Training in Hell with the Devil [4/9]

C26 complete

Alice sat beside Junya on the ground. "Let me explain. When you kill Mobs, they have a kind of energy stored within their body which we call Elo. When you kill a Mob the greater your Elo rating becomes, increasing your strength"

"So, not to be Mr Obvious, but would that just mean I could kill Mobs all the way to S Rate?" Junya asked. "In that case why am I getting my ass handed to me right now"

"Good question but it's not that hard to understand. If you kill all your way to S rate, then what? Kill all mobs? This has been tried countless times and always makes a Fake S Rate Mobster. Imagine Two blacksmiths could forge the same weapons. The one with more experience will make the better weapon.

Killing to S Rate is possible but the Mobs there have countless more fighting experiences than you and would turn you into a bloody pile of flesh, bone, and blood vessels. They are all naturally talented fighters, to begin with. How can someone who sits, and farms Elo be stronger than someone who puts their life on the line?

Gaining experience means training your instincts and gaining control over your reflexes like fight or flight or fear, understanding what lengths something can go to survive. Mobs are superior, their will to survive makes them ten times stronger."

"They are naturally talented fighters. Fighting between themselves long before they even came here. The size of our planet allows for their disputes to settle, considering they now all share a common enemy." Alice explained.

"Is that what Amus was telling me about Psycho Mob?" Junya interjected.

"Oh, that? Yes, I experienced a Lunatic Mob before. It was a Chimera..." Alice's face showed an expression that Junya had never seen before. Her voice fell off a few octaves into sadness.

"Some Mobs look really ugly though, hahaha" Alice laughed perfectly, playing off her sad expression.

"Is that why you have that scar over your eye?" Junya continued. He had always noticed a small scar that rest over her eye, it was faint, light pink and only if you looked closely could you notice its length. He knew she was a Mobster; it was guaranteed that it was tied with bad memories. Since he only ever saw Alice as simply a caretaker he had never cared much at first nor was he too curious.

But seeing as they would spend a lot of time together, he used the opportunity and struck while the iron was hot.

Alice's laugh turned sour, and her face dropped, realizing her mistake of showing too much emotion, She sighed then turned her gaze straight ahead.

"Yeah, It was a Lunatic Chimera, on the verge of dying. My whole squad were demolished in a few moves, I was left to fight it by myself. The only thing good that happened that day is that I can tell people we have matching scars"

"You mean..."

"Yep, I gave that bastard something to remember me by, I bet he's pissed wherever he is. My quarterstaff had a blade with necrotic encryption, we only traded a single blow and barely escaped with my head.

I knocked him over his eye but that should have rotted his eyes by now. He most likely got it fixed so it's fair to say he is either blind or has a scar."

Junya was surprised by her immunity to something that was likely 100 times scarier than she made it out to be.

"What if you meet him again?"

"I'll use his horns as a victory horn" Alice's eyes grew cold and serious, making Junya feel oppressed just by being next to her.

"Oh, my bad. Don't ask a Mobster question like that don't ya know that? Not everyone is like me. People go crazy, an attack widely from PTSD, next time be careful." Alice got up with a groan while lifting him by his suit. She stood him on his own legs which had now thankfully regained their feeling.

"Let's start again. You haven't even gotten a single hint on my blessing"

"What's the use of fighting someone stronger than me?"

Alice scoffed at his laziness and drew serious, "Do you think Mobsters can say this when they are deployed? The chance of meeting a Mob weaker than you is the same as lightning striking twice. I'm sure your mother was weaker than most Mobs on the battlefield too"

At the mention of his mother, Junya clenched his teeth and squeezed his glaive. He used Asura step and side-stepped all around her.

She could follow him with her eye and spat at his pitiful attempt. "Are you really looking down on me?"

Alice sniggered at his attempt while another shock struck Junya lying at the thunderbolt. During his attempt to divert her attention Alice raised her already lengthened pole and smacked its butt on the ground.

In a spectacular manner, the quarterstaff extended once more. The centre widened causing both ends toward greater lengths.

This extension never stopped either and continued its rapid growth. Soon its incredible length made it hard to hold, forcing Alice to hold it lengthways in the air above her body.

Junya reasoned that it certainly was too long for her to swing at him but seeing the veins in her hand bulge and her muscles dancing made him uncertain. It was purely on instinct Junya abandoned his original plan and rushed to the last step.

He turned and stubbornly used Asura steps to the fullest capacity making him shoot off like a rocket.

Behind him, Alice stood with the now 10 metres quarterstaff in hand. With a powerful grip, she swung the staff forcing it to bend like a whip.

Junya's sense of danger proved useful as he narrowly dodged the strike, even though he pre-emptively fled. It missed and slammed into the side of the wall releasing its deadly potential energy in a destructive fashion.

During his escape, Junya aimed his retreat toward the box of weapons Alice had at the entrance. A second after the missed impact Junya was already there. He crash-landed flicked the chest open, with his free hand reached in and took out the spear.

"Two weapons won't help if one can't!" Alice yelled mockingly; her three different figures approached him slowly.

'Her blessing is fucking scary' Junya cursed, fleeing with his ability. It made no sense to use anything less at this point.

It seemed that regardless of whatever skill he used, Alice was always catching up with him using pure speed, her figure continued to multiply.

All of them hunted him down like a pack of wolves, locked in on their prey.

Junya stomped from wall to wall trying to shake her off until it was advantageous to face her. While carrying out his evasive manoeuvres, he realized that whenever Alice lashed out to grab his collar he would escape by mere centimetres.

However, unknown to him except for Alice, she had soon recognised that Junya's Ability had the power to make him faster from every take-off. If he used it continuously by making his kinetic energy greater, his speed would surely increase.

Alice smiled, 'Crazy bastard'

For obvious reasons she held back on her attacks, but seeing him try this hard was rewarding, it was something he would need if he ever travelled beyond the walls.

As Alice continued her ruthless pursuit, Junya grew weary with each step. He knew it was his body telling him he could keep it up for much longer. He had to think of a plan, and fast, otherwise he was destined for doom.

He reached the wall to take off again, yet Alice was there right behind him threatening to grab his collar once more.

He stopped, using his momentum to stick to the wall in a squatting position. He saw her suspended in the air and thrust his spear toward her head.

Alice being a daredevil (and a genius) grabbed the spear and pulled Junya along with it.

Surprisingly to her, Junya allowed her to pull at him, but in his other hand his glaive shook, however unlike before, Junya remained unphased. In fact, it seemed intentional. Alice looked on as the Glaive approached, allowing it to reach her close enough so she could observe its movement.

He put all his power into the swing, it knowing his body couldn't continue much longer.

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Ability: Demon Crash (Beginner)

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Alice drew her quarterstaff in front of her face and a strong vibration consumed her weapon. Surprisingly to her, the vibration coupled with the sharp glaive formed a nick in her quarterstaff which turned to a deep groove within seconds.

Despite the shock, she used her strength to support the blow. She could tell by his attempt he was tired and caught his fatigued body.

His legs buckled and he knelt on the ground. Alice bent down and grabbed his face, looking at his eye level.

"You have two abilities?" Alice's face was beyond confused

***

15 Days Left Till School