Vivran's knuckles bashed into the side of Red-hair's skull, pressing deep against his left ear.

It felt like a jackhammer was going off throughout his entire skeleton. Vibrations tearing up every fiber of his being, his brain bounced around in its once safe compartment. His organs were either in the wrong position, wrong shape, or both. His body was screaming for it end, but its voice was drowned out by the harsh ringing in his ears. Up and down, left and right, front and back, all were concepts that no longer held meaning.

"Wha-what's happenin- grk!"

Before he had even realized he had been sent flying, the cold, hard dirt suddenly appeared to give his body a warm welcome.

Bouncing off the floor, twice, he continued to tumble over 10 meters before coming to a groaning stop.

He was lying face up. Or so he thought. It's hard to tell when your eyes aren't working properly and your sense of touch is busy complaining about the crushed ligaments and broken bones. Actually, scratch that, he wasn't sure if his sense of touch was working either. It felt like his whole body was trembling on its own. His limbs and neck wouldn't sit still, twitching away as if being puppeteer by another force that had somehow taken over him.

Somehow, over all the white noise in his head, he could faintly hear someone speaking out to him.

"Ah crap, that was meant for your cheek!" they cried out in alarm. "Damn, you're still conscious?! Props to you, I haven't met anyone who could take a move from my Vibrio series head on and not go lights out. Specially when it bangs right on their ear drum. New experience for me, which I'm thankful for."

The boy on the ground may have been able to hear, but he could not understand any of the words being spoken to him. He wasn't sure if he would've been able to, even if he was fully compos mentis.

"Stay... calm..." he thought to himself. "Use the your Csen... like Ton-Ire said... and heal yourself through flowin-"

"What are you mumbling about down there? You aren't moving at all, but you say you're going to heal yourself?"

Apparently, he, in fact, had not been thinking to himself. That punch must of have rattled his brain so bad that he couldn't even tell what current action he was performing.

"Damn... it," he painfully grunted out. Like the rest of his body, his vocal chords were also under attack from slight jerking, making it difficult to speak. "Why are you... even here...?"

"Dude, I don't know what to tell ya. Look, see? I got the paper (well, most of it) and even if you say my attitude stinks or whatever, the facts are the facts: I'm a student-to-be. Ooh, that reminds, before you pass out, can you tell me where to find the master man? I kinda gotta sorta meet him and all that."

The boy on the ground seemed to contemplate for a few seconds, before letting out a deep, trembling sigh. If this intruder kept preaching his innocence, even in this situation, what else was he supposed to believe?

Besides... he had lost-

No.

No, he wouldn't accept that.

"Grk- kuh-! Gaaaaahk-!"

With all his might, the boy fought to get back up. To overcome this setback and return to the fight once again. If he couldn't do it here- If he couldn't even beat someone his own age...

Clenching his teeth as tight he could to try and stop the shaking that persisted inside of him, he summoned all of his strength into his arms and pushed off the ground.

"Oh, look at that, you managed sit up. Nice! Once again, another first. Man, you really are awesome."

"Shut... up..."

Rapidly opening and closing his eyes with vigor, he managed to regain a portion of his standard vision. Everything was still blurry, and he had a hard time making out the details, but at least he could tell the difference between a man and a tree.

Taking deep breaths to regulate his erratic blood flow, the boy performed a hasty checkup of his current condition. The feeling of his bones and ligaments being heavily damaged had turned out to be a false alarm; apart from his head and neck, no new notable injuries were to be seen. Although, having his entire body aggressively tumble across a solid dirt surface didn't do much to help with his prior wounds, the boy was in a healthy state.

"Good," he breathed. "Then as long as I don't let my guard down again-!"

"Whoa! You're even standing now?!"

Hefting himself up, the boy managed to right himself back onto two feet. Vivran continued to stand aside, offering neither adversity nor assistance, simply observing the wobbling boy's movements in surprise.

"Hey, by the way, I noticed you were looking pretty beat up before. Did you have a fight with someone else before me? Cause if so, then you're one to talk about bad manne- yikes!"

"I said shut up, you vacuous monkey!"

Vivran was forced to suddenly dodge to the side as Red-Hair rushed to land a blow on him with little warning.

"You can't just add onto the last insult and say that's what you said last time!" Vivran comically complained. "And what does vaccumous* even mean?!"

*This spelling is intentional, Vivran misspoke*

Even with the surprise assault, the silver-haired boy was able to evade all of Red-Hair's strikes with ease thanks to the latter still not fully regaining their sense of balance.

"Honestly, at this point, I'm starting to feel a little bad," murmured Vivran, scratching his cheek bemusedly. "Like, should I counter, or would that count as attacking a cripple?"

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"Who... are you calling... a cripple!?" Red-Hair shot back between gasps of air.

"... It's a mystery."

"Smug little... gah-!"

In an attempt to hit Vivran, who had managed to nonchalantly position himself behind his attacker, Red-Hair had tried to preform a back roundhouse kick aimed at the former's head.

Pain shot throughout his body from trying such a sudden movement, and when combined with his pre-existing dizziness, the boy could only fall back down to the floor with an embarrassing thud.

The impact wasn't as bad as the prior instance, but he was nonetheless thrown into a rough coughing fit. Laying on the ground, he could hear his own heart pounding in his ears. Sweat poured down his cheek, dripping off of his nose. His lungs heaved heavily, desperately trying to pump his tattered body full of oxygen, full of life and energy, but to little avail.

"Ouch, that looked like... well, honestly it didn't look like a bad fall, but you sure are treating it like one..."

And that damn voice was back to taunt him. Why? What did he do to deserve this?

"You were born there."

Shut up.

So was she. Even if he deserves it, she definitely shouldn't.

"Uh, ok for real this time, you okay? You're sort of mumbling a bit down there."

Shut up.

Why does he always lose? Why does the situation always have to be against him? What is it that the world hates about him? He didn't want this stupid Art in the first place anyway!

"If you start foaming at the mouth, I can dump some cold- or rather hot- water on you from the spring, but that's about it."

Shut up.

I'll get back up. Count on it. Bet on it. Gamble on it. I don't care.

Just believe. Just believe that I'll win. Just once. Stop praying for a miracle and just cheer me on. Okay? That's it. That's all I want. You don't even have to say it. Just look at me. Don't look at them. Just believe me. Just believe me. Just believe me. Just believe me. Just believe me. Just believe me. Just believe. Just believe. Just believe. Just. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please.

"Have you finally decided to give up, Ondo?"

The voice was clear. It was sharp. It was above the torrent of bitter thoughts and emotions.

And worst of all, it was the words. They were familiar. Those same words being yapped at him, in those exact order.

But... no, they sounded different this time. A new emotion, not just one filled with scorn and disgust. What was it? And who was speaking...? The annoying, callus, silver-haired intruder? So rather it was mockery?!

"Perhaps you didn't hear me. Have you finally decided to give up, Ondo?"

Just as clear and sharp as before, the voice repeated this phrase.

He gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Give up? I've told everyone over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again...

"That's the one thing I'm not willing to do."

"So! Just! SHUT! UP!"

"RAAAAGH-!"

With a scream of rage and frustration, he leapt back up on his feet and opened his eyes, glaring frantically in all directions. A wave of heat shot throughout the still air, filling it with the red aura that now once again seeped out from his skin.

"JUST BECAUSE YOU'VE GOTTEN ONE OR TWO OVER ME, DOESN'T MAKE YOU ANY SUPERIOR! I'LL SHOW YOU JUST HOW STRONG I AM! I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT IT MEANS TO BE ME! I'LL SHOW YOU BY BURNING AWAY ANY PROOF OF YOUR EXISTENCE!"

His eyes were still blurry, but they hadn't gotten any worse from his short tumble. Meaning, he could still distinguish what was a human and what was a tree, despite no general details. Spinning around, he spotted the unfocused humanoid standing a little ways away.

Did he back off once I recovered? No, it doesn't matter.

"YOU PIECE OF USELESS CRAP!"

Throwing aside the respectable vocabulary he had been using up until this point, the boy rushed his opponent with terrifying ferocity.

Opening his right hand, he focused on gathering as much heat as he possibly could into his palm and condensing it into a small sphere. It was an attack that would be launched with the intent to kill.

"DODGE THIS!" he yelled provocatively.

Leaping into his target, the boy thrusted his right hand forward, straight in front of the victim's face.

"SUN'S BATH!"

The red ball suddenly ruptured, unleashing the built up energy in a wide cone of desolation that engulfed all that it was aimed at.

The temperature in its range shot up to an insane 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit), a temperature that humans cannot survive for long in, especially when hit by a sudden burst they can't adapt to.

"It's over. Even if that kid is dense enough to survive that, he'll still be too injured to move," he thought triumphantly. "I may have used up most my energy with that, but I'll still be able to throw out his charred body myself- WHA-?"

For the second time today, Red-Hair gasped in disbelief at what he saw. Or rather, felt. Granted, he still didn't know exactly what Art the silver-haired boy used, but it couldn't be at the level to block or dodge a point-blank Sun's Bath. Much less, TWIST THE ATTACK'S TRAJECTORY AWAY.

The shining red aura of the Art was thrown to the sides, harmlessly being absorbed by the dirt and gravel.

"But- But how-?"

In disbelief at the phenomenon taking place in front of him, the boy took a step back.

"No one but The Spinner should be able to... Grk-!"

Once more clenching his teeth, the youth surged forward. His opponent wasn't Hero level. The feats he had shown in their first clash were proof of that. Furthermore, in his heart, the boy rejected the notion of someone his age already standing at the top of the hierarchy. It would put everything he worked for into question, and make all of his suffering up to this day completely pointless and, worst of all, deserved.

Therefore, he must have a specific Art for dealing with this type of attack, and even then, he must be immobile and unable to act while using it. So he simply needed to attack before Sun's Bath completely dissipated.

He would win. He would beat this enemy. He would prove that he was worthy of being here. He would prove his existence. He would prove his future. He would prove-

"Hey! I know you don't like 'intruders' and all that, but don't you think you're going a little far for an old man?"

"--eh?"

The voice of the boy that should currently be fending off lethal heat could suddenly be heard behind him. Was it a trick? Was this a technique that emitted the user's voice from another location?

No, in his heart he had 100% committed to the notion that whoever was deflecting his Art was currently too busy to pull off any other actions.

Therefore it should be at least safe to check, right?

Whirling around, Red-hair stared at the source of the voice.

And indeed, there was a slightly greyer humanoid blur.

Which resembled that shape and size of the intruder.

Much more so than person who he had just attacked.

"..."

He had attacked a person who had nothing to do with this.

He had jus-

"Wait. If it's not the silver kid, then who else is here? Another intruder? A stronger one? No wait. Silver Kid called him 'an old man', so unless they were Ton-Ire himself, there's no way they could beat-"

Wait.

"Oh, Jericho Fish," Red-hair swore as he turned around in horror to face the now-visible elderly man.

Or, more accurately, the elderly man's brutal left hook that met his lower jaw.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE CALLING A USELESS PIECE OF CRAP, YOU USELESS PIECE OF CRAP!?!"

For the third time today, Red-hair's body was met by the cold, hard dirt below with a warm welcome.

He bouncing off the floor, thrice, and continued to tumble over 20 meters before coming to a groaning stop.

He was lying face up. Or so he thought. It's hard to tell when your vision was spiraling and fading in and out. Although, he was pretty confident he could make out the bewildered face of a certain silver-haired youth.

Somehow, over all the white noise in his head, he faintly heard two people talking over him.

"Ah, you must Vivran Upsilon Yutta. Very sorry about the commotion that came with your arrival. I'm afraid that with all the huzz-buzz, I forgot to tell my other student that you'd be coming! Bwahahahaha!"

Other... student.

"Uhm..."

Although everything was going dark, and he couldn't exactly feel his face anymore, the red-haired boy named Calor Rho Ondo was sure that his face of disgust was currently mirroring that of the boy named Vivran Upsilon Yutta.