Yang threw multiple jabs with Shin blocked all of them. Shin proceeded to land a punch of his own, though Yang smiled as he dodged it and flipped him over, causing him to cough out spit from the impact.

“What happened to all that talk?” Yang mocked him referencing his words earlier.

‘Tch’ Shin quickly recovered as he swept Yang off his feet making him land on his head, he stood up prepared to land a knockout punch on the monk.

‘That’s it… I-UWAGH’

Shin was cut off as he felt a rope-like object grab his leg and tripped him towards the ground, landing on his jaw directly which pained him. He turned to his foot to find Yang’s tail grabbing it.

“What the…” Shin groaned as he stood up “That thing can move?”

“There a problem?” Yang raised an eyebrow, this caused an intensity in the forest area, especially from the party of monks.

“Nothing, nothing at all” Shin replied, this made the monks sigh in relief with Theseus looking around in confusion. He continued “I just thought you tied a rope to your back”

“Ngk!” Hui bit his tongue to which Theseus shot an annoyed glare at

“What gives?”

Hui chuckled nervously “Ahh, it’s nothing”

Theseus gave him a stern look, something was going on. He looked back and saw Yang’s usual grinning face had been changed to a frown, the monk coldly responded.

“What?”

Shin nodded without any hint as to what was going on around him “Yeah, I almost thought you were some guy with a mental illness”

Hui nearly stood up to try and settle the dispute before it could escalate but was held back by Theseus.

“Is it that serious?” He asked the elderly monk who looked away in unease, which made Theseus all the more curious to find out why Shin’s words seemed to be causing anxiety amongst the calm monks. Hui Minghao finally caved in and answered.

“I think we should end the fight now” he muttered

Theseus just stared confusingly

“Why-”

He was cut off by the automatic activation of [Fetch], and the environment around him moved slowly. Theseus didn’t get why it activated since nothing life-threatening was going on at first, but all of a sudden his attention was caught by the immense pressure building up.

“What’s this pressure?” Theseus searched for the source, though he wasn’t fazed that much, it still sent a prickling sensation to his nerves. He had felt this feeling before…

The demigod finally found the source of the pressure building up, it was flowing like a whirlpool as it gathered around Yang’s fist. The monk was close to punching the living daylight out of Shin. In an instant, he remembered the strange pressure’s name.

“To think I’d come across this power once more” He walked slowly towards Yang in the paused time, he might have been exaggerating but he could see the fiery glow in Yang’s eyes, a property that belonged to a heavenly phenomenon.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

He recalled it as it simply was… “One of the three divine arts of heaven, Chi”

The three divine arts are forms of energies used throughout heaven. They were the collective names given to Mana, Chi, and Zen. They all worked differently despite being the pillars supporting heaven and everything in it. Mana is a creative-based art of its nature to create things, the ability for Chi is based solely on pure physical combat, and Zen is a weapon-based skill. Theseus let out a sigh, turning to Yang.

“No wonder the old man was hell-bent on being on his good side, though I wasn’t expecting a kid this age to master the basics”

Unlike Mana which was simple to learn at younger ages, Chi and Zen required decades to even be able to learn the basics, and maybe even over a century to master it. Yang, however, was one of the select few exempted from this rule.

‘Either talent or luck and I hope it’s not the latter' Theseus spat out

Theseus wasn’t a fan of Lady Luck, a reason being him believing hard work was the key to success and why he wanted to help Shin awaken his mana affinity. Another? Let’s just say he hasn’t been on her side for most of his life.

The demigod shook his head, turning back to the current situation.

“Can’t leave them like this though” he stroked his chin, leaning in anticipation “One hit and Shin’s organs would turn to tomato paste”

Theseus lifted Yang firmly and carried him over to a nearby tree, he found Yang surprisingly light.

‘It’s like I’m lifting a chair, except the chair has a foul mouth and a tail. Monk’s training is something else’

He quietly took his seat back on the cart as time around that space resumed once more. Yang’s eyelids widened in shock as his fist wasn’t facing the boy who mocked his tail, but a tree.

‘What?!’

Shin looked in confusion at the sudden change of events, although it wasn’t something new as he had seen this somewhere

“It’s like that Griffon incident”

“Crap!” Yang cursed as he was unable to stop himself from colliding with the tree

-BOOM!

The tree was blown to bits causing everyone but Theseus to stare in shock. Shin was the most surprised out of the people there.

‘I don’t know what just happened but I’m glad as hell that blow didn’t land on me’

From that point onward, he made sure to show gratitude whenever he came across any god due to his miraculous survival. Theseus calmly spoke up.

“Let’s call off the match, old man”

Hui nodded, he had the same thoughts as well since before the fight even began. Yang, however, wasn’t okay with this.

“Don’t just call it quits yet”

Theseus glared at him “We’re done, we don’t have all day to waste” he turned back to Hui “Right?”

The old monk simply stroked his beard “Yes I agree, we must depart at once for Corinth”

“Tch, well that sucks Gramps” Yang scratched his head in disappointment “But I won’t just let this one slide. Hey Emo, let’s go at it!”

A sweatdrop appeared on Shin’s forehead “You still want to fight? With Theseus of all people”

“I’ll accept”

Theseus walked up, Yang smirked as he cracked his knuckles.

“Okay but don’t come crying after I-”

…

A second had barely passed and Yang was lying face flat on the ground with bruises all over his face. Shin crouched in front of the boy to check on his wounds, he shook his head in disappointment.

“Didn’t even last one second”

“I…hate…you…peo…ple…” Yang forced out words despite injured

“Don’t be a sore loser” Shin commented

Theseus interrupted the two “If you’re not kissing the ground then let’s be on our way”

Shin nodded before raising a fist “Alright! To Corinth then!”

Yang recovered as he sat on the ground, what kind of mess did he get himself tangled up in, especially on his first pilgrimage. Hui chuckled as he patted the boy on the back with the intent of cheering him up.

Meanwhile, on a nearby cliff, a hooded figure watched the scene below. They stared at Shin in particular for a moment before turning away and continuing their journey. Unbeknownst to them, a flyer flew out from their backpack. A picture of Shin was on the poster. The contents were as follows

‘WANTED’

‘SHIN MATSUMOTO’

‘DEAD OR ALIVE (PREFERABLY ALIVE)’

‘REWARD: NEGOTIABLE’

And on the bottom corner was an insignia, what seemed to resemble an eagle in front of a pair of fangs.

This was the symbol of the Birds of Prey, a notorious unison of bandit groups from all over Greece. But this will be a story for another time.