Chapter 178: Training

I’ll expand this to 1200 words while keeping your exact opening and closing lines intact.

At exactly three in the afternoon, Jelo, Atlas, and Mira arrived at Tongen’s house.

The house sat at the edge of the academy grounds, surrounded by a wide open training field.

Tongen was already there.

He stood calmly in the center of the field, holding the same small red ball in his right hand.

Jelo stepped forward slightly.

“So we’re really doing this again?” he said.

Tongen nodded.

“Yes.”

Atlas cracked his neck slightly.

“Same rules?”

“Almost,” Tongen replied.

The three students looked at him carefully.

“You still have to take the red ball from my hand,” he continued. “But this time… I will not hold back as much.”

Jelo sighed.

“I knew the restaurant thing was too good to be true.”

Mira crossed her arms.

“I knew something was suspicious.”

Tongen raised the red ball slightly.

“You may attack together.”

“Begin.”

Atlas moved first.

He slammed his foot into the ground hard enough to send a crack running three meters forward.

“Earth Rise!”

The ground beneath Tongen suddenly shook violently, and thick stone pillars shot upward, attempting to trap him. Four of them. Each one wide enough to pin a shoulder.

But Tongen didn’t move.

The pillars stopped mid-air just inches from his body.

Atlas’s eyes widened.

“What—?”

Tongen casually flicked his wrist.

The stone pillars suddenly shot backward, flying away at twice the speed they came. The sound they made cutting through the air was sharp, like something being torn.

Atlas barely jumped out of the way as one crashed behind him. Dirt and stone scattered across the field.

He landed in a low stance, staring.

“Momentum,” Tongen said calmly. “Everything that moves has it.”

Atlas exhaled slowly.

He already understood. It wasn’t just that Tongen was strong. The man hadn’t braced, hadn’t tensed, hadn’t even shifted his weight. He simply decided the pillars would stop, and they stopped.

Mira moved next.

Two identical versions of her suddenly appeared beside her, stepping out from her shadow in a flicker of pale light.

Now three Miras rushed toward Tongen from different directions, each one moving at the same speed, each one carrying the same weight in her footsteps.

One attacked from the front.

One from the right.

One from behind.

Tongen didn’t even turn his head.

The first Mira punched hard, twisting her hips into it.

The moment her fist got close—

It stopped.

Completely frozen in the air.

Her knuckles hovered an inch from Tongen’s cheek. She could feel the air between them, warm and still. Her arm wouldn’t move. Not backward, not forward. It just sat there, suspended, like the punch had been set in stone.

Her eyes widened.

Tongen had stolen the momentum of her punch.

Then he released it.

BOOM!

The force sent her sliding backward across the ground, heels carving two shallow lines in the dirt before she caught herself.

The second clone tried kicking from the right, going low, aiming for the knee.

Tongen caught the kick easily, one hand beneath her ankle.

Then he redirected the momentum.

The clone flew sideways in a clean arc and vanished in a puff of pale energy before she even hit the ground.

The third Mira came from behind, lunging for the red ball with both hands outstretched—

But suddenly her entire body slowed down.

Every movement became thick. Her arms pushed through invisible resistance. Her legs dragged. It was like she was moving through deep water, except nothing was there. Just air. Just Tongen watching over his shoulder without any urgency at all.

“Nullified momentum,” Tongen said quietly.

Then he gently pushed her away with two fingers against her collarbone.

She stumbled back and dissolved.

The real Mira straightened up on the far side of the field, brushing dirt from her knee. Her jaw was tight.

Jelo watched carefully from the edge, eyes tracking every small thing.

The pillars. The punch. The clone.

So that’s how his ability works. It wasn’t just deflection. Tongen could steal, hold, redirect, and erase momentum entirely. Any movement that entered his range became his to control. Speed meant nothing. Power meant nothing. If it was moving, he owned it.

Jelo crouched slightly, fingers loose at his sides.

Then—

WHOOSH!

Using Wing Burst, Jelo shot forward at incredible speed, the air cracking behind him as he closed the distance in less than a breath.

He appeared beside Tongen instantly, already mid-swing.

“Dragon Claw!”

Jelo swiped his hand downward. A large claw-shaped energy slash burst forward toward Tongen’s side, the heat radiating off it sharp enough to feel from several meters away.

For the first time—

Tongen moved.

He raised his hand, turning slightly at the waist, palm facing the incoming attack.

The claw attack suddenly stopped in the air, trembling violently. The energy inside it churned and flickered, fighting against the hold, but it didn’t move forward. It didn’t move at all. It just shook, contained.

Then Tongen pushed forward slightly.

The attack reversed direction.

Jelo’s eyes widened.

“Skilled Guard!”

His skin hardened just as the Dragon Claw slammed back into him, the heat and force hitting his forearm and chest at full speed.

BOOM!

The impact pushed him several meters back, his feet dragging deep grooves into the dirt before he finally stopped. The force had been his own, every bit of it returned.

Atlas whistled low.

“He just sent your own attack back at you.”

Jelo rubbed his shoulder slowly, checking the joint.

“Yeah… I noticed.”

Atlas suddenly slammed both hands onto the ground again, veins standing out along his forearms.

“Stone Prison!”

The earth around Tongen exploded upward in a ring, forming a massive stone cage around him, the walls thick and overlapping, designed to close inward.

At the same time—

Mira and her two clones rushed forward again, taking wide angles, cutting off any sideways movement.

Jelo disappeared with Wing Burst, reappearing above Tongen in the half-second the cage was still forming.

“Dragon Claw!”

Three attacks came at once.

Earth crushing inward from every side.

Mira attacking from the left and right simultaneously.

Jelo striking down from above with everything he had.

For a brief moment, the three of them felt it. The timing was right. The coverage was complete. There was nowhere left to redirect.

For a brief moment…

Tongen smiled.

Then he clapped his hands once.

BOOM.

All the attacks suddenly stopped mid-motion.

The stone cage froze, walls hanging in the air, suspended at odd angles. Jelo froze mid-air, his Dragon Claw held motionless above his head like a photograph. Mira and her clones froze mid-strike, fists inches from contact, feet still lifted off the ground.

The air itself felt heavy, like the entire field had taken a breath and held it.

Tongen had taken control of every bit of momentum in the battlefield.

Then he released it.

The stone shattered outward in every direction. Jelo was thrown back hard, tumbling before landing on one knee. Mira and her clones were blown away, the clones vanishing the moment they hit the ground. Atlas stumbled as the earth cracked and buckled beneath his own ability coming apart.

The three of them landed on the ground, breathing heavily.

Tongen still stood in the same place.

The red ball was still in his hand.

He looked at them calmly.

“Better than last time,” he said.

“But still far from enough.”

Jelo wiped sweat from his face and slowly stood up again.

A small flame flickered around his hand.

Atlas smirked.

Mira created another clone.

“Round two?” Atlas said.

Jelo grinned.

“Round two.”

Tongen raised the red ball slightly.

“Good.”

The air around them became tense again.

“Come.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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