Chapter 4

Drip....Drip.....Drip, the blood dripped down from Marc's left shoulder. His heavy breathing could be heard which made his hiding pointless. Marc, now 17 years old, was trying to hold his cover against the man 15 yards away from him. The man held a handgun which seemingly caused the injury on Marc's shoulder.

"Hoh, you can now hold your own against me for this long. But surviving ain't enough to keep me from coming for you, is it?" the man shouted.

"Tch" Marc's face contorted from the pain of the injury. All he had that could kinda defend him against those bullets was his light armor but that didn't cover his neck, limbs, or face. "Talk about a bad matchup. Well anyway, it's not like I could ask for easy opponents every time."

Marc could hear the man panting. From his face, the man seemed like he was about 40 years old.

'This old man's gonna give in to his lack of stamina soon. I should try to keep my defenses tight till then.'

The man dashed to his right trying to gain an angle to shoot without giving Marc, who was taking cover behind a huge boulder, a chance to try anything. It almost looked like the man read Marc's exact thoughts and acted to prevent that outcome.

Marc foresaw this and took out his two shortswords. Those swords were unusually thin for heavy blows. Their origin is said to have its roots from Planet C - 16 Earth, which existed 12,000 years ago.

The man shot 3 bullets, all of which were deflected by Marc's shortswords. His injured shoulder now tied up tightly to avoid a huge blood loss was able to withstand the use of a shortsword.

Two more shots were fired. Marc, due to his speed and intensive training, could see them slowing down with time just enough to deflect them with his blades. But even though time slowed down, the man did not. He used the time in which Marc was deflecting the bullets to get close to him.

'What, he shouldn't have that kind of stamina left in him.' thought Marc, clearly shocked from the man's movement. He could not react to the man's kick when he came close. The kick was a hard one, hitting Marc's stomach hard. Blood spurted out of his mouth and all he could do was defend himself against the heavy punch that the man threw to continue the barrage. The hit threw Marc a couple of feet away.

The kick he took head-on almost made Marc lose his consciousness. 'This is bad. I don't think I can take any more of those hits.'

He searched for cover fast. Behind him was a tree line and to his left were some huge boulders. Marc dashed towards the boulders.

The man aimed his handgun at the first boulder and shot so that the bullet would meet Marc when he reached cover. But the bullet did not hit Marc. He had put up a feint and got dangerously close to the man.

The man noticed the strange reddish aura that covered Marc's legs. That aura had seemingly made him faster, faster than the man could handle. Now, all that the man could do was discard his guns and engage Marc in a melee fight.

Equipping a dagger, the man parried off the incoming slash and counter-attacked. Marc's defense had now been reduced pathetically due to his injured shoulder.

'Shit!!! I lost too much blood. Winning in this state is not possible, unless…..'

Marc charged in without any intention of throwing feints. The man slashed his dagger hard at Marc's chest. But he sacrificed his already injured left arm to get in close and thrust his shortsword deep into the man's chest, cutting up all vital organs. But during all this, Marc didn't realize that his left arm wasn't all that he sacrificed. The man smiled sinisterly, his face contorted with pain. An intense pain kicked in from Marc's gut. Looking down, he saw a bloodied dagger that penetrated the light armor and was stuck in his stomach.

"Ahhh, Damn. Pulled a fast one on me again, didn't you?"

The man grinned painfully in response. Both of them fell, barely able to speak or even breathe.

Just as the both of them were about to pass out, a loud female voice called out to them from the skies.

"Simulation concluded. Adrihel and Marc lost all of their HP. The win goes to Marc due to his strike at the opponent's vitals."

The skies and their surroundings started to dissolve into infinite digits. The voice went on speaking.

Deactivating Artificial Synapses….

Disconnecting Machine To Neuron Link…..

Disconnecting The X-Training Suit Link from the bodies….

Concluding Final Assessments…..

Successful...

"Marc and Adrihel are now advised to remove the X Suits and collect the assessment."

The surrounding, full of digits, faded away and nothing was left behind. With all of that gone, Marc and Adrihel now stood in a large white room with a reinforced door some yards away.

"Tell me, Dad, how did you get the permission for training in this room? This was so damn awesome. But you could've at least reduced the pain receptor sensitivities. It hurts harder than it would in real life."

Adrihel smiled and patted his son's head." Because that would be the only way that you could bear the pain in situations like these. And as for this cool training room, I've got some friends in places high up."

"Come on, no one's gonna come assassinate me. And….. Agghhhh, help me get this thing off me."

Adrihel and his son returned home to the residential area of the 64th District after collecting and analyzing the assessment of the fight.

"Marc, have you ever heard of the word Indominus?"

"Yeah, of course, I know about them. They are the scientifically enhanced guys that fought in the last war. Why do you ask that?"

"So you know that their power comes from enhancing themselves. Then how do you think that you have this power without being enhanced?"

"Huh, I don't know. Maybe my biological parents are from some weird race or something. Well…. now that I think about it, you never told me anything about this quirk of mine. You would just start training without answering."

"Uhh… I don't know anything about your quirk too. I was trying to figure it out by observing it over and over again. If my guess is true then analyzing your body at a medical facility here would be dangerous." Adrihel answered with a serious look on his face.

"Guess… what guess? Why would it be dangerous? "

" I think that you are.... " a sudden knock on the door stopped Adrihel from saying anything further than that.

"I'll go answer the door," said Marc.

"Yeah, we'll continue this later. "