The heat in the clearing became suffocating as Uri pulled his Conquerors Energy into a single point. It didn't just flow; it condensed, swirling and churning in the palm of his hand like a miniature, violent sun.
Amy-chan leaned forward, her eyes reflecting the orange glow. "Uri-kun, look!"
Slowly, the shimmering red energy began to liquify. It bubbled and hissed, thick droplets of molten light dripping from his palm and searing the stone beneath him. Crafting his signature sphere, Uri was molding raw power into a physical form. The Magma didn't just sit there—it pulsed with his heartbeat, a viscous, glowing orb that hummed with a low, dangerous frequency.
"I... I did it," Uri whispered, his face drenched in sweat. He held the molten sphere with a mix of awe and pride, though his fingers trembled under the weight of the heat.
However, as he tried to push the energy further, the sphere wobbled. It lacked a stable shape. It wasn't a sword, nor a shield—it was raw, chaotic destruction.
"Don't just hold it, Uri-kun," Daigo-san instructed, his voice low and serious. "The mind is the mold. If you cannot shape your intent, the power will consume the user before the enemy."
Uri closed his eyes, centering his thoughts on the image of a hunter's chain. He visualized the magma stretching, hardening, and flowing according to his will. Slowly, the orb elongated. Under his mental command, the molten mass began to drift away from his palm, hovering in the air like a sentient serpent of fire. He wasn't swinging it with his muscles; he was directing it with his mind, a telekinetic weapon of pure heat that moved with the fluid grace of a dancer.
He flicked his wrist, and the magma whip lashed out, effortlessly cleaving a falling cedar leaf in half before cauterizing the edges. The pride in Uri's chest swelled—he finally had a tool to bridge the gap between him and Levi-san.
"Listen well, Uri-kun," Daigo-san said, his voice dropping into the gravelly tone of a teacher passing on a dangerous secret. He watched the molten serpent coil around Uri's arm, the heat blurring the air between them. "Every warrior born with Conquerors Energy has an Innate Nature—the raw element their soul defaults to. For your brother, Levi-san, it was the flickering, untamable reach of Fire. For you... it seems the earth itself has claimed your spirit. Magma."
He stepped closer, the orange glow reflecting in his weary eyes. "But nature is only the surface. Beyond that lie the Bloodline Techniques—the Kekkei Jutsu. These are powers carved into the very marrow of your ancestors, passed down like a curse or a blessing. I've seen the way you fight, Uri... but to this day, I have no idea what your true inheritance is. It's a locked door even I can't pry open."
Amy-chan leaned in, her breath catching as a stray spark from Uri's magma hissed against a stone.
"And then," Daigo continued, his expression darkening, "there is the Absolute Limit. The final stage of manipulation where a master no longer just uses their power, but rewrites the laws of the world with it. It is the peak of all existence, and few ever see it without losing their humanity."
Uri looked down at his glowing palm, the magma pulsing like a physical heart. The weight of his unknown lineage felt heavier than the molten lead in his hand. He wasn't just a boy from the mountains anymore; he was a vessel for something ancient and unclaimed.The training session finally wound down as the sun dipped behind the jagged mountain peaks, leaving the clearing in a soft, violet twilight. The scorching heat of the Magma Technique retreated, the molten serpent cooling into harmless grey soot that flaked off Uri's skin.
"That's enough for today, Uri-kun," Daigo-san said, his voice weary but filled with a rare, quiet warmth. "Your spirit is strong, but your body needs rest if it's to hold that kind of heat." He turned and began the slow walk back toward the house, his heavy footsteps echoing the rhythmic pulse of the mountain.
Uri stood still for a moment, staring at his calloused palms. The power felt different now—no longer a burden to be suppressed, but a part of his very heartbeat.
"Uri-kun?"
He turned to see Amy-chan standing close to him. The flickering lanterns of the shrine cast long, dancing shadows across her face. She looked smaller than usual, her fingers clutching the edges of her sleeves.
"You're really going, aren't you?" she whispered. "To the city... to find Levi-san."
"I have to, Amy-chan," Uri replied softly. "I need to know why he left. And I need to become strong enough so that nobody—not Michiru, not even the disease in your father's head—can ever threaten us again."
Amy-chan stepped forward on her tiptoes. Before Uri could react, she leaned in and pressed a soft, lingering kiss against his forehead, right where his brow had been furrowed in concentration moments before.
"Then promise me you'll come back," she said, her voice trembling but certain. "Promise you won't become a ghost like Levi-san."
Uri felt a strange warmth spread through his chest, one that had nothing to do with magma or Conquerors Energy. He reached out, awkwardly patting her head. "I promise, Amy-chan. I'm not going anywhere forever."
They walked back to the house in a comfortable silence, the mountain air finally cooling. But as Uri lay on his futon that night, staring at the dark wooden beams of the ceiling, he couldn't shake the feeling of the Absolute Limit Daigo-san had mentioned. He didn't know that when the sun rose the next morning, the peaceful life of the mountains would be shattered by a truth he wasn't yet ready to face.