Focus, Commitment, and Sheer F*cking Will

10 minutes earlier, in the VIP room owned by Emma Farlene, Raccoon City branch's owner. She was watching the broadcasted test together with John Wick. The current scene was showing how Edward turned into smokes and vanished from their view.

"Interesting ability, what do you think it is, John?" asked Emma, she already knew that the one on the screen earlier was Venessa's son. John Wick recommended him to join the Continental was a bit of a surprise for her, but she also accepted her recommendation, nevertheless.

The man in front of her might have a plan or two about it. He wouldn't simply let the son of the woman she loved dearly into this cruel world of killing. But the most absurd thing was that the kid is actually capable enough to contend against the 20 Continental's Forces.

After the kid vanished, she couldn't find any trace of movement. She even resorted to activate several thermographic and infra-red cameras, but nothing could catch him. Did he teleport?

"He just turned invisible, but it was so perfect that even I couldn't track him. Usually, when someone turned invisible they would leave a trail, either it's sound, foot mark, or heat," answered John, he was also amazed by Edward's ability. He continued, "Don't you know? He also survived the demise of Paris?"

"Do you mean..." Emma started connecting the event with Edward.

"Yes, he didn't simply survive it, he might have fight through it," said John, answering Emma's conjecture. "I'm going down. At this rate, he will finish the first stage faster than we expected."

"Do you think he would be a capable fighter John?" asked Emma before John could open the door. He paused and stood with his back facing Emma.

"No. He's just a brute and only relying on raw power." He turned the knob and walked outside. "I will use this chance to hammer him."

"Good luck, John," said Emma. Although she didn't like the notion of Vanessa's son joining the Continental, she couldn't intervene on it either. However, she knew that John wouldn't simply let the kid join without any qualms.

'This is interesting, I wanted to share this clip with my friends, but I couldn't let the High Table knew about Vanessa's son. Who knows how greedy they would be.'

Broadcasting the test inside the hotel were enough. Notifying those blood-sucking leaders too fast, would just inviting troubles.

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"So... what should I call you, kid?" asked John while checking his gun. It was the same pistol as mine, which means the rules were still the same as the previous stage. He also had a knife in his left hand.

'So that was what he planned, a combination of melee and ranged fight.' I thought.

I also took out a knife and a pistol, copying him. I need to be prepared. In Marvel, John Wick was the equivalent of Frank Castle aka the Punisher. He might also resemble Batman from DC, without the quirky gadgets. He was so powerful, that he could kill 306 other highly trained, professional assassins and mercenaries across 3 movies.

"It's Killswitch," I replied. My fingers cringed, after telling it to other people for the first time. It's okay, I will get used to it.

"Cool. You make it yourself?" said John, smiling. I thought he was semi-mocking me, but he really thought that it was a cool name. I nodded at his question and he continued, "You can go first. Show me what you can do."

[Be careful, Sir. Fighting him will be tricky.]

"I know." I never intended to hold back either, but just in case, I will limit my strength a bit. What I need to do right now was to catch him off-guard.

Viusshh...

I turned into Stealth mode. John was still calm and collected, but deep down he was calculating my decision. If it was about the art of killing and planning, he would always be at the top. Scenarios upon scenarios flashed inside his mind.

I moved around him as fast as I can. It didn't matter how professional you are, if you didn't have another eye at the back of your head, you can't defend a backstab. Once I was two steps away from his back, I pull my left hand backward to prepare a horizontal slash.

Clink!

The sound of two knives reverberated in the arena. John just blocked it without a sweat. Taking advantage of my sudden stop in movement, he shot one bullet at my stomach. I jumped back to put a distance between us, but I couldn't evade it.

John Wick 1 - Killswitch 0

"H...how did you do it?" I asked, feeling flabbergasted.

"It was all too easy. There are two answers. First, your choice was the first choice anyone with logic would do. Second, I already calculated how fast you could move based on how you make a trap earlier." answered John. His answer makes me feel even more terrified.

"Then... what would happen if I take different courses of action...?" I asked.

"But you didn't. And you stick to the first plan without thinking that I would be blocking you," said John, lecturing me on Art of War 101. He was right, I moved with the mindset that my attack would be a success. Damn it, it didn't feel nice though. While thinking about the next course to take, a voice resounded in my head.

[Do you want to make a bet, Sir?] asked Regina.

"What bet?" I asked back, whispering. Maybe Regina had a clue on how to defeat him.

[You won't ever scratch the third mark on him. If you could, I will tell you the secret of his power.] it seems I put my hope too high.

"And if I couldn't?"

[I will still tell you, but you have to figure out a way to defeat him by yourself.]

'Isn't that just the same thing as, me, doing it myself?'

I ignored her and moved to begin my second attack. Instead of using Stealth like before, I moved in a zig-zag pattern while spamming it, on and off before turning.

"Impressive way to use your ability," said John. Now, he was forced to move as well. He took notice of my wide movement and strode in between the square houses to limit it.

We trade several shots but because I always ready to change my direction, I could evade it easily. I still couldn't hit him but I already have a plan. John was still a human, every time he turned, his speed would turn far slower to gain some traction.

Time for some bullshittery. I estimated his tempo every time he turned. After I got the hang of it I switched the knife with another pistol. Although I couldn't use my Active skill, my passive would still make a lot of difference. For example, my Eagle Eye. This ability not only could make me see far away objects but all of the smallest details. With my current Dexterity, I believe I could pull it off.

Another turn greeted John as I was running behind him. Before he started turning, I threw the gun on my left hand toward him. Somehow, he could evade it without turning back. But step one was already done, I stopped on my track and took aim. I paused my breathing to prevent my hand from shaking. I only had one chance. John looked back for a moment and started to turn right to cover his body. Now!

Pang!

With the sound of the gun the bullet flew toward him, but what I truly aimed for was not him. It was the wall near him. By this time, John was behind the wall. The bullet ricocheted and flew toward another direction, the pistol. It touched the trigger with the soft paint head forcing it to shoot. The rest would be left to lady luck. And she loves me.

Pang! Scratch!

The sound of the bullet hitting John was so damn melodious. John Wick 1 - Killswitch 1

But that was it. The game of tag keeps going on for a while, but none of us were making any more progress. Well that was what I thought until I tripped on my own trap.

Shit!

I only had one second to move out of its area of effect and I had wasted 0.5 seconds in cursing my fate. Left with no choice I jumped high, almost reaching the ceiling, around 6 meters. John already calculated my choice of action. When he saw me in the air, he shot toward my chest but I switched to a knife and used it to change the bullet's trajectory with the flat sides.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

But, what goes up must come down. It raised the difficulty to handle the bullets up a notch and one scratch mark was painted near my neck, pulling me back once again.

John Wick 2 - Killswitch 1

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The viewer on the arena was baffled by the ongoing event. They keep staring at the monitor, sometimes forgetting breath.

"When John came out earlier, I thought he was trying to cheat so that kid could be accepted. Now I will gladly take it back." The scrawny cowboy said while putting down his hat.

"Forget about that, I was already amazed that he finished the first stage less than 10 minutes, but he could even put a mark on his back, and in that way?" said an old man, while he lit another cigar.

"That trickshot, what a monster. I think this is it for me. I will stop holding a gun from now on. I've been using it the wrong way." said a Latino man in a black suit. He stopped his shooting practice just to watch John kicking some ass but now he was forced to question his life choice after watching the fight.

"Dean, what do you think? Can he defeat John?" asked Sammy. She fought against John once in a mock battle like this. The result was 3-0 in 2 minutes. She couldn't even notice his whereabouts.

"Impossible, it's John Wick we're talking about. If he got serious, even the High Tables had to pay for the worst. The kid was just lucky." answered Dean, but inside his heart, he was cursing on the impossible trickshot earlier.

"Do you mean that John hasn't got serious, yet?" asked Sammy again.

"Who knows... It's Baba Yaga we're talking about."

Everyone gulped and shuddered at Dean's remark. At this time, the name Baba Yaga had just begun to resound among the Continental's members. But, the new kid's ability was no joke either.

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'Winning is impossible! I can't even put a second mark on him.'

I'm starting to break down out of frustration. Whatever I did, he will always have a way to counter it. I resorted to every single weapon in my weapon slots.

I swung a baton, he kicked it out of the way. I used AK and SMG, he used the narrow gaps between the houses to waste my bullets. I threw knives on him, he always knows the trajectory, even catching it mid-air and threw it back to me. The trickshot that I did earlier keep failing after I tried it again.

I couldn't use Blackbeard, as I wanted to keep it away for now and it would be against the rule to use it. I could have tried to end it with FlowMotion to slow time, but that means I had to expose my card. I couldn't show anything more than this.

'Is he even human?' I thought, venting my frustration. I even started thinking that he agreed at the family restaurant earlier because he wanted to bully me now. I just sighed and raised my hand while keeping the Stealth mode on.

"I give up, Regina."

[That took longer than I thought.] said, Regina. I couldn't even be mad at her words. I was too frustrated that I have no energy to counter it. She continued, [Have you heard about this remark, Sir? 'John Wick is a man of focus, commitment, and sheer f-ing will.' "

"That's from the movie, right? What does it have to do with my current situation?" I asked while knitting my brows.

[That was the answer, Sir. He's a mutant. His power is called Boundless Will. As long as he has a strong will and commitment to make it happen, the universe would turn its gear to help him realized it. How do you think he bulldozes his way through three movies while being decorated with wounds and blood?]

"Uuuhh... Plot?" I was speechless with the sudden revelations. Once again, this world was trying to fuck me up. "Then what use in trying to win against him if he wanted me to lose?"

[Are you sure that all he wanted was to make you lose, Sir?]

"Huh? That's not it?"

[That's why you need to find it out, Sir. Find what he wanted, and move according to it.] said, Regina. She didn't say anything anymore and left me alone with that. Damn it, my assistant just made my head fuzzy and left.

But I didn't have any choice either. I took a deep breath and start processing all of the information I have on John up until now. I thought about how I was able to put the one and only mark on him. I thought about what he said to me when I fail to mark him the first time. After a while, a lightbulb shone in on my head.

'No way... Is that it?'

Although I had a hunch about how to defeat him, I wasn't confident enough. If it didn't work, I would just shoot myself and give up.

After several hide and seek, I forced him to return to the same exact position as we had before. He noticed it and asked, "are you finally started to think, Killswitch?"

'Uggh... hearing it saying my alias makes me cringe. Why I pick that name?'

"I might have an idea, Mr. Wick. Would you be kind enough to dance with me?" I said after hearing what he said now. It confirmed my hunch.

I used Stealth mode on and ran around him. I planned to reenact the previous scene, but with more plan under my hand.

John blocked the knife, the same way he did previously, but this time I didn't put much power into it, to prepare for a counter. John pulled his pistol's trigger, but I already twisted my body down a bit and delivered a round kick to his neck while his bullet passed near my rib with a millimeter distance.

John ducked my kick and tried to follow with another shot. Before he could pull the trigger, I took advantage of the force on my flying right leg to wrap my left on his neck. After that, I locked both of my legs followed with a slight twist to make him fall on the ground.

Before he was fully recovered, I locked the hand that was holding his gun at his back. It shouldn't have been possible if not for the 21 points in strength and dexterity stats. He moved the knife in his other hand to stab at my back.

Pang!

Using the gun in his hand, I pull the trigger and it paints the back of his head with yellow paints. My last shot hit his head at the same time as his knife stabbed my back. We hold this pose for a while, waiting for the announcement of the winner.

The last shot silenced everything. The people outside of the arena, along with those that were watching in the room, were glaring on the monitor. Not even a fly could be heard in this thrilling moment.

Emma Farlene forgot that she was pouring a whiskey into her glass and it keeps overflowing, but she still stares at the monitor.

A voice then resounded on the speaker.

"Mr. Killswitch, welcome to the Continental."