"It makes me proud for you to follow my style's core by steering off into a different path."
"But it also saddens me that it is drenched in blood."
I was ecstatic.
My worst student had gone from the bottom to the top in only six months.
He mastered the basics of the Changing Style and brought it to its peak.
The methods, however, were of questionable theme.
Drenching your hands in blood.
Challenging everyone who dared oppose you.
Children.
Clan leaders.
Legends.
Myths beyond comprehension fifty times stronger than him.
He brought the Changing Path and furnished it with a new name.
The "Sa-"
"Bleurgh!"
Haha...
I forgot my own student was beating me to a pulp.
I spat out a blob of blood and readied my stance, attempting to see through my dear student's movements.
Would he kick me next?
Do I sidestep?
Or...
"Wait!"
He looked at me, grinned at me then said
"Gramps, you have to stop being way too soft..."
He rushed towards a hospital.
A god damn fucking hospital.
Was he really this desperate for power? Why would he siphon in the middle of a fight?
Steering through his intent, I changed myself into that of a bloodthirsty panthera and rushed at him with blinding speed.
I caught up to him.
But he tricked me.
I attempted to turn around from the illusory deception.
A blade rushed toward my face.
I tried to stop it by changing my art into steel.
He altered his trajectory.
It aimed straight for my eye.
In a last-ditch effort, I attempted to change the focus of my steel's reinforcement to my eyes using the arts of change.
And...
I failed.
The pain of death was as gruesome as I remembered.
My consciousness sank into my soul.
It abandoned its flesh and entered what people called the Afterlife.
Dying was annoying and painful.
But it was neither damning nor permanent.
Imagining a world where death marked the end of one's story was horrifying.
Looking around, I rushed towards the closest watrior and caught it off guard.
A normal fighter would at best, take multiple "years" of preparation and training to beat one of these translucent ghastly beings
Attacking him would have been an extreme challenge if I wasn't the creator and master of one of the most renowned arts within my world
Being of such strength and renown didn't help me save my own student from going down a horrible path though....
Grasping the being by the face, I slammed my right fist into his chest and ripped out what looked like its "heart"
It tried to fight back by biting and weakly punching my soul, but it was all futile
I held its heart within my hand and absorbed it
My soul shone brighter.
I apologized to the vanishing warrior
Then I returned to my flesh body.
I saw darkness.
I was buried.
They buried me again.
Channeling my chi into a fundamental aspect of the Changing Style, I converted my hand into a pseudo-drill.
By mixing aspects from multiple animals, I tore through the coffin's wooden door
Dirt blasted into my face.
Of course, I had not done this without a plan.
Transforming into an earth snake, I slithered through the soil and surfaced.
The light was annoying.
Extremely annoying.
Far too annoying.
Almost painful.
Wait...
Why does it burn?
Feeling my serpentine body begin to char, I quickly changed back into a human.
I shielded myself with basic defensive arts whilst "healing" my body by making it return to normal with the arts of change and looked around.
The landscape was devastated and the sun was shining... A bit way too bright.
Hell had been unleashed upon this land, either from beings of an extremely high level of power, or nature itself
"How long was I out?"
Each second within the Afterlife mattered.
Time did not exist there.
Which meant the moment of resurrection was randomized.
It was all a mess.
It could be the day after, the week after or even in decades or centuries
Sighing, I abandoned my thoughts. There was no time to give anything any moment of thought, I needed to figure out how far in the future I was
Searching for any signs of life, I rushed forward and jumped
I transformed into an eagle in the middle of the air and took off in a powerful thrust
The land below stretched endlessly.