The Last Space King 29 Teacher Kioko

"Rey, what the h.e.l.l did you get me into‽" Priest Kioko slammed the door open and shouted, "twenty-six men dead, ten are in critical condition and need months to recover! Don't tell me that 'kid' wasn't Soma, I saw him with my own two eyes!"

"It was him. A friend of mine has something he needs." Rey said awfully. "I did all that I could, I did my best!"

Priest Kioko sighed and paused for a moment. "This is a grave injury to our Sun Empire. The higher-ups are taking initiative and are pursuing you. Fortunately for you, most of our resources are tangled up in fighting the Ghora to the north. That leads little of our true elites to deal with you and Soma. However, now Soma killed its child, it's on a rampage trying to find you. As to whether it can find Soma or who will win… I do not know. This has gone too far, and I won't let our Sun Empire be casualties in this war between you and this creature. Since Soma is after someone you know, where is your friend headed, Rey? We can't protect them."

"I don't know, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you!" Rey glared at him angrily. "If you want to help protect your Sun Empire, then teach me! Help me fight off Soma. When I break free from his hold… I'll lead it away from the Sun Empire. Then n.o.body else will be hurt, and we can forget about everything else that happened here."

"That's why you came here? To force my hand into teaching you to improve your willpower?" Priest Kioko was upset, but the more he thought about it, the more he began to rethink it. "Manipulating me into teaching you… fine." He relented. "I'm not powerful enough to destroy his soul by myself anyway, and it's easier for you to kick him out if you've already done it once before. I'll teach you, only long enough for you to regain control and get that creature out of our Sun Empire."

"Thank you, Grey." Rey bowed and praised him, "I'll forever remember this."

Twitching his eyebrow, Priest Kioko glared daggers at him. "If you didn't force me to, I'd rather leave you be. This is too annoying," He slapped the back of Rey's head, "and it's master to you from now on!" Looking at Rey, he suddenly felt pity and sadness. "Come inside already, I'll show you the basics and we'll go from there."

Walking into Grey's office, his master pulled out a whiteboard.

"The soul is split into two parts, your consciousness, and your willpower. You cannot hope to increase your consciousness until you reach the scholar ranks, but your willpower, we can continue to refine and strengthen that. You'll be able to resist all urges and illusions if you can use your willpower to break them. Your willpower, once it gets strong enough, can even influence or pressure people of lower power!" Grey began to shout as he got excited momentarily, coughing after realizing he was a bit too excited.

"The experience we have in life will pa.s.sively shape and form our willpower, but it's up to us to strengthen it actively if we want to breakthrough. From here, your willpower will either harden or crumble under the intense pressure." Grey looked Rey in the eyes, "Do you even want to fight? Where is your instinct to battle? Are you even ready to kill Soma, or is something holding you back?"

Rey wanted to respond, but before he even got the chance, he felt himself sinking into an illusion.

"This is the most I can apply on you within Sanctuary, whether you will break or be sharpened by it entirely depends on you, Rey." Grey's voice halted to a stop and silence enveloped Rey.

Abruptly, Rey woke up lying on the gra.s.s and felt pain radiating towards his left ribs. The noise of many legs drawing entered his ears and adrenaline pumped through his veins. Disregarding the pain, he got up and saw a giant ant pinching its mandibles. Rey quickly jumped out of the way of the charging fire ant and got back to his feet. He looked at the tiny hands and feet in his vision and realized he was only seven years old!

'This…' Rey tried to think as familiarity overtook him, 'this is my memory?' He recalled the pain, how he lost, his despair, everything that seemed to overwhelm him. He found solace in his ability to use the s.p.a.ce law after so much time, but as he felt his body, he realized there wasn't a trace of the s.p.a.ce law in his body; he was a powerless mortal boy. Rey already knew he couldn't win, that it was impossible! He knew himself well enough… He can't win without the laws.

'Why would he make me relive such despair?' Rey panicked as the giant fire ant came close and felt his small body drain of color. Despite his fear, there was something within Rey that told him to fight against all odds, even when there was no hope. 'If there's no light at the end of my tunnel, if there's no hope to go on, I will create it!'

Looking at the charging two meters long fire ant, Rey gritted his teeth and kicked its red carapace upward. His leg felt numb as it collided with the ant, making it shake unevenly. 'If I remember correctly, the antennae are the weak points?'

Rey took the initiative and jumped on its back while it was still jarred. His whole body shook violently as the ant thrashed, but Rey held on by its antennae and pulled backward on them. Despite them being thin, he could not rip them off no matter how he tried. He looked at its body and found its stinger was nearly snapped off.

'Here's my chance!' Rey twisted backward and grabbed the stinger. With both hands, he plunged it down into its eyes instead. Clicking its mandibles again, he rolled around in pain. Rey took the opportunity to kick the stinger further in and pierced its brain. It stopped moving shortly after.

"I succeeded?" Rey was elated; he created hope despite others telling him it was impossible.