As the first round of the Underground tournament came to an end, everybody was talking about one thing: The Nuts Shmasheress.
Not only was she the only woman in the competition, she managed to defeat one of the most promising combatants in a single hit. Many said it was a shameful attack, and that there should be a rematch. She eventually became a source of conflict and division between the supporters.
One part wanted her to lost at all cost, while the other wished for her to crush everyone in her way.
However, the tournament was a gathering of strong individuals, and it was only the first of the six matches required to win the title. The closer you get to the final match, and more powerful the opponent will be.
Everyone was waiting for her second round, who, without a doubt, will be more challenging than the first.
Not.
Her opponent was another tall man, but unlike the ‘Crusher', he was way skinnier. He was practising a sort of martial art, with fast kicks and punches.
Alice quickly suspected he was using some kind of flux enhancement, but didn't think too much about it. If this is truly a place for the mighty to fight, everyone is probably using flux in one way or another. Also, the Crazy Monkeys she ‘fought' from a few weeks ago weren't that strong even though they were using it, so it didn't mean much.
Without waiting for the referee to announce the start, the martial fighter jumped on Alice, and plummeted her with a barrage of punches, so fast it looked like his arms disappeared.
And after a few seconds, he stopped.
It was too painful.
For him.
He wasn't prepared for that.
His fists covered with his own blood.
As if he was hitting a diamond wall this whole time.
⎾Diamond Skin⏌⎾Skin Solidification⏌
To be fair, she did use Earth magic.
Thus, Alice ended the fight. He was smashed, and the legend went on for another round.
The crowd went wild. Her already-established popularity soared to even greater hights, and in an instant she became the dark horse of the tournament.
Well, it was an expected turned of event for her, but she was still somewhat disappointed. When she saw him using martial, she thought maybe she would be able to absorb some useful techniques, but it was just too weak compared to what she learned from her master and looking at Sam's art.
She didn't manage to get much from this last one, but enough to realize it was quite potent. This flow thing was weird, but she understood enough to use the basics. The overhaul principle is to use external sources of energy and direct them where you want, like it was your own. Really hard to pull out, because it required a significant preparation time and precise movements, but if you have the speed advantage, or any cheat like foresight, it becomes really powerful, and technically you don't even have to use much of your own power.
In conclusion, Alice was starting to realize how strong Sam could become if he managed to master his art, and how much she missed him already.
Fortunately, she had some fights to keep her mind away…
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M: I w0u1d 1ike t0 ask y0u s0mething ab0ut y0ur survei11ance netw0rk, 0r whatever it is.
M: He110?
M: Wi11iam?
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Struggle#17
Objective: Win the Poker round
Sub-Objective: All in - Win the tournament
Struggle#18
Objective: Find the exit
Sub-Objective: none
Struggle#19
Objective: Kill Matthiew
Sub-Objective: none
…
Well, it’s been a while since I started a struggle in the middle of a plain, I guess… To be fair, it seems like there is a city not that far away.
The few last struggles were surprisingly easy, so I’m on my guard for this one. Especially since I’m supposed to kill someone. That will be really hard to do, because either he’ll be a bad guy, and I’ll be able to gather up the courage to end his life, or it will be a normal person, and I don’t see myself killing someone for my own benefit.
Even if he does something horrible, if he has circumstance I’ll be able to see it with my vision, and I’ll be back to square one.
For me to pass this, this Matthiew really needs to be one of the most despicable human beings I've ever met. Yep, I have a bad feeling about this...
While approaching the town, something felt wrong, and I quickly realized it wasn’t a town, but ruins.
It was several kilometres away, but I could see some tall building partially destroyed. The closer I was, the more details I found.
The town had probably be deserted, after some kind of battle, and judging by the omnipresent vegetation, it must've had happened a long time ago.
I hope I’ll be able to know more with my BeForesight - I came up with the name myself!
I'm quite proud of my progress concerning both my BeForesight and Inspection. I'm even able to see through matter now. I developed it during the poker match, even though it wasn't useful at all, as I got four full houses in a row - what can I say, I'm a lucky man.
Nonetheless, it was quite helpful when I had to exit the labyrinth in the last struggle. It was built within a mountain and inhabited by a bunch of half-bull monsters wandering the corridors, trying to kill me on sight. They were stronger than me, but I was fast enough to escape.
Though… it was a bit disturbing to see that Nami and Xav were there too. It's not impossible they had to go through the same struggle earlier, and I don't really care, on the contrary, I was a bit relieved to see her in top shape. The weird part was that they had a severe argument at the end. For some reason, I didn't manage to catch everything they said, but I heard them bringing up my name, so…
Sigh, I hope it wasn’t as bad as it looked.
The fact that my vision glitched was weird in itself, but it was probably due to the place itself. The closer I was to the exit and the more I had trouble to use my abilities. Another one of this Quest many mysteries.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
At least, it should be working just fine here.
As I started to have most of the city in sight, I began the process.
I continued walking as the scenery in front of me changed. The sky turned red, with huge column of smokes here and there. There were flames in the street, and many gunshots sound, as well as people, screaming and running.
It felt like a war scene, but I couldn't see any opponent, there was only one side, firing at something inside a dome of smoke.
Thousands of bullets were piercing the smoke… if someone was in there, he was dead for sure. Nonetheless, they kept firing madly in the same direction. I couldn't see their faces, but there shouts were enough for me to feel the madness and despair they were putting in this barrage of bullets.
What the hell are they fighting against?
I didn't have to wait long before getting my answer.
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1154 years ago
“Why isn’t he dead?!”
“I have no idea captain! It’s like… nothing is working on him!”
“Fuck!!!”
“Captain! The target has exited the smoke!”
The soldiers group, last remnants of the hundreds originally protecting the city, pointed their weapon once again at the entity in front of them.
It was a man. A simple man, with long white hair falling to his ankle. He was almost completely naked, and totally unscathed. Holding a gun with his right hand, as the other was on his belt garnished with grenades, he fired once, and took down one of the soldiers.
A perfect shot, at least 30 meters long, with virtually no aim time. And the response was prompt.
“Fire!!!”
It was their last stance, but…
The bullets went through the guy. Each time he was hit, you could see his body getting hurt, his head explode, or blood spurting, but an instant after, the man was back in his original position, as if the hit was an illusion.
"I-I-I can't die like this!!!"
One of the soldiers dropped his weapon and tried to run, only to get shot in the back.
The immortal man didn't shot many times, but he never missed. Yes, without a doubt, it was the end. They couldn't hope for a way to escape alive, the man was too close now.
It was foolish of them to try to stop him, they should have run as soon as they saw what he was capable of.
“Fuck this shit!!!”
“Captain?”
One of the soldiers, apparently the captain, took out two grenades from his pocket and threw them.
“Eat that!”
"Captain! I told you it won't…"
Two enormous explosions followed up, way bigger than you would escape from hand grenades.
They all jumped on the ground, head down.
Then… the waited.
And nothing happened.
A whole minute passed, and felt like a year.
And nothing happened.
They couldn’t see through the smoke, but…
“He…Hehehe… HAHAHA, finally! See what happen when…”
PAN
Another soldier fell, and the naked man revealed himself once again.
“Im…Impossible…”
Unable to think straight, the captain found himself in total despair. Tears started to appear in the corner of his eyes, and… his second rushed to him.
“Captain! We have to fight! We have to slow him down! He’ll go after the civilian! Even if it’s only one second, we have to slow him down!”
Hearing those words, he turned his head to look at his man. With a stray of water falling down his cheeks and mad eyes, he screamed.
“Fuck that! Who cares?!! You slow him!!!”
And he fired at his man's leg, before running straight for his life, away from the immortal.
The soldier fell on the ground, holding his leg and shouting his pain. Seeing that, the other soldiers started to abandon the fight too, dropping their gear, running away in despair.
Without surprise, they were all shot to death, except one. The captain was still alive.
The white-hair naked man had his gun pointed towards him, but blocking his sight was the injured soldier, barely conscious, sweating like a waterfall.
Without firing, the immortal continued to move forward.
Eventually, he stopped, as his weapon met with the soldier forehead, as he was standing on one leg, protecting his superior. The immortal felt the fear around him, but it was overshadowed by the determination in his eyes.
Thus, the man spoke.
“Why… are you protecting him?”
"…you... you need... to be stopped."
“You can’t stop me.”
"...so what?"
The immortal raised his right eyebrow, as well as the corner of his mouth.
"So be it."
And he fired.
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Wow… that was heavy.
I wonder who this long hair guy was, or is. I don’t really know how far into the past it took place, more than a hundred years at least, but if bullets can’t kill him, he might as well be alive now.
Holy… I hope he is not Matthiew.
Well, knowing the book, it’s likely he is Matthiew…
Fuck!
This is even worse than my worst case scenario.
How am I gonna… Hum? Wait, there someone!
As I watched the vision, I kept advancing toward the city, and finally arrived. As I stepped in, I heard something. Even though my speciality is sight, my enhanced earing is also pretty good. And without a doubt, I heard footsteps.
The place was totally quiet, so I had no doubts. There is someone in the city.
Without wasting an instant, I started running toward him - or her. I tracked him easily, and a few streets later, I found him.
He was walking by the remains of a destroyed house, looking down, deep in his thoughts.
Immediately, I was relieved that it wasn't the guy I saw in the vision. He had short dark hair and eyes, and was wearing jeans and a leather jacket.
However… I feel like I have seen him somewhere…
Oh! I remember!
Oh.
Oh…
Ooooooh…
He…
I just saw him.
He was in my vision.
He’s the soldier.