from fire, you will also utilize the oxygen in the air as the medium. However, I've been thinking about this a little and come to the conclusion that it seems a little bland to limit ourselves to only the oxygen when there are also trees and grass around us. But that is for later. For now we'll start with oxygen." Hao explained to his partner who sent Hao an understanding undercurrent of feelings through their bond at his words.

"Alright then, let's do this!" Hao said, after which let his Furyoku loose slightly, channelling it into Helios in his hand, after which he formed a connection between Helios and the oxygen in the air. Now all that was left was his partner to slide through the connection and fill out the form Hao had provided Helios through his Furyoku's ingrained intentions.

After two seconds Helios seemed to have understood what he needed to do and thus did exactly that. As a result, Helios phased into being before Hao, his full humanoid form flaring to life under a pulse of controlled fire, causing Helios to inspect his form in wonder for a second afterwards.

"Go ahead, try moving around. You are now literally fused with the air and can move accordingly. Once you have that down well enough try blinking from one position to the next. You'll find it will come rather naturally to you as it is a completely normal behaviour for a flame to seek out more fuel to grow." Gliding through the air around Hao for a while, Helios marvelled at his newfound freedom for a little bit longer before he imagined himself appearing a little bit further to his left where he felt a rich vein of oxygen flow through the air, and the next thing he knew he was literally flying through said current like a leaf in the wind.

"Good, you learn fast. Normally, I will let you move freely, even in battle but at times I may take full control over your motions when I deem it necessary, which you may find to be a strange feeling at first, but you'll get used to it after some time.

Once I deem you ready I will also show you what it will feel like to be another element, but that is still rather far off in the future, as you are still very young for a spirit. And we aren't really in a hurry anyway." Hao explained to his partner, who sailed through the air with content, all the while listening to Hao's words with rapt attention. After all, Helios was the incarnation of Fire itself given form, and fire consumed, no matter what, be that knowledge or materialistic objects. Both would nurture and strengthen him in due time.

After thinking it over for a second, Hao decided it was enough for now concerning their training and decided to return to the Institute.

Thus, Hao once more flexed his Furyoku slightly and, after taking control over his partner, wrapped a veil of his Furyoku over his partner's form which, due to his knowledge and attunement with the elements, caused Helios to fade away into thin air as if he had never been there in the first place, which was a cover obviously.

Turning around and picking up his discarded clothes, Hao walked back towards the Institute, while his mind already went over the next subject he wanted to research, namely why demon beasts would gift their user's physical mutations when used in their battle fusion, which Hao had speculated was nothing else but a perversion of the Hyoi-Gattai, employed by an amateur.

Though, once Hao had left the woods and set foot on the plaza before the Holy Orchid Institute, he was surprised to find it littered by students that were in some kind of uproar for some reason.

With a slight sigh of annoyance, Hao pushed through the crowd of students until he came upon the sight of none else but Xiao Ning'er arguing with two men, one woman and a group of guards that had surrounded them in a protective circle while also glaring at all the students surrounding them, daring even one of them to step forwards.

'Heh, never thought this would escalate so quickly. Whatever. At least she isn't backing down from them. Not that they look like much to begin with…' Hao thought, while a smile began to grow on his face.

He could already smell the agitation in the air and it made him a little bit excited at the prospect of a potentially lethal confrontation he may come upon.

Thus, he stepped past the last bunch of students in front of him, which also resulted in a shift of attention from every single one of the glaring guards to move from the students around him onto Hao, who couldn't help but to grin right back.

Obviously, Ning'er also took notice of him a second later and before any of the guards could react, the girl had rushed over to his side and clearly made her stance known by flipping these elders the bird, just like a respectable adult would do when under pressure. That finally cracked Hao up causing him to burst into laughter at the scene before him.

Judging by the grim faces these geezers threw his way though they weren't really fond of his actions before stepping towards them with anger clearly radiating off of them. What a fun day this was turning out to be…