Author's Notes:

Hey guys this is the second chapter today. I hope you enjoy. You will get a chance to see Hiro fight a little more in this chapter.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 42: Showing Off

Hiro awoke to the sun creeping over the horizon. He kissed Foria on the forehead and slowly wriggled free from her body.He got up and got dressed then went downstairs to greet his companions who were sleeping soundly. Hiro looked upon them and smiled and said, “Leo my friend it’s good to see you happy.”

Hiro quietly left the house making sure not to wake the two sleeping cats.

I have a couple of things to do. First, I need to check in on Caesar and the army. Then I need to talk to Korin and tell him my new plan for peace and get him to weigh in on it.I also need to check in on Matsuro’s store and figure out what to do with it. I guess I will start with the army.

Hiro walked over to the area to the army training grounds. They were just as he left them. Except now there were several buildings which looked to be housing barracks for soldiers. As he walked into the area he could hear see the soldiers standing in rows as their commanding officer, Caesar, barked out orders. The group had grown in size again. The numbers now were definitely close to 400 people.

Upon seeing Hiro, Caesar shouted, “ATTEENNNNTION! Our Commander has returned!”

The soldiers snapped to attention and raised their right hands to their foreheads in salutation of their commander. Hiro walked slowly through one of the columns. He could feel the intensity coming from all of the young men and women. The strength of his army had grown exponentially. Each person was toned and muscular. All of them had the look of a true battle hardened veteran in their eyes. This was no longer a makeshift ragtag operation. This was a real army ready for anything.

When Hiro arrived at the front he found Kaura also at the front along with Orochi and Gori. Gori beat on his chest in approval while Orochi coiled up and hissed. Hiro walked up and shook hands with Caesar. Caesar tried to test Hiro’s strength by squeezing Hiro’s hand.

His strength is amazing. A normal man would have had his fingers crushed by this man’s vice-like grip but I am not a normal man.

Hiro began to squeeze back and Caesar’s hand began to compress in Hiro’s much more powerful grip. Caesar quickly conceded.

“I see your training was definitely productive.” Said Caesar

“Yes it was. I have become much stronger than I was before I came here. I also see you have gotten a lot more recruits.”

“Yes the word has gotten out that we have fought against orcs, trolls, and hobgoblins and won. People want to seek refuge in our city others wanted to join our ranks.”

“That is great. I’m glad we are getting a name for ourselves that will make my next objective easier to accomplish. I also have something to discuss with you and the army, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all Commander”, replied Caesar.

“Kaura afterwards we can discuss your questions”, said Hiro.

“Everyone, I can see you have been training hard each day. Your strength and courage is evident. I want to ask you all to lend me your strength as we try to protect not only our city but the world from the shadow of darkenss. Will you fight with me!”

The soldiers all raised their fists and shouted, “HOWOOO! HOWOOO!”

“Thank you all. I must tell you that I do not wish for war with any culture be it goblin, orc, beastmen, or human. I seek peace with all of those groups.”

The crowd began to murmur.

I thought this might happen. I need them to be with me on this. I guess I should just speak from the heart and hope for the best. If they want to follow they will if not I will find a way to make this work.

“I know it may seem strange but in order for our children to grow up in a world without bloodshed and hate we must do something different. We must look for the good in everyone and prepare for the unfortunate battles that may occur. Raise you fist if you are with me on this road to peace!”

The crowd paused for a moment. Then like popcorn hands started going up throughout the army. One by one each and every hand went up. Hiro breathed a deep sigh of relief as believed this would be much harder.

“Thank you men and women of Korin. I know this may be difficult for you as we try to make peace. I assure you that I am seeking peace but if people wish to attack we will show them our mighty fist. Now you may go back to your training! Train hard we will face tough times ahead!”

The soldiers yelled, "YEEEEAAAAAHHHH!"

Hiro then convened with Kaura and Caesar.

“Are you sure about this, Commander?”, asked Caesar “I mean making peace with goblins, orcs, and trolls is not the safest thing to do.”

“Well Caesar, what is the alternative wiping out an entire species? I mean if someone turned them into an army maybe we can teach them different. Why are they always trying to kill us? Have you ever asked that question?”

“I guess not Hiro. I can see where you are coming from but I won’t be leaving my hammer behind when we go to meet them”, said Caesar with a grin.

“I will be taking my sword as well. I would like peace but if they become aggressive we will defend our home and we will leave no doubt as to who is stronger”, Hiro said as he clenched his fist.

“Alright, so Hiro what kind of training did you do? I mean you body looks massive compared to what it looked like before but I can’t really sense your strength”, asked Kaura.

“Well it would be easier to show you rather than tell you. First I wore these bracelets and anklets during everything I did and I was not allowed to use my ki other than when Matsuro and I sparred. So now my raw strength and speed is higher than it was when I was at my maximum with my ki before I began my training.”

“You sparred with Matsuro, the lightning blade?”, asked Caesar.

“Yes he was my master.”

“What’s so special about those cuffs?”, asked Kaura.

“They are magical and you can increase their weight. They start at 25lbs each but by the end of my training I wore them at 60 times their normal weight.”

“What?!! That would mean that… you were moving with 6,000 lbs on you in addition to your own weight?” Kaura yelled

“Yes, it was unparalled pain and agony to do it but after seeing some of our people die on the battlefield I knew I had to fight through it.”

“Now I want to fight you even more! Let’s have a match Hiro.”, said Caesar as he stood up and grabbed his hammer.

“I figured you would say that after I told you what my training was like.”

“How about we do it this way Kaura, you take on one of my clones and Caesar and I will go one on one.”

“Yes sir!”, shouted Kaura and Caesar in unison.

“Ok remember you two asked for this.”

Hiro summoned one of his clones for Kaura to battle.

That is strange it doesn’t have the same weapon as me. Could it be that my new weapon can only be wielded by me? Hmm… I will have to check on that later.

Kaura and the clone went into the sparring circle in the middle of camp. Hiro gave the clone the Wildfire Sword and the battle commenced.

“You’re not using a shield?”, asked Kaura

“I don’t need it anymore”, replied the clone.

“Don’t look down on me.”

“I’m not you will be looking up at me from the flat of you back after I beat you”, the clone said with a smile.

Kaura immediately attacked. The clone took a deep breath and activated Hiro’s Warrior’s eye skill.

Kaura saw his eye change suddenly. “What is that?”, she asked.

“Just a little something we picked up during our training”, replied the clone.

Kaura’s movements were extremely fast but to the clone it was nothing special. It was extremely slow compared to what Hiro was used to. Kaura ran in with a flurry of quick thrusts and slashes but the clone dodged with minimal movement. The clone then jumped backwards creating some space between the two.Then it did something peculiar. The clone tossed the sword to Hiro and took a fighting pose.

“Why did he do that?” asked Caesar.

“I think he feels that he may hurt Kaura with this blade so he is choosing to fight her barehanded”, replied Hiro.

The clone then jumped in to attack. Its speed was incredible it closed the distance between the two in the blink of an eye. It unleashed a few quick jabs towards Kaura’s face that she barely managed to dodge. As she tried to counter attack with her short sword the clone grabbed her arm at the wrist and twisted it forcing her to release the blade then the clone attacked with a devastating combination of three kicks. The first kick the clone jumped up and closed its legs on either side of her head smashing her ears and disrupting her balance. The next kick was almost like a dropkick. The clone sprang off of her chest and finished with a jumping spin kick that landed on Kaura’s jaw causing blood to come out of her mouth and her head and body to become aerial and spin before she violently hit the ground. She tried to get up but she was unable to continue. The clone quickly cast a healing spell on her and healed her wounds then helped her to her feet.

“You weren’t kidding when you said you had gotten stronger”, said Kaura.

“Yes and that was without using any ki”, said the clone.

“Wow! I was going all out the entire time. You are terrifyingly scary and you are only a fraction of Hiro’s actual strength”, Kaura said shaking her head. “Our commander is truly a monster.”

“You ready for our battle now Caesar”, asked Hiro.

“Oh yes! After seeing that I’ve gotta know how strong you really are. I want you to go all out!”

“As you wish my friend”, replied Hiro.

Hiro walked into the sparring circle and removed his anklets and bracelets. The sound they made when the hit the ground was as if they weighed a lot more than what they looked like.

“How heavy were they just now?” asked Caesar

“25 times normal” replied Hiro.

Caesar swallowed loudly and said, “Let’s go” as he readied his hammer.

Caesar began strengthening his body with his ki. As he did the other soldiers stopped their training as they sensed an epic battle was about to occur. Caesar’s body was covered in a brownish colored aura showing his earth affinity. His body seemed to be harder than granite. He was like a fortress. Meanwhile Hiro only observed.

“Show me your maximum Caesar! Don’t hold back! I want you at your absolute best!”

Caesar smiled and clutched his hands tightly on his hammer his aura exploded and the very ground began to shake. Caesar was covered in a dark brown colored aura. His body seemed like a gigantic stone, immovable.

"What do you think Hiro?"

“I'm impressed Caesar. You have improved a lot. You give off the feeling of a gigantic iron wall. It is almost like your defense is impenetrable."

“Thanks for the compliment. Now it's your turn Hiro”, said Caesar

Ok. I haven’t used my ki in a while but since you asked for it, here I go”, Hiro said as he clenched both of his hands together tightly making fists.

Hiro lowered his stance and began gathering his ki. His body became engulfed in the pale blue color of his aura and his energy began to rise. The soldiers had to cover their faces as the wind began to blow away from him. His energy continued to rise.

“What is this?! How did he get that strong so quickly!?” said Caesar.

“HAAAAAAA!!!” screamed Hiro.

Electricity began float around Hiro’s body as his energy began to create a crater beneath his feet. His power was reaching levels that no one had ever seen before. Caesar took a step back to steady himself as Hiro’s power was so intense that it was pushing him away.

Suddenly, Hiro took a deep breath and cast gravity magic he learned from his master onto his sword it now weighed around 3,000 lbs in his hands. His eyes were now completely red with black marks in them (similar to Sasuke’s Sharingan) displaying his new evolution of his warrior’s eye skill. He began walking towards Caesar. Each step made the hair on the back of Caesar’s neck stand up. It was as if death was walking towards him but he was Caesar was no coward so he choked down his fear and steeled himself for an all-out attack.

Caesar clutched his hammer and rushed to attack. Hiro slowly continued to walk forward. Caesar swung his hammer downward vertically but Hiro could see the move as if it was in slow motion. Hiro sidestepped so fast that it created and afterimage. Caesar struck the afterimage and it disappeared only to realize it wasn’t Hiro. While Caesar was figuring out what he hit was an after image, Hiro had already moved into Caesar’s blindspot. Hiro quickly slashed Caesar’s ribs with his dull side of his blade. He did not put all of his strength into the swing for fear of killing his friend. The blade smashed into Caesar’s side breaking several of his ribs and launching him about 30 feet. He hit the ground violently and blood splattered out into the air from his mouth. Caesar jumped back to his feet and held his side and feeling the large amount of damage he had sustained from one single attack from Hiro.

This is insane! Just before we left we fought a relatively even battle when I was going all out. Now if I keep this up I will kill him.

Caesar looked at Hiro and readied his hammer. He was determined to win. Caesar charged again. This time instead of landing one ferocious blow he decided to use a few feints before he launched his actual attack. Unfortunately, with his new warrior’s eye ability and his experience fighting Matsuro this tactic was nothing to Hiro who managed to completely avoid every attack that Caesar launched.

Caesar is too proud to stop with just some superficial wounds. I have to crush him in order for him to truly accept that I am superior. Unlike last time I will leave no doubt.

Hiro began to land some small glancing blows on Caesar at his joints. These slashes were not huge damaging blows but they caused Caesar to bleed from several places. This bleeding began to take its toll on him. As Caesar became visibly winded because of his onslaught of attacks Hiro dodged again moving faster, so fast that Caesar could no longer follow with his eyes.

Caesar tried to follow Hiro’s energy. When he found it Caesar quickly rushed towards the area and attacked. Hiro quickly dodged and moved behind Caesar. Before Caesar could react Hiro placed his blade behind Caesar’s head at the base of his skull. Caesar felt the coolness of the metal of Hiro’s blade on neck as he began to turn…

“If I had struck you, you would no longer have a head my friend.”

“How… How… I couldn’t even… How did you move so fast?”

“I told you I practiced with these weights on and had to move and fight while I was weighted down. I also was not able to use my ki. Now, when they are off it feels like my body is light as a feather. I still don’t have complete control yet though”, said Hiro with a smile.

Hiro quickly cast his healing spell on his friend to stop the bleeding from the wounds he had inflicted. Then he shook Caesar’s hand. The crowd was speechless. They were in awe of what they just saw. They all knew full well the strength that Caesar possessed as many of them had fallen victim to his vicious hammer attacks. However, to the commander, Caesar was not even a challenge. The crowd began to clap as a sign of respect for what they had just witnessed.

“Thank you Hiro”, said Caesar

“You are welcome but why are you thanking me?”

“You have shown me a level of strength that I have never seen and now I will work that much harder to reach that place. You have given me a goal to reach.”

“Well then my friend, I will continue to increase my strength so that you will continue to have a goal”, Hiro said with a hearty laugh and a pat on Caesar’s shoulder.

“If you want to unite all of the world’s people I suggest we begin with the 2 weakest groups as things stand now or you could go to my home in Atraps and participate in the battle tournament. The winner gets a special prize and their notoriety is spread throughout the land”

“How would gaining notoriety help me in my plan to unite the people?”

“Well people seek strength to lead them. By winning the tournament you would prove that your strength and skill is far above all others so people would look to you to be their leader. That would bring more people here to live and spread

your fame.”

“Oh and by my fame increasing it would be easier to get people to follow my idea of peace.”

“Exactly.”

“Ok then what two groups would you consider to be the weakest?” asked Hiro

“The weakest monster type group would be the goblins and the weakest human-type group would be the dwarves.”

“Wow! I would have thought that the dwarves would be a more powerful group.”

“Well they were until the last great war where the king was killed. Once he died his children fought over the crown. This formed factions and dissent. That split the strength of the once great dwarven kingdom into 6 seperatef actions.”

“Oh you are very knowledgeable.”

“I was a soldier in my hometown so you hear all sorts of things. In addition the goblins are a really weak race of monsters except for those that somehow rank up into a higher level.”

“What do you mean rank up?”

“Well those goblins who have trained enough and learned enough they become a higer being called a hobgoblin and depending on what they do as a hobgoblin they could rank up into something more powerful. This rarely happens though as they are too weak to fight off other monsters and wild beasts so they usually die relatively quickly.”

Hmmm…. These goblins sound interesting. Maybe I could help them rank up and then they might be able to defend themselves or better yet help us.

“I guess that is where I will head first. I was told there is a goblin community near here. Is that true?” asked Hiro

“Well, they don’t really have a hometown as we humans have driven them away from our cities. I guess if you really want to find them you could look into a wooded area to the southwest of here.”

“I was there not long ago. I do remember seeing a goblin there”, said Hiro

“With your strength I don’t think that even a large group of goblins who get angry with you could really do any damage”, Caesar said with a chuckle.

Hiro scratched his head and replied, “Yeah probably not. I will leave to go there as soon as my group awakens.”

“Hiro, do you want me to go?” asked Caesar

“No, Scarlet, Foria, our companinos, and I should be enough. I need you to protect this place. I would not entrust it to anyone else. By the way, how do you think I should approach the goblins to gain their trust?”

“Well monsters usually only respect one thing and that is strength. I believe this will be relatively easy for you to show them.”

“Thanks Caesar for all the information you gave.”

Hiro stood up and saluted his lieutenant before leaving the training grounds. He then went back home to check on Foria and the two ligers to the dwarves’ smithy shop.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If anyone is interested in becoming a patreon please feel free to donate. Thanks for reading.