Too Stubborn to Die

The two avatars came fast, speeding across the arena and ducking and diving between one another as they took turns throwing their entire bodies into deadly combinations that pressed Aaron to his limit. He was on the back foot and struggling to even return a single strike, but that was exactly how he wanted it.

If he wasn’t being challenged, what point was there? And even though the clones he fought weren’t the strongest versions of Yendal’s avatars he had been up against, fending off the two as they expertly wove combinations into one another was an extraordinarily difficult task. And one that was new to him.

Aaron was no stranger to taking on multiple foes, but when they were both extraordinarily skilled, it transformed the experience into something new.

Bouncing off one another, they gave him not an ounce of breathing room, and every attack was followed up with something. A finished combination was simply an opportunity for the other avatar to throw their own attacks at him, and it took everything just to keep himself from being beaten up.

But progress wasn’t earned without struggle, and Aaron was harnessing his spirit and pondering his techniques as he threw [ Spectral Fist ]. He felt closer than ever to the truths of martial prowess in here, and he was going to make the most of it.

He realized that he had gotten used to storing Stamina in the Mana-based Skill for additional power, but that was selling it short. Why limit himself? That wasn’t his style, and so he dabbled with dipping into other concepts. Namely, fueling the Skill with aether.

But this wasn’t anything extraordinary. An additional energy form within the ghostly fist missiles provided extra bang for his buck, but it wasn’t revolutionary. Nor did it necessarily alter the attack as he wanted. It was still the same attack, just with a little more energy. And he wasn’t putting all this work in just for that.

Which begged the question, what did he want to turn [ Spectral Fist ] into? It was his only ranged attack, and even though it didn’t do huge amounts of damage, it was still useful. If he focused purely on damage, it might be useful as an additional attack in his combo chain, but then it might lose usefulness outside of it. After all, he already had [ Turbocharged Haymaker ] for when he wanted a powerful punch. There was little point in making all of his Skills copies of one another.

But perhaps there were other ways of improving its effectiveness in combat without depriving it of what made it useful, he thought.

As the duel continued, and hours drained in a relentless back and forth, Aaron doggedly tested hundreds of ideas until resting on one that seemed promising.

The idea was to use his spirit to double up on the attack. Using his spirit as he fought, he summoned aether to fire off a copycat fake version of [ Spectral Fist ] at the same time that he used the real version.

Of course, the real version was an actual Skill, and the other, simply a copy he created by forming aether, shaping it to appear the same. This made the spirit version far, far weaker, but this was just a training exercise, and it was the promise that the idea showed that interested him.

As he dueled, he practiced throwing both strikes out in unison and doing so at a very fast rate. The result allowed him to shower the avatars in lightning-fast flying fists whenever he could create even a little separation between them.

Nonetheless, the relentless avatars pressed him, forcing him to be faster and better. They left absolutely no breathing room, and that pressed Aaron to reflexively shoot off the ghostly punches at microseconds a piece, and with every engagement, he improved a little.

During this back and forth, Yendal watched from the arena’s side, sitting in a chair and sipping some kind of tea.

As focused as he was, occasionally, Aaron’s gaze caught a glimpse of her. If he was being honest, it was pretty distracting having her just sitting there watching. Then again, he realized it probably wasn’t any different from the other trials, as she was watching through her avatars. It just felt different seeing her in person.

But he wouldn’t let it get to him and focused his attention on the concept of his new strike forming in his head as he tried to call on the divine truths within Yendal’s realm.

After about a day or so of this back and forth, Yendal finally got up. Sitting in place for over a day watching someone train might have seemed ridiculous to a mortal, but it was of no consequence to a god, and her understanding of time was far removed from a mortal’s, making it impossible to comprehend.

He didn’t even see her move. In an instant, she was on the arena floor, cutting between her avatars and him. Without a word, her hands came down in slicing arcs that rippled through the air.

He had died a couple of times over the last day as he pushed himself for breakthroughs, but this was different. It almost felt like she was trying to punish him, although it was clear that she gave him many opportunities to fix whatever issues she was trying to point out. After all, she was a god, and she could end him with a thought if she really wanted to.

However, whatever corrections she was trying to point out, he didn’t get it, and he was shortly cut down by the edge of her hand, which opened a gnarly wound across his entire chest.

“So many openings. Have I taught you nothing?”

“Blech!” Aaron coughed up blood as he returned to life and healed. “Sorry.”

“Sorry? There’s no room around here for sorry. Just be better.”

“Right. Okay, being better,” he grunted and pulled himself upright.

“Okay, then show me! Show me better!”

Aaron powered himself up as best he could, calling on all of his buffing Skills and even [ Gorgon’s Time Dilation ] as he rushed forward.

He threw out a variety of attacks and feints. It was a dazzling display, and most would have at least struggled to see themselves through it, but not Yendal. Honestly, it was completely unfair. He was now facing off against an actual god. But that clearly wasn’t the point. She was trying to show him something, but he just didn’t get it.

Nonetheless, Aaron went alone with the fight in his usual stubborn fashion. If there were a means of making his way through it and clutching some form of victory, however that looked, he would see it done.

After a failed attack that saw him killed again, he even tried testing out his new cape and turning into a shadow. But it was entirely useless against Yendal. She saw through everything, and some minor buffs made no real difference when the power gap was as immense as it was.

There was only one way to get through this, and that was to prove himself to her.

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He continued to press the action, only resting when Yendal killed him too many times, and he had to wait for his aether to recover. He wasn’t in the trials, after all, and whilst a god had the ability to heal a dead mortal if they were quick enough, it was safer not to risk it.

Aaron’s frustration built as he wasn’t sure what she wanted from him, but that only forced him to work harder. The more irritated he got, the more effort he threw into his attacks.

What followed was a massive combination with countless feints. Not that it mattered all too much. Yendal was yawning and looking bored as she effortlessly avoided his attacks.

However, things weren’t as straightforward as they seemed. She had trained him incredibly well, and throughout the last day or so of training, he had been thinking about his tells.

He wanted to throw invisible strikes that gave his opponents no ability to read him, even if they possessed supreme levels of perception. And he had secretly been formulating a means of doing just that. And when she provided the slimmest of openings through sheer boredom, he seized on it.

He started with a [ Soul Shattering Strike ] combo chain and followed it up with a mirrored combo in the spirit plane. It was a devious attack, and whilst it lacked the strength of his mortal strikes, it was impossible to see until the energy had accumulated in the attack, by which point, it would be impossible to dodge for most.

But Yendal wasn’t most. Her expression did change, though. However, she seemed to allow the attack to hit her, despite looking directly at it and clearly seeing it before it landed.

Aaron got a bad feeling, but he didn’t expect what happened next.

Yendal nonchalantly punched his spirit.

Instantly, despite not actually being touched, Aaron fell to the ground coughing. His entire body tremored and shook, and it felt like all the oxygen had been stolen from him. He felt weak deep within himself, like his very core had been slammed against a wall.

“You ought to be careful about how you use your spirit to attack. Most people can’t see it, but for those who can, it’s a nice squishy target.”

“Ah–bloody fucking hell. This sucks,” he groaned.

Is this what Talia felt when I hit her with Soul Shattering Strike?

“How did you see it?” He finally muttered as he started to recover. The sensation absolutely sucked, but unlike Talia, Aaron’s mastery over his spirit meant that he recovered from the attack rather quicker than she had.

“I’m a god, Aaron. Do you really think I’m incapable of seeing such things? However, anyone who walks a similar path as you should be able to as well. Those who master aether, or other spirit-related crafts, will gain these traits sooner or later as you did. You can’t get careless. If I had wanted to, I could have destroyed your soul, and you’d be no more. There’s no resurrection without a soul. Furthermore, your soul has none of the defensive measures you have. Not unless you start to cultivate defenses for it.”

Aaron thought about what she said. But he wasn’t sure it was a good idea to start focusing on soul defense. After all, he still fought with his fists, and he didn’t want to spread himself too thinly. At least not yet. Maybe it was something to consider in the future.

“I wasn’t suggesting you actually do that now. Just making a point. Using your spirit in combat can be a great cheat. But you have to be absolutely careful. Against the wrong opponent, it could be your death. Even those who can’t see it might be able to formulate a counter to it. Or a defensive Skill might activate against all enemy attacks, including your spirit. If that were to happen and trigger some kind of defensive trap that caused damage to your undefended spirit, it could be lethal for you.”

Okay, he had to admit that was a scary thought. If something like that happened, would he even be able to do anything about it?

“Okay, I understand.”

“Good. I haven’t invested this much time into you just to see you get yourself killed doing something stupid.”

“A bit late for that,” Aaron chuckled, and Yendal’s gaze narrowed and brow bent. “Relax, I’m only joking. I’ll be careful.”

“Go again,” she demanded, her voice suddenly cold.

Aaron did as he was commanded. But he realized that she didn’t tell him not to use his spirit, just to be careful when he did.

After all, what was the point in having a cheat ability if he wasn’t going to use it? He just had to be a little more careful, he realized.

The duel continued for several long hours, and Aaron’s body was starting to buckle under the pressure. He was sweating all over, and everything felt tight. No matter how much he ate or how much energy he cycled, it was getting harder and harder to push himself within the divine realm.

It wasn’t just that. He had gotten used to being reset by the trials when dying, and fighting for so long pushed him in different ways, ways that were amplified by the pressure of the divine realm, which, despite the pillars holding the bulk of it back, was still rather heavy.

But he wouldn’t show up short against his master. If she wanted him to go all out and show her what he was capable of, then he would do just that. And he would do it with endless perseverance, as that was who he was.

Forcing his body to follow his wishes, Aaron threw everything he had into their fight, trying to push the odds in his direction by even the slightest amount. Ultimately, though, it would be up to Yendal whether or not she saw what she was looking for.

“Here,” she said abruptly, pausing the fight, and a towel materialized in her hand. “Clean yourself up.”

“Thanks,” Aaron said, took the towel, and wiped his face. “That was some workout.”

“You’re not finished. You haven’t made me sweat, not even a drip.”

“And how exactly am I meant to make a god sweat?” Aaron sighed.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, so, this is where you’ve been hiding with your new toy boy.”

Aaron turned and saw the source of the voice. A slender silver-haired vixen with huge, curling spider legs protruding from her back was walking toward them.

Who the hell is she? I thought this was Yendal’s divine realm?

When he turned to Yendal, he saw creases of anger in her brow that he had never seen before, and got the feeling this guest wasn’t invited.

“What are you doing here, Widow?”

“I can never find you these days. And when I finally do, you’re hidden away with this succulent human mortal,” she said, licking her lips. “Is he living up to the hype? I can always take him off your hands if you’ve gotten bored.”

Yendal’s fists balled up, and the spider woman seemed to take note, freezing in place.

“It’s just a bit of fun. No need to take things so seriously, Yendie,” Widow raised her hands defensively and took a step back.

“I told you not to enter without my permission!” Yendal snapped, and with an angry wave of her hand, Widow’s face widened, and she was shot out from the divine realm with a blast that hit her chest.

“Is she going to be okay?”

“Worry about yourself!” Yendal grunted and turned to him with a bent brow. Then, with a click of her fingers, one of her avatars flew toward him.

Aaron was slammed back furiously, and it was obvious that she had turned the power right up on her avatar. It felt like he was fighting a D-grade Yendal, and it was incredible. After all, while he had been going up against her true form, she hadn’t been trying in the slightest. To do so would have atomized Aaron. However, her D-grade avatar absolutely could go all out against him, and it made him hurt.

He felt like he had unwittingly been turned into a punching bag for Yendal’s irritation, and the battle that followed was fierce and very, very painful.

He was thrown all over the arena, bruised, battered, and bashed. But he wasn’t one to just take a beating lying down, and the fierceness of the fight only drove him harder, and he met her anger with a manic grin, for it was the perfect force to throw his own unbreakable will against.

The action was dialed up to eleven, and Aaron threw everything he had into it, blurring the lines between life and death as he refused to die, forgetting even about his dwindling aether reserves and throwing everything on the line.

He had never been scared of death, even when he couldn’t resurrect, and now was no different. If Yendal was going to bring the fight to him, he was going to meet it head-on and brutishly blast his way through it one way or another. And that was exactly what he did, throwing all of the concepts he had been working on into an orchestra of deadly destruction, blasting her avatar with everything he could muster.

Throwing everything he had, faster and faster. Blurring between the spirit and the mortal planes, to further increase his output of spectral punches, until he was filling the entire arena with the flying punches, and draining significant amounts of energy in the process.

Skill Mutated: [ Spectral Fist ] = [ Spectral Bullet Punch ]

Aaron blinked and promptly ate a face-crushing fist as his concentration on Yendal’s avatar was broken. But even as he was sent flying and slammed into the wall hard enough to liquify his insides, he grinned.

Would you look at that!