Teras continued documenting the fights that had the same ending, after every fight Teras thought he could get closer to beating Pecus but every time he was proven wrong
"What is it, kid? You look a bit more worn off than the other days, do you have something on your mind?" Pecus asked as he breathed heavily from the fight
"We are fighting! We shouldn't discuss something like this now!" Teras said as he charged at Pecus
Teras first attacked with the dagger and then dodged the swing from Pecus
'He has his guard down... Should I?' Teras thought before rushing for an attack
With his sword, he attempted to slice Pecus in his sides but Pecus caught the blade with his hand at the last moment, Teras was confused about what happened, he blankly stared at the sword before seeing Pecus's legs slowly raise for an attack
'I'm gone...' He thought before his body moved by itself, dodging the attack
He then continued acting on instinct by kicking Pecus away
'Now that I created distance I can do that...' Teras thought before creating many mana shields with a sharp edge, he then directed these shields toward Pecus
"That's new! I see you are gradually improving huh?" Pecus said as he sliced every shield directed toward him
But he failed to notice that a shield was coming from behind, this shield was created while Teras created the others but this particular shield got behind Pecus by moving behind tall grass
In the end, Pecus got hit by this shield on his back, the attack damaged Pecus quite a lot because Pecus almost took this without defending with mana, but luckily his back muscles were durable enough to hold the attack a little before applying mana
Normally an attack like that could easily kill a normal person or an unaware high ranked adventurer
After this attack landed Teras threw an air slice and tried to stab Pecus with his sword, Pecus was hit by the air slice but before things could get worse for him he used his paralyzing roar to stop Teras from moving inflicting almost the same amount of damage the first time he used it on Teras
"Alright, the match is over!" Enyo said as she appeared out of thin air
She gently picked up Teras and looked at Pecus
"He got you good huh? This is a trick I use often but I never taught him that so it seems like my little pupil has the same smart mind as me, and if that happens to be the case..." Enyo said as she walked away "... Be afraid" Enyo completed her sentence with a cold smile on her face
"I will stand victorious and live the life I deserve..." Pecus said as chills ran down his body
"Good luck with that, I honestly wish you both the best, you see the scenario I made was a win-win for me, if you lose I get to go on a trip to the royal capital, which I don't quite like, and if you win I will have to get rid of this little pain in the ass, which I also won't like when the time comes"
Pecus was a bit confused at what Enyo said
"That sounds like a lose-lose scenario..."
"Nah if I get attached to this boy he will become my weakness and if I get too attached to this place it will bring me sadness leaving it, see? Win-win" Enyo said before starting to flee the area
…
Teras slowly opened his eyes and found himself in front of a lake, he was lying on a small hill with grass on it facing the lake and the sun setting
This image brought tears to Teras's eyes, there were tears of joy...
"This..." He mumbled as he looked around
His words were slowly cut short when he saw the figure standing left of him
"Why?" It asked as it extended its dark hand
This figure was completely dark with wings and bright red eyes and was sending this feeling of uneasiness
…
But right before he thought he would choke Teras opened his eyes, finding himself staring at the ceiling
'Maybe I should take some fresh air' Teras thought as he put on his warm clothes
It was negative degrees Celsius outside so Teras was shivering but he couldn't help it, if he didn't go for a walk these dreams would end up consuming his mind
Walking alone in the dark woods many thoughts crossed his mind, some were memories of his friends, others were the hard times and pain he felt while fighting, but one particular thought made him feel worse than anything could
'I'm weak...' That's what Teras thought, but not in an insulting way like all the other times but in a more self-aware way
'Tokkou and Recka taught me well how to use my brain and skills in battle but for some reason, I can't seem to apply that now... I have discovered many facts and powers I didn't know I had before I fought the Joker, back then I managed to somehow steal his mana and do all the other stuff that at the time seemed natural, but right now I don't seem able to use any of these abilities, maybe in this one moment I returned to my past self, a self that was able to stand toe to toe with a one-handed Joker, so that brings the question, "Who the hell was I supposed to be?", I'm at a point that I don't really give a damn now but it would be nice to know how the hell I posses such abilities, the Joker said something about angels but I'm pretty sure I'm not an angel, angels are supposed to have wings, blonde hair, and blue eyes, I don't fit the characteristics'
"What are you mumbling about to yourself?" Pecus asked in a pissed tone
He was hardly trying to sleep under a tree
"I'm sorry I woke you up..." Teras said as he looked at the ground
"Did you have a bad dream?" Pecus asked as he stood up, he then stretched like a cat
"Why are you acting this friendly with me and Enyo? You are supposed to be my opponent"
"Look kid I don't hate you. I hurt you and you hurt me for our own reasons, that's how the world works" Pecus replied as he did some exercise
"I don't hate you either but the thing is that I sense something coming out of you..." Teras said timidly as he stared at Pecus's eyes
"Mind telling me what you sense?"
"I sense something bad and your goody shoes actions make me feel awkward, I mean I can't acknowledge your actions when I feel this awful feeling thing coming out of you!" Teras replied honestly
"I could say the same for you, every time I speak to you I feel like I talk to an angry person matter of fact, every time I speak to you feels like you can lash out at me at any moment, why do you feel this way Teras? Tell me" Pecus said with a calm look on his face
This look combined with what Pecus told him made Teras feel enraged, which proved what Pecus said in the first place
"The moon has somewhat fallen so that means the next day has arrived, what do you think about fighting now?" Teras ignored Pecus's question by asking a question back
"Lashing out to others won't change the fact that the problems you have came from your weakness kid" Pecus said as he got in a stance to fight
Thank god he did because if he didn't he would have been instantly beheaded by Teras's attack
'How did the kid move this fast?' Pecus thought as he barely moved his body out of the way of the attack which cut the whole tree down
"What do you know?" Teras asked with a smile on his face
He had already activated his mana overflow and was ready to battle
"That's right, I don't know what happened to you but all I know is you weren't strong enough to do shit, so you now deal with the cost of being carefree" Pecus said as he charged at Teras
Suddenly his legs were cut by an air slice which moved quite fast and on top of that Teras also tried to attack Pecus with his sword but thankfully for him, Pecus was able to block the attack
'He moves wilder now...' Pecus thought as he pushed Teras back by kicking him
"I'm tired of people telling me how things happened... So I was weak huh? So it's my fault I wasn't a ranker before heading to the Heart Kingdom's capital? Or when an evil spirit possessed a friend of a friend and I killed him? No, you are right! I should have been better right? I should have been perfect..."
Before Teras could end his talk he launched himself at Pecus hitting his stomach with his knee
"... LIKE ALL OF YOU ARE PERFECT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!" Teras screamed
'What happened?' Pecus wondered as he spat blood out of his mouth
"A fucking guard telling me I'm not fit to become an adventurer because I killed in self-defense, acting all righteous like he ever left this fucking town to fight" Teras said as he swung his sword at Pecus "Or Tokkou telling me I'm twisted for killing people like he didn't emotionlessly kill a weak assassin" Teras said as he swung once again but this time it was with his dagger and with his swing he also created an air slash that cut Pecus on the face
'He is starting to become a problem...' Pecus thought as he jumped back
He then used his paralyzing roar but was surprised to see Teras's reaction
This time Teras created a mana shield and used it to hop away from the attack and then rushed at him
Pecus tried to slice him but Teras used another mana shield to deflect the attack by making it slide on the mana shield, now Pecus was wide open
'Another one? How many can he create in such a short time?' Pecus thought as he created his own mana shield defending his face from an incoming punch
"AND NOW I HAVE YOU TELLING ME FACING THE STRONGEST PERSON ON EARTH AND SURVIVING ON PURE LUCK WHILE MY FRIENDS DIED IS MY FAULT!" Teras said as he enhanced his hand with mana
He put too much mana in his hand in result making his punch super strong, so strong that the punch broke through the shield and ended up hitting Pecus in the face, breaking one of his fangs
Now the two men were staring at each other without anybody making the first move
'He never had this kind of strength so what happened now?' Pecus thought as he began healing his wounds while staying cautious
"Do you understand now? The one at fault isn't me, it's this flawed set of rules set by this high king of ours that allows kingdoms to neglect small villages and as a result, genocide happens in small villages left and right, now tell me who is the wrong one here?" Teras asked as he stared down Pecus with eyes that resembled that of a beast's
"The kings..." Pecus said in a haste
"That's right... Now we are finished, I will report to Enyo what happened, now please return to sleep..." Teras said as he started walking away
"You don't have to report this to me, I saw all of it!" Enyo said as she was sitting on top of a tree branch
She then hopped down without making a noise
"It looks like you hurt your first, when we return home I will heal it for you!" Enyo said with a smile
"I will heal it on my own..." Teras said as he walked ahead of Enyo
Enyo saw Teras move on his own and smiled, that smile confused Pecus
"See? I told you to be afraid, cheap tricks won't work on my pupil" Enyo said as she stared at Pecus with the eyes of a hunter
Pecus didn't respond, he simply stared at Enyo as she carelessly started walking away...