Hell's Academy

Howard felt a surge of energy enter into his body before it felt like something inside of him exploded.

A barrier seemed to form almost instantly inside of his body, that almost immediately caused the entire training pavilion to begin to shake. 

He smiled, and gradually activated the 5 barriers he'd mastered before while the barrier of the exalted slowly came into being. His blood, bones, and every fiber of his being seemed to get stronger instantly. It was at that moment, that something inside of him changed.

The Silver Ki Heart, which he'd been unable to put his intent into suddenly doubled in size. 

His other Ki Haerts, as well, seemed to grow bigger in reaction to the barrier of the exalted he had created. It almost instantly made him nervous, but he couldn't stop now! Not when he was so close to the SS rank! 

'Come on! Breakthrough! Breakthrough!' Howard said before the six barriers around his body slowly started to transform.

In the S rank, the six barriers would have to be manifested, but this would immediately change in the SS rank. The barriers that normally had to be called out to protect the body would permanently be activated. 

This, for instance, was why when he was fighting Necrolith it seemed so hard to cause him any damage without his Emperor's Domain. His body had six extra layers of protection to keep him from receiving damage! However, now that Howard had made this breakthrough everything would change! His strength should at least increase by 50 percent! 

The barriers around his body would increase his strength greatly similar to the way a knight's blade would increase his damage or his armor would increase his defense. Since there was five extra layers of ki that would get trapped around his body, this would be very similar to having a permanent set of armor.

And just like armor, when he was wearing it and attacking an opponent, the weight of the armor would increase his damage! He was excited, but also kind of upset at the moment! There was no way of underestimating how important this breakthrough was! However, he couldn't help but feel it took him to long to reach this point!

'If only I made this breakthrough earlier, I might have been able to stay until Harley broke through to the S rank.'

'If there is one thing I regret, it's having to leave when she was so close to a breakthrough. Without putting intent in her Ki Hearts, she'll almost always be behind the other girls. I-I know it's stupid, but I really just wanted to spend more time with them! However, I can't stop now! Not until I'm strong enough to defeat everything in the entire Furance! Then it won't even matter if they're strong!'

Howard felt a sense of grief tugging at him regardless. He never wanted to leave Monica or Harley or Priscilla alone to go on his own adventures. He never wanted to leave Reece behind with Carter! He never wanted to abandon any of the women he loved!

However, now as he got stronger, things were going to change! His strength now should almost be enough to block Yesran's domain! With the strengthening of his Ki Hearts with intent and now the breakingthrough to the SS rank, soon he might even be able to give the Arthraku trouble!

'But, something doesn't seem right,' Howard noticed that the six barriers hadn't fully yet combined. The 5 exterior barriers had completely merged together, but the barrier in his body seemed to be unable to combine with them.

Basically, his external body had reached the SS rank, but his internal body was still in the S rank. He could only look at the Silver Ki Heart, and shake his head.

'I-I'm guessing the reason the Silver Ki Heart got bigger was because unlike the other Ki Hearts it doesn't have intent in it yet.'

Howard shook his head, and realized he'd made a great mistake. It wasn't the end of the world, but he wouldn't fully be able to breakthrough to the SS rank before he put his intent into his Silver Ki Heart.

Most likely, no one had ever used intent in the S rank before entering into the SS rank, and there were new rules that he'd have to follow. One of the most obvious rules, it seemed to him, was that all Ki Hearts had to be relatively equal before breaking through to the SS rank.

Since Ki Hearts were used to breakthrough to the S rank, and the Ki Barriers to breakthrough to the SS rank, the only thing different about him from other people had to be his Ki Hearts. And since his had intent in it, it made sense to him that in order to really enter into the SS rank he'd need to finish what he started! He'd need to put an equal amount of intent into all the Ki Hearts!

'I still have time before night time, right?' Howard opened his eyes and looked around, soon realizing he had no idea what time it was. He wiped the sweat off his head and walked to the exit of the training pavilion before he opened the hatch to the outside world.

It was pitch black, in fact, the sun seemed to be about to rise.

'I-I guess I overdid it, haha!' Howard smiled and closed his eyes. It took him just a second to realize where Lasinda was currently thanks to his ability to sense intent. She was in a room.

"Well, she did promise she'd let me sleep with her if I found the Jade Stem Herb." Howard activated Fire King Sprint and shot above a large amount of domes before he arrived at the center of the city. An extremely massive dome, full of color even in the dark of night, appeared in front of him.

In the front of the dome, there were hundreds of guards in black uniforms. He could barely make out their faces and they marched back and fourth.

'Clearly, this is the palace,' Howard looked up and then stepped off his back foot.

Swoosh!

He flew like an arrow passed the guards, and shot into a small port window before he abruptly crashed into a bed. 

On it, Lasinda, who'd been staring up at the stars through a window in her ceiling looking over in shock. Right next to her, her father was also equally as shocked. He'd just finished absorbing the Jade Stem Herb, and came to visit his daughter for the night. Never in a million years would he imagine someone would try and sneak in!

"Who is it? Who dare try and venture into my daughter's abode at night! Show yourself!"

"It's Howard father," Lasinda blushed. She could barely believe her father was standing, let alone able to scream. "I promised I'd let him sleep with me at night, okay? Now what are you doing?! Get out of here! Or better yet! Tell him thank you! He saved your life, right?"

"I would like to test his strength before he sleeps with my daughter for the night," Mernan walked over to Howard and smiled. "Little brat. Don't think because I was weak and frail before that I'll let just anyone spend the night with my daughter! Now fight me! Let me see what you got!"