9 The Mountain of Madness (1/2)

Hey, it's me. How you've been? Me? I don't wanna brag, or anything, but I'm doing pretty well these days.

Seen me on the news? I know, know. You're probably wondering how it must feel being a superstar, living that glamorous lifestyle you've seen in the movies, right?

It's a fucking lie, man. It's not at all what you think it's like; fame's a curse that you can't rub off no matter how hard you try.

Do yourself a favor and learn from my mistake; as the saying goes, 'do as I say, not as I do.'

Reed stood atop a large platform in the remote wilderness. He had been 'living' with his classmates in the wilderness for several weeks. The reason he emphasized the word living was because he sincerely believed that had died already and entered hell.

Instructor Axtorius had brought everyone to a desolate mountain that held a training site at the summit. The first thing he had ordered when they had first arrived was for them to scale the mountain before sunset. Anyone that did not complete the mission in time would receive his guidance, as he put it.

The first step of their training was for them to develop their physical bodies tolerance against Anima. Easiest way them to do so would be to train in an environment that held enough concentrated Anima in its surroundings.

The higher the elevation, the denser Anima would become. As a result, the summit of this particular mountain became a location to train new contenders. The instructors would use this opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: increase their tolerance of Anima and train them in combat, teaching them the basic schools of thought when it came to fighting with Anima.

Low and behold, Reed who was among those most ordinary in terms of physical constitution in his class felt like he had been targeted on purpose. All his friends were superhuman by birthright as children of conquerors and here he was, the only normal one of the lot.

Some friends they were, too. None of them dared find out what it entailed to receive Axtorius' guidance and had left him to fend for himself since day one. It didn't take a genius to put the pieces together from there; Reed had unwittingly stumbled into hell on earth.

Reed stood on the fighting platform and stared dead-on at the mechanical android across from him. The bastard lifelessly took a fighting stance and waited for the automatic signal that would tell it to enter combat mode.

Reed had been beaten black and blue by the condemned droid since he had first arrived weeks ago. It was the punishment he had been given for continuously failing the missions that Axtorius had assigned the class.

Combat platform #6 was the only platform that had its training droid set on expert-level combat mode. Every other combat platform had their droids set on novice-level or proficient-level, which designed for fledgling and experienced combatants.

The expert-level mode had been designed for contender use only. The droids combat abilities rivaled that of a mortal grandmaster in martial arts; the worst part was that it was also equipped with limited Anima abilities as well.

The droid had been built to give budding demigods a challenge, so one could imagine that havoc it wreaked upon the students who failed Axtorius's missions. Over the last couple weeks, Reed had formed a special sort of relationship with the droid on combat platform #6. One of intense hatred and despair...

He would wake up, participate in his mandatory training sessions with his classmates, learning the basics of physical combat. He'd practice the martial art that Axtorius had specifically chosen for him - Yohua. It was a martial art characterized by its emphasis on misdirection and surprise above all else: feinting attacks, striking the opponent's most vulnerable points, and overwhelming the opponent before they could properly retaliate.

Simply put, it was a martial art created for shameless, ruthless people that forsook honor and dignity. Yohua was created to end fights as quickly as possible and as a result, practitioners would often not pay mind to the injuries they dealt toward their opponents. Disabling the enemy took precedence over everything else; nothing else mattered.

Naturally, the fastest way to learn was to fail and learn from one's mistakes. The only way Reed would master Yohua was through endless combat. One way or another, Axtorius would etch the martial art into his bones, so he'd be able to use it instinctively whenever he needed it. The combat droids were the safest means of doing so; they'd never deal any lethal or permanent injuries to the students, but would still beat them into the ground as commanded.

Again and again; until their movements became fluid and their strikes flew out without them thinking about it. They'd be put on a strict dietary regimen and be put on a pre-planned physical conditioning plan that had been specifically created for them aside from their combat training. They needed to know how to fight, but also needed bodies capable of performing at their utmost limit.

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Nothing was spared for them and as the weeks passed, almost everyone made a tremendous improvement in the development of their techniques and martial arts.