"Throw your weapons away!" Pecus yelled as he put his sword up to Tom's throat

"So you plan on fighting me while I'm empty-handed? Not bad!" Teras said as he threw his dagger left and his sword right

'Pecus must be scared after our last time! After all, I obviously won even though he went into his stronger state, the beast instinct. After our last fight both of us were heavily damaged but the difference between him and me is that I had a healing crystal healing me and myself while he had nothing but himself, meaning I'm more healed overall' Teras thought as he stood still watching all the injuries Pecus had on his body

"Are you not ashamed to fight like this?" Tom yelled at Pecus

But Pecus was overly cautious about everything so he instinctively slapped Tom

There was no reaction from Teras

"So are we going to fight or talk? Or both?" Teras jokingly said as he walked left and right

"Are you mocking me, kid? How about if I poke a hole into him? Will you joke then?" Pecus said as he slowly started pressing against Tom's skin with his sword

"Stop that you bastard!" Teras said before Pecus could penetrate Tom's skin

"What? I couldn't hear you! Why don't you come a bit closer?" Pecus said as he pointed his sword at Teras

"Gladly!" Teras said as he launched himself at Pecus

Pecus was surprised by Teras's reaction but he was able to defend himself by slashing toward Teras, Sadly for Pecus Teras was able to dodge the attack by ducking under it, and while he was low he enforced his legs with mana and kicked Pecus on the stomach launching him away while also securing Tom's safety

"What now?" Teras asked as he followed up with a ranged explosion at Pecus's face

"You die!" Pecus said as he furiously emerged through the smoke screen created by the explosion

He slashed Teras's chest dealing a good amount of damage, Pecus then closed in by jumping toward Teras and hitting him with his elbow in the jaw

'Damn it! Don't get too distracted!' Teras thought to himself as he spit the blood out of his mouth

The safety of Tom was lost after this clash

"Come on Teras! Can't you do anything without your fancy mana-enhanced weapons?" Pecus asked with a smug

"I don't need any weapon for a low-life such as you!" Teras said before activating his mana overflow

Teras then proceeded to hit Pecus like a bullet crushing him at the walls of the cave

'I didn't see him...' Pecus thought as he was barely able to put his hands up to defend against the attack

"What's up? Dead already?" Teras asked as blood was running from his head

In response Pecus punched Teras in his face creating some kind of distance before Teras closed in again, this time kicking Pecus's whole body into the wall

'This time I ain't holding back! I will fight just like I did back then with Recka! I will break any bone to kill this fraud!' Teras thought as he smiled through the pain

This violent style of fighting seemed to be working but Pecus on the other hand didn't seem to slow down, no matter what kind of attacks Tears threw at him

"Are you done?" Pecus asked after tanking many powerful blows from Teras

"Nuh-uh! Your hell won't end this easily" Teras said as all of his limbs were violently shaking

'Should I risk it?' Teras thought as he recalled his previous battle

While he was fighting Pecus in the forest something strange happened, while he was absorbing mana from the environment his enhanced punch was overly powerful due to the fact that so much mana was put in the attack, mana that otherwise couldn't have been put in normally, so Teras thought of this

'What if I could exceed the amount of mana I can put in my attack but not create a mana overload?'

Mana overload is the process of sending the maximum amount of mana through the mana vessel, this way The mana exists from the body violently creating an explosion and damaging the vessels and the limb the explosion was created from, but what Teras was about to do was different

Teras put as much mana as he could into his hand but did not create a mana explosion and then used the reverse mana flow to overcharge the attack with more mana than could normally be put into the attack

Everybody has a limit to how much mana can put on an attack or defense based on their maximum mana but Teras using this new skill of his was able to break this limit set by the world and got up a level of power by using the reverse mana flow

Thus creating Teras's new skill

Mana overcharge

Teras charged at Pecus and directed this mana-overcharged punch at Pecus's sword destroying it and then hitting Pecus's head sending him flying to the wall of the cave

'He used the second card? (Strength card) Since when did he learn to use it?' Pecus wondered as he crashed into the wall

That was the only logical answer to what just happened to him, Teras suddenly developed a super strong physical attack which is also very durable, being able to break the sword and causing minimal damage to his hand, only the power of cards could do that in Pecus's mind

"IT WORKS! IT ACTUALLY WORKS!!!" Teras yelled at the top of his lungs as held tight to his wounded hand

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Tom witnessed all this with an open mouth, he couldn't believe his eyes, at that moment Teras became his true hero and after that, his fate was set

'I want to become like him!' Tom thought as he clenched his hands

Suddenly the broken sword of Pecus stabbed Teras's chest

Pecus threw it at Teras through the smoke the dust and dirt of the cave created

Teras started coughing blood like a maniac

"Did you think you won bastard!" Pecus yelled as he charged at Teras

He then started hitting Teras with combo attacks using his legs and hands while Teras was unable to block

…

"Do you even know how to fight?" A tall man asked, he appeared to be sparing

---

"What are you even saying? Your fighting style is just attacking and then taking punches until the other party is tired, that's not a fighting style that's just acting like a beast, you need to develop a defensive fighting style and mix it with whatever you are doing and I'm sure you are going to be fine until you de"

---

"What? Do you think I'm joking? Let's run it back but this time try to do what I told you"

…

Suddenly the black aura of Teras started covering most of his body and after that, every attack Pecus threw was blocked If that wasn't enough with every attack a bit of mana was stolen from Pecus

'What the hell is going on?' Pecus thought while he was afraid to throw any more punches

"What? Can't deal with a little defensive fighting style?" Teras asked before starting to fight back

He punched Pecus's head and then hit his stomach before hitting him in the back of his head making him duck down enough to receive a kick to the face

Pecus started losing in the blink of an eye even after managing to stab Teras in the chest

~Meanwhile back to the village~

"What? Teras is fighting him alone in the cave?" Enyo asked concerned

"He didn't have a choice, the bastard would have murdered my son if he didn't go, he must be fighting right now" Droe told Enyo as he tried to calm her down

"He will kill himself if I don't help" Enyo said as she was about to leave

"Why do you think that?" Droe asked her

"Why? Because Pecus has more experience why else?"

"Is that the real reason? Teras showed us that he can win against him so why are you so concerned? I sent him to save my son's life with full confidence that he would do it while you, his mentor is scared to let him fight for real once, Maybe you should let the kid flirt with death a bit, that's the only way he will grow" Droe said as he stared into Enyo's eyes

Without saying a word Enyo quickly left him behind

~Back to the fight~

The two men were trading blows with no signs of stopping or holding back, since the first one that would have hesitated even for a second they would have died, that's why nobody stopped manically punching each other

But the thing is this little clash was slowly bringing doom to Pecus since while he was getting punched manically after every blow from Teras his mana was absorbed

"I get it! I FINALLY GET IT!!! This black aura was never meant to be used for attack, it's a defensive mode that allows me to drain my enemy's mana before I run out of mana!" Teras thought out loud as he kept hitting Pecus harder and harder

'I can't keep up! I will lose if I do!' Pecus thought as he turned his eyes toward Tom

He was the only thing helping him get away from this mess

So naturally in a desperate attempt to save himself, Pecus kicked Teras away and rushed at Tom grabbing him from the front of his face and slamming him on the wall

"One more step and he is dead!" Pecus yelled while he tried to breathe

After so many hits in the chest, his air passage was a bit messed up

At that moment Teras stopped his reverse mana flow and simply stood still, he was not planning on betting on Tom's life

"Throw me your dagger and slowly come close to me! Any sudden move you make will result in this kid's death!" Pecus said as he pointed at Teras's dagger which he stole from the Joker

Teras slowly skipped to the dagger since one of his legs was too damaged to even use, Teras then picked up the dagger and threw it at Pecus's legs

"Don't do anything stupid!" Teras said while staring at Pecus's eyes

"Don't worry I will not kill the kid if you do as I say! Now come closer" Pecus said with a smile on his face

Teras then took what felt like the longest walk of his life, he thought of every single scenario that could play out at that moment but all resulted in Tom's death

'I lost' Teras thought as he continued to walk toward Pecus

"Another five steps and you are good!" Pecus said as he pointed to the place with his sword as if he were holding a teaching stick

At that moment Teras created a mana shield around Pecus's arm with a hole that his hand was barely able to get through, this way if Pecus wanted to attack Teras with the dagger he would have to let go of the dagger and grab the dagger with the hand he was holding Tom

Pecus froze for a second, this second was enough for Teras

He round-kicked Pecus sending him away from Tom and then got ahold of the dagger and charged it with all of the mana he had but that didn't feel enough, he used the reverse mana flow to put all the mana inside the cave inside the dagger

And by doing that Teras overcharged the dagger

"Goodbye, Pecus! See you in hell!" Teras said as he fired an overpowered air bullet toward Pecus

'I lost... This is my death for sure... Wait why is the attack moving so slow? And all these memories... Is my life flashing before my eyes?' Pecus thought as many memories of his childhood flashed before him

'I'm sorry Gabriella... I will not be able to be by your side at your wedding... But who am I kidding? After what I did "for her" she would have never let me see my grandchildren or her ever again' Pecus thought before the attack hit him

…

'I swear if this kid dares to die before I'm finished with him I will revive him and kill him myself!' Enyo thought as she blinked countless times on her way to the mountain

Enyo's blink consumed many mana and using them this many times in such a little time almost drained up all her mana but she arrived at the other side of the cave in some seconds, she was teleported high up so she could easily spot the entrance to the mountain

But before Enyo could realize she was on the wrong side of the mountain a huge explosion destroyed half of the mountain, it was like a huge earthquake stroke the land and made the mountain collapse on its weight but Enyo was shocked to see that this explosion was caused by none other than Teras

Enyo slowly approached the brand new shaped mountain and most specifically the part where the mountain fell, Fog from all the risen dust surrounded what was supposed to be a cave, now you can only call that the top of the mountain

But the problem is that nothing could be seen, not a single person in sight so Enyo started to feel worried

She teleported many rocks off the mountain so he could find a sign of Teras or Tom, she didn't stop

'There is no way! No way he died! He was the one who did this after all right?' Enyo thought to herself while desperately digging out rocks

"Huh?" She said after feeling tears falling down her face

She wiped the tears off her face and continued to desperately search for a sign of life

Suddenly she saw some rocks falling over so she rushed over to see what it was

"Teras?" She asked as she saw Teras's bloody back

When she got a bit closer she saw Tom lying under Teras, while he staring closely at him

Teras was sheltering Tom like a pillar

Enyo paused because she thought of the worst but she was quickly proven wrong when she saw Teras point at the starry sky

"Every time you feel like you are fighting a hard fight look at the Orion and you will feel at ease, and when I die I will not become a tree I will become a star, the brightest star in the sky! The star that will bring closure and cleanse the soul of all! That's who I want to be! I want to be the savior of this world even after my death! I will become the pillar of the new world!" Teras said with the brightest smile he ever had in his face and with D E T E R M I N A T I O N that exceeded anyone else's

"You have never smiled like this before" Enyo spoke as she was feeling the most intense goosebumps of her life

"That's true! But from today I'm reborn! I will lead my party Orion to the top and become the savior this world needs! Tom, Enyo, watch me take over Tokkou's role with ease!" Teras said loudly before passing out

After he passed out he still had a huge smile on his face

At that moment Enyo was truly convinced that Teras would become great, no matter what happened she knew he would stand at the top of the world and nobody could change the way she thought

"I can't wait to see how high you will reach! Maybe you can even become the king! There is no limitation to what you can do! Because you are Teras, the next Orion" Enyo said to the unconscious Teras as she smiled with the same excitement as Teras