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Chapter 290: Two Zero

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PANG!!

BANG!!!

Accompanied by the sounds of their punches, the entire stadium roared into cheers and yells.

This was a brawl.

This is a duel.

This is a match.

This is a fight between men.

How many punches have these two exchanged by now that with every punch they unleashed, they would stagger, would step three-four steps back, would pant for a few seconds before balling those fists again and charge for another round.

In fact, while this looked like a torture stage where people pay to see it, the match itself was filled with overflowing passion and spirit; the two men who wanted to prove the hardness of their fists would still take one step forward and punch….

….….punch…

Punch…

……………..and punch away…

Again… and again…… and again… and again….

Some really passionate men in the audience could be seen having tears in their eyes. They were all touched by the scene where two men who’s now nearing their limits were exchanging fists as if it was a normal street brawl.

But to those who also lived a life in the streets, it was a fight where, regardless of reasons, showed the pride and dignity of men.

Because in the world of men, how hard your fists really are measures how much your identity as a man would be.

As such, these muscle heads were sweating, their fists clenched, and they were shouting the loudest as they took the side of whomever they felt is the one who reflected more of an image of themselves.

Not a single punch was held back.

And as a result of this, gradually, little by little, one tiny and insignificant speck at a time, Cramer’s advantage was revealed to those with keen eyes.

Siva was beginning to be pushed back… albeit, he himself and even Cramer, was not aware of it.

In this tumultuous arena, in this small stage, was a separate world where the sky is their pride and the only audible sounds are their fists hitting flesh above their bones.

Time was not existent.

Space was of no concern.

The world outside the stage doesn’t exist as the two fighters’ sole aim was to make the other fall.

One’s reason was to prove his pride.

One’s reason was to retain, and perhaps improve, his battle potential.

One was fighting for himself while the other was fighting for his brother’s world.

Their shoulders carried different weighty reasons to clench their fists but they shared that same will to win and dominate over the opponent’s pride.

“Argh!”

“Gurgh…!!”

With their umpteenth punch in this last minute, the two staggered back for five steps.

But this time is a little different because they did not immediately return for another round and only exchanged glaring gazes while gasping for air.

“He…… hehe… (Haaahh) hahahaha… I… I am… I am really not wrong… abo— about you…”

Cramer, amidst his heaving chest and droopy pair of exhausted shoulders, still managed to make a short laugh and state his joy for granting his wish.

Although he do looked tired and worn out, but not a speck of bruise nor wound could be seen on his being.

In fact, looking at Cramer right now, anyone could tell that he was alright, physically, and what this sense of exhaustion he was feeling right now is just the result of the mental strain of their hundreds upon hundreds of exchanged punches.

Siva, on the other hand, could hide the extent of his damage because his smoke skin complexion could not be seen through.

Only his dropping shoulders and his much slowed reaction time showed that he also received the same amount of damage—or even greater—from their exchanges.

Siva raised his arm and wiped something from his mouth with his sleeve and then, in the middle of a pant, replied, or rather, murmured to himself:

“I… I have to… have to control it…”

Cramer felt really irritated by this, Siva has been mumbling this thing on and on since earlier.

Even now, although Cramer managed to crack the left side of Siva’s white mask and reveal his left eye, and although Siva was gazing directly at him, his gaze seem to only portray that Siva was only looking at his every movements and not actually at him, Cramer, his opponent.

It was as if Siva’s mind was focused on something else that he’s been trying to ‘control’ ever since their duel begun.

This really ticked him off.

“Heh… you…… are you looking down on me?”

For some reason, Siva’s gaze, now, looked at him.

“No.” he calmly or somewhat, nonchalantly, said.

“Then… then what are you trying to control?”

“My speed.” Again, Siva replied dispassionately.

“Speed?” for some reason, Cramer felt that he was being mocked here. What’s he trying to say?

Not wanting to waste the moments, Siva clenched his fists again and then took a step forward where Cramer gritted his teeth and did the same.

“Come. Let me finish this.” Siva calmly said.

As if it had ignited his wick, Cramer’s last reserves of energy was roused and he clenched his fists harder, his steps faster, and his power stronger.

“No. I will finish this!”

This was a duel to prove that his loss against Siva was just a lucky strike. That without Siva’s many types of equipment and that lightning-summoning ability that’s been handed down to Volt… Siva was weaker than him in everything.

That he, Cramer, was the stronger…

That he deserved to be the only one to wield the Mjolnir —the Thunder God’s Hammer!!

“Raaaaaahhh!!”

BAG! BLAG!! BANG!!!

Cramer unleashed a flurry strikes and Siva was caught in all of it as Cramer had put his all for this last struggle to trash Siva.

“I am stronger than you!” He yelled and after he’d kicked Siva with strength strong enough to lift his feet off the ground, he followed that up with a full swing uppercut —a mighty strike that sent Siva up to his eye level.

Not even finished, Cramer’s right fist that he used for the upper cut grabbed Siva by his collar and made him stay in place.

[Stay in Place]

Cramer used his Initial Ability on Siva’s clothes since he can’t cast it on a person.

“This…?!!” even Siva was surprised but he didn’t have the luxury to do so as Cramer gave him a mighty right straight that carried all his weight in it.

Siva couldn’t even cry out his pain as he was sent flying backwards like a kite without a string.

His body made an arch in the air as he was about to fall after being blown for five meters.

For Cramer to send a physical body five meters away with a punch was proof that he was indeed a lot stronger than Siva……. at least physically. But Cramer wasn’t satisfied as he followed up with a charge; he was intending to grab Siva’s feet!

At that moment…..

Siva and Cramer’s gazes met and Cramer saw the unrelenting will to win in his left eye.

He hasn’t given up? GOOD!!

Cramer beamed a smile unconsciously. He then grabbed Siva’s right foot.

“My win!”

Cramer made a wooden stave out of Siva as he intended to smash him to the ground.

“No!”

Midway through the arc, Siva’s hand suddenly held the Godhammer and the change of weight shattered Cramer’s action’s momentum as Siva used this chance to pounce on that arm and jump away.

Cramer’ eyes were wide in surprise. He had not noticed that he had pushed Siva so much that he was able to get into the range of 2m where it had enabled Siva to ‘pull’ back the lying Godhammer that’s supposed to be 15m away from them earlier back to his inventory.

Siva had just displayed his sense of detail to his surroundings.

He still had the presence of mind to mind that?

Cramer was more and more surprised of Siva’s unique constitution the more this fight last longer.

I’m at my limits, I have to finish this.

“No more games. I will show you how to properly control the Mjolnir!” When he spoke, Cramer’s right hand beckoned something on Siva’s direction as if he was calling for a lover to come.

Siva felt his nape hairs rising and he did not dally to duck as he saw a golden streak of light flash past to where his head was just now.

That golden light landed on Cramer’s hand. It was the Godhammer, Mjolnir, clad in an aura of whitish blue lightning.

The audience gasped and was awed by this new spectacle and majority of them exclaimed in deep surprise, where some murmured something about him cheating.

Cramer, of course, is not aware of them and he is not even going to mind them even if he heard them so.

“This is how you use this.” He said with pride. “It is a Legendary Weapon…… and all Legendary-ranked Equipments have their own divinity in them that gives them that rank.”

So in short, I haven’t tapped on the slightest bit of the potential of this weapon.

Siva had read through between the lines on what Cramer said. Yes, it was also included in the Flavor Text (item description) of Mjolnir.

In order to tap into the very potential of the equipment, one must complete a corresponding quest. If this is so then doesn’t the [Flavour Text] of the Sword of Triune an ominous one?

As the original owner of the Mjolnir, Cramer had indeed undergone and finished this said quest to unearth the limits of his Godhammer.

This was, after all, the Thunder God’s Hammer.

“Your win against me was luck.”

Cramer wanted to finish this relying on his own strength that’s why he never wanted to reveal this secret of the Mjolnir to Siva. But now, he was in a really annoyed state. Siva hadn’t been fighting him in his full attention and all this time, he was acting like a punching bag that tampering whatever it was that Siva wanted to control.

He couldn’t tolerate it. His pride won’t allow it. He now abandoned all reservations. He will trash Siva with everything he got within the rules he had set himself.

“Raaaahh!!”

The crackling serpent-like lightning bolts aura on Cramer’s Godhammer was intimidating and Siva also felt defeat staring at him right at the face.

All this time, he’s been trying to get into that same [state] he last remembered he was in during the last time he was able to feel that ‘something’.

It was speed.

Reaction…… Speed….

It first happened during the War of Two Powers where he fought against Cramer and FlowerLord.

Then in the Forest of Anazon when he defeated and killed a Lapis for the first time; also during the time when he fought that Demon Commander in the mountains after meeting the Ape-Dragon; and then his fight against Kladis; and then at the last moments of a fragmented blurry memory, where he seemed to remember in that dream-like state that he defeated Mefisto above Apus Epirus with the supplement of this amplified reaction speed.

Yes, Reaction Speed…. at that time, everything around him seemed to have gone slow and he was the only one who could move his body at will.

Adding to that, everything around him became clear and every detail of the world registered to his mind like an instantaneous data that directly translates into reactionary stimulants that prompts his reflexes to move accordingly.

It may not be helpful in increasing his destructive power to deal damage to his opponents, but it was indeed a life-saving skill if he could only control and tap this potential.

He knew he had that ability… he just couldn’t get the feeling and the right conditions to activate it.

And so, he wanted to use this duel as a chance to test it out and train in it. And yet, aside from that very tiny speck of a moment during this duel’s first exchange, he hadn’t gone back to that feeling of speed again and so this moment was birthed where he was about to face his defeat.

Siva was overwhelmed with the sense of despair that he was about to lose his own Mjolnir.

He could only stare at Cramer’s movements, his swinging arm, the Godhammer in his hands, and the glare of anger he was throwing at him.

Siva was imprinting these small moments in his mind as if it was a traumatizing memory he had to remember at all costs.

And yet, he couldn’t move his muscles.

He was clearly aware of the details of this attack, the incoming doom that would greatly diminish his fighting capability.

“I still have many enemies…” he couldn’t help but lament on this saddening fact.

Augustus Laniary’s [Masked Organization] had yet to make a move again after their silence and loss during the heat of the post-War of Two Powers.

Senior Dante’s [The Illuminati Circle of Elites] that had the (open) secret stash of some of the very elite of the strongest professional gamers of RPG: Terroa that included Gats —a member of the Blue Card Legion.

And yes, there was also the Blue Card Legion; an organization where the monstrously strong Kladis was a Commander.

Then there’s The Union that he’d just offended…

The S-ranked Hunters of Warjillis he scammed…

And finally, the Demons……………… Mefisto!!

SNAP!!

The fear and threat that Mefisto represented had somewhat, for some reason, snapped something in Siva.

In fact, as his thoughts wandered on this direction while his eyes were still fixed on Cramer’s actions, he did not notice that the very [state] that he had wished to reach…… was triggered.

As lightning danced and crackled on Cramer’s Godhammer head, Siva, still unaware that he had entered that state of heightened senses and slow moving external time, moved his body according to the dictation of his reflexes.

The crackling lightning aura was slowly, detailedly, and horrifyingly, forming right above the hammer head like a giant sword-whip 1m wide and scarily 10m tall!!

It’s like the Godhammer’s 1.25m long handle and grip was the lightning sword’s haft, and that the Godhammer head itself was the handguard where the lightning blade was connected.

In a way, this was a resplendently beautiful blade made of lightning but this said blade is arching in a deathly path towards him; leaving only its after-glow in the space it passed.

Just how many FPS is this sight right now?

Because it was made up of lightning, this blade that formed in a snap when it was halfway towards his face was, and perhaps because it was only Siva who had the capability to see it, even thinking that it was beautiful.

Right now, with the fear of his demise, with all his thoughts focusing solely on survival, his mind had finally entered that state that he had sought to master.

His brain was the key.

All sensory inputs from the NLD was directly fed to his brain, replacing the nerve impulses from the actual body, and thus the “Reality” in the so called term Virtual Reality is accomplished.

With all its math and scientific mysteries omitted to the text, what this fact solely implies is the fact that from the NLD to the brain, because AG had disabled all his NLD’s security features and even did as much as installed a “DNI” signal output in it, all signals and inputs that Siva was experiencing inside the world of Terroa were all real in every sense of the word.

Though it’s only mentally, if it is still real; what the brain feels, the body shall also experience.

And just as much as it was a threat to any patient that’s undergoing DNI-Therapy to their “avatars” to be hurt, considering that everything in Terroa for Siva is real, the pain and trauma, everything, it was all making his brain cells, and neural nerve circuits work triple, no, even octuple times than what its normal rate should be.

Such brain activity will, and without a doubt, show in his neural graphs a bouncing set of lines and spiking data… enough to frighten experts of the Field of Neuro-Science to declare that whoever had put this poor boy to this cruel torture must’ve been a mad scientist aiming to create a monster.

Interesting?

Yes!

Lethally dangerous?

Absolutely!

Is it possible?

Yes, without a doubt. With the exception of dying, such an environment could indeed create a very unique existence…… a super-human being with brain capabilities that is unprecedented in all of humanity’s recorded history!!

Just why was it that the world of neuro-Science had to band up together to denounce the claim of DNI-Therapy being able to heal Coma Patients?

Why is it that humanity could only use 10-13% of their brains’ potentials? It’s not because humanity had yet to unlock this potential but because the humans of modern day had so much destructive capabilities that God put that limit there and only allowed a select few to achieve a breakthrough in it in order to prevent humanity on overusing this power to destroy the very Earth that they live in.

Why is there such a negative impression?

Because it’s dangerous!

Not for the DNI patient’s sake, but for the world’s sake and to what taboos scientists are NOT trying to create.

They all knew the consequences of such a feat and the world is not yet ready to have a God-like existence like that to be loose in the open world.

As such, they had no choice but to create a story.

—a story that the world will believe……… and the two people who were sacrificed for this so called “good intentions” were Rex and Baron’s parents, Drs. Etheron (Neth) and Elizabeth (Ellie) Kingsley.

So what would happen if the limits of the brain are pushed so much further than the boundary?

What would happen if such a person is someone so desperate to live and survive to save the last family he had left?

What would happen if such a person had a deep connection with the word ‘Destruction’?

What would happen if such a person…. awakens?

What would happen if…… Siva was to use this awakened potential solely to his personal gain?

Or, worse, what if The Father were to succeed to create a God-amongst-men and control this God to do his bidding?

Or much even worse………

What if Mefisto were to succeed in assimilating an awakened Siva and Alfred Pegasus were to carry on his formerly interrupted Mefisto Extraction Experiment?

Such possibilities were present and it was all, in this very moment, happening…. right now… in the stage in Sword-God Island.

SWOOSH!!

Breaths were held on these small moments. The silence of the crowd permeated in the skin like a cold chilling wind from the icecaps of the Atlantic.

To everyone’s and Cramer’s surprise, while he had never neglected to look away from Siva’s eyes to see his very reaction to this attack… the lightning sword-arc —no— it wasn’t actually a lightning sword but just the supposed ‘shape’ that the momentum of Cramer’s [completed] Mjolnir’s diagonal sweeping strike had created…… passed through in the space above Siva’s head.

It’s not that Cramer missed, or his aim was off, or his strike wasn’t made with a miscalculation… no.

Cramer’s strike was a perfect attack.

This was meant to finish Siva and if Siva were to be hit by this attack, since he was already at the limits of his very limits itself, he would definitely and without doubt, fall defeated in this duel.

But it missed. It missed not because Cramer was lacking on something, but because Siva had reached a certain extent of mastery over the thing that he sought.

“10%.” He could only murmur and he became as calm as a lake that hasn’t been touched by the wind for many years. “So the key to it was focus; a focus on a certain level. An isolation of the mind against everything else…… to focus solely on that single task; lose myself to that moment… lose my sanity to that feeling, and sink-in to accomplishing only that one single goal…..”

Cramer didn’t miss because of anything.

Siva had lowered his head as he spun clockwise, his right hand holding his Godhammer to deliver a devastating, backhanded, revolving blow.

Cramer’s right flank was open for business.

“Shit.”

.

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Cramer falls…… in a magnificent way.

And it’s not even a song…!!

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