Chapter 55: Final Preparations

The first bottle went down easily enough, filling him not like water, but like a solid mass slithering through his body. Not enough. Lisa was already handing him the second bottle she'd prepared, so he accepted it and began drinking. Even before he finished, he felt the heat building in him, but he forced himself to drink all of it before tossing the bottle aside and focusing his entire mind internally.

Just as Lisa had explained, the liquid seemed to course through him, heating everything in his lucrima. It felt almost like an attack designed to soften his defenses, but he accepted it and just focused on holding onto the cores he wanted, letting the rest dissolve into a mess of gooey lucrim.

When he was handed a third water bottle, he drank it automatically and the heat grew. Sweat beaded all over his body, but that was nothing compared to the raw heat inside him. He could almost imagine that he felt the clots of misused lucrim floating to the surface, but ignored the sensations. What mattered was sticking to the plan, staying focused until the first stage was done.

"Okay, Rick, now!"

When he heard Lisa's words, he let his senses expand outward. Yes, he could feel the impurities at the edges of his lucrima, floating like tiny flecks of trash in a peaceful pond. Rick gathered his strength and threw it against them, burning away the clots. Some of his good lucrim burned as well, but that pain was part of the process.

He finished feeling raw and a bit tired, but Lisa immediately handed him another water bottle. Rick drank the pitch black liquid and felt it burn through him. That had been the first step... now to repeat the process until he had cleared out everything.

At first he focused on the free-floating impurities, but as the blood red sphere dwindled, he let the heat rush into his Lucores as well. He would need to rebuild them afterward, but he felt the brittle fragments work their way out of the core of his being.

When it was finally over he fell onto his back and just breathed for a while, staring up at the sky. Even though he'd drunk an enormous amount of water, he felt empty instead of bloated. The emptiness was strikingly pure, and even though he was tired, his body felt light. Right now he had drained himself of energy, and his defenses were soft and pliable, but he could feel the new strength within him.

"Congrats! You did a great job with that." Lisa sat down beside him, handing him a bottle of serum - higher quality stuff that they sold in glass bottles instead of cans. "I've had professional fighter clients who whined way more about the process, but you really threw yourself into it."

"Well, I knew this was my only chance." Rick drank eagerly, then wiped off his mouth as he had to stop to breathe. "It's not like I can keep purifying myself on a regular basis, given the cost."

"I think you will." Lisa gave him an encouraging smile. "Things might be rough now, but you're really improving, Rick. I expect you to keep getting better, and I'm sure your life will improve. With all the work you put in, it would be unfair if the universe didn't reward you eventually."

Rick had no confidence in the universe's justice, but he appreciated the sentiment. They chatted casually as he finished the bottle of serum, taking a while to rest after the intense experience. But eventually their time came to an end, and Lisa obviously knew it.

"Rick..." She lowered her eyes and shook her head. "I'm not sure what to say. I hope you make it through this match and things go well. If you do get injured, don't be all prideful, okay? You can call me and I'll do what I can to help."

"I appreciate that, Lisa." Rick smiled at her and they headed out of the park by the same route they came in. Once there, Lisa lingered a bit, but Rick had to say his farewells and leave.

In part, it was because he wasn't sure what to think of their conversations. Honestly, another aspect of it was that he was eager to test his new strength. And another part of him was already fixated on the upcoming battle with Mike.

But another piece of it was much more mundane: drinking all of that liquid might have purified his lucrima, but he really needed to go to the bathroom.

It took him several days to fully recover from the purification process and re-solidify his Lucores to his satisfaction, but the process was easy because it was so much fun. Usually he put himself through hell just for small improvements, but now he felt new strength surging through him. Except it wasn't really new strength, just strength he'd earned and lost somewhere along the way.

Not only did he recover over 4000 lucrim in impurities, the process had improved his maximum by another 1250. Once Rick properly invested all of that, he was proud of his results:

[Name: Rick Hunter

Ether Tier: 16th

Ether Score: 243

Lucrim Generation: 37,500

Effective Rate:        35,047

Current Lucrim: 37,500]

[Rick Hunter's Lucrima Portfolio

Foundation: 3200 (Lv IV)

Offensive Lucore: 6875 (Lv IV)

Defensive Lucore: 15,525 (Lv VII)

Bunyan's Step: 6400 (Lv IV)

Graham's Stake: 6450 (Lv II)

Aura Leech: -2453 (Stage I)

Gross Lucrim: 37,500

Net Lucrim: 35,047]

He'd invested the majority into his defense, even though it felt excessive. But he reminded himself that as much as he'd improved, he was planning to face someone who was regularly handed far higher quantities of lucrim than he possessed. Though he planned to win, when he was done, he wouldn't have expensive medical care to help him. More important than winning was being able to move on after the fight, to regain his health and spend time with those who mattered to him.

All the remaining time he had, he spent adjusting to his new power. Rick had seen new Birthrighters injure themselves, clumsily using power and speed they weren't accustomed to. While he would never perform that poorly, he needed to perfect his understanding of his limits. No overextending himself, no using less than his full capacity, just precise use of his exact abilities.

In the evenings he made sure to spend time relaxing, since he didn't want to burn himself out before the challenge. That was easy enough, since Melissa was happy to spend time with him. They divided their time between practicing his theoretical new technique and messing around as usual.

On Friday night, they tested the basic principles of it one last time. Melissa extended her hands, carrying the void flame to him. Rick closed his eyes and accepted it, wrapping the flame within a sphere of aura. Unlike before, it no longer threatened to burn him. Even when he trained or sparred while holding the trapped flame within his lucrima, it managed to sustain itself.

"Wow." Melissa sat back and watched with an odd expression. "I know it's been a long road, but I'm still surprised you can do that. The flames tend to burn up everything, yet you've adjusted."

"It's partially thanks to you learning how to create more stable flames."

"Maybe, but I think you deserve a lot of the credit. Not like you're a super genius - no offense - but I feel like you're well-suited for it. Maybe because you're my brother?" Melissa switched from contemplative to grinning at him. "Was that your scheme this whole time? You were just pretending to be a loving older brother to get a hidden technique from me!"

"Indeed. My machinations lay undetected for years." Rick smiled at her, but his mind couldn't stay light for long these days. "I'm sorry if I haven't been paying as much attention to your things these days. My problems recently... they've been a bit all-consuming."

"Oh, don't talk like that. You've been great."

"But you're getting within a few months of graduation, and I just realized that we haven't really talked about it much. Do you know what you want to do next?"

Melissa sat back, considering the question... or perhaps considering him. "I've given it a lot of thought, but I'm still not sure. Get a job as soon as possible, obviously: I've been sponging off you for long enough. Do you think you could get me a job at your gym?"

Rick immediately shook his head. "You could, but you don't want that. Female trainers usually get more creepers, at least at a little place like ours. Even if you want to go into training, you shouldn't settle for a gym that's in a strip mall. You can do better."

"You really think so? They've done some job fairs at school and... well, a lot of the entrance requirements are higher than I thought. You need certificates from a combat sect, college degrees, special training... without those, I don't have so many options."

"Why not go for those?" Rick sat forward, locking his gaze with his sister. "You said you were sponging off me earlier, but that's wrong: I'm glad to be able to help you. We're family. Now, I might not be able to afford the full fees for university or a combat sect, but you've done well and you can probably get scholarships. Don't set your sights low just because you feel you have to."

Melissa stared at him for a moment, then to his surprise, jumped forward to hug him. "Thank you, Rick. I'm... not sure what I really want in life. But I'm glad you're here with me." She pulled back and smiled at him. "I love you, bro."

"Love you too, sis."

"Now..." Her sincere expression dissolved into a smirk. "How are you going to spend your last night before the big fight? I'm thinking the best use of it would be to watch Fist of the Sublime for the third time!"

"Oh, god, no."

"But don't you care about fist-pounding action?"

Joking aside, they didn't actually watch it again. After Melissa went to bed, Rick ran through all his exercises for the last time before the big match. He would meditate a little before the fight started, but otherwise the time for preparations had ended.

As he went to sleep, he considered final desperation options one last time. What he had done was impressive, yet he was still outclassed by his opponent. If he wanted more strength, he still had the option to take a demonic bond. Given how his ether score was improving, they would probably give him a decent one. That could make up a large portion of the gap, especially if he overextended the bond.

But no. This wasn't just a grudge match to him, not an issue of ego like it was for Mike. Rick realized that the things that truly mattered to him were more important than simply winning. He fixed that thought in his mind as he fell asleep.

Hopefully he wouldn't regret that decision by tomorrow evening. One way or another, it would be over.