NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3: Maniac.(2)
Sticking her tongue out, Number 17 replied, "I'll only let you fight me if you catch me first!"
WHOOSH!
Using the flag as a sort of pogo stick, Number 17 immediately escaped, moving quickly down the mountain.
"Tch. How about you, 900? I hope you aren't a coward like her."
Number 900 immediately got down in a fighting stance, gripping the flag as if it was a spear.
"Heh, you're an intense one. Your eyes tell me that you really do mean business. Fine. Let's have some fun."
WHOOSH!
Number 900 moved like the wind as he jumped over 800, thrusting the flag at the latter from many directions at once.
Number 800 tried to parry, but 900 was so good with his spearmanship that he couldn't even hope to keep up.
Once again, his opponent was better in their technique execution by miles. He was nothing compared to Number 900.
"You must have practiced your technique day and night, Number 900. I respect you."
Using his incredibly resilient body to block the attacks, Number 800 started to see a pattern in the way 900 fought. His spearmanship was top-notch, but due to Number 800's lack of technique, he underestimated him.
'Ichimonji.'
FWOOSHH!
Sweat dripped off of Number 900's face as he barely managed to dodge the attack, his eyes widening with shock from how sudden it was.
'This guy...he's going to be a problem in the future.'
Squinting his eyes at Number 800, 900 stopped holding back, battering his opponent with as many attacks as he could. Unfortunately, Number 800's body wasn't invulnerable.
Even though it was extremely resilient, 800 was still a child. There were limits to how much punishment he could take at this time.
Tumbling to his knees, Number 800 fell face first on the ground, seemingly unconcious from the amount of damage he received.
"For all that big talk, you're surprisingly weak. Get stronger and try again next time."
Just as Number 900 turned around to leave, he heard something coming from above.
"How-"
"Ichimonji."
THWACKK!!
Number 900 barely managed to raise the flag above his head to block the attack in time, but the attack broke through his defenses and landed square on his chest, the force blowing him downhill.
Quickly recovering from the fall Number 900 looked up to see 800 standing unshaken with bruises all over his body, holding a completely broken stick in his grip.
"Didn't you learn to never turn your back on an enemy?"
Number 900 could feel an extremely painful burning sensation coming from his chest, but he tried his best to ignore it for now.
After all, he knew that Number 800 wasn't the type he wanted to show weakness in front of.
"You're right. It seems that I took you too lightly. But..."
Looking down at the broken flag in his hand, Number 900 continued with an awkward smile on his face, "...I wanna eat breakfast this morning. So let's make a deal!"
Throwing away the broken stick in his hand, Number 800 gave it some thought and replied, "Speak."
"Let's put this fight on hold, 800. Time is about to run out and we still have to make down to the bottom. Plus, I think we both know I'll win if we continue. How about when we both get stronger, we have a real battle?"
Walking up to Number 800, 900 outstretched his arm, saying, "Shake on it?"
Number 800 closed his eyes, clenched his fist and took a deep breath.
"You're right. As of now, you're stronger than I am. Ignoring that fact will just limit my progress. But..."
Clasping number 900's hand, a look of determination flashed across Number 800's face as he continued, "Next time, I will not lose."
Number 800 turned around, grabbed a flag and simply started walking down the mountain, muttering something about hesitation under his breath.
Looking at Number 800's back as he got farther and farther, 900 grabbed a flag while glancing down at his bruised chest beneath his robes.
"That strike...if that was made with a real sword...I need to train harder!"
Number 900 sprinted down the mountain using the flag to vault down as fast as possible.
[About two hours later.]
The challenge was now officially over. Most of the children had already made it down the mountain.
Some with flags.
Most without.
But there were about 50 children that had yet to return.
The instructor at the site looked up the mountain in confusion, wondering what the holdup could be.
That was when he saw a certain figure slowly walking down the mountain, holding a broken flag in his hand with a bit of blood splattered across his face.
"Hm...Number 800?"
When Number 800 eventually close to him, he raised the broken flag and said, "Does this count?"
"No. Where is everyone else?"
Throwing the now useless flag to the side, one word left Number 800's mouth as he walked past the instructor.
"Defeated."
[After Breakfast.]
Now that the winners had their breakfast, the instructors brought everyone into the main hall of the Cave and relayed a simple message.
"Today, all of you will start learning martial arts. You cannot build a strong mountain atop a mound of sand, so for the past year you were just building a foundation."
Pulling out some texts from his robe, the instructor atop the stage continued, "First, you must learn how to cultivate. This is the [Dark Flower And Red Spirit Method]. It is the fundamental cultivation method of our cult. Those you know how to read, go to the right. Those who don't, go to the left. Hurry and move!"
A little bit later on the right side, Number 800 saw two instructors approach them, with the instructor from before saying, "These are the ones that know how to read right? Good. All of you, before lunch, you will need to memorize 30 lines from the Dark Flower. If you don't, there will be no lunch."
Just as the instructor turned away, he glanced at 800 and chuckled, whispering something to the other instructor.
The other instructor then glanced at 800, nodded and started sharing the texts out to all of the children.
'Hm, what was that about?'
The instructor didn't say anything when he gave Number 800 the text, so the latter just forgot about it. He would think about it whenever they did say something to him.
"Alright, start!"
Hearing the instructors yell, everyone sat down and quietly went over the text, immersing themselves into it. Unbeknownst to Number 800 though, a lot of the children were avoiding sitting close to him.
They had even started calling him the 'Stick Maniac' due to his actions on the mountain.
The child in question paid no attention to this though. All he cared about was the text in front of him.
'Compared to the Ashina Esoteric Text, memorizing this is easy. Before lunch, heh. That's more than enough time for me to memorize this entire text.'