Artificial 3: The Valla Chronicles

Chapter 13: Tension Style

(Neil's POV)

It's been a few days to a week's worth of tracking,
and I found myself in the water Tribe. The Demon Lord is already on the move to the next Tribe.
I gather reports from the Tribe folks and just like with the Wind Tribe and Dusk Tribe,
the corruption was weeded out,
piecing together all this information, I believe he's attempting to fix a chaotic system,
my own beliefs aside,
from an outsider looking in,
I can't blame him for doing what he's doing,
but as a Wind Tribe citizen and soldier, I can not overlook this.

I begin to wrap up my questioning when I over heard two African American Oni's talking about my target so I asked them where he went and of course they didn't know but they also looked like they could hold their own in a fight so I asked them if they'd like to tag along,
they said no,
so I promised them it'd be worth their while then tossed them two bags full of gold,
not a large bag but big enough to buy them a shiny new weapon and gear. After they said they'd work for me, we begin our journey to Egypt,
yeah, no,
we don't show up for like nearly a week because of food,
stocking up on water and gatorade,
and because the Oni's were afraid of heights and no passports,
concealing them would be a pain in my ass,
that and also I have no experience sucking other demons into my shadow than traveling as a shadow myself.

Maybe with some training,
but unfortunately,
training is a luxury I don't have,
after traveling for hours and camping out night after night,
we made it to the city,
which is where I met my new sensei that would teach me and my associates the Tension Style.
How did we meet?
Ramen, just plain ordinary ramen shop. She could tell by the looks of us that we were warriors,
or at the very least could tell I was a warrior,
I won't speak for my associates as even I'm not even sure if they are.
I explained my situation to her as I could tell she was a Nekomata Artificial Demon,
Nekomatas are normally pure breads,
but because they had a whole clan full of pure breads
breeding with Artificial Nekomata Demons,
yeah no, the Demon Council isn't going to fuck with them.

So I got to know her over ramen,
and she agreed to take us on as her students for the foreseeable future,
we traveled together for at least three days,
and in those three days,
she information bombed the fuck out of us as she displayed her techniques on us. Tension style has three forms,
form 1 impact style: which focuses open palm strikes like sumo for maximum damage output,
form 2 explosion style: condenses ki as she calls it to detonate upon impact, form 3 sever style: which focuses on finger jabbing pressure points but coating those fingers in aura or ki as she calls it and focuses that aura like a razor-sharp scalpel and cuts anything she jabs with those fingers,
a very lethal skill in its own right.

At night time before bed,
she'd make us practice the forms by mimicking her in slow motion,
she was a strict but fair sensei,
which was perfectly understandable.
No one is going to waste their time on someone who won't even pay attention to the teachings.
Once we arrive in the Light Tribe,
sensei Keiko parted ways with us,
I ask the citizens the normal question of whether did he do anything,
any damages, etc,
I was surprised when they reported no damages other than a messenger dead, Chief Kogo reports that he owed a debt to the Demon Lord prior to the events that happened in the wind Tribe and gave the Demon Lord his blessing to take the Legendary Weapon.

I sigh as I attempt to gain some form of knowledge into where he went,
Kogo wouldn't budge in his answer,
so I told him his cooperation with the Demon Lord might cost him his alliance with the Wind Tribe,
and he proceeds to inform me he knew about the Wind Tribe's corruption but chose to overlook it because he needed our military might then informs me that may he remind me of whom my former Chief pledged loyalty to.
I remain silent,
damn the old man has me over a barrel. All I can do is go my way and not pester the old man anymore.

(Seth's POV)

So it's been a week ummm me and my siblings are bound up in the Earth Tribe that's located in the United States, a funny story behind our capture.
So it all started upon entering the Tribe. They all looked like fun people to fight, so I challenged anyone willing to fight, whooped their asses,
broke some buildings,
and now we got thrown in Tribe jail for destruction of property.
The inmates have been helluva disrespectful to us so me and Chace are picking more fights,
Chace went on to establish himself as the alpha prisoner,
and Terra is trying to bail us out by getting on their good side and abiding by Tribal law,
Sora doesn't care,
so she's minding her own business.
As for me,
I'm attempting a jailbreak by sneaking out like a ninja,
and with each passing night,
I get a bit further than the last night,
the guards are also a bunch of bitches, too afraid to fight one on one.

So tonight,
when I snuck out,
I shadow thread the prison guard to the ceiling and slapped him around a bit,
the next day,
I spread the rumor that someone knew a secret exit out,
of course,
I made it myself and showed a handful of people. They,
of course, get caught the next morning and seal up the exit which left all the inmates unattended so I yell jailbreak with me and Chace leading the charge breaking down walls and finally escaping down the side of a cliff into the Earth Tribe,
home of the rock people.

To say the Tribe turned into a warzone is an understatement,
the prisoners started killing specific targets of their aggression,
which isn't my problem,
what my problem is the corruption of the Tribe itself,
word inside the prison was that the Chief wanted the Artificial race to be known worldwide and conquer the world, unfortunately,
most if not all the prisoners were wronged in some way or innocent,
so all this death and carnage is 100% justified as far as I'm concerned.
I travel at mach 1 as a shadow with my siblings right beside me,
Terra lectured me and Chace,
saying she could have gotten us out, and Sora just didn't care,
Chace was just happy to be destructive, and so was I.

"This conversation isn't done!" Terra yells at me,
I'll accept her lecture later,
right
targeting the Chief,
I bust down the throne room,
and there is the vault with the Legendary Weapon in plain sight. I emerge from a shadow on the floor. "Well, this certainly isn't a trap."
My siblings give me an uh huh as I reach for the Legendary Weapon Balrog: a giant sledgehammer that would make Mjolnir blush.
The hammer was made of damascus steel and the hammerhead was a lump of Earth Tribe metal which is obviously made of a far better metal then anything humans can produce and it gave it a earthy vibe to boot.
"I don't think so, little man."
Speak of the Devil,
and he shall appear as the Legendary Weapon flies into his stone flesh hands.