A Soul Divided

Confliction

The next day, Headmaster and I were doing our daily sparring. I ducked, narrowly avoiding a solid right hook, and countered with a leg sweep, causing him to fall. He caught himself, springing back and slamming his feet into my face, the ground cracking as my head went into it. I groaned, kipping up and swinging at my opponent, trying to focus my energy. My entire body was full of energy, and I could feel myself expanding. "Not good...! It feels like I'm gonna explode!" I thought, and I grunted, my movements becoming more labored, and less efficient as my body literally swelled up a little. I concentrated on pushing my energy out of me, thinking of a radiator letting its steam out. I felt my body go back to its normal size, and Headmaster stopped for a second, confused at what he saw; A flame like aura surrounded me, singing the grass beneath me with its intense heat. I used this opportunity to dash around Headmaster, slamming my elbow into his back, sending him into the air. Not wasting a single second, my foot slammed into the ground, pushing me at Headmaster, my fist pulled back in preparation to strike him as I charged my fist with energy. He turned, and my fist met his face, and I swear I saw a tooth among the blob of blood that erupted from his mouth as he violently changed directions, his neck whipping to the right, his body jerking to a stop and dropping. Catching himself on all fours, Headmaster grinned devilishly towards me, blood on his front teeth.

"Yes! That's what I like to see, Jason! You're using your power much better than yesterday! You picked up on it fast, I must say. Almost abnormally so." Headmaster congratulated me, placing a hand on my left shoulder. I let my energy fade down, the aura around me disappearing all at once as I capped my energy inside of me, ready to use. After the dream I had last night, I spent hours practicing my energy use. "Clearly it paid off..." I mused to myself, a slight smirk crossing my face. "Well, I've but one more technique to show you, and you'll be left alone. I have ah..." He put on his signature creepy grin, and in his monster form, it was way more frightening. "Business to attend to at the Academy. Come. I can only use this technique once in a while, so pay close attention." He said, walking out towards a tree bordering the forest. "As you'll soon discover, this uses up a large chunk of energy." Headmaster planted his right foot behind him, holding his left arm to his side, flexing his fingers in a claw formation. His fingertips glowed with energy, and Headmaster looked at me. "Concentrate your energy into fine points. Like your fingers are paintbrushes, the energy will be the paint." With that, he swiped, and five streaks of energy flew from his fingers. They hit a tree, and cut through it in five places, exploding as well. Shakily, he fell to his knees, and I crouched adjacent to him, taking his arm.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked incredulously, baffled by the technique demonstrated to me. He got up, and panted lightly, his brow beaded with droplets of sweat. He nodded, taking his arm from my grip. He sighed, looking at the destroyed tree. Its remains smoldered lightly due to the sheer heat of the explosion, a couple pieces on fire.

"See that?" I nodded, and Headmaster continued. "That's the technique, what I'd consider a last resort. It uses far too much energy for me to use more than once, unfortunately. It's a devastating technique, but I suppose that's the trade-off, isn't it?" He chuckled, and in one swift motion, grabbed my hand and pulled it up so my palm was facing me. "Your Shinso body will allow you to use this technique many times consecutively, so I suggest you learn it." Once again, he grinned, looking down at me with a creepy, almost mocking expression. "After all, a Shinso Vampire developed this attack~" My eyes went wide, and I looked at my hand, the world behind it going out of focus.

"A...A Shinso did...?" I looked at Headmaster, gulping. My world kept getting flipped around so much, I couldn't tell what was imagination and what reality was anymore, the two instead intermingling. Never in my life had I dreamed I'd be in an alternate dimension learning Vampire techniques! Headmaster nodded, and I looked up at him. "Was it....The one who turned me..? Danag?" I asked, hoping dearly that such a vile man didn't know such a technique. The things he would do with it....The atrocities he would commit... My blood chilled at the thought.