Chapter 98: Special Lesson 8
"Ahmm." Ed, mouth open wide, started eating, relishing, watching, and bothering the orange cat, who was minding his own business. "Mishu," he called while chewing, "I know you might have seen many cool things in the Tower over the years... yeah, me too... but Samuel fighting is something else, haha."
"I mean, the Tower has too many cool things to see, but this is different, I promise. He really looks cool as hell, damn. I’ve been a fan for centuries, and I do have a very good reason for that."
He leaned forward, holding a cup in his hands, eyes focused on the arena. "I haven’t seen it in a long time, but I’m still a fan."
He extended his arm upwards enthusiastically. "It’s just... aura... he has lots of aura."
"Once he hits or gets hit, the point of impact lights up before rapidly flowing across the rest of his body..."
He smiled. "Bastard became almost untouchable centuries ago, and he’s probably even stronger now... sigh."
Below, Samuel and Moon, oblivious to the fact that Ed was now experiencing the peak of entertainment, were both about to clash.
Samuel was already marching rapidly at Moon, who excitedly welcomed the fight.
Fighting at the same strength, he didn’t believe or imagine himself losing.
There was no way in hell.
Moon unceremoniously threw the first punch aimed at Samuel’s face... a straight, normal punch. Samuel leaned to the side, letting it pass by his face before throwing one of his own...
Moon, as seasoned as he was in fist fighting, saw through it.
He twisted his body to the side and raised his knee to meet Samuel’s abdomen.
Samuel raised his own leg, shin against shin.
Thud~
Upon impact, the seals instantly responded. Like a wave of light, both of their bodies flashed, starting at the shin, rapidly expanding all over, before rapidly dimming once again.
It only took a moment... Both of them took a step back.
"Wow," Moon exclaimed at the sight of both his body and Samuel’s...
But more importantly, at Samuel himself. He didn’t linger, even though he was eager to land another hit to see it again.
Instead, "You’re pretty good," Moon praised. He felt like his leg had hit a solid boulder.
Their first exchange gave Moon a lot of clarity about what kind of person Samuel was.
"You’re also someone who learned fighting by getting beaten and beating others," Moon said as he took the initiative this time.
As he was shorter than Samuel, he tried to take advantage of that fact. By the time he was inches away from Samuel, he launched a fist at his face.
He ducked slightly.
Just enough for the fist aimed at the face to find its way to the ribs.
Samuel, whose eyes were scanning every minute movement of Moon’s, simply let his elbow intercept the fist.
His other hand had already lunged at Moon’s head.
Moon instinctively knew... The moment his attack was blocked, he knew a new one was coming for him.
He rotated to the side while lowering his body even further.
The punch missed, but...
Samuel, who had already adjusted his aim and the angle he was facing at the very same moment, rotated his body to the side.
Perfectly facing the still-ducking Moon, he thrust at his face, which was perfectly aligned with his knee.
Moon at this moment had two choices.
The first, slide backwards.
The second, receive it and try to perfectly block it.
The moment the first choice came to his mind, he knew too well... the moment he evaded the knee, the foot would find his face with no way out.
Thus,
Moon brought both of his forearms in front of his face.
Thud~
"You have good senses," Samuel praised.
He saw that Moon’s way of fighting relied heavily on evasion, and thus... he was aiming to bait him with that last attack.
Moon, on the other hand, didn’t think much of it. "I don’t want to go around with a knee-smashed face."
He shook both of his arms, feeling the weight of the impact was rather not what he had expected.
Moon, who wasn’t used to having someone exchange hits with him evenly, was starting to enjoy this.
"I’ve only gotten beaten by being swarmed or, well... jumped by an entire group," he admitted. "It’s rare for me to fight like this."
But there was another important point he needed to bring up.
"Why does it feel weird?" Moon asked Samuel instead of rushing in for another round.
"How weird?"
"It... well... I’m not sure... It kinda feels stronger than it should, but also, somewhat less damaging than it should." Moon tried to explain it however he felt it.
Samuel, on the other hand, wasn’t truly going to dismiss his question this time.
Probably, it was a question he deemed worth answering.
"Our stats are perfectly the same," Samuel started with his explanation. "But my body is in better muscular condition, as well as taller."
Samuel asked this time, "Do you know what that means?"
Moon pouted. "Erm, your body can produce more power with the same stats?" He took a guess based on the conversation he’d had until now.
"Exactly," Samuel agreed. "It works both ways; if your body has better muscles and condition, your stats will also increase, and if it’s in good condition, you can produce more power than you normally would based on stats alone."
"But why doe—" His body shivered. "What the fuck?"
He rubbed his arms at the sudden feeling, unpleasant but also insignificantly painful... It felt like bugs were crawling under his skin.
He shivered again. "What’s going on?"
"Since the beginning, you never asked what this seal does," Samuel said flatly.
Moon felt itchy, madly so... He started scratching his arms... his chest.
He rubbed his face violently.
"What does... UGGGH DAMMIT!" he screamed at the itch coming from an unreachable spot on his back.
One hand was trying to reach his back while the other was ripping at his scalp. He looked no different from an animal swarmed with ticks.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?" he screamed, unable to control or bear the rising feeling he was struck with.
As a slave, he was more than tolerant of things that would cause itching... or rather, the feeling of scratching oneself maddeningly when feeling an itch.
He was used to all sorts of causes, including the healing of wounds... He had decent control, but he was being assaulted by something he wasn’t familiar with, nor could he control.
A different feeling from pain, like something was invading his skin, stripping him of the feeling of his completeness.
Samuel glanced at Ed for a fraction of a second, who was now standing... He wasn’t eating or drinking anymore.
"I had no idea... I really didn’t." Ed’s eyes were full of disbelief. "I didn’t know it was this bad, Samuel."
He knew Samuel went through lots of things, even experimented on his own body... He had suffered wounds that could cripple or take a life.
He thought that was all of it; he thought he had seen it all.
"Come on, kid, get it together," He cheered in his heart; for he wished Moon well.