---
The storm had passed, but its whispers lingered.
Raiku stood in front of the waterfall again, fists wrapped, breath calm. Water slammed down around him like a drumbeat, each drop pounding his shoulders like miniature trials.
It had been three days since Tao Pai Pai vanished into the hills, and the village hadn't seen a threat since. Yet Raiku couldn't rest. His mind echoed with questions he hadn't been able to shake since that fight.
Not about the assassin.
But about himself.
He looked at his reflection in the pool below the falls — calm face, sharp black eyes, wild Saiyan hair. And then his tail, flicking slowly.
Beneath it all, the beast stirred.
> [System Alert – Passive State Detected: Instinctual Conflict Identified]
Mystique Core: 8.4%
Suggestion: Meditation or Controlled Stress Simulation
---
Back at the island, Roshi sat on a stone, sipping tea while watching Raiku through the trees. The old master hadn't said anything since the fight — not about the way Raiku fought, nor how he moved.
But he was thinking. Always thinking.
There was something off about the boy. Something just beneath the surface.
And Master Roshi, for all his quirks, had a nose for hidden truths.
---
"Hey," Raiku said, appearing beside him with no sound.
Roshi blinked once. "You walk too quietly. Makes a man nervous."
"Maybe you're just old."
Roshi chuckled and sipped his tea. "Maybe. But my instincts still scream when something ain't normal."
Raiku tilted his head. "Is that so?"
"You've been hiding your true power. Tao Pai Pai felt it. I've felt it. But you're still pretending to be just a boy."
"I am a boy."
"Not like the others."
Raiku didn't answer.
Roshi glanced at him sideways. "You wanna tell me where you're from? Really?"
Raiku stood up and walked toward the ocean.
Behind his back, his tail curled slightly, almost protectively.
"I'm not ready to explain," he said without looking back.
Roshi leaned back with a sigh. "Fair enough. But whatever you are… you better keep control of it. You lose that grip — people will die."
Raiku stopped.
Then nodded once.
"I won't forget."
---
That night, beneath the full moon, Raiku knelt in the clearing once more — the same place where the beast first broke free months ago.
The scars on the trees still lingered. Cratered bark. Crushed stone. Memories carved into nature itself.
He activated the System quietly.
> [Heavenpiercer Combat System – Standby Mode]
System Task: Emotional Mapping
Objective: Deepen Style – Phase Two
Option Unlocked: Guided Echo Meditation
Raiku sat, breathing slow. Deep.
Inhale… Primal Flow Breathing.
Exhale… Calm Instinct.
The moonlight touched his skin, and his aura fluttered. Not flared — just alive.
> [Beast Core Flow – Reactivating...]
Internal Channeling: Stable
Passive Resonance Detected
🦍 Lunar Surge Link: Strengthening
He felt it again.
The power that had once ripped through him uncontrollably.
The Great Ape wasn't just a transformation — it was a reservoir. A spiritual bloodline of fury and instinct. But Raiku didn't want to lose himself to it again.
He wanted to master it.
---
A deep memory stirred.
---
FLASHBACK – PLANET VEGETA
The Queen knelt in a sealed chamber. Raiku, only three years old, clung to her side.
"The Great Ape is sacred," she whispered, drawing chalk lines around a tiny glass orb glowing with lunar light. "But most of our kind let it control them. They become mindless."
Raiku tilted his head.
"I don't want to become mindless."
She smiled, running fingers through his hair.
"Then listen to the beast when it whispers. Don't wait until it screams."
---
Now, Raiku opened his eyes.
The beast stirred… but softer this time.
A presence.
Not rage — but pressure.
A memory in his blood.
He stood, slowly lifting both arms.
And as moonlight bathed him, Raiku moved through all three Heavenpiercer techniques — one after another, forming a slow-flowing kata.
Crater Fang. Mirage Talon. Moonfang Drop.
Then, something new.
> [System Update: Technique Harmony Achieved]
New Technique Concept Created: Silver Pulse Kata
Status: Incomplete
Description: A flowing martial form that channels suppressed power and balances Great Ape essence with refined movement.
Progress: 5%
Mystique Core: 9% – Approaching Emotional Convergence
---
At dawn, he returned to Roshi's porch.
"You look like you fought a ghost," Roshi grunted.
"I did," Raiku replied. "Mine."
The old man studied him. "Hmph. You've got your tail under tighter control lately. That's good. You might actually live long enough to get lectured by me."
Raiku smiled faintly. "You already do that."
"Darn right I do."
Roshi leaned back. "You'll need more than fists and kicks going forward, you know. The world's changing. I can feel it."
"So can I," Raiku murmured.
---
> [System Alert: Next Phase Unlocked – Heavenpiercer Tier II – Disciplines of Intent]
– Technique Development Enabled
– Mystique Core Synchronization Triggered (9.2%)
– Internal Ki Stream Adjustment Detected
– Beast Core Flow – Branching Condition Met
---
> 🌀 Sub-Branch Available: Beast Core: Iron Pulse
Status: Unlockable through next combat milestone.
---
Raiku looked out toward the horizon again.
He could feel something building in the wind.
Like a pressure before a coming war.
And deep inside him, the Great Ape no longer roared wildly.
It waited.
---