I Refuse To Be Fate’s Puppet - Chapter 33

Arata stood completely still. His breathing was so calm that it looked like he was holding his breath. He had his eyes locked on to the handsome student, Galen. Galen was equally still as he similarly had his eyes locked on Arata. The room was completely silent as the tension between the two was extremely high, some of the students watching were holding their breath. They stood in silence for a full minute.

Ryouma had moved to stand beside Akari and Oishi. The three were waiting patiently for something to happen. They wondered how this battle would play out. As they were both Counter Experts, they would naturally react to an attack and redirect it, but as neither of them made the first move, it brought them to a standstill. Neither of them wanting to move first in case they gave their opponent an upper hand.

Another minute passed and they continued to stand their. Although some students were getting bored, those with acute observation skills and understanding were excited at the intensity. To be able to keep this level of still reflection was something many of them knew that they couldn’t reach no matter how hard they tried.

After another minute, everyone was stunned as there was movement. Both Arata and Galen had moved forward. They both had an understanding look in their eyes. Galen spoke up.

“You are indeed a strong opponent. Although you seem open, there are, in fact, no openings whatsoever. Impressive, kid.”

Arata smirked.

“I could say the same. Your stance is inviting and provoking yet my instincts scream that it would be walking into a terrible trap.”

The two students grinned at each other. As Counter Experts, one naturally needed to be observant and perceptive. They needed to be able to analyze their opponents and react accordingly to find the best way of defeating them. Although they had been standing still, they were both internally analyzing every angle of attack they could use or any possible angle of attack that the other could approach from. They were essentially playing a hypothetical game of chess in their heads, pre-playing every scenario before them. They both finally reached the decision to step forward at the same time. Their conversation was their acknowledgement of each others abilities, something that only a fellow Counter Expert would understand. They each knew that they were facing someone well versed in the art of countering.

Galen then spoke up again.

“Shall we move things forward, give the audience more of a show?”

Arata smirked.

“Very well.”

They both straightened up at the same time and walked towards each other, closing the distance. As they came to a stop in front of each other, they both nodded in understanding. They slowly got back into their stances, the back of their wrists pushing against each others. They stood their for a few silent seconds before Galen’s eyes lit up. Oishi grinned.

“Show time.”

Galen and Arata moved at the same time. They both simultaneously sent out punches and blocks, as if they had decided on where to strike, they clashed at bounced off of each others hits before attacking again. Neither of them moved from where they were standing, yet their hands became a blur as they continued to strike and block. They continued to move faster and faster. Everyone became completely awestruck at the speed and intensity of their strikes. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement to not use their powers yet as they were currently using pure martial arts.

The speed and the force behind the attacks and blocks, however, was so quick and powerful that many that were watching thought they were using Speed and Strength Enhancements. But those that could tell they weren’t were even more stunned. They were witnessing two monsters clashing with just their physical bodies, what kind of freaks are they?

To Arata, his body was moving reflexively as his main concern was breaking Galen’s defense. He was analyzing and searching for an opportune moment to catalyze on or a weakness that he could exploit. And he could feel that Galen was doing the same. Their strikes were rather basic if you looked at them subjectively, but because of the strength and speed of the moves, it looked flashy and intense to those that were watching. But this was just the two students testing the waters. Neither of them were going full out, they were both waiting for the other to do so.

They knew that the battle wouldn’t end until someone made a move, yet neither of them could risk making a move first. So now the battle became a battle of attrition, stamina and patience. Arata wasn’t sure if he should use Vitality Bestowal as it involved taking on a strong power and converting it, but this would be an ineffective attack against Galen who didn’t throw any strong attacks, so Arata had to wait for the right opportunity to present itself.

As they continued to clash back and forth, they both continued scanning and analyzing the other person. Arata’s eyes lit up as he suddenly stepped back. Galen seemed panicked as he instinctively stepped forward. The students watching were slightly confused as Galen had stepped forward yet he looked like he was the one in trouble.

“Isn’t he winning?”

“Yeah, it looked like he pushed Arata backwards, he’s beating him.”

“I don’t know, he looks more anxious than Arata.”

Oishi chuckled. Ryouma grinned. Akari nodded.

“Seems like his got it.”

The student’s hushed as they listened to the three talking. Ryouma responded.

“Seems like Captain has finally gained the upperhand.”

The student’s didn’t understand. How was Arata winning when he stepped backwards. Oishi seemed to sense everyone’s confusion and turned around to the crowd.

“Arata and Senior Galen are both Counter Experts. Their goal isn’t to rush and attack their opponents. Their goal is to bring their opponent into their world. Bring them into their rhythm.”

As he said this, Arata took another step back and Galen hurriedly responded by stepping forward. Oishi turned to the two fighting, a fire in his eyes as he grinned.

“A Counter Experts biggest fear is having the fight dictated by their opponent. Senior Galen isn’t pushing Arata back, Arata is pulling him forward.”

Arata stepped back again and the nervous Galen stepped forward. Galen anxiously tried to find a way to turn the tide of the battle. He knew that he was falling into Arata’s zone, his world. If he didn’t do something now, Arata would have complete control of this battle and he would eventually lose this battle. He knew that it was problematic as a Counter Expert to show his cards first, but he didn’t have much of a choice here.

Galen made a grim face as he quietly chanted. Hearing him chant Arata smirked. He forced him to move first. Galen began to glow softly. Arata’s face went serious as he observed what Galen was doing. He couldn’t tell what the Energy was. The glow then travelled to Galen’s palms. As they were still exchanging blows, Arata sensed something strange occurring. With every punch he threw that landed in Galen’s palm, he felt like he was punching a pillow. His punches were softened and pulling his fist away took more effort than it should have. Although the effect was miniscule, he sensed that if his attack was stronger, the effect would be much larger. He decided to test this theory.

He absorbed the Light in the air, circulating it. The Light Energy was then sent to his fist. Akari obviously noticed the Light Energy being gathered and the way it was being used within Arata.

The Sixth Luminary Art: Righteous Discharge.

Arata sent the fist charged with Light Energy towards Galen’s palm. As it hit, Arata again felt like he had collided with a squishy substance that absorbed the entirety of his attack. Then he felt a draining force come from the palm as he tried to pull his fist away. Galen grinned as he pulled back on his palm, pulling Arata with him. They both took a step, this time in Galen’s direction.

Arata was finally able to bring his fist back as they continued exchanging blows. Arata hadn’t put his all into that punch, yet he felt like his arm had lost some of its strength. He did his best to cultivate His Chaos Cells to recover his strength as they continued to clash back and forth. But Arata could feel his strength depleting slowly with each clash. A single clash wasn’t enough to affect him much, but due to the amount of clashes they wear exchanging at such a fast pace, it was accumulating to be a lot as he was forced to take another step forward towards Galen, falling into his rhythm.

He sensed that Galen’s palms were able to drain the physical strength of the oncoming opponent. Draining the equal amount of their attack. This was an extremely powerful technique and Arata could tell that his Mastery of this spell was incredibly high. If he kept this up, he knew that he would definitely be defeated by his own strength. Arata sensed something as he fel into Galen’s rhythm, helplessly continued to exchange blows with Galen, taking another step in his direction.

Akari and Ryouma stared at the two in confusion.

“Why isn’t Captain not using any moves against him?

“Arata needs to do something, he’s being drawn into Galen’s fight.”

Oishi watched silently. He had noticed something strange as they fought. Arata didn’t seem right. He wasn’t attempting anything and instead seemed to be following along with Galen’s rhythm obediently. He was too compliant. Oishi finally grinned.

“He’s an evil one, isn’t he?”

Akari and Ryouma turned to see Oishi’s grin. Akari asked.

“What do you mean?”

Arata continued to have his strength drained as they continued to clash. They took several steps in Galen’s direction as Galen wore a satisfied smirk on his face. Arata began to turn pale as his strength was disappearing quickly. Galen was sure that Arata was at a point that he wouldn’t be able to handle anymore. He was readying to finish him of as he stepped back and through a punch that was clearly different to his previous punches. Arata saw that the glow had disappeared from his palms and were now concentrated on his fist.

Arata’s demeanor suddenly changed as he through up a palm to catch the punch. Galen suddenly realized that Arata had stepped forward and was now in a different stance and something was wrong, but it was too late as he had already thrown his punch. Akari, Oishi and Ryouma went wide eyed. They had watched Arata fight a couple times now and they hadn’t seen this stance from him before.

He previously only used the stance for Vitality Bestowal, his weight always focused on his back foot and his front foot lightly resting on the ground. But this stance was different. His weight was now on his front foot as he leaned forward slightly. As Galen’s fist landed in Arata’s palm, fear seemed to enter Galen.

It felt as though his fist had landed in a black hole, and he felt all of the Energy that he had accumulated from Arata’s attacks were know being absorbed or, to be more accurate, devoured. He then felt an Energy enter him through his fist as he felt a monstrous power eating his Energy and strength.

As he about to throw his other fist at Arata, he was stopped as Arata pushed his other palm onto his shoulder. Again, the sensation of his strength being eaten appeared again. His free arm was drained of it’s strength as he could no longer lift it up. Galen realized that he could no longer hold up his other arm and it dropped to his side and Arata placed his other palm on his other shoulder.

As Galen looked at Arata, he saw the color returning back to his previous pale face, and now Galen’s face was going pale instead. Galen was going dizzy and felt weak as this strange Energy continued to eat away at his strength and power. Things began to go dark as he lost the strength in his legs.

The crowd of students all stared in shock at this turn of events as Arata had his hands on both of Galen’s shoulders before the handsome student dramatically collapsed onto the ground before Arata. Arata breathed in and sighed loudly, seemingly satisfied.

“Thanks for the meal.”

As I have stated previously, the stance for the Vitality Bestowal is based on the Empty or Full Empty Stance in Tai Chi. This second stance is also from Tai Chi and is known as the Bow Stance.