One Soul: The Assassins War Arc

Chapter 23: The Intense Training of the Body and Soul

Two weeks had gone by since the battle with Kurome and Bols. During those two weeks the spare Base had been built up and Night Raid moved in and immediately started to work on the next operation. As this operation was very important almost every single member of Night Raid went, except for Drew who had been given specific directions to stay back and watch the base. He didn't know the real reason why he was ordered to stay back but it didn't matter. He knew that during this time he would have to master the ability in which he had used during the final moments of the battle against Wave and Kurome.

As he stepped out onto the wet grass a swift wind blew around his body but in turn it really blew through his own soul. A method to clear the mind of any thoughts or distractions so he could clearly focus on his training. He took around twenty moments using this method, and letting his body relax, keeping his mind free of memories. As a final gust of wind hit him he broke out of the state and began to fully test out his abilities. "Lighting-Fire Dragon Mode." He yelled. Surges of lightning starting to appear all over his body and accelerated. "Ok my max time in this form is only around 5 minutes. However if I use the roar it drains all my strength and stamina. I need to save that as a last resort for now." He lifted up his hand. "First things first I need to increase my own speed and stamina in this form." He made the hand into a fist and smiled. "Alright let's go." He got into a running position and took off. He ran into the forest surrounding the base and tried to maneuver around them at his top speed. As he did this he planted at least one foot off of each to help push him off. Before he knew it the lightning dispersed and he collapsed to ground almost rolling into a tree. Once his body stopped rolling he got back up panting. "Let's try it again." He relit the lightning and again it surged throughout his body. He began to run this time trying to use both feet to jump off the trees. It took around fifteen to twenty times before he could finally jump between trees at a fast amount of speed. When he landed he stumbled but caught himself. "That's gonna take some getting used to. Oh well I'll make sure to get that handled by tonight." He lowered back into the running stance and continued to train.

Later that Night....

Drew walked along the small trail back to the base exhausted. He raised his arm to stretch it realizing the small scratches and injuries he had taken from the multiple falls and tumbles during his training. He then put the stretched out arm to his side but raised his hand to his face putting the palm of his hand on his chin. "Alright I used Lighting-Fire mode around sixty times or somewhere around there. With that I've increased it times to roughly 6-10 minutes. With what training I did my speed has increased a lot but it's still not enough. If compared to that of what I had experienced during my short fight with her I would say it's about only ten percent of what her top speed is or could be. I'll have to work on that more but more than that I have to focus on making new techniques to counter others." He lowered the hand back to his side once he had made it out of the forest and into the clearing beside Night Raids Base. When he looked up the sky was pitch black with the only thing lighting up the sky being a full moon. It shined down so bright that Drew could see all the injuries he had gotten from training. He looked at each and every one of them and laughed. "I guess I pushed myself harder than I needed too." He said and continued to laugh. "But I'll always push myself to get stronger. If I don't I won't be able to protect anyone so I'll always go above and beyond." He began to walk towards the base with that determination in mind.

Returning to the base was, in a word, lonely. It had been awhile since he was all by himself so he wasn't sure what to think of it. He had always been surrounded by friends or allies so he was never alone wherever or whenever he was but, he knew everyone would be back in around a week or so according to Najenda though he didn't believe it one bit. Nonetheless he walked up the many flights of stairs to get to his room where, once in, collapsed onto the bed. All the training he had done had taken its toll on his body. Though he was sore all over the training was necessary for him. He needed to be stronger, faster, and able to protect anyone. If he couldn't do that then everything would have been for nothing. With that in mind he drifted into a deep sleep.

Inside the Dream...

As Drew opened his eyes he realized he was no longer in his room but on some kind of hard surface. When he sniffed the air around him he could smell sulfur all around like something was continuously burning. As he slowly stood up he realized that there was lava all over the place and when he looked up there was a crater at the top. "Am I inside of a volcano?" He asked and then began to freak out. "Wait how did I get here? Why am I here? Did I sleep walk or something?"

As he freaked out a large powerful voice spoke out from behind him. "Calm down. You didn't sleep walk or anything of that matter. You're in your own soul." It said.

With this bit of knowledge told to him Drew calmed down. "Oh so that's where I am. Well thank you for clearing that up for me." Drew turned around about to thank the person who told him this when he realized there was no one there. Except for a large dragon. He looked at it with complete shock.

The dragon just looked at him and realized his mistake. "I apologize this is the first time you've seen me in this form. Let me change to suit your appearance." The dragon closed its eyes and lava rose from below and surrounded it. When the lava sunk back into the large pool below a man was all that was left. It had red, dragon shaped eyes which matched his red hair.

As it walked closer a suit was noticeable but they were full of markings Drew had never seen before. As it stood right in front of Drew it spoke. "My name is Hiryū. I am the embodiment of your fire dragon abilities." He said walking around and looking at Drew. "I'm that I never introduced myself until now but I felt as though the timing couldn't have been any better. You see I've witnessed how you've grown and how much time you've spent training. I've also witnessed your defeats and losses. Then you're last battle happened. You were able to tape a small amount of our or your true power but it was caused by emotions of anger and rage. That is unacceptable. So from here on I shall train you. If you can't pass this training than you will not be able to fully protect those who you care about." He said walking a good distance away.

Drew tried to process all of this since it was quite a large amount of information, but wanted to seize the opportunity to train with the person who was in fact the holder of his power. It even reminded him of his battles with Tengetsu and White. "So when do we start." He asked.

Hiryū stopped and looked at him. "Now." He said holding out his arm. "Come at me with everything you have and don't hold back." Drew smiled and nodded getting into a fighting stance than charging at full strength. "Let's go!" They both shouted.

End of Chapter 23