9 The Mountain of Madness (2/2)

Reed stared at the droid menacingly as sweat dripped down his cheeks. He had been platform #6's one number regular since they had all arrived. No one came close to the number of hours he had logged with this godforsaken mechanical nightmare.

The worst part of it all was that because Reed had been assigned to learn Yohua, the droid also used it in their fights. Some of the things that the robot bastard had done to him could not even be described with the full extent of the spoken and written language.

Day after day, Reed would be beaten into the ground by the android no matter how hard he struggled. The specs between the android and himself were too far apart for him to even contemplate a victory.

It was a one-side training session that had its order reversed; Reed held the role of the punching bag and the android acted like it was the trainee. His days were mostly set in stone by then, he'd get beat the goddamned android and then he'd be carted off to the infirmary. A vicious cycle of recovering and being destroyed formed.

Four hundred and fifty-seven losses over a month and a half; not a single victory or even draw on his belt. His fighting record on platform #6 spoke enough about his life on the mountain.

At one point, Reed had genuinely cried his heart out in frustration in the middle of the night. Astor and Horatio had to console Reed for the better part of an hour until he finally fell asleep. That night, they both agreed that what had happened that to Reed would remain buried under the ground for his own sake.

They understood that the boy's delicate feelings mattered just as much any fair maiden's; Astor and Horatio both acted like what happened that night had never occurred. This was them protecting that tender and fragile part of Reed's soul - his pride as a man.

Since then, Reed had developed an almost obsessive dedication towards defeating the android. In the month and a half that the class had been on the mountain, Reed had long since caught up with his classmates. It was impossible for him to not have improved throughout the training period, but more than often, he'd still fail the missions that Axtorius would assign.

Eventually, Reed's hatred of the android lead him into purposefully failing his missions to gain extra time on platform #6. He would fight the android, get his ass beat by it and sleep in a recovery pod overnight. It had gotten so bad, that all he ever dreamt about was fighting...

One night, Reed felt that something had changed about him. He noticed that he had not been focused at all on a fight with a proficient-level droid and still easily won the fight. His mind had been preoccupied imagining a fight against his nemesis and before he had realized it, he had dislocated both of the android's arms and had swiftly broken his neck in a matter of seconds.

”It's clear enough that I've become strong enough to handle these piddling droids because I've been training under the tutelage of an 'expert'. But it doesn't mean shit if I can't beat that bastard even once. So what if I've caught up with everyone?”

”I've got bigger problems than them and need to grow stronger as quickly as possible. Or else I'll spend the rest of my life clinging onto Astor or Horatio's thigh, hiding in their estates like some terrified rat.” He left the platform, unaware that he had set a new high score for the time it took to defeat a proficiency-level droid.

Reed felt like it was time to settle his grudge once and for all with the bastard who had helped him so much. He felt confident about his chances this time and ran off towards platform #6.

Horatio would later discover that his position as number one on the leaderboard had been robbed, much to his dismay, by Reed no less! Still, it shocked him when he put together the facts he knew.

Reed had been a normal person without any fighting experience before this. And in a month, he had set a new record for the proficiency-level stage. It was the equivalent of him besting a black belt martial artist that had completed several years of diligent practice in a month.

Even with the superhuman conditioning program, this was still a bit too much for a month and a half of growth. Was he some sort of genius? Probably. Given what he knew about him, Reed likely held several secrets.

Still... it was a bit odd. A genius martial artist who was also a crybaby and a sore loser. This was someone who had been blessed by the Will of the World? It was probably best not to think too hard about it...

As soon as Reed stepped onto the platform, the android lit up and assumed a neutral stance in preparation for what was about to come. Reed had come late at night, so everyone had mostly turned in for the night. Few people ever came out to practice during this time, so Reed had all the time in the world.

A woman's voice resounded across the platform as she said, ”Training program initiated. Combatant level: Expert. The match will begin in thirty seconds.”

The three brilliant moons that hung in the sky would be the only witnesses of this fight. A cold gust of wind rushed past both the man and the machine as they waited for the signal...