Neil lowered his head slightly, his blond hair gleaming as the light reflected off his cold eyes.
Neil (in a low voice):
"I think I overpraised you both."
In less than a second, his body lunged forward. He no longer moved with carelessness… but with harsh focus, as if he had run out of patience.
His first punch shot up in a straight line and struck Krista's chest with tremendous force. She couldn't even scream—the air vanished from her lungs, and she collapsed to the ground, writhing as she tried to breathe.
Adam didn't retreat, but he felt something sweep through his body… a cold shiver like a knife.
Adam (thinking blankly):
It's a worthy sacrifice… If she dies with him, it won't matter to me…
His face didn't twitch, he only stared at Neil, watching every movement in his shoulders, arms, and eyes.
Neil (turning to Adam):
"You're next."
He dashed forward in a flash. Adam tried to raise his arms, but the strike was faster than his ability to think. Neil's palm drove into his abdomen brutally, lifting him off the ground for a moment before he dropped to his knees, vomiting blood.
Then Neil raised his leg and slapped the side of Adam's head in one swift motion. Adam's body slammed into the ground, but his hand clutched at the dirt to keep from collapsing completely.
Neil took a step back, looking at them. Both of them were still trying to stand, their bodies swaying like broken dolls.
Neil (with complete coldness):
"Well… you're still alive. That's progress."
But in his eyes, there was no hesitation or mercy—only that unsettling calm of a man who sees no difference between breaking their bones or letting them breathe afterward.
Adam pressed his palm to the ground, blood staining the soil, and his eyes half-closed. But amid the pain, his gaze widened with something resembling dangerous insight.
Adam (whispers to himself):
"I finally… figured out how to beat you."
He raised his head slowly, staring straight into Neil's eyes. His body was trembling, but this time the tremor wasn't from fear—it was from a grim resolve rising to the surface of his consciousness.
Krista tried to raise her arm, but she couldn't even stand. All she could do was stare at Adam in shock and fear.
Krista (in a hoarse voice):
"Adam… what… what are you going to do…?"
But he didn't look at her, as if she had vanished from his world.
He slowly extended his right hand forward, starting to gather his magical energy in a way he'd never done before. Instead of releasing the magic instantly as usual, he closed his fist and… waited.
Neil raised an eyebrow in curiosity, tilting his head slightly:
Neil:
"Energy storage? Are you serious?"
Adam didn't reply.
He remembered clearly… that night when he saw his mother Mary fight the masked one, how she gathered all her energy into a single point and then unleashed it in one burst before she collapsed.
Adam (thinking coldly):
First state… full storage. Second state… overwhelming attack.
The aura gathered around his body like a small vortex, making his black hair sway. Small rocks around his hand began to tremble.
Adam (in a quiet and frightening voice):
"I won't let you… defeat me again."
In his eyes… there was no boy anymore.
Not even a teenager.
There was something else entirely.
At the moment the vortex of energy completed around Adam's body, he dashed forward at a shocking speed. His steps were silent but charged with a focused force no one had ever seen from him before.
Neil narrowed his eyes, ready to dodge, but the surprise was that Adam's movements seemed… entirely unpredictable.
Krista (gasping, whispering to herself):
"This… impossible… how does he move with such precision?"
Adam wasn't fighting randomly; he was applying a complex tactic—a mix of his mother's style and his own method.
He lunged into Neil's blind spot, then spun swiftly, unleashing a strike that nearly hit Neil's neck directly.
Neil (thinking in shock):
If I'd been a fraction of a second late… he would've hit me for real.
But before the blow landed, Neil moved with supernatural agility, took a sidestep, and gripped Adam's wrist with stunning strength.
Adam:
"…!"
In less than a heartbeat, Adam's arm was twisted harshly behind his back, then Neil drove his head forward and smashed it into the ground with force.
Dust rose heavily, and the earth shook under the impact, even forcing Krista to raise her arms to shield her face from gravel shards.
For seconds, silence reigned.
Neil straightened up, leaving Adam sprawled on the ground, then exhaled slowly, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
Neil (murmuring with a half-impressed smile):
"You're insane… you were really just one step away from winning."
As for Krista, she kept staring at Adam, unable to believe that someone who seemed so cold and unmotivated… possessed such a sharp mind.
She felt a chill. It wasn't pity… it was something closer to awe.
As the dust faded from Adam's head buried in the earth, Krista found herself unable to look away. Her heart was pounding rapidly, but not from fear… rather from a deep curiosity that grew with each moment.
In her eyes, Adam looked like a living enigma.
He wasn't just a classmate who'd lost his mother and whose world had shattered.
He was more like a dark mirror that only reflected half the truth.
Krista (thinking with a thread of worry and admiration):
"He's… so different from the others. Even when he collapses… his mind doesn't stop working. No one our age thinks like that in battle."
She remembered how he moved with twisted steps and executed the storage-and-attack technique he'd seen only once.
He hadn't trained in it with a teacher, nor tested it against an opponent. Yet he brought it from memory to action… as if he'd been fighting all his life.
Krista (gulping):
"That level of analysis… I can't even imagine it. No wonder he always seems alone. If my mind worked like that all the time, I wouldn't be able to sleep a single night."
And despite all his darkness, there was something… something like a spark that lights up suddenly.
Maybe Adam didn't trust anyone, not even himself, but his ability to transform pain and trauma into a plan, then into an almost-fatal strike… that's what made her feel awe.
Then, she realized something she hadn't admitted until now:
"I want to understand him… I want to learn how he thinks."
Not pity. Not passing curiosity.
But a feeling that if she could dismantle this human puzzle in front of her… maybe she too could surpass her own limits.
At that moment, Krista was certain that Adam Ethan… was the person she would watch from afar, not just to fathom his sadness, but to discover how a wounded mind becomes a weapon.
In a quiet corner of the forest, Neil sat on a tree stump, wrapping a cloth around Krista's injured arm.
His hands were astonishingly steady, as if pain and blood were just trivial details not worth pausing over.
She looked at him with clear shyness, her cheeks flushed from exhaustion and embarrassment combined.
She whispered softly:
— "Neil… you're the same age as me—8 years old… how can you do all this?"
His hands paused for a moment, then he raised his eyes to hers with a neutral gaze before a faint smile formed on his face—a smile that didn't quite suit his small age:
— "If you want the honest truth… I don't know. But if I had to sum it up, I'd say one thing… I simply chose to be this way."
She felt a strange shiver when he said it in that calm tone full of confidence, like he was stating an unquestionable fact.
Then he added while tightening the bandage on her arm:
— "Anyway… don't worry. If you choose it, I'll turn you into what I am too. Gradually… you'll become stronger."
Her heartbeat quickened, and she felt her eyes couldn't meet his for more than another second.
Despite the pain, she smiled shyly:
— "…Neil… how was my performance?"
He raised an eyebrow slightly, as if genuinely considering her, then said in a serious tone, but with a warmth uncharacteristic of him:
— "You were brave. You moved quickly and tried to enhance your magic despite the tension… that's good. But you need to toughen your nerves more. Don't rely on instinct alone… a smart enemy will read you easily."
She lowered her gaze to her hands wrapped in gauze, and her heart filled with a strange kind of pride and awe.
She knew that this moment… might be the beginning of something far greater than mere training.