POV: Arthur Kojiro
As the son of the strongest swordsman in the world, my childhood wasn't a difficult one to say the least as my father's status brought along an absurd amount of wealth to my family, making my life fairly easy as I received everything I wanted, but despite being spoiled, I felt empty and as I grew up, I lacked motivation for anything as I would often become depressed from boredom alone.
I eventually began training with my mother and at the age of seven, my ability manifested during a sparring session and as time passed, I became one of the strongest within my generation because of my father's blood running through my veins and yet, despite my power, I was still empty as everyone I fought was weak until my father requested to spar with me.
As an infamous delinquent, I was known to only use my fist as I never bothered to use a weapon, however, my father suggested that I pick out any weapon from our armory as he wanted me to spar with him using a weapon.
My father was strongest in Jiyu with the exception of Joseph, but I was young and arrogant at the time as I won every fight with relative ease, so when my father told me that he was only going to use one finger during our spar, his confidence provoked my pride as I allowed my instincts to take reign, eventually choosing two katanas for my spar against him.
As our spar began, he defeated me effortlessly within the span of a minute as he only flicked his finger into my forehead, which nearly knocked me unconscious.
For the first time in my life, I lost.
It was a weird sensation as I seemed to not care and yet, my heart seethed with anger at the fact that I was powerless against him.
Inheriting my mother's swords, I made a vow to become the strongest.
Not the strongest swordsman in the world, but the strongest in the world.
With my newfound ambition, I made my name known as I challenged the strongest students within Jiyu, defeating all of them as my innate talent for swordsmanship carved a path for me, but at the cost of gaining a purpose, I became lonely as everyone began to fear me.
My previous record of being a delinquent didn't help my case at all as I made far too many enemies.
Throughout my school life, I never really had a chance to make any real friends, which I soon accepted as karma for my abuse of power when I used to be a delinquent.
Life was somewhat depressing as my mother was always busy and my father was mostly gone, so training alone for many years was taxing mentally, but I endured until one day, the Headmaster informed me that I was going to have a roommate.
At first, I didn't pay any mind to his words as any roommate I had left the next day out of disdain or fear, but everything changed once I met Rai, who I could tell at first glance was different than everyone else as his eyes seemed to be elsewhere, gazing into a distant future that I was unable to imagine as his ambitious gaze sparked my interest.
For someone who acts weak, his gaze never showed an ounce of fear towards anyone, despite the difference in the level of their strength and after experiencing his true power today, I was thrilled to know that there was someone my age who was just like me.
I assumed Avery was the last major obstacle left in my path of becoming the strongest, but I couldn't have been more wrong as there's now someone else whose potential may even surpass the likes of Avery himself.
This may be a selfish request, Rai, but…
"I wasn't sure if you were actually serious about this, but I believe I owe you this much at least after today." Rai said as I entered inside the evaluation facility, which was a massive dome, bearing a large waterfall that separated the mountainous forest in half with a rocky riverbed as the shimmering moonlight fell upon us through a round glass ceiling, which encased the facility.
I need to take you down for the sake of my dream.
"Of course. I would never give up an opportunity to defeat a strong opponent such as yourself." I replied in a rather arrogant manner, prompting a smile from Rai as he continued to gaze at the stellar sky above until he eventually jumped to the ground and descended down a steep hill towards me, approaching me with a poised stride as we stood no further than a few meters across from each other.
"Your sword. Are you sure you won't need it?" Rai asked in concern as his confidence reminded me of my father's, rousing a bothersome memory within my mind as I felt a grin creeping onto my face.
"Believe it or not, I used to only use my hands to fight before I became a swordsman." I replied as I began stretching my legs out.
"We nearly lost our lives today and yet, you want to fight me. You're pretty strange, you know that?" Rai remarked as he cracked his neck with his hand.
"I may be strange, but don't you think you're more strange for accepting my request?" I replied as Rai sighed with a smile.
"So your goal is to become the strongest?" Rai asked, his demeanor shifting into a more serious one as the air itself began to tense around him.
"What of it?" I replied as I planted my foot forward and positioned myself into a fighting stance while Rai's stance remained open.
"I'll be waiting for you." Rai uttered as I was unable to understand his vague words, prompting me to sharpen my focus as a draft of wind drifted throughout the facility.
He's not activating his Aspect yet and he's not raising his guard either, which means that he's confident he can defeat me in hand-to-hand combat.
I don't know much about him, but from the time I watched him fight Wrath, I know that he's aggressive since he refused to let Wrath on the offensive, but I can't go off that alone because for some reason, he's allowing me to have the first move.
I want to believe he's arrogant because of his stance, but my instincts are warning me that if I rush in there now, I'll lose this fight in an instant.
There's many other factors to consider such as his Aspect, Lightning Manipulation, which allows him to manipulate and create lightning freely, but because I have no prior knowledge on him other than his fight against Wrath, I don't have any idea how much of his Aspect he's mastered-
Ah, what am I doing?
Thinking is a bother.
There's only one thing for me to do and that is to WIN!
Initiating the first move in our fight was none other than myself as I sprinted towards him with a spinning high kick towards his head, but to my surprise, Rai blocked it effortlessly as he stepped forward in the midst and landed a heavy uppercut into my abdomen, knocking the wind out of me momentarily as I gasped for air while Rai followed up with a spinning back kick into my face, sending me tumbling backwards across the grass.
His attacks are stronger and faster than I expected.
Picking myself up from my tumbling, I proceeded to dash towards him with a feint into a low sweep, but despite what I assumed was unpredictable, Rai anticipated my every move as in the moment he jumped over my leg, he twisted his body upside down with an acrobatic motion as he landed a fierce ax kick into my head, sending me crashing face-first into the ground as his foot rested on the side of my head.
What just happened?
Using my strength, I forced myself up from the ground as I spat out the weeds of grass from within my mouth while Rai stumbled backwards from losing his balance and in the moment he was vulnerable, I lunged towards Rai and tried to grapple him onto the ground, but to my dismay, I was unable to as Rai planted his feet firmly into the ground and leaned forward, preventing me from budging him any further.
You've got to be kidding me.
As I struggled to overpower him in a contest of strength, Rai separated me away from him by grabbing my head and smashing his knee into my face, causing me to stagger backwards as he dashed towards me, however, I refused to give him the offensive advantage he desired as I tried to strike his face with a sharp left hook, but my efforts were in vain as Rai parried my arm away and landed a palm strike into my chest, seizing my breath as I skidded backwards across the grass until I eventually buckled onto a knee from the impact.
How strong is this guy?!
Recollecting myself, I pushed myself forward and began sprinting towards Rai with several punches towards his face, but as one of my swings went wide, Rai used the opportunity to grab my arm as he threw me over his shoulder and slammed me onto the ground below, causing me to wince in pain as he placed himself on top of me and began thrashing his fist into my face with an indifferent expression, rousing a vexing sensation within me as I weaved one of his strikes and punched his face cleanly, knocking him backwards as I then kicked him away from me while I rolled backwards, picking myself up in the midst.
As Rai wiped off the blood trickling from his mouth, I felt elated as for once, I was struggling in a fight again as I dashed towards Rai with feint into an uppercut towards his chin, however, Rai caught my fist with his hand as he pulled me towards him and using his off-hand, he smacked my nose with the back of his fist before landing a spinning back kick into my chest, sending me sliding backwards across the ground while my vision blurred from my eyes watering as Rai dashed towards me and landed multiple piercing strikes across my torso before ending his spree of attacks with a gut-wrenching uppercut into my liver, causing me to spew out saliva as I buckled onto my knees, gasping for air.
With my breathing ragged, Rai tried to end the fight with an ax kick into the back of my head, however, I managed to block his attack with my forearms, picking myself up amidst blocking as I shoved him away from me before rushing towards him, initiating an exchange of hand-to-hand combat as I was beginning to understand the difference in skill between us.
As we exchanged attacks, Rai's hand-to-hand combat was far superior to my own as each of his attacks were precise, yet, near-crippling as he anticipated my every move, either blocking or parrying my attacks away while I struggled to perceive any of his attacks as my body eventually tensed up from Rai striking several vital points across my body, prompting Rai to end our exchange with a devastating one-inch punch into my solar plexus, forcing me to lose control over my own body temporarily as my breath seized while the impact sent me tumbling backwards through the grass until I slammed against a tree.
In a daze, I looked up and stared at the gleaming moon that resided within the vast space of stars, which seamlessly stretched to infinity as my heart began to race, although it wasn't from fear or any unnecessary worries, but from exhilaration as I was having the most fun I've had in years, despite being in an unfavorable situation as my pain was only bound to grow if I were to engage in another scuffle with Rai and yet, there was only a single desire within my mind.
I wanted to win.