Nowl-Ahn arrives on training ground X27, just like his instructor told him to do. He has been at the top of his year and the ones above for a long time now, and the instructors have started to notice. That was only good for him. Unlike other worlds and comics he knows about, getting attention and showing great promise was good on Viltrum, as it would mean you gained the best equipment and chances for further growth. And since Nowl-Ahn was working towards a goal, he needed all of that.
The sun is blocked for a second, and the shadow of another figure covers Nowl-Ahn. In the next second, a massive fist impacts Nowl-Ahn's face.
*BOOOOM*
He shoots through the air at high speeds. Using all of his strength, he turns and somewhat lands on his feet, facing the individual who just made him see stars. He shakes his head, trying to clear his vision. After blinking a few times, he sees who it was that just punched him...
"C-conquest!"
"You weren't ready for my arrival... You worm," the ancient Viltrumite says and lowers himself to the ground.
Conquest is a legendary figure on Viltrum. There is no boy or girl on the planet who doesn't admire the man and his strength and what he has accomplished. He doesn't look as old as Nowl-Ahn remembers from the comics, but he already looks past his 50s in human years. Nowl-Ahn didn't realise that his instructor's 'old friend' was Conquest himself, and he also didn't think he would lower himself to 'teach' him.
"..."
Nowl-Ahn doesn't say anything and just waits, preparing for the next chance.
"No words, child?"
"No."
*Whooosh*
Nowl-Ahn doesn't hesitate and pushes himself off the ground, shooting forward. He arrives in front of Conquest and punches him in the face as hard as he can.
*BOOOM*
Conquest allows this to happen. He wants this to be a fight, despite both of them knowing that it won't be a fight, more of a beatdown.
Nowl-Ahn doesn't stop and continues attacking as fast as he can, and throwing precise and powerful attacks.
*BOOOM BOOOM*
Conquest catches the next punch, and he smiles, pleased.
"Good-"
*BOOOM*
Nowl-Ahn attacks with his other fist and hits the man's face over and over again. He pulls his right arm back and pulls Conquest towards him. But it doesn't work. Conquest is so much stronger. The ancient Viltrumite punches Nowl-Ahn in the stomach.
*BOOOOM*
"KAAk..."
All air is pushed out of Nowl-Ahn's lungs, and he bends over slightly. He clenches his jaw, refusing to submit to the pain. He knows that this is a test, to see whether Conquest should even bother with him and despite knowing that, Nowl-Ahn has no interest in giving up or submitting to the old man. He will either die in this fight or at least get knocked unconscious. There was no other way for Conquest to end this fight.
"RAH!"
*BAM BOOM*
He throws a jab at Conquest's face, but is rewarded with a powerful punch from Conquest. He takes it as well as he can and continues, trying to mix in a high kick and a knee in there, to keep the Viltrumite on his toes. Nevertheless, it is useless. Conquest grabs Nowl-Ahn's neck and headbutts him. He has a big smile on his face.
"Yes, show me more of this! Show me your Viltrumite spirit!"
Nowl-Ahn sends a headbutt at Conquest himself. He doesn't stop and repeats his action. He grabs Conquest's head and tries to pull his head down, but is not strong enough. So he raises his knee and smashes it against the old man's head.
*BOOM*
He feels a strong hand around his ankle, and despite his great attempts to control his smart atoms to pull away, Conquest's strength is far too strong. He pulls him up and smashes Nowl-Ahn's entire body on the ground over and over again, not stopping until the young man finds a way to fight back or just die. Feeling that he has to act, Nowl-Ahn used Conquest's swing and hit the ground as hard as he could, causing it to crater and giving him more space to manoeuvre.
*BOOM*
He pulls hard as he can and kicks Conquest in the face a few times, finally getting his leg free from the man's grip, but just as he is about to attack again, Conquest sends out an immensely powerful cross and knocks some sense of reality into Nowl-Ahn. The punch is so hard that he is disoriented, and his jaw dislocates, causing blood to shoot everywhere and open up a hole. But that's not all, Nowl-Ahn proves his Viltrumite heritage by simply getting back into a fighting position, or at least trying to and receiving Conquest's next attack. The ancient Viltrumite punches the young man's chest and stomach so hard that the rips break into several pieces, and his organs rip open.
"BLERGH..."
Blood shoots out of Nowl-Ahns mouth, and he finally loses consciousness. Conquest stands over him and looks down, wiping away the blood from his mouth and nose. All that effort and all he managed to accomplish was a bloody nose and some blood from his mouth. But this was never about defeating Conquest. Conquest was at this point the second strongest Viltrumite, just behind the newest talent, Thragg. Thragg had taken Viltrum by storm and was seen as the next most powerful general. But personal ambition was no longer a problem on Viltrum; everyone fought for the Empire's greater good, so everyone was loyal to Emperor Argall.
Conquest picks up Nowl-Ahn and flies him to the hospital. He makes his way to the locked area, where only a handful of Viltrumites ever go and even know about. He carries Nowl-Ahn like a sack of dirty clothes and hurls him across the room, and onto a table. The doctor turns around and sees Conquest, the blood and the hurt boy and sighs.
"What did you do now?" he asks.
"Initiation. Wanted to make sure he was worth my time."
"Worth your time to do what? Beat around?" the doctor asks and already gets to work. The damaged chest could potentially be fatal, even to a Viltrumite, since their heart is still essential for their recovery and damage to the heart or brain is important to deal with quickly.
"Nah, to train."
"What? You, the oldest prick in the Empire, want to train someone?"
"Don't look so surprised, Barnuf. I'm a great teacher." Conquest says.
"Indeed. Initiation, and your student already needs surgery." Barnuf shakes his head and gets to work.
"The little man refused to give up. I had to either kill him or knock him out. I went for knocking him out."
"Since when do you do that? I once saw you beat your best friend to death and didn't lose a day of sleep over it." Barnuf says as he opens up Nowl-Ahn using a special scalpel and begins closing, ensuring the heart isn't damaged.
"He wasn't my best friend. We have just known one another since childhood."
"Of course, that's such a big difference, isn't it. Alright, leave now, this might take a while." Barnuf says, and Conquest walks out of the room.
A few hours later, Conquest walks into the room again and sees Nowl-Ahn lying on the table with a few machines attached to different parts of his body. His head and central chest, and one on the stomach. But the vital signs are looking good.
"So, how was it?" Conquest asks.
"What you want to know is whether your 'student' will survive. And I can tell you that he will. He has a strong will to live that one. Very impressive. You didn't damage his heart all that much, only slightly through the ribs, but that's no problem. His brain will also heal fully, and the rest in roughly half a cycle. So, congratulations, you get to bully the child a while longer." Barnuf says as he goes over the results of some tests.
"Oh..."
"What is it?" Conquest asks and walks over.
"Look at this," Barnuf says and shows him some results on the tablet.
"...Oh."
"Yes."
"I suppose that would make sense. He was truly tenacious." Conquest says and looks at Nowl-Ahn.
"What are you going to do now?"
"I'll visit an old friend."
.
Conquest flies through the sky of Viltrum and makes his way to the royal part of the planet. It wasn't a large part, but just big enough to be known as the royal area. It was where Emperor Argall and his harem resided. Argall was a strong Viltrumite, not the strongest, but he was known as the wisest. He had fought to become the Viltrumite Emperor long ago, leading his empire on a conquering crusade of brutal domination across the galaxy, but being praised for his wise leadership above all else.
Conquest flies to the platform and is allowed in by the royal guard without a word. Strength rules Viltrum at this time, and while Argall values intelligence and wisdom, strength is still respected overall. The royal guard, one of the strongest units of Viltrumites, knew that no matter what they did, they wouldn't be able to stop Conquest from going in, and since they knew him anyway, they did nothing.
Conquest walks through the room and reaches the personal room, where Argall, his current woman and his servant Thaedus are talking. Emperor Argall's demeanour brightens as he enters, and he walks towards Conquest. The two older men embrace each other.
"It is good to see you, old friend," Argall says.
"It is good to see you, too, Argall. I see that you're enjoying yourself. Who's the girl?" Conquest asks and nods at the retreating Viltrumite woman who was about half Argall's age.
"That well... you know... I was lonely."
"Right. Rose died like yesterday." Conquest says talking about the one true love of Argall, the woman who had given him a child, but died right after.
"That was over 16 years ago. My bed felt lonely at night."
"How an old man like you can even get it up again is beyond me," Conquest says and receives a punch to the shoulder for that.
"I'm old, not weak. I still have strength in these bones and muscles." Argall says and turns to Thaedus. "That will be all for now, Thaedus. I'll call you later when I need you."
"Yes, Emperor," Thaedus says and walks out of the room, leaving the two old friends alone.
"So, what is it you wanted to talk about? You never visit me without a reason." Argall says as they sit down and share a drink together.
"I got a new student today," Conquest says.
"PUFFFF-"
Argall spits out all the drink he had in his mouth and looks at his old friend.
"What?"
"You? You got yourself a student? How did that happen? Tell me about him, is he strong? Stupid question, of course he's strong if he managed to survive. Wait, he did survive, did he? Oh, no, what did you do to him?"
"What was that?! I haven't killed him. Not yet, at least."
"AHA! You need to calm down. Your record in conquering planets is second to none, but you need to slow down on the young generations."
"Urgh... I'm regretting coming here already," Conquest says.
"So why did you come here. I agree that you having taken a student is a first, but that alone wouldn't warrant a visit. I know how much you hate all these proceedings."
"How's Rose's son, Argall?" Conquest suddenly asks.
...
"What do you mean?"
"I'm asking how her son is doing? Your son, how is he?" Conquest asks.
"Good. From what I heard, he's a talented young man. I'm sure he'll get far." Argall says, trying to be vague.
The knowledge about Argall's son was hidden from any records in order to hide him from Viltrumite enemies. But there was one way to find out who it was, if you got lucky.
"That's good to hear. He's not the best in his year and even a few years above him?" Conquest asks.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that I pummeled your son to the ground and almost killed him today, Argall!"
"WHAT?!" Argall shouts. "No! He's your... student?"
"Yes. I brought him to Barnuf. He made a few tests and then found out by chance that he's related to you. And look at that, he's just about that age, and Rose died during childbirth." Conquest finishes.
Conquest was old for a Viltrumite, but not as old as Argall was. They had known each other for years and had fought together when Argall took the position of Emperor. So, his not being told that his son actually was a top student and powerful Viltrumite already was not something he took lightly.
"Listen, I... I couldn't tell anyone. If anyone outside of Viltrum found out, I couldn't sleep peacefully any more."
"Sigh. I know that. But if he were such a talent, you could have told me. I would have taken him under my wing."
"And say what? That you were so impressed with an infant that you had to take him as your student? No, that wouldn't have worked."
"Well, it doesn't matter now, does it. I tested him and found him to be worthy of teaching. Nothing's strange about that, Argall." Conquest says and stands up, preparing to leave.
"Old friend."
"What?"
"Train him well," Argall says, and Conquest nods with a savage smile.
"Oh, you have no idea."