Chapter 35: Accelerate Vs Pause: Part 1

Level: 3

HP: 20/20

Strength: 6

Agility: 19

Stamina: 15

Sense: 7

Points available to distribute: 4

"ACCELERATE!"

*VOOM!*

While Axel's figure vanished from view, the sound of a boom reverberated through the entire room. Gray looked up at that moment, flashing a look at Axel's leg that was swinging down on him.

When he moved his head to dodge, however-

*BAM!*

Due to his lack of speed, the kick connected, striking him right in the back of the head. In the course of pausing, Gray's head bopped down.

[Pause]

In order to counter, Gray raised his head and threw a punch at the figure of Axel, which should have been suspended in the air.

In spite of this, he slowed down, his eyes widening as he stopped in his tracks.

Axel wasn't there. It was just before Gray was able to pause him that Axel had moved away.

*WHAM!*

Suddenly a kick came from the side, striking him right on the side of his head, causing him to fall over to the side. He didn't let him reach the ground as he kicked him once again, this time from the direction from which he was falling.

*WAPAM!*

Previously, Gray's body had been falling to the left, but now he was falling to the right. Immediately after he had centered himself, he launched a kick right at Gray, causing a clean injury to his head.

A barrage of consecutive kicks landed on Gray from all directions as he was disorientated, essentially turning him into a kicking bag.

The feet of Axel would retract each time Gray came close to pausing. Actually, it was almost as if he had worked out that just by touching Gray's body, Gray's ability would be triggered and so he made sure he kept as short of a time in contact with Gray as possible.

His attacks, however, would lose their power as a result of this.

[HP: 11/20]

...

[HP: 10/20]

Slowly but surely he was chipping away at his HP, but Gray firmed it, waiting for his chance.

Axel moved to finish it in this next attack, sending a rising kick just as Gray had done to him, at the bottom of his chin.

Fortunately, Gray was able to tilt his body back in the last second, just barely being able to get away with only a graze.

But that was only the beginning. Still in the motion of having dodged the previous attack, Gray was suddenly swiped off his feet, causing his body to lift into the air.

'Shit-'

*VAM!*

Axel unleashed a barrage of kicks on Gray's back, causing him to go further and further into the air.

[Pause]

Again it had failed.

As Gray's body slowly fell from the air, he planned to finish it all in this next move.

Accelerate. An ability which allowed him to accelerate himself to superhuman speeds, that along with the physical boost he also got from awakening. He may as well have been perceiving time at a different rate to humans.

His reaction speed, his physical speed, it was all heightened. He was moving so fast that the people could only see his blurry silhouette as it moved around Gray countless times.

With his body slowly falling towards the ground, Gray raised his guard as if he already knew what to expect.

Axel who had been beside him, already had a swing in motion, heading right towards him. It moved so fast, that Gray could barely react. But he did.

Gray positioned his at just the right angle to Grab, Axel's kick. In that instant, the smile on Axel's face widened as he vanished.

His sillhoute appeared behind Gray, this time a kick was in motion heading right for Gray's back. The first move was a fake, to get him to drop his guard.

'I win.' The thought flashed in his head.

*Thump!*

Axel's eyes widened, as his kick was suddenly caught by Gray's hand. He had positioned his hand perfectly, grasping it just as it made contact with him.

'What!?'

Gray had predicted it. Throughout the whole fight Axel had been pumping out fakes left and right because he was afraid of being caught. So Gray made a gamble. He gambled that Axel would strike in his blind spot.

Turns out it was correct.

[Pause]

Gray's face slammed against the floor, but with the veins sticking out of his hand, he didn't let go.

5 Seconds, that was all he had. With the smile on his face widening by the second, Gray's figure could be seen, ahead of Axel's frozen figure.

Unable to move, Axel could only watch as Gray wind-up his arm as far back as possible, preparing for a powerful swing.

[Do you wish to allocate four stat points into Strength?]

With just the thought of doing so, the system got the message instantly displaying the screen in front of his eyes.

"Yeah." Said Gray with the swing already in motion.

[Allocated]

Gray put all his power into the swing. The anger from the past, from all those years of torture. He was consumed with rage and hatred. All of it together caused Gray's instincts to take over.

'No... Wait, Dont-!' Axel tried to stop him.

*THUMP!*

Without even realising it, he had imitated the same form the labyrinth's first floor boss had used against him. He shifted all of his body's weight and power into the fist, resembling a pitcher as he dragged his fist deep into the middle of Axel's face.

All of his emotions were carried by that punch.

Axel's heart sunk as he watched his flesh and skin get pushed inside, his face froze in that very same position. There was no pain.

Thinking that was the end of it, and he could just counter after this attack, his pupils dilated once he saw Gray winding up for another.punch. There were still two seconds left.

*THUMP!*

Gray unleashed another one, an upper cut right beneath his chin. Gray grit his teeth, squeezed his buttocks as he unleashed all of his power into that punch.

Then came the finish, with only a second left, Gray sent a kick right at Axel's face, hitting it cleanly across his face.

[Unpause]

The timer ended.

"Fuc-"

*BO-BOO-BOOOM!*

The attacks which were being held back suddenly registered as if finally catching up. Axel's head bopped backwards twice, a burst of wind was felt from behind, stressing just how powerful the pressure and force were.

Blood spurted out of his nose, as his head bounced to the back a third time. Gray's foot and hand print could be seen on his face, at that moment.

Painful. It was excruciatingly painful. His mind struggled to register the pain as he flew across the air, crashing into another table.

He laid there motionless whilst Gray approached him. During those moments, he thought to himself, was this really Gray? Was he really losing to Gray? The Gray?

.

.

.

"Hello Class, This is your new student, Gray. Treat him well." Said the teacher.

Gray hair, gray eyes, and a small frame. Because of his looks however, he was intially welcomed greatly by the class, quite famous even. Especially amongst the girls.

"Hey~ Isn't he kind of cute?"

"I wonder if he' single..."

"His eyes and hair, is that natural? It looks so cool...!"

Axel who had always been number one, felt challenged by Gray's existence. He had an unnaproachable presence, a cold and dark one looming over him all the time as if he was depressed.

That made it harder for the people to talk to him. At the time, no one knew it wasn't his fault, he was just bad at socialising, but they took it as him just being the quiet type. Nevertheless they continued to try to get to know him.

Seeing Gray, Axel would constantly find himself being pissed off. Not simply because he was getting all the attention, but because he looked as if he was better off dead.

Because of that, he began lightly bullying him, smacking him on the back of the head or insulting him from time to time during lessons. The girls would have his back at first, but over time they stopped.

After all, Gray would never complain or fight back even, he would just go on with his day, his eyes void of emotion. No matter how badly he was bullied, he never uttered a word of complaint.

And that pissed Axel off, even more.

He didn't cry, he didn't ask him to stop, he would just take the beating and walk away. Because of that, the bullying only got worse, and worse and worst. Until eventually it had reached the point where he didn't even need to conceal the injuries he'd sustained all over his body at home from the school.

But no matter how much he tried, Unlike others, Gray never broke. And that was precisely the reason he had grown to hate him more than anyone else.

-

-

-

'There's no way... That's Gray.' He thought to himself as he watched Gray's approaching figure. His head spun whilst he was overcome with diziness.

The people who had been watching quietly and in awe, were shocked. Axel lost?

"Hey... Shouldn't we stop this?"

"A-At this rate, will we really be reimbursed?"

"It's the apocalypse for fuck sakes, why are we fighting against each other?!"

A crowd could no longer bear to watch. They were all interrupted however, as Axel slowly got up, yelling out his opponents name.

"GRAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!"

"Be quiet." Said Gray as he suddenly appeared before him, grabbing him by the neck.

He was so disorientated that he hadn't noticed. He was hit in his chin, causing his body's responsiveness to have taken a hit.

"You... You said you would kill me, didn't you? Then... It's only fair if I kill you, right?" Gray asked with a smile.

Fear clouded Axel's mind as he tried to break free of Gray's grasp. However he failed, his body was frozen.