As the man walked back to his throne, a voice appeared from behind him.
'Weak huh? Says the one… who wasn`t able to beat this weak pitiful kid'
'Annoyance, how many times will you—' And the man paused and only single thought occurred in his mind.
No matter what, a person drops dead on the ground the moment he bleeds out. A person dies the moment his heart stops beating. A person despair when there stands a being whom they never beat…
Yet despite all odds, the boy was still standing, bleeding and not a single hint of despair in his eyes against someone who defied the logic of what makes one a person. One can say they both defied the logic of a human.
He paused and waited… looking at the boy.
The boy stood there who he had knocked the life out of… but this time, he saw mist coming out of his whole body and erupted from his mouth as he breathed out. The same gust of hazy mist puffed out when he woke up out on the field but denser.
Any person would have already died or lost consciousness from the wounds… or is what he thought.
For now before him stood a human… A human who had gone beyond the unknown field of their realities.
And the man smiled as the kid mumbled to himself 'Ah~ you know what… I really hate cold'
The man points his finger once again 'What nonsense. Did you get high or something?' but just when he was about to shot it, the kid saw a green, transparent shape flying towards him.
'Oh so it`s just the wind' he looked up with no fear of it.
The attack he was using was highly compressed wind as a projectile which was invisible to eyes but now he knows it's just "some wind", there was nothing to be afraid of.
He used his sword to cut it but the wind was still not affected so he rotated his sword, causing a bump which disturbed the wind flow causing it to become a normal strong gust of wind.
The man thought 'Wait, that is not how mana even flows… What kind of law is that'
The man noticed the mist and looked at the boy's dark eyes which now emitted a yellow-ish orange glow from his iris and outer halo of his pupil. The glow was slowly covering over his dark eyes, consuming it whole as the strings of light lines from around the edges of his eyes connected to the pupil. The outer halo of his pupil slowly grew like roots and veins and spread out to whole eyes.
Many may not even be able to see those lines and some who do will mistake them for some fragile scribbles that glow faintly in dark but those eyes that were known to bloom when someone awakens. The Eyes of Rose. A pattern of a rose with sharp edges when viewed from above that appears on awakening.
The man just grinned as he barely saw them and in the next instant, the kid took a large breath in and covered the short distance between them and slashing him.
'There is no way, I will die by the likes of you' spoke the boy as he took out his breath 'I guess this was it.'
and paused questioning himself 'Wait. did I just– do that?' as he was able to cut him almost with no effort that other people need to enhance their body with spells.
The boy started walking towards the door, almost stumbling on his way but with just a few steps, his eyes widened as he heard no sound of a body dropping to the ground but something else… sound of something like sand… that was moving?
The fight should have been over many times already, yet the man behind the kid was regenerating his head which still had a smile on it, as if nothing had happened.
The kid looked back with a smile and said 'I guess… we both made the same mistake'
The man's head was fully regenerated… No, it was more like his head came back to him and rearranging itself after being knocked off but his cape was cut into two pieces and was torn apart laying on the ground.
The man still looking down at the kid said 'Pity but even after this awakening, you are surely to die by the strings of fate, you clearly have no idea of the power you are dealing with.'
'Awakening? I don`t know what you are talking about— but'
The Young man's eyes lightened up 'Fate can take me when it earns me. If my existence is a crime then fate can witness the rebellion of mine'. After all, he had escaped death so many times just to end in its hand once again.
The man just smiled upon hearing those words and responded 'Well said' as he raised his right and the boy saw three wind gusts aiming for him. Head, thigh and torso.
He tiled his body for head, swiped his sword upwards with reverse grip to cut away the wind gust aimed for his chest and changed the grip mid air and cut the gust aimed for his torso.
The boy spoke out 'foot' and the man paused knowing it already knew where he would attack.
He was not that the kid saw the future, he just predicted it by watching his arm movements which were of an amateur.
'I am not letting you get away' as he jumped towards him catching up to him and slashing his chest but a gust of wind somehow hit the boy on his chest.
The chest of the man was slashed once again yet he regenerated as easily as he lost it. He just stood there as his wound was recovering back to its original state. It felt more like the blade went through his body than harming him.
The man said 'A human who has no control over mana as yourself does not even have any hopes to defeat me'
The kid coughed 'Mana? So it all comes down to magic again…'
The man paused 'Magic? Oh yea, I forgot that this is what people of this world rely on because of some weirdos called Celestials. But no, not even magic can not hold a finger against me.'
The kid said 'Celestial? What is that?'
The man just looked at the boy and said 'That is not for me to decide' as he lifted his finger towards the boy.
Kid instantly jumped back right at him which surprised him and as he tried to fire but the distance was too short and the boy cut off his right arm.
Yet the man's expression remained unchanged as he thought 'I messed up…' while glancing at his finger.
Every time the man tried regenerating his right arm, it was only to be met with another sword strike.
His arm was not even falling off his body, the blade just kept on swiping past his body and the path that was slashed quickly regenerated back onto his body even before falling off.
The boy kept on attacking but his body was already pushed past its limits. It was a mystery how he was even able to move let alone attack him. Yet despite the injuries, his body was able to move better than his expectations.
He had tried to understand and mock the man's style but was gaining nothing from him as magic was something that he could never understand let alone use.
His left arm came in front of the boy but the moment his sword was about to touch his skin, the man pushed back the boy for the first time.
He stood there, staring at his wrist where he wore a small red wrist hand.
The man looked back up and said 'It doesn`t even hurt' showing not a single scratch on him 'You can never win against me. Kneel before me and I might spear your life'
'What is with you and kneeling?' asked the boy.
The man was just spinning around behind the boy like he was dancing as the boy tried to strike him down.
Step Spin Step .
The boy stepped on the ground, spined around and slashed the man by taking another step forward.
That man sometimes deliberately allowed the boy to cut off his right arm to show the difference between the two of them yet he noticed- The kid's eyes were almost indifferent and had not a single drop of fear in them.
It was not like the kid had no idea but he knew it better than anyone else of how useless it was. After all, the man was just playing around with the boy while the boy gave his all.
The kid smiled suddenly and said 'Aren't you playing around too much…'
The man said 'Fair enough—' and he paused 'Now Kneel before me or die'
The boy smiled 'My answer is still the same' and attacked one more time. But this time the man tried to dodge him, the blade that was heading straight curved its path.
A blade that was being thrown downwards should not change its direction yet the blade curved midair and sliced off the right arm of the man.
The man smiled 'So he was not just attacking thoughtlessly after all.'
Another strike followed, slashing his head and another with which he thrusted his sword like a hammer towards his heart and thrusting it upwards to his collarbone.
The man's expression remained unfazed as he just looked at the boy 'But this is nearly not enough'
The kid's sword was breaking apart which he had no idea of, he had forgotten about his sword which was badly damaged before even his earlier battle and felt a sharp pain in his left arm like it was being torn off by brute force.
The kid gathered all his strength and dealt a final blow to the man's left arm without a break which slightly wounded him but not before long…
Crack
His sword broke apart with just the touch to his skin.
The kid only now noticed his sword had broken apart but it was already too late. He felt a sharp pain in his left arm followed by numbness which rendered his arm almost useless.
'I really have bad luck with swords today' mumbled the boy.
He switched to his fist but his left arm just gave up completely which felt numb and weak but the boy still tried to land a last hit on the man, only for the man to grab his fist midway.
A fist came flying, hitting the boy on his guts as he claimed aloud 'I have made my decision'
The boy holding his chest from pain looked up to find him pointing two fingers from his left arm at the boy's forehead to which he jumped back but it was already too late as before he even made some distance. The man had already shot the wind at him but aimed at his chest.
The kid tried to cross his arms to protect himself from the impact as it was useless without his sword and his left arm which refused to listen to him.
His arm pushed against his chest and his ribs started to break and lungs collapse before the wind had even taken full flow.
His feet left the ground and got flung backwards. He flew head first towards the wall.
The boy joked 'I take it back, the world really have something against me'
Just then the boy hit his back against the wall, hard enough to leave behind a small crack as he coughed up blood. It was a fatal blow that no human could survive. Yet the boy was still conscious, still determined.
The man was staring at his left arm. There remained a small wound and his cloth which was torn apart from the last strike.
Confused, the man spoke 'Huh? This shouldn`t be possible' as he glanced towards the boy on the ground 'That is not how this story goes. Something has changed…'
The kid was leaning against the wall as everything was slowly fading away. It felt as if— his sight was being taken away.
The boy's vision slowly faded away into a white space like a white blob that was eating away his sight and grew larger every passing moment. His iris slowly started to fade away as his yellow-ish orange eyes vanished, leaving behind nothing.
But his body once again refused to give in and the white blob started to pulse as if it was "Clashing" against something and his sight was forcefully restored.
But this time the boy could not even lift his head, let alone his body which was simply too broken to even move.
The man spoke 'Poor human, fate itself is against you and yet you refuse to give up.'
The kid mumbled 'It was never that I wasn`t lucky, or fate was against me— it just wasn`t with me.'