Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends

Chapter 475: Ryun

Power vs. Mastery

Ryun and Nayra blasted through the battlefield with ease. Their enemies unable to do much to injure them. A few were skilled enough that they managed to get an attack through his defenses, or forced Nayra to defend, but they all lacked raw power to actually stop them. The few warriors that had reached the peak of their focus that they encountered on the field were ill-suited to fight against them. Oblivion wove itself around him as he controlled the field with the {Twilight Shaping Cast} and the {Field of Twilight's Calm}. Invisible walls that erased Kinetic Essence made charges of warriors stop as if they had hit a wall, attacks of fire and ice and all the other kind of Essence stopped in the air as they entered his fields. He was mainly focusing on Kinetic Essence as the target of his Qi, as it was far harder to focus on multiple Essence types at once, and nearly all attacks against him relied on it. There were no Mental specialists here, or those who dealt in the more Ethereal Essences, people like that were rarely warriors, and this was the place for those who loved the fight on the field.

Their opponents might've been weaker, but he saw just how skilled they were. All of them were masters of their powers, far greater than any that he had ever encountered. They showed him just how much he had to go to truly master his power.

Yet, they still lost, the gulf between them was just too great, especially since Nayra was there. But Ryun and Nayra didn't stop, the battlefield felt as if it was infinite, stretching far beyond what his sense could cover. These warriors might not be able to win, but they were teaching him, them, a lesson. He watched them, studied them, how they moved, how they shaped their powers. How they used their abilities in conjunction with their skills or techniques. How seamlessly they integrated every facet of their being to fight. It was impressive. And he could feel something familiar shaping around him as they tried to take him down. It reminded him of the sensation he got when he stood next to Zach when he tapped into his power, the Way of Time. And what he felt when he fought against the Grand Spirit of War.

He recognized it as the Way of War. It covered the field and infused the warriors, and soon enough he started to lose ground.

Their opponents didn't get stronger, but they were getting better. They started to fight with greater and greater intensity. He could feel it in their Souls, see it in their eyes. It was as if this battle against the two of them was the most important thing they had ever experienced.

They coordinated better, techniques and abilities married with skills to stop the great maelstrom of Death Essence that Nayra wove beneath them. Ryun's beams of Oblivion were stopped as the countless thousands combined their might to erect shields and stop the two of them in their tracks.

It was rising around them, the feeling of War, of battle and hunger for glory. Essences were born in the air that he could see, casting a cloud across his vision. It was as if a thousand gates to the plane of War had opened and Essences of all tiers started to spill in.

Nayra noticed it too, he could tell as her attacks changed. She started expanding her awakened spear in quick bursts, almost firing it across the battlefield. Smashing through walls raised with Earth, stabbing through warriors.

Ryun's attention on her was interrupted as a group stepped forward and he paused.. He recognized one of them as Nayra's brother, Nathan. They weren't the strongest that they had encountered so far, he could tell that none of them had reached the peak of their focuses before death. And yet... He felt apprehension from them.

Nayra paused her attacks as well and looked down at the new challengers. There were six of them standing in front of them, human, demasi, skreen, karura, ravzor, and a minotaur. None of them were at the peak of their focus, but he could tell that each had improved their Aspect to its peak. He could feel it in them. It was as if the world parted for a moment and he could feel the planes of those Aspects blazing from within them. Each held the mastery of a different Aspect, and all of them had determined looks on their faces.

The battlefield around them quieted, battles slowed and then stopped. People moved away, as if they were giving them room. Ryun didn't know what was happening, but the warriors on the field did. He could tell from the ways they reacted, they exchanged looks, some shook their heads as if they thought the six were being foolish, while others whispered encouragements under their breaths.

Ryun turned his full attention to the six as they prepared for battle. Nathan stepped forward first, and fire blossomed all around him. With a smile on his face, he jumped forward and the other five followed.

The six were obviously outmatched in the terms of pure raw power. But they advanced nevertheless. The battle quickly came alive. The six felt like this was their last chance, the culmination of a purpose that had started the day they were born. A purpose of a life.

The two turned their great power against their foes, and the six warriors were forced back. They had known just how large the gulf between their power was, they knew that only perfection would give them a chance.

The two were young, children compared to the six. A different river of Time flowed across all Afterlives, and it moved at its own pace, separate from the Real Realm and the Planes connected to it. The six were ancient in comparison to the two. And each of them embodied what it meant to be a warrior, it was why they had earned their place in the Afterlife of Warriors. They knew battle, and they adapted. They had mastered themselves and what power they had earned in life, they had pushed and reached the limits of what their chosen Aspects could do, sharpening each of them to the peak of what was possible. The Cultivators had dwelled deep into the nature of the Aspects their Qi drew power from, Classers had learned the secrets of the Aspects that their abilities called on, and the skill users had sharpened their understanding of what Aspects crafted the world around them.

They had become more than just skillful, they had become something purer, their time in the Afterlife might not have let them advance their focus, but their willpower had grown with every moment they had spent sharpening their mastery.

The flow of battle shifted as they adapted, as they pit experience against raw power, in their fight against the two. As they leaned on their great willpower to produce something that was very near perfection. They knew that every step could mean the end of the battle, that they could afford nothing less than perfect if they were to win. And that was what they demonstrated. Every step, every move, every attack, every block and counterattack, were beautifully executed. To such an extent that their actions resonated with the world itself.

And soon, the two were pushed back, their resolves was broken and doubt came into their mind. They were stronger, there was no doubt about it, but they were losing nevertheless. They didn't understand it, they were still young, they had not yet reached this step of their journey after all.

The six pushed them and then struck the two down, standing above them, their Souls filled with glory and contentment. Their battle won, and their reward arrived.