‘I can't believe I messed up! I should have—shit!’

Goliath was on the attack. The behemoth of a man ran at them with speed unhindered by a long-range weapon. The weight of his armour and stature turned him into a truck. There was nothing that could stop him. Panic settled in the pit of William's stomach and he heaved his axe up to counter.

Too slow. He was too slow and Goliath was way too unstoppable.

“Furious Kick!”

Nikolai vehemently disagreed and sent a kick forward, meeting Goliath’s momentum. Clang! The sword coolly blocked his foot, deflected it back to the ground, and left him open to a punch to the ribcage. With a sickening crunch, Nikolai lurched back. Goliath’s attention switched to William and he directed a kick at him.

Half way up, he blocked it with the shaft of his axe and skidded back. Gasping for air, William dropped to one knee.

‘So heavy!’

“Haha! You lived!” Goliath grinned. Nikolai’s weight was the sole factor keeping him on his feet. Blood spewed from his lips. Rather than begin another assault, he swung his sword playfully. “I am Goliath of the Philistines, son of Gath! Tell me your names!”

“I am Nikolai, son of Aleksandr!” Nikolai's pain turned to pride. “It is an honour to fight a man as fearsome as you!”

“I as well! I did not believe I would find such warriors! Let us battle, friends!”

William wasn’t sure what had happened to Goliath. He was…happy. Delighted. No fear slowed him. He was content. He was doing what William wished he could do: fight with purpose. William pulled himself up. Fight, fight! He had to fight!

“Here I come!” Sacrificing defence for speed, Goliath had evolved into a hunting predator. His sword came in a wide arc, separating the two players, and forcing a one v. one.

William was chosen and his instincts flared up. A swing from the left, then to the right. He ducked underneath, remembering everything he had learned. Observe! Watch his footwork! His torso! The metal of his armour made it harder but it was better than relying on reflexes alone.

Clang! The edge of his sword clashed with his axe’s wooden length. They were dead-even in terms of raw strength. Neither gave up an inch.

“You’re too focused on my sword!”

He tasted iron once again as a hard foot struck his stomach. Goliath turned and clashed with Nikolai's fist. Leg met leg and Nikolai was forced back again. The momentum had completely shifted to his favour.

“Haaa!” Seeing red, William swung at his opponent’s head and hit the air. Goliath was too fast, his sword striking his elbow and toppling him down. In the following instant, he was back to pressuring Nikolai.

He tried again.

Again and again and again.

A swing and a miss. A swing and a counter that nicked his cheek. Goliath was handling the two of them at maximum efficiency. His polished instincts guided to make split-second decisions that were often the correct one. Three men, all giant, yet one was separated by something. Call it instincts. Call it experience.

“Got you!” Goliath exclaimed, the butt of his sword’s hilt hitting William’s temple. Stunned, William was stuck in the chest but a powerful thrust that rivalled Sun-young’s Inferno Thrust. He was sent back and slammed into the rocky waters. The warm blue skies welcomed him.

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Peace for but a moment. Then, the sound of violence erupted once more.

‘What the hell am I doing here?’ He tried to get up. He tried to push himself to help Nikolai again.

His arms wavered and suddenly he was staring into the water, panting, feeling numb/ He realized he was slipping. His feet were failing to grab onto the ground and his hands were losing the axe. “Haa….haa….what the hell….”

He was going to defeat Goliath. That was what he said.

So why was his heart racing with fear? Why was he trembling? He wasn’t supposed to be like this! He thought he had escaped it!

Why was he such a failure—

“William!”

“Nikolai?”

Nikolai had broken away from Goliath. There was a terrible gash across his muscular bicep. He glanced at him, then went back to looking at Goliath. There was no way around it, the giant was unstoppable. A truck that smashed apart everything with absurd speed and durability.

“Do you need a second?”

His question was innocent enough. William should have swallowed his nerves and answered confidently. Instead, all he was thinking about was failure. Had he won a single fight? Was he seriously that pathetic? Unable to do anything unless he went batshit crazy?

“You’re holding back.”

William stared at the ground, guilty. On one knee, axe in the water and washing away the blood, he tried to forget about the smell. The taste of iron and metallic that would stick to his tongue and nose. How many had he taken? How much had he forgotten? How many people had he hurt?

“You are afraid of yourself. You believe you will hurt others,” Nikolai stated.

“I…” William’s vision went blurry.

‘After what I did, I…I need my pills. I can’t…’

“William.” Nikolai called his name out with such emphasis that he instinctively looked up. “Do not forget. Yes, you will hurt people. Yes, people may even die. That is the reality of what we do. It is the price of trying to reach our dreams. Tell me, what is your dream? Do you have one? Or are you fighting with nothing but hubris?”

“My dream…? I-I don’t know, I just want to live and be happy with myself.”

“That is a fine dream. Do not be ashamed of it,” Nikolai said. “Youth does not mean idiocy. You are much smarter than you give yourself credit for. You have a keen eye for combat and a keener eye for friends. Be egotistical. Be proud. I see your muscles. I can see the work you’ve put in.”

“Y-you can?”

“You build muscle because you seek discipline. You seek victory against whatever it is that is ailing you. Do not stop halfway.” Eyeing him from the corner of his eye, Nikolai jabbed a finger at the heart. “Never forget, William: you are the amalgamation of your parents, your friends, your failures, your weaknesses, and everything you have experienced in your life. You are the strongest version of yourself.”

All of his best memories were so distant. His life had completely changed, yet there was this intense longing for something that he would never get to experience again for the rest of his life. Going to elementary school and using crayons and crazy amounts of pencil shavings. Graduating and going to middle school and then high school. Attending difficult classes. Doing homework and projects last minute. Getting excited for field trips. Begging to go to the computer lab every week. Watching Bill Nye the Science Guy because the teacher was too lazy to actually teach.

School had been everything. It was all he had known. He had a schedule. He ate lunch. He took pills. He was able to keep himself steady. He was able to live. Here, in this world, there was no such schedule. No teachers, no father, no mother, no lithium.

He was truly, utterly alone.

He was an adult.

Even so…he had kept going, hadn’t he?

William inhaled sharply. ‘He’s right, I am strong. Come on, William. You were doing it before, you can do it again. You don’t need them! You can do it! Come on!’

Goliath had been waiting with a small smile. He didn’t care how long he had to wait; he wanted a fight. The axe was a heavy two-handed weapon. He would need to increase his strength by an absurd degree in order to mitigate the weapon’s imbalancement.

“I have a plan,” William declared. “On my signal, you’ll swoop in and attack with your combo move.”

“I like that look in your eye. Go then.”

His lips curled up and William slowly walked towards Goliath. The unexpectedly slow motion threw the giant off. Whatever he was planning, it had nothing to do with speed.

Or so Goliath believed.

‘Advanced Flow of Mana Lv. 7!’

Three feet away, as Goliath raised a hand and sword defensively, William propelled towards him in a burst of dark magic. Rocks were flung back and he was able to heave his axe across his chest with ease.

[ Critical hit landed! ]