"I just want to confirm that you indeed want me to kick off my training by squaring off against the world's strongest normal hunter?" Issac's tone held a mix of both confusion and a sense of surrender.
"Yes," Mr. Ritchie replied with a single word, not even bothering to explain his reason, and Issac wanted to curse out loud at him, but he resisted the urge to do so.
There is probably a method to his madness, Issac reasoned silently. 'He did mention that Universal Hunters have a different potential threshold compared to regular hunters. So perhaps it might not be that big of a deal to beat a normal hunter, even if he's the strongest among them.'
After thinking about it for a few seconds, Issac elevated his hand and settled into a combat-ready posture, and on the opposite end, the projection of Archer Onana did the same as well.
"Alright then!" Issac's declaration echoed through the air as he gathered his determination. With a surge of energy, he propelled himself forward.
WHOOSH!
In the blink of an eye, he materialized in front of Archer Onana. Flames enveloped around his hands, casting an intense glow, and with fierce intent, he thrust his fist toward Archer's face, aiming to deliver a scorching blow.
But fate had other plans. With a fraction of time remaining, Archer anticipated the attack.
Swish!
In a seemingly effortless motion, he gracefully tilted his head to the side, and Issac's fist whooshed past, the scorching heat grazing past Archer's cheek only by a hair's breadth.
CLANG!
Archer Onana's hands rose up, and in an instant, grabbed Issac's arm, gripping it tightly. Issac, who was caught off guard by how quick his movement was, cursed out loud as he realized what was about to happen. "Oh, sh-"
Before he could even finish his words, however, he found himself flipping in the air, gravity now turned against him. Mid-air, he felt his body twist and pivot, and in a last minute effort to reduce the pain that he would inevitably feel once his fast moving body hits the concrete floor, Issac channeled his inner abilities, and flames erupted beneath his feet and thighs. The sudden but powerful burst of flames countered the attack, introducing resistance to the fall. It was a brief yet critical reprieve—a fiery cushion that slowed down the impact of the world's strongest normal hunter's strike.
BOOM!
Issac crashed onto the unyielding concrete pavement with a loud noise, and agonizing waves of pain surged through his body, stealing his breath and leaving him gasping in silence. The impact was so powerful that he couldn't even produce any voice.
But he had no time to rest.
WHAM!
Archer Onana's fist sliced through the air, as crystalline ice particles began trailing in its wake. The icy gauntlet surged forward, aimed squarely at Issac. Reacting instinctively, despite his prone position, Issac's palms shot forward in a fiery rebuttal. Explosions of flames erupted from his hands, the power of which propelled him away from Archer's impending strike. Meanwhile, Archer's fist crashed into the ground with an authoritative impact, the force of his blow leaving the surrounding air quivering.
BAM!
Timing his twist with precision, Issac rotated in mid-air, his gaze locking onto the impending impact. The ground quaked as Archer's attack struck, an explosive collision that sent shards of concrete soaring upwards momentarily before their violent descent. The shockwave of force radiated outwards, a fierce current of air that surged towards Issac, pushing him back several paces.
"What the actual fuck?" Issac's astonishment was palpable, his voice a mix of disbelief and awe, a testament to the sheer power that Archer Onana wielded. Issac knew that he was the world's most powerful hunter, not counting universal hunters, but he still had no idea about the scope of that title. But now, after witnessing the raw power firsthand, the weight of Archer's title as the world's mightiest hunter took on a new significance.
WHOOSH!
Although Issac would've liked to continue contemplating about the strength of Archer Onana, his thoughts were quickly interrupted by the distinctive sound of dark energy discs cleaving through the air. The discs, like malevolent entities, streaked across the atmosphere, their trajectory fixed on Issac.
"I can't catch a break, can I?" Issac lamented his current situation, a bitter chuckle underscoring his words. Without wasting a single second, he instantly executed a backflip, his body arching gracefully to evade the dark energy discs that were hurtling beneath him, a hair's breadth from contact.
"It's a training simulation. Of course you're not going to catch a break." Mr. Ritchie's voice, an unwavering presence in his earpiece, broke through the action. "Also, don't get distracted by objects that are very obviously distractions."
Isaac furrowed his eyebrows as he hovered in the air, confused by Mr.Ritchie's comments. "What does tha-" But his question remained incomplete, as he caught a glimpse of Archer Onana right above him from the corner of his eye.
WHOOSH!
Issac's instinctive urge to defend was swiftly overwhelmed as Archer shot down towards him like a meteorite. In a breathtaking display of speed, Archer descended like a force of nature, his fist connecting with Isaac's face in a blur of motion.
BAM!
Issac was struck with such intensity that when the ground received him, concrete fractured and shattered beneath his weight, and the once solid pavement transformed into broken fragments, as dust and debris exploded into the air, painting the surroundings with chaos.
Archer Onana touched down beside the spot where Isaac's body had violently collided with the ground. His footsteps carried an air of calculated purpose as he closed the distance.
"Ugh!" Issac, who felt as though every bone, every fiber of his being, had been pulverized into dust, slowly began crawling out of the deep crater that the impact of the attack had caused.
"Fuck… Mr. Ritchie.." he groaned as he continued his crawling, but Mr. Ritchie didn't respond. Archer Onana walked over to him and his powerful grip closed around Isaac's hand. In one fluid motion, Archer lifted Isaac from his prone position using just one hand before pulling back his other hand and delivering a forceful strike to his abdomen.
"AAAAAAAHH!" A piercing scream of agony tore from Isaac's throat as he was propelled across the street, crashing through buildings as though they were made of paper before landing inside a shopping center.
Isaac lay sprawled on the floor within the confines of the shopping center. Blood seeped from his mouth, his teeth was broken, and his abdomen displayed ominous hues of blue. He couldn't even speak properly.
His dilated eyes, which were enlarged by all the brutal assault that he received, remained fixated on the once-solid ceiling of the shopping center., which disintegrated into dust as Archer Onana's figure appeared in the sky, hovering right above him with an ominous look.
Whoosh!
Archer Onana hurtled downward, his outstretched hand ablaze with ferocious flames. The scorching intensity of his attack was aimed squarely at Isaac, who, in a moment of resignation, closed his eyes.
"Gah!" A sudden, sharp gasp erupted from Isaac as his body recoiled, propelled backward to meet the unyielding floor, and instinctively, he removed the goggles from his eyes. His gaze swept around the surroundings, breathing heavily, and after realizing that he was still inside the large spacious room that Mr. Ritchie had shown him a few minutes ago, Isaac released a long, pent-up sigh.
"Wasn't all that fun as you had hoped, was it?" Mr. Ritchie's voice echoed as he entered the room. Isaac sprawled on the floor, his breath a heavy cadence as he nodded in agreement. "It felt uncannily real... and genuinely terrifying."
Issac stared at his hands, which was still shaking, and he closed his eyes, his mind retracing the harrowing steps. "For a second there, I actually thought that I had died." He muttered under his breath.
"That's the idea." Mr. Ritchie's words remained as flat and unemotional as ever. Isaac turned his head, meeting the man in black's gaze.
"Universal Hunters are built to embody invincibility. But to truly wield that power, you must confront death head-on, stare it down, and choose to live," Mr. Ritchie elucidated. Isaac's focus shifted to his hands, which had now stopped shaking.
"So, I have to continue this sort of training?" Isaac's voice held a mix of resignation and curiosity as he redirected his gaze towards Mr. Ritchie, who affirmed the question with a nod. "And I'll die every single time?" Issac's inquiry followed.
"Only until you win." Mr. Ritchie's response was swift, matter-of-fact. Isaac's exhale carried a sense of helplessness, his eyelids shutting as if to block out the reality. "I don't know why you said I have it better than the other universal hunters." Isaac muttered under his breath, his words tinged with mild frustration, and Mr. Ritchie tilted his head to look at him. Issac continued, "Clearly, I have the worst training method."
"I've seen worse," Mr. Ritchie's statement hung in the air as he walked, leaving Isaac curious about its implications. Moments later, Mr. Ritchie paused, pivoting on his heel to face Isaac once more. "They train in real life."