Banji walked around the city for sometime before heading back to the Ngozi palace.
The palace was one of the five prongs that reached up into the sky. Such a grand sight always struck wonder into Banji's mind. And it also made him silently appreciate the founding tribe leader Elemental Grandmaster.
'If I remember right teacher Koda said that he built this entire city by himself. Hmm, I hope he gets well soon enough for the graduation ceremony.' Banji scratched his head slightly while pondering to himself.
'So Safari already moved up then huh?' Hehe still why did he have to only let me know this and no one else? After all Yara's the real competition for the tribe leader position. But then again maybe he knows.'
Banji's lips curled up to form a devious smile.
His eyes shined with such a wicked gleem that they would even make the devil himself shutter with anticipation, and perhaps fear.
"Greetings to you master Ngozi." Two guards in front of the palace bowed to Banji once he approached close enough.
He waved them aside and entered the large bronze palace.
Inside there were many people that resembled Banji is one way or another.
Banji greeted politely and made some small talk along his way towards his true destination.
He walked up a large stairway for nearly thirty minutes before stopping in front of a 8 foot wooden door. There were two guards here as well but this time they were clearly mystics, and strong ones at that. But in front of Banji they only bowed and greeted like any humble servent.
Banji waved them at ease and spoke.
"Is mother busy at the moment?"
"Not as far as we know master Ngozi. But if I may your father has-"
"I'll talk to the old man later, right now I must speak to my mother."
Banji moved past the guards and entered the room.
It was a small dimly lit study hall that housed mainly wooden shelves that contained thousands of different manuals and recipes that could occupy the mind for years. At the end of the room there was a simple desk with a chair that was currently occupied.
The figure was obscured by the darkness but this didn't prevent Banji from seeing who was currently narrowing their eyes at him.
"I told you to rest for another hour at least before moving around. You always have to make things harder for your mother don't you?" She spoke while standing up and fully revealing herself in the range of the lit candles.
Xola Ngozi was a peak fourth realm expert who stood tall at 6,4 with dark brown skin with only a slight wrinkle to her otherwise healthy skin. Her face bore a striking resemblance to Banji in more ways then one. The two eyes that looked at Banji held many secrets that not even the young heir to be could decipher. But there was no doubt that in her stern and calculating gaze there was a deep maternal love that was reserved only for her son. Her hair was a curly afro that waved around even with no wind blowing in the room. She wore many bead bracelets on her hands and around her neck as well. Her black dress was long and deep like a shadow that could swallow any unsuspecting victim if one didn't tred with caution.
Banji smiled before running up to give his mother a wide bear hug. He let out a round a laughter before looking up at his mother and speaking.
"Sorry to stress you so much but as soon as I heard the news from my informant at court I had to see this for myself. Heh, and I wasn't disappointed. You should've already seen it yourself by now. Brother Black is no man we should make enemies with."
Xola only let out a sigh as she pulled out from her dress a carved wooden doll that looked eerily similar to Malcolm during the fight at the hamlet.
"Did you get any more of his blood?" Banji shook his head.
"No, not this time. This wasn't like the fight back at the hamlet. Mm good ancestor above he was more bloody than a hyena catching an antelope. But it makes it all the more interesting as to how he not only survived that fight, but came back stronger than ever."
Xola nodded at the assessment while setting up a formation on the wooden floor. The doll laid in the middle while Xola carved several symbols and shapes all around the doll with one finger.
"Yes it is. And that's why we need as much information on him as possible. So far from how he looks and what you said about him, he could be the wild card we need. But also a potential catastrophe for not only our clan but the whole tribe if you press his mind hard enough."
Xola placed down several incense sticks in a certain pattern within the various shapes. After this she pulled out a small baseball sized pot and hovered it over the wooden doll.
"In either case the only thing that matters is that you're safe and well Banji. You're more then just the heir to the Ngozi you are my son. And if this child ends up being a threat to your life, asset or not I'll kill him all the way from here do you understand me?"
Banji put his hand out in front of him with a complicit expression on his face.
"You almost sound like you're threatening my life mother. Besides I thought you were just gonna perform another divination attempt."
Xola shook her head and put away the small pot.
"I've tried many times ever since you all came back from the hamlet and the major clan leaders were all told the truth in secret by elder Mashallah. There hasn't been a day where I haven't tried to find out more about this mysterious child. But alas nothing has come of it."
"Really? Nothing at all huh? That's the first time I've heard of there being someone you couldn't investigate using divination even with their blood." Banji had a genuine look of surprise on his face while Xola looked almost shameful at her apparent failure.
"But enough about the damned child, we need to figure out how to raise your aptitude back up to high grade before the graduation ceremony." Banji sighed at the topic switch up but expected no less from his dear mother.
After nearly an hour of conversing with his mother Banji went into his own private study. He took out a paper talisman, then inscribed various seals on the paper and slapped it on his door.
[Sealing Art: Hear No Evil]
A thin and invisible aura spread from the talisman that covered the whole room.
Banji smiled before sighing deeply. He looked around him and stood still for a while, feeling his surroundings.
"Ok good, it's clear."
After confirming this to be the case and sat down cross-legged and took out a storage juju artifact. It was a small bronze pot that Banji opened up.
It nearly became the last thing he did in life as the pathieite inside shot towards his face with bullet like speed.
Banji grabbed it with half his mind else where as he gripped it with a layer of spiritual energy protecting his skin.
"How did he come to be so strong? Maybe he was always this strong? No that's not right. Something happened in that art of his. And speaking of that art, how in the name of heaven did he create it? Just who the hell are you brother?
Arrgh! Dammit I never got his real name!"
Banji slapped himself with his other hand while the pathieite writhed in agony at its situation.
"Ah, oh well. I'll catchup one of these days. For the meanwhile I need a real ace of my own, so I'll start with you."
Banji concluded as he now paid full attention to the pathieite in his hands. Said creature even coiled slightly once sensing Banji's intent. A bad fate was what awaited it.
Over on the left side of the middle prong that stretched into the heavens there resided the Makumba Clan. If the Ngozi clan were more outwardly charismatic and warm in tone, then the Makumba clan were more rigid and cold in their disposition.
Yet even so, both clans were equally scheming in nature. They didn't survive for hundreds of years with just great strength.
Safari for his young age knew this truth too well from his many lectures and harsh training sections. From the age of 7 more than ten years ago now he had been ruthlessly molded to be not only the heir to the Makumba clan but the next leader of the entire Ashuwa tribe.
The truth about the Ashuwa tribe is that all of the clans along with their descendants are relatives who all can tie back to the founding ancestor of the tribe. One man or closer to myth depending on who asked, the Elemental Grandmaster Essien Ashuwa.
It has already been nearly 300 years since the tribe itself was founded by one man, five women, and two children.
The one man naturally being the Elemental Grandmaster, the five women were to become the five great matriarchs of the major clans, and the two children were to become the grand elders who guide the many generations to come. They were Mashallah and Shanti in their youth.
Safari could almost picture the image that his grandmother described, like he himself was present.
'From the moment of creation's inception, there emerged the force of destruction to forever keep all living things in a bind. But what I shall create is a force that shall never slumber. By the time of my passing there will emerge a descendent of my bloodline who will find the answer to life and death and guide all living beings towards the eternal power of one.'
Safari thought about this speech almost everyday ever since he heard it for the first time.
'Which one of us will it be? Me, or her?" The answer was still uncertain to this day, even after advancing to the second realm before Yara Safari couldn't be certain.
The battle at the hamlet proved to be an excellent grindstone and later an unexpected opportunity to advance himself.
"Howdothose pathieitesconvert spiritual energy so quickly and effectively into any element?At least I refined enoughof that wind energytodeepenmyfoundation to make advancing worthwhile."
Safari pondered all of this while approaching and entering the palace gates, receiving greetings of respect along the way.
He paid little mind to the looks of admiration from both the men and the women inside the palace. He knew as much as any young prodigy that looks could be deceiving but so can words.
'Maybe this is how he felt back then.' Safari's mind flashed back to the moment Malcolm had his breakdown in front of everyone. Safari would never forget how hard he was laughing, how red his eyes were, how hard his hands gripped his skull.
Safari entered into a sealed off stone room, the only thing visible was a soft black mat in the middle surrounded by a formation array. He walked up and sat down on this mat, entering into meditation.
"Hmph, so what if you got stronger Brother Black? So what if you created a high level technique and survived the impossible? You think I care what you've gone through, care what you've had to endure? The only thing that matters in this world is power and longevity.
I'll let go of that moment of weakness you had, since you went on to perform extraordinarily. But don't disappoint me again, I'll be expecting even more opportunities to present themselves from you. But in the meanwhile I need to develop myself further."
As Safari concluded his round of thinking that king cobra manifestation appeared instantly with a thought. It hovered over Safari and cloaked him within its dense aura. His eyes opened a sliver revealing a bright red snake pupil in each eye.
In a far away part of the savanna, a grand and tall figure appeared in a flash. His dark brown skin paired well with his wide black robe. His locks were framed like a lion's mane, much like his great father before him.
Hasani stood on the edge of a large stone mound that gave him a great view of the land around him for nearly a hundred miles. The sun shined beautifully upon the land and seemed almost more lively in the presence of Hasani. The wind blew by the surface of all things, cooling the soul of the world and those who lived in it.
Yet even so, Hasani was anything but cool right now as he thought back to last week.
When the survivors and wounded heirs came back to the city it caused a storm among the higher ups. What was suppose to be a simple excursion for the noble class led by Koda, turned into a nightmare that nearly killed off many of the young heirs. The villagers that were slain weren't thought of more than once by the many elders and clan leaders that arrived at the scene.
After they checked that all of the heirs and heiresses were still alive, Mashallah gathered the many leaders including Hasani inside her domain art and told them the full scale of the situation. Though naturally she omitted the part where she had a discussion with Akeem's group and spared their lives.
Hasani after hearing about what Malcolm had done and seeing the child for himself was almost not willing to believe Mashallah's words, but then he went to see the aftermath for himself along with many other mystics as they for a long time investigated the destroyed land.
Back in the present Hasani narrowed his eyes and brought his hands together in a prayer. He started gathering spiritual energy in his hands. The energy had a bright golden glow to it as Hasani slowly begun to separate his hands and continue gathering energy in between both hands.
A golden lump of light slowly grew bigger as time went on for a few minutes.
First it was the size of a baseball, then it grew to the size of a basketball. Bigger and bigger it got until Hasani had to rise both of his hands up. He was starting to sweat profusely but his face was still narrowed with a deep focus.
"So if I have this right then he he gathered the energy outside of his body, then he kept it condensed in the shape of a sphere while expanding the mass itself. That should be about right. But after a certain point the rate at which it gathered energy rose enough to dismantle Old Shallah's battlefield art and force those pathieites into a desperate situation."
Hasani thought with fascination flashing in his eyes.
The golden sphere was now the size of a small shed but Hasani was feeling the strain of maintaining and expanding this energy sphere.
"It's really a simple technique in nature in fact it could even be considered primitive as far as arts go. All one must do is apply the three principles of gathering, controlling, and refining spiritual energy, then simply perform this exercise outside of one's body."
Hasani chuckled at this notion, initially believing that Mashallah's description of the ability to be too simple, but now upon walking through the steps himself he could see that perhaps this truly was the case.
He shook his head and absorb the gathered energy into his spiritual core.
"No, something else happened back at that hamlet. I might be able to produce the form and shape but arts truly come from one's spirit. The spirit is the guiding will that all mystic's spiritual energy carries in the creation of every art. No matter what, no two mystics can produce the exact same art even if it's the same learned technique."
Hasani's mane shot up suddenly as down below there was a gathering beast horde of Blood Eyed Hyenas chasing a group of wildebeests.
The Blood Eyed Hyenas were many times bigger and stronger than the Two Faced Hyenas that attacked the hamlet. The average Hyena stood at the same height as a horse back on earth, and there were hundreds of them. Most of them had first to second realm aura but there were a few of them that were as strong as third realm mystics.
Hasani was around 7000 meters in the sky but this didn't stop him from simply walking off the edge and dropping down back to the ground with his arms crossed.
Crack!
Ahead of the horde a large figure dropped down with such an immense weight that it caused a mini earthquake to occur. There was a large dust cloud that was produced from the fall that obscured the figure from the Blood Eyed Hyenas. They all stopped in their tracks as they gave up chasing the wildebeests to face this new threat.
All were silent as they waited patiently for the battle to come.
Hasani smiled slightly as he rose a tight fist. Energy once again started to gather in his fist but this time the energy was absorbed into the fist itself, gathering just underneath his skin.
His other hand formed a few hand signs and soon solor energy from the sun above gathered to coat his fist in a ball of fire. Spiritual energy still poured in from the atmosphere, not once did Hasani use an ounce of the spiritual energy dwelling in his core.
["Mystic Art: Solar Release!"]
Bam!
Hasani punched forward and out from his fist came a bright golden phantom lion. It released peak third realm aura.
Hasani shook his head and punched again.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
His fist soon became a fiery blur as soon a few dozen lion phantoms surrounded him, forming an extremely large coalition.
A gust of wind blew by, clearing away the dust cloud and revealed to the Blood Eyed Hyenas what interrupted their hunt.
What they saw was a massive man wearing a black robe with hair shaped like a lion's mane. He was surrounded by nearly a hundred golden phantom lions that all exuded peak third realm aura with the exception of 10 fourth realm level lions that by themselves could give many clan elders a run for their money.
This line up alone could potentially wipe out small clans and cripple mid sized clans. Not to mention completely wiping out a relatively weak beast horde such as this.
The Blood Eyed Hyenas knew this instinctually so they slowly started to back away.
Hasani seeing this frowned as he took out a juju weapon in the shape of an onyx stone knife. This knife was a fifth grade juju weapon forged by his brother Ramses using his own blood along with obsidian, dark energy, and the heart of a wicked fifth realm mystic to make this weapon in two nights.
[Juju Weapon: Heart Of The Underworld]
Hasani stabbed his own hand with the knife. No spiritual energy was needed for this weapon to pierce into Hasani's flesh, but the lion king was not preturbed in the slightest.
However the Blood Eyed Hyenas upon seeing the sight of blood all flew into a ferocious frenzy. They laughed and howled as they charged towards Hasani with a mad hunger for his flesh.
"Now that's more like it."
Hasani then commanded the phantom lions to stand around him in a five layered formation. All it took were a few thoughts to be transmitted for the lions to follow Hasani's orders.
Quickly the hyenas approached and the first layer of lions simply stood their ground and swiped their claws and chewed with their teeth. Soon enough many Blood Eyed Hyenas started dying in droves. But this only made the beasts go even deeper into their ravenous fury.
Soon some of the lions started to be overwhelmed and destroyed, the energy they were made of simply dissipated back into the atmosphere. Hasani saw this and thought of an idea as he watched another lion about to be destroyed and chanted.
["Killer Art: Empyreal Explosion!"]
Boom!
The lion that was about to be destroyed suddenly exploded in a great blast of light and fire. Taking with it nearly 50 Blood Eyed Hyenas and burning several others badly.
"Mm, I like it. I think I'll continue to explore this further." Hasani relaxed his body as he continued to create more lions using this unique method while commanding the lions to fight, retreat, or explode when it was the best option.
A few minutes passed like this and the land around Hasani was soon covered in blood and gore. Dead hyenas laid torn to pieces in for as far as the normal eye could see. Already there were crows hovering above and picking away at the deceased.
"Hmph, they died too fast. I need to find a stronger beast horde. But I've been away for too long, I need to return to the city."
Hasani sighed deeply as he dispelled the lion phantoms and harvested the eyes of all of the dead hyenas.
The open plain was starting to stink of blood, potentially drawing powerful beasts but Hasani only looked back once more and walked away.
"I need to make further plans for the future. This was the child's first and only art, and yet it was so powerful."
Hasani tightened his fists ever so slightly at the thought of Malcolm's art. For a moment his eyes held in them a dangerous gleem until he relaxed back into an impassive expression.
The sun hung high above over the world and ruled with a tyrannical mirage that oppressed the many living beings of Capri.
Hasani only looked up at the constellation, like a son seeking guidance from the knowing father. His eyes reflected the radiant light back at itself. For a long moment he stood there at that spot, soaking in the solor energy from high up.
"Maybe now I can try this."
["Mystic Art: Sacred Blitz!"]
Hasani body became light itself as he dissappeared at the speed of light.
In another moment he was back inside of his palace chambers. There, Old Shanti stood as if expecting him to arrive in this fashion.
"I see you've grasped one of your father's techniques."
Hasani stood in a rigid posture with sweat pouring down his body. He didn't bother responding to Shanti as he took out a spirit stone and quickly drained all of its refined spiritual energy.
His chest rose and fell with a slight shake to it. During this Shanti approached and guided the lion king to take a seat on his massive golden throne.
Hasani took sometime to gather his breath before eventually cracking a slight smile, then after he let a slight chuckle.
Shanti raised an eyebrow before asking.
"If I may. What has gotten you feeling jovial so suddenly my young liege?"
"Haha who would've thought that imitating some random child would help me to raise my comprehension of my father light arts."
Hasani laughed out loud now with no restraint. Shanti quickly perform a handsign and a formless energy covered the room in a silencing barrier. Even with this Hasani laughed with such a bellow that the room shook as though an earthquake was ensuing.
"Hahahaha! Shanti! We really might of found ourselves a diamond among the blood red stone of the land! I only used half of my reserves for the art haha!"
"Well, I suppose that at least for a while we'll keep him in the city then."
"Yes, yes keep him here for as long as we can! Bring him any food, drinks, clothes, and even women! We must keep him here now!"
Shanti chuckled at the man in front of him now. It had truly been a long time since he'd seen Hasani to happy, especially since the death of his father, brother, and wife during and after the great war with the Terra Clan.
He only stood to the side and watched with no eyes to speak of, but nonetheless he can feel the joy all the more.