- Paektu Mountain, North Korea -
- 2 years later -
The 17-year-old Minhkhoa Khan reaches for the small space above him and holds on to it. He lets go with his other hand and looks at the gorge below. He is approaching 8'000 feet (2'500m) right now and is loving it so far. He has been using his time wisely and didn't immediately get started with his training journey. He had already started his training, but that was only the basics. Back to the roots, as it is said, he had Nano to build up his strength as much as possible for his age and height, but he wanted to feel his body and regain the impeccable mind-to-body control he once had. Then there were the sparring simulations, which he enjoyed the most; otherwise, he prepared.
Something he retained from his time as Yhwach, aside from his memories and the massive increase in his Reiatsu, is the ability he was born with: Soul Distribution. He was born with the innate ability to distribute a piece of his soul to another by being touched by them. And he has already started doing it. He has healed Darren with it, much to the appreciation of his family.
In the distribution of his soul, the wounds which one's soul can not heal alone will finally heal. This power heals the physical, mental, and spiritual ailments of those whom he touches. While the wound of a person healed, all of their knowledge, skills, and talents would be engraved inside the piece of soul they received from him. Those healed in this way had their lifespan drastically reduced, and once the person had died, the augmented fragment would return to Minhkhoa, together with everything that was engraved inside the piece while it was there. He is already in the process of recreating the Quincy race. But this time, they will be different from before. Because Minhkhoa is also different.
Minhkhoa used the time to learn as many languages as he could, as well as everything about politics, economics, programming, engineering, mathematics, physics, biology, and more, and would continue to do so. Learning was now a piece of cake for Minhkhoa. He set up secret accounts, created various fake identities, and, most importantly, crafted many different face masks, which he learned to use as Cheon Yeo-Woon, to assume different identities and ensure that no one knew who he was, now that he had begun his training journey. His skin was light brown, but his eyes were almost red, and his hair was pitch black.
With a final pull, Minhkhoa arrives at the top and reaches the martial arts temple he has been looking for.
[Picture]
A monk stands before the entrance, wearing very little clothing. Minhkhoa approaches the man and addresses him in Korean.
"Greetings. I have come from far away to meet Master-"
However, the man interrupts Minhkhoa and strikes at one of his pressure points. However, he stands in front of a Master of Hokuto Shin Ken. This is a joke compared to that. He looks at the man, and the monk looks back at him, seemingly surprised. Before he can react, Minhkhoa taps the man in various places, knocking him out cold.
*thud*
Not knowing what to do now, Minhkhoa waits. He is aware that this was supposed to be a test, but what should he do, now that he has broken it? He waits for a moment. And as he thought, nothing happened. So, to not be invasive, he simply waits for them to do something instead and sits down next to the man who has fallen to the ground. Time passes, and after a few hours, a woman exits the temple and walks forward. Minhkhoa stands up and waits for her to either say something or attack. And as he suspected, she attacks him. She attacks with a fast cross, which he dodges quite easily. He pulls her closer by grabbing her arm and then retaliates with an uppercut.
*thud*
She also falls to the ground next to her colleague. Not having been invited yet, Minhkhoa shrugs and sits back down again. The cold night passes by, and right before sunrise, another monk walks out. Minhkhoa is glad and thinks that it is finally over, and he's invited. But he thought wrong. A roundhouse kick approaches the side of his face. Minhkhoa ducks underneath and moves into the guard's position. He tries to create distance, but Minhkhoa won't let him and follows right away. He punches out with his right hand, but is blocked. He follows it up with a left hook, high knee combination.
*thud*
...
"This might get problematic at this rate."
Instead of having to wait long, another student arrives right away. This time, the attack comes faster.
"Seriously?"
Cross, right hook, front kick, uppercut.
*thud*
And the next one.
"Oh, for crying out loud."
Left elbow, face into the knee.
*thud*
...
*thud*
*thud*
*thud*
Finally, at the end of the second day, no further attacks follow, and Minhkhoa is invited in. He makes his way inside, walking through the wooden halls, and arrives in front of an elderly man. He addresses him in Korean.
"Master Kirigi, I have travelled far to train under you."
"..."
"..."
"Is that all you have to say?" the man asks.
"Uh... sorry about your students?"
"Why are you interested in learning from me, when you were very clearly taught by capable masters already?" Kirigi asks.
"Do reasons truly matter?"
"No. None of that matters, indeed. There is one focus in my Dojang, and only one: the work. The beauty of the work. You will be shown your room and given your list of duties. Training starts tomorrow."
"Thank you, Master Kirigi," Minhkhoa says and bows slightly.
.
The work is rather boring and mostly manual labour. Cleaning the rooms, finding and cutting wood, climbing the mountains while carrying weights and of course, carrying water up the mountain. Thankfully, not in a sieve, but still. Minhkhoa is not taught anything in the first week, since 'the work' is training. But he doesn't mind. The world will only become more chaotic in the future, so taking this time to enjoy himself is not wasted.
After another week of doing that, Minhkhoa is finally told to attend the different training. He is not shown the basics and is instead thrown into sparring sessions against older students. The only requirement is not to use any martial arts other than the ones he sees here. Using Nano and his long fighting experience, he picks everything up in the first hour. But not just that. He is also taught how to move quietly and silently. The Shadow Chi aspect of his Internal Energy already grants him a basically invisible nature, but he still takes everything in like a dry sponge.
And then, after one month, another newcomer arrives. One, Minhkhoa has not thought to meet here.
"Ah!" the young man exclaims and stumbles.
Before the two buckets of water can fall over, Minhkhoa grabs them.
"Whoa there. It's a long way back to the spring if you spill them."
"Nh... thanks. Wait... you speak English?" the young man asks.
"Sure. So, what brings you to the Dojang?" Minhkhoa asks.
"I... the work."
"Heh, a quick lerner." Minhkhoa smiles, hearing the answer.
"I'm Jack, by the way. I'm assuming we're at least allowed to use names..." the young man says.
"If you're talking about fake names, then the answer is... probably."
"It's not fake."
"No? Come now. I'm not saying anything, just that using Jack as your name is not quite the best thing to do. You're from America, and judging from your accent, I'd say Gotham. So what brings a young, rich man like you to Mount Paektu in North Korea?" Minhkhoa asks.
"..."
"You don't need to answer if you don't want to. I won't judge you. A man's past is his own. I myself, well... I died..."
"..."
"Heh, no need to look so brooding. You can talk freely. Our teacher isn't running a monastery. We don't need to adhere to his dogmatic outlook on 'the work.' None of us is looking for enlightenment. Least of all, Master Kirigi. I mean, there's a reason the Japanese Master of martial arts and ninjutsu is on a mountaintop bordering North Korea and China." Minhkhoa says.
"There is. He fled his home when a student of his killed Japan's Minister of Justice. The authorities blamed him for it, among other crimes linked to his school's... graduates."
"Impressive detective work," Minhkhoa says.
"I just spent the last three months being mentored by a detective. A manhunter named Henri Ducard. He has spent a lifetime acquiring the names of those who are the best in the world at what they do. In case he needed them. Or needed to take them in. And now I've got that list. To learn from." Jack says.
"I see. Do you want to learn from the best and become the very best you can be? Or are you simply learning as much as you can, for what you need to do? You have grand aspirations to do... what? Crime fighting? Or becoming a crime-perpetrator?"
"The former. And you?"
"Same, I guess. It's good to meet you, Jack. I'm Anton."
.
Training continued. Everything was quite easy for Minhkhoa, but even he learned new things. He got into the mindset he had when he trained and took everything in. He sparred with the other students and went through torture to make his body more resilient, a weapon, unlike anything he had ever had in his past life. It wouldn't work this way, but he would start small and take one step at a time. Kirigi had mastered many fighting styles from across the globe, and some of them were new to Minhkhoa, so he gladly took them for himself.
While it was easy for Minhkhoa, it wasn't easy for Bruce Wayne or Jack, as he went by now. Minhkhoa made sure to help Bruce when it was needed, not because he had to, or because he might not make it, but because it was enjoyable to see the young Bruce Wayne, who had not yet become the Batman. Minhkhoa also quite liked him. They trained together and stood side by side against others, learning hand-to-hand combat and various weapons.
After 11 months had passed, new students arrived. And quite early on, it was obvious that they were different.
"Master Kirigi, the new students have arrived."
Five people, two women and three men, all from different parts of the world.
"Our Master sends his regards," the woman says.
"Ara here will show you your lodgings. We will begin at dawn." Kirigi says.
Bruce and Minhkhoa have seen the strange interaction.
"What was that?" Bruce asks. "They just walked right in here, while I..."
"You mean while you got your ass handed to you for days," Minhkhoa says.
"Oh, come now. You did too, I'm sure of it." Bruce says.
"While words may cut worse than blades in some cases, I'm here to teach you swordplay, not word-play. Please focus." Master Kirigi interrupts their talk.
It was obvious that something was different, and Bruce was especially curious and wary of the newcomers. Minhkhoa wasn't bothered, since on one hand he knew who sent them, and on the other, it wouldn't matter either way. But it was starting to become obvious to Bruce that something wasn't right with he newcomers or Master Kirigi. And on one particular day, this was proven.
"Today, we will be moving to the next level of Nitojutsu. Pair off." Master Kirigi says.
Bruce paired off with one of the newcomers, a large and taciturn man.
"I don't think we've met yet. My name is Jack."
But instead of answering, the man attacks Bruce, swiping his swords horizontally at him. He uses his full strength as he does so as well. But Bruce reacts fast and jumps over the man, dodges his attacks and takes this as a challenge. The newcomer is good, but it becomes obvious that Bruce is better. After a few moments, it becomes obvious as well when Bruce slams the handle of his wooden katana into the large man's side.
"Okay, friend, first point to me. Let's start agai-"
"Urgh."
Instead of seeing it that way, the man attacks and slices his wooden sword into Bruce's hand, making him drop both of his wooden katanas. But that's not all. The man swipes his sword at Bruce's face, hitting him in the back and making him fall to the ground. Before anything else can happen, Master Kirigi steps in and stops the fight.
"Enough. Here in my Dojang, you will control yourself. Go to your quarters."
"Master... who are these new students? They're welcomed with open arms, they're aggressive, they're-" Bruce asks.
"Enough. To your quarters." Master Kirigi interrupts Bruce and doesn't answer his question.
.
"Well, well... if it isn't the bad boy of the Dojang."
Minhkhoa arrives at Bruce's quarters as he usually does, where they talk. The two of them have grown rather close, and Minh Khoa even extended his stay on Paektu Mountain, just to accompany Bruce. He has already learned everything Master Kirigi could teach him, simply by observing the man. When no one was watching, Minhkhoa had trained his stealth skills, which also included the Shadow Chi aspect of his Internal Energy, and started to observe Master Kirigi as he taught other students secret techniques.
"Very funny," Bruce says. "I'm not wrong, though, right? Something's off."
"You're not wrong, something is off. But the question is, who cares? Besides, it's pretty obvious what they are here for. We're here to learn, and that's it, so it's better if we concentrate on that."
"Why are you doing this, then, Anton? You said you want to be the best, so you could stop crime!" Bruce asks.
"Yes, so? Master Kirigi is not a good or innocent man, and therefore, it makes sense that others may have something over him to use. They are most likely students of another man who knows about Kirigi and forces him to train them. And besides, you are almost done learning everything you can here, Jack. Don't go ruining it at the final stages, just because of Master Kirigi's past mistakes." Minhkhoa says.
"I suppose you're right," Bruce says and lies down.
"Well, I'll also get some shut-eye then, as you say. See you tomorrow, Jack." Minhkhoa says and disappears.
"Good night, Anton."
Bruce looks at Minhkhoa's retreating form and begins to think about what has happened over the last few months. He wants to say that he didn't like Anton, but the truth is that he does. But he feels as if the only thing he knows about him is the fake name he's using and the way he looks. But he has to admit to himself that he also didn't tell him anything more than that.
.
The next morning arrives, and the students stand before Master Kirigi outside.
"Today, we will be skipping ahead somewhat, to the Chinese technique known as Dim Mak. Or, more specifically, the lost and forbidden move of Dim Mak - the Lethal Vibrating Palm Technique." Master Kirigi starts the lesson.
Minhkhoa looks to the side at his friend and sees Bruce looking down at the ground instead of listening to Kirigi's words. He understands what is going through his mind. The young boy of Gotham, who saw his parents get murdered, hasn't recovered yet; on the contrary.
"The strike, when applied perfectly, activates several pressure points, causing cardiac arrest. First, we must focus on our own Qi. Remember our meditation practice from two weeks ago..." Master Kirigi continues.
But Bruce simply walks away. He makes his way to his room and starts to pack his belongings. As he does so, Minhkhoa appears at the door and smiles.
"You are going to leave after coming this far? Quite a waste, no? I thought you were going to learn everything and be the best there is?"
"Master Kirigi was driven from Japan because his students committed murder. And here he is teaching students a method only used for killing. There's nothing more he can teach me without giving up a piece of my soul." Bruce says heatedly.
"Well, I agree that Dim Mak has lethal purposes, but simply ignoring it and not learning it seems stupid to me. Knowledge doesn't make you a killer, Jack. If you know how the technique works, you won't lose a piece of your soul. You don't have to use it. Besides, there are far more useful ways to use pressure points than that," Minhkhoa argues.
"There is no need for me to know this. If you know something, you would want to try it out, and I will never do that." Bruce says.
"I see. Then take me with you. Take me to those top mentors you have collected. We could travel the world, see the sights, play some wagers, eh?" Minhkhoa proposes a bit in jest.
"...No. I'm sorry, Anton. I... this is my path. I have to do it alone. This is not a game to me." Bruce says.
"I see. You mean you can't afford distractions... such as friendship. That's alright, Jack. I'll see you around, most likely." Minhkhoa says and leaves.
.
As the day passed, Bruce had packed all of his things and left the temple.
"And where will you go now, Bruce Wayne? You may very well be my best student, Mr. Wayne. See this through and you will be unstoppable."
Master Kirigi appears behind Bruce.
"I think you are overestimating. Anton is clearly the better one among us." Bruce says.
"I said you were my best student, not the best fighter and warrior. Anton already knew martial arts and how to kill before he arrived at these doors. It is not that hard to learn new things if you already know a different variation of it." Master Kirigi says, giving Bruce new information.
"Tell me, Master. I need to know who those new students are?" Bruce asks.
"They are the price I pay to teach without worry. Assassins-in-training sent to me by a benefactor. I shepherd them, I am left alone to do what I do best."
"But they kill people! How can you let that happen?" Bruce asks.
"I am not here to judge anything but the techniques. This is my art. You will leave here better with my knowledge. What you do with that... is up to you." Kirigi says.
"Maybe... maybe what I'll do with it is stop you," Bruce says and looks at the old man.
After hearing him, Master Kirigi turns around, leaving Bruce to his journey. As he makes his way to his quarters, he sits down for a drink and thinks. Suddenly, he stands up and gets into a fighting stance, spilling his tea on the floor. His heart races and his pupils dilate as he sees who stands right in front of him... Minhkhoa.
"Yare yare... look what you did to the good tea, Master. Such a waste."
"What are you doing here, Anton?" Kirigi asks.
He didn't hear him or notice him at all. In all his years of fighting, killing, assassinating and teaching, he has met only a handful of people who could mask their presence that way, and they are all some of the most dangerous men and women in the entire world. His neck hair stood up; he felt the danger coming from Minhkhoa, because Minhkhoa allows him to feel it now.
"You have given information away, Master Kirigi. Information regarding Bruce Wayne... and me. I assume it is required of you, from your 'benefactor', to notify him when a very promising student arrives, which might interest him."
"..."
"I understand your position, you are weak and have to bend to the whims of another." Minhkhoa continues.
"You are afraid, Anton. You are trying to hide, but did you believe I haven't noticed the mask you're wearing?" Kirigi asks.
"Saw that, did you? So you know I'm trying to remain anonymous, and yet, here you are, giving away personal information that belongs to me."
"What I do with the things I see is only my concern," Kirigi says.
...
"Have you come to kill me, Anton?"
"What do you think?" Minhkhoa asks.
....
*whoooosh*
*BANG BOOM*
The two throw themselves at one another. Master Kirigi knows that only one of them will survive this. He uses all of the skills he has amassed over his life and attacks Minhkhoa with ferocity, but controlled power. He knows that he might not be young anymore, but his body was trained to the peak of human potential, and should still be stronger than what Minhkhoa managed to achieve in his 18 years of life.
Sadly, he doesn't understand his situation. Minhkhoa might be 18 physically, but mentally and spiritually, he is thousands of years old, and his body has surpassed the peak of human strength a while ago. They exchange punches, kicks, elbows and knee strikes. Kirigi utilises all his knowledge of fighting and anatomy, attempting to strike the young man and end the fight as quickly as possible, but it's not working. Then he sees an opening. He pulls back his right hand, opens his palm and uses all of the Qi he has trained, focusing it on his palm.
*WHOOOSH*
His palm strikes Minhkhoa's thorax, hitting the perfect spot. Kirigi's Qi hits the various pressure points, which would usually cause cardiac arrest, however...
... nothing happens.
"A battle of Qi, or in my case, Internal Energy, is a battle of quantity. The Internal Energy I possess and allow to leak out is so much greater than what you hit me with that you naturally won't achieve anything. Besides, I can resit pressure points quite easily. Allow me to demonstrate how to do it better," Minhkhoa says.
*tap tap tap tap tap tap tap....*
Minhkhoa delivers over a hundred blows, using nothing but his fingers to the 708 pressure points on Kirigi's body.
"Wha... what was that?" Kirigi asks as Minhkhoa stops.
The speed was so fast that, despite trying to block and retaliate, Minhkhoa continued and then suddenly stopped. The old master is confused and looks at Minhkhoa.
"What did you do?" he asks.
"Hyakuretsu Ken. This is an application of true martial arts that targets pressure points. Not the Dim Ka or whatever it is you said. I mean, it's a nice application, but not very imaginative. You could use it to help others, but instead, it causes cardiac arrest."
"Wha- what did you do to me?" Kirigi asks again.
"Don't worry about it," Minhkhoa says.
"Why?"
"Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru"
Minhkhoa walks out of the room, leaving Kirigi alone as the effect finally triggers. Master Kirigi dies through the violent explosion of his internal organs, which is characteristic of the Hokuto Shin Ken. After that, he flashes away, quickly making his way down the mountain, where, not that long a distance away, Bruce is being targeted by the five newcomers. Bruce was handling himself swimmingly and held off the five of them rather well at first.
He used all of his training and kicked the others, while dodging their weapons. Bruce doesn't kill. Otherwise, this would have been over very quickly. He stays centred and focused, blocking their fists and retaliating in kind.
Ox-push kick, nukite strike of sorrow, serpent wind strike...
But Bruce is eventually overwhelmed and hit too many times. He is barely 18 years old and not as experienced as he will be in the future. And added to that, he is fighting five grown-up assassins. One of them grabs him from behind and exposes his front to an attack.
"Impossible to test the lethal techniques... without a human test subject," one of them says and pulls back her fist.
However, before she can strike and kill Bruce, Minhkhoa arrives. He kicks the woman who was about to perform the lethal technique in the face.
"Hello there."
"You should have stayed out of it, cretin."
"Cretin? How quaint." Minhkhoa says and ducks underneath her punch.
He moves backwards and looks at her. He will ensure that none of them survive this encounter, but keep it hidden from Bruce. He blocks her strike with his forearm and punches her face and then her stomach. Bruce and he cover their respective backs while facing the assassins. Their teamwork is almost flawless at this stage already. Minhkhoa kicks one of the men and rolls over the exposed back of Bruce, who delivers a back kick towards another one.
Bruce starts to realise that maybe he doesn't have to be alone. They work together in orchestra. The two best students Master Kirigi ever trained. There is no denying that Bruce is one of the most talented students in practically any field. He is a genius and capable of learning anything he sets his mind to. The drive he possesses and the memories that fuel his path make him master things that others would need years or decades for.
Minhkhoa, meanwhile, seemingly does things effortlessly, but it only appears that way to Bruce because he hasn't seen or experienced what Minhkhoa went through. His path wasn't easy at all.
As the fight continues in the snow, unknown to all participants, Minhkhoa is trying out an advanced technique he has created himself. He punches one of the assassins-in-training in the chest, performing the Vibration Palm Technique he had watched Kirigi perform, but he modifies it. Instead of allowing his Internal Energy to flow freely inside the man's body, he adds a special property to it. He knows how to create delayed kills using Hokuto Shin Ken, but what he is doing now goes beyond that. He allows his Internal Energy to flow inside the man's body, but holds off on the effect the technique would usually have.
He turns around and performs a front kick. He uses the same method as before, but through his foot. He controls the internal energy perfectly and delays the effect for the moment. Finally, after having done this to all of them, he watches as Bruce sends the last of them to dreamland.
"I guess I'm not going back to the Dojang. Sorry, Jack, but it seems you're stuck with me. I can't possibly leave you on your own, when at the very first moment that you're off on your own, you almost get yourself killed," Minhkhoa says.
"I think I'm okay with that," Bruce says. "Kirigi may come after us for this. Or worse, his 'assassin benefactor' might."
"Assassin benefactor? Seems like I was right then."
"It seems that way. I'll tell you all about it later. And if you move quickly, you might catch up to him," Bruce says and throws Minhkhoa a spare coat.
"We should move quickly; the world won't wait," Bruce says as they make their way off Paektu Mountain.
"Say, that was impressive, how you managed to hold all of them off on your own until I arrived."
"I almost died and would have, if you hadn't arrived," Bruce says.
"You're selling yourself short, Jack. You're like what, 18 years old, and already defended yourself against grown men and women who happen to be assassins-in-training. And there were five of them. That's impressive." Minhkhoa says.
"Says the one who didn't even sweat just now. Seriously, how did you get this good at fighting, Anton? What did you go through to get here?" Bruce asks.
"A lot of training, I suppose. It's not that big of a secret, honestly. We live in a dangerous world, and I have found that out early on, similar to you, I reckon. So I started to train when I was quite young, to prepare myself for what is surely to come in the future." Minhkhoa says.
"And your parents have nothing against the fact that you are alone, travelling through the world on your own?" Bruce probes.
"No. My parents know me, and they know that I have to do this, so stopping me would be useless. And besides, knowing what they know now, they understand me perfectly." Minhkhoa says.
He doesn't answer Bruce's questions the way he wants. Minhkhoa won't go to great lengths to hide his true identity, and then give him details about his personal life and his parents. If Bruce were to know that his parents are also dead, then that would be easier for him to find out Minhkhoa's identity in the future.
"I see."
"What about you, Jack? What do your parents think about you going off and preparing for your personal crusade against crime?" Minhkhoa asks, knowing the answer to that.
"I don't know," Bruce says.
He sees his parents dead in the alley and hears his mother's last words. He thinks about the fact that Alfred spent money to hire Henry Ducard to find him. He called Alfred and told him that everything was alright, that he needed to do this and that he would surely return home eventually. Bruce didn't know how long it would take, but after seeing Minhkhoa and what he could do, and considering how close he had come to death just now, he had a long way to go.
Minhkhoa, meanwhile, focuses his mind on something else. They are now far enough away that he can do what he needs to. The five assassins-in-training wake up after a few hours of being unconscious and look around. They are surprised that they are still alive, since they are used to failure meaning death. But their surprise suddenly turns to shock and pain. The first one, a man and the tallest of them, suddenly starts to groan in pain and clenches his chest, where his heart is.
"Urgh..."
He falls to his knees and then, after a final breath, hits the floor face first. But he's not the only one. Another's head then suddenly swells like a balloon and pops a second later.
*BOOOM*
Blood and brain matter shoot all over the snow, painting it red. The others are also in the process of dying. All of their internal organs explode violently and kill each and every one of them. Minhkhoa is not a saint, and he is also not a psychopath. But he wouldn't ever allow someone who attacks him with the intent to kill to leave alive. He has added the Shadow Chi aspect of his Internal Energy to Hokuto Shin Ken and managed to create a delayed version of it. Even more delayed than it already was. And the best part about it is that no one can feel or notice that hidden aspect of his Internal Energy.
His journey continues.