10 Moving Forward

The seconds continued to count down, but Reed felt as if time had stopped. Reed knew that from the day he decided to embark down the path of conquerors, he'd have to fight for his dreams.

There was nothing he could do about the harsh reality of the world; one needed the will to claim what they desired. Nothing in life was for free.

Reed hated fighting, but he understood that he did not possess the right to object. He would have to fight; he would have to kill. There were some things people had to do out of necessity to move forward.

Reed thought back on his past failures and loosened up his shoulders. He tossed away his worries and shame; they were holding him back. He would put one foot forward and keep walking. Nothing else mattered.

The android lifelessly stood as it stared at Reed in a stanceless position. It cared not for Reed's feelings and simply waited for orders. The soulless android thought of its opponent as nothing more than an obstacle.

Silence reigned across the platform. Nothing could be heard aside from the gentle tune of the wind. The boy and the android were solely focused on one another. The world shrunk down; the only thing that existed for them was the enemy and the ring.

Moonlight descended past the cloudy sky and landed on them. Finally, the ring lit up with green light, signaling to them that it had begun.

Reed's eyes gleamed. Without any hesitation, he shot forward like a bullet toward his enemy and threw out a simple, but explosive strike that packed all of his momenta. His fist rocketed towards the android's face but hit empty air. The android swiftly ducked and countered with an uppercut aimed square at his jaw; it intended on knocking him out with a decisive blow.

He had anticipated that the android would take the bait he put out, and lo and behold, look at what happened. Risk and reward were intrinsically linked together; Reed knew that his cowardly nature was why he had never won once.

Every time he had been allowed to counter the android, he hesitated. He always lacked the resolve to follow through with his thoughts. Afraid of messing up, Reed would choke up mid-fight and eventually lose once the android broke through his guard.

He continued to lose because he did not understand - no, rejected the essence of Yohua. Yohua was designed to end a fight as quickly as possible; it was the bane of warriors who fought defensively, like Reed. After a month and a half of failing, Reed finally accepted his weakness: his mind.

His body had long since gotten strong enough to withstand superhuman combat, but his mind hadn't kept up. He had the physique of a demigod, but the mindset of a measly mortal. His tendency to worry and overthink was his Achilles' heel. It'd eat at it him from the inside and eventually paralyze him.

The android would always take advantage of Reed's indecisive fighting style and defeat him ruthlessly. In that sense, the android was better suited for Yohua than Reed. A machine would never hesitate, after all.

But this time it was different. Reed cast away his mental shackles and resolved himself to fight. He no longer fought against his instincts; his powerful body and clear mind finally synched up for the first time.

The android's uppercut never landed; Reed willingly entered the android's range and started the match with a classic feint attack. As soon as the android ducked down and countered, Reed instantly followed through with a vicious knee strike at the android's face. The machine furiously flew backward like a cannonball and Reed immediately chased after it.

Reed understood that he couldn't let the android build up any momentum during the fight, or he'd surely lose. The damn thing was a machine and would never tire; on the other hand, he'd slowly become fatigued as the fight progressed.

He had to start strong and end the fight as quickly as possible. He had to keep the heat up and keep the android oppressed.

Reed leaped into the air and came hurtling down from above; his leg aimed directly at the android's head. The android recognized that the strike would kill it and hurried rolled out the way as Reed plunged. An enormous crack formed where his leg struck, and he promptly continued his assault.

He lunged at the android and threw himself on top of it, aiming to break its arms. The easiest way to secure a permanent advantage over the android would if he crippled it. He tossed out a punch at the android's arm joint, where it was weakest, but it was intercepted by the android. It grabbed onto Reed's arm and pulled him even closer to it.

The android rapidly coiled around Reed and strangled him mercilessly as they tossed about on the ring. Reed knew he'd lose if he failed to escape within a couple of seconds and furiously struggled to break out of the chokehold. Reflexively, he grabbed onto the arm that was choking him and pulled on it with a maniacal effort. He strained himself to his limits and pushed through the incredible pain he felt as his muscles tore.

The veins on his arm bulged as he furiously drew out every last ounce of strength he possessed. A loud crack echoed across the mountaintop; Reed had forcibly torn the android's arm right out of its socket in his mad desperation. Reed hastily broke out of the android's weakened hold and retreated as quickly as he could.

He checked his injury; his right arm had been badly hurt during the struggle. It looked purple and slightly swollen. He felt that it was painful even raising his arm above his shoulder, but chalked it up a better hand than what the android was dealt with.

Blue sparks rattled off of the exposed joint where the android's arm had once been. It picked up its broken arm and stared at it for a moment before it threw it out of the ring.

The android stared at him indifferently, but he noticed something had changed. It finally assumed a proper stance and did something Reed had never seen it do.

It extended its palm out and jerked its fingers up; it beckoned him to come. It was challenging him.

A red light began shimmering around the android's body as Reed felt a chill run down his spine. He knew what that light was, it was Anima. He guessed that he finally forced it to use all of its abilities.

It would likely not spare anything in this attack, so Reed assumed it was on its last legs. The bastard wanted to end the fight before he could close the distance again and deliver a finishing blow.

"So be it. I've come this far," Reed thought. He'd accept the machine's challenge, come hell or high water. The muscles on his legs contracted as he prepared himself for their final bout.

Reed clenched his left fist hard enough that it cracked under the force. He felt his heart thumping wildly as a mysterious warmth washed over him; that warmth made him feel like he was being comforted by something that he couldn't describe.

It was as if that warmth had given him the last push he needed to move forward. He closed his eyes and basked in that feeling for a moment, and then he ran.

The scene of the boy and the machine resembled something out of an ancient fable. They looked like two jousting knights as they charged at one another, paying no heed to what would come after.

The boy and the android were solely focused on one another.

And then, it happened. The last thing Reed saw before the world turned dark was the scarlet glow that shimmered off of the android's fist.

Silence reigned on the mountaintop; only the gentle sound of the wind could be heard.

The three moons in the sky had seen the boy's fight, but they had not been the only ones to have witnessed it by the end.

Everyone had been drawn to the fight when the explosive sound of the ring shattering resounded across the mountaintop. The students that crowded around the shattered ring dumbly stood in silence as they tried their best to process what had happened.

Inside the ring, a group of familiar faces crowded around the unconscious boy; they had mixed expressions as they reflected.

Astor and Horatio stoically gazed at the broken ring and the boy as they kept their guard up.

Astrid, Ophelia, and Sebastian looked at the boy's crumpled body and waited quietly. They dared not touch the severely injured boy and waited for 'him' to act.

Axtorius suddenly appeared, picked up Reed's body and said, "That's the end of it. Everyone head back to your quarters and get some sleep." He left as quickly as he came and took Reed with him into the void...