Nox and Juro tore into the food like starving wolves.
"This is the best meal of my life," Nox mumbled, drooling even though his stomach was already full.
"What are you on about? It's just rabbit stew." Juro bit into his apple with a loud crunch.
"I don't care. It's divine." Nox licked his plate clean, then eyed Raizen, who sat a few meters away,his back against a tree, looking like a tired old man.
Without warning, Nox stood up, eyes blazing.
"Where are you going?" Juro asked, grabbing his collar, but Nox brushed him off and marched toward Raizen with a menacing glare.
Juro sighed and settled down to watch. Well this should be good.
Nox stopped in front of Raizen, snapped his fingers twice. "Snap, snap! Hey old man, what was that today? Were you trying to kill us, or is that your idea of training now?"
Raizen cracked one eye open. "You sure talk a lot for someone who almost fainted midrun."
Fainted?! "I almost died!" Nox shouted.
From behind, Juro loudly bit into his apple again. Nox shot him a glare and mouthed, what the hell?
Juro shrugged and raised a hand apologetically.
Juro walked over and sat cross legged. "I've got questions."
Raizen didn't move. "I'm listening, talk."
"First off," Juro began, "why did those weight pads stick to our skin? How'd they come off? And why are we this healed? With the kind of injuries we had six days ago, we shouldn't even be crawling forty kilometers with weights. Something's either very right with our bodies or very wrong."
Nox glanced at the fading scars across his arms. Only a faint ache remained deep in his muscles. He felt more confused than reassured.
Raizen finally sat up, exhaling like a man about to give a lecture he didn't want to. "Took you long enough to ask something useful."
"So you're just going to ignore me and answer him?" Nox groaned.
"Quiet." Raizen's voice carried a sudden edge that made Nox flinch. "Those pads are called Binding Rings,first generation. They latch only to people with iora. And they drain your stamina nonstop, feeding on the energy your body produces."
"How does that" Nox started.
Raizen cut him off with a question. "When your physical energy runs out, what happens to your iora?"
"Uh… less iora?" Nox guessed confused.
"Exactly." For the first time, Raizen almost smirked. "The rings force your iora to burn, whether you like it or not. That's why you felt like you were dying."
"So… that's training?" Juro frowned.
"The rings eat away your stamina until you've got nothing left. After that, your body has no choice but to dip into using iora. The stamina loss, forces you to find that power."
Juro scratched his head. "Okay, but how did the rings come off?"
Raizen picked one up, pointing at a thin line on the side now glowing gold. "This was black before. When you pushed past your limits, your iora charged it. And only when it's full will it release. If it stayed dark, you'd still be wearing it… or you'd be dead."
Nox swallowed. "I don't even feel like I used iora."
"You already were," Raizen said flatly. "Back in your village, when you trained in secret,when you punched trees till they fell, you were using it without knowing. That was like a baby's scream, now? After today? You're learning to form words."
His voice grew louder, deeper,
"In the next nine days, this forest will be your home. It will feed you and try to break you. There will be times you'll want to die. But it would serve you well to remember, what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger, maybe keeping that in mind will help you keep your sanity."
The boys shivered, they knew he wasn't just being dramatic. He meant every word.
Raizen picked up the weights and ran his fingers over them. Golden lines flickered faintly.
"What are you doing?" Juro asked, with curiosity in his voice.
"Readjusting the drain rate. If I don't, you won't last more than a day and I need you to last eight"
"What?!" Nox's voice cracked. "Are you saying we'll wear those for eight days?!"
"Yes, do you have a problem with that?" Raizen's tone made Nox hesitate, almost afraid to answer.
Juro was already strapping the weights to his legs, calm as if he had expected this. Nox groaned but followed suit.
"If you train properly, you might fill the iora gauge before then," Raizen said, rubbing his eyes like a man already tired of babysitting.
"So the training is meant to burn energy we didn't use at all,forcing us to build stamina and learn to use iora?" Juro summarized.
Raizen glanced at Nox with a look that screamed disappointment.
"What? What did I do this time?!" Nox protested.
"From today's run, you've built maybe six days' worth of stamina," Raizen said flatly.
Nox cracked his knuckles like a fighter ready for battle. "Then this should be easy."
Juro sighed. "He means if we sit around and do nothing, we've got six days. With this seemingly gruesome training ahead, more like less than three."
Juro understood this training was the first step, and from Raizen's tone,it should take less than three days to complete, this is not going to be easy. He thought in his head.
Nox blinked. "Wait, what happens if we run out of stamina before we learn to use iora?"
"You die." Raizen's answer cut through the air like a blade.
The words hit Nox in the chest. Juro didn't flinch, he'd already guessed as much.
"Well, no point whining, if we're gonna be strong, that only means we can't die here," Nox said, fire sparking in his eyes.
"Good, then follow me," Raizen said, turning his back and leading them deeper into the forest.
After an hour of trekking, they finally stepped into a clearing about fifty by a hundred meters wide. The ground bristled with hundreds of upright logs, each reaching the boys' waists, scattered irregularly across the land, leaving barely enough space to walk through.
It was a strange but mesmerizing sight. The boys paused, taking it all in.
Without warning, Raizen strode forward, drove his fist into a log, and it exploded into splinters.
Before he could explain, Nox wandered to another log and punched it too. His shattered, but into large dismembered chunks rather than dust.
Raizen pinched the bridge of his nose and massaged his temples as if a migraine was coming.
Nox glanced at him, then at Juro, who mirrored Raizen's expression.
"What did I do this time?" Nox asked, genuinely confused.
Raizen looked like he was about to speak, but Juro cut in, "Just… let the man talk, please."
Cutting Raizen off further.
Raizen exhaled slowly. "Anyone who can harness Iora can do exactly what you and I just did. It subconsciously strengthens your strikes to protect your fists."
Since he can do it that's good, right?," Juro said.
Nox plopped onto a log. "Isn't it all about power?".
Raizen shook his head. "When your eyes senses danger,you blink without thinking, right? But if you blinked like that all the time, it would be unnatural. It's the same with Iora. If it only activates subconsciously when you're scared, it's unreliable. You have to control it intentionally, do you understand?"
The boys listened quietly.
"This," Raizen continued, punching another log, "is what it looks like when you use it properly."
This time, the log didn't explode. Instead, a perfect hole disintegrated through its center, the wood turning to sawdust as if erased by invisible fire. The log stood with a hollowed out core.
He'd used a lot less force than before.
"That's the difference," Raizen said, folding his arms. "This is what I want you to achieve. When you can do this, you'll have truly awakened Iora."
Nox stared at the hole, wondering. What if he added full strength on top of that? How powerful is Raizen, really? And he uses a sword… does that mean…?
Juro sat cross legged on a log and closed his eyes.
"You're meditating? Now?!" Nox exclaimed.
"Leave him," Raizen said flatly, addressing Nox. "He has his own way. I suggest you find yours too."
"Oh, now you talk to me," Nox muttered. Raizen ignored him and disappeared back into the forest.
"Fine," Nox cracked his knuckles. "Time to do what I do best."
He started hammering away at logs, fists flying. Hours passed. Juro stayed still, meditating.
By nightfall, Nox collapsed on his back, staring at the stars.
He turned his head, Juro was already asleep, snoring.
"That bastard," Nox muttered. "I ought to" He stopped, No. He's been through a lot today too.
He drifted off on top of shattered wood.
The smell of burnt flesh woke him.
He wasn't in the clearing anymore.
He was back in the village.
People screamed, flames consumed homes.
The red haired man held his mother by the hair.
Nox's world turned black.
He screamed himself awake.
It was morning. He was in the shade of a makeshift shelter.
The smell of "burnt flesh" was just Juro roasting a rabbit over a fire.
"Oh, you're awake?" Juro smirked. "Still having nightmares at your age?" He teased.
"Shut up," Nox muttered, rubbing his face. His breath was shaky.
"You made this shade?" he asked. Juro only smiled.
Nox trudged over, took the meat Juro offered, and devoured it.
"Take it easy today," Juro advised. "If you keep going at the rate you were yesterday,you'll burn out in less than two days."
"Don't worry," Nox said through mouthfuls of meat. "Today, I'll get this Iora thing. I'll break these shackles and really start training. And you? I don't know when you plan to start, but you should hurry. We only have eight days left."
Juro just closed his eyes again, seemingly meditating.
Nox sighed, wiped his mouth, and returned to smashing logs.
By mid afternoon, Nox was drenched in sweat, lungs burning. Still, he kept going.
He drank water, staggered, punched again.
At that moment, Raizen emerged from the trees.
Juro finally opened his eyes, stood, and approached a log.
Nox paused to watch.
A slow inhale. Juro's fist struck.
A perfect hole disintegrated through the wood, exactly like Raizen's demonstration.
He looked at his gauge, the golden glow pulsed brightly.
Nox's jaw dropped. First try?!
Juro kept going, flawless each time.
Raizen gave a subtle nod of approval.
Nox's chest burned with jealousy. He turned back and slammed his fists into logs, harder.
At twilight. Juro was exhausted but relentless.
One more punch, and the weights on his wrists and ankles snapped off, clattering to the ground.
He collapsed, panting.
Through blurry eyes, he searched for Nox.
When he found him, his heart froze.
Nox looked near dead.
Weights still bound his limbs.
His gauge wasn't even filled an inch.
He's going to die. Fear jolted Juro awake. He tried to call Raizen, but his throat was too dry to speak.
Every log was gone. Only one remained.
Nox stared it down.
Am I going to die? His chest barely rose. I can't even breathe.
His mother's screams echoed in his head. The red haired man's cold eyes. Juro saving him 7 days ago from the attack of a horn.
Everything crashed back. Chaos raged in his head.
Then Raizen's words cut through it all
You blink subconsciously when danger comes. Iora must not be subconscious.
Nox remembered the first time he'd used Iora, grabbing the water container to save Juro.
Back then, desperation had unlocked it.
Now, his life depended on it again,he tried to remember how he felt back then.
He felt everything.
Every ache, every throb in his veins.
And something else, burning beneath his skin.
Blood? No… this is Iora.
He forced himself to his feet. Staggered to the last log.
His heart pounded like war drums.
I can feel it, I can control it.
He raised his trembling fist.
In his head the words raged. More. More. MORE!
And then finally outloud.
"MOOOOORE!"
His fist crashed into the log like an asteroid.
A deafening boom shook the earth.
The entire 50×100-meter clearing split apart.
A massive trench carved itself into the land.
Raizen who had been watching silently, blurred forward, scooping Juro and outrunning the shockwave.
When the dust cleared, they returned to the trench.
Nox lay in the center, staring at the sunless sky, a faint smirk on his lips.
The weights were gone.
Juro's adrenaline surged. He stumbled down, fell to his knees beside Nox, and sobbed.
"You're gonna get yourself killed one of these days," he choked.
Nox turned his head weakly.
"Didn't you know? What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger," a faint laugh left his lips.
Raizen stood silently at the edge, examining the shattered weight pads.
Nox's eyelids closed, and darkness took him.