Aether ran with the others. There was a lot of pushing and pulling, no one cared about the huge chainsaws just waiting to chop them up. ‘How are the officers going to protect someone’s life if those things chop them down?’ Aether thought.

Suddenly a person jumped high up into the air. He had white hair and had any bulky body for an 18-year-old. “Strengthen!” he shouted and punched a rotating chainsaw. A blue circle filled with literature appeared near his elbow while he punched.

“Circular magic…” Aether said. He swiftly moved away from the chainsaw that has been punched. The chain saw which was fixed to the wall of the labyrinth came crashing down.

 Aether had made a clever decision when the huge chainsaw detached and fell to the ground; contestants were quickly picked up by officers to prevent them from dying. He saw limbs getting detached from their bodies as blood flew everywhere.

The chainsaw had sliced into the ground and created a wall like structure. The white-haired kid moved on and was now first in their group.

The chainsaw was almost 10 meters long. Aether quickly jumped on a tall person’s head and jumped on the other side. “Hey!” shouted the tall man, irritated that he had been used to others advantage.

Aether gained a lead. Others tried to follow his technique and get to the other side. This wasn’t required as another red-haired kid shouted “Fire fist!” and broke a hole through the chain saw. People started rushing through it.

“Tsk, fool” Aether said. He thought it was Amon but it didn’t seem like it, this guy had dark red hair almost like blood and his fire fist looked stronger. At least Aether still had a lead. The large Chain saws were everywhere but almost everyone dodged them effectively afterwards. Very few actually had to be saved by the officers.

Aether soon stopped as he noticed a large water body in front of him. It looked like a river and he had to swim past it. Aether saw the white-haired kid in the water. A large crocodile came to the surface and tried to bite at him but he smashed its head and pulverized it to death. The white-haired kid successfully swam through the river.

“Damn…. System what is that?”

Creature scanned. Creature identified to be an Isyrus. Currently, the master must not enter the water body. A group of Isyrus is a potential threat to the master’s life.

“That’s great. That guy gets out of here without a hassle and I get stuck here.” Aether said.

Soon the others caught up with him. They jumped into the water only to get struck by the Isyruses or large crocodiles… whatever they were. “AHHH!” “OHH!” people wailed as they were bitten. They were saved by the officers again. “Need to think,” Aether said to himself. He saw the red-haired kid who had used the same magic as Amon.

‘Got it!’ he thought. He patted on two people’s back. “Sorry lads!”  He said while striking their heads with his dagger’s hilt. Both of them were unprepared for the attack and were knocked out. He put one on each shoulder and walked towards the red-haired kid.

“Hey blood hair kid!” he shouted. The red-haired kid, Stefan stared at Aether as if to ask- ‘you talking to me?’

“Yeah, I’m talking to you. Why is your hair red huh? Did you paint it?” Aether said.

“Do you not know what red hair means, you peasant,” Stefan said.

“I don’t know and I don’t care , you son of a bitch! Why did you break the chain saw and let everyone through that easily? Are your brain cells dead? Do you think you’re a hero or something?” Aether said.

“You suck at intimidating people,” the pig said. He was inside of Aether’s space.

“Are you trying to pick a fight ?” Stefan asked. The temperature around him seemed to get higher.

“What are you?  Some pushover? Come here you little pussy.” Aether said. He wasn’t really that comfortable while doing this. He didn’t like throwing insults on people for no reason but he had to do it right now. Stefan didn’t even look that pissed off.

Stefan ran and punched Aether. With two people on his shoulders, he wasn’t the quickest but he dodged the fists. “Is that all you got?” Aether said. Seeing that his punches hadn’t made contact actually pissed Stefan more than Aether’s taunting did.

“Were you sent by some higher-ups to slow me down? Whatever, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “Fire fist!” red flames wrapped around his fist as he punched towards Aether’s chest. Aether didn’t move and took the hit squarely to his chest. He drove mana into his legs and jumped backwards with all the power his legs could muster.

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Stefan was satisfied with his strike and smirked but soon shock took over his face. “That bastard…” he said.

Aether was facing exactly back to the water body when he had taken the hit. He used the force in the punch and the all the force he could muster with his body to lodge himself into the air.

He was currently floating in mid-air and there was a drop of blood flowing down from his lips. “Thanks for the lift!” he shouted. He was counting on his body’s defence to pull off his plan. His plan had worked but it still wasn’t enough to completely cross over the water body. He had predicted this, that’s why he had bought some backup.

He fell somewhere in between the water body where the Isyruses were waiting for him. He had his dagger in his hand as he fell down. He struck an Isyrus and forced it away. He still held the two people on his shoulders. The other Isyruses rushed towards him.

“Sorry guys,” he said, he didn’t really mean it though. He tossed one of the guys near him. All the Isyruses now rushed towards that unconscious person.

Taking this opportunity, Aether quickly got on an Isyrus and jumped from one to another to get to the other side. An officer quickly saved the kid while the other kid was still on Aether’s shoulder. He shoved the other guy into the water as well when the Isyruses had started to shift their attention to him again.

Like this, Aether was barely able to get to the other side. The two people he had used were safe but they were disqualified. ‘They were weak; they wouldn’t have been able to cross the water body anyway.’ Aether said as he calmed the little guilt he had.

He touched his ribs where he had been punched. A sharp pain shook his upper body as his face twisted because of the pain. ‘Shit, I think I broke a rib. Two years and I still can’t get used to this planet. Defying physics all the time. If I was back on earth, I would probably be the most powerful man.’ He thought. “Maybe I could even kill that man too.”

Stefan was crossing the water body impatiently by crushing the poor Isyrus’s brains out.

Aether quickly wiped the water off his face and ran towards the next obstacle. Stefan would probably kill him if he stood here and waited for him. As he ran forward, he noticed a wall in front of him and this time there was no way of passing through it. The white-haired kid was standing in front of it.

He punched it using the same technique he had used to break that chain saw. Unfortunately this time, his punch didn’t even leave a scratch.

“Circular magic again…,” Aether said. Circular magic was an advanced form of magic. A circle appeared whenever you used it. It was too complicated for Aether to learn right now, at least that’s what the pig had told him.

Siarchas, the headmaster was currently seated and was watching everything that was happening on a large screen. There was a magic circle on top of the screen. Right next to him stood the person who was wearing the black coloured headband. “Vince, I think it’s time for our special segment,” said Siarchas. Vince nodded and headed out of the room.

“Did the race end already?” Aether wondered. Just as he said that, as if to answer him a voice rang throughout the labyrinth.

“All contestants please prepare for a brawl. Only half of the present contestants will be able to pass through the wall. The other half must be defeated, only then will the wall open.”

“What?” Aether said. He was already injured, the last thing he needed was a brawl among people who were stronger than him.

Everyone had crossed the Isyruses by now. A lot were disqualified but they were still quite a lot of people left. Aether looked around and just happened to see Stefan.

They locked eyes with each other. Stefan smiled. ‘I originally didn’t plan on wasting any more time on this peasant but I’ll take care of you this time.’ He thought.

“Fuck,” Aether said.  Suddenly a sound came into the area. “Pssshhhhh” as the area got filled with a pink gas. It had a very bad smell to it.

Aether quickly blocked his nose but the gas had already taken effect. He couldn’t block his nose. It was the same for everyone else. They were trying to move their bodies but their bodies weren’t moving the way that they wanted it to. Aether willed his hand to move but his toe started to wriggle. He tried to move his leg but his neck started rotating. He tried to stop his neck but arm started convulsing.

Siarchas laughed at the spectacle. “Hahaha! Look at them. It’s always fun to watch them confused and squirm around. Now… how will they react to it?”

Everyone had started to break dancing. ‘It’s the gas!’ Aether thought… ‘It’s messing with my body!’

If he tried to move a part of his body, another part moved. Everyone struggled to try and move their bodies.

“AAAAHHH!!!!” a guy cried as he attacked another. While they were trying to get a hold of their bodies, everyone had forgotten that they needed to fight if they wanted to pass through.

Aether was still trying to move his arm as he felt heat approaching him from his left side. He was punched in the face put down. “Damn it!” Aether said. “Blood hair.”

Stefan looked at Aether. “My name is Stefan, not blood hair. You better remember it because I will be the one to end you.” Stefan said.

Aether got up with difficulty; he had a burn mark on his cheek now. Stefan ran towards Aether, he did it quite awkwardly since he couldn’t use his body properly.

Although moving their bodies as they willed was tough, there was a certain pattern to it. Stefan was slowly getting used to that pattern. That is why he was able to move his body a little. Aether on the other was still struggling.

Stefan didn’t give Aether any time to recover. He punched him repeatedly all over his chest. Aether bent his upper body forward. Blood gushed out of his mouth.

“You’re good at taking a beating but let’s finish this now,” Stefan said. “Fire fist,” he said as his whole arm ignited with dark red flames.

Aether closed his eyes. He found himself in a black coloured space. Everything around him was black except for the person standing in front of him. The person looked exactly like him from top to bottom. You couldn’t tell one apart from the other. “I need you,” one of the Aethers said. The other just stared at him blankly. After some time he walked to the other and held Aether’s head with his fingers. He opened his eyes but the glow in his eyes had disappeared, leaving a cold stare.

He activated his lightning fist quickly and deflected Stefan’s fire fist. Stefan was shocked but he still had more in store for him. Aether caught Stefan’s arm and threw him over his shoulder to slam him on the floor. Aether was about to stab his dagger right into Stefan’s head but Stefan twisted his body and managed to get out of the lock with his brute strength.

“How is your body able to move so smoothly?” Stefan asked with astonishment. He was puffing in and out hardly. Just a moment ago, he was struggling to even get up but now he had suddenly gained full control over his body.

Aether ignored the question and stabbed at Stefan. He dodged it awkwardly but was struck with a punch to his face at the next moment. He became infuriated and activated his spell. “Fire fist!” he shouted as he punched but Aether dodged it easily and also managed to leave a scar with his dagger on Stefan’s arm. “Ugh!” Stefan said. Aether swiftly struck Stefan’s stomach with his lightning fist. Stefan got hit hard as he fell on his back. Aether was going to stab Stefan’s brain again but he dodged by rolling on the ground.

The only reason Aether was currently able to reduce Stefan to such a state was that Stefan couldn’t use his body to its full potential. Aether, on the other hand, was able to use his body exactly how he wanted it to. It wasn’t that the gas hadn’t affected him, he had gotten used to the changes that the gas had caused.

He kicked Stefan in the ribs multiple times till Stefan stopped moving. Stefan scrunched his face in pain. Aether used his legs and stepped on both of Stefan’s hands to hold him down.

An announcement rang throughout the labyrinth again. “The brawl has ended, you can stop fighting now. For all those who made it till now; congratulations. The wall will now be opening.”

Aether was about to stick his dagger into Stefan’s brain again. This time even the officers were about to intervene. Stefan had closed his eyes out of fear. Things didn’t go as expected as Aether stopped his dagger just before he was about to stick it in. His hands trembled as he threw the dagger away. He closed his eyes and opened them. The glow in his eyes returned as he gained control of himself.

“Hah!” he shouted and jumped away from Stefan. “Close call,” he said while breathing heavily “it’s getting harder to control.” He was feeling dizzy and his headache was killing him. There were wounds all over his body too. He just wanted to take a break and sit down for a moment but unfortunately for him; there was no time to relax.

The huge wall in front of him moved and slowly slid to the side.