Chapter 44: Welcome a winter with a kick in the face.
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✦•✦•✦•✦•『Chapter 44: Start』•✦•✦•✦•✦
Ahh, winter ~
A season filled with nothing but darker colors and depressing vibes, sprinkled with rain and snow every now and then.
It was truly a season that was enjoyed and favored by a niche group of people who liked to stay at home most of the time, warming up under blankets and drinking warm drinks like hot chocolate.
And it was the same in the world of Argena.
It was a perfect time for people to stay inside, wear warm clothes, and enjoy a slow morning, either solo or with their families. After all, a snowy morning was magical in its own right.
But it was completely the opposite inside the Great Devil's Den Forest.
BAM! CRASH!
Smashing and crashing sounds could be heard throughout the forest, and the audience to these shattering sounds were the monsters trapped inside the forest by the Stratos barrier.
To their horror, the destruction was approaching the center of the forest, with trees flying into the sky every now and then.
Clearly, there was something fighting near the center of the forest. In hindsight, it should be considered normal that a forest filled with nothing but dangerous monsters, creatures that could rip through buildings with ease, would be filled with territory disputes and constant fights.
After all, it was the law of the jungle.
However, this time the cause of the shaking was not monsters fighting, judging by how most of them were fleeing away from the center of the forest.
So, what was the cause? Well…
『At the center of the forest. 』
Two figures were fighting each other. One of them was a snow-white rabbit standing on his hind legs with a cute carrot pin attached to his fluffy chest.
Now, that didn't sound like an unusual sight, as plenty of rabbits could stand on their hind legs just fine. However, what would cause heads to turn and do a double take was how it carried itself.
Both of his eyes were closed, yet strangely enough, he was "eying" the figure in front of him and giving him his full attention.
The other figure, on the other hand, was relatively normal when compared to the rabbit, except for the black spear in his hand.
He was a tall lad equipped in black armor that complemented the spear in his hand. He kept twirling the spear before resting it on his shoulder.
He also stared at his opponent with a serious expression on his face. And we finally got a good look at his face.
Standing at around 183 cm, his face had a lot of well-defined features, from the two tear moles on his face below his eyes, to his sharp jawline and well-defined philtrum above his lips.
He had healthy, beautiful blond hair that faded into black and purple at the ends, giving him an ombre look.
But the most defining feature was, without a shadow of a doubt, his eyes. Not for their beauty or anything like that, as a matter of fact, they looked so unusual that for some people it would be kind of off-putting, but for their uniqueness.
His eyes were hot pink and deep purple, but his pupils were shaped like a four-pointed star with a pink diamond in the middle of them.
[Aventurine's eye colour except replace cyan with deep purple with Kiana's pupil design (Cocoon of Finality's symbol).]
Both figures continued staring at each other before they both rushed towards each other and continued their fight.
Slashes dispersed through the forest, with the trees as both the only audience to the fight and the ones that suffered as collateral damage due to the shockwaves of their fight.
They kept pushing each other throughout the forest until they reached a wide circular area. From the signs and tracks on the ground, it appeared to be the living space of a group of monsters that had fled the scene not that long ago.
"You have improved again, Usagi."
"I could say the same to you, Yuhao."
Both fighters were rushing against each other, trading blow for blow. The sound of collision between the staff part of the spear and the hind legs of the kicking saint resonated in the area, with Yuhao gaining the upper hand in range and lethal attacks and Usagi getting the edge in both evasion and swiftness.
"Sooo, what is the reason for your gracious visit today, Usagi? I can't think off the top of my head of a reason why you would visit me this early in the morning on my vacation day, nonetheless."
Huo Yuhao snarled as he blocked Usagi's leg with his worn-out right vambrace, causing it to crack, while also thrusting his trusty spear towards Usagi's head in a deadly attack.
"Can't I just drop by and say hello?" Replied Usagi as he dodged Yuhao's spear by a hair's breadth.
"You are hurting my feelings, Yuhao. Is this how you treat your mentor? Such uncouth behavior!"
He acted hurt while also kicking with such high speed and strength that he shot out sickle-wind blades towards Yuhao, causing the blond lad to answer with the same technique and send his own wind-sickle blades towards his supposed mentor.
Both wind-blade attacks from the fighters didn't have an ounce of mana radiating from them. They were created utilizing the sudden change in wind pressure caused by the physical prowess of both fighters.
"Oh, yeah. I call bullshit on that one. You woke me the fuck up this early in the morning just so we could have a sparring session? Like we didn't spar almost every day for the past two years? And today is my free day."
Huo Yuhao gnashed his teeth at Usagi's shameless crocodile tears. So much so that he started thrusting the spear in his hands with such aggression and precision at Usagi.
Usagi, for his part, kept zigzagging backwards under Yuhao's breakneck advancement, trying his best to avoid the spear's blade. Though…
SNIP! SNIP!
…some of his fur was grazed by the spear's blade cutting it. That lead to the kicking saint nearly bursting a major vein in his head when he felt his beautiful, well-groomed fur being cut.
Acting oblivious to Usagi's fury, Yuhao shifted the center of gravity of his spear, twirled it around his hand, and swung the blunt part of the spear towards Usagi's head.
The kicking saint suddenly bent his knees and did a Matrix-style dodge before rolling on the ground, lifting himself up on both hands, and starting to attack while he was doing a handstand.
Yuhao raised his spear and received the upside-down kicks using the blunt sides of his spear.
BAM! BOOM!
He redirected the shockwave of the attacks back at Usagi, who backed down swiftly.
'This is getting nowhere. We have been fighting the entire morning and in a couple of hours it will be noon.'
'I was finally free from Kiana's training today and thought to go on a date with Mom today before preparing to go back to Douluo Dalu.'
'But nooooooo, this fucker right here suddenly showed up this morning and started attacking without even a hello.'
Huo Yuhao was looking forward to spending a slow winter morning, picking vegetables and fruits from his back garden and preparing a heavy breakfast, one that complemented the cold weather, for himself, Yun'er, and Kiana before spending the day outside with his mom.
However, his CQC instructor, aka Usagi, suddenly showed up and started throwing hands or in this case, throwing kicks out of nowhere. And before even processing why this was happening, Yuhao had already equipped his armor and started fighting the maniac kicking rabbit.
They had agreed that today was a free day for all training parties: Yuhao, Usagi, and Kiana. However, Usagi casually betrayed that agreement and started blasting, and the reason remained unknown, much to Yuhao's annoyance.
"Less talking, more fighting."
Usagi ignored his student's resentful gaze and sent another sickle-wind attack from his kick towards Yuhao, who met it with the side of his spear, sending the attack towards the sea of trees.
Seeing that Usagi was still not willing to give it up, Yuhao lost his patience.
Purple lines started glowing on his body underneath the armor. He took a deep breath and stared at Usagi with dimly glowing eyes, and he vanished from his spot.
'Ohno.'
The fur on Usagi's small fluffy body stood up; his senses were going haywire.
'From the back!'
The moment Usagi turned his head back and willed his legs to kick the incoming danger away, the front of his body was bombarded mid-motion with a dark armored fist glowing with bluish energy.
CRACK! CRACK!
At the moment of contact between Yuhao's fist and Usagi's torso, the light seemed to disappear before reappearing again in the form of black lightning cracking in the air, and Usagi's body was sent flying.
'What just happened?'
Usagi quickly tried to get a hold of his bearings and reorient himself midair for a softer landing.
'He suddenly disappeared. I couldn't follow him either by hearing or sight…'
Usagi's thoughts came to a halt as the same feeling of impending doom washed over his being before another armored fist with the same bluish energy connected with his forehead, and black lightning cracked again.
CRACK! CRACK!
This time he wasn't sent into the air. Quite the opposite, in fact; he was pummeled face-first into the ground, creating a straight trench in the forest floor before coming to a halt.
The first punch sent him in one direction, and the second one interrupted the momentum and threw him in the opposite direction. It was a way to knock out the enemy with the least amount of effort, as the law of conservation of momentum would do the rest.
That was why Usagi was feeling winded. His body, tough as it may be, still followed the basic rules of physics.
'He is really annoyed with me, huh? Oh well, nothing new.'
Although he was feeling winded, he maintained a cool head on his shoulders. He quickly regulated the mana flow in his body circuits and assessed his situation.
'No internal organ damage, no fractures, no internal bleeding; just damaged and sore muscles.'
Even though Huo Yuhao was annoyed with his friend's antics and his low EQ behavior, he didn't really want to critically injure Usagi or, worse, cripple him.
Even though he had the means to completely cure Usagi and bring him back to full health, such actions were deemed both excessive and overkill.
Usagi quickly adjusted the mana in his body to start healing the injured segments while also trying to sense Yuhao using his ears and the wind pressure.
The title of Kicking Saint was not just for show; he was arguably one of the best fighters in the world, and even in the saints' rankings, he would rank in the top three.
Cyan, circuit-like patterns appeared all around Usagi's body, pulsating with power as they surged through his entire frame, mainly focusing around his ears. Adding 'weight' behind the 'structure' of his body increasing his already ridiculous durability and senses.
『Reinforcement』
And then suddenly, the entire world started moving a lot slower for Usagi. He closed all his senses except for his hearing, his strongest sense.
『Thought Acceleration』
He was one of the few in the entire world's history that had two saint titles, mainly due to his race. He was the current holder of both the Kicking Saint title and Hearing Saint title.
So it made sense for Usagi to focus everything on hearing his surroundings to try and detect his invisible opponent.
He was waiting for his invisible opponent to appear; after all, common sense dictated that for two bodies to collide and hit each other, both objects must be in the same plane of existence.
Usagi was waiting for the moment that Yuhao became visible and tangible to start counterattacking.
Unfortunately…
CRACK! CRACK!
Another untraceable armored fist coated in bluish energy made contact against his body, and he was sent vertically into the air again.
'No sound at all. No vibrations. No change in wind pressure. No emotion or intent. Not even a single wavelength of energy was detected. Nothing at all.'
'It was as if he exists in space, but doesn't at the same time. What a freak of nature.'
Usagi quickly reoriented himself in the air for the second time and pushed himself off the air itself with extremely strong kicks, allowing him to jump off the air itself and remain suspended midair.
Second strategy: if he couldn't see his opponent, then at least he could predict their next attack. After all, this wasn't Usagi's first time sparring with Yuhao.
They had been sparring partners for the past two years and both benefited greatly from each other.
One had a plethora of powers but no fighting experience except for attacking and killing monster hordes, and he usually suffered from the paradox of choice.
The other was quite an experienced fighter but lacked variety in his attacks, which consisted mainly of kicks that had a huge amount of destructive force by storing mana and power into the physical structure of his ligaments.
You could say that both of them complemented each other quite well, so much so that both became each other's teacher and student.
Huo Yuhao was Usagi's teacher when it came to techniques and magic, while Usagi was Yuhao's teacher when it came to building up his battle IQ and favorable environment positioning.
'Next attack would probably come from the northwest and the target would be my left leg.'
He quickly kicked the air multiple times and moved from his current position only to glimpse a bluish energy-coated fist.
'Phew. Barely dodged that one. But I know he wouldn't let me get away with it twice. Let's just stop here.'
Usagi chose to become the bigger man and put an end to the fight, totally ignoring the fact that he was the one who started the fight without giving a reason to the blond lad.
"Okay, let's stop it here, Yuhao. I-"
"『XXXXXXXXXX[BLACK FLASH]XXXXXXXXXX』"
KRAKA-BOOM!
A cracked armored fist uppercutted him mid-sentence square in the chin, surrounded by black lightning that cracked through the area and tore up the forest floor and the surrounding trees.
Yuhao suddenly appeared in the spot that Usagi used to occupy, he stared at Usagi's body accelerating upwards in the air.
He brought the hands towards his mouth and shouted.
"OKAY, let's stop here, Usagi."
'Hmph, so you think you can just start a fight and end it whenever you want, don't you? Well, not on my watch, dickhead.'
Yuhao was smiling like a Cheshire cat, inwardly happy at his friend's misery.
But you know what they say: "Misery likes company."
Crack
Suddenly his armored right started cracking with spiderweb fractures spreading throughout the gauntlet and vambrace. He brought his armored right arm towards his face to take a closer look and a frown clouded his face.
He continued checking other parts of his armor, and the more he checked, the darker his expression became.
The chest plate was cracked, with fragments and shards falling off with every movement. Only the jagged remains of his pauldrons clung to his shoulders, while charred edges coated other parts, causing discoloration throughout the armor.
Needless to say, the armor had reached the end of its lifecycle, and Yuhao wasn't happy about it, judging by his twitching lips.
'Sigh~. Another one to be recycled. I am going through armor as if it were a pair of cheap airplane headphones.'
Yuhao twirled his spear in his hand before throwing it towards a dark portal that appeared right beside him, storing it inside and closing the portal.
He then started taking off the gloves of his armor, followed by the vambraces and finally the pauldrons.
THUD. THUD.
He threw them carelessly on the ground and continued dismantling the chest armor and lower pieces that protected the legs and feet.
THUD. THUD.
"Phew, I feel alive again… Who am I kidding? I made that armor, so of course it was comfortable to put on and fight in."
He gestured with his right hand, and an aqua-blue blob appeared hovering above his hand.
He aimed it at the cracked pieces of armor on the ground, and the blob boiled for a moment before aqua-blue tendrils appeared and started consuming the armor's materials.
MOGU MOGU
While Yuhao's 『Monster Slime』 martial soul was doing its job, he brought out a journal and a fountain pen from another dark portal that suddenly appeared beside him.
'As always, imaginary number space is really the best.'
He thought inwardly as he shifted through the pages until he reached a page titled 'HELLBAT version 0.3' and started writing notes.
'Sigh, my dream of having my own H.E.L.L. batsuit is still in its infancy.'
He walked a couple of meters while writing in his journal before an object came crashing down at the spot where he was standing in.
"Oh, superhero landing. I would give you a solid nine out of ten, but you are a dickhead, so you get a one from me."
The object that came crashing down from the sky was none other than Usagi.
"Did you enjoy your time in the troposphere?" Yuhao asked in a sing-song tone; he was obviously doing it to annoy Usagi.
And it worked, judging by the pulsating vein on Usagi's head. Yuhao kept an amused smile on his face, relishing Usagi's discomfort.
He threw his journal and fountain pen back into the portal before closing it.
"Let's talk on the way home, Usagi."
Yuhao started walking in the direction of his house in the center of the forest, and Usagi soon followed with gritted teeth.
✦•✦•✦•✦•『Chapter 44: finished』•✦•✦•✦•✦
Word Count: 3k.