Hell's Academy

"Do you believe in the afterlife?" Reslan escorted Howard into the building, pointing towards a large pile of skulls that seemed to possess the purest feelings of death. "You've died plenty of times, and come back. Did you notice anything?"

"I-I always feel like I'm dreaming," Howard said, shivering underneath the web of light filtering in through the round windows. "It feels like when I come back, everything makes sense again." Howard smiled and pointed at the pile.

"Are-are you suggesting you're going to kill me?" Howard said, shivering from the immense feeling of death coming from the strange pillars in the black room. "Is the training going to be really hard?"

"Death, in my opinion, is like training," Reslan slammed the floor, causing the skulls to fall towards Howard like a gigantic wave. In a minute, the entire floor ebbed and flowed as the skulls began to spread evenly back and fourth as a small flame emitted from Reslan's body. "It's an opportunity to gather information before your next life. It's terrifying, but necessary, just like your next few weeks."

Reslan pointed down at the skulls, picking one up before a flame surrounded it, causing it to float in the air. Touching the skull, the rock slowly floated forward, starting to spin around Howard like a tornado of death that stared forward, inching forward and finally stopping by his face. "However, getting death to listen to your commands is difficult. Heh, almost like marriage."

"Heh, but we aren't here to talk about marriage," Howard said, laughing, "Now, how did you do that? How did you make that skull float?"

"Howard, you're special, but you still can die," Reslan said, picking up three skulls. "You have five hours to figure out what I just did, or you will. What I did is called Ki Transformation. You take your Ki and manipulate it to form different shapes, and do different things. Without it, you can never get to the C rank." Reslan gently tapped his foot on the floor before all the skulls got pushed to the side of the strange tower that towered hundreds of feet into the sky.

Relsan's large, bulging figure soon stepped off the ground before he jumped, disappearing from the room as Howard turned behind him. Looking back, all Howard could see was a shadow from the skulls, causing his heart to beat faster and faster.

"You-you aren't going to tell me anything else?" Howard said, looking at the skull. "You're just going to sit up there?" Howard saw Reslan up above, sitting on a large chair looking out into th distance.

In a smaller building on the other side of the West Branch, Monica and Teacher Annibell started training as well.

Hearing Howard's voice echoing from the vast distance, Monica paused, grabbing at the ice mark on her wrist as Teacher Annibell stood towering over her. Her shadow seemed to ocmpletely smother her, like her request.

"All you got to do is hold that Ice Mark for one hour, and you pass," Teacher Annibell said, touching the ground gently with her foot.

Ice Marks greatly amplified the amount of Ki absorbed into the body, therefore acting to strengthen the bones, ligaments, and tendons. With the Ice Mark, however, your limits constantly got destroyed and reformed, making its sustained use exceptionally painful.

However, thinking of Howard floating in the sky on the roof of Montgomery Coffee shop, Monica dropped down onto her knees, holding the Ice Mark for over a minute as sweat poured down her head.

"Geez, you're sure determined," Teacher Annibell smiled, patting her gently against the forehead. "However, we have two weeks to train you. No need to die just yet."

"It-It's not enough! I'm not good enough for Howard yet!" Monica wiped the sweat off her head, biting her tongue as the pain attacked every fiber of her body. "Damn it! I-I feel like I'm going to throw up!"

"Monica, the best way to get stronger is one step at a time. If you try to leap to far in the air, gravity will kill you on the way down. You're trying to jump from a plane without a parachute right now."

"Like jumping from a plane without a parachute?" Monica looked up at Teacher Annibell as the world started to transform in shades of gray. Her vision started to blur more and more as she closed her eyes. "I-I don't care if I die! I'll just revive right!"

"Stop it!" Teacher Annibell saw blood start to come out of Monica's wrist before she slapped her against the head. "Take a break! Now!" Do I have to hit you again?

Seeing Monica's stubbornness, Teacher Annibell scoffed before gently moving her hand.

Boom!

Monica's hand shot back and caused the ice mark to disappear before her skin paled and her eyes closed. Feeling the last drop of energy in her body disappear, Monica instantly fainted, falling onto Teacher Annibell's legs like a sandbag blown forward in the wind.

"She clearly likes you, Howard," Teacher Annibell sighed and gently placed her on the floor before taking off her jacket and gently covering her from the blazing sun. "It's a shame you're one of the only guys around here. She's going to have to grow up, or I'm afraid you'll leave her disappointed."

###

Howard held the skull in his hands, trying to send his flames around it to match its shape.

However, like trying to control a raging storm, every time he tried to control the flame it would explode, or grow larger.

'There must be a way. Flames are hot and unpredictable, yet they are also a chemical reaction. If you poor gas a flame, you can control its shape. However, how can you control a flame made from Ki?'

'I could try weaving it in the air almost like thatching a basket after I ignite it, but then when I try to channel more Ki into it it will only expand outward.'

'Maybe to use Ki Transformation you have to form a shape before you ignite it?' Howard nodded his head, thinking as Reslan watched patiently from above. 'However, how can you do that'

'Ki is almost everywhere around me in the Furnace. In the surface, when I lost myself against the Ki Generals, it felt like I pulled Ki in the air using some sort of string. Maybe, maybe if I use those, I can control the shape of the fire?'

Howard was not one hundred percent wrong in this assessment, however, he still missed an extremely important ingredient.

To use Ki Transformation, the most important ingredient was Ki control. No matter how much you could condense your Ki, in order to shape it you had to also be able to change the direction of Ki by circulating it externally in the air.

In order to do this, one had to get fully comfortable with the Ki in their body, and not the external world.

Howard, holding out his hand, trying to sense how to shape this energy, began to feel an energy circling around him, almost touching against his skin in a strange, unpredictable manner. However, at the same time, he began to remember the feeling Reslan gave off when he created the floating skull.

This turned out to make a significant difference. Opening his hand, Howard suddenly could feel the energy floating off his body. With a focused expression, Howard smiled before a flame spun around the skull, forming a snake like tornado that slithered across the surface.

Opening his eyes, Reslan looked down in shock, coughing a few times. He expected Howard to learn that in 5 days, not 5 hours!

'Impressive. You really do have potential to be the demon king," Reslan stared at Teacher Annibell and gulped, watching her beautiful form lean down to tuck Monica to sleep. "However, with so much potential. You think you'd be able to get my wife to forgive me! Hahahaha!

Reslan sighed and jumped down, appearing before Howard like a blur in the dark.

Seeing the skull floating in front of him, Reslan clapped, before stepping down and causing dozens of skulls to float in his direction.

'Little brat. If I tell you your special, it will ruin your progress,' Reslan reached forward and grabbed three skulls from the sky, instantly causing them to float with flames. 'However, if I make you think you're slow, it will also ruin your progress!'

'For that reason, I must make you think you're just barely above normal! Your potential will be uncorked and all of us will benefit!'

"You-you are smarter than you let on, right?" Howard said, smiling as he dropped the skull. "Anyways, what are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking how great it be if you could make 5 skulls float in 3 hours. If you do that, you'll be a little bit better than normal." Reslan sighed, turning his back and looking up at the sky.

"Not bad kid, but you have the world on your shoulders. If you aren't in the C rank in a month, you can forget about being my student!"

The next moment, Reslan disappeared, arriving on top of the strange structure, and looking into the vast distance. To his surprise, Monica had disappeared, and Teacher Annibell was nowhere in sight.

"How's he doing," Teacher Anibell smiled, landing on the roof. "The girl is in the infirmary. She can't train for a few hours now."

"He's good. Like a deep, dug well with endless depths." Reslan cleared his throat, reaching forward and petting her hair. "I-I'm sorry."

"It's okay. In four weeks, if Howard surprises me. I thought I'd tell you we can have a date." Teacher Anibell touched his lips and laughed before stepping back and jumping from the building. "You better not disappoint me Reslan!"

Swoosh!

A moment later, Reslan only felt a breeze full of her scent waft pass him as his entire body trembled. Looking down at Howard, suddenly the cruelest trainings entered into his head. The types of training that only could exist in the Furnace began to return to his awareness.

"Kid, in two weeks, I'm going to turn you into a man," Reslan laughed evilly and patted his stomach. "Ha, you thought you knew death! You won't know death until I make you beg for it!"