It was six in the morning, and Akyo's alarm was already ringing. "Is it already time?" he thought as he turned it off.
They had been partying almost the entire night, and he had been one of the first to go to bed—around three in the morning.
He stretched, got up, and put on his clothes. He opened his door and left. He walked to the other end of the building and stopped in front of a door, knocking on it.
No one answered, but he went in anyway. It was Ana's room. She was asleep in her bed, in an extraordinary, almost inexplicable position, without a blanket or anything covering her.
He picked up Ana's blanket and covered her with it. The room was a mess, so he gathered the clothes she had taken off and left on the floor before sleeping, and folded them. Ana's room was like a small apartment, she had a bathroom, a kitchen, everything she needed.
'Did she ever clean her room?' Akyo wondered. 'Though… she never really has time.' he thought as he grabbed the broom and did it himself.
It was 6:30, so he opened the fridge and prepared breakfast. 'She'll wake up soon,' he thought, hurrying before placing the plate on Ana's table.
He left and closed the door.
Akyo exited the base and walked for a long while through the forest, following a stream. "Just a few more meters," he thought, as the stream led him to a small lake fed by a waterfall.
He removed most of his clothes and stepped into the water. "It's pretty warm today," he thought.
He advanced through the lake until he reached the waterfall. A rock stood right in the middle of the falling water, clearly not naturally placed there. Akyo climbed onto it and sat beneath the cascade. The falling water didn't seem to weigh on his shoulders at all. He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, cleared his mind, and remained there, peaceful.
He stayed like that for an entire hour, without moving a single muscle.
Then he opened his eyes and exhaled. "Nothing works…" he thought. He got up, returned to the shore, got dressed, and walked back to the base.
It was almost nine. The base was coming alive: the gate guards were rotating, people were waking up to take their posts…
Akyo headed back to the quarters, walked for a bit, and stopped in front of another door. He waited a moment, listening for any sound from inside.
"Nothing, guess I'll have to wake him." He knocked.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soren woke up to Akyo's knocking. "What is that… what time is it?" he wondered. Unlike Akyo, he had stayed up the whole night partying with the others.
He got up—barely—threw on a shirt and pants, and opened the door.
"What is it?" Soren asked with a yawn.
"It's training time."
"How are you already so energetic?" Soren grumbled. "I'm coming" he said, closing the door. He got dressed quickly, putting on the proper outfit. "I should've left when he did though Tachi wouldn't have let me go," he thought.
He finished dressing and opened the door. "Alright, I'm ready."
"Then let's go," Akyo said.
They both walked toward the training room. Soren was dragging his feet, clearly exhausted from the previous night.
"What are we doing today?" he asked.
"You'll get your revenge. We're going to spar to gauge your progress—" he was interrupted by Soren, who exploded with excitement the moment he heard those words. His fatigue vanished instantly, replaced by pure joy.
"Yes! Hell yeah, I'm ready!" Soren practically vibrated with excitement. "Finally!" he thought.
They entered the room. Soren expected to see Tachi, but it was just the two of them in the massive space.
"Tachi's not here?" Soren asked.
"No, he's got work today," Akyo explained. "Alright, let me explain the rules. Today's goal is to help you manage your aura better. We'll fight in rounds. Basically, we'll start completely without our aura, relying only on physical strength. Then you'll hear a loud sound. At that moment, you'll have ten seconds to increase your energy level. When the sound plays again, the fight resumes immediately, stronger and faster than before." Akyo explained.
"Interesting… the hard part will be raising my energy…" Soren thought. He asked, "So how am I supposed to adjust my energy so we stay on the same level?"
"Don't worry about that. The first two or three hits of each rounds will let me gauge your level. If I'm careful, I'll adapt to you quickly. But don't hold back—few opponents in a real fight will give you time to adjust."
Soren had another question. "For the first round since your physical strength is way above mine, isn't that kind of cheating?"
"You can see it that way, but that difference will exist no matter what level we fight on. But you need to consider your strengths. You're Jormungandr, and your serpentine nature shows in the way you fight—especially the way you dodge. Use that." Akyo said, preparing for the start of training.
"So I need to focus on my movements and make them my advantage…" Soren thought. "Okay, I'm ready!" he declared.
"Good," Akyo said, clapping his hands.
At that exact moment, a loud beep echoed.
"Come on then, I'm waiting," Akyo called.
"I'm coming!" Soren replied, launching himself toward Akyo. "My movements…" he repeated in his mind.
He rushed at full speed, low to the ground, one arm behind him and the other ready to strike. Akyo didn't even take a defensive stance.
"You're gonna regret that," Soren thought, but just as he was about to land the hit, Akyo grabbed his arm and drove a massive punch into his stomach.
Soren lost consciousness for a moment. "What the hell is that strength…"
Akyo still held him by the arm and prepared to land the same punch again. "I need to move now—" Soren pushed off the ground with all his strength and launched his knee directly into Akyo's head. It hit cleanly, forcing Akyo to release him.
Soren immediately backed away.
"Not bad," Akyo thought. "He's not just hard to hit—his movements are fast even on the offensive."
They stared at each other. Akyo attacked first. He rushed toward Soren and unleashed a flurry of blows when he reached him. Soren slipped between all of them, from Akyo's perspective, it was like trying to hit a blade of grass swaying with the wind—untouchable.
"Shit, this is tough! I can't keep dodging like this forever…" Soren thought. He needed to act. Instinctively, he ducked and threw a punch toward Akyo's stomach, but Akyo blocked it in time.
Soren ended up in a terrible position. He tried to stand up, but Akyo caught him.
"No, not this—not that move, not again!" But it was too late. Akyo's grip was far too strong. He was about to perform the same throw that had crushed Soren the first time.
Akyo's muscles tightened. He began to flip Soren over. "Here we—"
BEEEEEEEP
Saved by the end of the first round, Akyo stopped mid-motion and set Soren back on his feet. He stepped away and shouted:
"Alright Soren! Let your power go wild!"