My organs were going to fall apart.

  Every. Single. Day.

  Every single day, Vincent pushed me beyond what I thought was capable of. And it wasn’t like how master did it. No, that was, tough love. This was an obsession. Every single day, I had to be better. Every single day, Vincent tried desperately, despairingly, ragingly, to close the gap. And he did. Again, and again, and again.

  My feet hit the treadmill unlike any other speed I’d known. I didn’t dare even glance at the monster out the corner of my eye, lest he crush my lead. I didn’t have that kind of luxury. I didn’t even have the luxury to be exhausted or to pant or to breathe wrong if I wanted to win. The body could only do so much and in my desperation, I had to take every single moment and think about it. No more mindless running. Every position of my foot, bend of my leg, even the movement of my arms.

  And I had to do that for every machine, for every work out, for every second of every day. It felt like my mind was going to break as well as my body and I’d even begun to cry tears of blood about a week ago. It had stopped recently but it was evidence of just how hard I had to push every part of me.

  And every day, no, every minute that I spent ahead of Vincent the more angry and determined and fierce he became. A normal person, after weeks of having someone ahead of them, would have given up. Or they would have accepted the other person is better or they could never compare or at least relaxed a little.

  He didn’t. Never. I’d seen him literally shatter his arms during a workout once. It was one of the few times he surpassed me. Yesterday, he literally broke his leg while running on the stairmaster. He’d outdone me there too. He was quite literally breaking himself to surpass me and the worst part? It was working. I wasn’t always winning these days, it was hard enough to just stay slightly ahead. He was a god damn monster. A machine. My worst nightmare come to beat out the weakness from me.

  Breakfast, lunch, and dinner had now become a war. We competed, in everything. Who would wake up faster, who’d heal faster, who’d eat more, who’d push harder. Looking at him was like looking at pure rage and I felt the exact same. It’d long gone past wanting to punch him or have him stop. Those were childish emotions compared to the absolute fury I felt towards him. If it wasn’t for master, I’d already have attacked him. I hadn’t hated him at the start but how could I remain that way? He was always moments from taking what was mine, what I needed. His words were tinged with hatred but always direct and true. They hurt all the worse for it.

  “I’m catching up.” He’d said one day.

  “The fuck you are.” I replied back, staring into those red eyes of his.

  “The better warrior gets the better resources. I am going to be that Warrior.”

  “You’re just an asshole trying to take my way of getting stronger. There’s a million others! A thousand fucking dojos would love to have you! Go there!”

  “And will they be as good as the one who simply calls himself Master? I have seen no other with his level of strength in this city. How could I do anything but the best for my Clan, my people! Is it not the same for you? Does that man not burn you with hatred? I must do this.”

  “Act polite all you like, I’m at least honest. You said the better warrior gets the better resources? Clearly, that’s me then.”

  His eyes had burned hard and cold at that.

  “I will tear you the fuck apart. You think me a thief and I think you’re just another obstacle in my road. I must beat you, no matter what. I can’t afford to be weak if I’m going to tear that king down.”

  “I told you once and I’ll tell you again. I am going to be the one to kill Vega.”

  That was one of the times he’d beaten me on the machine. If only he was smug and arrogant or spat on me or something. If only he was anything but a ball of rage and hatred. I’d reached out a hand to a monster of potential and he gripped it and used it to vault right over me. His malevolent presence had at least lessened. I was far less worried about him falling into helplessness or self destruction but... No good deed goes unpunished they say…

  The day ended and the struggle just to get to the place where they served food was had yet again. Stuffing both our stomachs and then dragging ourselves home, I had begun to get sick of this. This was hard. This was so much harder than any other training I’d done, short of the sewers. And even that had been a lot less… intense in the later parts.

  And it showed.

  Above Vincent…

  [15]

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  And above me.

  [15]

  The gains were unbelievable. I wasn’t sure how much stronger and faster I was than before, or how durable, but it wasn’t just fifty percent. I might be over double or triple as much… and Vincent kept up every step of the way. It was hard to notice the increase in power when someone ruthlessly kept up like that and threatened to surpass you. Every morning he’d sweep that stupid Vambrace over me and himself. Every day I’d look at both our numbers. There’d been one day where he’d been less than mine. That was when he broke his arms. He’d caught up within the day.

  Going back home, I was ready to continue this nightmare, even if it took months or years. It was hard to feel good about the gains I had but hopefully, one day, I’d outpace him. That he’d fall behind. I’d started to lose faith I could simply be better, he was too good. I was doing my hardest and breaking every limit and thought I had about what I could do, simply doing what I must do, and yet still he kept up. My only hope now was that the later stages of power were harder for him than it was for me…

  It wasn’t a very large hope.

  ******

  The next morning, something was different. I could feel it the moment I got out of the healing tank and Vincent was no different. We stared warily around, as if we were about to be attacked. Our instincts were screaming at us that something was different, that something was wrong.

  “Our clothes are different.” I said first. My brain spoke before I consciously realized.

  Vincent had his own clothes and stuff but Master still got him specific workout clothes and shoes every time he woke up. Now, they were different. Not the white Gi’s you’d see on a karate student, nor the casual clothes of working out, but something else.

  Vincent went up to them, as if a snake was going to bite him, and held them up.

  In some ways, it was a Gi. It was two pieces of clothing, clearly a top and a bottom, with a sash. But it was different. The material was more, baggy, and pure black with red lines going throughout it. The belt was blue and more elastic. On the right of the chest, there was a small symbol in a circle I’d never seen before. Turning the Gi around, it covered the entire back.

  魔

  “Do you know what this symbol means? No, wait, do you have any idea what language it is?” I asked Vincent.

  “No.”

  Language was nearly uniform across the planet. Everyone spoke Common. Or Vegalic if you wanted to be an asshole and credit a monster for it. He’d long made everyone speak and write the same thing. Languages still arose or there were a few from the ancient past, but I’d never seen anything like this before despite it clearly being a language.

  The Gi wasn’t the only difference. There was a dark blue undershirt and the boots followed the same color scheme. But beyond looks the biggest change was-

  “Why is this so heavy?!” Vincent cried out.

  The weight. The shoes, the socks, the Gi, even the belt. They all felt like they weighed dozens of pounds each. It felt like I was wrapped in iron and chains. Every movement took a dozen times more effort and the worst was the small movement. Things that would’ve taken no energy before suddenly did. It was like being underwater but worse.

  My heart nearly stopped when a horrible realization came over me.

  “Are we… going to have to work out… in this?”

  The look on Vincent’s face was hilarious but I wasn’t laughing. For once, we were on the same page. Working out was already pushing us to the brink of near death at times. With this on, making everything so much harder…

  It seems I’d return to crying tears of blood soon.

  Awkwardly, we both made our way out of the basement and up the stairs. Even if the clothes were so heavy it felt like a struggle to walk, the routine hadn’t changed. Get up, go outside, meet master, go get food, go workout.

  Except Master had a serious look on his face today and that immediately had every nerve in my body on edge. I could practically feel Vincent stiffen up next to me. He was a fool, I could practically read his thoughts, that Master was going to make some kind of final decision right now. I knew, for a fact, that whatever he was about to say was going to be far worse. Master choosing a disciple wasn’t a death sentence at least but this might actually be one.

  “You both have done too well. Far too well. From now on, you are now wearing the Gi’s of my Dojo. The Demon School. We will spend the next two weeks training you both with these clothes on and then… I will teach you my martial arts.”

  My heart skipped a beat… and then roared. I could feel it growing, pounding, beating faster and faster and faster.

  Master… was really going to teach me how to fight. No, no, this was way, far more than that. He’d already accepted me as his disciple but now I was officially a part of his dojo, a part of his teachings and schoolings. The Gi I was wearing wasn’t just more clothes that weighed a lot, it was the official uniform of The Demon School. A fitting name for a Dojo run by master…

  “Does this mean…” Vincent said, looking uncharacteristically nervous. “That, we’re no longer competing?”

  That would be a relief. Not having to push as hard would be-

  “Of course not. I still only need one disciple. It just means neither of you were able to beat each other before becoming official students. Work hard and don’t disgrace my school. I dedicated my life to learning how to fight and I’ll be passing on those teachings. If you disgrace that, I will kill you.”

  He was dead serious for once. Not a hint of levity in him. It was only slightly less terrifying than when he was excessively casual.

  “We won’t disappoint you master.” I said.

  “Good. Now, come on. We need to get the day started already. Both of you will probably be dead before lunch but ehh.”

  Ah, in the moment, I’d forgotten. I’d have to work out all day while wearing these weighted clothes.

  At that moment, I truly understood.

  Things only get harder, never easier!

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