The Invincible Hero

Desperate times called for desperate measures. Master River promised a grand warrior to help end this war, but thinking realistically, "What could a single warrior do?" The Dragon Emperor continued to ponder and realized, "if one hero isn"t enough, what if I gather all of the Dragon Empire heroes?!" The Emperor was excited.

The Emperor called his Prime Minister and announced he was Gathering all the Heroes of the Dragon Empire. Send an official Imperial Decree with an Immortal Heavens ranking. The Prime Minister was shocked. This was the first time, since the founding of the Dragon Empire a decree with an Immortal Heavens ranking was issued!

The Emperor listed the heroes he wished gathered. The Prime Minister was to see to the gathering personally. Not a single person from the list could be missing. If someone was missing from the list, it must be because they were dead.

The Prime Minister rushed out from before the Emperor. Word quickly spread once he pa.s.sed the Immortal Heavens Decree to the Kings under the rule of the Dragon Empire. Official Writs of Invitation were issued to every person on the list. Writs of Invitation were effectively an Imperial Draft for warriors. Refusing the draft meant death.

The Writs of Invitation were sent to the farthest reaches of the Dragon Empire. It took the full resources of the Dragon Empire to track down many of the Heroes. There had never before been such a gathering of heroes. A feeling of excitement pulsed through the furthest reaches of the Empire.

The Dragon Princess was required to welcome the heroes. She was never able to train with Master River because of her official duties. She hoped once this crisis was over she would be able to train with the amazing Master River.

While all of this was going on, a teenage silver horned dragon relentlessly trained. Quickly moving through a catalog of weapons. Lorne had become formidable. Not even the Dragon Emperor could stand toe to toe against him. He still wasn"t strong enough. He knew he still had a long way to go.

Only one more month remained for his training, according to the Dragon Empire"s reckoning in time. In the new universe, thanks to time disfasia, this amounted to about ten thousand years.

While Lorne continued his daily training, he felt a large presence moving toward him. It was his best friend Big Bear.

"Little Bear, I"ve finished my training. I need to go out and do some live training to refine and stabilize my gains. I"m going to help hunt Fiends," said Big Bear.

Big Bear had trained along with Lorne for all of this time. They worked together by sparring, but Big Bear"s training finally hit a bottleneck and there was no point for him to hang around.

"I made some things for you, Little Bear," said Big Bear.

"Oh yeah?" Lorne was immediately interested. Both Lorne and Big Bear were gifted in forging, but Big Bear"s talent was lightyears ahead of Lorne"s. It wasn"t unusual for Bear Men to be gifted at forging, but Big Bear didn"t just forge. He incorporated elaborate runes and mechanisms into his crafts. Every piece was a work of art. Every piece could put most of the hidden legacies to shame.

Lorne was really proud of his brother. He never had a friend he could rely on. For him, it was usually the case he was so overpowered that he was too strong to ask for help. On the other hand,, with the blessings and gifts of his father, Lorne was like a weak spoiled child.

Big Bear was different. The two of them grew up together. Their strength grew together, and they were able to help each other. They complemented one another"s strengths. They made a powerful team, and their deep friendship made their teamwork even more formidable.

After thinking these few things, Lorne felt overcome with some emotion. Getting up, Lorne walked over and gave his Big brother a sincere hug.

"Brother, you treat me too good. Who has ever had such a good brother like you? I can"t believe anyone has had a better brother than you," said Lorne.

Big Bear felt Lorne"s sincerity and became a little emotional himself. Lorne had always been like a bear, straightforward and loyal to those around him. He always felt lucky having such a friend. Wiping a tear away from his eye, Big Bear focused his thoughts before producing his gifts.

A light flashed as Big Bear took a few items from his s.p.a.cial object. Big Bear laid out a nearly translucent suit. Lorne a.s.sumed it was armor. Next to the armor were boots, gloves, and what looked like his old costume from Earth!

Lorne had told Big Bear all about his time as a Zimwarn Warrior living on Earth. As Earth"s mightiest warrior he often fought against threats foreign and domestic. He also described his final battle. Big Bear loved to hear these stories. They were like fairy tales to him. Humans? They really existed? How amazing! Humans were said to have lived at one time in the Dragon Empire, but they eventually died out. They were hunted to extinction.

Lorne mentioned there were some, on Earth, who believed Dragons once inhabited Earth, but they were similarly hunted to extinction. "The Multiverse is fair. Big Bear thought.

One of the things Big Bear loved the most about Lorne"s superhero career was the secret ident.i.ty. Changing from one form to another. Keeping his everyday-ident.i.ty a secret while changing into a special warrior armor and warrior suit.

Big Bear was so excited he created his own special armor and came up with his warrior name The Invincible Big Bear or Wúdí de dàxióng. Big Bear couldn"t be blamed for his lame warrior name, he was a Bear Man and they had no naming sense.

Lorne had drawn a picture of his costume once and even showed Big Bear a version he came up with for his Five-Clawed Dragon Form. Big Bear was inspired by Lorne"s stories it seemed. He had reproduced his costume with a few minor alterations.

"This armor is based on your original costume. There are just a few minor adjustments to the look, but the armor itself is real armor. The translucent undergarment is a flexible under-armor that adds both an additional layer of protection but also a.s.sists in energy distribution. It can also change and morph so you won"t be affected when you change into a new battle form." explained Big Bear.

The costume is ten times tougher than even your skin in your ultimate form. If something can damage this suit, then it can kill you as well. In extreme situations, the suit will deploy an invisible helmet to protect your head.

The gloves hold various s.p.a.cial compartments you can use to save items in an organized way. Weapons can be saved in one compartment, living beasts in another, food in another, ships in another. The gloves can double the force of punches while the boots can triple the power of kicks and movement techniques.

The boots can increase your flying speed by twelve times. There are spatial compartments for storing bases, houses, and deep-sea ships. There are also plenty of materials and tools for forging pills, armor, talismans, and other items you might need. In the weapons spatial compartment, I stored all thirteen versions of my Invincible Weapons series.

Oh, one of the features I"m most proud of is the Spectral mode of your costume armor. When you wish to change form to hide your ident.i.ty, simply engage the spectral mode and your armor will change to a mode compatible with your soul. It will act as a cover and protection for your soul. It will also be hidden away and can be brought out whenever you like. You"ll no longer need to wear clothes over your armor to hide it," Big Bear said proudly with a large smile on his face.

Lorne was blown away by Big Bear"s gifts. His forging abilities were truly heaven-defying and creative beyond all measure. Could such items be produced by his father? He didn"t think so. Of course, not all of the credit goes to Big Bear. If not for their teacher neither Lorne nor Big Bear would have their current accomplishments. Even if they studied for twice the time they wouldn"t be able to accomplish what they had now. This is the power of a great teacher!

"I also prepared gifts for you, Big Bear," said Lorne with some emotion. With a wave of his hands" countless pills, talismans, and techniques appeared. A precious blue stone caught Big Bear"s eye.

"What"s this?" Big Bear asked with some confusion.

"It"s a Clone Stone. When I heard about the uses of Harmony and Fiends Stones and how the Harmony Stones had special uses, I started researching the stones to see if I could do something with them.

I discovered in every Fiend Stone there is a Fiend Embryo with cultivation and martial techniques. I discovered there were even grades of stones. I did research on the Harmony Stones and realized they could be used for more than releasing incredible amounts of energy. When combined, A Fiend Stone and a Harmony Stone can merge and form a Clone Stone.

I call it a Clone Stone. It"s more accurate to call it an Avatar Stone, but Avatar doesn"t rhyme with Stone and Clone does so I made the obvious choice to call it the Clone Stone...for symmetry.

Focus your energy in the Clone Stone and select the techniques and abilities you want your Clone to have and you will have an Avatar as capable as you who will follow any orders you give!" Lorne explained excitedly.

Big Bear was floored. "Such a thing could exist?" he wondered.

After exchanging gifts with one another, the brothers looked at each other for a while. Finally, it was Big Bear who spoke. "You don"t have to worry, I"ll look after everyone while you train. Focus on training, and I"ll work on saving our Dragon Empire. If I can"t save it, then I"ll protect it and wait for you to save it." Big Bear said with a big smile and a great deal of feeling.

Lorne and Big Bear couldn"t help but hug each other tightly. Neither wanted to let go knowing, once they let go they would be parting and Big Bear would be heading off to a deadly war. They were both scared this would be their last time seeing one another.

Finally, things got awkward and the pair were forced to separate. Big Bear turned around and walked off raising his fist in a symbol of victory looking like an unstoppable conqueror. Of course, if Lorne could see Big Bear"s face he would see streaming tears and flowing snot as Big Bear"s emotions released uncontrollably. He was a Bear Man, and that made him very emotional.

Lorne sighed, looking at the gifts his brother made for him. He put them on and started his training once again. This time, he was testing the armor Big Bear made for him.

***

On the Imperial Throneworld, the greatest heroes of the Dragon Empire gathered. This event was so monumental The Heavens" Legendary Heroes, as they were called, were gathered together to have a living painting made of the collection. The largest heroes were at the back while the smallest were in the front.

A note was made next to the more than one thousand Legendary Heroes identifying each Heroe and their greatest achievements to date. Some of the top heroes were:

Mammouth Mouth Měngmǎ Xiàng De Zuǐ a Dinosaur Man who was a mixed dinosaur species. He had the enormous mouth of an Allosaurus fragilis, the teeth of an Incisivosaurus the upper body of a Deinocheirus mirificus and the lower body of a Beipiaosaurus. He was the strangest looking hero. He was known for eating the Repulsive Snug, a creature about the size of a moon. The Repulsive Snug would travel from planet to planet to bathe in the salt water oceans of the planet. Once it did this all ocean life died and the ocean wouldn"t recover for at least three million years.

The Impossibly Strong Worm Man Rú chóng rén was famous for his battle against and destruction of the Soils of Sadness. The Soils of Sadness was a collectively possessed soil on the planet Antebartum. The Soils of Sadness could make anyone so sad they would lay and sigh excessively until they eventually died and became part of the soil. Their soul would join the collection of souls and increase the sadness. Ru Chong Ren was famous for eating all of the Soils of Sadness and p.o.o.ping out the souls who were no longer sad, but disgusted, and able to once more reincarnate to their next life.

Grand Dragon King Rex T. Long an ancient Dinosaur man more than forty-six million years old. He was known for defeating the armies of the Elex Trin, capturing the Moon of Armia, conquering the Phelex Plains people, and confounding the Dinosaur Man Empire to the degree they became va.s.sals to the Dragon Empire.

A s.p.a.cial Gate opened, and Big Bear stepped out. The gathered heroes didn"t know who he was. The Dragon Emperor asked, "Who are you?"

"I am the Invincible Big Bear Kěpà de dàxióng. The direct disciple of Master River and sworn Brother to the Five-Clawed Gold Horn Dragon known as the Invincible Dragon!" Big Bear said proudly.

The Dragon Princess looked at Big Bear suspiciously before saying, "I remember you. You"re the Big Bear from the Forest Fighters who lost an arm in the battle against the Divine Skill Sect. I thought you were sword brothers with Ying Xing the silver horn Dragon Baby." The princess asked in confusion.

Big Bear began to panic. "No, Ying Xing is not Wudi Long the Invincible Dragon. I never said that!" defended Big Bear.

"Wait, are you saying the dragon baby and Wudi Long are the same person?" asked the Princess.

"Oh no! I"ve ruined brother"s secret ident.i.ty! It"s so much harder keeping these secrets. This princess is too clever and relentless!" cried Big Bear.

"Is he stupid?" many of those gathered wondered.

"Thank you for coming brave warrior. You"ll have to forgive me I didn"t hear anything but your name," said The Dragon Emperor.

"You didn"t hear me say Ying Xiong is Wudi Long?" asked Big Bear.

"Err, No." responded the Dragon Emperor.

"I"m so relieved, his secret is still safe," said Big Bear with great relief. Big Bear had messed up big, but he couldn"t help it, he was a Bear Man after all.