A Failed Attack?

Still standing on the balcony, the King of Saul stared at the man sitting on his roof.

"Who are you?" the King shouted fiercely "and what have you done to my people?"

"There's no need for you to know," the man replied, "soon, you'll be asleep just like them."

Before Saul could move, the man on the roof disappeared and, in his place, there was a small crater.

"Where'd he go?" Saul whispered to himself, preparing for an attack.

Saul caught a glimpse of a yellow flash in one of the diamonds that decorated his palace.

Just before the man could strike, the sickening sound of bones crunching filled the air.

A large white bone in the shape of a shied ripped through Saul's back and emerged from his clothing, blocking the man's blade.

"You're even weirder than David," the man said with a grimace.

Distracted by Saul's odd defensive tactic, the man didn't notice the skeletonized forearm that emerged from Saul's shield.

The forearm formed a fist and slammed into the man's chest, sending him soaring backward.

After flying for several miles and crashing through countless buildings and structures, the man's momentum finally stopped when he slammed into a prana-reinforced concrete wall.

He got to his feet and observed his surroundings.

He was at the bottom of a circular-shaped structure. The white building had countless entrance gates surrounding it from top to bottom. And, inside the building, hundreds of circular rows of seats enclosed the arena in the middle.

"This looks like Avalon's coliseum," the man remarked.

King Saul abruptly stepped through one of the entrance gates.

"This is Coliseum of Saul," he said as he removed his royal mantle and crown, "where our awakening ceremonies take place."

There was a tear in the mantle, where the bones had emerged.

He tossed the items aside, now only wearing his black surcoat.

"If this is where your awakening ceremonies take place," the man asked, "Then where is your signed elite?"

Saul replied, "I'm both the signed elite and king of Saul."

"That blade of yours," Saul said, pointing to the man's yellow blade, "It drains stamina, doesn't it?"

The man didn't respond.

"I'll take that as a yes," Saul said.

The same sound of bones cracking once again filled the air. Long, white, prana-infused bones appeared out of Saul's palms and, he shoved his hands into the coliseum floor.

The entrances and the top of the coliseum were now closed by Saul's bones.

Saul left one small opening at the top of the coliseum for sunlight to leak in but excluding that, there was no escape.

"Not only are those ultradense bones infused with my prana but, the coliseum's walls are as well," Saul explained, "escape is impossible."

"I don't plan on escaping," the man replied, "I, Koji the speedster, will defeat you here."

"Speed Prana: x100!"

A large crater formed where Koji was standing and, he acted swiftly.

"He's fast," Saul said, struggling to keep up with Koji's whereabouts.

"Bone Prana: Skull Soldiers!"

Saul stretched his arm out, and various white bones shot out of his palms.

The bones began to come together, forming hundreds of skeletons.

Koji sprinted through the coliseum, slicing skeletons with his blade and racing toward King Saul.

The more skeletons he sliced, the more there seemed to be.

Koji noticed that each skeleton he sliced rebuilt itself using the bones he had cut.

"There's no end to these skeletons," Koji muttered, "I'll have to get to Saul himself."

"Speed Prana: x200!"

With his skeleton soldiers surrounding him, Saul watched as Koji zoomed back and forth.

"I can barely keep up with his speed as is," Saul said, "with that blade draining my stamina and filling his, I'll have to end this quick."

"I can probably only use both of my ririsu abilities once. I just need to create an opening and, it's practically over."

Predicting the attack, Saul narrowly ducked under Koji's blade.

Although Saul dodged Koji's blade, Koji adjusted his free hand and punched Saul in the stomach.

Saul dropped to his knees, coughing up blood.

More skeletons began to crowd around Saul, giving him time to strike.

Koji watched as the growing crowd of skeletons increased the distance between him and Saul.

"They're all crowding around him," Koji evaluated, "I'll have to cut through all of them."

"Speed Prana: x1000!"

At the center of the crowd of skeletons, ignoring the pain from Koji's blow, Saul forced his hand into the ground.

"Bone Prana: Bone Forest!"

Large, prana-infused bones emerged from every part of the coliseum floor and, they struck Saul's skeletons.

Koji lept as high as he could, avoiding the bones and nearly reaching the roof of the coliseum.

While in the air, he looked down at the forest of bones.

As the bones made contact with Saul's skeletons, the once white and healthy bones deteriorated upon impact.

"When I infuse my bones with prana," Saul explained, "they become such lethal weapons that even if they hit just your skin, they'll disintegrate your entire skeleton, leaving you as a sack of skin."

"Well, good thing I'm up here!" Koji shouted from high up in the air.

"Yes," Saul said, "that's why you're finished."

"Was that a decoy?" Koji said, confused.

Saul stretched his arm up and formed a fist.

"Although I don't have the energy to infuse the bones with prana, I can use those bones on the roof to extend my reach and create regular bones."

"Bone Prana: Bone Coffin!"

New bones began to emerge from the ones on the roof and, they swooped down and enclosed Koji.

Still in the air, Koji was now confined in Saul's bone coffin.

"Now," Saul said, "all that's left is to make sure that he's finished."

Saul clapped his hands together.

"Ririsu Prana: Limitless World!"

Koji appeared in a flat world.

He looked around, unsure of where he was.

He stared into the distance. Still unsure, he picked up his blade and dashed forward.

Eventually stopping after he seemingly made no progress, Koji said, "Is this place infinite?"

Koji attempted to manipulate his prana to speed up his search but, nothing happened.

Saul suddenly appeared behind Koji.

"In this limitless world," Saul clarified, "only I can manipulate my prana."

"You randomly attacked my country and my people," Saul said, "for that, I won't show any mercy."

"Ririsu Prana: World Eater!"

Saul disappeared and, the world suddenly grew dark.

Unable to see, Koji could only hear the echo of Saul's voice.

"World Eater is an attack that goes beyond space and time to eat its target at unmatched speeds."

"It'll be impossible for you to escape this without your prana."

Back in the country of Ventura, the King stared at the white-haired man floating above his country.

"Who are you?" the King shouted.

"Could you give me a second?" the man replied, seemingly uninterested by the King, "I'm enjoying the weather."

"Give you a second?" the furious King shouted, "you froze my entire country and, now you're asking me to give you a second?"

"It wasn't intentional," the man replied, "what you're seeing is an attribute of my ice prana."

"I call it winter's touch."

"Anyone or thing in my vicinity that has a weak aura or no aura at all will immediately be frozen due to not being able to withstand my frosty aura."

"Being honest," the man continued, "all it means is that your people are weak."

"Weak?" the enraged King shouted. His voice echoed around the country, cracking some of the ice.

"I'll show you weak!"

The man floating in the air stared at the King. His sky blue eyes and uninterested expression increased the King's anger.

The King tore off his royal mantle and tossed his crown into the distance.

He had on a gray surcoat with many cigars strapped to his belt.

The King removed one of the cigars and put it in his mouth. As the cigar touched his lips, it immediately lit up.

"Smoke Prana: Smolder!"

A thick blast of gray smoke shot out of the King's cigar.

The attack quickly reached the man in the air.

Before it could make contact, the smoke suddenly stopped, frozen in the air.

"Did he just freeze my smoke," King Ventura said, "I guess long-range is pointless?"

"I'll have to try to catch him up close."

Ventura vaulted over the railing of his balcony and flew towards his idle opponent.

"Smoke Prana: Smoke Burst!"

Gray smoke began to swirl around Ventura's arms and, once he was within range, he stretched his arms forward.

From each arm, a burst of thick smoke fired at the intruder.

The man flicked his wrist.

"Ice Prana: Flash Freeze!"

A large blast of ice shot slammed into the beams of smoke.

The consequential explosion sent the fighters soaring, far away from Ventura's palace.

The man landed in a frozen, flat grassland on the outskirts of Ventura.

He looked around but saw no sign of the King.

The air suddenly filled with Ventura's voice, "what is your name?"

"Sergio," the man answered.

"Well, Sergio," Ventura continued, "one breath of this toxic smoke and your body will completely shut down."

As Ventura said this, smoke filled the air. So thick that nothing could be seen.

Surrounded by smoke, Sergio began to lean on his sensory skills.

He sensed thick balls of condensed prana coming at him in every direction.

Sergio expertly evaded all of the attacks.

The smoke began to dissipate, and just as Sergio could see, he felt a hand touch the back of his head.

Realizing who it was, Sergio's eyes grew wide.

"All I had to do was hide in my smoke," Ventura said, "since my smoke and I have the same aura, you couldn't differentiate us."

"Now, this type of smoke is so toxic that it erodes the body upon impact."

"Smoke Prana: Toxic Fumes!"