Down With The Gods

Mira is the first to regain consciousness, groaning as she tries to stand. The master has gone inactive during the chaos.

“Wake up!” she calls to Wyn, who lies face up with one of Yu’s feet on his face.

“Did I black out from my own attack?” Wyn mumbles, pushing Yu’s toe out of his mouth. “Can you wake him up too, Mira?”

Instead of giving him a normal wake-up call, she stares intently at her hand. After witnessing the other two succeed, she feels the urge to catch up. The sooner she gets this right, the quicker she can venture out to find her sister. A few minutes later, a small fireball forms in her palm. Instead of launching it, she presses the entire ball against Yu’s face.

“Water, water! Hot, hot!” Yu springs up, running around with his face engulfed in flames.

“You’re a water type! Put it out yourself!” Mira laughs.

The master wakes up and extinguishes the fire on Yu’s face with a stream of water from his mouth.

“You can do that?” Wyn asks.

“I am programmed to detect situations like this,” he replies calmly.

“How is the room still intact?” Wyn asks.

Mira whispers to Yu in awe of Wyn’s inquisitiveness. “Does he ask questions all the time?” To which Yu responds, “Oh yeah.”

“The dojo is made of the flesh of our Lord to withstand attacks from both inside and outside,” the master explains.

“Gross. Next, please,” Mira says.

“Keep practicing until you can do it with ease. Wake me when you are ready,” the master instructs.

Like children in a pillow fight, the three hurl their attacks at each other. Over time, they become more skilled at summoning attacks. The time it takes to achieve a full charge diminishes, and their regular attacks grow stronger. They also take this opportunity to learn how to dodge each other’s attacks.

Wyn’s earth power works similarly to Yu’s and Mira’s. He can hurl rocks from his hand, and if the impact is strong enough, they shatter into pieces. However, Wyn’s cyclone power proves the hardest to dodge, especially in such an enclosed space. He masters the ability to generate an ascending cyclone by shattering the orb in his palm with his fingers. To summon a descending cyclone, he simply inverts his hand before breaking the orb. As long as he remains in the eye of the cyclone, and the cyclone he summons is wide enough, he’s safe from his own attack. Wyn can also extend his arm with a pushing motion, summoning a cyclone in any direction from his palm.

Mira wakes the master and asks to proceed to the next lesson.

“Good job! Now, you can try to charge your attacks. Keep focusing on your hand until the elemental orb grows in size. When fully charged, your hand will tremble as a signal. Once charged, you cannot uncharge. If not released in time, it will launch itself in whatever direction it is facing. A cyclone, a laser, and a lightning orb work differently in that…”

“Ya ya. We know that already. Next lesson!” Mira demands impatiently.

“Good job! Now, try doing the same, but with your feet. You can jump or dash using them.”

As Wyn focuses on his feet, he notices an aura spiking around them. When he jumps, he propels himself into the ceiling, bouncing off it a couple of times. Yu takes notes from Wyn and decides to create two small streams of water from his feet, sending himself upward. By maintaining the streams, he manages to stay afloat, adjusting his height by controlling their intensity. Jetting himself horizontally allows him to perform a water dash, enabling faster travel. Mira watches Yu in awe, then jumps, flame jets shooting from beneath her boots. The moment she lands, they dissipate.

“Seems like I can’t fly,” she says, looking very disappointed.

No matter how hard Wyn tries, he can’t control the intensity of his cyclone jump – it’s always too powerful. After sustaining a fair amount of injuries, he switches to training with his earth power. He discovers he can summon a rock pillar from the ground beneath him when he jumps. On his first attempt, he’s propelled upward, only to fall back onto the pillar due to its rapid emergence. The emergence speed depends on how high he jumps. If he doesn’t jump, then it would simply elevate him from the ground, though he doesn’t know that yet. While Yu can control his water streams on the fly, Wyn must charge up first to create a thicker, stronger rock pillar.

“Good job! Now,...”

“Wait. I can’t control the cyclone jump yet. Any suggestions?” Wyn asks.

“You are a cyclone type, which makes it inherently harder to control. That said, it is possible, but it requires experience. In the meantime, if you want to stay off the ground, rely on your earth power or try befriending a wind type.”

The cat pauses briefly before continuing. “Good job! Now, for a more advanced attack, try summoning a pillar or a stream from the ground. Place your palm on the terrain, focus on where you want the attack to surface, and then unleash it!”

This move proves challenging for the three of them as they take turns performing the attack while observing one another. Wyn pushes against the ground, gazing at the sleeping robot, pouring all his effort into his palm. Instead of emerging from the master’s location, an ascending cyclone forms around himself. Now it’s Yu’s turn. Instead of making contact with the ground first, he conjures a water orb and directs it downward.

“This is exactly what I did to your face before. It won’t work!” Mira says.

Mira attempts the same technique as Wyn. A thin fire pillar springs up in front of her, engulfing and burning her hand. The moment she lifts it, the pillar vanishes. Yu throws multiple weak water orbs at her hand to soothe the burn. It’s Wyn’s turn again.

“Let me try something slightly different,” Wyn says.

He places his palm on the ground, but this time, instead of focusing on the master, he concentrates on the terrain. Just like that, an ascending cyclone appears around the robot cat, dealing no damage.

“Well, I’ll have to adjust my aim next time,” Wyn remarks.

“Nice! How did you do that?” Yu exclaims, clearly impressed, and Mira nods in agreement.

Following Wyn’s lead, Yu successfully summons a fountain of water from the ground. However, the master is too heavy; Yu’s attack has no effect, not even stirring him awake. Mira takes a few tries before finally launching a decent-sized fire pillar at the master. Again, he remains unmoved. Wyn attempts to summon a rock pillar from the ground beneath him, but the master’s weight crushes it as it emerges.

“Why so glum?” Yu asks Wyn.

“I want to master the cyclone jump. Just imagine how great it’d be for dodging.”

Wyn resumes his jump training. Despite his determination, he struggles to get it right. It feels like leaving something unfinished, and that doesn’t sit well with him. He’s the kind of person who would pull an all-nighter to complete a task if needed. With two elements to master, the pressure mounts. Yu and Mira notice his frustration.

“You’ll be fine. The master said it takes time, right? You’ll get there!” Mira reassures him.

“Yes! You’ll need an open field for this. The sooner we get out of here, the more we can train!” Yu adds.

“I just wish I had only one element to work with. This is so annoying,” Wyn says, managing a faint smile.

He doesn’t want to move on, but he certainly doesn’t want to drag his team down. Taking the initiative, he wakes the master.

“Good job! Now, if you feel comfortable enough, why not try your attacks on a real target?” the robot says. “There are masters out there. Speak with them for more information. Return to me when you are done.”

The door behind the master slides open, revealing an open area with short grass teeming with creatures.

The creatures resemble sheep but have tall, slender black legs and thin white wool. They stand as tall as the dojo roof, their faces entirely black, contrasting sharply with their opaque white eyes. They seem to be wandering aimlessly. Within the area, other souls are practicing their moves on the creatures. Nearby, one soul attacks a creature with a lava blob. The sheep-like creature reacts preemptively by retracting its legs, thickening its wool to fully cover its face and legs, then bounces off the ground, dodging the attack.

The three approach one of the available masters, who looks just like the others.

Without needing to press a button, the master greets them. “Welcome to your first training ground. Here, you can try out what you have learned on the ballywools.”

“Look around. Choose any available one you like and attack it with all your might! Just be mindful of others around you.”

“Wouldn’t that kill or injure the creatures?” Wyn asks.

“Their wool is too thick for your powers to cause any serious damage at this stage. However, if that does happen, we will intervene as a safety measure.”

The team decides to practice on the same target since they can’t find three free ballywools close to each other. While waiting for his turn, Wyn seizes the opportunity to practice his cyclone jump. Just before Yu can launch an attack at the ballywool, Wyn propels himself so high that Yu has to slow his descent with a water fountain from the ground.

“You can go first. I think I need to keep an eye on this guy for a bit,” Yu tells Mira.

“Thanks, man! But don’t worry about me! I’m used to falling, remember?”

With that, Yu focuses on Mira and the ballywool. As she launches a fireball from her palm, the ballywool enters its defensive mode, causing her attack to miss and fizzle out in the air just beyond the creature's previous location. Now lightly bouncing on the ground, the ballywool is ready for another strike. Mira fires again, but this time, the ballywool springs up high on its feet, only to hide them back inside the wool.

“Sheesh. When am I ever gonna hit this thing?” she complains.

“If you want a sure hit, your pillar attack should do the trick,” Wyn shouts as he descends. “It always jumps and lands vertic…OOPH!” Wyn is interrupted as he crashes to the ground.

“How can he analyze what we’re doing down here while flying up and down like that?” Mira asks Yu.

“Beats me. He’s something else alright.”

Informed by Wyn's suggestion, Mira summons a fire pillar directly below the ballywool. For the first time, an attack lands on the creature. Mira doesn’t withdraw her palm from the ground, reveling in the thrill of burning that ball of wool.

“Die! You sack of wool!”

A nearby master blows a gust of wind at Mira, pushing her back slightly and breaking her attack.

“Chill out now, will you?”

“Oops. Sorry! Got carried away.”

Now it’s Yu’s turn to attack the creature. He opts for projectile attacks to refine his aim. Instead of firing where he anticipates the creature will be, he targets its current position. After a prolonged effort, he grows tired. Unbeknownst to him, the master has been deflecting some of his missed projectiles to prevent them from hitting anyone else. While Yu is resting, Mira launches more projectiles at the ballywool. After many misses, one of her strongest attacks finally lands, causing the ballywool to bounce off and fly into the distance.

“Of all the attacks, it had to be the strongest one that hit, huh?” Mira says, watching the creature soar.

Worried, Yu consults the master.

“Do not worry. Catito will return them when there are too many outside. Just be more careful next time. Part of this exercise is to learn to control your power.”

While Wyn lies flat on the ground, Yu and Mira tell him they’ll look for a new ballywool. Wyn seems fine with this; he’s determined to master the cyclone jump.

As Yu scans the sky, aiming his attack at a new ballywool, another ballywool collides with him, sending both flying in opposite directions.

“I’m so sorry!” a tiny female voice exclaims.

Yu struggles to get up, and in front of him stands a petite figure – a blonde lady with an oval face, green eyes, and long hair. She’s shorter than Wyn and wears a green and blue flower dress. She offers him a hand, which he accepts to help himself up.

“Are you okay?” Mira asks Yu.

“I’m alright.”

“Sorry again for being so careless. I’m Christine, by the way,” the lady says.

“No worries. It’s the master’s fault,” Yu responds.

Christine is alone on the seventh level. She came straight here, fearing she would suffer in agony if she roamed the other levels. Getting back to her solo training, she cuts the conversation short. The incident sparks an idea for Mira – she proposes using projectiles to train with Yu in hand-eye coordination by rallying a ballywool together. Meanwhile, deciding he should give his face a rest, Wyn joins them shortly after.

Wyn struggles to summon cyclones to rally with Yu and Mira. He finds this elemental power to be more of an inconvenience, though he has ideas for the types of attacks he wants to perform once he gains more control. For now, he focuses on mastering his earth abilities.

“Ah, this just came to me. How about we try combining our attacks?” Wyn suggests.

As Mira fires her attack, Wyn follows with a diagonal cyclone emerging from his palm, extinguishing her fireball. When Wyn throws a rock, Mira’s fireball shatters it. No one bothers to try combining their attacks with Yu’s; they believe water doesn’t mix well with their elements.

“You three are good. Head back inside to complete your training,” a nearby master says.

Unable to find their previous room, they enter a different one, likely stealing from someone currently training with the ballywool.

“Good job! Now, you are done with the basic training,” the master in the room announces.