After that brief interaction, Nio and the panther resumed their fight. Punches, kicks, slashes, and bites were used constantly. Using chakra and cursed energy, Nio tried to create openings for him to use the cursed rasengan, but none seemed to appear.
Nio dodged another claw swipe and swiftly counterattacked with a slash of his knife. The weapon was greatly reinforced with chakra and cursed energy.
As the panther jumped back to avoid the slash, it noticed the chakra and the cursed energy on the weapon fly forth in its direction in a moon-shaped projectile.
Without hesitation, it jumped high into the air, avoiding it completely, before rushing once again in Nio's direction.
He was feeling tired, tired of fighting, of being so on edge, he felt like he had been fighting for more than two nights, however a simple reminder of the system was able to make him realize they had been fighting for only an hour.
It seemed short, really, after all, he always spent around four to five hours in the forest, running around fighting creatures and only from time to time taking a rest.
But this hour it felt so long, like he had been fighting forever.
His body could still keep going, it wasn't at his limit yet, although it was approaching it at a very fast pace. The bigger hit he was suffering was the mental fatigue. His senses were dulling, and from time to time he would have lapses of judgment.
He had already missed some of the warnings his bloodline gave him, a total of three times.
"Ah! Shit!"
He rolled of the ground, not having noticed the panther raising its other paw while he was blocking the other. Now was the fourth time.
Why was he doing this again?
It was to grow stronger, right?
Couldn't he grow stronger in another way? He had martial arts classes and body development classes, and in the future he would start cultivating.
To protect the new family he had made?
Wasn't the whole act of sneaking in and out of the forest already endangering them? And this whole fight, even if he won, he would surely not escape with unnoticeable injuries, he would surely get caught!
Another excuse surfaced on his mind.
The Competition.
He was in a death game, he needed to grow stronger desperately, there were already people able to mess with other systems, he needed to catch up.
But there was no need to rush, he was already far behind. That's one of the risks he had accepted when he decided to reincarnate instead of just transmigrating, so why was he acting desperate now?
He was in an isolated world, with a good amount of time to grow strong and think of a strategy, he had a background and could possibly be mistaken by a native, there was no need to be desperate.
So why? Why was he putting himself in all this trouble?
Inside his mind, he felt like he could hear someone.
Because you enjoy this.
'What?'
The voice sounded like himself, naturally he knew who this voice was. He used to hear it inside his own head in his previous life. It used to grumble about how boring life was and how the things that happened were so mundane and unappealing.
Ever since he had reincarnated, he hadn't heard this voice ever again, until now.
You grew up as an orphan in an orphanage, that was the only interesting detail of your life, everything else was so abnormally normal, just another average person. Another number along the masses.
'What's the problem with that?'
You didn't like that.
You were desperate for some kind of excitement, any kind really, this longing of yours turned into a psychopathic mentality. The excitement you sought turned into a hunt for violence, like an edgy kid who wishes for his house to be robbed so he can go full lunatic on the robber.
But your old world couldn't accept that, right? So you hid. You hid your true self and your true desires behind that average-looking member of the masses.
And then this competition came.
You consciously stayed on your old mentality, while your unconscious tricked your rationality with well-placed excuses to draw you into the scenarios you oh so desired to be in.
And look how that turned out for you. You have grown so much stronger, and your plans have advanced so much, is it truly a bad thing to let go and let your true self do the talking?
'But what will they think?'
How would they know? And besides, are you sure you are not that different from the other kids of Squad 9? Maybe there was a reason why you reincarnated as a Stygian after all, huh? Both you and the kids seek violence on a constant basis, you for the thrill and the kids because they have nothing else.
So why resist? They will not judge, nor will this world. Seriously, you remember some of the things that happened in cultivation novels, do you really think that your actions will be seen so differently? Heck, maybe right now there are tons of people doing what you want to be doing, nothing is stopping them, right?
So, stop rejecting yourself and face the enemy in front of you.
Nio, or Alex, didn't know how to describe the feeling that coursed through his body right at this moment. He felt, like something similar to a lid or a leash, broken. He felt his mind getting overwhelmed with so many emotions, his real emotions.
A sinister smile appeared on his face. The tiny bit of consciousness that tried to resist this change willed its hand to cover his face, however, it couldn't stop what came next.
A chuckle.
In Nio's mind, countless emotions raged around. There were a lot, the most present were the joy and excitement of threading between life and death, and the other was rage, so much rage.
Or rather, SPITE.
Spite on himself for keeping his true self hidden, encased, and forgotten.
Spite on the members of the Nell family for the suffering they were causing to him and the ones he grew to love.
Spite on this ridiculous panther for being a danger.
The last one was stretch, but the panther was such a good stress relief right in front of him.
His anger that had been suppressed along with his true self boiled under his skin, fueling his cursed energy with stronger emotions. Thankfully, he had not lost his mind and therefore could keep it under control.
Because of the sudden influx of emotions and powerfull cursed energy, as well as the feeling of finally being liberated, something within Nio changed.
[Congratulations! You have awakened one of the initial skills you had chosen [Sharingan]]
[Your Skill [Sharingan] is composed of many levels you are now on [Sharingan - 1 Tomoe]]
The world seemed to slow down as the newly-awakened sharingan changed Nio's perspective of the world to a more slow-down version. The panther's movements that he was barely keeping track of were now so visibly, like Nio himself was traveling at that speed.
'So slow? No, it's me that sees things slowly.'
The previous chuckle blew out of proportions into a maddening laugh that resounded in the pit they had fallen into.
"Come on, kitty cat, let me break you!"
Nio rushed forward with an unsettling smile. The panther, sensing the change in its opponent, hesitated for a split second before rushing forward.
They reached each other rather quickly, but instead of clashing, Nio kept moving forward, past the panther.
Confused, the beast looked back, just to find a glistening object approaching it at high speeds.
Splurt
A knife had squarely hit in its eyes, blinding it. Thanks to the sharingan's heightened perception, he could now pull stunts like this. Before, he couldn't dare to run past the panther like that, as he didn't have the senses to pick up any clues to indicate the beast's reactions. Not fast enough senses, at the very least.
Staggering, the panther tried to recover, but it was forced to dodge a kick aimed at the handle of the knife with the purpose of burying it deep in its skull.
Even after failing, Nio wasn't disheartened, still with the same smile, he landed perfectly and swiped with a low kick at the panther's front legs in a single clean motion.
The beast fell to the ground, its senses being overwhelmed by the human's sudden improvement. However, even if it had the intelligence to do so, it wouldn't be capable of formulating a thought as a strike from Nio perfectly connected with its front limbs, breaking them.
The beast roared in pain as it lost all the strength it had on its legs.
Raising his hand, Nio charged a powerfull rasengan, made out of only chakra, and aimed for the panther's head.
Booom
The panther wasn't dead, but it was definitely close to its gates.
The chakra of the rasengan slowly dissipated, easing the pressure on the beast's skull. Just for another, much darker rasengan made out of cursed energy to appear right after, finally killing it.
"Divergent Rasengan!!"
Booooom
[You have killed a Black Moon Panther at the Skin Tempering Stage]