Chapter 75: Vega Problems
I froze, a ball of blue energy for once rocketing out of my hands and slamming into the wall. A similar red one flew over my head, but I barely noticed it.
I turned mechanically towards Master, his face more than ever a mask of pure stone.
"What… did you just say?"
I could practically feel a bonfire of raw aggression, pain, heat, and hatred nearby. I'd recognize the burning intensity of Vincent Valorious even if I couldn't sense his Ki exploding.
I was no different.
My heart hammered in my chest as my mind fully, truly, took in the statement. As my brain tried to compute it, tried to understand, tried to realize what the fuck I had just heard. Master was gracious enough to say it again.
"Vega is in the City."
Four years. I had been in this damned city for four years. And not once had Vega actually appeared in person in it. Not that I knew. The only time he was even rumored to appear was at the World Tournament in summer and even then, the victors of that hell were taken somewhere else far away to meet him.
For him to actually be here…
""Where is he?"" Two voices of raw pain and heat echoed outwards.
My own stare of pure hatred met the Master's icy stone mask and I did. Not. Falter.
"You have to tell us."
"I don't have to do anything. In fact, you two idiot disciples, this is exactly why I'm telling you. Asking you two to stay calm and collected while he's here is a fool's errand. Worse, he's visiting Dojos to assess some of their students. There's a very real possibility you meet him in person at this current rate. An absolutely deadly affair. If you truly attack him with the intent to kill, he will kill you."
I stared, struck dumb, my eyes shaking as my whole body seemed to lock myself away.
I was… going to meet Vega? Vega… could… come… here? He could be within reach. In person. In front of me.
I felt my Ki skyrocket in intensity as every vein in my body grew agitated all at once. My heart beat like a drum, then a jet engine, and finally into such strength and speed that a dull roar could be heard. I felt heat flow through me as hatred, pure and utter hatred overtook me.
"I'm going to kill him."
"No-"
I moved past Master, towards the stairs. I'm going to find, I'm going to find him and kill him. I'm going to rip him to shreds. Tear out his entrails. Vaporize his cruel mocking face. Kill him. Kill him. KILL HIM! KILL HIM!
A force pressed me down but I did not stop. It pressed harder and harder and I found my feet not moving a step. Yet still I pressed onwards. My eyes threatened to explode and muscles started to tear as-
A small tsunami of ice cold water hit me in the face. Not just freezing, but far far below.
I sputtered, shocked, and cooled to my bones.
"Stop you two idiots." Master said, exasperation in his voice.
Only now did I realize that Vincent was right beside me, looking just as angry and also spluttering, soaked.
"Master-"
"No. Breathe. Take a breath, the both of you. Meditate."
I wanted to do anything but and even the force of Master's Ki, his intense deathly glare, and my ice cold and soaked body weren't enough to convince me otherwise. It was only my latent survival instinct kicking in that told me to do otherwise was death. Even that nearly failed and faltered.
With an ache that went all the way to the soul… I sat. I sat and tried to meditate.
Immediately there was only rage.
He killed my family. He killed everyone! He murdered them all! He killed my mother. Shot her through the HEART! Blasted my father's head to PIECES! He has to-
Water. Ice cold water. Steam coming off my body. Hatred. Hatred. HATRED. HATRED.
He has to die. He has to die. He has… to die. He has… to….. die.
He…
He will kill me. Who cares? I'll kill him! I'll… die. He will kill me. I'll die then! I don't care. Even if I have to die, I'll fucking kill him. I'll….
I…
I…
I… won't… succeed. I'll fail. I'll die and he will live. I'll… fail.
I'm…
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I'm too weak.
"He'll kill me." I said, lifelessly. My emotions felt drained, sapped. Dead. I sat in the coldest cold I'd ever known, in a small pool's worth of ice cold water. Steam radiated off my form even as ice crystals formed on my clothes.
Master didn't say anything, merely looking to my right. I didn't even need to turn my head to see Vincent's rage. It was a physical presence all on its own, far above mine. He wasn't getting it under control. Not this time. Not now. Not so fresh in his mind Vega was. Master waited however, waited for that rage to boil over, waited for Vincent to explode.
And then dumped more water on him.
It simply appeared above him. So cold it actually stung and hurt. So cold it was like my very soul was being doused. This wasn't normal water. Not by any means. My lethargy wasn't just my own, I could feel it, this creeping poison of a liquid seeping into me, taking away my cares and motivation. Yet my rage shown through. Even now, it was like an engine that was refusing to die, even as it slowed to a crawl, a glacial pace, a…
A frozen moment of time.
I watched, detached, as my Ki surged through me and slowed and slowed. Inspirations sparked but I ignored them. As my thoughts and body slowed, I could only watch. And I watched, as achingly eternally, Vincent seemed to freeze and chill. His very veins, his very blood, literally turning to ice before his anger finally cooled down enough for him to return to his senses.
"Good. You'll need a few hours in the healing tank but that's a small price to pay to keep you two alive. Mutai already said it Vincent. If you try to fight him now… you will die. You have no chance. You are too weak and will remain too weak for decades to come, at least. It's too early. You will only achieve your own deaths if you two go off half cocked like you are right now. Worse, for you two perhaps, you will fail at killing Vega. Is that what you want? To die and see Vega live Eternally forevermore?"
There was a weird and strange heat inside Master. Like a spice almost. Not a proper anger but I didn't know how to describe it any better, not as I was now. He understood… but he wasn't happy we had almost gotten ourselves killed with our emotions.
But I cared about that so little an ant couldn't have found the fuck I gave.
No, it was his last words that only mattered to me.
Vega. Eternally. Forevermore.
No, no that was unacceptable.
"I have to… kill him!" Vincent screamed.
"You can't. You are unable to. You are too weak." Master was infuriating but hadn't stopped beating us down with facts and logic. In the cold soul chilling of the cursed water, it was almost working.
Vincent roared, an ear shattering loud sound, cracking the ice around me. His Ki surged all around him, somehow breaking the floor and walls, before he fell silent, the rage finally simmering to just a boiling lake of lava.
"Finally."
Master said, before sitting down and staring at us. His face was impassive but there was an intensity unlike any other there. No casualness to be seen. Just a pure intensity, somehow like a naked blade.
"You both have grown but not that far. You are not ready for Vega. Not at all. He will slaughter you. And what a waste of my time that would be for me. All this training, for nothing. So, since you can't hold and take care of your emotions, there's only going to be one answer."
"You two must leave the city."
My eyes widened. Leave… the city? I… I thought it would definitely happen one day, I couldn't train under Master forever but… now?! Where were we even going?
"A plane takes off for New Thread City in about five hours. Enough time for me to heal you both up from the Soul Cold, give you one final lesson, and tell you your training mission while there."
"Mission?" I asked.
"What about Vega?" Vincent said, his rage coming through loud and clear even through the cold icy chill of death.
"He will be finished with his business sooner or later. After your mission, you can return here. By that time, he should hopefully be done going by the Dojos."
"We're running away." My voice said, a strange mix of heated and dead. This damn cold… it's… it's really killing me huh…
Thoughts… my thoughts were slowing. My veins turning to ice. Dying… I'm dying. So… so cold…
And we were… running away…
"No, not quite. Running away would mean you two have some spark of intelligence in those empty minds of yours. No, you're being kicked out because I can't trust you two to literally survive without me in this case."
He shook his head and Vincent roared, even as Master ignored him.
"Heal up, cool off some more, and I'll tell you more when you're fresh and ready for your trip."
"NO! I REFUSE! Master, how can you expect me to just, to just, let this go?! He's here. He's right here! And you want us to just… ignore that?!" Vincent screamed.
"Vincent. Tell me, can you win? Can you even hurt him or touch him? Can you so much as look at him, if he doesn't want you to? I have made no secret of it. I want Vega dead just as much as you two. No, perhaps more. Your anger… it's a child's anger. Righteous and strong but young."
Master's voice took on an odd, old inflection. The weight of years seemed to crash down upon him, like a weathered stone scorched all the way down to nothingness yet still remaining standing. An obelisk. A mountain. Always enduring, always resisting, always remaining.
"I have wanted him dead for centuries."
I shivered, the weight of pure time pressing my already cold body into the ground.
Master waved his hand-
And just like that, I found myself floating in my healing tank. Cool blue healing fluid surrounded me, feeling like the heat of the sun compared to the water that was still on top of me. Life began to return to my dying body, but none of that mattered right now. Heat, cold, soul death, chill, running away. None of that was important. All that mattered was…
Vega.
You're here.
You're coming here.
So many thoughts floated through me but my mind spun over and over and over on those ones. I would kill him. I would. But… I was too weak.
Always too weak.
Never strong enough. Always too weak. Every single time. Time and time and time again. Always. Pathetic. I've grown! Over fifty times stronger and faster and more durable than I ever was! And yet…
What was a slightly bigger ant to a god?
I'll kill you Vega. I'll fucking kill you. I'll…
I'll get stronger. Just you wait.
Your time will come.
One day… I will kill you.