A Week Later(Month 1, Year 2):
Shakya Training Ground, Buddha's Palace:
Isaiah's POV:
"Okay, boy, you ready?" Buddha asked me with a smirk, dressed in just a black muscle shirt and baggy white pants, his light green hair tied back into a ponytail as his khakkara floated next to the others, who were standing on the side.
"As ready as I can be." I muttered with a sigh, to which he just smiled.
"I'm not going to attack you, boy. All I want you to do is attack me and see how powerful you've gotten." With another deep breath, I nodded before getting into a ready stance as Buddha just stood with his hands in his pocket. I might be excited beyond hell to fight Buddha, but I was also far too nervous.
This was THE BUDDHA! Currently, the strongest being in the world if you don't include the Dragon Gods & I'm certain that he would be able to last against them. Forgive me if I'm sweating bullets right now.
"Okay, so all out?" I asked and he nodded, to which I activated Storm King's Aura before layering my Touki over it. This might hurt me slowly over time, since Touki and Demonic Energy mixed well, but currently, this is my strongest if I don not use any of my Balance Breakers and it's nothing a Phoenix Tear can't hurt. Buddha frowned as he stared at my lightning-covered form, already figuring out what I'm trying to do before he smirked and nodded.
"Good. If you don't sacrifice your body during training, then you're not training at all."
"Preach!" I heard Okita shout from the side, to which I just sighed with a smirk as Buddha chuckled before rolling his neck, gesturing for me to come.
In a flash of blue, I was in front of him, the sound of me disappearing from my previous location not even registering as my hand flashed forward and aimed for his face. He just smirked as he stood there and blew, a blast of air coming out and blocking my fist as I stared in shock before the air rippled and a shock wave send me flying head over heels backwards.
Flipping uncontrollably through the air, I strained as I straightened myself out before digging my feet into the ground, skidding across the ground until I slowly came to a stop.
'…Did he just Diablo me?' I thought with a shocked stare as Buddha just smirked at me, his hands still in his pockets as the ground around was completely eviscerated before his khakkara tapped itself on the ground and it was restored.
"Impressive punch, but a bit too slow!" He shouted with a smirk before I smirked and rocketed back towards him. This time, I feinted another punch, to which he blew again, before disappearing and reappearing behind him with a punch towards the back of his head.
What happened next was only a blur as my vision changed to me being face-first into the ground, the back of my head burning as Buddha chuckled.
"Not bad, but not good either. To Gods, you might as well be shouting your moves at them. We've been living for millennia, so any tactic you try to use, we've already used a thousand times before your grandparents were born." I just grumbled as I pushed myself up from the ground, stumbling slightly and shaking my head to get rid of the dizziness before I stared at Buddha.
The damn bastard was still smirking as he stood in the same place he was at the beginning of the match as he whistled nonchalantly while staring at me.
"I'm getting bored over here. Let's keep it going." He said with a smirk and I just growled. 'Fuck holding back!' My Touki raged around me as it was released I full, Storm King's Aura raging with it before my body began to vibrate. Picking up speed, I was soon nothing but a blurry mirage as Buddha's smirk dimmed slightly.
'Sandanzuku: Piercing Fang!' A literal microsecond had passed as I appeared in front of Buddha, a finger flashing up to block my attack on for his eyes to widen as my arm went through his finger before hitting him in the jaw. I knew that he would be able to dodge it, but he probably wanted to see how powerful my blows were.
Something I was going to take advantage.
The air exploded with every shock wave and space warped as I landed blow after blow on him, Buddha standing there as he took every blow with a smirk that grew more and more until it was nothing but a full-blown grin before he begin cackling.
Feeling my senses blaring at my right, I blitzed through him, his kick cracking the air with a thunderous boom behind me before I spun on my heel and kicked him in his left side. He just kept on giggling as my kick send him flying before I rocketed after him.
I was nothing but a bolt of blue lightning as I flashed around his body, unleashing blow after blow all over his body as he just flew along with the right while still giggling gleefully.
'Time to end this.'
"Balance Break: Kōkō Gonryō Rikyū!" I exclaimed, the familiar silver rapier and bright yellow lightning appearing around as I appeared in front of Buddha's flying path. He just looked happy as I crouched before blitzing towards him, reappearing behind him with the rapier stretched out in front of me as he quickly came to a sudden stop.
It was silent for a second before he finally landed on the ground, his shirt being completely shredded to pieces as a large crevice was gouged into the training ground, stretching from one side of it to the other.
"Hahahahaha! Well done, boy! Well done!" He was just clapping with a happy smile as I sighed, Piercing Fang deactivating and the pain hitting me a split second later as I gritted my teeth with a groan while falling to my knees.
Supercharging every muscle in my body with millions of volts might not have been the greatest idea.
"That move. Is it something you reserve as a finishing blow?" I nodded, wincing and groaning as I aggravated my neck muscles as Buddha nodded before smirking.
"When you've rested for the week, we'll start with opening your second chakra. Now go to sleep. You know you want to." He said with a chuckle and I didn't need any further prompt as my vision blacked out.
With Buddha & Others:
3rd Person POV:
"Not daring to fall, even after he's lost, huh?" Buddha muttered with a smirk as he stared at the kneeling Isaiah. His acute vision could see how ever muscle in the boy's body was trembling and some of them were slightly scarred/ scorched.
Yet, the boy refused to fall.
Just like him.
'Ah, Adam. If only you were here.' Buddha thought with a sigh as the others walked closer. It wasn't every day that he thought of his only equal, the Father of Humanity and the only human able to fight on par with the Dragon Gods.
Why did that idiot have to go and fight Trihexa in order to buy God enough time to seal it away? Oh right.
'What kind of father needs any reason to protect his children?'
The idiot was always one to put protecting humanity over his well-being, something which Buddha had to respect him for.
"That move. How many times has he used it?" Buddha asked Okita, who just sighed.
"Just once and it was enough to put him in a near-death state for weeks." Buddha nodded before he pulled out a bright golden peach and to the shock of the others, cut a small piece of it out before force-feeding it to Isaiah.
"That should take care of the damage and he should wake up in two weeks." Was all he said before he walked away, leaving the others to take care of Isaiah as he ruffled the head of Bardou with a smirk before continuing to his office.
Time to re-evaluate his training.
Two Weeks Later(Month 2, Year 2):
Medical Wing, Buddha's Palace:
Isaiah's POV:
"Arghh…did anyone get the name & number of the truck that hit me?" I groaned as I woke up, my head aching slightly.
"Yes. It goes by the name of Buddha." I heard MacGregor's amused voice and turned to see him sitting in a chair next to my bed, reading a tome as he played with runes in his left hand. I could recognize a bit of Gremorian along with Divinitin and Lilithian in the circle, but the meaning of the circle was nothing but gibberish.
Looking around, I saw nothing but white beds arranged neatly along with walls, beautiful and busty women dressed in nurse outfits with different coloured hair walking around and smiling as they caught me staring at them.
"…Since when were they here?" I asked as I pointed at the woman.
"Always. They just don't leave the Medical Wing." "Ah. That makes sense." I nodded before I stood up from the bed, looking down to see nothing but a pair of shorts covering my body. Stretching and popping my joints with a satisfied groan, I rolled my shoulders before marvelling at my body, which MacGregor noticed.
"Buddha gave you a bit of the Heavenly Peach to eat and now, you're fully healed. Just your mind had to recuperate from using Piercing Fang, but now that you're fully healed, it's time to continue with your next bit of training. Come on." I groaned as I got dressed in the black tank-top and baggy white pants on top of the bedside table next to the bed before following MacGregor out.
Both of us walked out of the Medical Wing and towards the training ground, where I blinked owlishly as I saw Buddha sitting cross-legged on the ground. His eyes were closed and his hands rested on his thighs with his palms facing upwards. A pure white aura covered him, with a kaleidoscope of small sparkles and stars inside of it and yet, where I was standing, I couldn't feel any of his aura leaking out.
"He says that's what it looks like to have full control over your Touki, to truly reach transcendence." MacGregor said from beside me and I nodded as Buddha took a deep breath before tapping a finger on the ground, the ground around him vaporizing before his khakkara tapped the air where the ground previously was and it reappeared.
'…This guy is too fucking OP.' I thought with a shocked stare as Buddha opened his eyes with a smirk before staring at me, standing up from his previous position before walking towards us.
"It's good to see that you are up. Come now, it's time to continue with the second part of your training." I nodded as I followed him, sitting down on the ground in front of him as he stared at me before sighing.
"Okay, so there are two ways to continue this. One is where I slowly take you through opening all of your chakras and that will possibly take the rest of the year."
"What's the second?" I asked and he sighed.
"I forcibly unlock your final chakra, which will force the others open and put you in a state of transcendence. The problem with this is that you have a 50% chance of surviving, a 30% of becoming nothing but a comatose vegetable, a 15% of being put under torture the likes of which you've never dreamed of and a 5% of dying."
"Slow and steady wins the race." I answered instantly with a smile and he chuckled as he nodded. "Good choice." "Wait, what would you have done if I chose the second one?" I asked curiously and the smirk he had on terrified me.
"Stab you through the head with Touki, which would have send you the Plane of Limbo, the realm between Life and Death. There you would have to find your way back to your body, which would possibly have been taken millennia for you but would only be a second for us." He explained happily and I paled slightly before nodding.
Slow and steady wins the race indeed.
"The second chakra, connected to your sin of Lust. The Heart Chakra or the Anahata is, contrary to popular belief, not located in your heart or in the middle of your chest. Instead, it's found the right side of your chest, a mirrored opposite of your actual heart. To open it, one must be open to others, to give love to others & to receive love from them. 'Learn to love yourself in order to love others' is the saying that best fits this chakra. Now, are you ready?" With me nodding, he smiled before dragging his khakkara on the ground, stopping once there was a circle around me as he grinned at my confused stare.
"A barrier just in case you go on a rampage. Love is good for man, but too much love can make them arrogant and I've seen far too many of my followers become lost in that love and go on a rampage in search of more."
"Oh." Was all I could say as he chuckled, with me sweating slightly as I took a deep breath.
I swear, it's like they got off on the fact that I know nothing.
"Now, close your eyes and focus on the right side of your chest. Raise you hands to chest level, touch the other edges of both your pinky fingers and thumbs together. Keep the heels of your palms pressed together as you straighten all 10 of your fingers."
"Like a Lotus?" I asked as I did what he asked.
"Yes, wonderful! Just like a lotus." He chuckled and I assumed my form was perfect as he gave a satisfactory hum before continuing.
"Now, repeat the word 'Yam' while still focusing on the right side of your chest and your breathing and when you feel as if you are high on happiness, I want you to think of everything you love." Nodding at his words, I kept my hands before I began.
"Yam…Yam…Yam…" Continuously repeating 'Yam', I focused on the right side of my chest and my breathing, with it feeling as if there was a heart slowly pulsing and beating before I smirked slightly as a happy and giddy feeling spread through me.
Rias, my master that I used to hate in my previous life but now cherish as an older sister figure.
Koneko, my new little sister in all but blood who I would destroy the world for.
Gasper, my cute little brother who I play games with & push during training.
Millicas, the cute young brother that would hide in my room whenever he made his mother mad and used me as a shield.
Sirzechs & Zeoticus, the goofy uncles that would get in trouble with their wives for doing stupid shit with me.
Grayfia & Venelana, the stern aunt that loves me but hides it under an exterior of tough love.
MacGregor & Surtr, the crazy uncles that would let me help them destroy a city only to put all the blame on me.
Evelina, the loving motherly figure that would take care of me and let me hang out with her.
Okita, the crazy and goofy fatherly figure that would take me on death-defying adventures and laugh at me getting my ass kicked.
Bardou & Joker, the two lazy cousins that would rather sleep than train with me.
Akeno, the girl that I liked in my past life and loved in this life. A girl that I thought would be out of my reach and now…I can't imagine my life without her.
'The old man who was probably the one who sent me here. My past life was fun…but I thank you for this one. Without you, I would just be another soul stuck in Limbo, destined to float there forever. Thank you so much for letting me become something in this life that I couldn't be in my past life.' I thanked the old man who sent me here and gratitude flooded through my body as I finally opened my eyes.
When I did, I blinked at the blurry sight before chuckling as I wiped the tears, seeing Buddha smiling softly down at me.
"The power of love…it's beautiful, isn't it?" He muttered and I nodded with a smile before he waved his hand.
"Go and spend some time with the others. You have the week off." I nodded as I stood up before walking towards MacGregor, who looked confused and concerned at my tears as I smiled before hugging him tightly. He tensed up slightly in shock before I heard a chuckle as he patted me on the back.
"Thanks for everything." I muttered and he nodded before I pulled back and walked towards Bardou, who looked ready to tear Buddha a new one at my crying.
"It's okay, boy. He just helped me figure out what I truly cherish." I muttered as I gave him a kiss on the forehead and a hug, Bardou nodding but still not stopping with glaring at Buddha who just smiled at him before I looked up and saw Okita walking towards us.
He looked confused to see the tear stains on my cheeks before he disappeared and reappeared in front of Buddha, his katanas clashing with Buddha's khakkara as his aura was raging in full.
"What the fuck did you do to my boy?!" He snarled as Buddha just chuckled before pushing him back.
"Old man, it's okay!" I shouted, to which he turned to give me a concerned stare before putting his katanas away, but stopping with glaring at the smiling Buddha.
"You sure?" He asked and I smiled as I nodded, Okita nodding before he began walking back to the Dining. MacGregor shook his head with a smile and a sigh as Bardou & I followed after him with a smirk.
"My boy, huh?" I asked with a teasing smirk.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He denied quickly as I just chuckled.
'Thank you, old man'.
A/N: And there we go, the power of love given form! Hope you guys enjoyed that part, because I sure did writing it.
Now, all that's left is the final chakra connected to his final sin and then we'll have the final chakra.
Once again, if you want to read ahead 5 chapters early, A. We've finished the training arc and am now starting with the next one
As always, enjoy the chapter, review and I'll see you all in the next one.
Until then… Ba-Bye~!