John heard his phone go off so he rolled over in his bed and grabbed it, he saw it was a text from Allie. "It's the middle of the night, what could she want?" John thought. "Hey John, do you wanna go explore the forbidden forest after school tomorrow?!" Allie texted John. "But that place is dangerous, I've heard that anyone who goes in there doesn't come back out," John replied. "Alright fine, then I guess I'm going by myself," texted Allie.John paused for a second, "I can't let her go alone," he thought."Alright fine, we'll go," he responded."Yaayyyyy, thank you so much, you're the best," she responded. John blushed slightly."Alright, meet me at our spot after school," texted John. "Ok" replied Allie. She was excited. Later the next day after school, John and Allie met at their spot, an oddly shaped tree outside of the woods. The whole town knows these woods are haunted so there's never anyone around there. After John and Allie met at their spot they prepared themselves for the adventure ahead.  "Alright Allie, are you ready?" John asked."I'm ready whenever you are," she replied, they were both scared. Despite the fear they both felt, they made their way into the forest. The moment they took their first step into the boundary of the forest, they felt it. They felt the pressure, as if the gravity was stronger. They were caught off guard and struggled to keep their balance, but eventually they started to get used to it. Hours pass by, and as they continue to explore the forest, they find all sorts of cool rocks and plants. John finds a very pretty looking flower and picks it. He walks over to Allie."Hey Allie, sit still," he puts the flower in her ear. "Th-thank you John," she says, flustered. A couple more hours pass by and it starts to get dark. "Alright it's probably about time to get home," says John."Awwww already?" John gives her a look, she sighs. "Fine I guess," replies Allie."Help!! Help!! Help me please, someone, anyone." "Did you hear that?" asked John."Yeah," says Allie while looking around. They were both startled by this. John, despite his fear, takes off, "what are you doing John?!""Someone needs our help, we can't just leave them!" John yells. "John, wait! Ugh alright fine," she takes off after him. When she finally catches up to him she sees him kneeling down to help an old lady that had fallen over. She was really short and had an old wooden cane, she was wearing an old dirty robe and had her hood up so they couldn't completely see her face. "Thank you for coming to my aid, you are a dashing young fellow. What's your name?" "My name is John-" "John, that's a nice name I like it, is that your girlfriend there?" "N-no, we're just friends," they both said quickly. "Oh about what I needed help with, my husband is lost in that cave over there," she points to an old, dark looking cave."Would you please come help me look for him? I need to find him, it's been quite a while and I'm starting to get worried about him." "Alright, we'll help. Let's go get your husband," says John. "Yeah," adds Allie. "Let's go get your husband." They head over to the cave, John grabs a stick, wraps dried weeds up around one end of it, and lights the end on fire by striking two rocks together until he got a spark, when the spark hit the end of the stick he cupped his hands around it and gently blew on it. With the light now lit, they could see into the cave. "This cave looks like it's pretty long," said John. As they make their way through the cave they come across an area that has 3 different paths. John proposes an idea, "how about we all pick a path and plan to meet back up here in 30 minutes, deal?" "But wait, we can't just leave her alone," said Allie."Don't you worry about me dear I'll be fine," said the old lady. "Alright, I'll pick the middle path," said John."I'll pick the right path," said the old lady."Then I'll take the left path," said Allie. They all went their separate ways. After a while of walking Allie started to feel really hot, and eventually she came across a giant cavern and below her the bottom of the cavern was full of lava. She looked around and saw oddly specifically placed rocks that led her over the lava, "there's no way an old man made it over this," she turned around and started to head back, she turned around again and went to the rocks, "but just in case." She jumped on the rocks and crossed the lava, she looked around, "now what?" Alliethought. She looked down and saw a small tunnel, "oh." She climbed through the tunnel and into a small open room, there was a necklace with a big green crystal on it hanging on a stone manikin up against the back wall of the room. It was mesmerizing, she walked over and picked it up, as soon as she touched it the crystal lightly glowed green. Green aura swirled around her and when it went away her clothes had changed, she had a beautiful green robe with plant designs all over it, she had boots that were green and brown, "What is this weird feeling? I need to get back, John can help me figure this out," she thought... Meanwhile John was having some of his own issues. He found himself in an area that was freezing cold and icy. There were sharp icicles that were breaking off the ceiling, big enough chunks to knock him out or even kill him. "In that case, I'm just going to have to tread carefully," he said. As soon as he got done with his sentence three icicles fell right on him in succession. He evaded them, but just barely, and came out with a pretty good slash on his left arm, but he continued on. He came across a small doorway, he walked through it into a small room, "hellooo, is anyone there, your wife sent me looking for you," said John. He noticed something out of the corner of his eye, a smaller sized chest with gems decorating its outside. He opened it and inside was this blank white mask, "huh? A mask? It does look kinda cool," he grabbed it and put it on his face. All of the sudden the room started to shake, he pushed the mask to the side of his head so he could see better, he left and went back into the icy room, but there was no longer any ice, anywhere. Four spots on the walls flipped to reveal four weird looking creatures that definitely wanted to kill him, he could feel it. John was trapped, the room he just came out of had already collapsed so there was nothing to go back to. He was going to die. They all attacked him simultaneously and he could only evade them for so long until he finally started slowing down. That's when they started landing hits on him. "I don't know  how  much longer I can hold out, I don't have the strength to fight back." Then, the mask that was blank just moments ago started changing, there was suddenly color on it. Two stripes crossed making an "X", red horns grew out the top with a black tip. Then finally a death kanji appeared in the center of the forehead. After the mask had fully changed the monsters were sent flying away. He got back up, and the monsters started coming back at him, but this time to him they looked like they were all moving slower than before, as if in slow motion. "Could this be the masks doing?''  John wondered. With his newfound powers he easily defeated the fighters in a split second. "This mask thing is awesome!" he yells out. "I need to head back and show everyone what I found." He started running back to where they promised to meet and realized that he could run a lot faster than before, "I'm so fast, and I don't feel tired at all." When he got to the meeting spot Allie was back, leaning against the cave wall, but the old lady hadn't returned yet. He walked over to Allie."You're all battered up, I wish there was something I could do," said Allie. She reached out and touched his left arm, and the wound started to close, it startled Allie so she jerked her hand away. "What was that?" Allie was confused, but she touched his arm again. All of John's wounds started to close, the only thing that wouldn't heal was an "X" looking thing with dots in each angle of it in the upper left corner of his forehead. "Why didn't that heal? Here let me try again." Allie touched his forehead but it wouldn't heal. "It's ok Allie don't worry about it, it doesn't hurt anyways. What we should be worried about is the old lady, she hasn't returned yet." "That is true we haven't seen her for a while, and this doesn't seem to be an average cave so we should go see if she needs help." They both head down the tunnel that the old lady had gone previously, John easily outrunning Allie. "No need to go any further, kids," said a voice from behind them. They turned around to see the old lady standing there. "Old lady!" Exclaims John. As he started running back towards her, her body started changing, it turned into a goo like substance. Her shape changed, she got taller, bigger, and didn't look like a girl anymore. "Hello," he said in a deep voice, "I am Oliver Rignheart. Now that you have both gotten your powers I will be your tra-" John cuts him off."What did you do with the old lady?!" he throws a powerful punch in mid air. Oliver, barely batting an eyelash, catches it with ease, a sound wave created by the collision. Oliver twists John in the air and returns the favor, hitting him so hard that another soundwave is created, sending him flying, breaking a couple of his ribs in the process. "You are strong boy, but know this, I am much more than you can handle at this point, but I can train yo-" John cut him off again. "You think It'll be that easy?" John suddenly appears from behind him and lands a huge kick on Oliver's neck, the air pressure from the kick destroyed a section of the wall next to them. Oliver is unharmed, he didn't even flinch."Like I said kid, you're no match for me in your current state." Oliver moves fast, faster than John could imagine, and John is thrown into the wall, destroying an even bigger section than before. "I'll only say this one more time, I will train you to even be able to beat someone like me." John was in a daze from how hard he'd been hit, "Why would I need to get stronger than you? I'm already stronger than everyone else in town." Allie runs over to help John, as he is still stuck in the wall. "Here you go, all healed up, now you should listen to this man. I bet he has a reason for us being here." "What the girl says is correct John, I've been searching for someone worthy of the mask for centuries." "Why? What would you need me for if you were searching for so long?" John asked. "There is a ruler that took over my domain, Darren is his name, he has it under his control and has renamed it the Darren-Domain, he has enslaved many, and is very harsh on the kingdom and my people." "You mean this guy's stronger than you!" says Allie. "Yes, much stronger than me." "Then how am I supposed to defeat him if I can't even land a finger on you?" John asked. "That mask you're wearing, it's the key to defeating Darren, you have not even begun to see the full potential of that mask, it can go much further than just multiplying your physical ability. Now, will you come with me and train, will you help me get back my domain so I can return the peace and harmony it once had?" "What do I get out of it?" John asked."When this is all over, I will grant you any one wish, anything you desire," Oliver looks over at Allie, "both of you," he continued."Any one wish," John said, he thought about it for a moment, "what do ya say Allie, wanna do it?" John asked."It sounds like fun, why not," said Allie with a smile..."Alright let's get the training started right away, follow me," said Oliver. He snapped and a portal appeared in the wall, John and Allie followed Oliver through it. They then found themselves in some kind of old, broken down building. "Over this way," said Oliver as he walks over to what looks like some kind of elevator. They all got in and it made its way down. The doors opened to a really nice looking place with what looked like an area for sleeping, eating and two portals in the walls that had labels over them, "Physical" and "Magical"."Here's my real hideout," said Oliver. An older man appeared out of the corner of John's eye."Oliver, who is that?" Asked John."Oh, John, Allie, meet Jax. He is a mage who is extremely skilled in the art of magic, one of the best in the multiverse, he saved me from Darren during the great battle over the domain and he will be teaching you guys the art of magic." "Hey kids, it's nice to meet you," Jax walks over and shakes both their hands. "John, you come with me first, your physical training can come later," said Jax. "Then Allie's with me," said Oliver. "Come this way John, we're going to work on some magic," said Jax"Yes sir," said John. They head into the portal labeled, "magic.""Alright John first things first, you will need a weapon for battle, so, close your eyes and imagine a sword in your hand. John closed his eyes, slowly a sword made purely of magic started forming in his hand, it was shaped like a katana. "It looks like the color of your mana is white, that's very rare. Now you can open your eyes." John opened his eyes and they lit up with excitement. "This is so cool," said John."That sword will boost your speed and strength... Now come at me and see if you can keep the sword formed while concentrating on battle," said Jax."Wait, how do we fight without destroying the room?" John asked."I've reinforced the entire building with magic, it's many times stronger than an average structure, almost all good mages will do this with their fortresses," explained Jax. "Oh, ok, said John. He charged at Jax, faster than before, a blue mana arm came out from behind Jax and blocked the attack, John continued his barrage, attacking from all sides, Jax blocked them all, as John went to attack again, Jax made three more mana arms and grabbed onto him, "I can't move," thought John. Jax lifted his hand up as a ball of mana formed in his hand, he shot the ball at John, sending him flying into the ground. The sword was still in his hand."That's impressive-" Jax was cut off."I'm not done yet!" John had appeared behind Jax. "He is faster," thought Jax. "I'll have to try a little harder than before." John swung his sword down on Jax, he caught it with two fingers, with a collision that shook the building. "That's enough, you've proven to me that you can keep your sword formed while in battle, you have more concentration than I thought.""Yeahh!" replied John."Now I'm going to teach you some spells to aid you in battle," said Jax"Alright!" Said John. Jax continued to work on magical abilities with John for days, but he wasn't having any luck. Meanwhile Allie was having some of her own issues."I've never been very physically strong, that was always John's job," said Allie as she put her hand on the back of her head."That's alright, not everyone is blessed with strength... Although you have a very high magical aptitude, with enough training, you could still become a very powerful mage," said Oliver. "You'd make the most progress working with Jax so we'll head back soon, but for now I will teach you defensive moves," he continued.Jax is looking at John with a puzzled look, "what's wrong? I'm doing everything you told me, but It just won't work," said John."That is quite odd, it's pretty rare for someone to not be able to use any type of magic... but there is one more type of magic. I wasn't planning on teaching it to you because of the experience required to master it, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try it out," said Jax."What type of magic is it?" asked John. "It's called harmonization magic. It's where you become one with your mana and can control it in coordination with your physical form, it's similar to the sword you manifested but it goes much deeper," explained Jax."Ooo I like the sound of that, how do I do it," John was intrigued. "The only way you can master this is to train your physical body and focus on mana control. After you get your body and mind to that level, you start to feel your mana, then you just have to try and contain it, become one with it. So if you want to master Harmonization you will have to start training with Oliver," explained Jax."Yes sir." said John as they headed back to the base."Hello you two," says Jax. "Ready to trade partners?" asked Oliver. "Yes I am, c'mon Allie lets go. Oh, Oliver," Oliver looked back over at Jax, "we're training him to use harmonization, he can't use any other types of magic." said Jax while he walked through the portal. Oliver seemed really surprised but just nodded his head and led John through the other portal. "I've been waiting for the chance to start training you John, but before we begin, let's spar so I can see your progress." "Alright, ready?" asked John. "Whenever you are," he smiled. John moved so fast it was almost like he teleported behind Oliver, he attacked and landed a major strike to the back of Oliver's head, but all of the sudden Oliver's body faded away. "What is this? An after image, are you serious!?" Thought John. Then Oliver appeared next to John, this time John got his hands up in time to block the blow and returned a hit instantly making Oliver keel over for a second. This gave John time to kick him in the head, sending him into the ceiling. As Oliver came back down he snickered."So you have gotten stronger I see, you can handle 20% of my power." "That's only 20%?!" said John. "Yep, now let's see if you can handle 50%." Oliver attacked so fast you couldn't even see it. John flew into the wall and hit the floor. "Looks like I went a little further than I should have, sorry," Oliver was flustered. Suddenly to Oliver's surprise John stood back up."I'm not done yet," he said as he manifested his sword."You have enough mana control to manifest a sword but you can't use spells? That's odd," observed Oliver, "I'll drop it down to 30%, 50 is too much," he added. John didn't hesitate to attack. "He's faster than before," thought Oilver, "I'm going to have to use 40%." Oliver went to grab John, but his hand went right through him, "he can move fast enough to create an after image already?" John appeared behind Oliver, he brought his sword down on Oliver, he hit Oliver's arm, but John's sword didn't even penetrate his arm. "You're going to have to get stronger if you want to cut me," Oliver grabbed John's arm and threw him through the wall, landing him on his butt outside the base, his sword went away and he jumped back into the building. "That was awesome," said John. Oliver laughed as he used his magic to repair the damages from the battle."You're mastering that mask faster than I thought, let's start training and see how strong you can get. A couple more weeks go by of training and John is steadily improving. "Looks like you can handle 60% of my power now John, that's some good progress. For now, I've taken you as far as I can, you now need to work on your technique. There is a guild tavern you should go visit. There you will sign up to be a hunter and they will continue your education..  "Ooo, that sounds fun, where do I find this guild tavern?" Asked John. "There's one 2 miles south-east of here, I can take you if you want." "Yes please," John smiled. Oliver took John to the guild tavern to sign up to be a hunter. When they walked in it was almost empty, just one lone person asleep at one of the tables, she had an empty mug next to her. Oliver and John walked up to the front where you sign up, on the way to it John tripped and fell into the girl at the table. "Get off me you creep," said the girl as she punched him and sent him into the wall. "Miss, it was only an accident, please forgive his clumsiness," said Oliver. "What are your names?" Oliver fixed his posture as if he were introducing royalty."My name is Oliver Rignheart and this is my student John." "Nice to meet you," John added in a weak voice as he walked back to them. "Oh you're ex-king Oliver, well my name's Katelyn, but you can call me Kate."  Kate begins to eye John up and down....unimpressed. "What's that scar you got on your forehead?" John blanks for a second, he forgot about the scar."I don't really know what it is, it's been there ever since I got this mask." He pointed at the mask and turned his head to show her. Her eyes and tone went serious for a second. "How did you get that?" she asked. "Well, I was in this cave and I found it," he replied. Oliver chimed in. "He is the chosen one that I've been searching for, he will help me get my domain back so I can fix what Darren has broken." Kate's tone changed back."Well why didn't you just say so, I'll help you guys out, I assume you're going to sign up to be a hunter.""We were, actually," said Oliver."Well come this way I'll help you get signed up." They all walk over to the front office, "Margaret!! You have some guys that wanna sign up to be hunters out here!" Kate yelled. "I'm coming, I'm coming." An older lady with glasses came running up holding some papers. "Here's the paperwork, there are #2 pencils over there. Just fill this out and bring it back, then I'll give you your badges and you can be on your way," said Margret. John and Oliver signed up and got their badges."Now we're ready to continue training," said John. "Let's get moving then," said Kate. The three of them did a couple more months of training killing monsters and defeating bandits. They even defeated several dragons, and demon lords, some of the most powerful creatures in existence. "Alright I think you're ready," said Oliver. "For what?" said John. "To experience my full power," Oliver was grinning. He prepared for battle, Oliver's fists and arms were suddenly engulfed in red mana, his hair turned a fiery orange and his muscles began to swell to twice their normal size. John and Kate could feel the pure amount of power radiating from Oliver. "Ugh, so much power," Kate said, struggling to stand. John manifested his sword."Bring it on, old man." "You will regret those words, boy." They both smiled. Their battle started, they were both moving so fast that they couldn't even be seen by the naked eye, the ground started breaking where they fought. Until, finally Oliver was shot out of the madness, when he hit the ground a giant section of the forest was destroyed. His mana went away, his hair changed back and his muscles returned to normal. "Looks like you can handle me at my full power,." The dust went away to reveal John, with only a couple scratches and bruises. "Am I ready to take on Darren?" asked John. "You'll need to get Harmonization down first, John," replied Oliver. "There is General Nebula," Kate suggested. Oliver never considered going after Darrens underlings. "Nebula's Castle would be a great test for John and I can be there if things get out of hand, good idea Kate!" Said Oliver"Please Oliver, I'm ready!" begged John. "We'll leave tomorrow at dawn." "Yeah! Thank you so much Oliver, let's get home so we can get some rest," said John. They finished their day of training, when they were done they made their way back to the hideout and went to bed. The next day they all woke up and left at dawn like Oliver had said. "I'm so ready to kick some butt," said John. "Remember John this won't just be a walk in the park like the rest of them have been, she's one of Darren's generals, she can hold her own against me at 100%, she's probably even more powerful than me," said Oliver. "Don't worry Oliver, I'm ready and plus I have you and Kate," said John. In just a couple of hours John, Oliver, and Kate made their way to Nebula's castle. They easily wiped out the guards on their way in. "Well, well, well, look who it is, Oliver Rignheart, trying to take your throne back? Remember what happened last time you tried that, I've gotten stronger sense then, what makes you think you can win now?," said Nebula as they walked in. Nebula attacked right away as she was eager to get in a real fight, "It's been years since I've had a real fight." John came out from behind Oliver and deflected her blow. "Kate, move forward and take on her higher level knights while me and John handle Nebula," said Oliver."So that's why you were so confident this time, you have help," Nebula laughed. "You got a strong boy here, able to deflect one of my attacks-" she stopped mid sentence, "that scar on your forehead, you're- there's no way. Oh Darren's going to love this, once I take your head he'll finally promote me to be an upper rank general." John laughed."Not gonna happen lady," he said. The battle continued. "I can't hold back against this kid, if that mark is legit," thought Nebula. "I'll have to use all my most powerful attacks and get this over with before he powers up," she continued. "They're so fast, it's so hard to see their movements, like they're almost moving at the speed of light," said Jax. Oliver went all the way up to full power and joined in, they were both struggling, taking severe damage. Nebula grew long sharp tentacles out of her back, shredding John and Oliver. "She's going for the killshot on John, but I'm not fast enough to stop it," thought Oliver. Blood went everywhere, everyone went silent .John looked up to see that Kate had jumped in front of the blade, it pierced her through the heart. "Ahahahaha, one down two to go," Nebula laughed. "John, I can't heal her, there must be some kind of poison on those tentacles, don't get hit in any vital areas." John didn't answer, he was keeled over on the floor. He lifted his head up, rage filled his eyes. He yelled as he stood up."Don't you hurt my friends!!" His mana went crazy, swirling all around him and destroying part of the castle. His eyes went completely white and he started tearing blood. His body was going through some kind of transformation because of the pure rage he felt. "He's... harmonizing!" said Oliver. His whole body started glowing white and he grew mana tentacles similar to what Nebula had used. Full of rage and fury he attacked Nebula."He got even faster!?" thought Nebula. She dodged, "he got my arm!! I just barely dodged that," she thought. John used his mana to form hundreds of tentacles coming off his arms and back and demolished the entire castle."I will kill you," said John. When all the ruble settled and the dust cleared Nebula was still standing, all beaten and bloody. John lifted his right hand and created millions of swords with his mana, he thrusted his hand back down as if he was signaling for the swords to attack. They rained down on her."There's too many I can't block them all," she was overtaken by the swords. John's eyes and body went back to normal, his rage went away. John awoke from what seemed like a trance. "Kate!" he ran over and kneeled next to her with Oliver. "She is dead John," said Oliver. "No, no she can't be dead, c'mon Kate wake up." "She isn't going to wake up John," said Oliver. "C'mon, let's head back to the hideout, we can bury Kate there," Oliver was tearing up. They went back to the hideout and buried Kate.8964 copyright protection51ＰＥＮＡＮＡUgq1na6K7F 維尼

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