Too Stubborn to Die

Soohyun was right up against the edge of her seat as Mo’han hovered over and then descended into the valley. As were the rest of the people glued to the viewing screens.

Even before Mo’han touched down, they could see dozens on the screens, which had a birdseye view, fleeing the area. And neither she nor anybody else blamed them.

Even through the viewing screens, they could practically feel Mo’han’s dominating aura. Anybody too close was forced to their knees, unable to stand in his shadow.

Aaron was strong, heck, he was beyond strong. The presence of the dominating asura was something else to behold. It seemed to thicken the air, and static came over the viewing screens. And the people who hadn’t fled yet looked heavier, like they were struggling to move.

“A-amazing,” Soohyun muttered. Somehow, his growth after the trials had surpassed her expectations.

It seemed that the asura truly was unrivaled. But even as the wavering squads of top rankers fled the area, there was one man who stood tall and proud, seemingly unfazed.

The ground compacted around the asura as he walked, and a couple of the screens completely cut out.

Soohyun’s jaw dropped as he took another step toward Aaron, towing over the human, and then threw his hands out.

“MY FRIEND! A-ran! It’s been too long!”

“Hey, mate! How’s it going?”

Mo’han’s lips curled into a broad smile, and then, in a flash that most couldn’t follow, he appeared before Aaron, swinging three fists at once.

The following shockwave knocked out several more viewing screens temporarily and sent Aaron flying.

“I’VE BEEN MEANING TO DO THAT!” Mo’han’s voice boomed through the valley. “Consider it payback for that devious food you made me consume!”

“Oh, right,” Aaron groaned as he pulled himself out of a crater, snapping dozens of broken bones back into place.

“And if you think I’m letting you take this gold mine without a fight, you've got another thing coming!”

Soohyun’s eyes positively gleamed as she soaked the scene in, and the crowd in the interval room went wild.

“Give him one back, Aaron!” Someone shouted, and cheers erupted.

It wasn’t clear to Soohyun if the people were cheering for Aaron because they liked him or just because they knew that securing the gold mine was a guaranteed pass to the next floor, although it was likely they were moving on regardless.

Soohyun, on the other hand, was just glad she got to witness it.

Mo’han

“Mate, have you been slacking?” Aaron said as he dusted himself off. “I could’ve sworn your punches packed more power back in the trials.”

“HA-HA-HAAH!” Mo’han cheered with delight, his wide grin curling further. “Finally, MY FRIEND! I’ve been feeling dusty!”

Mo’han’s eyes went mad. He was beyond excited. And while in truth, it had only been a few months since the trials, he had spent that entire time growing and getting stronger. He had unlocked new Skills, Titles, and Traits. And he could find a damn challenge worthy of testing them against.

Until now…

“HAHAHA!”

“Are you okay, mate?” Aaron raised a slightly concerned brow.

Mo’han barely heard him, instead looking down at his six glistening fists. They had been mistreated. Not given their due right to shine against a worthy opponent, and he felt so sad about it.

But Aaron took that powerful punch and dusted himself off, looking entirely unscathed, and it made his blood boil with excitement.

“Hohohoh! This is going to be fun, MY FRIEND!”

Without warning, Mo’han shot straight toward Aaron with the force of a hurtling star. But instead of slamming straight into the human when he reached the man, he passed straight through him, slamming into the ground with enough power to set off a truly magnificent explosion that spread across the valley, sending anybody left fleeing, and spewing a mushroom cloud into the sky.

“That it? That’s all you got?” Aaron teased, and Mo’han’s smile grew even wider.

This was normally the moment his opponents fell to their knees and started begging for their lives. Which was painfully annoying as Mo’han’s honor wouldn’t allow him to strike such people.

Roaring with delight, he flung himself around, his six arms shooting out at blinding speed. Such an attack was impossible to avoid, and yet, the smirking human did just that, phasing through attack after attack.

HAHA! Now this is getting entertaining!

Mo’han was far from an expert when it came to aether. But thanks to their training and duels in the trials, he had managed to learn enough to use it. And he could sense the deathly energy every time Aaron phased through one of his punches.

So that’s how it’s going to be, huh? Well, let’s see how you like this!

Mo’han pulled on his meagre aether reserves and coated his fists with the deathly energy, and when he swung his aether-coated fists, they slammed straight into Aaron’s stomach, sending him rocketing across the valley.

The human crashed into a rock so hard it created a rockfall, and seconds later, bounced back out of the rubble.

“Dammit. I forgot you learned how to use aether,” Aaron groaned as a giant hole in his chest healed. “That’s better.”

“HAHA! YOU’VE STILL GOT IT, PUNY MAN!”

Mo’han roared with laughter. This was exactly what he had needed. The melancholy that had come over him was dissipating, and he felt a joy he hadn’t experienced in months. This fight had already lasted longer than any fight since the trials, and he was ecstatic.

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“Don’t get too excited. You haven’t seen half of what I’m capable of yet, mate!”

In a flash, Aaron kicked off against the ground and shot himself up into the air. The moment he was soaring above, Mo’han sensed a burst of mana from his feet, and then the mad human shot toward him.

“I love it!” Mo’han shouted.

It had been so long since someone had tried such an audacious frontal assault against him.

Instead of slamming against him, though, Aaron phased straight through and attacked him from his flank. He took a punch or two and turned to throw his six fists at the human.

But Mo’han needed to be a little conservative. If it were Mana, Stamina, or Health, Mo’han had a near-endless well to draw upon. But aether was different, and so he had to pick and choose which fists to coat with the power.

“YOU ARE DAMN PERCEPTIVE!”

Aaron’s eyes glowed with a deathly energy, and he seemed to know exactly which fist was coated in aether, dodging those ones, and phasing through the rest.

“I’m a shinigami now. I can sense aether all day long, mate. You just caught me off guard earlier.”

Interesting, Mo’han thought.

Many thought that the great asura was simply gifted. An entity of supreme power. But in truth, he was far more than that. He was a natural, and it only took him seconds to apply fixes to his style.

Instead of coating his fists with aether, he simply called on the power just as his attacks were about to land, and a second later, he caught Aaron again, punching him as he tried to phase, and whacking him back across the valley.

“You’re a fucking fast learner, aren’t you?” Aaron muttered as he pulled himself out of another crater.

The sight of his friend barely scratched bent his already wild smile manically. This fight was already more than he could have hoped for.

And Aaron didn’t waste any time, either. The human was before him again in an instant, but this time, he was on the offense. There seemed to be a fist, or a kick, everywhere he didn’t expect it. Aaron was fast, but this wasn’t speed. He was reading to him. Predicting where he would be, and he was a hell of a lot better than he remembered.

Several light punches scattered across his hardy body from different directions, barely doing any damage. For a moment, Mo’han was even disappointed by his friend’s lack of power.

That was up until the soul-striking attack hit him, slightly lowering his defenses for an absolutely earth-shattering punch that was followed by a fist that somehow managed to pass through his iron-like skin, and explode an inch or so within his chest cavity.

Mo’han actually fell back, reeling. The attack was impressive, and for the first time in longer than he cared to remember, his healing was dialed all the way up to mend the small chunk Aaron had blasted out of his chest.

“That was… ASTONISHING!”

Mo’han had almost forgotten how good he was at healing, and it was nice to be reminded.

“That was an impressive strike, my friend! BUT LET’S SEE HOW YOU LIKE MY STAR ENDER PUNCH!”

Mo’han activated [ Star Ender ], and his fists generated a tremendous amount of power. They radiated his aura multiplied by the Divine rarity Skill, locking Aaron in place.

He had used his ultimate punch a few times, but only because he could. None of the enemies he had thrown it at needed such a powerful Skill to be finished.

Not until now.

Aaron’s eyes widened as the blinding light from the punch enveloped him, and the power of his suffocating aura completely disabled him.

The fist flew fast with so much power it could level a nation, but inches before Aaron’s face, Mo’han stopped.

Too risky.

He had enjoyed this duel more than he could have imagined. But he couldn’t risk killing a friend just for a little entertainment. Aaron had already given him more than enough to fight back his darker emotions for some time.

Suddenly, he felt energy, and then pain. It had all happened so quickly. The moment he deactivated [ Star Ender ],Aaron burst into action, taking full advantage of the pause in fighting.

An even stronger combination of strikes blasted him, including an uppercut powered by a devastating Skill that shook his mind and sent him staggering backward, confused.

“That was dumb of you,” Aaron said as he shook his head, trying to regain his senses. “Mate, you should know by now that it’ll take more than one punch to kill me.”

Mo’han rubbed his dazed head and started to laugh, louder and louder. And soon a mad cackling vibrated through the valley itself. “HAHA! GLORIOUS! Truly glorious! I underestimated you, Aaron! I AM TRULY SORRY! It won’t happen again!”

His brow bent, and his gaze met Aaron’s. And the mad human was actually grinning as he shot toward.

Mo’han met his furious charge head-on, and the two powerhouses slammed against each other with so much force that a shockwave of incredible power split the ground, and ground it to rubble around them.

He didn’t know how it was possible, but the human was still standing. And a split second of broken concentration was all it took for him to be slamming down into his flank with another furious combination of strikes that could level an entire party of top rankers in a blink.

Mo’han was actually forced to step against the attacks, wearing damage, and actually bleeding from several wounds as he struck back at Aaron.

A world-ending exchange followed, both landing strikes until one of Mo’han’s hit Aaron in the stomach again and sent him flying.

“How?” Aaron spat blood as he got up, a hole in his chest closing up as he spoke. “How do you do that so bloody well?”

“You mean hiding my aether? You’re not the only one who learns, my friend! I figured you out. You can see the aether, right? Well, I can hide it too! Just learned how to do that, actually. It wasn’t too hard.”

The two mad friends nodded in approval, and the fight resumed with another powerful shockwave that devastated the land.

A minute of draw-dropping action followed as fists met fists, and Aaron was forced to resurrect four times.

Mo’han had seen this side of his friend before. But he still found it hard to fathom someone actually getting hit by [ Star Ender ], and living to tell the tale.

They clashed again and again. Rubble was turned to pebbles, and pebbles to dust. And finally, their exchange broke, both of them skidding back across the broken land, hunched over and heaving.

Sweat poured from them, and they desperately cycled energy, drawing from the atmosphere itself. They were absolutely spent.

“Ha–fuck, food,” Aaron gasped for air as he ate at unrivaled speed. “Need more food!”

“That–was–a–fight,” Mo’han said as he panted, his true core grinding away as it cycled energy desperately.

“Yeah, not bad,” Aaron agreed.

Their eyes caught, they nodded, and then shot toward each other again. But this time, instead of battle, they embraced each other, grasping one another’s forearms and pulling themselves into a hug.

“Mate! It’s been too fucking long!”

“MY FRIEND! I’VE MISSED YOU! YOU ARE TRULY WORTHY! I haven’t had a proper fight since leaving the trials! I must say, I am in your debt!”

Mo’han bowed his head. He meant every word of it.

“Haha! You are a character, Mo’han. That was a good punch-up, wasn’t it?”

“Good? It was incredible! The minstrels will sing ballads of this glorious encounter!”

The two breathed heavily for a few seconds, recovering their energy from the battle. Mo’han was smiling at first, but as the elation of battle wore off, his smile began to fade. That had indeed been a glorious encounter, but it was missing something. It was the best spar he had had in ages, but it was just that: a spar.

In the Shadow Trials, death was an option. They could truly fight without holding back. But here, neither of them would be willing to kill the other. Even if the battle had been intense, it still lacked that lethal edge that had made their first fights so good.

Perhaps they could have a more official fight. Not all the way to the death, but something a bit more than a greeting spar. There was still some kind of quest objective here, right? Perhaps they could compete for it. It might not be quite as good as the duel at the end of the Shadow Trials, but it would be an improvement.

“A-ran–” he started.

“Wait, Mo’han,” said Aaron.

“Yes?”

“What happened to the gold mine?”

Mo’han looked around. There wasn’t much of anything within the valley recognizable. Just broken rock.

“Oh, right. The gold mine… perhaps we took things a little too far…”

“Oh, for fucks sake,” Aaron groaned. “This is not ideal.”

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