Akryns Secondary training, opening the gates.

Akryn sat quietly on one edge of the courtyard he had chosen for his training, wearing nothing but his black leather pants, sitting cross legged on the ground with his hands on his knees and his head down, the hair on his head a little bit longer now and was currently hanging loosely around his face, his eyes locked on the ground. For the first time in more than two decades Akryn was feeling a sensation he had not known, a sensation that was quite new and uncomfortable with him.

Fear. Real and painful fear. Akryn was afraid, not for any harm, not for being lost, but for the first time in his life, since returning to the world of men, Akryn was about to do something he had never done with anyone. He was about to reveal a very big part of his past, his secrets, and his power. For someone that was used to holding back, hiding the truth, and keeping a life of secrets, this was a truly frightening experience. He had requested Zacks help with this, Zack being one of the few powerhouses around that Akryn felt he might trust.

Since losing his eye, since the last battle with scorpion tail which had ended so badly, Akryn had come to a very cold, harsh realization. He was not strong enough. He had to stop holding back. He had to stop pretending that he could live this life. For one of the first times, in order to be strong enough to do what he had to do, Akryn had to, for once, let at least some of the secrets out.

Akryn raised his head and took a deep breath, looking up to where he expected Zack to come in at. Yes, he had to start somewhere, he had to open up his power, a power only Xierak had ever glimpsed. And right now the best option seemed to be Zack, someone who could take the full power, accept the beating, and hopefully accept his secrets. "Well Zack.... you ready?"

Zack stood silently watching Akryn in his meditative state. He had been invited here to help Akryn become stronger. No, it wasn't an invite it was more of a request. Yes, a request, a boon, a favour in a way. Akryn wished to become stronger. Zack too seeked greater power and he had received such recently. However, such power was not to be revealed not just yet. Instead he would use his own magic to aid Akryn in his growth. When he was eventually addressed he nodded and removed his sword from its sheath and slammed it into the ground.

"I am always ready to help people of this guild, my friends, my family become stronger Akryn. You should know this by now." Zack said with a faint smile as he removed the black mantle-like clothing that he wore revealing a black vest top beneath. His sword would not be needed for this. The mantle he only removed when truly serious. It hampered his movements slightly working as a restrictor. Now it was placed upon the sword. "Especially after recent events. I was thinking of requisitioning your skills as a martial artist in order to do so. Training to improve people so that even without magic they can survive." He didn't mean power or strength. That wasn't exactly necessary. However, skill was important. A skillful fighter would generally, in about 99% of cases, be enough to bring down someone who was just brute strength.

"So Akryn. What are you afraid of?" Zack asked. He could see it dancing behind the man's eyes. Yet it was not fear of Zack. Nor was it fear of what had happened recently. No, it was fear of something else. Whenever Zack had tried to view Akryn's magic aura it had seemed strangely that part of it was locked away, unable to be seen. He had never had such an occurence before. Could that hidden power be what Akryn was so afraid of?

Akryn sighed and slowly rose from his cross legged seat, planting his feet and then pressing his hands together in front of his chest and bowing his head to Zack in a motion of apology. "Zack. I have lied. To you, to the guild, to eclipse soul in the past. I have kept secret my past, my true past, my family heritage, and most importantly, my true power. Those secrets have brought harm, to myself, and most importantly to this guild. I held back against scorpion tail. I held back when I fought you. I have always held back, since returning to the world of men and of reason, and people have paid for my sins. I have to tell someone Zack. I have to let someone know the truth, about me and who I am, and what I can do. These are secrets I have kept closely guarded to my heart, to protect myself from retribution against those I have harmed in the past. My name is Akryn Motomiji, the son of Marcus Motomiji. I am an assassin and murderer, born to an assassin and murderer to be an assassin and murderer. The Scorpion tail I knew as a child was destroyed, but it was not a place of honor and peace and heroes. It was a place of nightmares, home to killers and sinners of every possible kind. Alphonse Mirasol did not murder my father, he trained him to be a killer and made him what he is now. My eldest brother killed my father and he is the one that helped bring the guild to its knees ten years ago. At that time he took me and the others that could be redeemed and he fled with us, scattering us as best we could with his allies. I was raised, and trained, by a dragon in the mountaiins, but little else I have said about my past has been honest. Before I left my father had started training me in a very different kind of magic. If I am to finish my brothers work and end scorpion tail I must tap into this power once more. But before that happens I must beg for your forgiveness."

It seemed everyone had some dark secret in their past. Zack listened to his words closely and then spoke his own words. "My name is Zack Rose and my name is Ophiuchus. This is the fourth body I have possessed or fifth in a way. My original human body was stolen by the Sky Emperor Shangdi who saw some potential in it when I was just a baby." He paused. He hadn't told this tale to anyone, but as Akryn was being open with him it seemed only fair that he would be honest with AKryn. It might make him feel better about his own past. "Using his magic he enfused my soul with that of the key of the 13th gate. I don't know how he did it, but do it he did. He wanted the power, but not the skill or the memories. So he sealed them away and instead trained me in the art of the sky demon slayer." he paused again. He still had no idea why exactly Shangdi had done what he did. There must of been some greater goal behind it. Something he wasn't aware of. "I lost my second body re-fighting a cursed monster outside the kingdom of Malkariss in Sin. The demon fairies, of which my Devon is one, used their magic to transfer my soul into an artificial created body. The one with which I gained S rank. However, I still had no memories of my true self. No memories at all. My memory was in fact badly damaged. Unless someone did something amazing I would forget them almost instantly." He had become almost famous for that bad memory of his.

"Then came the day that Ayeseru and I travelled to the divide island. There we met a man who had requested us to complete a 100 year job. A 100 year job to defeat seven gigantic monsters known as the Emperors and bring back an item from each to him. In exchange he would forge us a powerful item of our choice." he spat bitterly on the ground at the memory. "But we were fooled. The items we gave him broke a seal the emperor's had placed upon him. He transformed and became the Eighth Emperor. One that it had taken seven H rank class monsters to seal away. One which as S ranks Ayeseru and I couldn't even scratch, even in Force."

"Yet not all was lost for two gems were left behind in the vat of the unsealing potion. One black as night and the other silvery like starlight. This item formed into my sword, Serpens, and also gave me the body I am using now." he said and raised his gloved hand towards the sky. "It also unlocked all my memories and fixed my poor memory. I know now that I am a hybrid of human and celestial spirit. I am Zack Rose and I am Ophiuchus. However, I unleashed a great evil that day. Perhaps as great as Acnologia."

"You do not need to seek forgiveness from myself, but if you want it then you have it. You have done your best whilst bearing a dreadful burden and you have done well. You have formed a powerful team, one of the strongest in the guild, and have done many great things. You cannot punish yourself for every mistake you have made in your past." he walked over and placed a hand on Akryn's shoulder and looked him dead in the eyes. "I can see your magic power. I have always known you were hiding something, but I respected your right to keep that secret. Even with that power unlocked the events with Scorpion Tail would have only been mitigated slightly. However, if we can harness that power and develop it then next time we face Scorpion Tail we will trample them beneath our hooves once and for all."

Akryn looked Zack in the eye as he spoke, taking in Zacks story with awe. He only knew of one other person with a history close to Zacks, and most of that was secret as well! Akryn for a moment felt a bit embarrassed as it hit him that this was likely the first time Zack had ever shared this secret, and he was honored.

"Zack....I respect what you have told me. Truly it is an honor to have you share such a secret with me. However Zack.....you are wrong. Had I used my true power, the power my father gave to me, the power my mothers blood gives to me, the power my brother taught to me, then Scorpion tail could have been dealt a heavy blow." Akryn said as he suddenly stepped back from Zack and slid into a fighting pose, his right leg back, left leg forward and bent, left hand extended and right fist close to his chest. "Zack. I want you to fight me. For real this time. I wont hold back, none at all. The only way I can protect anyone is to use my full strength, but before I can do that I have to realize myself just how capable I am. The magic my father taught me is known as the opening gates. This is gate one. The only one I have ever opened." Akryn said before he wouldactivate his spell.

Akryns magic would suddenly surge, over double the strength of anything that Zack would have ever sensed from him before. On top of that there would be a thin, slightly visible aura, as if the wind was viciously whipping upwards around Akryn. Zack would be able to sense that, for the first time Akryn was going to fight seriously. One could only imagine what that would finally be like.

"I too am honoured that you would share your secrets with me." Zack said truthfully. It was necessary for him to learn about the guild. This was truly important. He would help this man improve so he could defeat his past and move onto a better, brighter future.

It seemed that he was confident in his strength and was going to use every ounce of his power in order to prove it. Unlocking of the gates? How appropriate for use against a celestial spirit. He would not unlock his own gate yet, but he would show some of his strength. He flared his magic power showing off the full might of a H rank's magic aura. As he did so he bent the light around him to form a large presence behind him that resembled his 13th gate form. "Open as many gates as you like Akryn. We shall see if it is enough for you to make me open the 13th." With that he suddenly blurred forward and struck out with a simple, but powerful punch. The power of the punch had a lot of strength behind it and he'd twisted his arm as he thrust it forward to add even more power. What would Akryn do? Would he try to use his new strength to block the blow? Or would he try to dodge? It was not clear to Zack, but it did not matter. He would be ready for whatever Akryn threw at him.

This was not just a fight. This was a fight to become stronger. A true sparring match between masters of their respective fighting style. One would win and one would lose, but both would be stronger because of this day. Both would be understand one another much better. Words were meaningless to them. They knew the only true way to know a man was through your fists.

As the punch came in Akryn would dodge it by stepping to the right. That one step however took him, in a single blurry movement, all the way across the courtyard, where Akryn would hit the wall with one foot and shove off of it, the simple force of the movement leaveing behind a crater in the wall. After the push off Akryn would bolt towards Zack at incredible speed. Compared to his movements now, his speed from their last match seemed sluggish. As Akryn closed in on Zack, just as he was about to enter punching distance, Akryn would suddenly shoot twenty feet up into the air on a powerful blast of wind, powerful enough to send sand and dust flying ten feet into the air. As Akryn reached the peak of that twenty feet he would flip in the air before blasting downwards again in a roll, bringing his heel down in a positively hammering blow, one that would kill, in one strike, any normal man. Akryn wasn't expecting it to hit though. As the strike hit, a crater would form on the ground, before with another gust of wind Akryn would begin spinning, sending his leg at Zacks shins, then his hips, then his head, the entire time spinning like a vicious top, with the kicks becoming progressively more powerful. After the kick aimed at Zacks head however Akryn would launch himself off with his pivoting leg, performing a powerful scissors kick as he rose, aiming to kick Zack in the jaw and smash him on the top of the head as well, before his momentum would throw him to high, into a backflip. As Akryn landed he would launch himself forward again in another blur of speed, throwing a series of battering ram like punches at blinding speed.

Zack simply side stepped out of the way of the powerful heel drop. It was a technique he himself was fond of and using momentum and gravity in attacks was his speciality. However, the movement was easy to counter and even easier to dodge. It would only really be effective if he could somehow do it without the target knowing what he was planning or if they had no way to dodge.

A flurry of blows. The blows were a lot faster than what Akryn used to be capable of. Perhaps this unlocking of the gates had some truth behind it. However, his speed was still slow compared to Zack. Almost as if he was going in slow motion. He was quite impressed with the agile nature of the attacks and they were indeed fast. However, they were still not fast enough. Zack moved back blocking the blows with his arm. The force of it was quite intense and his arm was bruised from it. However, the final blow to his jaw missed entirely as Zack bent backwards slightly to dodge it.

When the next flurry of blows came forward Zack decided to counter with his own flurry of blows perfectly hitting each of Akryn's with a blow specifically aimed to be ever so slightly stronger than the one's Akryn was throwing. SO far Zack hadn't tried to hard. He was seeing exactly what this newer stronger Akryn was capable of before he began to strike out. He hoped Akryn wouldn't mind that.

"Show me what you are made of. This strength would not be enough to face any of Scorpion Tail let alone the likes of Balrog." Zack goaded trying to force Akryn to bring out even greater strength. This was only the first gate. He needed to help Akryn unlock the others.

Akryn created distance from Zack quickly by springing away into several backflips, landing and dropping into a crouch at the same time, clasping his hands together in front of him. "The opening gates must be done in succession. Opening them out of order is dangerous to the users body, and opening the gates before your body is ready can also be extremely dangerous, capable of causing permanent harm. But do not worry Zack. I have taken steps to ensure you are able to see each of the gates. At each of the corners of this arena I have placed lacrima, linked to myself. They are feeding me excess mahgic and healing my body. I doubt the process can be duplicated again without permanently damaging my own magical origins. But for now I will show you. Second gate, gate of breath, open." Akryn said, as his power once again flared, five times stronger than his normal strength, and a red aura surrounded his body, the force of which was causing his hair to rise into the air and stand. Suddenly Akryn was gone, not a blur but to fast for a normal eye to even track, as he rushed Zack with a battering ram like, twisting fist, straight arm punch, aimed for his solar plexus.

THe power that Akryn now possessed was much higher. His speed was greater as well. However, as far as he could tell it was purely physical. However, even with the massive increase he wasn't enough yet to be able to deal with Zack in terms of speed or power. Not yet anyway. As such when Akryn came in with his powerful and to be honest rather impressive punch Zack cartwheeled out of the way, though it was a close run thing. He was honestly quite impressed with Akryn's improved strength, but it still wasn't quite good enough yet. He threw himself into a roll as he went towards Akryn and sprung off on his hands aiming for a powerful double footed kick. His speed was incredibly fast. Years of training in speed had brought him to the very pinnacle. Without the aid of magic few could match him now.

If Akryn dodged somehow then Zack would continue the momentum and land on his feet before diving to get out of the way of possible counters and end up on his feet again ready to prepare for another blow. SO far AKryn was managing to at least push Zack to try in this fight. However, he hadn't pushed Zack to use his own magic in response. Zack had quite a few tricks up his sleeve yet. "So that was the second gate. Pretty impressive, but Balrog's punches had more power." he was trying to goad Akryn. Get him riled up so that he would unlock the higher levels of power so that he could master them. Mastering the harder steps would make the easier ones even easier to master. Plus it would be more fun for Zack

Akryn took the double kick to raised arms and slid backa few feet, but seemed rather unharmed by the blow. He opened his stance up again, planting his feet and clasping his hands in front of him once more. "Perhaps it was not powerful enough yet. But as I said, the gates must be opened in succession. This gate is the furthest gate I have ever opened. Allow me to show you the most power I have ever felt in my life." Akryn said before closing his eye. As he did so his magic power would not flare, but roar into life, taking the form of a massive, visible, golden aura around him. The magical presence continued to increase as Akryn stood there, focusing his magic before speaking. "Third gate, Gate of the first step. Open." He said, as his power suddenly exploded, forming a crater under his feet. The golden aura stayed, shining brightly in the courtyard, and Akryns hair, still standing from the sheer presence of the aura, sharing the golden glow now. Beyond that, his right hand, which held his secret item, a fire lacrima, had erupted into flames that were stretching up towards his elbow. Akryn unclasped his hands and drew them back to his left hip, where he began chanelling magic into his palms, preparing for his gusting cannon, a spell Zack had never seen before. But as the wind magic gathered there, so to did a blow light, pure magic taking a physical form in this world. "In this form even my magic grows in strength. In this form I challenged monsters when I was but a child. And won." Akryn said before suddenly thrusting his hands together, sending the blow, glowing, gusting cannon at Zack with surprising speed, and bone shattering power. If it missed Zack it would continue on to strike the other end of the courtyard before exploding, shattering the wall entirely and opening it up to the next one over.

"When I was a child I fought gods and demons everyday." Zack said truthfully as the gusting cannon came at him. He grinned and decided to see exactly how much Akryn had behind him now. His stance widened lowering his centre of gravity and he crossed his arms. The blast him hard sending him sliding backwards and heavily cutting into his arms. His bones creaked under the strain, but they not yet break and with a deep exhale he swung his arms out and diverted any excess force to the left and right of him. He was honestly quite impressed with the power of this third gate. However, whilst it had pushed him back and done some damage he couldn't see this being enough to battle against any of the H ranks of Scorpion Tail. If those were his true targets for opponent's then he would need more than that. What's more he said this was only the third gate and that there were two more, but he had never opened them. This one, whenever he had used it, had been enough to allow him to survive.

Akryn was confident, perhaps overly so, in his power. That could lead to arrogance and taking risks that weren't appropriate. In order for him to advance he needed to know his limits and bust through them. He would have to put this gate to the very limits of its power to allow Akryn to do that. He exhaled deeply. "Well, as you are kicking things up a notch I suppose its only fair I do as well." he said and pointed at the ground before running towards Akryn.

However, before he got that close he dove into the air and performed a backflip before going straight towards the ground headfirst, an aura of pale blue light surrounding him. As he hit the ground he seemed to go straight through it. His magic aura seemed to permeate through the ground making it unclear exactly where he was and then suddenly he came up next to Akryn going for a powerful reverse round house kick to his back aiming to send him flying. Should this fail he would sink into the ground once more and see what Akryn would try next.

He was curious to see what powers the other gates would allow Akryn to access. This one had been the flashiest and the most impressive. What's more it had visibly increased his magic power quite dramatically. However, it still wasn't enough. He needed to push himself further. Go further than he had before, but before that he needed to master this third gate.

Akryn had not expected the attack to do much to Zack to be honest, though he had expected him to dodge rather block it. Still, he was prepared for this and as Zack rushed in he dropped down into a crouch, preparing to counter a physical attack. However when Zack dove into the ground Akryns eye widened and instinct sent him high into the air, away from the ground, a wise choice it seemed as Zack erupted from the ground with a powerful kick which would have caused significant damage had it landed. Clever he admitted to himself, but the ground wouldn't save him as he dove back into it.

Akryn lowered his feet, stunningly staying in the air somehow before extending his pinky and pointer fingers on each hand and aiming them at the ground. "Breezy Shooter. Though with this power, perhaps I should call it Breezy Blaster." He said as large orbs of blue wind began forming on the tip of his fingers before blasting down. These were normally light weight attacks, but with the third gate boost they zoomed in at incredible speed, and size for that matter, as foot wide orbs of spinning blue energy which exploded when they collided with the ground. He fired eight of them, forming deep and wide craters where they hit. "Come out Zack. This power cant be tested properly this way. Come on out!"

Zack suddenly came zooming out of the wall behind Akryn with a powerful punch and the words. "Everything is a test. Ninpou kogana no taiyo." His fist was surrounded in pale blue light as he swung it at Akryn. This added some minor power to his blow. It wasn't much considering his strength. However, what was important was that when he hit an object there would be a bright flash of almost blinding light. Not much, but enough. It was his way of kicking things up another notch. As he came towards Akryn he seemed to blur rapidly to the side multiple times until it seemed like five Zack's, all with glowing fists were coming at Akryn from various angles. These were mere after images. The real Zack came from above aiming to smash Akryn with his strength and the power of gravity.

However, whilst the after images and Zack were going in for a blow they also all had their gloved hand open. Zack was curious as to whether Akryn had unleashed his true power yet. To his surprise it seemed Akryn, even in this form, was still heavily holding back and that there was still a significant amount of his power locked away. If he held back like this in proper fight against the Scorpion Tail then he would die. There was no doubt about it.

Akryn was not surprised by Zacks speed or his ability to dodge. The five after images spinning rapidly around Akryn were also not a surprise. What was a surprise was the blow from above rather than the side, which sent Akryn tumbling down in a flip to land on the ground, forming a crater. He did not stay in that crater long however as he quickly launched back up at high speed, leaveing a trail as he went. As he drew near he thrust one arm forward, hand open. "Wind palm, one palm!" he snarled, sending out a blast of wind infused with enough energy to glow blue and leave a trail, and dealing B rank damage instead of the normal D. However this was not his full attack, as his other hand stayed drawn back. Even in this form Akryn could not hope to match Zacks raw speed or power. He needed more, he needed to open the fourth gate, something he had never done before. But perhaps this was the best place for it....

Zack swung his sword into a defensive position to block the blow from Akryn's attack. The force was quite powerful and sent him sliding backwards a few steps, but with a shout he swung the blade and managed to redirect the wind blast into the wall shattering it. Perhaps the way to get Akryn to open up and use his true power or the next level of it was to kick it up another notch. Bringing out the 13th gate was out of the question and so was the two spells that embodied all 13 zodiac signs. Instant light would also be too overwhelming in terms of speed. Perhaps he could kick things up a notch without using any spells. He smirked as another sword formed in his hand and then he ran at Akryn. However, as he got close he suddenly turned to the side and began to run around his mentee for the day. As he did so more after images formed. However, instead of there being five there were now ten. A much higher amount. Those with good eyes would notice that the fakes shimmered slightly, but that wasn't 100% clear. After a few seconds all of them suddenly dropped into the ground.

"Ougi: Moru o uchimasu" said a voice from underground and then around the gate opener Zack's began to pop up randomly before dropping into the ground. It wasn't clear where he was going to pop up next nor which was the real one as they weren't really up long enough for the shimmer to become clear. On occasion when the popped out they swung their swords in a cross at Akryn. The blows were often fakes and did no damage, but on occasion Akryn was hit with the blunt of the sword.

What was particularly interesting was that Zack had thought up this attack pattern on the fly. He had not used any extra magic to use this 'secret technique'. It was just a clever name that literally translated to Whack a Mole.

Akryn acceptd the blows to his body, because he had little choice beyond that. Zack was simply to fast for him to keep up, block, or escape. All he could do was endure it. At least, that was all he could do with this gate. Akryn leapt up into the air, hovering there before bringing his fists down to his hips,, focusing his mind. "The third gate is not enough, I get it. Your little whack a mole game was not necessary. Please remember Zack, I am rather fluent in many languages, part of being a killer for a living. I think it is time I opened the fourth gate now. Keep in mind Zack, I have never opened this gate and so do not know what to expect. From here on out, its all new territory." He said as he began to power up. "Fourth Gate, gate of tears......open."

The sudden surge in magical power in the area would be over whelming. The wind would again whip up, and a blast of light would erupt from Akryns body, hiding his body from sight. When the wind and the light became subdued, Akryn would again have changed. His magical presence was well beyond that of what a B rank should have been, sure, but there was much more to it. His right hand was engulfed in flames which were roaring up past his shoulder. His left eye, where the motomiji star was, was gleaming, silver and purple, celestial flames tearing out from his eye socket. But all of this was not close to his physical changes. Akryn had grown, drastically, in this new gate. He was tall, well over eight feet, with every single muscle swollen to super human sizes. His hair had grown and was standing tall and golden, with his right eye now pupiless and empty. This was an extremely drastic change, and if nothing else Akryn looked more formidable.

"This is new ground Zack. I have never felt this kind of strength. This kind of over whelming ability. It is intoxicating." Akryn said, his voice seeming to echo as he spoke. He would turn towards Zack, his eye seeming to track Zack if he was still moving. "Come Guild Master. Allow me to test this new power."

Zack smirked slightly as the fourth gate was opened. The power level increase seemed to be purely physical rather than magical this time. On top of that it had made his body a lot larger aka a bigger target. The size might also indicate slowness, but that wasn't exactly clear at this point in time. Zack continued to move about for a little while, not striking, just moving. It appeared that Akryn was able to track his movements at this speed. Interesting. He'd have to kick it up a notch for his speed to have an edge. Then again just because you see a movement didn't mean you could react to it.

Zack leaped backwards and stood there calmly. With a flick of his hand his sword was chucked to the ground where it embedded into the floor straight down. He stood there calmly in a defensive position, that smirk still on his face, and beckoned the man who was now almost two foot taller than him to attack. It was time to show both Akryn and his other self that size wasn't everything when it came to a fight. It was time to play a bit more. No need to kick it up further yet. He wanted Akryn to explore this gate further.

You could destroy this man A voice said in his head and there was a slight flicker of his eye that almost made it look snake like. Just use my power...and break him Zack tried to ignore the voice. That wasn't his way. He fought to make people stronger so they in turn could make him stronger. He did not fight to kill or destroy. If anything he fought for the opposite. You're such a coward Zack. But I suppose that almost suits the man whose body i'm using...you're a snake.

Akryn seemed to just float there in the air for a moment, as if unsure what to do. He felt his speed had been cut, but he had been no where close to Zacks speed anyway. This new physical prowess though was.... Intoxicating to say the least. He looked at Zack once more, clenching his fists as curiousity took over. Zack would want to test this power as well, not simply dodge it, at least not yet. He would be a prime target for this power to, an H rank who could take almost any punch. With this in mind Akryn clenched his fists and drew back his right hand, breathing deeply for a moment before launching himself out of the air and towards Zack at break heck speeds.

Akryns speed had indeed been slashed, he was only as fast now as he had been from his base form. But the power from the punch was real, and destructive. If Zack blocked it with his normal arm or leg the punch would almost certainly break a bone, which would stun the guild master surely, and form a crater in the ground, nearly thirty feet across and deep, and send cracks shooting outwards, arcing all the way to the arena edges and up the walls in some areas. If the blow were blocked by some other means then the crater and cracks would still form, a testament to the raw power Akryns fists now held.

If Zack dodged then the damage to the arena would be much greater. The floor would collapse in to the basement, almost the entire arena floor gone in the blink of an eye. Akryn would continue onwards, his fist smashing the basement floor and cratering there. The impact blast would send cracks up all the walls. Shattering anything in the basement that was to close to Akryn, and sending a tremor throughout the guild.

Even Akryn would be absolutely stunned by the power behind the blow, his eyes would widen and his jaw go slack a bit. He thought he had been strong before, and he was! One of the physically strongest men in all of fiore! But had he not drawn back his blow at the last second he was afraid of what would have happened to the guild with such a punch....

As the fist came flying towards his body Zack prepared to defend himself. He thrust out his hand towards the boulder-like hand attempting to catch the blow. It was still powerful though and thrust him backwards into the ground causing a large crater to form. It didn't break his arm but he certainly felt it crack under the immense pressure that Akryn's fist contained. If he'd managed to focus that pressure into a smaller form it would of undoubtedly broken his arm. Fortunately, for Zack at least, the fist was bigger and so its pressure per square inch was spread out and not all of the fist hit Zack. Still it was one powerful punch. Probably more than he could output himself without some magic. "Ouch." He grinned though and despite the damage to his arm he suddenly moved in with his other hand striking at the inside elbow of Akryn's arm with a tiger  claw strike grabbing onto it. The force would likely move Akryn slightly, but what would move him was what Zack did next. He used the hold to suddenly swing round and launch a full power round house kick to the man's head. It was time to test the man's resilience to damage.

As soon as the kick was launched Zack used the momentum to spin his body round and use his acrobatic skill to launch a reverse houndhouse to the back of Akryn's head before leaping off and landing standing on the wall. "That's some impressive power there Aky. But few are just going to stand there and take it so you're gonna have to think how to get them into situations where you can use those fists." Zack commented and looked at his arm. It was swelling slightly and was very red. "You got me good though...good job I took that blow or you might of shattered the guild."