(16)->PROOF (NEW CHAPTER)

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" " - Dialogue

' ' - Thoughts

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--(POV)--

-(TIME GAP)-

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==Flashback - 9 months ago==

---BANG'S DOJO, BACK MOUNTAIN, TATSUMA ESTATE---

--Author-san's POV--

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Three months have passed since Seiya began his training under Bang's tutelage and Seiya had to admit that these three months have been much more productive for him than they would have been had he just relied on himself. But this was to be expected considering that Seiya never did undergo any kind of formal training.

All of his skills have been trained by surviving in the wild wastelands of Ixphoria. In fact, the thing closest to formal training that Seiya experienced was his training with Drago, but even that was pure combat training which involved polishing his skills under the pressure of facing an opponent much stronger than him.

Such a 'violent' method was naturally not feasible in his new modern world, but thanks to Bang's training regime, Seiya could experience a well-rounded growth and development. Not only does it help in increasing the power of his physique, but also trains his various senses. In addition to this, Bang also taught him the basic foundational forms of martial arts which he practiced regularly. He was also tasked with meditation for about half an hour daily, the exact reasons behind this unknown.

And today, just like every other day, he arrived at Bang's dojo early in the morning, ready to get started with his training. He soon found Bang in the dojo's backyard standing by the side of the small pond and greeted him, getting a nod in return following which Bang started speaking,

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Bang: "Now that you have an initial mastery of the basic martial art forms, we can move on to the next stage of your martial arts training."

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Seiya naturally would not object to such a thing and was excited at the prospect of learning new martial arts. Judging by his expression, Bang could clearly see through Seiya's thoughts and poured a bucket of cold water over him with his next words.

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Bang: "Contrary to what you might be expecting, the next stage does not involve learning any new martial art style."

Seiya: "Huh?!"

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His sensei's words filled Seiya with confusion, after all, other than those basic forms, he did not know anything else about martial arts. Voicing his doubts, Seiya asked,

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Seiya: "But then sensei, what is the next stage supposed to be?"

Bang: "Creating your own martial arts style, of course."

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Seiya's expression could not help but turn strange when he heard this.

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Seiya: "*Cough*Pardon me, sensei. I think I misheard you."

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A seven-year-old kid creating a new martial art style. Anybody would start doubting their ears. Provided that Seiya was not a seven-year-old, but his sensei should have no way of knowing that. However, Bang seemed to be much more confident in Seiya's abilities than he himself was, as he jovially answered,

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Bang: "Ha ha ha, I assure you that you didn't. You already have your own natural fighting style and now that you have learned the basic martial art forms, all you have to do is to incorporate them into your fighting style. This will eventually lead to the creation of a new martial arts style tailor-made for yourself."

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Despite the obvious logic behind Bang's words, Seiya still had trouble believing in them. Was it really so easy to create an entirely new set of martial arts? Looking at Seiya's doubtful expression, Bang continued,

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Bang: "Don't worry, I am not telling you to create it by tomorrow. I am also here to guide you along the way. This will be a life-long endeavor and that is why the sooner you begin the greater your progress will be in the future. Do note that you will have to go through various hardships during the creation process and then temper it through innumerable battles to take it to perfection, so you better steel yourself before you begin."

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By the end, Bang's tone had turned somber indicating the seriousness behind his words, and Seiya could not help but feel anxious about such a massive undertaking, but deep within that anxiousness, there was also a sense of thrill and excitement. After all, how many people could create their own martial art styles, not to mention, a martial arts style tailor-made for himself would tremendously boost his combat potential. Taking a deep breath and steeling his determination, Seiya said,

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Seiya: "I will not let you down, sensei!"

Bang: "Mm. Before we begin though, I have one more thing to give you."

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Saying this Bang then led Seiya to one of the training rooms within the dojo. On their way, Bang asked Seiya who was walking behind him,

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Bang: "Tell me Seiya, what would you think is the biggest weakness of your fighting style?"

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Somewhat startled by the sudden question, Seiya pondered about it for a while, before finally speaking,

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Seiya: "I usually focus my all on attacking my enemy in the most efficient manner striking rapidly while probing and attacking their weak points. This does leave my defense lacking in particular."

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Bang was truly impressed with Seiya's analytical skills. This also meant that Seiya would be able to at least grasp what he was about to give him next.

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Bang: "That's right. Such a fighting style focuses heavily on the offensive while keeping the rhythm of the battle under the user's control. Of course, the obvious downside is that if the opponent has a superior speed or power, then the user will have no choice but to retreat due to the lacking defense."

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Arriving in the training room, Bang then moved towards the Dragon idol present in the room and retrieved a scroll from behind. Presenting it to Seiya, he said,

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Bang: "Read this scroll and try to understand the concepts recorded within it. If you fail to understand something, then you can consult with me."

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Taking the scroll in his hands, Seiya went through with excitement.

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Seiya: "Redirection of force..... Sensei, is it somehow related to deflecting one's opponents' attacks?"

Bang: "Haah, that's just the surface of it. Take it and go over it later. It will take you quite some time to fully comprehend it after which, you will have to ingrain them into your fighting style. Once you do so, you will then have a way to defend yourself."

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It took Seiya over a month to fully go through the scroll. As he read before, this scroll contained the concept of 'Redirection of force' which describes how to effectively handle your opponent's attacks without going on the defensive. It was defined into two parts - internal and external Redirection of force with only the external part available to him. When he asked his sensei about the internal half, he only replied,

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Bang: "The current you does not have the qualifications to learn it yet."

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Deferring to his sensei's better judgment, Seiya decided to put it off for later and focus on the external part. The external half itself consisted of two phases. The first phase contained simple concepts which could allow one to learn how to deflect their opponent's attacks while the second phase discussed how to use one's opponent's strengths against himself.

From then on, Seiya started the long and arduous process of creating his own martial arts style. Any advancements he made would then be incorporated into his own fighting style. He also made sure to learn how to apply the various concepts he comprehended from the 'redirection' scroll while fighting. Thanks to the records of his predecessors, who had left behind their findings within the scroll, this process became much easier.

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==Flashback - Over==

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-Present-day-

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Hiyoshi: "Give it up, young master, you are not yet ready to face us. If you still choose to resist, however, then do note that we will no longer be holding ourselves back."

Seiya: '.'

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Not the least bit intimidated by Hiyoshi's warning, Seiya was currently trying to come up with a way to break through the couple's blockade. Seeing that Seiya would not be giving up, Hiyoshi decided to strike, without any further ado, not wanting to give him any time to recover. Standing behind Hiyoshi was Miko, who had one of her arrows nocked on her bow, and was ready to shoot it at him the moment she had a clear shot on him.

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Ryuko: "Hmm, that's strange."

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Back on the cliff, Ryuko's confused voice was heard by the other three who were engaged in the fight down below. Nejire, being as patient as she was, quickly asked,

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Nejire: "What's strange, Ryuko-nee?"

Ryuko: "It's their fighting style.

Nejire: "Hmm?"

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Nejire clearly had not noticed anything strange during the fight earlier, so she could not help but direct her questioning gaze back towards Ryuko. By now, even Aria was paying attention to their conversation with interest. Only Bang remained indifferent to it and was calmly watching the fight below.

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Ryuko: "I have fought Hiyoshi-san and Miko-san in the past and back then they worked together as a couple, attacking me at the same time. Here, they seem to be taking turns fighting him instead. When Seiya gets close enough, then it's Hiyoshi-san attacking him and when he creates distance between them, Miko-san would attack him."

Nejire could not believe that Aria's parents were holding themselves back or rather she did not want to believe. If they could push Seiya so much while holding themselves back, wouldn't that mean that Seiya had no chance of winning? In a trembling voice, she said,

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Nejire: "May-Maybe aunt Miko just doesn't want to hurt uncle Hiyoshi by accident?"

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However, Aria shook her head, clearly not believing it to be the case. From what Ryuko said, it could be easily inferred that her parents have been fighting together for a long time making it nigh impossible that they did not how to attack in tandem with each other regardless of the environment they were in. Ryuko was about to speak when Bang interrupted her,

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Bang: "You don't need to think too much about this. It was I who told them to fight in this manner otherwise your brother would not even have a chance to fight back. That very first encounter would have him incapacitated him if Hiyoshi had attacked together with Miko."

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Bang's explanation cleared the doubts from the trio's minds. However, they still didn't feel relieved yet and looked down at the fight going on down below. Only Bang had a calm and indifferent expression on his face, but if one were to closely observe his eyes, they would find a sliver of anticipation within them, almost as if he was waiting for something.

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Meanwhile, Hiyoshi's first attack of a series of attacks was about to reach Seiya and if hit, would set the rhythm for the following upcoming attacks. However, Seiya did not seem to be fazed by his difficult situation at all. With a calm gaze, he looked at the incoming attack and mentally said to himself,

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Seiya: 'Phase one, deflection of opponent's attack!'

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With his only movable hand, Seiya was able to deflect the first attack. Hiyoshi, though surprised, continued on with his following attacks, but under the stunned gazes of everyone present, Seiya deflected all those attacks one by one. Some were deflected using just his numb hand's shoulder. This was what he had accomplished after studying phase one for about nine months.

That was not to say that Seiya had comprehended the first phase completely. He could only deflect the attacks of an opponent who had roughly the same strength as him and that too only when he was defending passively.

With his mental state affected by Seiya's earlier display, Hiyoshi became much more aggressive in his attacks. Unfortunately, he failed to notice the ghost of a smile that was forming on Seiya's face.

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Seiya: 'Phase two, using one's opponent's strength against himself.'

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The moment Hiyoshi stepped forward sending another punch towards Seiya, he sidestepped dodging it narrowly, and advanced ahead at the same time while using his only movable arm to throw a counter. Thrown aback by this sudden development, Hiyoshi found himself unable to stop at the last moment as Seiya's counter moved towards him.

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*Thump*

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Just like his previous punch, this punch too seemed to have almost no effect on Hiyoshi, making it seem that he was impervious to his attacks but Seiya wasn't fooled by this outward display.

Previously, his attention was split between Hiyoshi and Miko when his first punch had landed, so he was unable to sense, exactly how his attack had been blocked but now, even before the punch had landed, Seiya had already spread his <Aura Sense> in order to ascertain the nature of Hiyoshi's quirk if he somehow used it to block his attack. Thanks to his habit of meditating regularly, his <Aura Sense> had strengthened a lot during the past year, though he still did not know why his sensei had tasked him with it in the first place. And his vigilance ended up bearing fruit, as he sensed exactly how Hiyoshi blocked his attack.

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Seiya: 'A covering, huh. *Sigh* Do I really have to use that?'

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A layer of energy protecting Hiyoshi's body - This was what Seiya sensed. Along with the fact that he had almost seen Hiyoshi's body glow where he was struck earlier which was most probably caused due to the activation of his quirk.

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Name: Hiyoshi Kugisaki

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Quirk: Energy Barrier

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He can cover his body with a barrier made of energy, be it partially or fully. The durability of the barrier itself depends upon the magnitude of energy that he expends.

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Hiyoshi's expression, on the other side, turned solemn as well. He has seen Seiya grow up right in front of his eyes and he knew that Seiya possessed not only terrifying combat ability, but he was also smart enough to figure out some of the abilities of his quirk as well from the previous two attacks.

Before the trial, Bang had specifically asked him to make it as hard as possible for Seiya to figure out the abilities of his quirk. This was one of the reasons why he only used his quirk at the very last moment when he was about to be hit. The other reason being his habit of always conserving energy when in a fight, having developed it from a young age.

Now that his quirk was discovered, according to Bang's instructions, they were to stop holding back and attack in full force.

Just as he was about to signal Miko to attack, Seiya came forward with the intent of attacking. Inwardly, Hiyoshi was surprised that even after finding about his quirk, Seiya wanted to attack him head-on.

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Hiyoshi: 'Does he still have something up his sleeve?'

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Having a bad feeling, Hiyoshi wanted to create some distance between himself and Seiya, but unfortunately, his speed wasn't comparable to his defense and Seiya was hell-bent on not letting him getaway.

Standing afar, Miko realized that something was wrong, however, Seiya was sticking close to Hiyoshi making a clean shot difficult. There was also a chance that her arrow would hit Hiyoshi instead.

Back on the cliff, the four spectators had strange expressions on their faces. Even Bang wasn't able to remain indifferent to what was happening below. A moment ago, it was Seiya who was being chased around and now it was the other way around. They could not help but think about the irony of the situation.

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Aria: 'Could it be...!'

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Suddenly, Aria had an epiphany and could not help but shake her head, helplessness evident on her face. However, as the other three were immersed in the fight below, no one noticed it.

A moment later, Bang, too, seemed to have thought of something and turned his gaze back towards the fight below, with his eyes eager to watch what was about to unfold. He had known that Seiya had some kind of trump card on him, even before the trial started. As such, he had instructed Hiyoshi and Miko to pressure Seiya bit by bit, in order to draw it out, and now, from the looks of things, it was clear that this trump card could threaten Hiyoshi even with his quirk, so naturally, he was quite excited about it and wondered what his disciple will be surprising him with this time, though, he did have a hunch about it.

By now, Hiyoshi could feel that Seiya was about to catch up to him. Now that retreat wasn't an option, Hiyoshi did not want to let Seiya catch him unprepared, so bracing himself for Seiya's next attack, he yelled,

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Hiyoshi: "Bring it on, young master! Let's see what do you have up your sleeve that you think can penetrate through my barrier!"

Seiya: "As you wish Hiyoshi-san. This move is a result of my personal training during the past year. If this move is unable to pass through your defenses then I will accept my loss here without any hesitation."

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Seiya naturally had much confidence in this new move of his because he himself had witnessed its destructive prowess.

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==Flashback - 1 month ago==

---MANOR BACKYARD, TATSUMA ESTATE---

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Seiya and Aria were standing in the backyard which was situated right outside their rooms. This was also their personal training space where the two of them trained together daily in the evening.

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Aria: "Didn't you master that move a while ago? Why do you want to test it again?"

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Back during his trial a year ago, Seiya had been able to defeat that giant robot. Later, when he asked his sensei about it, all he said was that somehow he had been able to release his internal energy to cover his fist which then bypassed the robot's defenses and struck some of its sensitive inner parts. When he had tried to ask more about it, all he got was,

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Bang: "The current you does not have the qualifications to learn it yet."

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But he was not one to give up so easily. Through his sheer will and determination, within a few months, Seiya was able to master and perfect that move, by imitating the conditions of the trial and could now use it at will.

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Seiya: "It's called <Ki Fist>. And no, I am not talking about that."

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'Ki' was what they referred the internal energy as or so was what his sensei told him.

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Aria: "If not that, then which move do you want to test?"

Seiya: "Seeing as how my [Ki Fist] is unable to damage your [Sealing Shields], I have been working on a new move that could possibly break through them."

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Even after he perfected his [Ki Fist], his attacks weren't able to pass through the shields conjured by Aria which led him to think of something new. Now that he has been able to create a somewhat usable move, he wanted to test it out. And who better than Aria who is renowned throughout Olympus for her exceptional defense. Aria obviously did not have any objection to this. In fact, she was quite interested in this new move that Seiya had come up to use against her.

Seeing Aria agree to it, Seiya did not waste any more time and prepared to launch his attack.

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*Baaaang*

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==Flashback - Over==

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Hiyoshi was ready to intercept Seiya's next attack when to his astonishment, Seiya ended his 'full transformation', keeping only his arms and legs and transformed. This greatly puzzled but he did not let his guard down. Seiya did not give him time to ponder about it any longer and leapt at him with his movable arm outstretched and it's index finger pointing towards him. The very next moment, a glow seemed to have enveloped Seiya's draconic finger, attracting the gazes of everyone present.

Not daring to underestimate the attack coming towards him, Hiyoshi directly used his strongest move to defend himself,

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Hiyoshi: "[Full Protection]!"

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A bright glow covered Hiyoshi's body, signaling the activation of his quirk. But he wasn't done just yet, and right before Seiya's attack was about to fall upon him, he directed most of the energy of his full body covering to where Seiya's attack was about to land and waited for the moment of impact.

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*Thump*

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The attack that landed failed to pass through his defenses, but Hiyoshi wasn't relieved, instead he frowned feeling that something wasn't right and in the very next moment, he felt a sense of crisis befall him.

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Seiya: "[Piercing Spear]!"

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*Boom*

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An attack broke through his barrier and struck him and all he managed to see before falling unconscious was a finger, which belonged to Seiya's supposedly 'paralyzed' right arm, striking his lower abdomen and a glow similar to the one he had seen moments ago on his previously attacking left arm's finger. With a look of surprise and confusion, he muttered,

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Hiyoshi: "Ho-*splutter*"

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But before he could finish his words, blood poured out of his mouth as he fell down, unconscious.

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--Seiya's P.o.V--

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As I saw uncle Hiyoshi falling down unconscious, I finally let out a sigh of relief. I had one shot at nailing this fight and thankfully I did not blow it up.

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Seiya: 'But I seem to have overdone it.'

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Looking at how uncle Hiyoshi spurted blood before, he could guess the severe internal injuries he might have sustained. This was the horror of my latest special move even after I had reduced it's explosive power by more than half as the original one heavily injured even my own fingers during it's execution. I still remember the look of horror on my mother's face when she saw my mutilated finger that day. It took a visit to the hospital and the doctor's confirmation along with a promise that I would not use such a self-inflicting move again, to finally calm her down.

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Seiya: 'But even this watered-down version seems to injure my fingers, somewhat.'

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The numbing pain in my fingers was enough to show that I still needed to perfect this move, if I wanted to use it on a regular basis. This was the reason that he did not want to use this move until the end, after all, the only way Aria wasn't heavily injured back then was because she created several layers of shields as a precaution. Hopefully, uncle Hiyoshi would be able to swiftly recover.

Having said that, I still felt relieved after taking uncle Hiyoshi out of the fight, however, I did not let my guard down looking at aunt Miko in front of me. To my astonishment however, aunt Miko conceded defeat.

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--Author-san's P.o.V--

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Miko: "I accept my defeat, young master. You are free to pass through. But before that, I have a request of you."

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This was what Bang had instructed her to do in case Hiyoshi was defeated before her, not to mention, without Hiyoshi, as soon as Seiya entered into close range combat, her archery skills would not be of any help, making any further resistance futile. However, she still wanted to know something. Seiya, obviously, did not have any objection to this, and said,

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Seiya: "Please tell me your request without any hesitation, aunt Miko. Whatever it is, I will try to fulfill it to the best of my ability."

Miko: "Then please tell me how you were able to break through the bindings of my quirk in such a short time?"

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This was the only thing that troubled her greatly. Her quirk's effect on a normal person would fade away with time but it would take at least several hours but Seiya was able to break through it within 5 minutes. As a result, Miko wanted to know the cause behind this quick recovery, so as to guard against it in the future. There was also the fact that if an ordinary person was to be hit by one of her arrows, regardless of where it hit, that person's entire body would be paralyzed, but only Seiya's right arm was paralyzed. She did not question about this as there have been other such cases in the past, but the case of breaking through in a short time, this was her first time witnessing something like this but even those people took at least 15 minutes to break out of it.

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Seiya: "This..."

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Saying so, Seiya could not help but show an embarrassed smile on his face. How could he tell her that the reason he could break through was because of his <Dragon Core>? After his initial encounter with Hiyoshi, Seiya had noticed that the feeling of numbness in his arms was weakening and through his <Aura Sense>, he found the draconic energy originating from his <Dragon Core> to be the cause of this. But since the weakening effect was slow, Seiya stalled for some time before he finally launched his finishing special move.

While he was pondering about how to tell her about this matter, Miko, who saw, his smile, immediately responded,

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Miko: "If it is troublesome for the young master to explain, please do not trouble yourself over this matter any further young master. I was out of line just now."

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Seeing Miko speaking like this, Seiya felt very uncomfortable. He regarded Miko as his mother just as Aria regarded his mother as her mother. And if not for the significance of <Dragon Core>, he would not hide anything from her. Making up his find, he finally said,

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Seiya: "It's not that I do not want to tell you aunt Miko, it's just that I myself don't know anything about it. I just felt your quirk weakening over time."

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Hearing this, Miko did not doubt Seiya's words and assumed that it was just because of Seiya's unique quirk that allowed him to break out of it. This also proved to her, that the numbing effect of her quirk wasn't fixed and she had to be careful about it in the future.

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Miko: "Thank you, young master. Please be on your way. The trial is not yet over."

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Nodding to Miko, Seiya then continued on his way to the cliff of the mountain as Miko went on to take Hiyoshi to get him treated. On his way, he could not help but hope that Aria wasn't too angry with what happened to her dad.

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Nejire: "He did it! Aria he did it! Ryuko-nee he did it!"

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On the cliff, seeing Seiya's victory, Nejire could not help but jump with joy cheering for him. Her enthusiasm rubbed off on the others, and they could not help but smile as well. However, Ryuko, then turned towards Aria with some worry etched on her face. Seeing her father injured would make inevitably sadden her. Nejire, who followed Ryuko's gaze, too realized this fact and worriedly said,

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Nejire: "Don't worry Aria! I am sure uncle Hiyoshi would be well soon!"

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Seeing the girl's worried faces and feeling the worry in their hearts, Aria felt warm in her heart. She truly considered them as her sisters and it was also true the other way around. Shaking her head, she said,

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Aria: "Thank you for worrying about me Ryuko-nee, Nejire-chan. But I assure you I am fine. It is common for injuries in a fight, especially when both the sides are giving their all."

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Bang, standing a bit farther, was listening on to the girl's conversation but his mind, itself, was far away and very chaotic at the moment.

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Bang: 'To be able to reach the level of Ki condensation all by himself...*sigh* This kind of talent really makes one enviable.'

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After crossing the bridge, Seiya was then again met with several type of obstacles that he had faced before. If it was someone else, after facing the greatest obstacle in front of them, would inevitably relax, however, Seiya always remembered what his sensei once told him,

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'It's not over till it's over.'

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After a trekking for about another 10 minutes, Seiya finally arrived at his destination and passed his trial.

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Seiya: "Yossha!"

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His success this time wasn't only for his sensei's promise but also served as a proof. A proof of his own growth and development; proof that all his hard work was not in vain; proof that he was one step closer to his goal.

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\\Author-san's Thoughts//

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Word Count: 4716

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So, the only chapter for this month, but I did try to make up for it with the length of it. I hope you liked it.

Please comment your feedback in the chapter comments section.

As for the next chapter, I will try to release it within the first two weeks of December and the next one, during Christmas. I know, it's taking one hell of a time but this will be the usual length, until I get a vacation for GOD'S SAKE!!!

Well, thank you for being such patient readers and I will see you next time. Ka ọ dị!

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