Chapter 100: Special Lesson 10
Moon lunged again at Samuel; this time, his hands were clawing at Samuel’s face.
Samuel stood a few paces away. "Losing your mind, losing control of your actions." He locked his eyes with the maddened ones of Moon. "Is that what Edmond saw in you?"
Once again...
When the attack came, Samuel countered. This time, he swiftly moved his arm, locking it with Moon’s, forcing it down.
He lowered his posture, aiming another elbow thrust at Moon’s diaphragm.
Though this time...
It didn’t hit the mark.
"What?" Ed, high in the audience, shouted... He was unable to believe his eyes.
A semisolid lump of Echo came out of Moon’s abdomen, intercepting the elbow strike.
Not only that.
It forced Samuel’s arm, who still had his stats sealed to match Moon’s before going into a berserk state, to recoil back.
Stunned for a moment, Samuel blinked twice.
Moon didn’t wait for him to come to terms with what happened; the lump of Echo phased through Moon’s body after receiving the attack.
As for Moon himself, he didn’t force his hands back into another attack; instead, his teeth were aimed at the taller man’s neck.
Snap~
The sound of teeth biting nothing echoed as Samuel leaned back.
"So it could be used like this?" He was still surprised, yet amazed.
Up above, Ed was also squinting in disbelief.
Even Mishu’s eyes looked on with almost curiosity.
"That... That’s a damn impressive recoil," Ed couldn’t help but exclaim. "If it wasn’t Samuel, is there anyone at his level who could react to this?"
Yet, more importantly. "Wasn’t he unable to detach it from his body?" Ed questioned.
Ed wasn’t sure about many things; he needed to watch more to find the answers he sought. He wanted a conclusion as well.
The next exchange was immediate.
The lump bounced off a corner behind Moon before finding its way back to him. Or rather, to Samuel’s fist coming for Moon’s face.
The lump phased through Moon’s head, hindering Samuel’s attack again and forcing his arm back, leaving a wide opening that Moon took instant advantage of.
Moon, this time, didn’t leave Samuel’s attack to recoil aimlessly.
In that split second, the attack came into contact with his Echo; both his hands clung onto the arm before it was forced back.
The recoiling arm brought him closer to Samuel’s neck.
Once again, he bared his teeth at Samuel.
Samuel, who was expecting something like this to happen, landed his other fist perfectly on Moon’s jaw, forcing him down.
"Are you faking it?" Samuel asked the downed Moon. "These aren’t actions of someone who has lost his mind."
Moon wasn’t in the slightest bothered by his words or his injuries. He instantly clawed at Samuel’s leg again.
Whereas Samuel, once again, stomped on his face.
Yet, a certain lump of Echo found its way to his feet.
Bouncing it away, while returning to Moon’s body in the opposite direction.
Unlike arms, the recoil of legs was more critical and fundamental.
Samuel, while still at the same stats level as Moon, had his leg, along with his body, bounce backward, forced into a state of imbalance.
On the ground, Moon finally found the perfect opportunity to kill the one who threatened him, inflicting unreasonable pain.
The current enemy his mind recognized to be eliminated for his safety.
Moon’s hand shot for the trailing foot of Samuel, jerking it while bringing his other hand closer to his neck.
Samuel’s eyes, golden with seals, watched as Moon’s fingers came closer to his neck rapidly.
"So, you really haven’t completely lost your mind." He was sure of something now, more than ever.
With these words said, Samuel decided to bring this fight to the next phase.
The seals where Moon’s hand came closer, those that were around Samuel’s neck...
They shone.
Slightly brighter than the rest.
For a moment.
A very short one.
Before—
Boom~
Something exploded, forcing Moon, along with his arm, away from Samuel.
"I didn’t allow you to use Echo to look down on you." Samuel stood straight, looking at Moon, whose seals managed to absorb some of the damage Samuel released.
It brought the damage inside his body again, bringing the invasive feeling to an even deeper level, and with it...
More madness.
"I’ll be using this instead," Samuel announced to Moon, who started screaming again in response.
Ed watched the scene play out.
In his mind, questions ran rapidly...
’Can the kid use his Echo like this if awake?’
’Is it that useful for now only, or would it keep being useful?’
’How did it get to that level of hardness even?’
Countless questions, but the last was the most important and puzzling... He had lived for a very long time and seen many things.
Yet, the Echo of a new ascender, or even a thousand-year-old ascender, being this solid and almost impractical to use was something.
"How would he even use combat arts like this?" he questioned the scene. "It doesn’t look like it’d soften any time soon."
He watched how it tanked against Samuel’s attacks repeatedly without fail; if anything, it didn’t seem to be something that would yield to its owner.
Moreover—
"What if he gets used to it like this, only for it to soften as he ascends?"
Ed thought about the ugliest possible outcome for Moon.
He rubbed his head. "We need to find a way to prevent something like this from happening."
He trusted that if Samuel could find a way to tame these seals, Moon would as well... for it was the least critical of the problems running through his mind right now.
Below, Samuel leaned forward.
The soles of his feet released a shockwave, sending him dashing forward at a blinding speed.
His stern face was even more serious; the light in his eyes shone more dangerously than ever.
Instantly, he was an arm’s length from Moon, his fist aimed at his face.
His elbow exploded with another shockwave, bringing his fist like a cannon into Moon’s face.
Once again, it hit the lump of Echo.
The lump of Echo went flying, but Samuel’s fist...
BOOM~
Another explosion rang at his elbow, bringing the fist a second time without the slightest decrease in force or momentum.
Moon, who supposedly had lost his mind to his Berserk Trait, leaned forward and threw his body like a spear at Samuel’s abdomen.
Samuel’s foot released an explosion; his knee shot upwards—
Boom~
Meeting Moon’s chest squarely, sending him flying upwards.
Their contact once again sent waves of light across the matrix of seals on their bodies.
"Don’t get me wrong, you need to reach a certain threshold for this process to be completed," Samuel explained while forcing the air to crackle around his knuckles, aimed at Moon’s face.
Moon, who was still midair—
Thud~
...was forced down, recoiling on the ground while a mouthful of blood forced its way out of his mouth.
He instantly shot up again; his Echo was bouncing into his way to intercept Samuel’s barrage of attacks.
Yet...
It was entirely useless.
Samuel’s body moved like a ghost; his attacks were blindingly bright and fast alike.
Moon, no matter what he did, couldn’t stop him. Not in his current state.
His Echo kept bouncing aimlessly, unable to intercept the second attack, and his body in its current state couldn’t keep up with Samuel’s speed.
Samuel, who was untouchable and utterly destructive, wasn’t attacking aimlessly either.
"Some things must be done, otherwise you’ll suffer this pain forever." With these words said, Moon was finally pinned down at the corner of the arena.
A new barrage of attacks was about to land on his body.