♢♢♢♢
3 PM, Prince Louis Drakeheart's room.
An indescribable heat coursed through Louis' body. His eyes snapped open. He found himself almost fully healed, save for a few bruises on his hands and face.
"Ah, I must have fallen unconscious... damn it, I lost a couple of hours."
He checked the time—3 PM—and felt mild irritation. But he refused to let it slow him. Sitting cross-legged in lotus position, he began assimilating Heaven and Earth Essence.
Through his newly opened Heavenly and Earthly Channels, Louis absorbed and refined Celestial Energy and Earthly Essence into stronger Yin and Yang Ki, which then transformed into Earth and Fire Ki.
"Hoh, not quite an elemental affinity yet, but I'm moving in that direction now!"
Louis was fascinated by his sudden progress. The fiery red and brown energies of fire and earth captivated him. He rose quickly and resumed training.
"Earth and Fire are finally part of me. Mastering them is another matter entirely..." he thought. "Next is Wood, Metal, and Water. Let's go for Water—it should be the easiest."
He headed toward the large pool he had prepared, surprising Catrise, who was sparring with Mirai alongside Anastasia.
"Um, your majesty?! Shouldn't you rest?"
"Nonsense, we have no time. Prepare the pool. I will now practice the Water Method. Hurry—I dislike wasting time!"
"Ah... Yes!"
The pool was twenty meters deep, deep enough for Louis to fully submerge and feel the water's crushing pressure. The fastest way to learn the Water Heaven-Earth Harmonization Sutra was to drown until one could no longer hold their breath, and then a little longer.
While holding his breath, Louis meditated. He closed his eyes and felt the water enveloping him: its coldness, stillness, calmness. Yet he also understood water's potential as a raging, all-consuming force. To attain the Water Sutra, he had to become like water itself. The emotions most aligned with it were Calmness, Stillness, and a Cold Heart.
These were qualities Louis had already mastered within his mind. After ten minutes, he felt himself drowning, but he resisted. He allowed water to flood his lungs, enduring tremendous agony while remaining focused.
Not yet.
"Tsk."
He swam to the surface, coughed out the water as though it were nothing, took a deep breath, and dove back in, shocking Catrise and Robert, who oversaw his training.
"H-He's literally drowning... how is this a training method?! It's torture! He's torturing himself!"
"Hmm... This is how His Majesty chose to grow stronger. These self-torture methods are the fastest way to learn the Five Element Sutras he seeks."
"But isn't it too much?! How can he endure all of this? When he used to cry even over a bruise! I remember he was always afraid of getting hurt..."
"You already know what happened to him, Catrise. Why ask? Our prince has changed. His determination borders on insanity. I don't know exactly what he saw in the Dimensional Labyrinth, but it must have broken something inside him."
"Your majesty..."
What had forged Louis' unyielding resolve was witnessing his entire kingdom destroyed, everyone he loved, including his father and above all his dear mother, dying at the hands of Soma and the Abyssal Mother.
Though he remembered fighting Soma in his previous life before regressing again, those memories blurred halfway through. He must have died mid-battle. He did not know whether he had avenged them.
That overwhelming irritation, that unbearable guilt, drove him. He trained without end, tortured himself, punished himself for his weakness, for allowing everyone to die.
It was his fault. His negligence. His sin.
"Never again... Never again... Never again... Never again... Never again..."
Repeating the words endlessly for three hours, Louis felt something shift within his body: a constant flow of azure energy. His body relaxed. When he opened his mouth underwater again, water entered his lungs and settled.
"...?"
It no longer bothered him. He was slowly absorbing oxygen from the water itself, sustaining his brain without surfacing.
"So this is the Water Sutra!"
As he drew in more water, more Water Ki flowed through him. Louis smiled faintly, surged to the surface with a massive splash, landed on the edge, and coughed the water from his lungs.
"It's done. Let's move to the next Element—Wood."
"Wood? What sort of torture are you going to put yourself through now, Master Louis? Ah! It's already 6 PM! Wouldn't you like to at least have dinner?"
"No. The more I eat and feel satisfied, the less I can concentrate. I need to be famished, exhausted, hungry... Only when I release all earthly desires and become hollow do the elements of the world accept my body as their vessel."
"...? I-Is that so?" Catrise was stunned by his words.
"I understand. The Wood Method training is already prepared, your majesty. Would you like my assistance?" Robert asked.
"Yes, thank you," Louis nodded, walking away.
Unlike Catrise, who acted like a worried older sister, Robert resembled an uncle who understood Louis better than anyone, perhaps a matter between men.
"Perhaps Catrise is confused about what you're trying to attain and may even believe your goal is pointless," Robert said. "But let me tell you, Master Louis, I completely believe in you."
"Is that so?" Louis asked, smiling faintly.
"Yes. It's a thing mostly between men—or figures like us who carry an entire country on our shoulders, like your mother or your father," Robert explained. "You are someone willing to do anything for your goals, for your country... perhaps even for your people, even if you refuse to admit it. You care for your people and your country, do you not?"
"...Stop talking nonsense. I only work hard for my own growth," Louis replied. "Now hurry. I don't have time for pleasant conversation. The Wood Method is simple!"
Louis tied himself to a large tree. Robert took up a large club enhanced with Wood Attribute Spirit Magic.
"Now strike me!"
Wearing only shorts, Louis endured blow after blow. His powerful body withstood the punishment even as bruises bloomed and blood flowed. He demanded Robert continue the painful ordeal. He hated pain and took no pleasure in self-torture. Yet he chose it, anyway, knowing it was the shortest path to power.
"Zorba! Hurry, you must strike me. Be merciless! I must feel every fiber of the wood against my bleeding skin!"
"Yes, Master Louis!!!"
Zorba smiled with fascination, cheeks flushed as he struck Louis' bleeding, muscular body. He appeared even more enthusiastic than Robert. The butler glared at the criminal with unease. He did not approve of this man's presence near the prince, but he had no right to object—especially after Zorba had proven his usefulness.
Five hours passed. It was now 11 PM, nearly midnight. Louis finally felt it: a spark of green light within him. He caressed the wood, smelled the grass, ate leaves from the tree, and bit into the bark like a complete madman.
Then...
"Gulp..."
He swallowed hard wood. His throat tore and bled. His bare flesh pressed against the hardness of nature itself. His heart pounded faster and faster.
FLUOSH!
A green essence surged from his body. Louis smiled with fascination. He drank healing tonics and called on Handy, who had consumed plenty of Fantasium Crystals and held ample reserves.
"I-Is it done?" Robert asked.
"Master Louis, your body is as red as a beautiful rose!" Zorba exclaimed. "Never have I seen such a wonderful piece of art before... one from a living man, no less! I always thought only corpses could be molded into such perfection."
"Silence, Zorba," Louis said. He closed his eyes, feeling the essence flow through him, and smiled.
CRASH!
He pierced the tree before him, infusing his energy. The tree trembled. Its branches writhed, pierced its own trunk, and tore itself apart until it collapsed, drenched in Louis' blood.
"So that's what it can do," Louis nodded. "And this too..."
He touched the fallen tree and infused Ki and Mana. It regenerated rapidly, returning to its original position. Its leaves turned vibrant green; bright red fruits sprouted among the branches.
"That's incredible! It's almost like Nature Magic!" Robert said.
"So that's the power of the Wood Sutra!" Zorba exclaimed.
"It seems so," Louis nodded. "For now, I don't think I can generate plants on my own. I'll need to carry seeds or find another way... I'll think of ways to make this power useful. Now, it's midnight, right? Shall we finish this by morning? Let's move to the last Method—Metal."
"Prince Louis, I recommend you rest a little," Robert said. "Tomorrow morning you can start—"
"What's wrong, Robert?" Louis tilted his head. "I thought you understood my hunger for power. What's this now? Are you worried? If you're so worried, step aside. Zorba, come with me."
"Yes, Master Louis," Zorba replied, shooting Robert a mocking grin before following. His expression shifted to one of flushed fascination and obsession.
Louis and Zorba entered the next room, an empty chamber filled with metal weapons and a floor covered in blades, which Louis ignited with Fire Ki. He walked straight onto the burning blades, releasing his Aura and beginning to assimilate the metal.
"Metal is unmoving, near indestructible, the hardest form of Earth itself. A conductor of electricity, capable of taking any shape with enough heat," Louis said. "Zorba, do you know why I chose Metal as the last?"
"Because it is the hardest, Master Louis?" Zorba asked.
"No..." Louis replied. "It's because I hate pain the most. So I saved the most painful method for the end." He smiled bitterly. "I am actually a coward."
"...? Coward? Haha... you're stepping on burning blades, my lord. Your feet are sliced open and you're still bleeding from your last training. There's nobody in this world with more courage than you."
"No... I am a coward," Louis said, closing his eyes as he handed Zorba a hammer. "Hit my body with it."
"Understood," Zorba nodded. Still pondering Louis' words, he began striking the prince's body.
"My entire life I have lived afraid of disappointing the people around me..." Louis said. His body was crushed by the hammer while he stood on burning blades, then rested on them, slicing his flesh, feeling hard metal grind into bleeding wounds.
"You have?" Zorba asked, striking Louis' shoulder. He noticed how tough Louis had become, his bones refused to break no matter the force, even as skin tore and muscles hemorrhaged internally.
"Yes. I've always been a foolish kid, raised with so much love from his parents—especially his mother—that I became unable to disappoint others," Louis continued. "And a lot of expectations were placed on my shoulders..." He caressed a sharp blade, slicing his fingertips. Blood flowed from the open wounds as he stared at them expressionlessly, eyebrows twitching faintly.
Zorba continued the torture with the metal hammer while Louis experienced the Element of Metal in its sharpest, most intimate form.
"I never told you before, but when it was time for me to become a Dragon, I couldn't," Louis said bitterly, hands covered in deep bleeding cuts. "I disappointed my mother, my father, and my entire family... those I loved those I cared for, those who placed countless dreams in my little innocent head. Those dreams vanished the moment they learned I couldn't be like them."
"..." Zorba looked slightly shaken, sorrow in his eyes for his dear master. "Master Louis..." Even so, he continued striking, as though trying to pound Louis into minced meat.
"But that wasn't the end of the world," Louis said. "I had my mother, and my... distant father. She trained me however she could and never let me fall into sadness. But then a monster appeared—one my mother could not defeat. She fell ill after fighting that entity and forcing it back into the Dimensional Labyrinth. And since then, I have never felt so lonely. My father's absence felt even worse without her. All the hatred, all the frustrations I had bottled up for her sake, were finally released. I became a bitter, cowardly, arrogant bastard. But strangely enough... I don't feel ashamed of who I am."
"Hoh?" Zorba smiled lightly.
"Certainly, I am trying to improve, but..." At this point, Louis had carefully pierced his body with dozens of knives, avoiding vital organs, constantly feeling metal inside his flesh. "I am not ashamed of who I am."
"I had the idea you were trying to become a better person," Zorba said.
"Maybe that's what it looks like on the surface, but the truth is, if anything, I am still the same..." Louis replied, eyes empty. "I am the same pathetic, crying child—arrogant, selfish, cowardly, sinful, flawed... spoiled. I am simply pouring all that darkness within me into this: my hatred, my arrogance, my selfishness, my cowardice. This is all of it and more. This is my madness, I suppose. I am completely insane."
"Haha... yes, Master Louis, you're a madman, but I admire you for that," Zorba said, smashing his shoulders mercilessly. "I am the same. We are very similar... this is why I feel so close to you."
"Hm, but hasn't your grip softened? Don't pity me. Continue," Louis said.
"Yes, Master Louis," Zorba replied, smiling with dark pleasure.
♢♢♢♢
For the rest of the night and into morning, Louis and Zorba continued. As Louis' body convulsed in agony, as he held back screams and felt energy surging within, when the pain had grown so overwhelming that his body turned numb... he looked toward the rising sun with a smile. His white skin was stained crimson with blood; even his white hair had turned scarlet.
Dozens of knives and swords impaled his body. His Aura surged, glowing silver. To the horror of every servant working those early hours, they beheld what Zorba considered the most beautiful piece of art he had ever created.
"How beautiful, Master Louis..." Zorba whispered. "Is there any other piece of art than you in this whole world?"
"You speak so much nonsense..." Louis stood. He closed his eyes and released his Aura.
In that instant, every knife and sword withdrew from his body and clattered to the floor. His wounds sealed as Handy healed him completely. Within him, five elemental energies flowed together, rapidly intertwining into five beautiful branching roots.
This was...
The Five Elements Spiritual Roots.
Or rather, their most primitive, earliest form. They could not yet be called true roots—just a mass of five elements hastily combined. Louis still had a long path ahead, but he felt profound accomplishment after finally mastering the Heaven-Earth Harmonization Sutras and its Five Elements.
"Zorba."
"Yes, Master Louis?"
"You're going through the same training, by the way."
"...Eh?"
-----