Chapter-6
Mark of Superiority
Cover Art Credits:Evan (@suptlr on discord)
Ha-Jin's deep dark and seemingly endless dark pit for eyes sent chills running down the spectator's spines. Even Ji-Yeong's movements faltered for a moment.
At that moment, Ha-Jin's body automatically lunged at Ji-Yeong with a huge surge of power. Before Ji-Yeong could even react to what happened, he was thrown onto the ropes of the ring, bouncing back to Ha-Jin.
This time, however, Ji-Yeong reacted, freezing Ha-Jin's arm and kicking him on the head, throwing him off balance before managing to catch him in an ankle lock.
Ji-Yeong thought he bought himself time until Ha-Jin got up with no issues and slammed his leg onto the ring's floor, making the material crack and knocking the air out of Ji-Yeong's lungs as he coughed out blood, trying to catch his breath before he was hit by a kick at his ribcage and something was clearly heard cracking.
"I'm gonna die… aren't I?... What even is that skill?... He just broke out of my ice like it was nothing but child's play to be able to break out of something like that…" Ji-Yeong thought, his life flashing before his eyes.
The image of his parents was a blur, no… his entire childhood was a blur. All he remembered was the white hair of that beast of a man and his cocky grin and enchanting eyes which he could not remember the color of at all .His black horns, one of which was chipped…
"Ahh.. What was his name?... He told me to say it whenever I needed help…" Ji-Yeong thought "Ah.. That's right… Dae–"
Ji-Yeong was kicked in the stomach once again as he thought of the name of the man. This time, however, the impact of the blow felt different to Ha-Jin's body…
An emblem of a four claw mark in front of a dragon with its open mouth and bloody fangs about to devour it glowed through Ji-Yeong's skin and tattered clothes from his heart.
Ha-Jin's instincts told him to attack and kill him as soon as possible. He did just that, lunging at Ji-Yeong to punch him. It hit him with a loud impact. It was, however, not Ji-Yeong's face, rather, he had caught the punch in his palm after reinforcing it with his magma mana arts. It had burnt Ha-Jin's fist badly, though, right now, Ha-Jin's body was fighting purely on instinct, his pain receptors ceased to work at this moment. He used Ji-Yeong's moment of triumph to land a blow on his face and dashed backwards to avoid being hit back by Ji-Yeong.
Though his pain receptors did not work at the moment, Ha-Jin's body still defended itself against attacks instead of just fighting like a madman on a killing spree, taking attacks upon attacks until death was upon him.
Ji-Yeong frowned and he conjured Ice on Ha-Jin's feet before punching him with a magma covered fist, sending him flying out of the ring in the crowd as he jumped into the crowd after Ha-Jin, stomping onto the burnt portion of his torso as Ha-Jin coughed out blood. Many of the spectators were crushed by the stomp.
Ji-Yeong dragged Ha-Jin through the crowd of spectators, jumping into the air and then slamming down with Ha-Jin's body taking most of the impact.
Ha-Jin used the Strike move from WTF Taekwondo, recklessly infusing all his mana into the kick, leaving the rest of his body unguarded. The kick did end up hitting Ji-Yeong and doing significant damage but Ji-Yeong retaliated with a kick of his own to Ha-Jin's stomach. Since there was no mana to protect the rest of his body, his ribs snapped with a loud crack, sending him flying and crushing a poor spectator who had just wanted to watch the fight between the two prodigal newbies.
Ha-Jin's body was paralyzed for a moment but when he tried to get up, Ji-Yeong had already utilized the moment to hit Ha-Jin's face with his knee and used an arm lock on him.
Ha-Jin's body had no way to retaliate or escape, it was just about to give up when it saw a wooden staff next to it that a spectator had been carrying.
[Passive Skill:Weapon Mastery Rank ??? (Lvl 3) has been activated]
Ji-Yeong was hit on the head by the staff and then some of his vital points which knocked the air out of his lungs.
As he gasped for air, he couldn't react to the incoming flurry of attacks by Ha-Jin using his staff.
Ji-Yeong grabbed one end of Ha-Jin's wooden staff but Ha-Jin simply broke it in half, lodging the sharp end of the broken wooden staff in Ji-Yeong's right eye.
Ji-Yeong yelled in agony, letting go of the other half of the staff which Ha-Jin efficiently used to slash Ji-Yeong vertically across his torso, leaving an X shaped cut across his torso.
Before Ha-Jin could make any more movements and possibly kill Ji-Yeong, he fell down onto his knees and then flat onto his face. His body had given up.
Both of them lay there, unconscious. It was a hard fought battle but no one won in the end. It was a tie and there was nothing that the two boys could do about it anymore.
Ji-Yeong's eyes fluttered awake in the infirmary of the Arena. He saw a doctor his age sleeping on the chair. It was midnight and she had fallen asleep taking care of him and Ha-Jin. Her caramel hair was beautiful, no doubt about that, but Ji-Yeong didn't care about it right now. His match with the boy had resulted in a tie that might as well have been a loss for Ji-Yeong. He ran a hand across the bloody bandages wrapped across his torso and the patch on his right eye.
He let himself fall onto his back and it didn't take long for him to fall asleep. He woke up to the fresh aroma of pancakes next to his bed. The maple syrup smelled nice… He had not eaten since he had lost to Ha-Jin.
Ha-Jin noticed Ji-Yeong was awake and greeted him. "Mornin'" he said, stuffing his mouth with pancakes. "And no, I'm not gonna apologize for your eye. You were the one who wanted to beat me up like an asshole."
Ji-Yeong felt his lips curl into a smile for the first time in a long time… He couldn't remember the last time he had smiled or rather if he had ever even smiled…
"I'm not kidding. I'm seriously not gonna apologize." Ha-Jin spoke, his mouth full of pancakes, maple syrup dripping down his chin. "If you're not gonna eat those, give them to me."
"No thanks, i'm starving" Ji-Yeong replied, starting to stuff his own mouth with pancakes as he spoke again. "You're from the junkyard aren't you?"
Ha-Jin's expression darkened as he chewed his pancakes properly instead of continuing shoving them into his mouth. "Yeah, what's it to you?" He asked, staring at Ji-Yeong. "Don't even think about lying to me that you're from the Junkyard too. I've never seen you there before and I never forget a face I see."
"Ah, it's nothing, really. It's just that… I probably would've wound up there as well if it weren't for that man…" Ji-Yeong spoke, trying to remember more.
"What man?" Ha-Jin asked curiously, swallowing a round of pancakes, his plate was licked clean.
"Ah… he had quite long hai-" Ji-Yeong stopped as a sharp pain shot through his heart. He clutched his chest in pain, letting out a whimper.
"Hey, are you okay? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Ha-Jin said with a tinge of concern in his tone.
"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just that I-I can't seem to remember his face…" Ji-Yeong said weakly, fumbling with his words as he spoke.
"It's fine, tell me when you remember." Ha-Jin said, extending his arm towards Ji-Yeong. "Wanna be friends? We'll bring down the continent and live peaceful lives!" Ha-Jin said cheerfully.
Ji-Yeong extended his arm towards Ha-Jin as well.
The symbol on his heart glowed again as their hands touched…. Ji-Yeong burst into a mix of blood and organs….