Guilty Crown: ROB's Wheel c75

After rushing through three stages of the breathing method, Alex decided to get used to this new power-up, focus on harnessing Chi control, and learn the meat and potatoes of White Tiger techniques.

‘The basics are White Tiger Meditation, which improves lifeforce, concentration, and cognitive functions, then White Tiger Steps, which improves dodging ability, battle stances and ability to manoeuvre in the heat of a battle like a tiger.’

‘So we have steps and meditation. What about actual martial arts?’

The Vanishing Dragon’s Host skimmed through the pages until he stumbled upon the pages related to Hand-to-hand combat.

‘Tai Chi? Whoa…’

While he will eventually learn the art of provoking and breaking bones without touching, first, he needs to learn the fundamentals of balance and ‘melting’ with the world.

‘So first are Wu Dang Basics, three core stances which will evolve into Tai Chi.’

Alex walked away from the girls who were watching TV and eating fruits and found himself some space.

He inspected the pictures of the stances and proceeded to copy them, trying to translate the images into reality but maintaining the basic Wu Dang stance of uniting with the world to achieve balance.

The stance is quite simple: the left foot is in front, the right one is at the back, and both hands are close to the chest, representing Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang.

To begin a fight, most Taoists strike with a provocative right fist. It’s quite slow and easy to dodge or parry, but such a strike is a bait. The next moment, the Taoist pulls back and delivers a pair of palm strikes to the chest and solar plexus, followed by a left-hand elbow strike and a backhand strike to the face.

Tai Chi style is considered very brutal, as there are strikes to the balls, too. If some nutcase wants to jump on Taoist and push him down and rain fists, it won’t be easy, as there is a literal counter strike for that in the katas.

The Tai Chi artist uses the momentum of the opponent to deliver an excess amount of damage. The counter to jump on is literal knee-to-balls. Just reading about it makes Alex grimace. 

So he can’t imagine how the opponent would feel like.

After trying out the basics, Alex switched out to practise the movements, trying again and again.

Without even realising it, evening arrived, and Julis interrupted him.

Ahem

“If you want to sleep with me, you need to shower first, " she elegantly motioned toward the shower.

“Yeah, I know, but the ‘Rebel Alliance’ called. There is some action going on with GHQ. I will be going out.”

Alex sighed. He does want to cuddle, but he does need to get Power of the Kings.

“...And you are telling me this now?” The girl groaned for a second. How could he forget to tell her?

“I want to go too!”

“Then start your preparations; we still have a couple of hours," he said, looking at the electronic clock on the wall.

“Alright!”

“...I am coming too.” The fellow pink-haired girl poked her head through the doors.

“...Sure, you can come too,” Julis replied, and Alex nodded as well.

“Just be careful and don't get hurt; bullets can still damage you, " the White Dragon Emperor said with a concerned tone.

“Then you should train me the same way you two train. I noticed a considerable increase in power over the night,” Inori asked with some expectations, making Julis and Alex blush for a second.

“...N-No way, w-w-we can talk about this some other time!” Julis intercepted, showing her tsundere roots.

She walked over, grabbed Inori and pulled her out of the room.

“Go change and take a shower!” She said to him while taking Inori away.

“She might not say it, but the girl is observant,” Alex mumbled to himself.

‘That’s because of her lack of character, and she is trying to absorb everything, and because of that, she is paying a lot of attention.’

Albion said with a knowing tone.

“Where have you been?”

‘Reading on whole Taoist and Wu Dang stuff you had.’

The dragon replied to him before expanding on what he learned.

‘I noticed a pattern here. All the pulls and all the prizes are from things you know. For example, the whole Wu Dang stuff you have is something you have shown interest in a while ago.’

The Vanishing Dragon said as if he uncovered a mystery of life itself.

“Well, duh, if you want to have a loyal customer, you have to sell stuff they like—it's basic 101 of capitalism.” Alex removed his shirt and threw it into a recently bought dirty clothes basket. Once he reached the bathroom, he proceeded to undress before getting his shower.

‘Yes, I get it, but this is somewhat concerning how the system works.’

Albion is a little bit spooked by how much the system knows about Alex and how well it can manipulate him to make him come back to grind more.

As a Heavenly Dragon who has lived for a very long time, he can see this dungeon thing working even if Alex becomes a very strong being. 

The prizes can adjust, and the enemies he faces can change to keep the whole thing going.

It’s like a sandbox game with an unlimited amount of potential for replayability.

After getting his shower and trying to control his body’s new power, Alex was able to have his shower. He almost broke a couple of things, but all the experience in regulating energy and movements helped him.

Once out, he pulled a backpack from his inventory. It contained a bunch of black clothes, which he took out and began to put on.

He went with Black pants, a shirt and a hoody, a scarf, and lastly, black leather gloves.

‘Cosplaying as a burglar?’

Albion sarcastically commented as he saw how Alex looked at himself in the mirror.

‘Yeah, since we are playing this rebel game against the empire, I should be part of it.’

‘Ha, fair enough, if you started it, you should end it, right?’

‘Indeed, besides, I want to test my martial arts and not steamroll with Balance Breaker like I always do.’

~~~

Around midnight, the trio left the apartment. Gai sent them coordinates where to go.

Sadly, their decoy tricks won’t work that easily for GHQ, as the rebels have enough data to know which SUVs are decoys.

The trio swiftly rushed to the location where they would intercept them.

Since they were in a hurry, Alex was the one who carried Inori in a princess carry, making Julis jealous. The girl wanted to bang her head for developing techniques which allow her to fly!

Sometimes, being a damsel in distress is a good thing! 

While Julis was thinking about how to hurt herself, Inori was hugging Alex quite strongly as she discovered a new feeling! It was like a drug to be held in his hands.

The best part was that he was using only his wings, not armour, so that she could feel the heat radiating from his body.

Eventually, the trio arrived at a crossroads where rebels from Funeral Parlour were waiting for them.

“Good, you are here.” The blonde guy walked out from the shadows, followed by a group of armoured members.

They had rifles and even rocket launchers.

“We are going to blow up those two pillars, cutting their means to escape, while you two— three will attack the SUVs.” Gai pointed at concrete slabs close to the roads.

They were in abandoned districts where buildings could easily be used as environmental hazards for such operations.

“And what about those mechs? None of those?” Julis asked with crossed arms. She was dressed in black, too, but her pink hair stood out quite a bit.

“Endlaves? Our pilot will hold them off if necessary. What is important is the cargo.”

Gai doesn’t want to get into much detail because he doesn’t want Alex to be interested in it. While he doesn’t know many details, the guy has a dragon inside of him, and from what he can recall from folklore, dragons can be greedy individuals.

“Well, if it's something nice, I might keep it~.” The Host of Vanishing Dragon moved his head left and right, stretching out a bit.

“You know, a souvenir from this world before moving to the next one.” The White Dragon Emperor slightly smirked at Gai.

“...As long as the GHQ doesn’t get their hands on it, I am fine with it.”

No, he was not, but he doesn’t have the power to stop the guy before him.

“We should get into positions.” Julis sighed, seeing Alex basically bullying these rebels.

“Indeed.” The blonde man nodded at her, and the group spread out to take their positions and wait for the White armoured SUVs.

‘Oh, they even have light tanks, not bad. These guys are desperate.’

Alex noticed a bigger vehicle with a thin barrel. It is a light tank on a six-wheel instead of caterpillars. 

‘How could they not? For them, we are aliens with supernatural powers. The only way for them to answer is with more military power.’

Albion snorted in amusement, making Alex grin as well.

‘Shall we begin this party?’

The host of Vanishing Dragon summoned his bow and then created a drill-shaped sword arrow, aiming at the first vehicle. With a simple motion, the arrow blasted out, leaving a sonic boom, which surprised Alex as the arrow, like a missile, slammed into the armoured SUV.

What happened next was an explosion as the car morphed into scrap metal from the sheer force of the drill-shaped arrow.

“...”

‘...’

For a second, Alex stared dumbly at the sheer force of this. Did his Sacred Gear get beefed up as well? Or was it his power all along?

Well, for now, he shook his head before summoning another arrow and targeting the light tank that was aiming at him at the very moment.

With another release motion, the arrow, like a missile, slammed into the tank’s barrel before causing an explosion, making the whole tank’s top part blow up and rise several metres into the sky before falling with a clang on the ground.

The people from Funeral Parlour just looked at the whole thing with disbelief and horror; what are they looking at? Even Gai thought Alex’s power was lightning and a suit of dragon armour, but this? What is he even shooting at those vehicles?

“Gai…” One of the officers whispered to his boss, as he was fearful of what he was seeing.

“Yes, I know.” The blonde rebel commander sighed. Here goes his plan to sneak in and get the power of the kings…

After taking out the tank, the other SUVs stopped, and the soldiers rushed out to meet the rebels. This is when Julis decides to join in, jumping from a building and launching flames at the enemies.

“It's the fire witch! Take her out!”

One of them commanded. Some of the antibodies spread out, revealing a guy with a gatling gun. Julis’ eyes widened as she swiftly went to hide from that! 

She had no idea if her skin could take blows from that, and she was not willing to test it out.

But that moment, Inori dashed into the group of Antibodies and proceeded to ‘dance’ with her crystal blades.

The girl’s slices… cut apart weapons, armour, and even limbs, as the Death Angel didn’t care about her enemies. She just went loose.

“W-Who is this girl? G- Get away from her!”

The commander was about to run away, but at that moment, someone kicked his leg, then grabbed his head and slammed him into the asphalt face-first.

“Nice try, bossman,” Alex commented as he was already in front of the convoy.

The gatling gun-wielding guy looked around. He was surrounded by three freaks! 

“Can we discuss… this?” he dropped his massive gun as he wasn’t feeling confident anymore.

“It depends. How do you want to kiss the ground today?” Alex asked, his tone bright, as if he were having fun.