Chapter 32: A Battle With Vertigo

I waved one last time to Roland as I entered the small room. The principal had just finished giving a rundown of the final selection to all of us. Luckily it appeared to be a completely regular tournament.

‘With my current second-place ranking I have fantastic chances of getting into the top 20,’ I thought to myself happily.

The door automatically closed behind me with the sounds of whirling gears and hydraulics. The room rumbled slightly, throwing me slightly off balance.

‘Wait a minu-’

I fell backward as the entire room lurched forward. The room was an elevator, and it began a series of constant changes in directions and speed. Every few seconds I was thrown in a different direction like a ball in a washing machine. It wasn’t long before I felt my head begin to spin and my stomach begin to squirm uncomfortably.

‘Oh gods fuck, don’t throw up, don’t throw up.’

Unfortunately, I happened to be a victim of the condition known as motion sickness. A horrible churning, tingling, and squeamish nausea rose from my stomach. It’s a horrible feeling, motion sickness, a constant edge evoking the sensation of an inevitable and unpleasant outcome. Yet that outcome is also the only situation in which nausea can end for a moment, and yet even then you aren’t given the privilege of choosing when that outcome occurs.

I rolled to my side, clutching my abdomen and groaning in extreme discomfort. I almost preferred pain over this discomfort, at least pain felt more definable. Motion sickness felt almost vague in what it felt like, but its presence was ever clear.

‘...’

‘Go to hell bastard.’

He teased me about my condition, laughing sadistically at my discomfort. Even in something as relatively little as this, he took joy in my suffering. This application process over the past week had been an absolute gold mine for his enjoyment.

After what felt like hours, although it was probably just minutes, I felt the elevator finally come to a screeching halt. I groaned in a mixture of relief and annoyance, the journey was over. Although my stomach still lurched uncomfortably, at least it couldn’t get any worse.

“You have arrived at your stop, please exit the elevator.”

A computerized voice gave words to my salvation. The exit door opened up, leading out into the arena in which I would be fighting.

‘Deep breaths Mark, deep breaths.’ I began to take slow and large inhales of air, using it to counter the effects of my motion sickness.

I slowly stood up, my legs shaking from the weakness that came about from my motion sickness. Looking around me I was awestruck by the arena that AGH had created. Aside from the emptiness of the arena, it was completely identical to a real city. AGH was able to create a massive ruined city as part of the second selection, but this was debatably just as impressive. Every applicant would probably be in a similar arena to me, one that took up multiple streets and was detailed down to even scratches on cars in the streets. With there being 68 applicants that would mean at least 34 arenas were created for the final selection.

Looking upwards I saw a ceiling far above me. It appeared to be like a normal daytime sky, but on closer inspection, I could see that it was fake.

‘The only explanation would be a unique power, the unique power of a powerful psychic at that. Even a Mid A-Rank might struggle to create something like this.’

As I wandered around the arena I heard the sound of hydraulics from a distance away. I turned left towards the sound and, through a fence, saw an applicant walking out of their elevator. A girl, their hair seemed to sway in a wind that couldn’t possibly exist in the enclosed arena.

Based on her appearance, she was likely from Friaca, one of the six continents along with North and South Ameriac, Iasa, Antractica, and Ruepoe. Although she could also have been from South Iasa, I couldn’t be sure.

‘Stop making assumptions Mark, she could be from anywhere in the world.’

Her skin was black, naturally so as well, not just tanned from years of sun exposure. Her hair was tied back into numerous braids, each one having a strange wooden object on it. She had a long face with a pointed chin, causing her to appear strangely refined and almost regal.

She turned toward me, her eyes narrowed into targeted slits. I felt a slight chill run throughout me as a result of her stare. I instantly knew she had no intentions of making friends or interacting with me, she was here only for combat.

I saw her make a stiff bow in my direction, a bow which I reciprocated. Her hair continued to sway in a nonexistent wind, moving side to side in an almost hypnotic manner.

I racked my brain to search for any possible information on famous psychic families that she could come from. I tried to ignore it to not feel a sense of inferiority, but the AGH application had numerous applicants from psychic families. As Roland had previously explained, having a powerful hero did wonders for a psychic family's public image.

Unfortunately, my knowledge of psychic families wasn’t especially vast. My only guess as to a possible psychic family the girl came from was the Biko Family. As far as psychic families went it was small and rather weak. In recent times they had even lost two main family members to a war in Greinia.

“The matches will begin in 1 minute. Please prepare yourselves, applicants. A set of lines will show you the minimum distance each applicant will start at from each other.”

Mystical white lines then appeared in the arena, shining with an alluring luster. It was made of thousands of threads, linking together to create an alien-looking rope that separated me and the girl.

As I stepped to move past the rope I saw the girl tremble slightly as she walked. Even from this distance, I could see her trembling despite the ferocity with which she stepped on the ground. Behind each powerful step was apprehension and fear, although whether it was a fear of me or something else I couldn’t tell.

“The match will start in 10 seconds.”

I slammed my fist on my chest repeatedly in an attempt to quell the anxiety beginning to rise in me. I entered into a stance and began to augment my body with psychic powers. I felt my muscles burn as power ran through them, filling them with strength beyond what they were naturally capable of. My back faced buildings while my eyes locked onto the girls. Despite her trembling gait her eyes still radiated hostility.

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“9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… BEGIN!”

I braced myself for an attack, tensing all the muscles in my body and bringing up my arms to protect my face. Yet nothing came. The two of us stood staring at each other. I saw her shuffling her feet from side to side, waiting for me to make the first move.

‘Damnit, I don’t wanna start first either though.’

Usually, I’d have no problem launching the first attack, but this time I was overcome with anxiety. My heart beat heavily inside my chest, heavy enough that I could feel the rhythmic pumping without placing my hand over it. Beads of cold sweat had already begun to drip down my face and run down onto my suit.

Suddenly I saw the girl take a step forward and, instinctively, I flinched backward. My foot slid away from her slightly, only a few inches, yet a sudden light gleamed in my opponent's eye. She twisted her hand and I felt the ground beneath my moving foot slide sideways.

‘SHIT!’

I felt myself begin to fall and placed out my other foot to rebalance myself. By then however the girl had launched another attack and a blast of psychic energy collided with me, sending me flying into the building behind me.

I felt my body crash through several walls, each impact sending shocks of pain throughout me. I rolled out into the street behind the building, immediately hopping to my feet, only to find another blast of psychic energy aimed directly at my face.

I bent backward, narrowly allowing the psychic blast to fly above me. It was so close that I felt it singe the tips of my hair.

‘Damnit, I’ve leaned too far back. I have to commit to the movement.’

My center of gravity had gone too far back for me to stop myself from falling now. Embracing it, I placed out my arms, flowing psychic energy into them, and propelled myself back with a backward handspring.

My feet landed near the top of a building and I hooked myself onto the side of it. I quickly eyed the hole in a building that I had been sent through. The girl walked out of it, quickly searching her surroundings.

I dragged my hand horizontally in front of me, forming the air into a condensed blade. The girl had seen me launch myself upwards from my psychic-enhanced handspring, but she didn’t know exactly where. That single moment of searching gave me an advantage.

I pushed my blade of wind at her. It sliced through the air with a high-pitched whistle. The girl turned her head toward me and barely put her arms up in time to block the attack. Sparks of psychic energy flew out as the windblade collided with her barrier. She was thrown onto her back while the wind blade was redirected up, slicing deep into a building.

‘Her reaction time is incredible, as are her senses. That attack is invisible, the only thing that announces its presence is the sound it makes. Yet, she was able to block it just from that.’

I grit my teeth in frustration and leaped into the air. I had sent her off balance for a moment. My mistake earlier was allowing the girl to act first, and she had used that chance to throw me off balance. The result was me taking the first hits of the battle. But with her now in a disadvantageous position, I had an opportunity to return the favor.

I applied telekinesis to the building behind her and began to pull on it. Cracks formed throughout the structure as I attempted to rip it off its foundations.

‘B-Rank’s could lift a mansion off the earth, even if only for a tenth of a second. So this… IS POSSIBLE!’

I screamed as I pulled the building off the ground, falling onto the girl. With a crash, debris and smoke covered the area in which she was. I fell to the earth, landing on top of the rubble.

‘Shit, I’ve made a mistake,’ I realized suddenly. The building had sent dust into the air, completely obscuring my vision. ‘I’m too impulsive right now. I shouldn’t have tried to use that building as a weapon. It costs too much psychic energy for too little return.’

While I had to use a large amount of psychic energy to pull down the building with telekinesis, the girl had to use comparatively less. She only needed enough to defend her body from the falling building.

‘I got emotional over the failed wind blade. Damnit Mark! Get a hold of yourself.’ I scolded myself inwardly for my impulsivity.

I began to search around for the girl, but with the dust in the way I could barely see in front of my face. Realizing the futility of trying to search for her in these conditions I used air manipulation to spin the dust away from me. I spun my arm in the air around my head, the wind following my movements.

‘Perfect, now where is she?’

The dust cleared away from me, forming a wall of pale brown particles around me. Satisfied I released my psychic power that was causing the wind to move. To my surprise though, the wind didn’t stop.

‘What the fuck?’

I felt the wind begin to pick up speed and the dust wall expand higher into a towering mini tornado. I felt my feet begin to slide on the ground, unable to find any grip.

“SHIT!”

I screamed aloud as my feet were pulled out from under me. I tried to grab a piece of rubble, but it too was dislodged, spinning into the tornado with me. I felt myself rising higher and higher into the air, the girl used my wind manipulation to help accelerate the creation of this tornado rapidly.

I spun uncontrollably, unable to see anything due to the flying dust. Every attempt to open my eyes resulted in me being blinded by particles colliding with my cornea. Tears filled my eyes as my body attempted to flush out the foreign items. All this happened while debris from the destroyed building collided with my body. I felt my shoulder dislocate as I made contact with a chunk of concrete, causing me to scream out in pain.

I felt my stomach begin to churn uncontrollably as motion sickness began to overtake me. My brain could feel me moving, yet couldn’t see how, as my eyes were forced shut.

‘Fuck! I need to get out of here now!’

I used telekinesis to grab all objects in my nearby location. Reaching out with my hand, a massive invisible palm grabbed large amounts of debris flying in the tornado. I’d prefer to only use the bare minimum amount of psychic energy to escape, but without being able to see I needed to wrap the entire area in my influence. After reinforcing my body, I threw all the debris into me, sending me out of the tornado.

The storming winds and dust suddenly disappeared as I exited the whirlwind, falling to the ground. I attempted to open my eyes, but they were still forced shut, my body refusing to obey me. I collided painfully with the corner of a building cutting into my leg and drawing out blood. I felt my neck snap back, my head limply cracking against a wall, before falling to the ground.

My entire world spun uncontrollably and I felt like my body was moving in a constant circle although I knew I wasn’t. I felt a warm liquid dribble down my leg, although I was in such a daze that I could barely feel it.

I groaned, shakily moving myself onto my knees. I vomited suddenly, a result of my motion sickness from the tornado. Tears streamed down my face, slightly due to the pain in my leg and motion sickness, but mostly due to my eyes trying to get rid of the dust in them.

‘Move Mark… You need to fight her…’

I wiped the tears from my face and was barely able to peel open my eyes. I was in an alleyway between two buildings. I saw the tornado quickly begin to dissipate, sending debris flying onto the ground.

‘She must have seen me exit the tornado. I need to get up.’

I attempted to stand up, screaming in pain as my right leg protested with a stabbing sensation across my leg. I looked at it, the suit had been torn open and my leg was visible. A deep gash ran across my calf, going over an inch deep.

I fell back down onto the ground, focusing instead on healing.

‘Shit, shit, shit,’ I began to panickly think. I was in a horrible position. A severe injury and an opponent that was almost certainly in a far superior state than me.

I heard footsteps begin to echo in the alleyway as the girl approached me. My leg burned as it began to rapidly heal. My healing was incredible for a B-Rank, but there just wasn’t enough time.

Gritting my teeth, I got onto my knees and looked out to where the echoing footsteps came from. The girl's shadow from the artificial lights on the ceiling stretched out in front of me, coming closer and closer with each step.

‘Fuck… shit…’

I tried to move, but my body ached in protesting pain. My leg was healing at a rather fast rate, but it just wasn’t enough for this situation. I then felt blood trickle down my face and I noticed that there was a strange ringing in my head.

‘Damnit, damnit. This can’t be it. Not yet, not yet.’

I was ranked second among the applicants, but with 50 points given per victory, my position was far from assured. If I failed in this first round, I might not make the top 20.

“Aaaaaghh!”

I brought my left leg up, allowing me to enter a kneeling position. But it was too late. In front of my eyes were two white shoes. I began to hear the voice of a girl heavily panting in exhaustion and I turned my head up. The girl's hair no longer swayed, instead, it rested down her back, reaching her hips.

“Surrender,” she said, her voice shaking in exhaustion.

I felt my body tremble helplessly. It was all I could do to remain kneeling without falling over. My vision was still blurry from the tornado, but I could make out her arm coming in front of my face. A bright red circle formed just inches away from my face. My skin tingled from the psychic power that emanated from it.

As my eyes rid themselves of dust my tears finally stopped dripping and my vision cleared. As my vision focused on the girl's face a sense of curiosity rose in me. Her eyes still narrowed at me, but behind it was a softness. A deep sadness and fear was etched behind her ferocious mask. I smiled pitifully at her.

‘This must hurt you, doesn’t it?’

“No,” I told her. For a split moment, I saw fear and regret fall on her face before vanishing as fast as it had arrived.

‘You aren’t cut out for this life.’

I had no time to form a barrier, reinforce my body, or even blink. The few inches that separated me and the girl's attack were covered before I could even realize it. A large explosion erupted in the alleyway, completely demolishing the surrounding buildings, and I was consumed by sadness, fear, and regret.

…

‘You bastard.’

‘...’

‘Playing a game with us, both of us.’

‘...’

‘Of course not. It doesn’t matter what happens, I won’t lose here. After all, you still exist.’

End of Chapter 32