The Zone

"I am Potters, how can I help you."

"Talk about confident and tough" Tion muttered in his mind as he got a grip on his nerves and looked the unhappy man in the eyes.

Thankfully by this time, Tion had already taken his hand off his katana hilt so he at the moment appeared a bit neutral and had the option of civility.

"Can I have a word with you in private "Tion calmly asked.

"Sure," Potter said as he fully stepped outside, sent the woman in and closed the door.

"I have a shed at the back, we can talk there," the man said as he walked past Tion and began moving away.

A head with a low-cut shave, blue overalls that exposed much of his chest, thick arms and then big brown boots.

Though the man before Tion didn't look like a criminal, he matched the image in the mission scroll Tion had been given and as the boy followed behind the man, he considered his choices and with a quick decision shot his right hand for the hilt of his katana and then the second he grabbed it, he pulled his intention being to swing it and decapacitate Potters in that one strike.

So many reasons why he shouldn't fight Potters had gone through Tion's mind, pity, hesitation and mercy being the strongest.

The option of using his family to threaten him to surrender and be only taken into custody had gone through Tion's mind, but in the end, he had chosen to snap his thumb over his pinky finger and enter into the zone.

The zone was a state of being that Tion's father had taught him before he passed, it was a state in which Tion focused on just one single task until he was pulled out of it by a major event,

The zone was purely a result of mental training, nothing mysterious, it helped Tion back when he worked the farm, it helped him focus when he studied and trained, and now it helped him scrap off the doubts and focus on his one goal for coming here today which was to exercise his kills and eventually kill Potters and though there was the option to capture, it had never been his initial plan.

There following behind Potters of the green lawn to go to the back of the house, not caring if he was being watched, Tion pulled out his blade, the sound of the weapon unsheathing being the only sound being propagated by the air, and just as his weapon came out of its home, ascended into the air and began descending, the seemingly vulnerable man ahead of Tion stamped his foot hard on the ground with his next step.

A sudden tremble erupted from Potters's location, Tion who was just a step behind the man feeling it the hardest, and though he was still able to bring down his blade despite the sudden shaking of the ground, his accuracy was completely thrown off course and a turning Potters was given the chance to easily doge it, and with a menacing face throw a left hook at his face.

Just recovering from the sudden small earthquake and still trying to withdraw his katana from its missed strike, Tion was barely able to move his body to the side and dodge the man's punch, but then the right hand came speeding toward him a second later and he could only guard this hit using his left forearm.

"Damn the first punch was a feint and didn't pack any power," Tion lamented as despite him being able to guard against the attack, his legs still left the ground and he was sent shooting backwards.

Tion flew for about 5 meters before his body crashed into the ground and as the boy used a roll to send himself standing, he spotted Potters who had pursued him now waiting for him to stand so he could deliver another heavy punch.

Rather than be worried, Tion smiled at this, and as his body was rising up, a sound of lightning crackling began sounding from his blade which was still firmly in his right hand.

As Tion stood up his eyes were welcomed to the sight of an angry Potters throwing a right punch at him, the man's right fist faintly glowing blue, and while his approaching attack did look terrifying, Tion remained calm and unbothered by it as his right hand which held the katana now covered in black and blue lightening came swinging at Potters from the side.

"It's up to you now buddy, will you risk the chance to knock me out in a single blow when the consequence of you being just a tad bit slower is you being totally split in two."

The ball was in Potters's court, but that didn't mean that he was the one pulling the strings attached to it.

"With frustration which Tion could catch on the man's face, Potters abandoned his attack on him and instead put all his strength into jumping away from Tion and his terrifying lightning blade and while the man did avoid getting decapitated in two, his left leg still sustained a deep enough cut that had him gritting his teeth as his body landed a few steps away from Tion.

With a sudden blood thirst which Tion wasn't even aware he had, he was just about to chase after the injured man when a loud shot of a woman accompanied by a cry of a baby reached his ears.

"Potters" 

For all his focus on ending the man in front of him and harvesting more fertilizer for his mana core, Tion couldn't ignore the despair in the woman's tone and the fear in the crying baby's voice and with that he turned back to the house and stared at the pair who were standing by the door both of the crying.

Just like this, Tion dropped out of the zone and a bunch of thoughts began flooding his mind, and though a few seconds later he got his mind blank and under control, it was too late as when next he looked at Potters, the man had a blue ethereal book floating in front of him while both his palms were pressed on the ground.

A feeling of danger filled Tion, but he could only helplessly watch as the green lawn in front of him suddenly turned all muddy and a skull made of mud which was more than half his size shot out and came flying towards him.

"What is a D rank mage doing pulling off a C to B rank technique Tion cried as his cackling sword went into action and came swinging at the approaching skull head that was dripping mud.