Chapter 20

*Author Notes*

I decided to add the following parts to the previous chapter as they fit better than in this chapter. You can see changes below.

***

“You’re my herald now. Prove you are worthy of the title. Challenge and defeat Mo’han Khan before the trials end.”

Quest Received from Patron God: Defeat Mo’han Khan.

Before Aaron could respond, Yendal was gone, her avatar returned to its default shadowy form. Aaron stayed for a few seconds longer, then sighed and returned to the halls. Getting a mission from Yendal was unexpected, and it sounded difficult as hell, but he couldn’t say he hated it. He knew that Mo’han was strong, and while he would never do something like Voidrin had done, it would be a lie to say he had never wondered who would win if they fought. 

Chain Quest: The Shadow Trials

Stage two of [ Trial of Wit ] COMPLETED!

You have tested your memory and perception against the many moving tiles and have passed successfully. 

Quest Rewards: Universal Pocket Watch [ Elite ], Training Hall upgrade to stage 2!

Experience rewarded for completing a quest stage!

*Author Notes*

Seriously, I still haven't gotten another level? Aaron thought as he made his way over to Mo’han and the humans.

It was mildly annoying how slow leveling had gotten. The only benefit was that the other trial takers were essentially stuck at their high levels.

Aaron wondered if this was be design. Coming to the trials too early could result in a lower level when you returned to your world. Perhaps a means of balancing the rewards offered by the trials.

“Look, A-ran, more of your kind!” Mo’han said, still waving as he approached.

“Hey mate! You made new friends?” Aaron said it was just pleasantries, and the truth was, he was now itching for some action.

“This big guy has been telling us all about you. Impressive stuff, isn’t it, Mal?” One man said, elbowing another.

“Sure is. Nice to meet you,” Mal extended a hand. “Coincidentally, a few of us arrived here around the same time. You should join in. Always great to have another human around.”

“Yeah, that sounds good, Mal. But if you wouldn’t mind, I need a moment. Could you guys give me a moment with Mo’han?”

“Sure thing.”

The four humans gathered and backed off, walking a few meters away and regrouping.

“What is it, A-ran?”

“Um, you know what you said about fighting? In the arena.”

“You would like to challenge me, A-ran?”

“Yeah, I was thinking we could have a friendly duel. I won’t be holding back, though.”

The moment the words rolled from his mouth, Aaron got a feeling he might have rushed into things.

Mo’han smiled. “What better way is there for two warriors to better themselves? I would love to, A-ran!”

Mo’han entered the arena room, and Aaron stood outside, setting the room to a private setting so that no randoms could join in and watch the spectacle. However, they did allow the group of humans to watch and called out to see if Talia was around, but she didn’t come.

He still didn’t know how much it really mattered if people saw their fight, but he didn’t want potential adversaries getting free shows for nothing in return. That said, between inspecting them and meeting them, he didn’t feel much threat from the human newcomers. The inspection confirmed that none immediately gave off world-breaking champion vibes, with two of them only having a single title.

Aaron knew it was wise to be careful about putting too much stock into when people arrived in the trials. Nonetheless, the people continuing to pour in gave less and less dangerous vibes, and most of the auras he felt from people weren’t too scary. Although there was always a risk, they were suppressing their auras and hiding what made them special.

“Hey, can I join?”

Aaron turned. He was just about to enter the arena and finish calibrating the settings for who could enter their instance of the room. 

Standing there was Voidrin. Aaron wasn’t immediately sure about letting him in, but the guy had kinda worn his Skills on his sleeve. He’d not just shown everyone what he was capable of against himself, but risked outing his Skills against Cairon.

It feels kind of unfair to leave him out.

“Yeah, sure, come on in,” Aaron said, gesturing him over with a nod of his head and quickly tweaking the settings.

“You’re going up against the asura, huh?” Voidrin said as he passed into the room. “Careful about that one. To be honest, he was the only one of you I was worried about challenging.”

Aaron was about to reply, but Voidrin was already walking off. 

I didn’t expect him to warn me… but thanks, I guess.

He took one last look around and entered the room.

Was it a good idea to let so many people watch? He didn’t know. But maybe he would make some friends by doing so. After all, he still liked the idea of making alliances with humans throughout the sector, and Voidrin, despite his initial impression, seemed like a decent enough guy. Besides, he had already beaten him.

However, Aaron’s mood changed the moment they stepped into the arena. He felt something different… a side of Mo’han the huge asura had never truly shown him.

This feeling hadn’t been present when Mo’han was throwing attacks at him to train the Vitality Heart. No, what he had felt back then wasn’t even close to this. The aura… his aura… It's something else. It was incredible. Completely incomparable to anything else he had felt up until this point. The aura Voidrin had given off was like a puppy compared to the monster standing before him.

If he hadn’t composed himself, Aaron’s knees would probably be trembling, and he’d be gnashing his teeth against the raw power of Mo’han’s fully released aura. He honestly wouldn’t be surprised that this aura froze some of the weaker monsters in the trials in place. It was domineering, and only the strong-willed would be able to stand up against it.

Aaron gulped. Maybe he had chewed off a little more than he realized. But the moment fear rushed into Aaron’s veins, his heart thudded and excitement bubbled up.

Mo’han, you’ve been holding out on me, haven’t you, mate? A smile crept across Aaron’s face. 

“So, are you ready for this, A-ran?”

“Oh, I’ve never been more ready.”

“I feel as if it is only fair that you make the first move, A-ran. Show me what a martial prodigy is capable of.”

Aaron cycled all of his power; the first move would be important. Luckily, he had well and truly puffed out for this fight, because he was going to need every drip of energy he could summon.

However, there was one extra thing up his sleeve. A new technique he had thought up, but not yet tested. Pushing stupid amounts of energy out from his adipose tissue, he slimmed down in an instant, and overpowered his body to near exploding point.

In fact, if not for his ability to cheat death and cling to his collapsing body together through sheer determination, he probably would have died, for his body wasn’t made to hold this much energy in active form.

He was overclocking his body to an inhuman degree, forcing stores of energy into an active state so as to power himself far beyond what his Stats were naturally capable of.

And then, he shot forward.

Despite his reckless use of energy, there was nothing reckless about how he fought. He read both fate and Mo’han’s movements and body language, melding every sense together and getting the perfect read on the asura as he closed in.

The combination he unleashed was well beyond anything he had used against Voidrin, and his attacks came perfectly timed, one after another, as he shepherded Mo’han into the perfect spot to release his trap.

None could truly account for this style, for none could see as far into the future as Aaron could and plan the way he did. Every move was calculated. Every position throughout. All for a single strike. He read hundreds of steps into the future, pouring everything into one moment.

He caught a glimpse of a troubling event beyond, but through sheer willpower, he would see fate twisted to his ends.

And then, when everything was perfectly lined up, he committed.

A fully powered [ Overclocked Haymaker ] flew straight for Mo’han’s unguarded chest. The air around them crackled with energy, distorting and twisting. Time seemed to slow, and the last of Aaron’s energy reserves were drained in an instant and powered into the stupidly powerful punch..

This was an earth-shattering strike, and it landed clean against Mo’han’s chest, sending ripples reverberating outward that cracked the very tiles of the arena floor beneath them, and sent a shockwave that would have burst through the crowd if not for the forcefield erected around the arena and reinforced by the incredible power of the trials.

“Oh, A-ran, I am impressed! So much power in a single strike. You have come far, my friend.”

Aaron’s jaw trembled and then dropped. What the hell was Mo’han made of? That punch would have done serious damage to anyone and everything he had fought up until now, and yet this freaking asura shrugged it off like it was nothing.

“My turn!”

Oh no!

His senses went haywire, and fate seemed to bend. This was the event he had seen. A terrible future he had no way of avoiding. Alarm bells were ringing through his head. The power, the energy, the raw strength pommeling toward him was like nothing he had ever witnessed before.

And that damn aura. It was as if it locked up in place, although it likely wouldn’t have mattered. The sheer strength, speed, and power of Mo’han were just too far above what he could summon, even with the new technique he was trialing.

Sure, the gods were without a doubt more powerful than Mo’han, but their avatars weren’t. This was by far the most powerful person he had ever fought against. He had no doubt about that. If it were possible to beat Mo’han somehow, then it would be done with pure skill, because, measured by raw power, there was no overcoming this.

The fist punched straight through his chest as if it met literally zero resistance, blowing a hole out of it so big that he was left with just a thin border of gore holding the rest of his body together.

“Bah!” Aaron spat and gasped as life was dragged back into his body.

“You’re alive? Impressive as always, A-ran! No one has survived a direct hit from me in a long time!”

“Gah,” Aaron spat blood as his body healed, and the moment he could, he started shoveling food into his mouth.

“Don’t worry, I’ll give you a second,” Mo’han said, stretching as Aaron recovered.

Aaron had seen all he needed to, though. This wasn’t in any way comparable to fighting Voidrin. Mo’han was the strongest person in the entire sector for a reason, and the gap between them wasn’t something he could easily make up. He might be able to get better at reading Mo’han and better at hitting him in return, but if his attacks didn’t do any damage, and even a glancing blow from Mo’han was enough to kill him, it wouldn’t be easy.

He thought back to his arrival in the trials. It felt so long ago, and he had come so far. Back then, everything was so far above him. Winning felt impossible. The odds had been stacked against him, and that had been exactly what had pushed him so hard. It had been the fuel that drove him, and the motivation to rise above what he should be capable of.

The truth was, he wasn’t ready to continue this fight. Not in his current state. No, not yet.

Aaron’s lips curled into a maniacal grin. This was perfect. It was exactly what he needed. A true goal to strive toward. One that would genuinely push him, like Yendal and the early trials had.

He was quickly running out of time in the trials, and more than anything, he needed such a goal, something way above what he should be capable of, something to remind him of his roots.

This was what would push him to make the most of his remaining time here. This was a blessing. A wall so insurmountable it seemed stupid to even try. He would push himself every second of every day, and he wouldn’t accept anything less than beating Mo’han at his full strength before the trials were over.

“You win, mate,” he got to his feet and wiped the blood from his lips. “Good fight, but I can’t beat you, yet.”

“Oh?” Mo’han looked amused.

Aaron started to laugh. “This was just the inspiration I’ve been lacking recently. You’ve done me a favor, mate. I can’t wait to even the score.”

At that proclamation, Mo’han too smiled. “Is that so, A-ran? I expected no less from a great warrior such as yourself! You are a true warrior and somebody worthy of being called a friend! But I won’t make it easy for you. For I, too, shall be training this entire time!”

“Good. I wouldn’t want it to be an easy win. That would spoil all the fun.”

***

“What even just happened? These guys are insane,” one of the humans said.

“And now they’re laughing about it?” 

“The asura… what insane power. I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that before,” another commented.

“Shouldn’t the other guy be dead as well? How did he survive that?”

“It’s not just the asura,” Mal said. “That man… he is special.”

Besides them, Voidrin grinned. “What a pair of absolutely insane individuals. Y’know what, I think I like these guys.”

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