Lightening

It happened suddenly.

Anna charged behind the scene straight for Johan.

[This kid is strong,] thought Anna in annoyance . [How is this small time bumpkin Gadra told me came to the city only a year ago, giving me so much trouble!? I'll make his death that much more painful for being such a nuisance!]

Johan raised his fist in the air, and despite being heavily injured abandoned all sense of defense.

Boom!

Johan's hand struck at Anna holding none of his strength in reserve.

Boom!

Boom!

Aggressively, they both struck out at each other taking each other's punches, elbows, knees and kicks. Johan did his best to roll with the hits hoping none of them would knock him out.

Bones broke and blood drenched their skin.

Unbeknownst to Anna as they fought, electric sparks began to fly through the air.

Johan was loosing ground, being pushed back, overwhelmed ...

CRACKLE ...

Sizzle ...

The sound of electricity jumping through the air started slowly, and then the pathway they were on started to rumble.

However, Anna was too focused to notice.

BOOM!

Lightening flew through the air striking at Anna like an unhinged whip. But while stuned by it, an invisible force seemed to block much of the damage.

Johan immediately connected the dots realizing that Gadra had probably put a high level mana protection spell on her.

Anna smiled evilly as she sensed victory, little did she realize that this was a prelude to something more.

This was a strike borrowed from the legendary Monkey King, a being rumored to have brought an end to the reign of the gods. The actual strike wasn't even something Gadra could block at full power. Not at her current level.

SzzzzzZzzZzzzzz!

BANG!

Anna froze on the spot as she was engulfed in a thick beam of lightening. The pathway rumbled from its power. The force of this strike was related to Johan's current level, if someone at the Divine Lord level used it, it could destroy planets. It was a lost technique that called upon a power entity who had been long forgotten.

Johan stared at Anna coldly, as her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell to her knees unconscious. Her hair instantly ignited into flames and quickly turned to ashes, and her eye brows And clothes burnt off.

THUMP!

Anna fell on the pathway face first unconscious.

Johan had left her alive on purpose. He didn't want to draw attention to himself by killing her during such a public match. But having experienced being murdered by her several times in dream fights, he would feel no guilt having doing so. Especially, since he had an intimate knowledge of the cruel, ruthless woman that she was at her core.

Johan kicked Anna off the pathway back into the arena and jumped down after her, leaving the realm of 'behind the scenes' behind .

To the confused crowd back in Looking Glass Kingdom who struggled to clearly see the fight, it appeared as if Johan and Anna had disappeared and reappeared for just a second due to time flowing faster behind the scenes.

The arena went silent as they gazed at Johan, holding his broken arm tight against his cracked rib. Anna and Johan were both drenched in each other's blood and looked almost dead.

No one could believe what they were seeing. Despite being the underdog, despite barely winning each of his fights, despite having no crowd support he had once again won.

"How does it feel," growled Johan looking down at Anna. "Being stripped naked and defeated in front of a crowd is something you will never life down. You'll live in shame, remembering this loss forever. It will haunt you and eat away at you for the rest of your life. Consider this karma for the unnecessary cruelty you inflicted on others in the past. The cruel deeds you draw pleasure from in your dreams."

The fatigue from the end of the fight hit Johan all at once as he coughed up a mouth of blood.

He then collapsed on the sand unconscious.

He didn't even get to hear the announcer crown him victor. But anyone who saw him would get confused because his lips were curled up in a satisfied smile.

He had passed his test. He beat a strong opponent with the strength he had gained and techniques he had learnt up till this point. He beat a dangerous opponent many people stronger than him had been killed by.

— @ —

Johan found himself sitting cross legged across from Hanuman. Hanuman had a grim look on his face.

"You used Nimbuses lightening in a fight against an opponent of that woman's level. Shameful. Be ashamed. After all I taught you, you had to rely on an external source of help?"

"She was burning her blood essence," said Johan. "I had to do something."

"Weak," said Hanuman.

"Surviving is not weak," said Johan. "I did what needed to be done against that murderous woman."

"You did not win of your own strength," said Hanuman. "The will not allow you to survive for long. The martial arts alone when developed to its full extent and mastered can overwhelm any mana technique, item or weapon, and is the truest most noblest form of strength."

"I endured the lightening trials and gained the Nimbuses acknowledgement," said Johan. "The strength is mine."

"You endured not with your body but your mind," sneered Hanuman. "In my time I did both. It's just that the quality of warrior has depleted so much, that no being alive now could withstand it. So nimbus settled."

"A win is a win," said Johan.

"You are undermining the martial arts!," growled Hanuman. "To rely on mana based abilities and artifacts external to yourself will limit your accomplishments and attainable strength, only by developing what's within can anyone continue to reach new heights and breakthrough to new levels. The rest is just hocus pocus. I judged you wrong, you're not worthy of being my successor or of having the honor of me training you."

With those final words, Hanuman disappeared leaving Johan sitting alone to ponder.

He hadn't expected Hanuman to stick around forever. Deep down, Johan had known their alliance had been temporary, and more of a game to Hanuman.

Johan shrugged off Hanuman's criticism. He was more than pleased by what he had gotten from him, furthermore, he had gained The nimbuses acknowledgement, a powerful living cloud with whom he was psychically connected with, so he had come out more than on top in the brief time they had been on good terms. Although he had hoped to get more answers about the mystery of looking glass city, he now had other ways to attain this information.

"What should I do now?," said Johan. "I'm clearly unconscious, though I'm certain I'm not dead."

The area around him disappeared, and he found himself in the land with his fragmented memories. Johan had willed himself here.

The islands in this place containing his memories floated amongst the misty clouds, peaceful and untouched. Within them a lifetime of memories from his future self existed.

"I guess now is as good a time as ever to look around here," said Johan out loud.