I closed the distance explosively and feinted with my left hand before delivering a flying knee to the head of the boy, who had ducked in reaction to my feint. Immediately, the boy collapsed onto the ground, having been rendered unconscious by just one blow.

I turned and took a hold of the boy's arms. "What's the matter? I thought you were going to show me something," I said with a smile.

The boy was just about to kick me when I pulled his hands forward and brought my right elbow around his hand with a round motion. Then I directed my elbow toward his temple forcefully.

The blow connected and dazed him. Next, I pushed him away, and before he lost his balance, I kicked him in the liver. He fell to his hands and knees before he went unconscious once again and face-planted onto the floor, disappearing soon after.

'I think this is enough,' I thought as I turned and took a hold of the boy.

"I really don't know what I should do with you," I said as I held the boy still.

The boy let out a grunt as he ripped one of his hands free from my grasp and hit me with an unexpected elbow. I had been hit with my

Much stronger blows, however, and wasn't stunned for even a second before I kicked the boy's thigh.

He tried his best to keep his balance but ended up on the ground nevertheless. A powerful kick to the thigh made the opponent unable to walk but didn't render the opponent unconscious, which meant it was the best strike for me to use in this situation.

"You seem to be getting stronger when you get beat up," I noted. "Did you think you could provoke me into making you stronger?"

"That's exactly it. It didn't work for quite as long as I hoped, but that's fine. I just need to change my methods a little now," the boy said with a carefree tone before starting to take deep breaths and exhale quickly.

'What is he trying to do?' I wondered for a moment before coming to a simple realization. 'Oh, I get it now.'

I tightened my jaw and clenched my teeth in annoyance as I watched the boy purposefully hyperventilate before exhaling all the air in his lungs and stopping breathing all together.

A few seconds passed before the boy passed out and disappeared.

Once again he reappeared behind me, and I created some distance before speaking, "Fine, I'll let you get stronger, but be prepared to suffer."

"I've been prepared to suffer ever since the day I was born," the boy said firmly, a serious and determined look in his eyes.

Seeing as it was inevitable that he was going to get stronger, I just wanted to make the process as hard as possible. By now, the fact that I was in a ruin right now had faded from my consciousness, and only the conflict between me and this boy existed in my mind.

I proceeded to take a fighting stance. The boy did the same.

We circled around for a while, doing a few feints. I knew I would defeat him, but I needed to be careful in order to not sustain any injuries. At the end of the day, he was the only one who would respawn without any injuries, while I only had my regeneration to count on.

Then I dashed, shortened the distance between the two of us, brought my back leg forward, and kicked the boy's front leg in the thigh with the bottom of my foot.

I assumed that the boy would be unfamiliar with the kick since his knowledge of martial arts didn't seem to be quite as vast as mine.

I was proved correct when the boy didn't think too much about the defense, instead focusing on a counter, which he didn't have a chance to execute, as his knee hyperextended from the immense pressure the kick put on the ligaments in his knee.

The boy managed to stay standing, however. At least for a few moments before I swept his legs from under him with a swift, low, spinning sweep kick.

The boy fell down with a thump and struggled to get back up quickly, but I stopped him with a kick to the chest that sent him back to the floor.

On his way down, though, he grabbed my foot and didn't waste any time getting me into a heel hook.

I realized the situation instantly, summoned my dagger, and threw it straight through the throat of the boy before he managed to inflict any serious damage.

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The corpse at my feet disappeared, and soon after, the boy appeared behind me, laughing.

"I thought this was supposed to be a fair fight," the boy said with an innocent, shocked expression, while I shook my left foot to see if it was still fine. "Well, cheaters cheat, I guess," the boy said with a shrug and dashed forward, seeing that I wasn't combat ready yet.

I dodged the boy's strike, cut his wrist a little while I moved to his left side, and pushed him towards the wall of the dark room.

'What a pain,' I thought while I looked at the boy recuperate from being slammed into the wall.

The fight really was getting harder and harder every second. My martial arts also didn't seem to be as good compared to his as I initially thought based on our first exchanges. I guess I underestimated him simply because of the sheer difference in physical prowess between us.

The boy stood up and started walking towards me as I cracked my neck with a single thought going through my mind

'Take this seriously.'

***

The boy's progress was incredibly fast, and by now, even though I still had the physical edge, our encounters were no longer one-sided. My only advantage was my dagger. Still, I was starting to suffer serious damage, and my occasional drowsiness didn't help either.

I could no longer afford to use techniques with the intention of causing harm. I just needed to win the encounters in the most efficient way possible, which meant using my dagger as much as possible and aiming for quick, lethal hits.

However, during one encounter, the dagger was knocked out of my hand, and the boy dove in order to get his hands on it, forcing me to cancel the summoning of it so that my advantage wouldn't be used against me.

Once again, we were on equal ground.

I took a stance in an annoyed and dissatisfied manner. "Tch."

Instantly, after my dagger disappeared from my hands, the boy closed the distance between us aggressively, seeking to capitalize on this moment. He knew he didn't have long, so he attacked recklessly, starting with a flying knee. I had expected him to start with some sort of kick, so I focused on his leg movements and was able to move to the left and avoid the flying knee while creating a good angle of attack.

I anticipated his movement path and twisted my body in an attempt to kick his head with my right foot. However, the boy could respawn endlessly and wasn't unfamiliar with pain, so he had no problem making risky moves. Without even seeing me, he moved his head while airborne, and after touching the ground, he executed a smooth sweep kick that knocked me to the ground.

After my initial surprise, I got ready for the next attack, which would probably be even more aggressive than the first attack.

I was right in thinking that since right after I fell onto my back, the boy jumped on top of me and started raining down hammer fists.

At that moment, I realized I may have been wrong about the difference in our physical abilities. Even with me doing my best to guard, some of the hammer fists got through and made me hit the back of my head on the ground.

I could now summon my dagger, but in this position it could have very well worsened the situation, so I refrained from doing it, instead trying my best to control the boy's arms.

After receiving a couple more hard hits, I finally got a hold of the boy's wrists. Then I threw one of my legs under the boy's right arm and the other one over it at the same time before pushing his back onto the ground, putting the boy into an arm bar. Then, without hesitation, I pushed my hips upward while keeping my chest on the ground with the boys hand being held against it, hyperextending the elbow joint in the boy's right arm.

The boy screamed out before attempting to bite the leg I had thrown over his arm, but I summoned my dagger and delivered a fatal blow soon enough to avoid being bitten.

I was aware that I wouldn't get a break, however.

The boy was going to appear behind me after just a few seconds.

I gulped, full of anxiety, as I realized my nightmare had come true. We were now evenly matched, and it was only a matter of time before the boy killed me.