Kiba's gaze lingered on the two figures below, his pure white eyes narrowing like a predator coiled to strike.
Ignoring the unnatural anchor of his own shadow, Xiao's focus locked entirely on the creature perched on the cliff. "Hmm," he murmured, his stance shifting almost imperceptibly as he prepared for what was to come.
"Kiba?" Finn asked, his voice strained. He stood behind Xiao, a hand still pressed to his chest, his face slick with sweat. "You know him?"
"As a matter of fact, yes," Xiao replied, his eyes never leaving the cliff. "He was human once. A slave who sought power from a demon to exact revenge on his master after finally being free."
Finn's eyes lit up with pained curiosity. "A demon...?"
"Yes. He obtained the shadow cloak he wears now, but over time, its power corrupted him. It twisted his senses until he became a demon himself," Xiao explained. "When he began his rampage, he was defeated and sealed away by The Second Supreme Elder Monk before me, with the help of the Emperor's most elite soldiers. And Himself "
Finn's gaze narrowed, a grim frown creasing his brow as he stared at Kiba, whose long, purple tongue now flickered out from his stomach-maw, tasting the air. "That many of them?"
"Yes. I suggest you stay behind me. You can't fight him in your current sta—"
Xiao's words were cut short.
In an instant, Kiba's body was engulfed by the shadow cloak at his waist, and he dissolved into nothingness. A moment later, he erupted from Xiao's own shadow on the sand, landing silently on the beach between the elder and Finn. A jab shot out, aimed directly at Finn's face.
But it never landed.
Without fully turning, Xiao's palm snapped up, catching Kiba's fist and halting it mid-air. Finn's eyes widened, his dulled senses barely registering the impossibly fast exchange.
"Going after him was the wrong choice,you should have faced me a" Xiao said, his voice dangerously calm as he held the demon's fist in an iron grip. "The darkness may have broken your already weakened seal, but I am going to end you now."
With a swift, fluid motion, Xiao twisted his arm, flinging Kiba through the air. The demon contorted effortlessly, flipping backward to land gracefully on the sand a dozen feet away.
A guttural, alien sound rumbled from the monstrous mouth on his stomach. "Gwah… wahh…"
The anchor on his shadow dissolved, and Xiao was free.
He took a deliberate step forward, then another, slowly tilting the brim of his straw hat up to fix his gaze on Kiba. A serene, almost placid smile touched his lips.
"Let's get this over with," he said, turning to present his side to the demon.
He then planted his foot firmly in the sand.
Instantly, a brilliant yellow aura erupted from him, engulfing his body in a divine, golden radiance. The light was so intense it banished the night, causing the sand around him to swirl upward in a controlled, silent vortex.
His voice was a calm echo that carried on the wind, filled with immeasurable power.
"...REIKI BU NO RYU CORE STATE:SUN GOD'S PRESENCE."
Narrator
Bu no Ryu Core State: Sun God's Presence
A legendary application of Reiki control, the Core State is a technique accessible only to those with absolute mastery.
It allows the user to bypass the Reiki layer or wall and draw Reiki directly from its source—the spiritual core. By tapping into this wellspring, the user unleashes a torrent of raw power, unlocking their ultimate, signature techniques.
For Xiao Yong Huo, this is the Sun God's Presence.
This state grants him speed that transcends mortal perception, strength capable of shattering steel with a touch, and a bottomless reserve of stamina that sustains this divine power for up to thirty minutes.
Now cloaked in the power of his Core State Reiki, Xiao took a single, deep breath. His golden aura pulsed. Across the sand, Kiba cocked his head to the side with an audible crack, the monstrous mouth on his stomach retracting its tongue to stretch into a silent, terrifying grin.
They squared off.
For less than a blink of an eye, reality itself seemed to stutter. The forms of both combatants vibrated, glitching for a nanosecond before they simply vanished.
They reappeared in the dead center of the beach. Not with a rush, but with an instantaneous arrival. Their elbows met in a cataclysmic collision that produced no sound, only force. The very air buckled.
The ground beneath them imploded, instantly forming a wide crater in the sand. A shockwave tore across the water, churning the calm surf into a violent froth. A hurricane-force wind erupted from the point of impact, blasting sand and leaves wildly through the air.
Thrown back by the sheer force, Finn threw his arms up to shield his face, his feet digging into the ground as he struggled to stay upright. A sharp, frustrated sound escaped his lips, a testament to the boiling anger he felt at his own uselessness.
"Tch!"
Then the stalemate shattered.
Their locked elbows dropped. In that same instant, Kiba exploded into motion, unleashing a powerful, swinging kick aimed at Xiao's stomach. Xiao's eyes widened at the demon's blinding speed, his right forearm snapping up to block. The impact was immense. Though partially deflected, the force of the blow launched the old master sideways, sending him flying off the sand and out over the open water.
Yet, before his feet could break the surface, a faint shimmer of Reiki enveloped them. Instead of splashing down, Xiao's sandals touched the water as if it were solid ice. He slid backward gracefully, carving gentle waves in his wake before planting both feet firmly on the ocean's surface.
"He transferred Reiki to his feet to gain purchase on water,"Finn thought, a flicker of disbelief cutting through his frustration. "That's a feat that requires a complex spell for any mage or sorcerer, yet he did it with basic Reiki control."
But there was no time to ponder.
The moment Xiao found his balance, Kiba was moving. He leaped from the beach, a towering spray of water jetting up behind him as he rocketed across the ocean's surface. He closed the distance in a heartbeat and unleashed a furious gauntlet of jabs aimed directly at Xiao's face.
Xiao met the assault with an impossible defense, his head swaying left and right with millimeter precision, dodging each blow. The two of them became a blur of motion, a straight, violent line streaking farther and farther away from the shore, turning the calm ocean into their personal battlefield.
And finally The flurry of jabs ceased. Kiba changed his attack.
He raised his right arm high, and the living shadow cloak at his waist pulsed. A tendril of darkness snaked up his limb, solidifying around his hand and forearm to form a long, vicious blade. He brought it down in a devastating vertical slash aimed directly at Xiao's head.
Xiao's gaze flickered upward, his expression utterly unhurried. "Oh, dear," he murmured.
With a single, fluid sidestep, he shifted his position on the water's surface. The shadow blade sliced through empty air, striking the ocean with a furious hiss.
The opening was all Xiao needed. He drove a knee upward with brutal force, striking Kiba square in the abdomen, just above the gnashing teeth of its stomach-maw. Before the demon could even register the blow, Xiao followed it with a spinning, angled backhand slap.
The impact was immense. A visible shockwave erupted from the point of contact, sending Kiba spiraling high into the air, flipping uncontrollably through the night sky.
Sent tumbling through the air, Kiba abruptly halted his spin. He hung suspended in the sky, glaring daggers down at the surface of the ocean.
In that instant, the monstrous mouth on his stomach gaped wide. A violet pinpoint of light appeared deep within it, rapidly expanding into a transparent purple orb that seemed to drain the very color from the world around it, momentarily rendering the scene in stark black and white. The orb then collapsed back into itself, causing the energy within Kiba's maw to swell to a terrifying magnitude.
With a silent roar, he unleashed it.
A massive beam of pure, violet destruction shot toward the water. But Xiao was already gone. He had leaped high into the air, a calm silhouette against the moon.
The blast struck the ocean like a purple supernova. The impact was absolute. It didn't just create a splash; it vaporized a vast circle of water, blasting it away to expose the sandy seabed below. The displaced ocean erupted upward, forming a colossal, temporary wall of water that ringed the newly formed crater.
And into the center of this incredible arena, with the towering walls of the sea surrounding him, Xiao Yong Huo slowly descended.
As his sandals touched the damp sand of the exposed seabed, Xiao Yong Huo raised his gaze.
High above, Kiba was falling too. The demon slid down the massive, curving wall of water his own blast had created, riding the churning surface like a ramp to speed his descent.
But just as Xiao began to settle into a battle stance, his own shadow suddenly grew rigid, arresting his motion.
A sharp gasp escaped his lips. "This again…"
Before he could react, black tentacles, woven from pure shadow, erupted from the same shadow grounded at his feet. They coiled around his arms, yanking them back and wrenching him off balance, leaving him completely exposed. It was Kiba's will, manipulating the very essence of shadow with a mere thought.
A flicker of resignation crossed Xiao's mind. "This might hurt."He taught to himself
From high on the collapsing wall of water, Kiba launched himself forward. He shot from the churning wave like a missile, his eyes narrowed in silent, burning rage.
He met the defenseless Xiao with a thunderous impact.
The point of collision vanished in an explosion of sand and vapor, obscuring the outcome. The towering walls of water, will now settle, crashing down upon the seabed. The ocean roared as it reclaimed its territory, the churning water eventually settling into a shallow, turbulent pool around the epicenter of the attack.
From the distant shore, Finn watched with wide eyes, the scene unfolding far across the water. A sharp pain from being weakened by the darkness lanced through his chest, forcing him to clutch it. He could only think one thing, his voice a choked whisper lost to the wind.
"...Xiao-sensei."
Silence fell for a few heartbeats.
Then, Xiao's body erupted from the ocean. Launched by a colossal force, he tore through the water and sky, flying uncontrollably back toward the shore. He blazed over the treetops, a golden comet arcing past the beach and deep into the jungle beyond, hurtling headfirst toward a sheer stone cliff.
"Tch. I have to do something," he thought, his mind calm despite the chaos.
In one fluid motion, he forced his body into a backflip. His feet slammed into the cliff face avoiding danger, cracking the stone cliff on impact. He landed, his half-lidded eyes narrowing with renewed focus as he scanned the treeline for the next threat.
The moment he steadied himself, his golden aura flared brighter. A figure coalesced from the shadow of a tree ahead—it was Kiba. The demon broke into a run, the tongue in his stomach-maw lolling as he gathered speed. Then, with a powerful leap, he launched himself from the jungle floor.
Xiao pushed off the cliff wall with equal force, shattering the rock to dust beneath him. He rocketed forward to meet the charge, both fighters closing the distance with heavy fists drawn back for a devastating blow.
But just as they were about to collide, a volley of shadow tentacles erupted from the shadow cloak like belt at Kiba's waist. They snaked through the air, coiling tightly around Xiao's body and halting his strike dead in mid-air.
"Got me again. I'm not surprised," he thought, resignation flickering through his mind.
The thought was cut short by a single, soundless impact. Kiba's fist connected with his cheek, followed a split second later by a thunderous bang that echoed through the jungle. The force sent Xiao flying backward, his body tearing through the dense foliage without striking a single trunk until, finally, he slammed into a massive tree. He blasted clean through it, his momentum only stopping when he cratered into the earth beyond, a cloud of dust and debris settling over the new wound in the jungle floor.
Sprinting through the jungle, a sharp pain lancing through his side, Finn burst from a thicket of brush. He emerged to the left of the crash site, his eyes landing on the crater. From its center, his master was already rising to his feet.
The tattered orange robe hung in shreds. With a single, effortless motion, Xiao gripped it by the shoulder, tore the garment from his body, and tossed it aside. His torso was exposed now, revealing a form that, despite his age, was a landscape of lean, powerful muscle.
"Xiao-sensei!" Finn cried out, his voice a ragged mix of panic and fury. "Are you alright? Let me fight with you!"
"Help me?" Xiao paused, a soft sigh escaping him. He turned to face his student, a warm, reassuring smile on his lips. "Finn, I thought you were the logical one. We both know you cannot win, not while you're weakened by Daikan's darkness."
Finn's eyes trembled. "N-no..."
Just then, Kiba began his slow, unhurried approach from the other side of the clearing. The monstrous mouth on his stomach stretched into a terrifying grin as he closed the distance.
But Xiao's gaze never left Finn. His smile remained, his tone as gentle as a calm rain. "Don't blame yourself. He's just faster than me, that's all." A soft chuckle escaped him. "I'll even the odds. Besides... I'm not even tired."
"Sensei..." Finn's voice was barely a whisper, heavy with despair.
Seeing the boy's anguish, Xiao's smile widened, filled with a deep, paternal warmth. "Don't push yourself, son. It's okay to rely on your parents sometimes. That isn't weakness. That's knowing you are loved by the people who hold you in their hearts."
With his words concluded, Xiao placed a hand on his damp straw hat and tossed it with gentle precision toward Finn. The boy caught it with one hand, a soft gasp escaping him as his gaze fell upon the worn straw. His eyes then lifted, flickering to the silhouette of his master.
Xiao's back was turned to him now, a canvas of formidable muscle that defied his age. His grey hair swayed in the night wind, catching the silver glow of the full moon. His focus was absolute, fixed on Kiba as the demon continued his unhurried approach.
As Xiao squared off against him, his golden aura wavered, its intensity flattering for just a moment.
"Mmmh. It seems I'm almost out of time," he thought, his mind racing. "Thirty minutes isn't enough to stop this monster. When Sun God's Presence fades, I'll have to fight him with base Reiki. I'll be drained before I can even hope to win."
He settled into a fighting stance, his right hand forward in a claw, his left drawn back as a fist at his waist.
No point complaining. I have to end this now. I have to close the gap in our speed.
With that final thought, his half-lidded eyes snapped wide open. A network of tiny veins pulsed into view around them, branching from his skin to his golden irises. He had infused his very eyes with Reiki, and in response, the aura of the Sun God's Presence flared, burning brighter and more intensely than before.
Kiba froze in his tracks, his gaze fixed on the sudden surge of power.
Xiao's feet dug into the soil, his stance unshakeable, his golden eyes now deadly serious.
"Ready for round two?" he asked, his voice echoing in the sudden stillness.
A low murmur escaped Finn's lips, his expression a mixture of anger and disbelief as he watched from the treeline.
"Infusing his eyes with Reiki... What is he thinking?" he whispered to himself. "Sure, his control over reiki is the absolute, but anyone else who even attempted that would have their eyeballs squashed flat by the sheer pressure. Reiki isn't meant to be forced into something as fragile as the eye!"
The sheer recklessness of the act made his stomach churn.
Back in the clearing, the shadow cloak around Kiba's waist began to writhe and flicker like a nest of black vipers. The monstrous mouth on his stomach stretched wide, and a deep, guttural laugh echoed through the trees.
"Gwa... ha... Gwa-ha-ha-ha!"
As the laugh reached its crescendo, his shadow exploded. A tempest of countless obsidian spikes erupted from his belt that blotted out the moonlight as it screamed toward Xiao.
"Ah—" The word caught in Finn's throat, his eyes wide with horror. From his vantage point, the attack wasn't just a blur; it was an instantaneous certainty of death, a wave of pure destruction moving at impossible speed.
But in Xiao's world, everything had slowed to a crawl. The golden light in his eyes sharpened his perception to a godlike degree. He could see each individual spike, tracing its trajectory as it floated through the air with a serene, dreamlike grace.
A wide, confident smile spread across his face. The spikes weren't slower; he was simply seeing them that way..
Excellent, he thought, the word a silent thunderclap in his mind. Now... we are equal.