Chapter 7

1922, somewhere in Kansas...

Sunlight shines through the Kansas forest. Silence is the only thing that fills the forest, not even the slightest rustle from the wind could he heard. The tense feeling in the air throughout the woods could be cut by a knife.

A blur passes through the trees with little effort. A few yards away two other figures are on the tail of the first one.

All three of the blurs run through the forest occasionally jumping from tree to tree. With incredible speed they tread a mile into the forest in just a few minutes. All of a sudden the first blur stops.

Light shines where the blur had stopped illuminting the person. The boy had grown taller by a foot during two years. His jet black hair was just passed through the middle of his ear, and his sea green eyes burned with more mirth.

Through his tan colored cloak it was evident that he had grown more muscular. His grey slacks held the sheaths for his personal daggers. Percy was far from the kid he was two years ago.

The two blurs following him stopped a yard away also being illuminated by the sun. Two five foot tall tigers were the creature hunting the boy. These tigers were something like out of a horror film. Their flesh melted off their skin, bald spots on their body from their hair falling off in patches.

The one on the left had only half of its face, with the other half only being bones and teeth. To the creatures left the tiger's forelegs were just pure bones. Percy looked at the monster like creatures and smirked.

"Finally some good prey, Xander must have sent better ones this time." Percy took out his right knife and twirled it. The lions growled lowly but didn't move from their spots.

Percy pointed at the lion on the right. "I'm going to call you Joe-", then he pointed at the one on the left, "-and you Bob." Both lions didn't understand the boy so they just kept on staring and growling at him.

Joe let out a loud roar before he lunged at Percy. The jet black haired kid jumped above the lion, then he used his hand to push himself off Joe and land behind him. Bob had already moved towards Percy sending a paw in his direction. The boy ducked and spun at the same time. He switched his knife to his right hand then slashed the lions right foreleg.

Bob roared in pain then snapped his jaws at Percy. He expertly back handspringed away from the jaws. A flash of brown caught Percy's eye, Joe's paw swung at Percy. The attack made contact sending Percy crashing into a tree.

The boy began to laugh as he picked himself off the ground. He dusted himself off then got into a semi-defensive stance. "Good! Good!" With a slight crazed look in his eye Percy started to pump out his aura. The blood red substance surrounded his body making him look menacing.

"Auraic Body." Percy's voice said out loud. He sheathed his knife and ran forward towards the lions. Once in front of Joe the boy roundhouse kicked the tiger in the face sending him tumbling to the ground. Bob tried to bite his head off from behind, but Percy ducked low. Spinning on his heels Percy brought his fist up and uppercutted the tiger flinging him into the air.

Percy was having a blast, he hadn't had a good fight in over two years. Xander had always pit weak low ranked monsters against him but today was different. When Percy had fought versus the Minotaur, Ahuizotl, and Nue something inside him burst. All of his anger, worries, and everything negative was released as he was fighting. So now he had an insatiable bloodlust.

Adrenaline and bloodlust took over making him more stronger and savage. Everything became a nonexistent except totally destroying his opponent.

Bob swung his claws at Percy. The boy caught the bony arm then with his other arm he snapped it like a twig. Half of the creatures arm fell to the ground shattered into little pieces. The tiger groaned in pain the fell to its side. Seeing its comrade fall Joe the tiger had become enraged.

The tiger ran at Percy as the boy was going to deliver the finishing blow to Bob. Within striking distance Joe was going to bury his claws into Percy but something happened. A second before Joe was thinking about clawing Percy, the boy had in a flash turned around. He threw a haymaker at the tiger's face shattering its jaw and teeth.

The tiger was stunned at the speed and strength the boy possessed, but unfortunatly Percy wasn't finished. Percy grabbed the tigers face then pushed it towards his knee that was flying directly upwards. The knee connected with Joe's face caving his nose in.

The tiger groaned before it fell to the ground. Percy unsheathed both of his knives, he walked up to Bob and plunged both of the blades through his head. The incredible warrior watched as the life faded from the tiger's eyes.

The boy turned to the second tiger. Joes eyes were filled with anger, but anger from him being bested by Percy. Black blades pierced Joe's head before Percy wiped his knives on his slacks.

Percy then started to walk back from where he came. There was no clear path but he knew exactly where he was going. After half an hour of walking he came to the part of the forest where it connected to the mountain.

The boy wasted no time in running up the mountain. He got to the top of the mountain where somebody was waiting for him. Xander was standing in front of the entrance of his lair with his usual long robes.

"That was a good fight, finally you sent me some real competition." Percy said to the stoic man.

The white haired male just raised an eyebrow and sighed loudly. "You were pestering me about it all month so I decided it was time."

Percy grinned sheepishly. It was true that he had kept on telling Xander to send him more stronger opponents. Every time he had a chance he would have brought it up, until he made Xander cave.

"Well you won, and for that I congratulate you. But there is something more important we need to discuss." Percy was slightly intrigued on the mysteriousness of the situation.

"Alright then let's go inside." Both of them walked through the stone formation and inside Xander's "house". Percy was met with a confusing sight as his eyes adjusted to the light from the inside of the room. He was in the middle of the colosseum just like two years ago. But this time he had his weapons on him.

"Oh you grew, finally. I thought you would stay a shrimp forever." A familiar voice say from behind the jet black haired boy surprising him.

Percy turns around and comes face to face with his mentor, teacher, and friend. "Emilio, when did you get here?" The boys voice is filled with joy, seeing his teacher for the first time in two years made him feel very happy.

Emilio merely smirked at the boy. The man's arm moves but can only be seen as a blur to the naked eye. Instincts immediately took over and Percy unsheathes his knives and slashes the object that was coming at him out of the air. A small small knives fell to the ground making a small crater in the sand.

A huge grin formed on Percy's face. "Before anything I need to test you on how much you've improved these two years." Emilio said putting his hands back into his pockets.

Percy scanned him up and down. For some reason something felt different about his teacher. His brown coat seemed to move in the windless room, Percy could tell even through his grey pants that his legs were perfectly relaxed.

Nothing was being excluded from his body, no bloodlust nor anger but Percy still had a weird feeling about him. Emilio dissapeared then appeared right behind Percy. A roman short sword flew towards the boys head. He quickly ducked then pushed himself with his legs back a few feet.

The grin on his face got even bigger if that was even possible. He got up and shifted his posture into a defensive one. Dark red shadow like lights began to flow out of his body. As it completly surrounded him Percy felt his strength skyrocket.

"Let's get serious." The boy launched himself at his teacher with his right knife aimed at the throat. Emilio parried the knife then sidestepped avoiding the other one. Percy thrusted his right knife at Emilio, the man parried once again. Spinning Percy shifted his knife into an icepick formation and tried to cut his teachers chest. Emilio moved just enough to dodge the blade, then he swung his sword at Percy's neck.

Percy stopped the blade with his own. Then he used his left leg to front kick his teacher in the chest sending him flying. Before Emilio could get up the boy had appeared above him sending an ax kick down on him. The man pushed off the ground with his arms flinging himself backwards dodging the kick. Percy's kick was enough to make a crater of five feet deep, Emilio whistled slightly surprised by the boys strength.

"Finally I can go all out with you Percy." Waves of energy started to flow out of the mans body. Green aura whipped violently around Emilio before it settled down. His eyes turned into a emerald green color with small green lines running along the sclera.

Percy decided to get serious too. "Imperial form." The red aura began to wrap around the boy shrouding him completly. After a few seconds the aura dispersed showing a changed Percy. The boy's hair was now a light purple, white iris with dark violet sclera for a pair of eyes. The aura that had once flowing freely around his body had dissapeared.

The amount of pressure both of them gave out was enough to start shaking the colloseum. Emilio pointed his hand at Percy and made a 'come hither' movement with his fingers. With no hesitation Percy rushed at Emilio.

Before Emilio could even blink the boy was upon him sending a slash towards his chest. The man moved his sword upward parrying the blow. The force was so strong that a strong wind blew in all directions lifting the dirt into the air.

In a flash Emilio pushed his sword forward at the same time pushing Percy then punched the boy square in the chest. Percy was sent flying across the colosseum, through the ring wall then through more walls inside the underground chambers. In all Percy had flown through five walls.

Emilio stood in the exact spot he had been as he watched Percy get out of the first hole he had made practically unscathed. The boy brushed off some dust from his shoulders before he got into a defensive stance.

"Echelon 5, luminescent." A large magical circle appeared ten feet above Emilio. It shot out a ray of light with a circumference of ten feet. Emilio looked up at the ray of light coming down in him, and rather than being scared he had a huge grin on his face. The ray hit the ground blasting air and dirt everywhere shielding the place of impact.

Before the dust could dissipate Percy felt a hand grab the back of his head. The hand lifted him up then slammed him face first into the ground. When Percy's face hit the ground it made the ground crack and make a small crater.

The hand let go of his head, after that Percy pushed himself off the ground. He turned around to suddenly get a strong hook to the jaw. The boy flew just like before but this time he managed to stop himself by digging his feet into the ground. Small trenches were formed as Percy skidded to a stop.

A small stream of blood flowed down Percy's bottom lip. Across the colosseum Emilio was standing still while staring at the boy. Percy took a deep breath, he cleared his mind then proceeded to attack.

Percy used Enhanced Spectre to appear in front of Emilio. The boy proceeded to slash and stab at an incredible speed. Emilio dodged avoiding every attack that was sent at him. Emilio studied how Percy moved, and when he found an opening he took the chance for a counterattack.

The man threw his sword at Percy. The boy twisted to the side dodging the blade, in a split second Emilio had appeared right in front of him. Percy slashed both of his knives at him and instead of moving the man stopped the blades with his hands. The boy's eyes went wide with astonishment, he knew his teacher was strong but to stop his blades while he was in Imperial Form was something in of itself.

While still holding the blades Emilio brought up his left leg and slammed his foot onto Percy's solar plexus. The boy let go of the knives as he was sent again to the opposite side of the colosseum. Percy dropped down to one knee breathing heavily as he tried to regain himself.

"Come on Percy. We just barely started." Emilio said trying to taunt Percy. The taunt had worked, the boy got up with anger filled eyes and lifted up both of his hands into the sky. Tendrils of purple aura began to flare out of his body. The aura increased until the mere presence of it began to crack the ground beneath his feet.

"Take this! Spears of Downfall!" Emilio felt something above him. Dozens of dark purple jagged looking spears made of aura floated aimlessly. Then they began to fall at the speed of sound.

As the spears hit the ground they launched dirt and rock into the air blocking the view of Emilio's form. Within the dirt shielded place Emilio was having a hard time deflecting or stopping the attacks. They felt like two ton boulders had fallen from the sky.

Emilio made a green auraic blade to parry the spears. Occasionally one would pierce through his guard and wound him. After five minutes the seemingly endless attack had stopped.

At first Percy thought he had won. Of course he had used just enough power to not cause fatal wounds upon his teacher but there was enough power to incapacitate him. Once the dirt settled the boy could not believe what he saw.

Emilio was still standing, but was even more astounding was that he was practically unscathed. Only a few cuts here and there with parts of his clothes cut up. The auraic blade shined brilliantly before it dissapeared from Emilio's hand.

Somehow Peecy snapped out of his stupor and glared at his mentor. It was unbelievable how the man took on his one of his best attacks and ended up with just scratches. His teacher's strength seemed unreachable and unfathomable just like Xander's. It felt like even if he trained for a hundred years he would still not be able to reach him.

"Don't be discouraged Percy, I will not kill you so fight me until you cannot stand." Emilio pushed the boy to try harder. To him Percy blinded himself with his overconfidence without even realizing that he had unlimited potential. Potential that could someday even surpass him and grow to new heights.

Breathing hard Percy got into a fighting stance. He could barely lift up his hands but that didn't stop him from continuing his battle

"I will show you forty percent of my power, you deserve it."

The ground began to tremble as Emilio began to unleash more of his aura. Rocks started to levitate as the pressure of the man's power just kept increasing.

Moments later the shaking stop and Emilio's aura got under control. Percy was in mid blink as the man moved in front of him. Taken by surprise Percy sent a fist to Emilio's face by pure instinct.

Emilio moved his head to the side dodging the blow. Before Percy could do anything else he was hit on the face and chest almost simultaneously. Almost immediately he was grabbed by the shirt so he wouldn't fly away from the strong punches. Then another blow was dealt to his abdomen.

Percy doubled over in pain as he coughed up some blood. Blurry spots danced around his vision making him almost hypnotically slip into an unconscious state. Another blow to the face causing immense pain sent him rearing back and woke him up slightly.

Punch after punch the boy took them all unable to do anything. By the time the flurry of attacks had ended the boy was beaten badly. Cuts covered his body, blood flowed endlessly from his mouth, his right eye was practically nonexistent. Emilio had held back just enough for the wounds on his body would no critical injure Percy but would hurt quite a bit.

Xander at the top of the colosseum in the spectator's box, had watched the whole ordeal. The sight was cruel to him but it needed to be done. The boy had slacked off, his overconfidence in his strength hindered his progress. So the best thing was to literally beat some sense into him.

The boy in question was still standing upright an amazing feat considering how he had been beaten. His eyes were glazed over signaling that he had fallen unconscious a while ago. Emilio smirked at the boy, even while unconscious he was stubborn as hell. His hands were balled up into fists and the defiant look on his face reminded Emilio of a time when he was like that.

As Emilio signals for Xander to come down from the box something incredible happens. Percy's aura flares tremendously pushing Emilio back a few feet. Dark purple aura flares dramatically causing shockwaves through the whole room. Emilio watched in awe as Percy's wounds closed up. Dark purple flames burned on Percy's eyes making him look even more menacing than before.

The boy let out an animalistic roar before launching himself at Emilio. His strength was so immense he blasted rocks behind him just by pushing himself off the ground. His fist met Emilio's hand making a loud boom noise shaking the ground. Both males stood their ground as they tried to push each other. Emilio was holding back a bit so he used more strength to push Percy away making him skid a couple of feet away.

Percy jumped towards the man sending a roundhouse kick towards his head. Emilio lifted up his left arm taking the full brunt force of the attack. The power behind it was like being hit by a huge truck but it wasn't enough to deal any real damage to the man.

Emilio noticed that Percy had gotten much more faster and stronger. Emilio sent a punch his way but in mid air the boy bent himself back dodging the attack. Percy landed on his feet and almost immediately he sent a left hook at Emilio. Moving a few inches back Emilio managed to dodge the punch.

Flurries of punches came at Emilio at an incredible rate. Percy's speed and power only gave enough time for Emilio to dodge by inches or block the attacks with his body. Emilio successfully dodged a punch then went in for an attack of his own. He threw a right hook at the boy, Percy dodged just like how he had foreseen. Emilio then moved forward and bent his arm using his elbow to stike the boy's face.

Percy was caught by surprise, so he didn't have enough time to retaliate as Emilio began his counterattack. A knee drove itself into the boy warrior's abdomen, then an uppercut made contact with his chin sending him upwards into the air. Emilio turned into a blur as he jumped into the air above Percy. He sent a devastating ax kick to the kid's back sending back down to Earth.

The colosseum shook as Percy landed face down into the ground. Like as if nothing had happened Percy got up with an even more angry look on his face. "Damnit Percy! Give up before your own power consumes you!"

Words could not reach Percy in his current state. Emilio feared for the boy's life, if he did not end this in the next few minutes then he would be swallowed whole. The man used Spectre to move in front of Percy, cocking his arm back he sent a straight right aimed directly at his cheek. From a distance it had seemed that the fist had made contact but that was not the case. A second later Percy's afterimage dissapeared as the real Percy came into view on Emilio's right side.

A fist collided with Emilio's face sending him flying up into the rows of the colosseum. Emilio's body was dragged by the force of the punch making a large tench in the rows. Pieces of cement and limestone fell off the colosseum showing the extent of the damage both males had caused.

Emilio got up and cracked his neck in a "cool guy" type of way. Percy let out a growl before he used Enhanced Spectre to move towards the man. Halfway there while still moving at high speeds Percy was caught by something. "Heavenly Arts, Angel's Constraints." A voice had said just as the boy was stopped midair. White chains pulled Percy down slamming onto the colosseum floor. The chains began to wrap around the boy's body prohibiting most of his movement. Percy grabbed the chains and tried to break them but the more he tried the more the chains grew tighter.

Percy murderously glared at the person who suddenly appeared in front of him. Xander stared at the crazed kid with a stoic look on his as he walked up him. Percy kept on struggling even harder as the man approached him. Lifting his hand up Xander willed the chains to drop the boy down to his knees.

"How embarrassing, to think you would let your power take you over. Maybe my lessons didn't teach you anything? Should I just end your existence right now?"

Percy started to laugh softly, he looked up and gave Xander a smile. "No need for such a thing, I'm back to normal. This was just a one time thing, I was pretty mad about being beaten to a pulp by my teacher."

Xander snapped his fingers and the chains dissapeared. Getting up Percy stretched his arms, joints popped and cracked as he groaned in satisfaction. Emilio jumped from where he was and landed right next to Xander.

"Percy what the hell have I told you about letting your power get the best of you?" Emilio's tone was low and dangerous showing his apparent anger towards Percy's mishap.

The boy looked down disappointed in himself. He let his anger get the best of him, unconsciously he let his power go on a rampage as he watched the whole thing. He was merely along for the ride as his power and body moved on its own not even thinking twice in trying to critically wound his teacher.

"The reason is fought you was to show you how weak you were. I was sent messages from Xander saying how you slacked off and were so confident in your strength that you no longer used strategy nor your mind to beat your opponent. As I can see you have lost the little self control you've had, letting your own power control you is the most foolish thing you could do."

Emilio paused for a second so his words could sink in. "Percy I know how it is to feel so strong that you can do anything-" the man's tone became softer, "-but I've told you before no matter how strong you are, no matter how smart you are there will always room for improvement. I acknowledge your newfound strength, it makes me proud that you've grown so much during these two years. But you still have a lot to learn."

Emilio held put his hand. "And since I'm your teacher, I will continue to teach you all I know."

Percy took his hand and shook him firmly. The boy turned to look at Xander, he still had a stoic look on his face but he broke it by giving Percy a slight smirk.

The three of them walked out of the colosseum, out of the door and into the big dining room. Three cups of hot tea were already on the table. The three males sat down and began to converse. Emilio told of his adventures during his two years. How he destroyed a whole division of The Brotherhood somewhere inside of Connecticut.

Emilio told them how he managed to escape a bomb that had went off in a factory in Idaho. As Emilio told his stories Percy listened intently taking in everything the man said. After he had finished Percy began to tell his own tales

The boy began with how he managed to kill both the Minotaur and the Ahuizotl two years ago. Percy also told him about the Nue and how he was almost killed by the massive monster. Then he told about the Threshold Origin, showing him the back of his hands for dramatic effect. Percy enthusiastically talked for almost an hour before he finished.

Emilio had not once interrupted the boy, for he wanted to hear everything he had to say. At first he was slightly angry at Xander for sending such monsters to fight him. But then he remembered he had told the World Class Mage to not go easy on him.

"Well enough about our stories. I have some important information to share with you." Percy immediately perked up.

"I've finally found our the organization that had attacked your town. They are Eclipse, a secret organization that has been helping the Brotherhood for a few centuries. What is weird is that nobody has ever seen the leader of the organization, The Brotherhood either meets with the lackeys or with a captain. They've attacked many towns, and whenever I get to place they will attack I get just hours late. It's as if they know someone is coming so they quickly finish what they are doing. But what I got from the places where they had attacked was that there is no magic, ki, or any apparent disturbed Anima in the area."

Xander gave Emilio a knowing look. "So it was a Superhuman who has attacked the places you've been to?"

Percy was confused at what Xander said. If a superhuman had attacked the town and superhumans got their power from Anima then how didn't Emilio sense it? "Why didn't you sense anything if superhumans use anima?" Percy asked.

"Well it's not that they "use" anima. The Anima in their body is mutated making it easy to "use" a certain thing, like a person that can use fire. They influence the Anima in something to make a spark and start a fire. It's not like Magic that you use Anima itself to perform spells." Xander explained.

"Also I'm pretty sure these are physical superhumans since the damage to the towns looked to be caused by hand." Emilio told both of the males one of which was still sort of confused.

"I got a tip from someone that some Eclipse members will be in Kansas City." Emilio knew this information was only fifty percent reliable. Even so he needed to go see if it was true or not, he didn't want the opportunity to slip by if the information was in fact true.

"We will head out tomorrow." Percy raised an eyebrow his statement.

"We?"

Emilio looked at Percy and nodded. "Yes. Me and you of course." Percy was shocked. He didn't expect for him to actually go with his teacher this time. Sure he knew that Emilio acknowledge him getting stronger, but for him to actually tell him that they will go "hunting" meant that he believed the boy was ready.

A huge grin etched itself on Percy's face. Emilio smirked and looked at Xander. The man had an indifferent look on his, Xander believed that the kid was ready so there was no need for him to voice his thoughts.

"Are you sure I can go?" Percy asked like a little kid questioning whether he could really eat another piece of candy after they had told him he could.

Emilio shook his head once more. Percy wanted to jump up and punch the air in joy. He no longer had to stay in the confines of Xander's house. He liked the place, but to get a chance to leave and find the people who caused him pain was something he had been hoping for a long time.

Percy waited for Emilio to keep talking. "We will leave tomorrow at mid day. Have your stuff packed because after we finish what we have to do in Kansas City we will begin to investigate other places."

Both Emilio and Xander got up from their seats. Percy quickly go up as well and followed them out the door. They arrived inside the place which Percy liked to call the 'hall of rooms'. "I'm going to take a nap, you can do whatever you want until tomorrow Percy." Emilio said as he walked through one of the doors on his left.

Percy looked at Xander. "You know what to do. I'll be in my study if you need something." Xander said cooky as he walked towards the door leading to the first room.

Percy cracked his knuckles before he grinned widely. "You better be ready Eclipse because here I come."