After listening to him, I could only think he was crazy. But right now another idea was going through my head.
—Sara, I think you should go help Basma and Zareb.
When Sara noticed what I said she quickly moved towards them.
—How did you win her over? What did you offer her to betray me?
Listening to him I could only sigh.
—I think you have a pretty big mental problem.
—Hahaha, well, I may have a problem in my head, but you have a problem with me.
I was stunned, should that sound good? Ignoring him as best I could before telling him any nonsense for a moment I thought that if Becquer, a Spanish poet, had heard that, he would have given him a slap for being a terrorist against words.
Concentrating again on the battle I kept the mana booster activated in my body and looked him in the face before he came running after me. I noticed how his eyes glowed with a blue halo that I had seen before. What trick does he have in store?
With the body brace I'm supposed to be faster and react quicker so the only thing I'm worried about is the skill he showed the first day in the ring and with which he ended up beating the big guy.
As he approached with the knife in his hand I slid to the side to dodge him and threw a punch, but to my surprise he dodged it.
Before I could react to what had just happened he attacked me again, this time, although I managed to dodge the knife I was quite off balance and ended up getting kicked in the stomach.
What's going on? I was supposed to be faster and have more reflexes. With no time to reflect Hiroki was still lunging at me, I decided to make some distance and activate the fighting style I had developed with a demigod, my freestyle.
When I was finally able to get away from Hiroki I stood, took a deep breath and became serious.
—Come!
I could see how he smiled and rushed to me.
My 'freestyle' is not a normal fighting style. It's about perceiving the opponent's movement, the direction of the attack, using the means around me, my reflexes, putting everything together and launching a counterattack. It's not a defined movement, it's not a systematic attack, it's having a blank mind and attacking as you please.
Hiroki tried to do a couple of slashes to my chest, to dodge I used my mana and crouching on the spot I gave him a kick on his supporting leg, causing him to slip slightly. Seeing this I rested my hands on the ground and spinning with my legs as if I was breakdancing I gave him another kick in the face.
I had a smile on my face, these were the first blows I had given him since we started the fight. I had to take advantage of his confused state to put pressure on him, so getting up from the ground I took advantage of the little mana I had left to approach him and give him another couple of punches before he separated from me.
Spitting blood on the ground he gave me a look full of hatred. But I couldn't be intimidated by him.
—Sara told me that your goal is to kill the hostess and gain the respect of the Goddess. Is it true?
That didn't make much sense, but he didn't know the truth.
—I don't want to win the favor of the Goddess —he said as he wiped the blood from his mouth—. I just want this hotel to live in, away from society, away from all human influence. I want to live in peace, without problems, without responsibilities, without schedules, doing whatever I want. Thanks to the Goddess selecting me I'm here, and because of the hostess I'm doing shitty tests, that's why I'll kill the hostess, to stay in this place forever. Away from everything and everyone.
—So much you want, but you don't give anything, pretty selfish don't you think?
—Selfish? Don't talk nonsense. If the Goddess wanted to, she would create vegetation and give it to us, she would create food and give it to us, she would create medicines and give them to us, if she really fought for the existence of humans she would do all that and more. If it really loved us it would give us enough to live on, to eliminate poverty, to eliminate evil. Do you really believe that the Goddess or the hostess or those who follow them fight for humanity?
Before answering him I took a deep breath as I closed my eyes. He had said things that it is true would improve society, but that is not the point, that is not the solution to humanity's problems.
—So tell me, why does humanity deserve that? Isn't humanity itself the precursor of most of the problems you have said? Isn't it then humanity who should find the solution? The Goddess, the hostess, the people who are here helping us give us the strength to do so, why do you ask for more when humanity has done nothing to earn more?
I stood silently watching Hiroki. Now he was looking at the ground, angrily, he seems to be thinking about what I said to him. I hope I expressed myself well. When Hiroki looked back at me his eyes were wide open, I could see him gritting his teeth hard, gripping the knife in his hand tighter.
—I hate you —was the first thing he said to me—. I hate your ideals, I hate what you think, I hate everything about you. Why should we have to earn that when it was The Goddess who created us in this world? To fight for humanity? Don't make me laugh. Just like The Goddess I fight for me, just like you I fight for me, just like the bald guy I fight for me. The rest of them can fuck off.
And he threw himself at me again, but faster, with more force, I didn't have time to dodge the punch and I ended up receiving it in my forearms, which I moved to protect my chest. From the force it sent me to the back wall. I vomited blood, and my arms hurt, I had received an incredibly strong blow. On top of that, I barely had any mana, and from the day's fatigue I could feel that I had less and less strength in my body.
—Shit.
Forcing myself to stand up, I was able to focus on the little mana I had in my body. Breathing and concentrating on the circulation of mana so that I wouldn't fall to the ground. I can't fall here, I can't fall against those ideals.
Hiroki who looked like he had gone totally crazy was talking to himself, I didn't have time to think about him, if I lost my concentration a little I would stop feeling the flow of mana. Diving a little deeper I noticed how the mana was flowing and I started to hear the sound of water running in a river.
At that moment Hiroki came running at me with the knife in hand, I had no more strength to run away or dodge so I decided to put all my strength in the next punch, but to my surprise when I threw the punch I also threw a jet of pressurized water forward.
I noticed how I was losing strength when I received a message from the system.
_____________
Congratulations on Awakening,
You have awakened the nature element 'Water'. You have received 20 mana points.
You have received a title 'First to Awaken' +5 points.
You have gone up 3 levels.
_____________