BA3 - Chapter 16

The Sonma physicians departed Anbura the next morning when it was clear I was not in real danger. They wanted time to study the effects the shūspekta had on me, but Woong-ji had declined. We would run our own tests and provide them with the details—though I doubted there was much honesty to that.

Building the third core band in a single day was a legendary feat, one Kokyu was familiar with from history. Their records were so old it was difficult to tell truth from fable, but I had proved the possibility to be a reality. How had I—a teen with only two bands—survived that much energy, they wondered? I had no doubt my connection with Mae was the reason and had a feeling Woong-ji knew the same.

Breakfast came with excited pats on the shoulder and looks of awe. The news of our battle with the shūspekta had spread like wildfire through the school. It was comforting at least to know Bastion had that in common with Anbura. The gossip mill turned no matter where I was.

We had finished the week of integration, which meant we were free to sit with our classmates. Most Bastions did, and so it wasn’t out of the ordinary for the five of us to crowd around a table as soon as I escaped the pats on the back. Hana cast a ry shield around the table, obscuring our words and faces in a clever deception.

“You’re wrong, and he’s going to get us killed,” Shin-soo blurted angrily before we were even seated comfortably.

“Good morning,” Cho said, not willing to forego the kindnesses of morning greetings despite Shin-soo jumping to the point.

I sighed. “All I’ve asked for is a picture. He has no evidence of our plan, nor does he know one exists. We have yet to take any action, and therefore there’s nothing to incriminate us.”

“How did you sleep?” Cho asked Yuri across the table, trying to cut through our conversation.

I put my hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Cho. We have limited time and need to come to a resolution on our next step.”

He nodded and folded his hands on the table.

Shin-soo leaned in and whispered. “Ko-nah can read thoughts, just like the instructors, and he’ll know what was going through your mind when you asked for the frame.”

“I felt him try to invade my mind when I walked into the dining hall for the first time and he failed,” I fired back.

Yuri nodded. “We advanced our mental shield_tk to the point of a fifth year.

“As much as I don’t want to work with Ko-nah—” Hana snarled his name—“he might be the only way to get that frame back. We need it.”

“What if he holds it ransom?” Shin-soo asked flustered.

“Then we’re right back here with no harm done. So, what are we going to do if we can’t get it back?” I asked, looking to each of my friends in turn.

Yuri blew all the air from her lungs in a raspberry. “Sneak out of Anbura and invade his warehouse?”

Shin-soo rolled his eyes with a tut and Hana was fast to follow his lead.

“No, that’s good,” I said, correcting their reaction. “Every idea needs to be spoken. How else are we going to figure this out if we don’t talk to one another?”

Cho sighed. “On the next rest day, when we’re doing community chores, we could engage the locals to talk about what’s been going on.”

“You may as well wear a sign that says, I’m investigating your political leaders and testing your country for instability,” Shin-soo said with a groan.

I crossed my arms. “Fine, what’s your idea?”

All eyes at the table fell on Shin-soo and he shrank down. “I don’t have one that’s not stupid yet.”

“What’s your stupid one?” Hana asked.

Shin-soo looked away, grinding his jaw side to side. “Ask Dokun for a tour,” he mumbled.

The words struck me like lightning. Of course! We were here to learn. We could easily ask to tour the TK_Dokun Tech Corp without implicating anything insidious. A tour would at least get us access to the things Dokun would feel comfortable showing potential enemies, then Mae and I could take it from there.

“That’s a pretty good idea,” I said with a nod to Shin-soo.

He sneered at me. “Whatever.”

“No, I’m serious. Woong-ji can put in a word to Ena, get us a tour. If he says no, then we’re just back to square one and there was no harm done. We’re here to learn after all and TK_Dokun Corp has a lot to teach us. But if he says yes—”

“You and Mae can do your magical machina stuff and get into their bots,” Shin-soo finished excitedly.

I smiled. “Exactly.”

Yuri crossed her arms and nodded. “Not bad, new guy.”

“And if that doesn’t work, I think a midnight escape could,” I said with a glance at Hana. Her eyes sparkled for a brief moment and a smile pulled on her lips. She loved sneaking around. “The TK_shoot could be an easy way out, and we could leave ourselves a decent way back in—as long as no one is afraid of heights.”

“I don’t like working with Ko-nah. We should call it off. We have two good plans now,” Shin-soo said assertively.

I shook my head. “Neither of these plans are going to be as effective. The second, while possible, is downright dangerous. There’s a dozen or more things that could go wrong. We need that frame, and we need to keep thinking of other plans.”

It was our turn to join the breakfast line, and we left the ry shield with smiles. Cho questioned me about the shūspekta attack and I recounted the details to him and the other listening ears nearby. It seemed I was the new celebrity student, which wouldn’t do anything good for our mission, but if I talked out the tale too much, perhaps everyone would become bored with me.

Breakfast at our table passed with several more protests from Shin-soo until Hana silenced him with a colorful threat. I wanted to work with Ko-nah even less than Shin-soo did, but I knew he was our best bet at getting what we needed, with little chance of negative repercussion. The frame was locked and would only respond to my mental signature on the first use, which was why it was so critical to have not activated it.

The Bastion students were then introduction to the fundamentals that all Kokyu Primary students learned. We had our cores evaluated and I discovered while everyone was building bands, they didn’t all look like mine. Hana’s core bands were designed like stars, a heptahedron to my hexahedron.

I stared at the wonder of her silver sparkling bands. She’d built her blocks on the points of each peak and in the valley were secondary blocks. I wondered why she’d selected a duplicative design that wouldn’t allow her to create more intricate spells. She smiled and I realized I’d been staring too long, so I looked away.

Next was physical form. At Bastion we’d learned brute force techniques, but the Kokyu way was very smooth, and flowing. They moved from one posture to the next without pause, their arms and legs flexing and swaying. My muscles burned from the strain and I relished it. Bastion exercise was hard, but this was a new, and interesting form of exertion.

When the day’s classes were done, we were allowed to roam and relocate our bedding. I elected to find a spot with Cho and Shin-soo. Not long after we’d moved our gear, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a red-faced Ko-nah, and a stern-looking Genta—one of the students who had sat with me for the first meal at Anbura.

“We’re going to sleep here,” Genta said and forced his way in.

I likely could’ve stopped him, but I stepped aside. He gave Ko-nah a shove to the center of the room and closed the door. Genta flicked a burst of purple ry at the door that crawled up the warm wood and spread like creeping moss. It moved across the door, then over the walls, floor, and ceiling until we were completely encased in the ry munje. How had he cast so much in a single throw of his hand?

“We can’t wait any longer. What is your plan?” Genta asked the room.

I looked to Ko-nah. “What is he talking about?”

Genta growled and stepped toward me aggressively. “We’ve lost too many good people for you to keep playing dumb. I know why you’re here. My organization is how you got any of your information in the first place, so it’s time for you and your little ghost to cooperate.”

I kept my face still as stone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Genta’s hands flew up to my neck in a blur of black. There wasn’t time to think and I slapped away his grab on reflex. His eyes went wide, then he smirked. “You’ve been training beyond your class. What have you been preparing for?”

The question hung heavy over my head and tension traveled on the air. The silence dragged on and Genta’s eyes darted between us, seeking the answer that must’ve been plain on one of our faces.

Genta smiled and bobbed his head. “Busa-nan keeps its promises.”

“What did you tell them?” Shin-soo snarled and snatched Ko-nah by the collar of his robes.

“Shin-soo,” I warned him with a single glare, but he wasn’t looking.

“Nothing—”

“Liar!”

Before I could cross the room Shin-soo’s black glowing fist pummeled Ko-nah in the gut. The boy gasped and doubled over. I put a hand on Shin-soo’s shoulder as I stepped between him and Ko-nah.

“Stop,” I ordered and he hesitated. I had the enzo spell at the tips of my fingers, ready to zap him into submission.

“You’d defend this traitor?” Shin-soo whispered the accusation like a threat.

He was going to ruin everything. We had no idea who Genta was, or what his goals were, or who he worked with. We didn’t have enough information to reveal anything to this stranger, nor did we want to show our hand to Ko-nah. We’d taken enough risks as it was.

“We are guests of Anbura,” I said, trying to convey my meaning, without revealing more.

Shin-soo’s face morphed to disgust. “You would protect him after what he did to your family?”

“Mind your words,” Cho warned.

“Enough bickering, we have more important things to discuss,” Genta said, annoyance thick in his words.

Shin-soo’s face flushed with anger and his eyes shifted to the older student. “Go fight your own battles. We’ve got more than enough with Dokun—Ah!”

I discharged a tiny jolt of electricity into Shin-soo’s shoulder. It wasn’t enough to put him down, but a good reminder to keep his mouth shut. His zo-blackened eyes locked on me and his chest heaved. The veins in his forehead pulsed and my hand burned on his shoulder from the heat of zo surging through his body.

“Calm down,” I whispered.

I didn’t see the hit that smashed into my gut but felt it all the way through to my spine. I dropped to one knee and sucked in a gasp as the agony blossomed up my back and chest, seeking the fastest way to my brain. He’d used a ryzo spell that amplified the pain signal to my nerves. I lost track of where Cho was, but heard the scuffle as punches flew.

With Mae’s help, I sucked down another breath and sent the counterspell of double zo through my stomach to collect Shin-soo’s amplifying nanites. A second later, Cho hit the ground next to me, but I was ready to get back in.

Shin-soo’s legs were a blur of black as he delivered a flurry of low kicks to my side. Zo flowed through my right arm and I reinforced it to be as strong as steel. His next kick hit my block with a solid snap, and he groaned as he fell back. I jumped to my feet and advanced on him.

“What are you doing? We’re your friends!” I yelled, outraged.

“No, you’re not!”

Heat boiled in my chest where Shin-soo’s spell burned. He swung for my head and I blocked, throwing his arm away and his feet off balance. I stepped forward, cycling the heat of my rage for another burst of enzo electricity. Shin-soo jabbed and took a step back. He was trying to keep me at arm’s reach without presenting a target for me to unleash my spell on.

“You’re just a controlling ganhan, with an ego bigger than your ugly scar,” Shin-soo jabbed with his words, too, and my heart pounded furiously.

His fist flared with bright ry and he attacked again. I squinted against the blinding light, then threw up my guard. He pummeled my forearms, then moved down to my gut, but I kept my guard tight, not letting a shot through. The bright spell faded, and he was open to counter—but I hesitated. Why was he doing this?

He laid into me again and I slapped away his advances, side stepping. I caught his wrist and pulled him in close. “Friends or not, we’re still your allies.”

“Yet you’d work with a traitor,” he said. He kneed me in the gut and pushed away. “I won’t die with you when he betrays us again.”

Shin-soo surged forward with a heavy punch. I blocked, releasing a zap of enzo where my forearm connected with his wrist. A tiny blue shimmer burst from his arm as my spell was deflected. He kicked and I shin blocked, then went on the attack.

I stepped forward with a flurry of palm strikes as I ducked and weaved through his attacks. Shin-soo was bigger, but I was faster. My palm struck his chest and I discharged my enzo spell again with no effect. He was too good at keeping his shield up. I needed another angle.

Sweat gathered on my forehead and I steadied my breathing to cycle for ry. If I couldn’t shock him into submission, I’d command him. Shin-soo took advantage of my lapse in focus and pushed forward. He kicked my side and I caught his leg, then locked his leg against my hip. I twisted, and delivered my own blow to his gut, sending staggering back several steps.

The double ry was ready, and I sent it to my throat, coating my words in a command spell. “Stop this madness!”

Shin-soo hesitated and his eyes lost focus for a fraction of a second. He brought his fists at the ready, a disgusted frown pulling at his lips. “You’re the crazy one, not me. Can’t you see that?”

I looked around for any aid. Ko-nah had gained his feet, but stood idly on the other side of the room, while Genta and Cho were nowhere to be seen.

“What do you suggest, kill him?” I asked, gesturing to the lone Ko-nah who’s forehead took on a worried wrinkle. “I want to see him punished and had half a mind to do it myself when I saw him, but that won’t help us. We have to think about our goal.”

“Lecturing me when all you think about is the inside of Hana’s thighs—”

Red-hot anger burned in my face and my feet carried me forward, fists flying before I knew what I was doing.

“Jiyong, don’t let him bait you!” Mae warned but I hardly heard her.

He blocked my first strike, and my second, black zo curling away from eat impact point like a munje explosion. All my power went into each hit and Mae flashed the temperature gauge in the corner of my vision. I advanced, but Shin-soo stayed on the offensive just as much. I ducked low under a right hook and spun, sweeping my heel across the floor. He jumped, but was caught off guard, and I followed with an upward palm strike. He jumped back, but was running out of space as we neared the edge of the room.

“Jiyong?” Hana yelled and I turned, surprised. “What—”

Pain radiated from the side of my head and I staggered from Shin-soo’s sucker punch. I hit the ground on my side and came up to an elbow. Shin-soo didn’t relent, his foot sailing toward my head. I blocked and pushed against his leg with enough force to get my ass off the ground, and my feet back under me.

“Stop, both of you!” Hana demanded and I felt the threading of a ry command in her tone. It wasn’t enough to stop Shin-soo, who’d taken on some animalistic, zo entranced rage. He was beyond reason, coming at me with his full power.

His arms shimmered as he used the disruption_TK method to hide the angle of his strike. Mae brought up a quick calculation in my vision to detect his possible range, but not before his fist struck my gut—despite my block. I grunted, but had layered my abdomen with double zo to strengthen for impact. It was all I could do to be on the defensive with Mae’s help.

Shin-soo punched, kicked, and kneed me into the corner while Ko-nah blocked Hana’s and Yuri’s path. I wasn’t certain why he wanted to see us fight—perhaps some sick revenge—or why Hana and Yuri had heeded his request, but they stayed out of it.

A flicker of red burst in my mind’s eye, drawing my attention from the fight for but a fraction. Shin-soo was getting faster, his attacks less powerful, but harder to block. The zo reinforcement on my chest was waning, all but used up. Why wasn’t Hana helping?

The spark of red twisted around my freshly forged third band, forcing a new block, one I’d not had the chance to investigate, over the center crystal. The two inner bands rotated away, allowing the single block an uninterrupted path to the core.

I tried to open my eyes, to refocus on Shin-soo, but it was as if the red munje wanted me to watch. It soaked into the golden band and ripped through the block. Pain lanced through my stomach as a tiny, focused beam of crimson light blasted my crystal. In an instant, it was over, and a larger pool of red munje flowed out the bottom of the crystal.

There wasn’t time to ask Mae what it was as Shin-soo’s fists hammered against my sides. I curled in on myself, making my gut a smaller target, while keeping my guard up to divert those blows away from my face.

The red munje flowed of its own accord down my arms. I opened my eyes to see Shin-soo’s next strike directed at my groin. Like lighting, I reached out and batted his hand away in a swooping gesture. His strike went wide, and red sparks flew from the contact.

Shin-soo staggered back, cradling his limp, right arm that leaked zo munje like a broken dam. He growled, swinging with his left arm and I blocked with my forearm. Another spark of red exploded from the impact and his arm went dead like the other.

“What have you done to me?” He demanded.

I stood in awe, unsure of what to say. Then, visions of my Father fighting Bo in the garden flashed in my mind. The red explosions at each of his strikes that put her down in an instant came into focus and my face drained of color.

“I don’t know.”

“What is going on here!” The voice boomed over all thought and brought me to my knees.

Shin-soo collapsed to the ground and looked up from behind a sloppy bow. I held my hands overhead in surrender and looked to the Anbura Grandmaster, Ena. Her skin glowed a strange silvery purple, and she seemed to levitate a few centimeters off the ground. Ry munje flowed around her like a wild storm, pushing her robes and hair about in an unnatural way that horrified me. I averted my gaze.

“My deepest apologies, Grandmaster,” I said and turned to her. I put my head to the floor, my hands still held up in submission.

Shin-soo scooted up beside me, his arms still limp. “We were sparring,” he said, and I bit my tongue. Shin-soo had not treated me like the ally I was, but we couldn’t trust anyone from Anbura with any truth—though this lie was likely to be seen through easily. Better to say nothing at all.

“Rise,” Ena commanded in a calm voice.

When I lifted my head, the unnatural and terrifying munje display had ended, and I composed myself. I’d never seen Grandmaster Min-hwan do anything of the sort, even in our specialized training. We were out of our league.

Ena looked me in the eyes, then Shin-soo. “All of you will join me in the Grandmaster’s office. Genta, get the Bastion instructors.”

‘Mae, help me cycle to reinforce our TK_mental shield. I have a terrible feeling we’re about to test its limits.’