Chapter 164: Tempering a Bizarre Skill

Howard activated his Dream Ki in midair when surging towards Waxel at his maximum speed. 

Instantly, a sonic boom shot a large cloud of dust into the air. Howard seemed to morph into a line of light that completely surprised everyone watching and Waxel himself. He had originally had his arm behind his back, but instantly changed his mind. He took out one hand and used a finger to swat away an incoming punch from Howard.

Boom!

Waxel barely budged, but still felt his knees buckle from the powerful impact from Howard's fist. At the same time, he slightly smiled. Howard's strength had improved at least by 50 percent overnight and he could almost feel why.

Howard's eyes twinkled with what seemed to be his Dream Ki before he rapidly sent out a barrage of three fists. Instantly, the mountain behind Waxel seemed to slightly bulge before thousands of rocks shot into the air.

'Hah, did he get a huge insight or something about the eyes of life and death. However, it's still not enough! This is barely 13 percent of my strength!'

Waxel parried three of Howards attacks before he stepped off his back foot and seemed to blur. The next instant, he appeared behind Howard and gently touched him on the cheek.

A large white light from Howard's Dream Ki surged into his existence before a version of Howard shot into the distance while another one appeared behind Waxel. 

This was called Dream Deflection, and was more or less a skill that Howard used constantly, however, it had definitely improved. Waxel sighed and turned around with a slightly greater smile, and this time gently touched Howard's arm in order to stop his imcomming leg.

Boom!

Howard spun in the air and jumped back before wiping the sweat off his head. At the same time, he looked at Waxel and saw his brown-grey hair didn't have a single droplet of sweat. What an annoying man! How did he seem so calm!

'He's predicting my every move before it happens! Damn it! There has to be some way to trick him! Even when I was around Founder Arista I felt like she dropped her guard. What the hell is with this guy? He's like an endless well of strength that I can't seem to measure! Ugh, damn it! Why can't I figure out that damn feeling he realeases! Why?"

Howard was complaining internally about how hard it was to emulate Waxel using his Emperor Ki, however, he had no idea what skill he was trying to emulate. In the SS rank, there was many skills that had to be learned to even gleam the door to the SSS rank. And one of these just so happened to be the bridge between the lowest levels of the SS rank, and the middle rank.

This skill, however, was not an ordinary skill that anyone could learn and was almost impossible to emulate unless one was in the SS rank, and it was exactly what Waxel called the eyes of life and death. In the SS rank, there was a chance to strengthen every part of your body with a layer of Ki that even had the ability to amplify things that normally couldn't be changed. For example, by coating the eyes, you could gain the ability to actually see the world painted in different types of Ki, or you could even sense what moves would bring death or life.

This was precisely the type of skill that Waxel decided to store in his eye. When someone layered Ki on a body part, the information layered inside of it would become permanent. For instance, one could only learn the eye of life of death or the eye of Ki, which allowed one to see Ki of specific individuals. 

However, Howard was literally breaking all the rules by not storing anything in his eyes, but using what he copied from Waxel to enhance them! Waxel was terrified of his potential! However, he wanted to sharpen him into the finest jade!

"Wrong!" Waxel grabbed Howard's foot when it passed by his head and turned.

Howard instantly got released from his grasp and flew into the side of a mountain. Blood shot out of his mouth before he almost instantly felt his consciousness begin to slip.

However, at the same time, he could almost feel his excitement skyrocketing. He almost had it! He almost had a way to penetrate that bastards damn defense!

"That's enough! Stop it!" Waxel screamed while Howard slowly got up with his arm completely drooping from his shoulder. "You already made me use 16 percent of my strength! Don't make me use more!"

"Heh, but I'm fine!" Howard activated Fire King's Sprint while dozens of Fire beams spiraled around his body. The next moment, he seemed to grow a massive scorpion tail of Ki that turned into a fist. He was going to do it! He was going to surprise him and at least get him to trip!

'Come on! Don't look behind you!' Howard smiled while two small swords of the Fire Legionnaire slowly came out of the ground. They were moving so slowly that he was certain the massive attack he'd created would distract him. "This is it, my new ultimate attack! Scorpion Tail Ignition!"

In a flash, Howard shot in front of Waxel and spun in the air one massive attack and one small attack coming at Waxel. The small sword of the fire legionnaire arrived right at his shoulder while the much larger Scorpion tail from Howard's back rocketed forward.

'Just hit him! Please! Hit him!"

"Nice try!" Waxel side stepped Howard's scorpion tail while a smirk appeared on his face. "However, you tried that yesterday! Get lost!"

Boom!

Howard watched a fist travel right through his scorpion tail and hit him in the gut before he flew into the distance and crashed into a nearby mountain. His entire body turned into a pancake while a large smile appeared on his face.

A small grey hair, the only gray hair, on Waxel's body fell down to the floor.

Looking behind him, Waxel watched his ponytail fall off his head while a small flaming sword gently poked him in the cheek.

"Hehe, I gave you a haircut."

"You-you little shit! Hahahaha! You-you're going to pay for that! Now come here so I can kick your ass!"

"No way," Howard activated Fire King Sprint and laughed when running in the opposite direction. "I won because I finally hit you, hahaha! No way I'm letting you get close to me!"

"Idiot, that's the first time I laughed in three weeks," Inla smiled and watched Howard get instantly crushed by Waxel before he made it a foot away. "However, I take it I can't go with you. No Authoritarian girl would ever be allowed in Horned Nation and any other nation. I guess it's time to learn to be alone."

###

Howard woke up the next day with Inla on his chest.

He'd been planning on leaving the previous day, but Waxel wanted to do some more training. However, he couldn't help but want to kiss Inla over every visible inch of her body. She was so beautiful even with the sadness welled up in her eyes. Who knew that sadness could be so attractive?

"I'm sorry I have to leave."

"It's alright," Inla said with a smile. "I knew you were going to leave. However, remember our promise, you're coming back to marry me, right?"

"I'll be back," Howard nodded his head. "I'll be back after I completely and utterly crush the Arthraku. I talked to Waxel and he thinks I'm starting to be able to predict moves better. I'm guessing this will be very valuable against the Arthraku."

"I'm sure it will, however, what attacks can you use on a poor defenseless girl on the last hour before you leave,"Inla bit her lip and pulled Howard into her embrace. "Why don't you show me?"

"Hehe," Howard smothered Inla with her lips and slowly let the warmth of her body overwhelm him. "I-I'm going to show you Howard's ultimate romance attack! Your neck will be bruised for weeks! Just wait."

"I'm ready!" Inla cranked her head back and watched Howards' handsome lips crash against her neck. She blushed and rubbed him with a smile on her face. "Let's just hope this feeling lasts when you're gone. Otherwise, I might be crushed," She muttered quietly enough that Howard couldn't hear her. "I-I like you Howard. Please give them hell."

###

Oclen and Maclan flew in the air above 1000 Monster Valley when the felt Howard finally about to depart.

Because of their keen senses, they were able to keep track of Howard at all times even when he was training. However, this also meant they could detect the energy of the person he was training with. That Authoritarian had to be at least in the peak of the SS rank!

"That monster he was with is terrifying. I think when we get back home we might have to warn my father."

"Is he really that intimidating? What are you so afraid of?" Maclan sighed and looked at his small wings to his side. "Ugh, and I also hate this form! This is the second Authoritarian we ever fused with, and the only one that is mandatory by the Arthraku!"

"Shut up and focus! As soon as he gets beyond that mountainpass, we're going to attack him with all we got! I can't use my eighteen Eyed Jugerrnaut right now so we must do what we practiced while visualizing! Kill him in 5 seconds! Do you hear me Maclan! He can't activate that silver flame, nor do anything mysterious in 5 seconds! After that window is over, our odds of winning drop down to 80 percent! We can't let that happen!"

"No worries," Maclan saw Howard start to run away from the 56th Mountain Pass, "I'll attack just where you taught me to. Promise."