Steampunk Apocalypse!

Haru stood alone in the remnants of the Purple Origin Sect, his clenched fists trembling in anger. "Hina, I'm sorry." He muttered to himself. 'This happened because I was too weak! The same thing happened when I was captured by the Japanese government. He looked up at a series of buildings decorated with symbols for each of the seven elements. His eyes sharpened with determination. 'I can learn earth, water, and light. I'll master them all and take Hina back! Then, I'll change this twisted world!'     

Haru walked towards a building and stepped inside. A vast rocky land stretched out before him, with not even a hint of vegetation in sight. 'Something isn't right.' He frowned as he examined his surroundings more carefully. To the west was a maze of lava, and to the east was a frozen tundra. A dust storm traveled over the rocky lands further north. Silver lightning crackled down from the skies, but upon closer inspection, one could see the lightning was actually made up of molten metals. 'There's supposed to be a training room for each of the seven paths of earth... but it looks like they've all been forcefully meshed together. Was the formation damaged during the war? Sensei would probably know...' Haru hurriedly shook his head and slapped his cheeks. 'No! I can't rely on sensei anymore. I'm no help to him, and he can't solve my problems for me.' His eyes narrowed as he took his first step forward. 'My unique body cultivation made it easy for me to master all the storage meridians quickly. I'll do the same for the seven paths and just master them all at once!'     

...     

Haru sat in meditation atop a round yellow boulder. A yellow glow covered his body as he tuned himself to the earth. The boulder underneath him slowly grew larger as it was encompassed by his yellow glow. 'Mm.' He nodded in satisfaction. 'The default path is definitely the easiest. It barely took me a day to master it once I concentrated.'     

Whoooosh!!! Raging winds struck Haru's body. He frowned as he opened his eyes. 'I don't get the green path of earth at all though...' A greenish-colored dust storm was striking against his body, trying to grind it into dust. Fortunately, his rigid body easily protected him from the damage, and even if it didn't, his water nightmare chimera body would quickly heal him. He glanced down at his own skin in dissatisfaction. 'Sensei could turn his chimera form on and off so easily...' He sighed. 'Why am I stuck with my skin always being blue.'     

...     

Months later, Haru stood in front of a volcano. Red hot bubbling lava radiated heat against his body. 'I've wasted enough time trying to comprehend it from far away. I can't afford to not take risks!' He leaned forward and jumped straight into the volcano!     

SPLASH! Haru's body slammed into the harsh lava and sank like a rock. A yellow glow protected him from most damage, and his body easily healed any burns he suffered. However, he had no oxygen supply, and it would only take a few minutes before he ran out of air. With his unique body, even that might not kill him, but it would likely trap him in a perpetual coma beneath the lava for the rest of his life.     

'Concentrate!' His eyes grew red as he focused on the lava. The heat boiled over his body, and he almost felt as if it was trying to communicate with him. 'Lava... It represents both creation and destruction. It's explosive, but it can also be calm...' The lava started to move around him, creating a sphere that protected him. The sphere quickly rose, carrying him with it. He felt dizzy on the way up, and he quickly gasped for air as soon as he reached the top. 'Mastered!' He happily cheered as he jumped out of the lava.     

...     

Haru continued putting himself in desperate situations to quickly master the paths. When he failed to comprehend the frozen tundra, he forcefully went to the coldest area he could find and meditated naked atop a freezing boulder. When he couldn't master the green dust storm, he endured the hits directly with his exposed flesh, no longer relying on his powers to protect him. When the metallic lightning escaped his grasp, he purposefully created a tall tower of earth and sat atop it so that all of it would strike him.     

Months quickly turned into years as Haru finally escaped from the earth training room. With all seven paths of earth having been mastered, he easily defeated the metallic giant defending the exit. He hurriedly moved onwards to the paths of water. Fortunately, he mastered all seven water paths in under a year due to his high affinity for water. Last came the paths of light, of which he felt the least connected with. He struggled with them the most, but thanks to his previous experiences, he still mastered them faster than the paths of earth. All in all, it had taken him five years to master 21 paths. He had not chosen to specialize but had instead mastered them all. Now only sixteen years old, his results showed he truly was a genius blessed with heaps of talent.     

...     

Haru left the ruins of the Purple Origin Sect. Looking down the mountain, he saw the razed remnants of Beijing. After the war had ended, China had been divided up by its participants. Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar had split the southern half of the country. Tibet had broken off from China and reformed as its own country. Mongolia greedily took the rest for itself, and all that was left of the once great nation was its people.     

'Mongolia!' Haru's eyes turned red with rage. 'I'll go straight to Ulaanbaatar and take Hina back from that bastard Khan!' Ulaanbaatar was the capital of Mongolia, located northwest of Beijing.     

A blue glow covered Haru's body as he speedily ran through the plains of China. The weather grew colder as he continued north, and soon, snow started to fall. 'Is it winter?' He wondered. He had lost track of time while he had meditated upon the paths. His body was now much taller and stronger, feeling unfamiliar to him. Unfortunately, even after all these changes he still hadn't been able to resolve the issue of his chimera transformation, forcing him to always have blue skin.     

It took nearly two days to reach the Mongolian capital. No one stopped him on his way, as the guard outposts of the former Chinese sects were things of the past. Mongolia was a sparsely populated country despite its size, and their new gains in land only worsened the issue. They were forced to spread their capable men far and wide to control the newly conquered population, but they were outnumbered hundreds of times over. This left the security of their own homeland surprisingly vulnerable. Fortunately for them, they did not have to worry about foreign invasions. All of the countries that surrounded it, including Russia, had allied themselves with the World Hunter Association and Nexus. So, they could afford to be a little careless with the placement of their forces in their homeland.     

'So, this is Ulaanbaatar.' Haru cautiously looked around. The city was built in a valley next to a river. Even in the capital, none of the Mongols viewed him with any care. After the invasion of China, plenty of Chinese citizens were seen in Mongolia regularly. As someone of Asian descent, the Mongolians would naturally think that Haru was Chinese or Mongolian as long as he didn't speak.     

Haru walked through the city streets, making his way towards the city hall. The Great Khan would be there, and hopefully Hina would be there as well. Haru soon reached a tall building with walls surrounding it. Guards patrolled atop the walls and stood in front of the entrance.     

'Damn!' Haru frowned as he unsuccessfully looked for another way in. There was no way he'd be able to sneak past with the amount of guards present. 'If only I could face the Great Khan alone...' He felt confident in defeating the Great Khan in a one-on-one battle. After having mastered so many paths, Haru didn't hold the Great Khan in high regard. However, he acknowledged that he was no match for the man in a group fight. The Great Khan had dominated the battlefield through his unique method of controlling a thousand men in sync at once. Without that, would the Great Khan even be able to put up a real fight?     

'There must be a way to get the Great Khan alone... What would sensei do?' He closed his eyes in frustration. Even after all his training, he still constantly compared himself to his sensei. When he was younger, he had held an almost fanatical image of the man known as Forge in his head. Of course, he now knew that he had been blinded by the fact that such a brilliant esper had saved his life and defeated Camazotz. Still, even now he acknowledged that he was no match for his master when it came to plotting and other such things. Perhaps he could only beat his master in cultivation someday if he continued to work hard.     

'Well, master would probably just blow everything up...' He chuckled to himself. He could already imagine the building exploding into flames and scared guards floundering around as they tried to catch the perpetrators.     

BOOM! Suddenly, a tremendous explosion shook the earth. City hall was covered in flames, and black smoke covered the air. Haru stared speechlessly as panicked guards ran around to search for the cause. Some guards had been directly engulfed in the flames, leaving nothing but ash behind.     

'Is sensei here...?' Haru wondered as he too looked around. He didn't see anything unusual, however, the answer soon presented itself to him.     

"LONG LIVE CHINA!"     

"DEATH TO THE KHAN!"     

Hundreds of Chinese that had been occupying the streets covered their faces with red bandanas and joined in the chants. Some even held military-grade steam rifles that they had gotten ahold of somehow. A leading figure amongst them stepped forward and proudly threw his fist in the air. "Their mana-ammunition deposits have been destroyed! Go! We'll take back every inch of our land and more! China will rise again!"     

"CHINA WILL RISE AGAIN!!!" A chorus of voices echoed as the Chinese nationals rushed into the burning building. They fired upon any Mongolian soldiers they spotted, and it was clear they had obtained their own sources of mana-ammunition.     

"FIRE!" The Mongolian guards screamed as they returned fire from atop the burning walls. Elemental explosions engulfed both sides, quickly turning city hall into a demolished mess.     

'I picked a good day to arrive!' Haru smugly smiled. 'I'll let them do the fighting, and when both sides are weakened, I'll kill the Great Khan and take Hina back!' He excitedly watched as the fight continued, and it seemed that the Chinese were quickly gaining the advantage. They had both the element of surprise and superior numbers. It seemed that it just wasn't possible for a small country to govern the remnants of a much larger empire.     

"WHAT IS THIS SHIT?" A deep voice suddenly bellowed from within the blazing building. A tall muscular man with long messy hair and fur clothes stepped out from within the flames. His intimidating presence immediately calmed the battlefield. Fighters on both sides quickly turned towards him.     

"FIRE!" The Chinese leader shouted as he squeezed the trigger of his own steam rifle. Hundreds of others followed, sending a huge volley of mana-bullets towards the Great Khan.     

"Foolish." The Great Khan snorted as he clenched his fist in front of himself. A seven-colored light barrier appeared in front of him. It was made up of smaller hexagonal light barriers of each elemental color. It seemed that the Great Khan specialized in the light element, and he had mastered all seven paths of light.     

BOOM! The volley of mana-bullets exploded, covering the Great Khan in explosive elemental energies. The giant explosion shredded the remaining surrounding walls, and many Mongolian guards died in the crossfire. However, when the mana cleared, the Great Khan was revealed to be completely unharmed within his barrier.     

'So, he uses barriers too.' Haru frowned as he watched. He could use barriers just like the Great Khan, but he didn't know that the Great Khan could do such things. During the war with the Purple Origin Sect, he had only ever seen the Great Khan's synchronization power being used on his men.     

"Look at this mess." The Great Khan scoffed in disgust. A white light flashed from his body, covering any Mongolian guards that were still alive. However, that was not the end of it. The light stretched further, engulfing the Chinese nationals as well. When the light died down, a white glow covered each of the Mongolian guards and Chinese nationals. "Now then." The Great Khan pulled a green longsword from his waist and turned towards Haru. "I remember you, brat. Have you finally come for revenge?" He shook his head. "A pity you've only met your maker instead." He pointed the sword towards Haru. "Kill him!" He shouted.     

The Mongolian guards quickly aimed at Haru, and shockingly, the Chinese nationals did as well!     

Haru's eyes widened in fear as he hurriedly prepared to defend himself.