Broken balance

Continued from: https://thebleachworld.darkbb.com/t2625-buried-alive-solo

During his time at the Academy there were several places he could not go. Once he graduated he was granted permission to most of those areas. Still there was a some places he had never visited. That place was the training field for those who wished to commune with their weapons. From what he read most people did such training alone in remote locations. But this area was made for those less spontaneous and adventurous. It wasn't that Arawn wasn't either, it was just that he decided that practicing in a secluded area might work for martial arts, but not with a magical weapon.

Twelve days ago

Yet again he found himself in the medical recovery room. Some cuts, bruises, and slight bone fractures easily treated with kido healing. He reminded himself to see proper instruction in such art. The man he had talked to had be vague at best. The information was helpful, but not completely useful. A couple days of bed rest after treatment and some vitamins. They had him stay for some observations. All in all he was looking well for someone that had been buried underground and nearly crushed. During this time of inactivity he was forced to have his newly acquired weapon sit on a shelf. At night in his sleep he could have sworn he could hear the snoring of the dragon. All the time he was bed ridden he yearned to hold the blade. He remembered his escape, the pulsating blade and his climb to freedom. As he pondered he didn't know what exactly the blade had done to help him. He had felt stronger while holding it, pushing rock weighing many times his own weight. He would need to test it's abilities and limits, he remembered the Academy had such a place.

The present

The reason he remember the building was that it was quite big, almost like a stadium there were no windows which made it seem odd. Clutching his weapon he stepped inside. There were only two long hallways, and doors spotted each wall. The front desk reminded him of a library clerk, a very bored library clerk. The young shinigami was almost surprised to see someone come through the door.
"Hello." he called out, too loud, it echoed. "How may I be of service today?"
"Um, Hello." Arawn muttered observing the rather bland looking room. "I need a room to well....practice." He said while eying his blade.
"Yes, yes, of course why else would you be here?" he laughed nervously. "And what kind of field would you like?"
"Kind?" The question puzzled him
"Ah, first time, eh?" this time the laugh was more genuine. "No many people come here since they decide on places more in tune with their spirits What we do here is try to help people learn how to use their zanpukto properly." he gave a small sigh. "But in the end it's the weapon itself that teaches people how they are used." Arawn pondered the man's words. "So what kind of training area do you want to try?"
After much though he finally chose a room with heavy objects; a strength testing field. The man lead him to the room and then left.
"The abilities of ones' zanpukto is a personal matter." he said as he shut the door.

Pulling the blade free from the scabbard he gazed at the tsuba guard. The silver blade looked so pure and clear. With a sigh he put both hands on the hand and spoke the words that had come to him that day.
"Drift, Haung Long." The silver blade shrunk and bended, and the curved golden blade sat in his hand. It felt lighter than it's previous form. Which surprised him since it was now made of gold. He didn't feel a pulsating power like he had before. He examined the weapon, such perfect craftsmanship. Clutching the weapon in his right hand he walked up to the first weight. It was a large iron ball with a metal ring on the top etched into it's side was simple lettering; 250lbs. Lifting a little above his own body weight wouldn't be small feat.
Fitting his hand into the loop he tugged. The large iron ball didn't budge. He switched the sword to his left and tried to lift with his right hand. The results didn't change. Did he remember wrong? He had pushed the rocks with his hands.
"Perhaps the hand holding the blade is only effected?" he muttered. Holding the weapon and grabbing the loop proved to be difficult. He hooked the blade's handle with his thumb while grabbing the ring. He tugged and tugged, suddenly the hefted the metal sphere off the ground. Arawn started to laugh in surprise. It had worked, he was lifting the weight with half his hand. Setting the weight down he switched the weapon to his left hand. He tugged the weight, but nothing happened. Undaunted he kept at it. The iron ball didn't move.
"It didn't take this long last time." His muscles hurt from the effort he leaned against the weight. The curved weapon had returned to being a sword. "What am I doing wrong?" there was no answer. The clerks words struck him [i...]in the end it's the weapon itself that teaches people...[/i]
How did he ask the blade? As he though about it, he remembered the strange dreams while in the hospital. Clutching the weapon he closed his eyes. He must have been more tired that expected as he drifted off to sleep.

There was silence until he could once more hear the familiar snoring. Arawn opened his eyes to see the expected landscape. This time he was standing on the large planetoid Haung Long slept on. Wait. Something was different. He looked around. There were still rocks in every direction and stairs twinkled above. So what was it? Then it hit him. The asteroid he was on had definitely grown bigger. Before the golden dragon had taken up nearly all the rock. But now there was ample room for the great lizard as he snored away. Why had the rock grown? The area was flatter looking, but there were occasional boulders. Done with his observations he turned his attention to the sleeping spirit.
"Haung Long!" he called out. The beast continued to snore. "HAUNG LONG!!" he surprised himself with the second shout. Arawn wasn't one to raise his voice often. One of the dragon's eyes opened and fixed on Arawn. The other eye then opened and the dragon let out a yawn that sounded like a roar.
"Back so soon?" he spoke evenly, slightly annoyed. "You're looking better than last time."
Arawn too felt slightly annoyed, he wondered if what happened underground was really a test planned by the spirit.
"Well I am doing well thanks to you, but I need your help once again." he thought it best to try the more polite path.
The dragon tilted is massive head and looked at the tiny human. "Need more help? I don't see any peril."
Sarcasm wasn't cute from a dragon many times your size. "Well there is no danger befalling me at this time. I just wish for help in my training."
"Do tell." It was obvious that the dragon was being uncooperative on purpose.
"I'm trying to use your power better, but I can't seem to figure it out." Arawn figured being direct was better now. Being polite was difficult. "I was able to lift the weight once, but now it's not working."
"Yes, I saw that." Arawn could feel a vein on his head bulge. "If you saw that why didn't you help me?"
"Well you didn't ask for one thing." Arawn's ears burned, this dragon was being quite disagreeable. "Plus I don't recall my power being that feeble." The dragon's head rose up and it's head gestured at a car sized floating around the asteroid. The rock flew over to them from it's orbit and landed in front of Arawn. It was then that Arawn realized that since he arrived he hadn't been floating like the last time, he was about to ask about it when the dragon rumbled.

"Now observe." One of the beast's hands came forth and pointed a claw at the newly added rock. For a second nothing happened, but then the rock rose from the ground. The clawed hand moved forward and flicked the rock away back into the asteroid belt the encircled them. "See? Now you try." The hand pointed at another rock, one barely half Arawn's size and it pulled away from the sea of rock and landed beside him. Arawn eyed the rock, "Go on."
The katana in his hand morphed into the curved golden weapon. Arawn pointed at the rock with the blade, and nothing happened. The golden dragon erupted in laughter. Arawn felt his face burning now.
"It's not that easy boy! Put some effort into it." he stopped laughing and brought his face in close "I helped you before, but that a special case." The large reptilian eyes locked with the shinigami's "I am not your servant. I could kill all your enemies. I can massacre them all without even a bit hesitation. An ounce of regret. But what then? You will learn nothing of true power if it's just given to you. And so I will give you the means, I will give you the tools, but the one that must swing the blade is you. It will be by your own hand that they die, by your intentions alone. Work hard boy." With that the head retreated and lay atop it's folded arms, it's eyes never leaving his. Finally the yellow eyes closed and Arawn was left to the silence.
His intentions, his will? What were his intentions? He looked at the cold weapon in his hands. He wanted power from the blade, instead the dragon had told him wouldn't receive it. He recalled the pulse of energy before, it was no doubt the dragon's spiritual force. Now the mighty beast refused to do so again. He had to use his own power, but how? He thought of his kido. Could it be that simple? Reiryoku poured out of him, he focused on the blade and tried to focus his power there. Both hands held the weapon's handle tightly. The shinigami thought he saw the air shimmer for around the blade. Slowly he lowered the gold edge til it was inches from the rock. So intent on his task he didn't notice the dragon's eyes reopen, watching his actions. Arawn held the weapon there for a moment pushing his reiryoku forth. Ever so slowly the rock lifted from the ground. Arawn smiled as the rock rose lazily past the blade. He released his left hand from the double grip and touched the floating rock. With but a tap it started to move in the opposite direction. Before he could touch it again the rock dropped to the ground. Undaunted he tried again, this time only holding the blade with one hand and the other to catch the rock and manipulate it. Once he held onto the rock and waited for the effect to wear off. In a matter of seconds the rock that felt weightless was restored it's original fifty pounds.

What seemed like hours had passed. He had gotten used to pushing his energy into the blade. Although tired he was happy with his progress. Keeping that much energy going would wear him out faster than constant kido spells. Without channeling energy he noticed he could produce the same effect yet not as powerful. It would be a better idea to keep the energy usage to a minimum.
"Well that's good an all, but how do I get out of here?" he asked aloud. He go no answer from the dragon who was fast asleep snoring with an annoyingly a smug smile on it's face.

Call out phrase: Drift, Haung Long

Description of released form:


The released form is that of a golden kukri blade that measures 23 inches long, 3-4.5 inches wide (Included area of curve) with a 10 inch handle. The small etchings along the top of the blade resemble dragon scales.

Abilities:

Ability 1:
With a touch the weapon makes items weightless by creating an anti-gravity field. The area that becomes weightless is equivalent to the size of the blade. Example: Should he touch a person's arm, only the arm would become weightless not the whole person. Prolonged touch of the weapon advances the effect to other parts connected/touching the initial part (or from the new part touched.) The duration of the effect is quite short; only 2 posts. An additional touch before the effect wears off increases the duration (by 1 turn). By concentrating his reiryoku he can increase the anti-gravity field around his blade to a 1ft radius. Anything touching the increased field is affected the same way as touch the blade proper.