Chapter 52 - The Longest Ten Seconds

When Maikal sensed Nerun's aura, he seemed to go into a frenzy. He wanted to run off in the direction of where he had sensed the aura, however he was stopped by Sylas.

"Get out of my way Sylas. Otherwise, I swear I'll fight you to the death, you annoying little insect," said Maikal with great ferocity.

Sylas, however, took no notice, but with a sneer on his face, began to attack Maikal, doing everything to obstruct him. It was clear that Maikal was losing his patience, and it seemed that whatever had happened with that powerful aura they felt had something to do with him. Sylas therefore saw fit to continue obstructing Maikal, which would cause his mood and concentration to decline. While he was furious at the moment and his attacks were powerful and dangerous, the truth was that an out-of-control Warrior was a favourite for insidious experts like Sylas, who would take advantage of their opponent's mistakes and then counterattack and kill them in a moment of carelessness.

The battle therefore in these few seconds became more fierce and at the same time more dangerous, as Maikal released all the restraints in his body to try to finish Sylas in the shortest possible time.

...

Nerun's eyesight was now deteriorating, seeing more and more blurred and double. His brain was not able to process all the stimuli he was receiving from the complete opening of all his auxiliary meridians, as well as the great power and natural energy that was surging within him.

At this point Nerun was like a hermetically sealed container, into which a large volume of liquid had been injected, far more than the container could hold. The container was about to burst, if not for the fact that its meridians acted as small gates in the container, allowing the liquid to circulate. However, the amount of liquid flowing in was far greater than what could flow out of all the locks, so Nerun's situation was becoming more and more threatening. Nerun needed to release the energy quickly.

And the way to release it was to attack Sagat. Nerun literally disappeared from where he was. A huge crack appeared from where Nerun had come from, from the force with which he blasted towards Sagat. Nerun began to attack Sagat with his fists like a machine gun. The speed of his blows was such that the friction with the air caused small flames. In barely a second Nerun launched more than 100 blows, to which Sagat defended himself using his Qi in such a way that his hands looked like tiger claws, with which he returned blow by blow to Nerun.

Nerun's fists were bloodied, so he had to retreat. Although Nerun's power seemed to be even higher than Sagat's at the moment, Nerun lacked both the Will and Elemental Quality of a high-ranking Warrior's Qi. On the other hand, Nerun's undeveloped body also did not allow him to use all the power he had acquired. It was like a baby wielding an axe. He was far more likely to hurt himself than to be able to use all that power effectively. For Nerun the drop of Millennial Stone Milk was like quenching thirst with poison. He was using up all his potential for this great burst of power, which could leave irreparable sequelae in his future.

Nerun quickly realised his weakness. With the attacks he caused on Sagat, he himself was slowly crumbling and would not last the 10 seconds he needed.

Sagat wasted no time either. While he didn't know what the brat had done, he was sure that this state wouldn't last long for a while. On the other hand, he needed to get rid of the woman quickly. Considering that one drop of that liquid made this 6-year-old turn into a little monster, he didn't want to imagine what would happen to the woman once she digested what she had taken.

So Sagat began to use all his power. A tiger a couple of metres tall materialised next to him, although the image was not entirely real, but more like an apparition or a ghost. Although it was a partially materialised Voluntas, it was more than enough to almost double the power of a Qi General like Sagat.

"My Will is to devour you," Sagat shouted. The Tiger's eyes seemed to become more real, and it let out a roar that made necessity for Nerun to put his hands to his ears. However, it wasn't enough, his ears started to bleed and Nerun began to feel dizzy, so Sagat took the opportunity to approach Arbak and attack her while Nerun was affected by his Will technique.

Nerun, however, recovered with difficulty, and ignoring his urge to vomit, he barely managed to get in front of Sagat, who attacked him with one of his hands as if it were a tiger's claw and Nerun was thrown several metres backwards. The blow managed to make Nerun's body recover a little from the intense feeling of dizziness he was feeling, and had it not been for the fact that his body looked as if it was under an immense amount of stimulant narcotics, Sagat's technique would have caused his brain to shut down. Yet his wounds were worse and several of the prominent veins in his body had opened up, so that Nerun was bleeding more and more all over.

"Mmmmh. I don't know what you took, kiddo, but all that power will eventually kill you, even if I did nothing. But since you insist on meddling, I'd better end your ordeal," said Sagat as he rushed at full speed at Nerun.

It was clear that if Nerun continued like this, Sagat would get rid of him in the next second. Barely 3-4 seconds had passed since the two started fighting but the amount of exchanges was dizzying.

So Nerun, without thinking, began to use the only martial art he knew, the Free Flowing Fist. Nerun began to move his hands and feet naturally. The uncontrollable Qi within his body seemed to find an outlet, and began to move in accordance with the course of Nerun's open meridians, following the movements of the Free Flowing Fist. Sagat continued to attack Nerun with ferocity, however, this time Nerun's fluid movements managed to restrain him properly for the first time.

For the next few seconds Sagat encountered an impassable wall in Nerun's defence. Despite the great difference in stature and strength, Sagat noticed a clear movement of the Qi that seemed to absorb his attacks, as if it were a whirlpool, eroding his strength. At times, his own strength even seemed to attack him back, causing Sagat to retreat for the first time in the battle.

With this, Nerun began to notice more and more the uniqueness of the Martial Art he had learned and managed to calm his tense moods somewhat. After all, he himself knew that the state he was in could spiral at any moment with his death, and therefore, his desire was to delay Sagat for as long as possible, in order for Arbak to regain her strength. With this goal in mind, Nerun stopped attacking Sagat, but instead set out to keep him at bay for as long as possible.

Although this took quite a long time to recount, the time that had elapsed was little more than 5 seconds. For Warriors and Adepts the higher the rank, the more and more extraordinary their abilities become, and the attacks they can exchange in a short time can become countless.

When Sagat realised that he would not be able to overcome Nerun in a short period of time, he decided to risk everything. His Qi quickly accumulated in his body and arms, with two reddish halos surrounding his body, the atmosphere becoming rarefied. Sagat's Will spread around him and the reddish coloured Tiger again materialised. Fire began to surround the tiger's paws. This was Sagat's most powerful technique, and normally it would take him a couple of seconds to accumulate all this power.

In a fight between equals, Sagat would normally never have enough time to accumulate all this power, however since Nerun decided to wait to defend himself against Sagat, Sagat decided to use his most powerful technique to end this once and for all. When Nerun saw the power building up in Sagat, he knew that he could hardly resist the attack, so he was ready to dodge it and then counterattack. Sagat as if reading his thoughts said, "Brat, don't worry. This attack is not for you. It's for her."

Sagat aimed at Arbak in the centre, who was still with her eyes closed, concentrating on regaining her power as quickly as possible, even if it was a second earlier, she seemed to ignore everything that was happening around her. The aura she emitted seemed calm, but little by little, a wild energy began to emit from her, another reason why Sagat decided to attack with full force. So, without further ado Sagat extended his arms to both sides and swiped with his claw-like hands towards Arbak. The materialised Tiger leapt towards Arbak and its two claws attacked Arbak, with great flares between them. This elemental attack was part of the strength of a mid-ranked Warrior, an attack supported on Sagat's prime Central Meridian, the meridian of Ignis*.

<Flaming Tiger Claws>.

Nerun knew he could not allow this attack to reach Arbak. So before the tiger leapt he had already used his powerful agility to position himself in between the attack and her. Nerun knew that this moment was do or die. So extending his arms out to either side he began to swing them in a counter-clockwise direction at great speed. Never had Nerun been so concentrated, and for a small moment he managed to find that same sensation he had noticed in the Rando Woods, so that both his Qi and Mana began to move at the same time in a balanced way. The natural energy of the heaven and earth also began to mobilise in a clearly visible way, until Nerun joined his hands at his side, bringing all the energy together in a rapid sphere of concentrated energy. Nerun then stretched out his hands towards the several metre long Tiger that was bearing down on him.

<Revolución de Qi>

The two attacks met and there was a magnificent explosion of power at the epicentre of the attacks, which shook the entire cave. Nerun had to retreat several metres as blood gushed from all his limbs. All the auxiliary meridians in his arms and legs had burst at that moment. The power that Nerun had displayed until recently was completely gone and Nerun was effectively crippled.

However, he didn't notice that at some point, the stone that was hanging from his neck had absorbed the mixed energy made out of Qi and Mana, as well as part of his blood. The stone did not appear to have changed at all.

Sagat began coughing blood uncontrollably, as his head threatened to explode in pain. His Voluntas had been destroyed by Nerun's attack, and although the latter had fared much worse, Nerun was not even a Qi Master. If someone were to say that a boy who was not even a Qi Master could stand up to a Qi General for several seconds, and could even seriously injure him, destroying his Voluntas, he would become a laughing stock, thinking that he had lost himself in drunkenness. But that is precisely what had happened. Nothing short of a miracle. If Sagat himself had not suffered from this, he would also think that this was nothing mor than a joke.

Sagat rushed over and grabbed Nerun by the throat. Just by closing his hand, Nerun would die. Although Sagat knew that Nerun was exhausted, he didn't know if this little boy still had an ace up his sleeve and he wanted to get rid of this problem as quickly as possible.

"Looks like this is the end, kiddo. Too bad you ran into me. Otherwise, with what you did today you would have become a legend, and your future would have been unlimited. And for what? For nothing, you will all die the same," said Sagat.

However Nerun who was with his body completely ruined saw Sagat with a calm and clear smile. With difficulty he said "hehehehehe... I won".

"What did you win? You are about to die" replied Sagat.

"I won," said Nerun again, his happiness overflowing. Sagat didn't quite understand why, but he hated the brat's smile. So he decided to end his life once and for all. However, a beautiful hand, like the finest jade, rested on his wrist. Although the hand was much smaller than the circumference of his wrist, Sagat felt like he was going to lose his hand in the next instant. It was as if a pair of iron pincers had him trapped in this instant. Following the hand and the arm to which it was attached, Sagat noticed that Arbak's beautiful face was looking down on him with disdain and pride. The chains on her hands and legs were broken. Sagat's eyes constricted to the limit, but he dared not move. He felt like a small cat being ogled by a huge, magnificent snake.

"He won. Because it's been ten seconds. And you are about to die" Arbak said in her melodious voice.