Howard watched the Dream Space split in half and cut off his view of Priscilla.
At the sa ti, the book on the council rapidly opened, and 20 previous Guardians appeared from other generations. Of course, Barabin, Annibell, Reslan, and Sasha weren't in the group, but that only made sense to Howard. Thus, he walked over to them and did a slight bow.
"Hello Founders! I've co to ask to make a new Guardian Position. The protector Guardian!" Howard didn't mince words and smiled. He knew that the chance of them automatically accepting a new guardian position were slim, however, he was also a descendent of the Demon King. They should at least give him a shot.
"We can't do that," A man with a big black beard said and shook his head. He looked almost identical to Barabin asides for his height. He was almost 2 ters tall while Barabin was only 1.6 ters tall after fully drinking blood. "I'm sorry, sappling. However, you seem perfect for the fighter position."
"Hold on. Let's give him a chance," A beautiful woman in the back sighed and put her arm around the large man with the black beard. She had beautiful golden hair and the prettiest face. The man she was holding, however, seed quite the opposite. He didn't seem to have an attractive feature on his body besides for his muscles. "What do you imagine having Five Guardians will do that four can't? The Four Gaurdians were made with harmony in mind. Two couples ant to protect each other. A fifth would ruin that balance."
Howard nodded his head and understanding, but still saw sothing long with this logic. He had heard that the purpose of the couples was to endure the death he was bound to endure. However, if there was a fifth guardian, couldn't he be the one to prevent those deaths?
He didn't want Monica, or Reece or Harley to die! He wanted to be the one to ensure that no one died! He didn't care if it was stupid!
"I-I know this sounds silly, but the main weakness with Four Guardians is that there is never anyone watching the people around them. When I was doing Warrior Simulation 58, I realized that I can be the protector. I can make sure no one around the other Four Guardians dies."
"Naive!" A small Guardian in the back said. He had long orange hair that had been laced around both his arms because it was so long, and not to ntion his large stomach. "Do you think the Four Guardians can protect everyone! This is the Furnace! Horrible things happen down here all the ti!"
Howard nodded his head, but then got down on his knees and started to kowtow. He kowtowed 15 tis and then lifted up his head with tears in his eyes.
When he had been fighting the Jarkales, he vowed to not everyone die if he could help it. How could he be a part of sothing where the hole point of the structure was to let people die! He didn't want to do that!
"Please! Please give a chance," Howard got up and smiled. "Hehe, worst case scenario we can go back to the previous Four Guardian format. However, don't forget, I can have more than one girlfriend be a guardian! All three of us can protect each other!"
"HA! NO you can't you little player," The orange haired guardian, Ingrand shook his head. "Then who will protect your back? What are you going to form a triangle with two won?! Do you not understand! 2 is the perfect number! You can't have three!"
The Four Guardians had been a structure built after much trial and tribulation. There had once been eight guardians, but that had turned to four after the second generation of guardians. Eight of the Four Guardians hadn't been strong enough to survive the harshest tides of battle, so they decided to limit it to 4 based on the strength of the generation.
Generations of Horned, for so reason, always had four extrely strong Horned and then a few what they called peak Horned that couldn't match up to the original four. Howard and Priscilla were definitely worthy of being Horned, but Monica wasn't quite up to par. She was considered a peak Horned even with all her effort. And Howard couldn't stand it.
"I-I'm the descendent of Demon King Earl!" Howard finally screaming, his anger forming a fire around his body. "I worked hard for the last year and a half in the Furnace to find loved ones! How about this! If Five Guardians doesn't work, it can just be Four Guardians for the next generation! However, don't think I'm going to lose! I'm going to get so strong not a single thing in the Furnace can stop !"
Howard smiled and wiped a tear from his while the 20 guardians all looked at each other, and then looked at a extrely tall and lanky man wearing a hat in the center. Howard kind of recognized him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Had he seen him in textbooks before in Montgory University? He had a wide smile on his face, and was wearing a colonial era hat. Why did he look so familiar.
"I'm the first Guardian, and I approve," The man removed an eye patch from his eye and a large fla started to swell out of it. "I see endless potential in Howard. Let's at least give him a shot! Ha, I lost my eye in a battle, Howard, but I learned to use Ki to see, but because of it I gained a special ability! I learned to trust in myself to make the right decisions, and I trust you!"
"Janran is okay with it, then I'm okay with it," Ingrand shook his head in disbelief. His orange hair looking like s strange fla that kept moving side to side on his bulbuous body. "However, Howard, you must know that there is a high chance this will cause you to suffer in the future. Are you sure?"
"I'm sure," Howard smiled. "Now what else am I hear for?"
"It's ti to teach you how to be a leader," Janran smiled and walked over to Howard. "Are you ready Howard. To embrace your worst fears and turn them into strength? To carry the world on your shoulders?"
"Of course, I'm ready!" Howard smiled. "Train please!"
###
Howard didn't regret his desire to be trained, however, he did regret that he didn't have enough ti.
Janron used Ki Supression on him and made him do so basic punches and kicks for the hours remaining. If he only had two weeks, he would've been easily able to learn dozens of moves. However, he ended up teaching Howard only one single move that would help with his leadership.
Howard wiped the sweat off his head and stared into Janron's eyes. One of his eyes had a Ki Fla burning inside of it while the other had a large scar running down the middle. He was a very terrifying person, but also seed extrely nice and caring. He wanted to be like him soday!
"The ability I'm about to teach you was taught to personally by the Demon King," Janron leaned dosn and patted Howard on the head. "It's a sha I never got to et you in person. I'm sure by now you realized that I'm a manifestation of the Dream Ki in the book on the council?"
"Yes, I get it!" Howard smiled, "However, what's the ability?"
Howard sat on the floor with his legs crossed under S rank Ki Supression, but had no trouble staring up at Janron's eyes. "What can it do?"
"It's called The Sword of the Fire Legionnaire. When you master it, it will be a perfect complint to Fire King's Embrace. Here, let show you," Janron held out his hand before a large fla started to spiral down his arm and into the palm of his hand. A sword soon appeared with two wings at the hilt that started to spin around Janron while floating in the sky.
"This is the Sword of the Fire Legionnaire. You create a weapon that you put both Ki and so of your will into it," He smiled and pointed over at a large mountain in the distance. "It can attack by itself. Once you master it, you'll be able to create five of them. Since you want to protect those around you, I thought it might be better than an ordinary leadership skill.
Janron held his hand forward before the sword shot into the distance and appeared before a towering mountain 1000 tis it size. However, the sword soon tilted and turned before a large line of light cut through the mountain. A second later, the mountain began to fall to bits before the sword rapidly dashed to Janron's side. It almost seed cheerful, fluttering its wings like so type of strange being.
"Wow, that's impressive," Howard said with a smile. "However, you're so strong! Can I do that?"
"Ha, well, that's what I'm going to teach you in the next hour. Let's see how you do."
###
Howard tried his hardest to activate Sword of the Legionnaire with less than twenty minutes remaining. He kept failing and falling short. Even though it was very similar to Fire King's Embrace, he never had to inject his will into his Ki before.
He had reached the A rank, but had yet to learn the final skill of the A rank. Ki Will.
Ki Will sent your Ki into an attack and allowed it to slightly increase it's damage depending on your emotion. Howard activated all of his energy at this one mont and tried his hardest to focus on the palm of his hands. He knew he could do it!
"Woh! Woh!" Janron laughed. "Are you trying to explode? Try a small piece of Ki first. You don't need to catch up to imdiately."
"Everything else has been easy for . However, for so reason, I can't sense your Ki, so i can't just learn it."
"Hoho, well, this is a Dream Space." Janron tapped Howard on the shoulder. "Your abilities aren't going to work everywhere, however, is it so wrong to be having trouble?"
Howard smiled and nodded his head. It really had been too easy for him recently to get stronger. He sighed and stood up and shook his head. It was clearly ti to go.
"I'll get it after I leave," Howard smiled, "But thank you! Thank you for letting try."
"One more try? With that kind of spirit," Janron smiled while the space started to fluctuate. "Try wiht as little as effort as possible."
"Okay," Howard smiled and opened his hand. "Last try?"
"Yes, but this ti, try and imagine your will being that gentleness. Think of your will as a kindred spirit inside of you that is like an arrow. Send that arrow into your Ki."
Howard smiled and nodded his head, but he knew sowhere deep down inside it was simply too hard of a skill. He sent that feeling of it being impossible into his Ki and tried to use the 1st stage of the technique that Janron had taught him. It had 6 stages, and each stage increased the abilities of his sword legionnaire. At the 5th stage, it really could be considered a 6th guardian! It was a perfect skill!
Boom!
A large explosion burst out of Howards hand and sent him flying back while Janron laughed. He smiled and put his hand in the dissipating fla while a small sword fluttered over to Howards' side.
"Well, it's a start Howard. Congratulations, on being the 5th guardian, and mastering the first level of Sword of the Fire Legionnaire. Now, get out of here before the Arthraku arrive. We don't want to lose are new guardian before he even had a chance to thrive."
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