Chapter 40: The Boxer
No POV:
"Heyyy! You finally made it!"
Amy waved enthusiastically from the center of the field.
"Huh?" Axel couldn’t understand what was happening.
’Why is she here?’
"Did you wait long?" Upon reaching them, Hayley spoke up.
"Oh not at all. I didn’t mind waiting..."
"Wait, what’s all this?" Axel raised an eyebrow. He wanted answers...
"She’s the one I intend to swap Vax with..."
That made sense. But he just had to ask: "Why though?"
"This is an endurance training. Originally, I wanted you and Vax to go at it. But I thought otherwise..."
"And why is that?"
"The goal for you today is to maintain combat for 2 hours. Imagine going up against Vax. You’d be done for in 30 minutes. 40 if he’s bored."
Axel’s eyes widened. "He’s that good?"
"He’s faster than you. All of us. By a land slide. Fighting against him with your level of experience wouldn’t be a smart move..."
"Never knew you cared." He muttered with a coy smile.
Hayley flinched. "Don’t get it twisted. I just can’t have you lying in a puddle of blood. It’s... Unpleasant."
"Are we going to do this or what?" Before anyone could say anything, Amy said in a somewhat bored tone.
"Sorry about that. Axel, let’s begin." Hayley said as she began walking to the opposite side of the field.
The rules were simple: 2 hours. He and Amy would be going at it for two hours.
No other rules...
"That’s rather vague..."
"Oh c’mon... At least it’ll be fun." As Amy said this, something started forming on her hands.
He skin hardened into a stone like texture reaching all the way to her elbows.
"Uhhh..."
"What? You didn’t think I’d have an ability like this didn’t you." She chuckled then took a stance. "Just do your best alright? I won’t go easy on you either."
He raised an eyebrow then also took a stance. "’Go easy on me?’ Isn’t that my line?"
She slammed her fist together, making a *boom* sound before laughing. "Sure... Alright let’s begin"
~~~~~
**BOOM**
A part of the field exploded. Axel tumbling out before running.
"Shit! She really isn’t going easy on me!"
[Where are you running off to? She’s right there.]
"Yeah, sure. Cause you didn’t almost have your head blow off!"
As he ran, Amy appeared right in front of him.
She punched him, her hand driving straight into his gut.
"Arghh—!"
He flew back, slamming into the wall behind him.
For the past twenty minutes or so, he had been tanking hits from her. Her fists were weapons of mass destruction. Way stronger than it looked...
"That power is unfitting for a lady!" Standing up, he dashed forward.
[You have activated phase one of Scarion]
He instantly closed the gap. Planted his hand into the ground and kicked delivered an axe kick.
**TRRGH**
"Tch..." She used her hands to block. The hit sending a shockwave. Before she could counter, he dashed backwards, stopping a few meters away from her.
"Arrgghh I felt that way more than I thought I would..." Rubbing his feet, he complained.
[She’s coming.]
He barely moved aside, the floor exploding moments later.
’I’m guessing she’s not a contracted hunter either...’
What kind of power did she use?
He couldn’t feel a devil’s presence but that was obviously a devil’s ability.
It had a very uncanny similarity with Vaela.
Like the same type of energy flowed through them....
Axel gritted his teeth his wasn’t doing a very good job in this form.
"Hades! Can’t I like ascend or something?" Dodging a kick, he called out.
[Of course you can! You wouldn’t have three forms if you couldn’t.]
"Then why can’t I?!" He yelled. He had been trying to ’ascend’ but it didn’t seem to be working.
He was locked in a dangerous game where evasion was the only option.
And he was barely keeping up...
[Well, there is a downside. You cannot speed up the process of saturation. You can only move past a particular phase on the fly.]
Axel blocked an incoming fist, tumbling on the hard floor before quickly getting up and running again.
[Which means, you can skip phase one and go straight to phase two but once you transform, you must be saturated before going to the next phase.]
"Very convenient..." He muttered sarcastically.
[The time need for saturation is completely random. Some days it would be quick, other days, it would take more time. Even I can’t provide an estimate to how long you will be in this form.]
"Wha— why didn’t you tell me sooner?!"
He tried to kick Amy but she grabbed his leg and vaulted him upward.
She appeared above him and punching him back to the ground.
**BOOM**
He came crashing down. Laying unmoving for several seconds before dragging himself back to his feet.
However, when he did, something happened.
His vision was going dark, darkness creeping into the corners of his eyes.
Then came cackling.
"*Can’t have you dying now can I?*"
"Hk—!" He covered one of his eyes. The other one going completely dark. That cyan dot appearing right after.
He was suddenly filled with overwhelming bloodlust. A dark substance creeping towards his mouth...
Cyan energy slowly sparking to life as energy surged...
He bit his lip. Desperately trying to supress the urge.
He bit it so hard he drew blood, the pain and familiar metallic taste washing over him.
"Uhm are you okay?" Amy sensing, something was off, landed near him and asked.
"I’m... Fine...." As soon as he could fully register the pain, the energy died down gradually. His eyes regaining it’s normal color and the darkness creeping away.
"If you can’t go on, let me know. We’ll call of the training and get you looked at...."
**TRRGH**
Before she could finish, she blocked an incoming kick to the side.
"Oh no we’re not... I’mma get this shit done... Rahh!"
Adding force into the kick, he finally managed to push her back.
He had made up his mind. He would use this training to hone his skills. That way, it would reduce the amount of times he would end up at deaths door there by giving Nyroth no reason to manifest...
The motivation was burning inside him like a wild fire. Sudden bursts of energy surged through him.
The red color becoming more pronounced as his teeth grew. The familiar grin spreading across his face.
[You have activated phase two of Scarion]
"Finally!" He yelled excitedly.
[You cannot rush through a transformation but you can prolonge the time spent in it.]
"Oh... So it isn’t mandatory to ascend when saturated? Even better!"
He rushed at Amy and clashed, their fists moving in a destructive rhythm.
They were finally fighting on equal footing..
**CRACK**
He was kicked. The force strong enough to bend his arm backward.
"Heh..." With a laugh, he forcibly broke it back into place.
"Doesn’t that hurt?" Amy said with a smile.
"Of course! It hurts like hell!"
They clashed again. This time with more destructive force. He was slower than he was in his first form but significantly stronger.
This time there were no overly detailed method to use the form. He just had to punch as hard as he could.
"Having fun?" Axel punched her sending her back.
"You know it!" They were slamming each other with every ounce of their strengths.
Axel’s arms were almost completely useless by now... Constantly breaking and forcing his arm back into place caused him to loose all sensation..
But still, he kept pounding. Completely ignorant to the burning pain that spread across his body...
**BOOM**
After sometime, the clashed. Then, a stand off.
Both were breathing heavily, calculating each other’s next move.
Calculating their own next move.
Then,
"Time!"
Hayley called. Her voice resonating across the field.
"The time was 2 hours. You both spent over 4 hours..." She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "4 hours of just.. punching."
Amy sat on the ground allowing the exhaustion wash over her. "Believe it or not, that’s how a real battle is. Power isn’t always the deciding factor. It’s endurance."
Then she turned to Axel. "Speaking of, you did pretty well.. your stamina has increased. And you got skill too"
"Yeah... Th—thanks" Breathing heavily, he managed to voice out.
"That’s all for today. C’mon, let’s get back to the infirmary and get you two checked on."
Axel assessed himself. His hands were mangled, twisting in unnatural angles. Amy was in a less worse shape but she was also wounded; cuts and bruises all over her body.
"Yeah... Sure..." Amy breathlessly responded.
Axel allowed himself to fall to the ground, a sigh escaping his mouth. "Phew..."
Day three of his hellish training completed....
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