17 Train/Pain

As the bright sun shun over his body and he basked in its light, Hiro felt a momentary reprieve from the great strain his body had been passing through.

'[t's nice to have you, Mr.Sun...Wait Sun? Aren't we supposed to be in some kind of afterlife? Well, I guess I will have to ask about it later]

"Are you sure this is safe?", asked a very worried Hiro as held his body in a pushup position with his hands. Hiro was sweating profusely and shaking, not from exhaustion but from pressure and fear. His arms were screaming, but that was not what he was worried about.

"Yeah! I am completely sure", replied a smiling Vi as he hopped about around Hiro's inclined body in circles.

[Yet I still have doubts about that!], thought Hiro. A few days have passed since his exhilarating(and extremely painful with added soreness) bout with Vi. Both Vi and Infi had offered to train him seriously and despite the pain, he was practically living his dream life since he came here. In the real world whenever he had tried to train, he had always somehow felt very lonely and gave up easily. Thinking that he will never make any companions, never go on any form of adventure with them, and never have any special moments to look back to. He wanted an adventurous life with friends but he still wanted tranquility.

But it is as said, [Never wish for too much or you shall lose even the little you still have]

[Is this how it's supposed to be?]

Buuuut! Believe it or not, he was happier after death than he was ever when he had lived. He was in the colorful and wonderful world of anime now. His previous world's rules pretty much didn't apply to him anymore, meaning he could jump 10 feet in the air, never really get exhausted, recover from wounds, etc.

He really wasn't even using powers! He would exhaust himself completely during training yet still find the strength to remain standing! A bizarre experience really.

[I believe it is safe to say that I really am an Anime Protagonist now. I can do all those cool things they do in the anime and more. Yosh!! Anime world for a win!! Still can't feel I am really dead though?]

[Ok! Let's take this for a test DRIVE!] Hiro shakes his head softly for some time and feels his confusing thoughts vanish away as if a fog has been lifted from his mind.

[Huh! Would you look at that? Head shakes do work out! No wonder they use those every time.]

[Now if I could just get a noseblee-]

<Swosh>Hiro quickly pushed towards the ground, raised his body upwards with his arms, and even retracted his hands towards himself, because guess what, a freaking sword just tried to cut his hands!!

"Hey! That could have really cleaved my arms off!!", said a profusely sweating Hiro as gravity eventually brought him down towards the ground."

"Hmm...That's not a bad plan...perhaps it isn't such a bad plan, it will make your muscle density and pain threshold stronger", said Vi smiling devilishly at Hiro.

Hiro quickly tried to back away but Vi was already holding his arm."Hahahaha...Oh...I am sorry.....Did I scare you? You can trust me, I promise. A joke in the middle of a battle never killed anyone. Besides, it prevents you from getting mentally exhausted and releases tensions", Vi was still smiling but it was a content smile like he was a child who had successfully pulled a prank on an adult, not the demonic smile that would make Light from Deathnote blush.

"Ok, but tell me why am I doing front clap pushups?", asked Hiro while stretching his arms and legs that were sore from doing pushups straight for 4 hours. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out how he was still standing.

"Pushups are a good way to build up the muscles of the upper body. You should do them more. You have got powers kid, but not a body to sustain them. When you start, you will have a body of flesh and blood, a mortal body. You must make your body a perfect vessel, one that listens to your commands and executes them perfectly. In your journey, you may very well come across individuals that could seal away your powers. And the moment your powers are sealed, your life depends on how well you can survive without your precious powers. "

"Unimatrix and Natsu's powers were given to you as a headstart. But they are not your limit nor your worth. This world contains still many secrets yet unexplored and you still have to prove yourself worthy of the blessings given to you... Your body has been molded into a vessel that even gods would kill for, it's magic channel is almost perfect. Don't you wanna see the end of it..... to see how far you can push yourself, where your real limit lies. You even have perfect memory, you can master and remember any move taught to you indefinitely. And don't you forget you have stopped aging entirely, so at least give it a try, otherwise you will get bored like me."

"Okay, okay I will give it a try", said Hiro as he began his pushups again while a sword swiftly passed under him with each pushup.

As he shifted to a ready position for the pushups, Hiro inquired, "How is the sun here? Aren't we supposed to be in a secluded place/dimension?"

Vi had to keep himself from chuckling as he heard the question. Hiro still had the same childlike curiosity and carefreeness inside him. Normally One would not ask about the sun if that person had a sword swinging under him every second. Still, all led to an important discovery, dying had somehow extinguished the fear of physical trauma from Hiro's mind. While this would help him, this also meant he would more likely take dangerous opportunities.

"Hmm? Oh, you mean Sol? He is our personal solar buddy. He happily gives us his light. Tell me isn't he beautiful?", Vi answered as he felt like he was a proud father talking about his son. When you have lived as long as he did, you come to love peculiar things. He had traveled to the farthest dimension and sipped tea in the absolute silence of the singularity in a black hole but never found something that could make him whole like another's companionship.

Something urged Hiro to say some pleasant words to the annoying but good man, "Good for you", he said as he went back to his pushups. What plausibly soothing could he say to a man as old as him?

Seeing Hiro, Vi also got ready with his sword. But as he started swinging the weightless training sword in his hands, he quickly found himself lost in thoughts again. These hands which have stopped entire Galactic collisions, and crushed violent Supernovas within their palms were also the ones with the blood of countless on them. They tortured individuals, wiped out entire civilizations for the sake of others, and erased existences altogether. Still were they capable enough, if even worthy at all, to protect those he cared about in the face of absolute power?

Had he given Neoverse a great hero or had he desperately sent an innocent soul towards imminent doom?

Had he saved them or painted them as targets for enemies to strike?

This thought itself brought a self-deprecating laugh to him. Guardian of the living across the Multiverse, worried by humane thoughts. Punisher of Evil, acting like a family man. What's next? Destroyer of the galaxies, acting like a lovestruck fool? That would be too embarrassing!

He had worn the mask of emotionlessness all this time, yet it had now come undone at the worst of times. Still to this day, he remembered what One had said to him many years ago during a peaceful evening stroll before any chaos happened.

"Existing without emotion is a futile existence. Emotions are the advent of Humanity, their greatest treasure, and deadliest weapon. Without it, they lose direction and purpose. Even You, a being of immense power, will one day find yourself caught in the flow of emotions and when you do, don't let go.

Just accept it."

"Damn Boss, you are still annoyingly right even after passing away... Guess I will give it a shot", thought Vi

<Thud>His thoughts were interrupted as something hit the floor. His hands had stopped swinging as Hiro's body had given out. He could only watch as the boy's limp body fell on the floor and completely shattered the entire arena. Vi smiled apologetically toward Hiro.

"I will have to work extra hard on making you stronger from now on"

He will protect and preserve this small happiness he's found. No harm will come to this sneaky brat and... the beautiful and lovely caring Demon lady if that's the last thing he does.

But a haunting thought struck his mind and his face morphed into that of a scared man. He quickly looked around and only after making absolutely sure that nobody had heard him, did he let himself sigh...

"That was too cheeeesssyyyyyy!!!"