Ruler Of Iron And Flesh

Alaric and Burt were standing in the middle of the mini arena that is for the bright coin fights and classes. It was midnight, and Alaric could feel the chill of the cold night on his skin.

Standing with them was an old model one automaton. It was standing still, waiting for orders.

"I need to teach you how to use your abilities fast." Burt said.

Alaric was fidgeting with his hands and stepping on one foot to the other.

"Hey Burt, why did you bring an automaton out with us?"

Burt raised an eyebrow, "I thought that would be obvious; I'm going to make it fight you."

Alaric's eyes widened, "wait, that's a killing machine! It's equivalent to a version two exosuit. How in the world do you expect me to fight that?"

Burt smiled, "back when I knew Inian; he could destroy hundreds of these at a time. He fought behemoth level mechas and airsh.i.p.s, coming out unscathed. He even killed behemoth level monsters! You are his son, and all I'm asking you to do is fight one model one automaton. You don't realize how powerful you really are."

Alaric was shaking his head, "I'm not one to back down from a fight, but this seems like suicide Burt."

Burt shrugged, "we have no choice now that you've shown your abilities. So before we begin, I need you to focus. Focus on your breathing and how your heart resonates with your body. You should be much stronger physically now that you've unlocked your abilities."

Alaric did that, breathing in and out as Burt spoke. He felt his heart racing and the strength of his body and bones. He felt one hundred times stronger than before like he could lift a whole mecha.

Burt nodded, "okay. Now I want you to focus on a monster's ability as well — just one. We need to make it look like you can use your bright coin, and the best way to do that is to give you a single monster ability. Something Inian resonated with easily was lightning. So, I want you to focus on the energy around you, how lightning pulses high in the clouds and yearns to wreck the world below it."

Alaric tried to do that. He felt the air around him and imagined shooting lightning bolts out of his hands.

"I'm sorry, Burt, but there's nothing there."

Burt pondered for a moment, "well, maybe you need some incentive then. Automaton, attack!"

The automaton quickly activated and jumped forward, ready to launch a punch at Alaric.

"Wait!!" Alaric shouted as he jumped back. The automaton's fist barely missed him, and Alaric felt the breeze of an iron fist blow-by.

He threw a right hook at the automaton, but the machine stopped it cold with his fist. It then extended a blade out of its arm.

"Aren't you going to stop this Burt?!"

"Focus, Alaric! You need to use your abilities to stop the automaton!"

Alaric grunted as he strained his arm out of the machine's grip.

The automaton began moving forward, swinging its bladed arm around in the air, trying to cut Alaric.

Alaric dodged every single swish of the sword, but only just.

He tried to kick the legs out from underneath the automaton, but he was met with solid metal.

'I'm not strong enough,' Alaric thought as he continued dodging the blade swings.

He yelled and tackled the automaton, and they both crashed to the ground.

The machine picked Alaric up and threw him across the arena and Alaric hit the ground in a cloud of dirt and dust.

He coughed as he stood up and suddenly, the automaton stabbed into his shoulder, barely missing his heart.

"AAAHHH!" Alaric screamed as the blade penetrated deep into his shoulder.

"That's enough!" Burt yelled, and the automaton backed off, going back into a resting mode.

"Are you okay, Alaric?" Burt asked as he helped Alaric up.

Alaric shoved him off, however, and yelled, "no Burt! I'm not okay! I don't know how Inian trained or who you think I am, but I am not him! I am not your friend, Inian! I'm done with this stupid training."

Alaric began walking away, clutching his arm as his shoulder slowly healed.

"Don't walk away from me, Alaric. I'm sorry if I scared you with the automaton, but you don't realize what's at stake here. Your father is still alive, and if he finds out that you are alive and that you are his son, then you are done for! Irigia is done for! Irigia has become much stronger than in times past, but Inian is stronger still. You have never seen a monster fight, but I've seen the devil himself fight. Please don't walk away."

Alaric paused to listen to Burt but felt chills when he remembered talking to Inian in his dreams. He wanted to keep that a secret for now.

He turned around with anger written on his face, "fine, but I will only stay if we don't do any more stupid automaton training."

Burt sighed, "okay, that's fine. I'm sorry."

Alaric nodded, "that's better. Now, what ability should I focus on? I wasn't feeling the lightning at all."

"You should focus on something that you resonate with, something in the world that can fit under your control. That would be best."

"Alright, let me try this then..."