It is alright now, for I am here. [Hero's Secondary Magic Training - Solo]

It was a day like any other. Except it was not at all. A ton of things happened in the past week without relenting. The Rune Knights, which were run by the Magic Council, were found to be guilty of corruption in the higher ranks of the order. Fiore's King ordered a Purge on the organization and the ones who were to carry that out were known as the Garou Knights. Hero himself was requested an audience with by an officer from that organization. Though the giant answered the call, he did not accept the invitation to join their ranks. The reason for that? Yamamoto felt that an organization led by royalty was ultimately doomed to corruption eventually and he did not want to commit to a faction that was not going to hold true to their ideals. Hero wanted something more than that, though he did not know or understand what it was he wanted. He did know though that he wanted the strength to genuinely protect those that are, or would be, close to him. That was the main thing spurring him forward currently.

After that whole thing happened, he continued to get mail from their organization regarding the Rune Knights and such though there was nothing substantial yet that drew the giant's attention. Meanwhile, his cousin Elyx had the man go on a little trip for him into this active volcano for a treasure chest. Yeah. Sounds fun, doesn't it? Hero was in there for about an hour and a half before he finally found it, though it was not that simple. It was slightly confusing as well, considering what happened. At first, there was Elyx who wanted to challenge him to get the chest by getting through him first. That was fine and all, but then another Elyx appeared. Yes, there were two of them but then it went downhill from there. The Elyx who had arrived second knocked the other Elyx on the head and then that Elyx poofed into a woman. The woman was explained to be the real Elyx's girlfriend and that she liked playing pranks on unsuspecting people. The man had already figured that something was off about the first Elyx but he never would have thought it was a shape-shifting tanuki woman. After all that nonsense, his cousin explained the reasons behind why he wanted Yamamoto to take this little game of a request and it made at least some sense, though it would have been easier to just ask. The giant had no legitimate reason to deny the offer from his cousin so he accepted and thus joined the legal guild, Golden Phoenix. Hero also obtained an empty bottle from the chest; Elyx said that a good friend of his wanted to know what lava tasted like and wanted the giant to fill the bottle with some lava and take it to the friend. There was a problem with that though: he had no idea where to find that person. His only clue was that she worked as the guild's bartender when she was not out on jobs.

The bottle of lava was still in his house out of sight and it was likely going to stay that way until he knew exactly where to find that friend. If this person was a friend of Elyx, chances were high that they were also very strong though that of course was only conjecture. After that day, it was actually pretty quiet. Since there was no guild hall yet according to Elyx, there was no way for the man to know where that friend lived or worked, which meant he had to either wait for his cousin to give him another hint or try and search for them by going on some pilgrimage to every city and town in Fiore. He was NOT going to do the latter for the sake of one person whom he had never met before. Unfortunately, Hero was not kind enough to do something like that without some more legitimate reason than "they want to know what lava tastes like". There was one thing however that he deduced from that. The friend must have been a Slayer of some type and he also figured that they had to be a Fire Slayer. However, there were three known types of Slayers that they could have been; they were distinctly different in the way the types obtained their power. It was simply a matter that the man was not willing to handle just yet.

Just the day after that, his cousin threw him under the bus metaphorically speaking. Granted he ended up not being alone for the entire ordeal but it was pretty intense. I mean... it was not every day one got to take on a horde of ravenous, bloodthirsty werewolves on a Perfect Moon with three other people until the sun came up. That was a really intense night, though he and the others managed to get through the night with non-lethal injuries, save for himself whom was covered in bruises from the smacks he took by that behemoth of a beast in the village. It would have been a lot worse, had that man Kite not gotten there to lay down more damage on it. When the sun finally came up, all of the turned villagers returned to normal and the group of four people were thanked by the village elders who knew it was going to happen from the start. All in all, it turned out to be another invaluable experience for the giant.

Then the day after that, which was also pretty fun, he and a fellow guild mate named Luna Jaeger went treasure hunting out in the Ancient Ruins. It did not take us too long to get to the bottom of the whole ideal and found this guy Harper Goldenshine to be extremely troublesome. He was also searching for this treasure and was found to be wanting the treasure for darker intentions, which Hero could not allow. He and the woman found the treasure and then left with Harper in tow to inform local authorities on the matter; later that day, Yamamoto was informed that the Magic Council was thankful for their efforts in protecting the sanctity of the deceased Wizard Saint's tomb. It was a good feeling to do good deeds for the sake of tomb preservation. A thought also crossed his mind while at the ruins. Why were those ruins such a hotspot for all these different occurrences? It was at the very least strange and the giant was very interested in finding out what it was all about.

Then there was the matter of the friend of Elyx's he was supposed to find on his own. He did end up eventually finding her on an island off the coast of the mainland, Crescent Island the resort, and goodness she was a beauty. It was at first strange to watch her drink down that bottle of lava like it was some kind of alcohol. Though the thought was a little funny and ironic because the friend was a bartender. Turns out the friend was also a woman, in case one had not noticed. Long blonde hair and the kind of body that just about anyone would fall to their knees for. The more important thing was getting that lava to her though so that was a success at the very least. Her name was Venir RuLush and she was an S-class wizard part of the same guild as he, Golden Phoenix. Hero himself was on vacation yesterday, so most of the time was simply spent at the resort talking with the woman. Though if that were all that happened, he would have been lying. That day turned into a run-in with an extremely large Dark Guild known as the Syndicate, which was run by these people called "executives" whom were the top ranking members of the guild. It was a hard-fought battle, since it was ten against three. Another member of Golden Phoenix, Leila Vergious, had joined both Hero and Venir on the task and they all managed to pull through it without fatal injuries, save for Hero, whom got cut up pretty bad by the boss of the guild, Doflamingo.

Then there was that very odd time in Kyoka with an old colleague from the Rune Knights by the name of Isaac Anicetus. A good man whom seemed more wise than his appearance gave off. The two had to fight through some really powerful opponents, though with teamwork, they managed to both get through to the end with only some big bruises. Even stranger was what happened in the end. There was a small orb of light that guided us through some dense fog and waves upon waves of random creatures and evidently dark wizards until they came upon a gigantic forge which resided within a castle-like structure. Nearby was a giant molten man whom carried a giant hammer on his right shoulder. It made for us each a powerful item out of the materials retrieved from the boss-level monsters earlier in the journey. Even now, neither Hero nor Isaac had any idea what the hell was going on that entire day. So much so that it was almost comical that they both somehow followed the same dream on a random whim, though it was not regretted. Hero himself earned himself a new friend and an item to boot so it was not a bad time.

What now, one may have asked. Well, after some thought, Yamamoto determined that it was about time for him to go on a journey in search of answers in regards to his past. How was he going to do that, one may have asked. Ultimately, that was what somehow led him to the Sea of Devils, somewhere in the Cursed Lands. The giant needed to reach a new level in order to tackle the obstacles that were to come. In order to achieve this, he had to do something drastic. By drastic, he meant picking fights with outrageous, scary powerful monsters in this hellish place. The air was thick with water particles that made breathing difficult and the soil was dried up, like the land had seen an eternal drought. Such polar opposites meant that magic was at work which caused this expanse of land to be this way.

Regardless, the man was not going to get stronger just by looking around the place. He had to fight, with his life on the line. The Sea of Devils was the best place to do that. One way or another, he was going to attain the new strength that he wanted. Hero walked forward in search of his first opponent, with a serious but fun-filled expression on his face that said, "Lets do this".

Word Count: 1,810; 6 posts done of 30

Surprisingly enough, there was nothing and no one anywhere within range of sight. One would think a place reputed for being swarmed with powerful creatures would be at least slightly more populated than this. Hero could not really do anything about that however; it was simply a matter of walking straight ahead until he came across something he could punch. The sun was right above his head, though it was dimmed by a wide sheet of clouds that covered the area in every direction for several miles. It was merely coincidence, but the man dressed appropriately for the land's unusual climate which happened to be his usual pair of baggy white Arabic-style pants. Of course he wore neither a shirt nor any footwear as either of those things would have become hindrances in the heat of combat. That was why he was there in the first place after all. Several minutes passed by as he walked forward aimlessly though eventually a voice made itself known to him.


"A stranger has come into my midst. What does this stranger seek in my domain?"

With the voice came an ominous feeling, like he was being watched from all sides. Like there was a giant set of eyes baring down on him alone with the weight of an entire planet in its wake. Yamamoto showed no signs of these thoughts on his face or body and he spoke plainly and with the least amount of effort he could muster.

"I seek to attain new strength. Show yourself."

It took every bit of strength he had to keep his composure in the face of this presence. Whatever the source of this was, the giant was nowhere near ready to face something this... dark.

"So this stranger has some manner of strength already, to request an audience with the ruler of this Sea of Devils. Interesting. Very well. We shall speak face to face, but not here. Run ahead and you will come to a large fissure that has no visible bottom. Jump into it."

"How do I know that you are not simply sending me to my death?"

"If I wanted you dead, human, you would currently no longer exist. Come."

The truth to that statement was unmistakable. Hero was not exactly savvy at sensing the Magic power of others but even he could tell that this... thing, whatever they were, was way beyond anything he had faced so far and it was wisest to not engage them in combat. The smartest thing to do was to simply do as this thing requested. The only way was forward if the man wanted to improve, both literally and metaphorically. Knowing that, he pushed away all doubts currently in his mind and darted forward instantly at sprinting speed toward the fissure that was supposedly just ahead. What was he going to find when he arrived at the bottom of that place? Sure, it was very likely something was going to be waiting for him, but it was strange. The giant had never heard of such a phenomenon before, in terms of this place; it did not make a lot of sense that such a powerful presence was not ever talked about among the wizard community. Yamamoto shook his head a couple of times and then took a deep breath before returning his mind to the moment at hand. The soil he tread upon was rough and dry, each footstep leaving a large print on the surface. The breeze against his body was humid but not uncomfortably so.

In the distance, Hero began to see a large clearing in the ground. That must have been the fissure the ominous presence mentioned some minutes ago. Believing that to be the case, the giant elongated his stride to increase his speed just a bit more and in doing so he flew straight off the edge of the opening. As he began to fall, his feet were aimed at the bottom and his arms came above his head to reduce wind resistance on the way down. A thought came to him moments later. This must be what the textbooks call "momentum" and the scientific concepts of kinetic and potential energy. Of course it is a natural concept, but this is my first time actually having time to analyse it in this manner. As many well knew already, Hero was as much a scholar as he was a wizard. Hero spent a lot of his free time educating himself on several different topics, such as the sciences and mathematics and languages. A lot of the way he fought had to do with specific types of science... especially Physics, which dealt with natural forces, energy, matter, and motion. Training the mind was after all just as important as training the body.

Among thoughts of science, the giant found himself getting close to hitting the bottom. With a still expression and quiet mind he gathered ethernano into his legs; doing this would allow him to protect his body from the initial impact and keep damage to a bare minimum. Upon landing on the base floor of the fissure, he parted his legs into a horse stance and pushed the palms of his hands against his knees to reduce recoil from the landing. The impact caused a large crater to form under Hero and sundered a large area around him. He exhaled then and stood up, acknowledging the fact that he took no damage from the fall and walked ahead from the landing site. The area lit up brightly then and revealed a spacious, cavernous-type floor which stretched for miles in the directions of North and South. The giant's body tensed up without warning before that presence made itself known once again, though this time it was not as overbearing as before.

"Well done on that landing. You must be that man I've heard about from the people in the sky. Yamamoto, if I remember correctly. What you desire is new strength. Are you prepared to die for it?"

"I cannot afford to die here, but I am willing to put my life at risk for my goal."

"Is that so? You must be quite confident in yourself to say that. Very well. Five rounds. You must defeat my servants if you wish to obtain what you seek. I will warn you however. Do not underestimate any of them."

Hero said nothing in response and the presence disappeared, which resulted in his body relaxing. There was something very eerie about the place he was currently in, almost as though there was something far more sinister hidden in the walls. It was the feeling one got when they were in enemy territory without realizing that they were in such a place. The feeling that he only saw what he was being allowed to see, and that what he did not see had no other meaning, despite it being such a strong thought. Moments later, five large demon-like beings appeared in a formation around him that was reminiscent of the kanji for "fire"; then they all spoke in unison.

"You will face each of us one at a time; there are no other rules. The final round will have something particularly special. May the first round begin."

Word Count: 1,223 (4 posts); 10 posts done out of 30