“Didn’t I tell you to go challenge someone else.”

“You said you’d accept my challenge if I won.”

He took one glance at my appearance before sighing.

“You should go get a new uniform.”

“I have more—WOAH!”

I nearly ate a punch to the face. What was he doing?

“Come on, didn’t you say you want to fight me? I don’t have all day,” he said, trying to provoke me. But there was no need to.

“Since you’re already in tatters, better to get this over with now, am I right?” He chuckled to himself.

I could not have imagined his laughing face from how stiff his facial expression always was.

With his change in tone, I could tell that he was using some effort at least. He was respecting my challenge.

“It’ll end pretty fast if I fight you seriously, so how about I give you a few hits in?—Hah, that sounds fun, doesn’t it?”

I assumed his manner of speech would be more reserved, seeing how stoic his responses always were.

"Alright then."

He cracked his neck.

“Come at me.”

I was thinking about something at the moment, but...

'Nevermind. Focus!'

Since our distance wasn’t too far apart, I dove straight in as I drove a punch into his face.

But when I least expected it, he disappeared from my vision and reappeared to my side with his hand holding my arm—the arm I punched with.

“You’re telegraphing,” he said. But I didn’t have the leisure to think through what he said.

In the next moment, one knee caved in as he shoved my arm down an unnatural angle as if trying to pull it off my shoulder.

Right before I was expecting my body to smash the ground, I found my head levitating a hair above the grass.

“You close your eyes when you attack.”

“Wha?—Oww!” Just as I was about to say something, he released his hold on my arm.

The fall didn’t hurt, especially at such a short distance. But hitting the ground at the same time as I was speaking knocked the wind out of me.

“Take a break if you want. Don’t bother me after this.”

‘A break?’

I didn’t need a break.

And despite thinking that, I was gasping for breath after that short exchange.

‘Wait a minute…’

The thought only now occurred to me that he was good at hand-to-hand combat. It was something that not many were good at because of the prevalence of swords.

I couldn’t imagine what I’d do if he used his magic on top of his physical abilities.

“You breathe incorrectly,” his hoarse voice repeated. Even though his speech was relatively monotone, the harshness in his words made it seem as though he was shouting like a military general.

“Haah, what do you—ha—mean?” I asked, lying on my back.

“What I said should be quite clear.”

“Huh?” I was asking exactly because it wasn’t clear.

‘Did I say something wrong?’

“Seriously,” he said in the same lackluster tone, yet somehow imbuing a hint of sarcasm in his words. It was almost as though his words were laced with mana.

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Somehow I understood what he meant through that sarcasm.

And I agreed with him.

‘I’m a failure.’

Humans could breathe. So a human who can’t breathe is a failure. And I was having a hard time doing that.

‘I need to be better.’

Nothing will change if I accept failure with no resolve.

So I got up.

Only to be punted back to the ground.

“If you are in a fight, you won’t let your opponent get up like that. Use your head.”

He was right.

He reminded me of something very important. No matter if I gritted my teeth or hissed, it wouldn't change the fact that I was in an inferior position. Just like back then.

It was the same when I challenged Melissa. My body instinctively went in for more strikes the moment her body slammed the ground.

And now, I was experiencing what she experienced: being eyed down by someone. This wasn't my first—far from that—but it also wouldn't be my last.

'I remember.'

This inferiority was carved into my bones long ago.

It hurt more than pain, but at the same time, it was just a different form of pain.

Even if I am reminded of it constantly, I will still go forward.

“Arrg!” He stomped on my stomach to keep me down.

I wasn’t prepared for it, but I had no time to think as another kick came swinging in.

Grasping the dirt in one hand, I flipped myself over, just nearly avoiding the kick.

“You’re choosing to run away. It’s not the wrong choice, but you’re doing it incorrectly as well.”

When my ears caught that, another kick had already sent me rolling down the grass. The force behind it made me roll as though I was shoved off a hill, which I wasn’t.

My hip bone slammed the ground at every turn; definitely bruised.

“Are you a rag doll? Get up.”

So I got―

“Woah!”

He kicked me back down. Again.

“Get up.”

And again.

Until I got up a little differently. And similarly, he knocked me down. Just a little differently. He reacted to my every movement.

“HAAaaugh.” He let out an unrestrained yawn.

‘I can trick him.’

Just like how Melissa got me with her magic, I feigned getting up before quickly dropping back down on my own accord. At least that’s what I thought I did.

“Akh!”

In reality, he saw through it, opting to stomp on my stomach instead of swinging for a kick.

“If you can’t get up, you lose. Get lost,” he said with his foot resting on my exposed abdomen.

But little did he know, he fell for my trap.

Seeing how hard it was to get out of my grasp a couple days ago, I had a feeling it would be the same.

So without hesitation, my hands latched onto his foot.

If there was anything I’ve learned from fighting Melissa, it was the importance of distance. And now that I had him in my range, I could—.

—Daniel—

‘Shit, did I kill him?’

I couldn’t hear a yelp or a flinch response like before.

Compared to when he grabbed onto my foot like last time, I forgot to hold back this time and dropped my body on reflex.

Why, you ask?

Because if someone beneath you was holding onto your foot, you had gravity on your side.

All it took was to succumb to your body weight and fall on them.

I kind of didn’t want to break his hand last time, so I didn’t do it.

This time, it just so happened that I fell with my knee out which slammed into his…

‘Shit.’

I got up immediately, having fully realized what I had done and the potential ramifications of this deadly move that could slaughter a generation.

Among the many laws out there in the world, there was one specific law that transcends all boundaries.

Even someone like me would not dare break said law. That was just how holy it was.

‘I fucked up.’

I got up immediately, sending a glance at his face and then inspecting that area.

Both his hands were grasping it as his back arched forward to resist the urge to explode.

Even though he rightfully had the duty to smack me in the face and shit on me in retribution, he kept the rage in somehow—it was a pain that not even I could resist—yet here he was, performing the impossible.

I didn’t know what to say; or if I should say anything at all.

In doing what I did, I inadvertently created a technique to counter the dreaded “Iron Crotch” Kung Fu style.

I could only look down in shame at what I have become…

Anyways, now that the obligatory thoughts are over, I can say free of guilt that I’m never going to see this person again.

After all, no idiot would challenge someone over and over and over and over and over again after being humiliated by a groin shot…

This wasn’t krav maga or self-defense class after all. Only masochists and nutjobs practiced that stuff.

Which meant no sane person would keep challenging someone who cracks nuts left and right as though it were a natural part of fighting.

I was sure of that...

But…

Something didn’t feel right. And I couldn’t quite explain it with words.

In fact, it didn't make sense at all. There was no one in sight in all four cardinal directions. So where was my unease coming from?

I know my intuition could be trusted.

It's just...

‘Where is the boss music coming from?’