[Bomber].

  The boxing ring sized space erupted with flames and instantly turned into an oven. My entire body baked with the intensity of the heat.

  Master sent an uppercut through the smoke. I reeled back enough to avoid my chin becoming the bell at a carnival test-your-strength hammer game. The wind that screamed off of the punch drove all the smoke into the ceiling.

  I sprung forward, driving a right hook directly into Master’s side. As his wide barrier tried to bounce my punch away, I activated a point blank [Bomber]. The burning mana scattered throughout the box. It rushed through the protective wind and scalded flesh with boiling oil.

  Master did not allow that hit to go unanswered. A punch that would turn stones to powder smashed into my chest. My ribs vaporized, sending tiny shards of bones to tear across my organs. A fountain of blood flowed up my throat and spilled through my teeth like a picturesque waterfall.

  I took a stumbling step and saw another punch crossing towards my head. I swung with my own magical punch back at him.

  Our knuckles smashed into each other like runaway trains. Flesh tore and bones popped out of place as I felt my arm become immobilized under the damage. But, Master’s arm looked crippled by the strike as well.

  I swung up with my opposite hand and activated [Bomber]. My limp arm exploded with flesh and more fire coated Master’s body. He expanded the wind around him, blasting away the flames and shooting out blood in every direction. My shoulder started bubbling with new flesh.

  Master rushed me while my arm was regenerating. I stomped my foot and [Obsidian Spikes] activated to send sharpened mana shooting out of the floor. Master crossed his arms over his vital points, allowing the mana to carve into his limbs. He powered through it, turning the spells into shimmering chunks.

  He threw a punch on my armless side, forcing me to step into the savage blow. Instead, I felt my legs get swept out from under me. I fell backwards as the punch changed trajectories to slam me into the ground.

  I pressed my good hand into the floor and kicked out with [Bomber]. Smoke and flame spewed out as I rolled backwards and finished my regeneration.

  A long range punch caught me in the knee. My balance got thrown off and I took a half step forward. Just as I did, a pair of hands grasped around my head and a power knee smashed into my snout. My needle like teeth rattled like wind chimes as I was flung backwards.

  As I fell, I manipulated [The Box] to bring a wall toward me. I pressed my legs into the wall that formed and kicked off.

  I gripped my hands on Master’s horns and blasted him with a knee of my own.

  [Bomber].

  An explosion fired off of my knee and directly into Master’s face. I spun my body while keeping grasp on one of the horns to avoid the avenging uppercut. I dropped to the ground, pulling down on Master’s horn and delivering a power-packed punch right into his neck.

  [Bomber].

  Master kept his feet on the ground and drove his body into me with his shoulder. His horn dug into my pectoral muscle. A fist swung directly into my midsection. My spine barely managed to hold itself together to avoid paralysis.

  [Bomber].

  I dropped an elbow on top of Master’s head. I wrapped my arm around his neck and swung him into the wall of [The Box]. I summoned [Obsidian Spikes] that skewered his body in several places. I quickly followed with an [Iron Fist] and another [Bomber] at point blank range right into his head.

  I rushed him down with a flurry of strong punches. His body was bleeding all over. His stats were continually drained by [The Great Decay].

  I gritted my teeth, cursing myself out in my mind as I continued this onslaught. I could have done this without it, I know I could. [Iron Fist] into [Bomber]. More spikes, more punches, more pain; that was the staples to my victory. Maybe, I could rescind the [Great Decay]. It was a consistent drain on my mana. I could use that on more [Bombers].

  Master’s eyes glowed red and bloody tears streamed onto the floor. A gust of wind that felt like getting smacked with a house in a tornado pushed me away.

  I drove me feet into the ground, but Master was already there. A punch that emulsified my kidneys rocked my stomach. He followed up with a palm strike directly into my shoulder joint and then stomped on my foot. Overhead elbow to the nose while I emptied out another [Bomber] into his side. Then, a punch to the throat that canceled my subscription to breathing.

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  I threw a punch in return. Master grabbed my wrist and spun me around. A strong wind at my back lifted me up. He threw in a long range uppercut that pushed me higher. Then another and another and another until I was pinned to the ceiling getting beat over and over by that piston-like attack.

  I forced the ceiling down while erupting several [Obsidian Spikes] beneath Master. I threw a punch from my bizarre place on the ceiling that cracked Master’s horn.

  The wind died, allowing me to fall to the ground. As I fell, a punch careened directly at my face. I pulled my head back and grabbed onto Master’s arm. I pulled my head back up and sunk my teeth into Master’s forearm. His hateful blood filled my mouth with an exquisite taste.

  He tried to rip his arm away and I punched his elbow with [Bomber]. The severed arm stayed in my mouth was the other arm delivered an uppercut right into my lower jaw. My mouth was forced shut, leaving a piece of Master’s flesh in my mouth. My jaw hung sideways, dislocated by the strike.

  I swallowed the chunk of meat and rushed in on Master’s armless side. Still, I caught an invisible punch from the severed arm. It thundered into my shoulder and I offered a stiff strike into his midsection.

  A palm strike smacked me in the side of the head, sending my mind spinning. A wind filled punch sent me upwards. Then, Master grabbed my tail and ripped me down into the floor. The wind pushed him up and then sent him driving down at intense speed. Both of his feet stomped into my body. Whatever hadn’t already popped inside of me was close and I felt myself slowing down.

  I smashed a [Bomber] into Master’s knee. I felt the joint pop under the force and Master buckled. I delivered another [Bomber] into his falling body, sending him flying into the far wall where more [Obsidian Spikes] impaled him further.

  I forced myself to uneasy feet. My insides had been turned into a smoothie. My mouth hung slightly open, the blast to the jaw leaving me unable to close it all the way again.

  Master snapped the spikes embedded in his body and tried to rise to his feet. His knee popped and he slid down to the floor. Blood squirted out of each of the holes that dug through his flesh.

  He threw some long range punches into me. But, now I found that they didn’t hurt all that much anymore. The weakness from the accumulated damage met with the sapping weakness of [The Great Decay]. He must have lost hundreds, if not thousands of stat points by now. Centuries of fighting and winning sapped away by a brutal skill.

  I clenched my fists in anger. He would have had more left if I hadn’t done it. There would be more fighting to be had if I had held back just that little bit.

  “Don’t give me that look, whelp,” Master spat. “This is exactly what I wanted. A student that was as vicious as me, as cunning as me, and more loved by the Follies than me. Seriously, what kind of ability lets you accumulate so many stat points? You’ve chopped centuries off of your growth time. How marvelous. What sort of creature should I have been to earn such a thing?”

  I didn’t feel blessed. I felt cursed by every single one of my fights being cheapened. It was a true fight. One that could have gone either way. But, I was still barely standing and he barely wasn’t and that was the difference.

  “What if we had fought without stats? Without abilities? Just our mortal flesh smashing against each other in a fight to the death?”

  “Ha! What a beautiful thing that would be!” Master shouted with a laugh. “Once you have killed them all, let’s have a fight like that. Strip the System from all of us, see who’s really the strongest in a tournament of flesh and steel! I’ll show you why I was feared.”

  I stopped [The Box] and allowed the fiery lair to be carried away by the winds on the mountaintop. The whipping winds caressed Master’s face. His eyes looked peaceful.

  “Do you regret having me use that ability?” I asked. “You might still be standing if I hadn’t.”

  “Of course not,” Master answered his eyes pointing up at the sky he loved so much. “I wanted to lose to someone worthy. It doesn’t matter how. A great fighter leaves no weapon behind. Now, kill me already, before I disown you for being a soft-hearted fool.”

  I raised my fist over my head. My mana sizzled on the ends of my fingers. I was going to make sure there was no chance of surviving.

  “Thank you, Master, for everything.”

  The punch shook the world and Master’s lifeless body sat at my feet. My mouth salivated reflexively at the gigantic feast, but I did not descend upon him. I had to appetite for him. He had given me too much for me to crave his stats. I wanted to rise up to the top of the mountain and scream his name down in veneration for everyone to hear.

  Instead, I just drank a health potion.

  “Not hungry?” A saccharine voice entered my ear.

  A pink mist floated through the mountain top. A lithe silhouette danced in the fog, but wouldn’t reveal their true form.

  “Ecstasy, you were not the one I expected to see here.”

  “Oh? Have you forgotten what you promised already?” The bodiless voice said. I could imagine the pouting face they were making. “There is a job you need to do for me, remember? You need to use your ability to make people disappear for me.”

  I looked down at Master’s corpse.

  “You aren’t going to tell me that Master is the man that you wish for me to eat, are you?” I asked, my teeth clenched tight. “I will have to decline even if that incurs your anger.”

  “Oh, don’t be dramatic,” Ecstasy said with a dainty wave of the hand. “I have no use for the death of this old goat. But, I must admit that I misled you a little last time. It’s not a person I want you to eat, its persons.”

  “Go on.”

  “There is a castle of demons that swore off fun,” Ecstasy pouted. “They even called me a hag. Can you believe that? A paragon of beauty like myself is too faint-hearted for such insults. So, you must remove them. Every. Last. One.”

  “That, I can do.”

  As I walked away from Master’s corpse, a notification appeared in my mind.

  Quest

  Untrodden Steps IV

  You have walked from under the shadow of the one who showed you the way. There is no further purpose in calling someone lesser than you Master. There is nothing left to teach and only one thing left to give.

  You have earned the ability: One Thousand Mile Punch

  I bowed toward the body. I understood the intent behind his words, but I would not dare call him my lesser.

  “Watch me, Master,” I said as I took a step out of his realm. “I will show you something that you were unable to see yourself. I will kill Wrath.”