"Want a drink?" A groggy Shang offered Kayden a bottle of dubious content, which was promptly refused by the boy. The two were sitting in one of the club's floating bars, around them were dozens of other people chatting as they waited for the entertainment fights. Kayden decided to get straight to the point.
"I'm ready to fight." With that sentence, Shang removed the drunkenness from his face and assumed a serious posture.
"No." His serious tone surprised Kayden. He didn't expect the blonde to refuse.
"Why?" He expressed his doubts with a frown. Just as the blonde was about to speak, Kayden met his patron's eyes. The eyes glowed a faint shade of red and... Desperation.
Endless, as if nothing could solve your problems. His life was a loop of anguish. Nothing would work. He was still far from his goals. It seemed like it would be impossible to achieve anything.
Shang looked like a god of death. Nothing could stop him. Kayden was going to die. He had no way to fight. His heart began to slow down, life lost its meaning. Why try if he was going to fail? It didn't make sense.
Kayden slapped himself in the face, and with the physical pain, the boy managed to snap out of his stupor. He came across a Shang drinking his drink from a cup that he was sure hadn't been there before.
"Three minutes, it took you that long to compose yourself." The blonde seemed to have returned to normal.
"What was this?" Kayden could still feel the frightening despair that assaulted him.
"Intent to kill." Shang seemed to be enjoying the suspense and just said that.
"I understand." Kayden didn't say anything else, the minutes started to pass and Shang started to get angry. After a while, he couldn't help it and opened his mouth.
"Come on, Kayden, don't you have anything to ask?" Shang seemed eager to demonstrate all of his knowledge to Kayden.
"Not really, Shang." Kayden knew the game he was playing and played dumb. Finally, the blonde couldn't take it anymore and spoke.
"You little shit, listen well because I'm going to pass on my magnanimous knowledge to a shallow mortal. When you fight many times in your life and kill different people, you gain a strange ability to force mana into your intentions."
Kayden was familiar with this. How many novels has he read? Countless. How many had the intention to kill? All. Absolutely all. He already expected there to be something like that in this world.
Kayden and Shang
"Is yours very strong or am I weak, Shang?" Kayden asked curiously.
"A middle ground", the blonde scratched his chin before responding. "I haven't killed many people in this life, so it's not strong. The problem is that you have never had contact with this before, it was like a shock to your mind."
"I see, and what does this have to do with the fact that I can't fight life-and-death battles?" It didn't make much sense to Kayden. His opponents would hardly have a sharp intention like Shang's. The boy didn't fall for the talk that he had killed a few people.
For a few seconds before entering the trance state, Kayden was able to feel as if Shang was dripping with blood. Almost like a living demon.
"Any opponent you catch must be able to use at least some killing intent. Even though it's weak, it should still be able to freeze your movements for a few milliseconds and it will feel like you've been fighting the entire match stuck in mud."
Kayden hadn't thought about that point. It may seem like little, but just a few milliseconds were capable of defining a winner in a fight.
"How do I not be influenced by this?" Kayden was sure Shang had a solution. He was a businessman, never one to present an unsolvable problem.
"Training. If you have a dose of my intention every day, you should be ready in a week. There's no point in doing too much in just one session, and you'll end up collapsing."
"Very well, let's begin." Kayden didn't want to waste a minute.
*******
In an underground room, a woman was sitting at a table. She seemed to be just waiting for time to pass. Again she didn't hear Kayden come through the door. She was only noticing him when the boy was in front of him. With a scream, she headed towards Kayden.
"Kid, you shouldn't scare older people like that." Her heart was racing.
"I entered normally, this is the second time this has happened, Madam Secretary." Kayden apologized anyway and got straight to the point.
"I want to try out to join the elite team." It had been over 3 months since the last time. Kayden was sure that now he could easily face the ice girl or any other opponent.
"Very good, Kayden, isn't it? This time the punishment for losing is 6 months without being able to challenge. Are you okay with that?" The rules were made so that the challenges would not be incessant and harm the students.
"Yes and thank you for the invitation," Kayden remembered to say thank you. Without that card, it would take him much longer to have the same battle experience and even reach level 5.
"What invitation? I don't know what you're talking about. Just wait while I call some elite students." The woman acted like she didn't understand, she was probably very well trained by Shang.
A few minutes later the ground opened up. Again Kayden saw the girl curling up in a pile of clothes. When their eyes met, she expressed annoyance. It had barely been 3 months since they last fought. In such a short time, they could scarcely evolve.
"The rules are the same," the secretary announced. "As soon as you're ready, step into the circle, Kayden. In ten seconds your fight will begin." As soon as Kayden heard the command, he entered the circle.
Drawing his sword, he assumed an offensive stance. This time, he came prepared. The boy wouldn't let her take charge of the battle like last time. Ten seconds later, the woman clapped her hands and the fight began.
Kayden simulated a flashbang instantly. The girl reacted automatically based on her memories and turned her face away. Unfortunately for her, Kayden already expected this.
Using acceleration, he approached her. His chance was to catch her before her ice barrier was raised. When his opponent realized what was happening, he began to move away and throw small fragments of ice at Kayden.
It seemed like a game of cat and mouse. If Kayden let her put up the barrier, he would lose. And if she let him get close, she would lose. The boy started using flashbangs, which were quickly avoided by the girl.
"Do you want to play a game of attrition? Will not happen." With an audible snort, she released a large quantity of icicles at Kayden.
He was forced to retreat. In the meantime, the ice wall was erected between the two. The boy continued to move constantly. He didn't want to be caught by the same attack from his first fight.
"Give up, this game is over." After a few minutes of Kayden dodging and hitting the wall from all angles, his opponent expressed disdain. The most annoying thing is that the flashbangs kept coming out without stopping.
'I have 10% more mana, but there are still 30 seconds left.' His plan had to be coordinated perfectly. The girl couldn't feel that something was wrong.
"You talk a lot." The boy sneered, infuriating his opponent. The girl's anger was expressed as hundreds of icicles were released towards her. It was at least double the first time.
Kayden managed to deflect most of them, but dozens of cuts were still made on his body. His clothes turned to rags.
"See the difference between us? Give up, referee, end this match." Her tone did not accept refusals, but, unfortunately for her, nothing was heard from the secretariat. Her tough tone was fake.
Kayden didn't know exactly how much mana a conventional mage could use at this rank. But surely the girl was also at the limits of her strength.
"Transcendence." A light murmur was said by Kayden. At this moment, dozens of concentrated beams of lightning headed towards the girl's barrier.