"This is Silver, as you have already heard. He is a greenhorn but he already joined us so as you can see by his emblem on his shoulder, his lion is green. If you are planning to keep coming here for training without joining us, you will have to wear a white one. I guess I don't need to explain how you mustn't talk about this place to others, right?" Arno introduced us and asked me.
Interesting...so I can keep coming here for some time without even joining...but I shouldn't abuse that because who knows what happens to those who know too much and decide against joining.
"Everything is clear." I replied to Arno and nodded at Silver as a greeting and he responded in the same way with a smile.
"Alright kids, you have fun while I will go change my clothes, these police's uniforms are so uncomfortable." Arno fidgeted a bit to show his discomfort.
What about me? Do I have to fight in my school uniform?
"*Don't agitate him, although he is a greenhorn he is still very important person down here.*" Arno whispered to me with a serious expression and I just nodded.
Maybe someone related to the one who is leader down here or to someone influential.
"Silver, try not to beat that kid senseless, he still needs to get home today." Arno said as he was leaving.
"What do you take me for?!" Silver shouted at Arno who was calmly leaving, not bothered with Silver's shout.
"Ugh! That old man...forget it. I heard that you haven't practiced any martial arts, is that true?" Silver muttered with an annoyed expression and then asked me.
"Yeah, so please be lenient during our spar" I said and when I have said the word "spar" I used sarcastic tone.
"Alright and no need to be so humble, let's jump down" Silver replied and jumped down into the fighting pit and I followed after him.
"Do you want to start first?" He asked me with a confident smile.
"Nah, I have no idea how to attack someone. It would be better if you start since defending is simply an instinct for me, so I will somehow try to defend myself." I replied and told him to start and he just nodded.
"Get ready!" He shouted and rushed in front of me. He used his left hand to throw a punch towards my stomach while keeping his right hand to himself in case he needed to defend himself.
Tch, he isn't even underestimating me. How am I supposed to attack him if he keeps his one hand to guard?
I received his punch into my left palm of my hand and before he could retract his hand, I pulled him towards my left which will render his free right hand useless, making it hard for him to defend against my attacks.
"Huh?" He seemed surprised by my strategy and he also realized that if he were to be fully pulled, he would have no chance to defend himself so instead of retreating he used the force behind my pull. He jumped forward with his knee aiming at my stomach.
He reacted fast...I don't think I can catch him off guard anymore after this. Neither I have time to dodge this attack and if I want to counter-attack later, I can't use my hand to block it...
This is gonna hurt...I thought to myself and prepared my abs for impact.
"*Cough*" I immediately coughed in pain when I received his knee however I didn't want to let go of this chance so I ignored the pain and grabbed his leg with one hand and with the other I caught his clothing above his chest.
"?!" He was once again surprised however this time he frowned in a serious manner.
This is the last time I have caught him off guard. I thought and used my entire strength to flip him over my shoulder.
Silver didn't react in time and instead prepared for an impact with the ground.
The moment he hit the ground, he immediately rolled away from me and stood up while watching me warily.
"Heh, I thought you said that you have never practiced anything." He said with an excited smile.
"And it's the truth...You can ask Arno to verify that information." I replied while rubbing my stomach with a slight smile.
What is this? Why am I starting to feel entertained even though I just got beaten? I was able to surprise him 2 times which still wasn't enough to cause him any injury on a comparable level as the one I have received but still...it makes me crave more. More chances to surprise him and cause him a bigger injury than mine.
"Well, whatever...instead of talking about that old man, let's continue our spar!" He shouted with an excited smile and dashed to me even faster than the first time and threw a quick punch at my right shoulder.
Shit!
I was able to only think that before I was forced to quickly evade by leaning forward a bit.
Silver expected me to lean forward so he kicked out with his knee up, aiming right at my face which made me widen my eyes.
I quickly crossed my arms before me to protect my face.
And when his knee met with my arms, the force behind his kick made my entire body's balance which was in front, back away, making me fall on my ass. I felt my arm which was the first to receive his knee go numb.
...I stood up only after a few seconds since he wasn't making any move.
I tilted my neck a few times to crack it and then adjusted my gloves with an excited smile, maybe a bit crazy.
---
'?!...This guy. Now I understand why Arno is so interested in him. Ever since he came here, he had a bored look on his face. Even when he started to spar, he was fighting me with a poker face and even though there was a sign of a small smile, it was nothing compared to now...' Silver thought with the same crazy smile.
'He is coming!' Silver shouted inside his mind and got into defensive stance.
---
I kicked off the ground and quickly dashed towards Silver. When I was near enough, I abruptly stopped, of course, I wouldn't be able to suddenly stop like that without redirecting the force somehow or stopping it by holding onto something. Therefore, I used that force to make a spin and perform a roundhouse kick with the additional power from the spin.
"Fuck!" Silver widened his eyes in surprise and quickly tried to block my kick with his leg covering his lower body and his arm together with the shoulder covering his upper body.
When my kick connected with his arm he immediately made a pained expression and was forced to retreat a few meters away from me.
"...Sorry, is it broken?" It didn't feel like I broke his arm but I still asked to have some kind of reason to stop the fight. If I just stopped with no reason while looking at his pained expression, it would only make him feel humiliated.
"Agh...No, don't worry about me, let's resume our spar." He said and both of us rushed towards each other.
We started throwing punches back and forth. His speed was a bit better than mine therefore in the barrage of fists I ended up catching a few of them with my body but I quickly accustomed to his speed and started dodging the punches I had no time to block.
...
"Haha, I am back boys, sorry that it took so long but you wouldn't believe-" Aron came back wearing his new clothes while heartily laughing, however, he was immediately shocked by the sight he saw in the fighting pit.
"haaah" I was trying to catch my breath while lying on the ground with a drenched clothes.
On the other side, opposite to me.
"Fuuu..." Silver was regulating his breathing while sitting, his face was fully covered by the beads of sweat.
"...What the hell happened here, kids?" Arno jumped down to the pit and asked with a confused expression while looking in Silver's direction.
The emblem on his shoulder...violet? I haven't seen anyone else with that color yet. Anyway, my stamina is really shit. I could keep up with Silver, however, I lost in the end because of my stamina.
I thought while doing my best to regulate my breathing like Silver who was already on his legs.
"That kid...Arno, are you sure that he has yet to practice anything?" Silver asked him with a forced smile while tightly holding his arm.
"...You are a kid too." Arno replied while looking down at Silver with a weird expression.
"Shit! That's not important!" Silver exclaimed in an annoyed tone for being made fun of by Arno.
"I already told you that he is a bit special but he never practiced anything. tell me what happened later for now...Hey kiddo, here you go" Arno replied to Silver and then threw an emblem at me.
Precisely it was a white lion however I found something interesting on it that others didn't have.
"Why does the lion have red eyes?" I asked while showing him the emblem in my hand.
"Well, you don't need to care about it for now. Once you will decide to join I will tell you and don't worry, it's nothing bad, on the contrary, it will help you in the future." He said with a faint smile.
"What?! He is getting CRAZED ONES status?!" Silver immediately exclaimed with a shocked expression.
"That's right and it seems that 'he' wasn't wrong for deciding so..." Arno said while looking at Silver's injuries.
Silver just hung up his head in shame, not daring to meet Arno's eyes.
"Well, guys, about you help me a bit? I need a little warm-up." Arno said with a wide grin.
"Umm...I am kinda exhausted so I would like to take a break..." Silver said with a forced smile and fear in his eyes while trying to leave.
Arno grabbed his head and stopped him from moving any further.
"Hehe, from what I can hear, your breath is already stable." Arno said while tightening his grip.
"Aaagh, alright, alright!" Silver stopped resisting and accepted.
I guess he must be really strong that even Silver is so afraid.
"Alright boys, come at me, both of you at the same time!" He shouted at us.
Huh? Even me? Although I was already expecting that, I was still slightly surprised.
"Alright, let's go for our daily dose of pain newbie!" Silver shouted and rushed towards smiling Arno.
It can't be that bad, right?
I thought and followed right after Silver.
...
Fuck! Everything hurts after today's training, the most ironic thing is that the injuries that I have obtained from sparring with Silver don't hurt a bit but what hurt me the most are the injuries obtained from Arno.
That fucker didn't spare us at all...At least he didn't hit my face otherwise my mother would pass out after seeing me with a black eye or broken nose.
Still...the sparring with Silver was really fun. If I remember correctly, I was even genuinely smiling. But I won't cloud my judgment with this. I will decide after thorough consideration.
CRAZED ONES...huh? I thought while looking at the emblem in white lion shape with red eyes.