Dang Convergence Vol. 1

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT WOMBAT VS TITAN

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

WOMBAT VS TITAN

Wombat stood, blood-red flames engulfing his body, casting an eerie glow around him. His eyes burned with rage, matching the intensity of the flames that roared on his skin. Across from him, Titan stood tall, its multiple eyes glowing ominously.

His flames flared as he opened his mouth to speak.

"You're gonna pay for hurting them." He was surprised at the sound of his own voice. It came out scary and booming, no doubt an effect of his outpouring power. A warm liquid trickled down his nose and he wiped it with the back of his hand. His hand came away smeared with blood.

A distant conversation with Dante played in his mind...

"You should be able to put out more flames than that," Dante said, while they were in the middle of training. A couple of weeks ago, he'd asked Dante to spar with him and they'd gone at it the whole day.

Wombat had been on the floor, reeling from one of Dante's attacks. The Halcyon hero never believed in holding back.

"What are you talking about?" Wombat asked, "That was my max output. I promise I'm not holding back."

"Your firepower. It feels...incomplete. My guess is, your body is subconsciously limiting your firepower, maybe because you physically can't handle that much heat yet."

"So, my body's fighting against me?"

"It's not fighting against you, it's protecting itself." Dante raised his hand, flames erupted from it. "I can redirect the brunt of my flames inwards, like this."

Wombat watched as the fire on his hand went out, but the hand still glowed.

"See, the flame went out, but the heat's still there. I pushed my fire inwards. When you use your powers, yours comes out in waves, almost like your body's trying to get rid of it." He noticed the confused look on Wombat's face and continued, "Think of a boat with holes in it that is gradually filling up with water. Your first choice would be to grab the nearest bucket and start throwing the water out, right? In this case, the water is your fire and the dude using a bucket to dump the water is your body. The boat is inside you, the ocean is outside."

"Dude, you're confusing me more."

Dante laughed. "Alright, look." He waved his glowing hand around, "Forcing your fire inwards is like...telling your cells to work harder. Produce more adrenaline, tighten the muscles and make them denser...that sort of thing. That way your physical stats all increase like crazy."

"Using the flames to increase your physical strength? I can do that!"

"But you have to be careful with how much flames you're redirecting inside. Right now, you're doing it instinctively. You don't really know how much you need, so you force it all in. Your body realizes that it's too much, so it shuts down your access to some of it. It reduces your power for you because you don't know how to do it yourself. You can't physically handle all your heat."

"Wait so, what do I need to do?"

"Well, for starters, you need to get physically stronger. Strong enough to handle all of your own heat like I do. But before that, you need to gain absolute control over your output, so get up. We have more work to do."

Wombat drew a deep breath and steadied himself. A mix of emotions dwelled within him, murking the waters of his mind, and he needed to quiet them. Right now wasn't the time to feel angry for Tiger, or worried about the twins...right now was the time for him to grow. To get stronger.