Several days ago…
Boom!
John flew backwards within the private training room, crashing against the ground a moment later and skidding over it like a stone on a pond. He came to a halt a short while later, groaning from the pain wracking his body.
"John, are you alright?" Zuri asked, racing over to him and kneeling next to him.
"I'm…I'm fine," John replied slowly while shaking off the pain and getting to his feet. Blood leaked from his nose and mouth, as well as from wounds on his body, which looked as if something had exploded from within, ripping open his skin. He shook his head and activated his healing limiters, restoring his body to good condition a short while later.
"Maybe this Mage-Art is too much for you to handle right now," Zuri said warmly. "Mage-Arts are already incredibly dangerous, and you're trying to create a brand new one on top of that. I think this might be a little too reckless, even for you."
"Nonsense," another voice said as a figure appeared next to John. John and Zuri looked at Kirii, who stood next to them with a look of smug disappointment on his face. "The problem isn't the art, it's John! He's too weak to handle the power of a Kirin!"
"Let's fight right now, and see who's the weak one," John growled, taking a step towards Kirii. Kirii moved backwards like a flash of lightning, stopping only when he saw John wasn't following. He coughed in veiled embarrassment, then returned next to them as if nothing had happened.
John gave Kirii a firm look, then looked back at Zuri. "Kirii and I have already spent well over a month developing this Mage-Art, and I think we've finally created something that will work," he said to Zuri while brushing off dried blood from his robes. "I just need to be better at following the proper meridian pathways, as well as timing the meridian cycles to sync up perfectly."
He turned to Kirii, who eyed John cautiously, ready to retreat at a moment's notice should John lunge at him for his earlier comment. John reached out towards Kirii, who flinched, ready to retreat.
"Relax," John said begrudgingly. "I'm not going to attack you. I just want to watch your meridian pathways once more."
Kirii eyed him warily, but eventually obliged. He allowed John to place his hand on his head, at which point John sent his divine sense into Kirii's body. With Kirii allowing this to happen, John was able to see everything within Kirii's body. His blood vessels, his bones, his muscles, and most importantly, his meridians and Qi.
The Qi surging through Kirii's meridians was as clear as day to John. They looked like thousands of rivers of Qi snaking throughout Kirii's body, forming a complex maze of power only the Heavens truly understood.
"Activate your innate art," John instructed, at which point Kirii happily obliged.
Power surged from Kirii's Dantian, sending Qi coursing through his meridians like raging rivers. John watched the entire process unfold, as Kirii's Qi snaked through his meridians in patterns now-familiar to him. Qi coursed through Kirii's stomach, chest and head in profound ways, the Qi within forming runic patterns, the meridians the paper, the Qi the ink.
Thousands of complicated meridian pathways were used in almost an instant, as unleashing this art was almost second nature to Kirii at this point. The Qi cycled countless times within his body, all eventually converging on the bright blue crystal embedded on Kirii's forehead.
That crystal was something innate to all Kirin's, and upon much study, John was shocked to discover that the crystal was made up of millions of tiny lightning runes, joining together to form a solid crystal of lightning runes.
The lightning Qi surged into the crystal, at which point it was augmented several fold in bizarre and complex ways, reminding John of the way Awakened Essence Runes were used to amplify cultivators Qi.
The result of all this was a monstrous blast of lightning being released, the lightning Qi more profound than even John was able to unleash. The beam of lightning blasted off into the distance, then slammed into the ground and erupted into a calamitous explosion of lightning.
Zuri watched the explosion blast towards them, then used her power to shield them from its blast. This was not done to protect John or Kirii, but to stop the blast from interrupting John's concentration.
Ignoring the blast, John's mind raced as he remembered the pathways the Qi took throughout Kirii's body, as well as the profundities he felt from not only Kirii's Qi, but the crystal on his head. While a human's body and a Kirin's body were different, the lessons he learned from Kirii's body could be used in his. He had learned this through much trial and error, his long hours of developing his own battle arts leading to this moment.
The explosion faded away, while Zuri and Kirii remained silent as John's mind raced, his comprehension ability unwrapping the secrets behind Kirii's art. What John was after was not the art itself, but the underlying nature of Kirii's Qi usage.
As the pinnacle beast of lightning, Kirii was naturally able to unleash perfect lightning attacks with no wasted movements. Every meridian pathway was perfect, the revolutions and timings pristine. He stayed like this for several hours, putting everything he had just learned into place with what he already knew, slowly unwinding the secrets behind Kirii's power.
Zuri and Kirii waited patiently for John to finish, staying silent the entire time. Hours later, John's eyes finally opened once more, a profound glint contained within. He looked at the two, then smiled.
"I think I have everything I need to put the final pieces on this Mage-Art," he said confidently.
"Oh? Well then, let's see the fruits of your tireless labor," Zuri said, smiling. John nodded, then patted Kirii in thanks as his aura began to surge, prepared to unleash his self-created Mage-Art.
…
Looking up at his opponent, John was slightly taken aback by Araxus' overwhelming resolve. While it was not impossible for a non-War Mage to channel an attack, it was incredibly dangerous. War Mages had innate talents that allowed them to hold monstrous amounts of Qi in their Dantian without them losing control.
John himself was not a true War Mage, but his twenty-times compressed Dantian essentially converted him into one. For someone like Araxus, who did not have a Dantian at John's level, one wrong move could result in him losing control of his Qi, which would undoubtedly result in him perishing from the internal explosion of rampant Qi.
Despite all this, Araxus continued to channel his Yin-Yang Lightning Tribulation Art, barreling forward with unyielding resolve. John studied Araxus for a moment, then grinned and nodded, impressed by Araxus' resolve. "Your resolve is contagious," John replied loudly, his voice almost drowned out by the continuous thunderclaps coming from Araxus' storm clouds. "I'm sure you'd be insulted if I didn't receive your attack with my full power."
John watched as Araxus nodded. He was sure the youth was smiling, although the lightning covering his face hid his expression. John nodded in return, his expression becoming serious for the first time in battle.
"Then allow me to unleash my newly created battle art," John replied as his aura began to surge. "You'll be the first I've ever used it on in real battle, so don't blame me if it's a bit too powerful."
Araxus scoffed, clearly amused by John's grandiose opinion of himself. Still, based on everything he had seen thus far, he didn't dare to look down on John.
As John's power began to surge, he sent his divine sense into his soul, where Kirii rested.
"Kirii," John called out, waking the sleeping Kirin from his slumber. Kirii opened his eyes, their spiritual gazes meeting.
"It's time to reveal to this world the power of a Kirin!"
Kirii let out a whoop of excitement, instantly rousing from his slumber. He stood tall within John's soul space, using the link between their souls to look out from John's eyes, seeing what John saw.
"You better not mess up, or I'll beat you up!" Kirii replied with obvious excitement in his voice. John smiled, then nodded his head as he began to muster the full power of his twenty-times compressed essence Dantian. "I won't!"
Boom!
John's aura suddenly, and without warning, flared from him with incredible power. His aura surged upwards towards the clouds, slamming against them a moment later. His aura continued to climb with ceaseless intensity, like an endless well of power. Every inch of his being was poured into his Dantian, while his mind raced with the profundities of his self-created art. Already surprised by his seemingly endless Qi, the crowd went wide eyed as they spotted a figure materialize behind John.
The figure flashed into existence in a moment, formed from pure lightning. The figure was almost nondescript at first, hazy and unclear to the point that no one could tell what it was. As John continued to pour his Qi into his Mage-Art, the figure started to become more and more corporeal, eventually turning into something that many in the crowd recognized.
"A Kirin!"
A lightning avatar in the shape of a Kirin, some thirty yards tall and forty yards long appeared behind John, like a guardian coming to his protection. While its form was still slightly blurry, there was enough detail to make out the nature of the avatar.
Bang!
A loud thunderclap sounded out as John's forehead burst alight, a dazzling blue hue emanating from it. The blue hue faded away after a time, revealing a bright blue crystal on his forehead, embedded into his skin. The crystal glowed with a hundred hues of blue and emanated a thousand profundities, so awe-inspiring and eye-catching that many couldn't peel their gazes away from it.
Hovering in the sky, Araxus looked at the lightning Kirin and crystal on John's forehead with absolute shock. He couldn't tell exactly what was happening, but as a genius lightning cultivator, he could tell one thing; the art John was unleashing was horrifyingly dangerous.
Reaching his absolute maximum point of power he could contain, Araxus burst alight with power as he pointed his lance down at John.
"Yin-Yang Chaos Lightning Tribulation!" he roared as twin bolts of devastatingly powerful lightning blasted towards John, its power eclipsing the previous attack Araxus had unleashed.
Feeling its awe-inspiring power, John grinned, then roared loudly, his voice like a primordial beast announcing its arrival as both the avatar behind him and the crystal on his forehead began to glow with surging power, preparing to unleash a Mage-Art to replace his Dragontail Decimation.
"Kirin-God Extinction!"
BOOM!
