“Why what's the matter? Got cold legs” the armored man comments.

  ‘Hey…’ the kid said with a hint of sadness with his narrowed eyes to avoid a headache.

  ‘Is there no way we can stop this… pointless slaughter?’ as he clings his fists.

  The armored man looks up, confused “It seems like you hold no hatred against me kid”

  ‘I do. I still hate you for killing the people whom I treasured.’

  “So why are you giving losers excuses? Avenge them like a man or die like one”

  ‘Fight like a Man huh? What's so manly about when they met for the first time in their life? No one of us had to be enemies. Yet we stood here, killing one another just for the sake of playing “man"? What’s so manly about fighting like a man? dying like a man? killing someone so their loved once grief for them over their manly actions? What's so manly about making women and children of others cry?’ claimed the kid but it was like his voice had almost no rage. Like his emotion disappeared.

  He looked the man in the eyes as some of his flame of rage grew within him and said in his serious voice ‘All I see are adults throwing the word around hoping it will make everything right. But It never does and never will. It only brings greater pain and suffering while making real enemies in the way of playing one…’

  The man was speechless upon hearing this after he made a thoughtless statement and the kid replied back with ‘So now tell me… is it what your idea of man is, a person who brings misfortune? None of us were enemies, never had to be, yet we stand here. Killing one another when we met for the first time, just for the sake of playing manly, lying to ourselves into believing we had enemies.’

  The kid calmed down instantly as his flame vanished from existence once again and said ‘The only revenge born during war is avengeance’ as he thought to himself ‘I doubt getting angry about it will solve anything’

  “Lucky for you. For I don't have anyone to cry for me. At least in this world, feel free to kill me. But you, on the other hand, still young, so it is a regret that I will have to kil—”.

  ‘Nor do I…’ the kid whispered.

  “What” looked at the man with confusion.

  The kid looks back towards the tree in the far distance followed by the sight of the man following the kid and said ‘They are all… dead.’

  The man's eyes were lightened up for a moment before going back to his serious hardened look. It was clear that the kid had no will to fight senselessly anymore or no will to even live.

  “And you still choose to tolerate me? You have my respect”. The kid looks at him hoping to stop this senseless fight.

  “But you see. We are just bandits who loot for living”

  ‘You don't look like one.’ as the ring took out the ring and showed it to him as a proof that he had not stolen anything and said ‘All the valuables were untouched.’

  “Even so, this world isn't going to accept your way so easily. This is a fight to the death. I am afraid this will be the end for one of us.”

  ‘Is that not an excuse itself? For there is no sane answer to such a question?... ‘I am sorry. I guess I am a hypocrite myself for I too have caused suffering…’

  The man takes a deep breath. “Such a shame, if we had met differently, just not today, we could have shared a different fate… Fate can be cruel”

  ‘Is the one fate still to be blamed for it?’

  “I have already killed your comrades, and you have killed those men. We can no longer turn back. I can't defy his orders. NOW READY YOUR SWORD, OR DIE” as he pulled back his sword and started walking towards him.

  The kid opened his eyes fully and was surprised that his aftershadow was too short and much harder to predict. There were multiple images of shadows all around him, all of them aiming for vital points just as the man took a single step forward. It started frying kids' brains from inside by only looking at it. That single step was enough to shake the kid as he looked at him.

  The armored man jumped forwards with such strength that the kid had only a few seconds to react. The kid blocked his sword thanks to these strange shadows but got pushed backwards a bit, not being able to withstand the force.

  The kid instantly tried to counter attack but the stiff movement of the kid’s sword was almost out of the book itself and not suitable for his body.

  It goes without saying that his attempt failed but for entirely different reasons. The headache made him lose focus and before he even started to attack him or even strike the pose, the kid already attacked towards the ghost of his.

  The man paused for a moment, confused, he stepped back knowing well that he had not even shown a hint of him attacking there and yet the kid had already his sword to where he was going to go. The man thought to himself “Did he just attack where I was going to be before I even?… Could it be.” as he smiled.

  The man questioned the kid “Who taught you the sword?”

  The kid replied, taking heavy breaths like he was having a bad fever and responded ‘The man who is now resting on that tree’. The man took a deep breath.

  “Have you been just imitating others?”

  ‘Imitate? How do you know?’ the kid replies.

  “What do you hold your sword for? Dreams, Fame, Power? Or just mockery. Your moves are too rigid, almost as if you wield an imitation of others and not a sword itself. It is too unstable.”

  ‘Meaning of my sword?’ The kid thought but without giving the kid time to think, the man just lunged towards him once again. This time aiming for the legs of the kid.

  The kid lunges his sword to the ground blocking off the sword but at the price of the sword getting stuck in the ground.

  ‘I should had just jumped back. What am I doing?’ panic started to kick in.

  The man seemed a bit disappointed as he retracted his sword and instantly swung back aiming for the shoulder of the kid as he struggled to pull the sword out making multiple mistakes.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  The boy leans backwards barely dodging the fast moving sword while still not letting go of his sword and pulls himself back towards using the arm that is attached to the sword and extends his leg to kick the man to buy himself some time to retrieve his sword.

  The man said “You are improving boy, but it's not enough to defeat me with so little improvement, show that you don't only have words but power to back them up.”

  ‘You are dead serious on wanting one of us dying?’ as the kid's expression changed to a smile as if he had accepted it all or for an entirely different reason.

  “I am, for that are my orders that I can't defy.”

  ‘What orders?’ But without replying, the man charges once again and suddenly buries his right foot into ground using it as a pivot point, curving his back like a swing, converting all the force into his sword.

  The kid tries to block it but the heavy attack was too strong for him to block it completely even when he put his other hand on to the blade. He barely managed to parry it by sliding his sword and redirecting it towards the side of his.

  Without giving any time, the kid counters back by pushing the blade forwards with the hand that was on it, making his sword straight and thrusting it like a spear towards the man.

  But in the end, his attempt was blocked by the swift blade of his opponent.

  “You are still too slow.” mocked the man as he lifts the blade right towards the kid.

  While he had learned from watching others' movements, it wouldn't be enough to beat this person if he could predict them all.

  It's like throwing a punch. But instead of letting the fist take the flow. The kid was focusing only on his upper arm and forearm without focusing on fist. While it will allow him to throw a punch, the accuracy and strength will be lost.

  “Stop thinking of the sword as a tool in your hand.” said the man to the kid.

  It suddenly clicked for the kid. Instead of thinking of the tool that was in his hand, he imagined it as an extra limb extending from his fist, giving more reach and a limb which he can copy the movement of. While he was copying the movement up to the fist, leaving the sword dependent upon the fist but now he was copying the sword as part of his body.

  The man's eyes widened as he looked at his sword and he smiled. He once again charged at the kid and noticed a change in his movement. Kids' swords started to become refined but still predictable to follow but tiring for some reason.

  “That's it, but it’s a pity that you will have to die without even reaching the bottom line of ur potential” Slowly the man starts to pick up the pace.

  The ground was silent, only the echo of sword clanking and slowly increasing as the time passed and the armored knight started laughing maniacally.

  “Yes. Show me what you are really made of. This is what fighting should be like.”

  ‘Why are you teaching me, if in the end you want to kill me?’ the kid questioned as he too started to smile. Maybe he smiled to stay sane in this insane world or he was becoming insane to live in this world.

  Normally people would consider it insanity and they might not be far off either.

  ‘You could had just killed me instantly' spoke the kid.

  “I just like to see the full potential of people. And don't get the wrong idea. I am not too weak to die by your hands, Lad."

  But one thing man was not able to take into account was his ability to mockery and predict as he adapted.

  Every passing moment, the kid who was master at imitating others, started to predict the movements of the man himself. It would have been surprising if he had not. After all, he never learned proper sword fighting as he just picked off the movements with his eyes.

  And thanks to the mysterious phantoms, he was clearly able to find the sword path much easier than ever and even make out the path in between the image and his body to the point he was able to make his every moment out and even copy them back.

  The man started to get serious, for little did he know, the boy in front of him had already started catching up. No, It was more that the hard work of his finally started to organize itself on a newer, better and stronger base. The blade started to adapt to his body with every swing.

  For a split second the kid realized it ‘I don't need to follow the blade with my eyes all the way through. Just with his peripheral vision was enough.’ and implemented it.

  With every swing, the kid started to understand more and grew stronger. “Yes, that's it” exultant the man.

  But soon the man's nonserious attitude changed towards a concern of being forced to push harder himself. He looked at the kid in front of him and he was smiling, smiling in the face of death itself.

  The armored man thought to himself “This might be bad. He is growing. No, he is adapting fast. I might not be able to hold back anymore if this continues. The blade of his… it's like I am fighting against myself who is growing stronger as he figures out the basics of combat”

  It was not that the kid was a lot more stronger, he was still weak but his exponential adaptation from mockery and ability to see attacks got mistaken for his talent causing a panic within the man.

  [Kid stopped mocking the swords and started adapting to what he saw and learned from it. In the battle with the risk of death, he was able to learn more than he did training against someone when he was sure would stop his sword when he was in danger. In additional to that, this time, he was no longer holding back the thing he was good at]

  Suddenly the confidence of the man turned into worry and fear. Fear of not losing but to have awakened a beast from his slumber.

  It was never that boy did not have any potential, but opposite, he had such potential but his base was too weak to uphold his entire structure of his potential as it cracked down.

  [No wonder how strong one may be, if the base can't uphold the structure, it will one day break down taking it all down with it. Just like a tree, no matter how tall it is, if its roots are weak, it will eventually fall down. But now it's different, thanks to the very man who wants to kill him, the kid was easily able to build a new base. Now all that is left for him is to stack up his broken structure upon that new base.]

  The kid threw in a diagonal slash, looking at the kid shoulder, the man knew he was going for the slash. His arm movement gave it all away.

  The man instinctively guards himself on his right and looked a bit disappointed as he said “Too easy, you think i will fall for it—”

  A swing came from the opposite direction of which he was blocking. The kid hit him with his other hand without a proper stance.

  “What the… a fake?” But it was too weak. While it was not as strong as the usual punch. It was still enough to catch him off guard. A punch that was unblockable. A punch driven by pure chaos, not sharpened by stance but a foamless shape.

  As unpredictable as it was, it was also reckless. Not only was it weak, it also strained the muscles of the users causing weakness and pain in his joints as it was not something a human was supposed to do. Like a double edged sword but the edge towards the wielder was sharper than the one pointed at the foe.

  The man was just surprised as he thought how quickly he did not just adapt but also landed a hit that should be impossible to predict.

  The man laughed and thought “I might have awakened a sleeping beast but… I am not that weak to die by a beast who just woke up after centuries of sleep… I wonder if a beast can free itself from the chains of this phoney world…”

  The man wastes no time and instantly charges towards the kid with his full strength. He was now serious. Forcing all his strength and focusing onto a single point, a thrust to break down all defences.

  For some reason the kid couldn't see the shadow any longer. As if they all vanished leaving him alone to defend himself.

  But to man’s surprise the sword of his was almost blocked by the sword of the kid but it was all in vain as the kid wasn't fast enough but it slowed down the man sword to give time to give one last attempt.

  Without wasting time, the kid tightened his grip on the sword and used the other hand as a hammer to thrust forward with full strength towards the chest of the man from the left to make him focus on blocking him instead of attacking.

  But it was all in vain as his sword had already reached out to his guts before the kid was even able to get his sword close to him.

  ‘This is gonna hurt ain’t it?’ the kid thought to himself.

  “Checkmat—”

  Silence fell on the ground once again and the kids' stamina started to fall rapidly.

  Silence fell on the ground as the kid thought to himself ‘I guess I will be joining you now…’ accepting death as peacefully as if he was waiting for this moment for a long time.