Chapter 6
Her Eminence Lou Hao had been training on mount Lu when a glimmering white bird settled itself on a nearby tree branch, naturally one with senses as refined and trained as hers noticed the bird and immediately identified it's true nature as a divine beast. She'd stopped her training immediately, it had been a simple exercise, one she'd performed thousands of times before and which was honestly less important than any event the presence of a divine beast might foretell.
There where many things this white bird could foretell to her mind, and she wondered which it would be. Most likely this was some divine servant, a messenger sent to relay a challenge.
So the ruler of the martial world had been mildly surprised when it wasn't a challenge to mortal combat that had intruded on her exercises. It had been a newly born Godslayer seeking instruction in the ways of kingship. The bird had spoken with an eloquent humility, recognised her superior skills and experienced and relayed it's masters pleas for instruction, and told her that this master was even then hurrying to meet her.
Even so when a child had arrived on horseback at the base of mount Lu, the bird's eloquence had contrasted greatly with the 6-year old who'd had trouble meeting her eyes, "Hello Miss Hereminems," introduced himself with eyes downcast, seemingly unaware of the faux pas he'd just committed. "I'm Harry, the nice miss Ericson said that you could help me?", a pleading look in his eyes.
A couple of things had caused her to agree to instruct the newest King. Mainly it had been three deciding factors, the clear fear and desperation on his face as he plead for her instruction. Her desire to maintain her reputation, there would be nothing honourable about letting a child walk away leaving nothing but destruction in his wake. And lastly her curiosity. over the years she'd had many pupils, some had been greater then others but they'd all become great martial artists. She'd wondered to what heights this child could reach with her instruction.
So she'd granted the child's request. She'd teach him how to walk the path of Kings.
Harry was beaming, His newfound sister had agreed to teach him how to control his newfound powers. She'd agreed to teach him what he needed to know, and had even told one of her attendants to ensure there'd be a place for Harry to sleep in during his stay, the man had taken Harry to a room with a luxurious bed and told him it was his room for the upcoming future, and Harry had been stunned. It was so big, bigger then even Dudley's room back home. So Harry tired from the journey to his sister, as well as the fight with the divine archer had leapt into the bed. And as he lay there staring at the ceiling, he wondered what tomorrow would bring.
The following morning Harry walked into a nearby valley, his sister "Miss Hereminems Lou Hao Cuillan" had told him to meet her there for a spar, Harry didn't know what a spar was so he'd asked one of the attendants to explain. Apparently she wanted to have a play-fight of sorts with she could see what authorities he had. This made sense to Harry, how could she help him control the freakishness if she didn't know the freakishness he needed to control after all.
So Harry started the fight with the strange smoke, not as much as he'd used against the Archer and his pets though, the valley was pretty and he didn't want to repeat what happened before.
"For I am the one who tightens the throat", the words that had caused devastation to the Caucasus resounded through the valley. A small of purple mist sent forth on Harry's will. The grass and flowers withering as the cloud passed over.
But the mist failed to reach his newfound sister, a divine wind breaking up the clouds before they even reached their target. Upon seeing his sister unaffected by the deadly cloud Harry sighed in relief. He'd suspected his sister would be safe from his poison but deep inside he'd been unsure, images of the rotted mountainside lingering heavy on his mind.
So seeing his first strike fail, Harry decided to change tactics, if he was going to impress his sister in this playfight he would need to try harder it seemed.
"Come forth, blessings of Zeus" Two golden swans appeared from the air in front of him. Soaring over blackened grass with majestic grace, glowing brightly as the sun they flew towards their intended target. These beasts granted to Apollo by the sky-god Zeus flew towards his sister, unbothered by the winds that shielded her from the poisonous air.
Only for his sister to take them out with two graceful strikes of her diamond palms. They'd come closer then the wind had come but they had stood no chance against his sister. So Harry tried again, clearly his sister was powerful to so easily dismiss an attack that had destroyed all his animals at once. If Harry wanted to stand a chance he reasoned, he'd have to hold nothing back and use all at his command.
So he started chanting,
Lou Hao was unimpressed by the youngest of Pandora's children. The child's initial assault had been disappointing to say the least. a single cloud, easily dispersed followed by two divine swans weaker then any divine beast she'd ever encountered. She wondered how one as weak as this could've managed to kill a god at all, and been ready to dismiss him as a pupil entirely. She could scarcely imagine how weak a the god must've been to give beasts as weak as those swans to their slayer.
"Rampage Punisher of Oeneus"
A giant boar maniphested came charging at her. She remembered this beast, having faced it in a battle with the Heretic God Cteatus. This beast had taken many gods to defeat in the ancient days, and it had been one of the few beasts she'd fought to withstand the divine might of Vajrapani before. It's thick hide protecting it from most damage. Unlike the swans that had been so easy to dispatch this one was a foe at least worthy of her attention.
"Massive timber splitting mountains, producing great force! Stacking multitudes of golden bells, producing impenetrable iron cloth!"
The two golden kings appeared before her as they had a hundred times before, bracing themselves for the charging boar when the young king spoke again, a plan formed in her mind. They'd merely have to grab the beast by its tusks, then with a single exertion of divine strength they'd be able to throw the beast away from the battlefield. Yet even as she formed this plan, the youngest king spoke once again
"For I am pulled by a yoke of bulls". Two Bulls came charging at her avatars and within a split second bypassed the boar entirely, the yoke between them serving hitting one of her avatars in the stomach and pulling it along away from the battlefield, as the other grasped the Boar's tusks with both its hands. On its own it wouldn't be able to discard the beast like they would together, but it would still be enough to stop the raging Boar.
But the youngest king spoke once again, "Oh great Herd of Admetus, come to me". These cows where different then the ones that had clotheslined her golden guardian. Instead they seemed to be smaller, almost indistinguishable from a mortal beast. Her guardians would easily have dispatched these where it not that one was currently wrestling the beast, and where the other not currently carried away upon a divine yoke.
Still this stampede would be no threat to her, if the youngest king believed that numbers alone would suffice to defeat one who'd reached the pinnacle of martial arts then she'd merely prove him wrong.
But before the stampede was halfway across the battlefield more sacred spell words resounded across the valley.
"Oh sacred flock, come to thy Shepperd". A flock of sheep and rams appeared trailing behind the stampede of bulls. Just as the first of the stampede met its fate at her diamond palm. The young king seemed unwilling to stop his chanting, refusing so much as to stop to breathe as he sent more divine servants into battle.
She'd need to stop these beasts, a single strike to disrupt their charge. She'd use the authority she'd gained from Gayatri.
"Last year we fought where the Sang-kan flows / This year it was Onion River Road. We've washed our swords in the Eastern Sea / Grazed our horses on Tian Shan's snowy side. A thousand miles are not enough for this war / Our armies grow old in their Armor."
A potent gust of wind blew across the valley, though it didn't kill any of the stampede it hadn't been intended to do so. Instead it was intended to slow their charge, to prevent their impressive numbers from outpacing her ability to put them down.
Even as she spoke the spell words her Avatar had managed to dispatch of the boar, with it freed from its struggle it would be easy for her to dispatch these beasts, even if the child kept summoning more they were no real problem.
"Oh sacred wolves of Phoebus", words once again resounded the valley as curiosity struck the ruler of the martial realm, how had the child managed to gain so many authorities in the few days he'd been a King? Between the white raven, stallion, bulls, boar, stampede, flock, poison, hounds and wolves there where at least 10 different authorities she'd seen him use.
Even as that thought struck her head her divine avatar had finally managed to reach the stampeding herd, now it would be a simple matter to defeat the beasts that charged onwards, she'd already killed over half of the bovine herd and she hadn't even had to move to deal with her opponent yet. She was still confident she could win this easily.
"Oh golden deer of Artemis" , More words resounded, this time a mere six beasts appeared, they were larger than the stampeding wolves, sheep and bulls but still smaller then the bull that had wrestled with her avatar. And unlike the stampeding herd they weren't heading to her. They were merely meant to stall her Avatars.
"Oh sacred serpent of the oracle" once again words resounded through the battlefield, even as her distant avatar shattered the yoke and killed the two large bulls and she killed the last of the herd of bovine cattle. She couldn't see the newest creature, either it must've been invisible or small enough that the herd obscured it. The golden stags had split themselves, four engaging the avatar that had fought the boar and two charging toward the one who'd been pulled from the fight by a divine yoke.
Still her victory was assured. All the bulls had fallen to her diamond palms already.
And the flock fell one by one, making way for the wolves to follow through.
And it was while she was fighting the wolves that she felt a snake bite her heel, and collapsed amidst the pack.
Harry was tired, his sister had managed to defeat so many of his animals and his clouds had failed to reach her. Not a single one of his summons had so much as managed to hit her, all had been dispatched with attacks both simple and graceful in their unmatched skill.
But Harry had a plan. It wasn't a complex plan, it was simple and rudimentary. But Harry hoped it would be enough to prove to his sister that he was worth teaching. Harry knew he only needed to last a single attack, even a scratch would be enough as long as his poison could take hold.
So he'd used the stampede to keep his sister locked into one place. Then he'd sent the flock, hoping to keep her locked in place a little longer and further obscure her ability to see him as she'd focus on the foes around her. Then when he called the wolves he'd ordered all but one to attack.
He had to adapt when both the avatars broke free from their opponents, but the deer had been enough to buy him the time he needed.
He'd already activated his authority of venom, so when he called the serpent he'd be easily able to create the poison needed. The snake was slow though, and normally wouldn't reach his sister in time. But it was tiny and the wolf could carry it.
Obscured by the stampede that kept his sister in place, his snake could launch a single attack that would force the venom into her body. The poison would render her immobile, and Harry would have proven himself worthy of her teachings.
A simple plan, but one that worked out against unlikely odds. His sister would teach him how to control his authorities and how to harness his freakishness. But that was for the future, right now Harry had tired out all his power sparring with his sister, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.