*ring*--- *ring* ---*ring*

The sound of an alarm clock rang in a young man's apartment. His name was Emile Reeder.

"Stop," he exclaimed in a weak voice.

The year was 2155. As time moves forward, human advancement followed shortly behind.

The alarm clock could now distinguish an individual's awakening from their slumber. It can also recognize if the individual falls asleep again. If it determines that an individual fell asleep again, it will sound once more, which makes it the bane of all non-morning people.

This didn't affect Emile as he was acquainted with waking up early in the morning. The time showed 5:30 a.m which was a normal time for him to wake up.

He never dared to be late for his morning training. A distant memory of his father assigning grueling tasks to him due to not showing up. His body ached for a few days from the pain.

The training turned out to be a blessing in disguise since he improved faster than he would normally. His father noticed his improvement and kept the same method of training for all of his training sessions.

Emile kept this lesson deep inside his heart.

Emile got up from his bed. After leaving his bed he said, "clean," in which his mini robot named Azure wakes up from a resting position and makes his bed.

His room was spotless. He had a computer which would turn on if he willed it. He had a small closet filled with clothes.

Emile's blood family was only him and his father, but he considered Azure to be a part of his family. His father would always ramble about their family being powerful and prominent. Emile never believed his words since wealth was something they didn't have much of.

Emile entered his bathroom to freshen himself. He checked himself in the mirror. He had a sharp face with dark brown eyes like the color of oak. Emile was wearing a blue t-shirt with navy-colored pants. His short hair was as black as the night. His eyes were immeasurably deep like the ocean. This was a side effect of his ability to see other people's weak points.

Emile gained this ability after learning an eye-technique from his father. They called the eye-technique: Pinpoint. His ability only worked on people weaker than him, which he thought was useless. What's the point of knowing the weakness of people weaker than him?

After washing himself, he changed his clothes and left to eat breakfast. He went to his favorite breakfast booth to order his breakfast. After enjoying a nice and refreshing meal he walked towards his father's dojo.

He entered the dojo and noticed that his father was polishing his sword. The people who produced the sword created it out of steel, and his father kept it as his most prized possession.

The name of his father is Lucifer Reeder.

Lucifer noticed Emile entering the dojo and took out some wooden swords from a nearby rack.

He threw a sword towards Emile and said "En garde."

Emile caught the sword and got into a semi horse stance while firmly holding the sword with both hands.

His father put away his steel sword and used a wooden sword.

Lucifer fought while holding his sword with one hand and his other hand in a snake-like pose. He beckoned for Emile to attack first.

Emile charged at him. Emile used a movement technique which made his feet seem to move sporadically.

Lucifer analyzed Emile's path.

Emile went for a vertical attack in which Lucifer counter-attacked with a horizontal sweep pushing Emile back by two meters.

Emile charged forward once again but this time he went for a jab aimed at Lucifer's left shoulder.

Lucifer moved towards the right, using the same movement technique as Emile.

Lucifer dodged the blow and went for a counter-jab.

Emile noticed this and tried to dodge by moving to the left. He dodged the attack in the nick of time.

He could feel the wind of the sword missing his arm.

Emile regained his bearings and went for a horizontal sweep. Lucifer used his open hand to grab the sword and hold it in place. Lucifer's sword was propelling towards Emile.

Emile couldn't regain his sword from Lucifer which caused him to get directly hit on his left shoulder.

This put Emile on the ground with his knees holding him up.

Lucifer said, " You have to learn to let go of your sword, sometimes it's better to let go of your weapon, as it can give better moments to attack or defend."

Lucifer let go of Emile's weapon and walked away.

But before he walked far enough, Emile grabbed his wooden sword and went for an attack on Lucifer's calf.

Lucifer sensed this sneaky blow and jumped into the air. He twisted around in the air like a ballerina displaying her twirls.

After landing back on the ground, he charged forward at Emile and hit him on his right shoulder with the wooden sword.

Emile's knees gave out as he fell forward onto the soft floor. Lucifer then rested his sword on Emile's neck.

"We can consider this to be my win," said Lucifer.

"If you were in a real-life situation, in which that occurred, you might have been able to defeat the opponent. But that won't work on me." He continued.

Emile got up from the floor and patted himself.

"You didn't have to hit me that hard," he said as he thrust his shoulders back into place.

"Pain is gain, and life won't always be easy, you will have to face future hardships," Lucifer exclaimed as he took the swords and put them back on the rack.

The dojo didn't have many people in the early morning hours. Lucifer's income came from teaching a class. His class didn't start until 8:00 a.m. He taught 9 students. He taught them how to defend themselves and how to fight back.

The dojo had old equipment since they could not afford better equipment. The equipment they had was in good shape and was cleaned thoroughly.

They operated an obstacle course to train their movement techniques. Lucifer knew the movement technique that Emile used during the battle, they called it Void-Steps.

Void-Steps made the users feet seem to be moving in a direction that they weren't moving in. They use this to confuse the enemy, and it allows the user to dodge more effectively. The Void-Steps had different proficiencies in which a user could be in.

There was the Beginner, Intermediate, Expert, Master, and Grandmaster. Lucifer was in the Expert proficiency which gave him to have an advantage while dodging. Emile was still learning which put him at the Intermediate stage. The people in this stage trick the opponent with their movement and had limited dodging skills.

Emile started his daily training by going towards the obstacle course. The obstacle course had different machines which threw an assortment of attacks at him. He had to avoid all the attacks and reach the end of the course. This course was helpful towards people below the Expert proficiency.

If the person reached the end without getting hit, they would be in the Expert stage. If they get hit 10 or fewer times, they would be in the Intermediate stage. Any amount of hits over 10 would be in the Beginner stage or have no stage.

Emile's best trial, for now, was when he got hit four times and his average trial was when he gets hit seven times. Getting hit by the machines was painful. He had a high pain tolerance due to this. Today was the same as all his previous attempts. His best try for today was getting hit five times.

He stopped his training early since he heard Lucifer calling for him.

"Hey Emile, I've got something to show you," shouted Lucifer.