Change

This time, the wolf began to slink towards Dayn, increasing its speed with every minor movement. Dayn did not hold still, however, and began to match the wolf's movements by adjusting his stance to either side waiting for an attack.

When the wolf was about one meter away it pounced at Dayn and swiped at his shoulder with its claws. Dayn met the strike with a parry and countered with a short mana-filled slash at the wolf's side. The wolf seemed to expect this however and rotated to the side causing the strike to miss. Dayn didn't give the wolf room to breathe, however, reversing his grip on the spear and diagonally striking downwards aiming at the wolf's hind leg.

Dayn felt his spear graze the wolf's leg, and immediately retreated a few steps to put distance between him and the wolf.

"Tch.", he cursed.

The strike had not been deep enough to injure the wolf severely, but a faint blue line had appeared on the wolf's leg.

Dayn channeled more mana into his eyes once more to see if he had hurt the wolf at all, but

what he noticed however left him speechless. He could see the wound healing in real time.

The faint blue line had scabbed over, left a scar, and eventually returned to normal with even the fur being restored all in the blink of an eye.

'Really!?', he thought to himself.

'It has regenerative powers on top of having that speed and strength!?'

Now that its minor injury was gone, the wolf did not let Dayn rest.

Dayn knew that the wolf beat him out in its physical talents, but Dayn did not stress as he knew that he had technique that the wolf did not possess. He also had a very strong weapon that the wolf was cautious of, giving him the advantage of spacing and offense.

Dayn and the wolf once again exchanged a flurry of blows with each other, the wolf this time was left with two small cuts on its side that would immediately heal. Dayn knew that if he wanted to beat the wolf, he would have to wear it out in a battle of attrition. He also knew that he could just as easily lose this drawn-out battle if his mana ran out or he lost focus for even a split second.

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Several hours would pass, and the sun began to rise over the snowy mountain peaks.

Inside of a clearing deep in the forest, a child could be seen gasping for air and muttering to himself.

"Shit! … Just how many ... hours … have I been … fighting for!", he cursed in between breaths.

If one looked closely they could see several deep cuts on his shoulder and side, as well as a large gash that ran down his right thigh ending above his knee.

The wolf was no better off though. It had received several wounds that it was now no longer able to heal to its side and hind legs, and it was now missing part of its front left paw. The wolf however was able to staunch the bleeding with its ability instead of healing it, so no matter how injured it was it would be able to outlast Dayn.

Dayn was reaching his mental breaking point, and the mana that was coursing through his body was nearly gone, having been expended during the long fight. Dayn had gained some benefits from the fight however and was now able to sense where the wolf was moving its mana too. As Dayn and the wolf stared at each other once again, neither one made a move.

'What's it doing?' Dayn thought, sensing the wolf moving its remaining mana towards its mouth.

Suddenly his instincts screamed danger at him.

His body even began to move on its own, turning to run away from whatever it was the wolf was doing.

The wolf let out a loud, mana-filled howl that seemed to shake Dayn to his very core.

THUD

He landed on his back, unable to move a muscle no matter how much he tried.

He could still feel the ground underneath him as well as the injuries he had received, thus deducing that he had not been paralyzed.

The wolf had actually used the last of its mana to unleash its innate skill Intimidate.

Of course, Dayn had not been susceptible to this at the start of the battle as his body was filled to the brim with mana, but now all he had left was a measly amount that he focused on his eyes. Thus causing his body to be susceptible to the attack, letting the wolf use its skill.

The wolf walked over to its prey slowly, with a look in its eye that seemed to say, "I'm going to enjoy you."

Dayn tried to disperse the mana in his eyes and have it enter his body, but something seemed to be blocking his mana.

'Fuck!', he thought, panicking.

'Shit!'

He unleashed every curse he knew hoping it would somehow help him but to no avail.

As the wolf was looking down at Dayn debating where to start eating him, its ears pricked up and its hair stood on end telling it that danger was nearby.

Suddenly, Dayn heard a deafening roar from behind him that made him cower in fear causing his body to move even through the wolf's intimidation.

Out of the corner of his eye, Dayn could see a ginormous bear that exuded power saunter into the clearing. The wolf had also frozen in fear next to Dayn not wanting to move a muscle.

The bear then casually walked up next to Dayn and the wolf, before swiping at the wolf with its paw causing the wolf's body to explode.

Blood and chunks flew everywhere, dirtying the pristine clearing.

The bear then looked down at Dayn with a barely passing glance before walking towards some of the guts lying on the ground.

The bear began to eat some of the wolf's remains.

'Once again I'm too weak', he thought.

As Dayn lay there on the forest floor, he could no longer hold on and fell unconscious from pain and exhaustion.

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As Dayn's consciousness drifted away, he entered a dream-like state.

Suddenly he awoke to the sound of an alarm going off.

It was 6:00 am, and he knew he had a duel that day.

He rolled out of his small cot, and walked over to the opposite end of the room, and entered his bathroom turning on the faucet, before looking up to see a featureless face. This didn't seem to bother him however as he continued on with his morning routine.

At 6:30, his basic food arrived in the form of a Nutrient Pouch that carried all of his bodily needs.

After quickly downing the tasteless liquid, he returned to his bed to meditate before his duel at 7:00. Soon he was called to the arena, and as he walked in he felt a strange yet familiar feeling enter him.

Across from him was a boy holding a short sword, his face was also featureless.

'Strange,' he thought, 'I feel as if I've been here before.'

He didn't think much of this however and continued to warm up before the duel.

After he finished warming up, so did his opponent, and a mechanical voice gave a countdown.

His opponent's sword glowed, so did his spear.

They began to fight.

He went through his movements autonomously, while feeling an ever-increasing sense of doom.

"Are you ever going to change?", the face asked.

"What?", he replied.

"Are you ever going to change?", the face said again.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you ever going to change?"

"Are you ever going to change?"

"Are you ever going to change?"

"Are you ever going to change?"

"Are you ever going to change?"

The face kept repeating over and over.

Dayn became more and more confused with every passing second.

The faceless figure in front of him slashed down with its sword.

"You don't belong here.", it finally said before turning away.

As he lay on the ground, all of his senses slowly began to fade away.

"That's right, I don't belong here."

"Not anymore."

Soon he would awaken.

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