''Shit, I can''t win this, I have to escape.'' Steve deduced.


    Seve had decided beforehand that he would escape as soon as the tables turned on him. After all, in reality, he was much weaker than utz. It was only thanks to his special skill that he was even able to put up a fight.


    And the sad part was, that as long as Dark Berserk Mode was active utz actually could not detain him from running away either. After all, how was he supposed to chase after someone who had higher [Agility] stat points than himself?


    What''s more? utz knew little to nothing about his ss. He didn''t know that there was a 2-minute timer to his boosted strength. So he cannot predict exactly when Steve was nning to escape. utz had considered Steve escaping as a possibility but he had no idea when.


    [Time remaining: 00:18]


    Not throwing anymore punches at utz, Steve made a run for his life. utz had predicted that sooner orter this was going to happen. He braced himself as he ran after Steve, starting the game of cut and chase.


    "I am not letting you slip away so easily," utz imed as he extended his hands.


    Dark ck hands rose from the ground again holding onto his leg. They were meant to obstruct Steve again as utz catches up to him.


    "Hmm, I am not failing for the same trick again."


    It turns out Steve had already thought of a solution for this problem.


    As soon as Steve felt the cold touch of the spiritstching onto him he grunted and leapt. The dry ground cracked below him as he rose like a rising ck me in the sky. The ck spirits tried to pull him down but s. His momentum which was till now directed in the forward direction was now direction upwards instead. The spirit hands couldn''t contain his boosted strength as he flew up high.


    "Tsk," utz clicked his tongue in annoyance as he saw him getting out of his grasp.


    But no matter how high he leapt, he couldn''t have jumped higher than the viridescent light of the portal which seemed to be touching the heavens.


    Steve turned mid air to take ast nce at utz. cing his index finger on his forehead he lifted them subtly as if to salute utz and to wish him goodbye.


    His dark mes got engulfed in the green light of the portal as he disappeared from the central ind.


    utz heaved a deep sigh.


    "At the end what was the point of fighting? What was the point of this match?"


    From his words he sounded annoyed. utz had no choice but to fight Steve as Steve had attacked first but in the end all of that was pointless. It is battles like these that leave a bad after taste in his mouth.


    But contrary to his little tantrum his lips had arched to a smile. No matter how stupid or pointless the fight might have been, it was different… different from those that left a bad aftertaste.


    Physically the battle had no point but can the same be said about its spiritual significance? Through this battle utz was reminded again that he needs to grow strong and no matter how strong he gets there is always someone stronger.


    "That was a good match"


    utz hadn''te out of the battle unscatched either. He lost his breastte. But thanks to the battle being a short one and the deadlock he had onlye out with superficial injuries. But unlike Steve he was better prepared.


    Back in the tutorial zone he had collected herbs that aid in healing. Being a ninja you need to have knowledge of such things.


    It couldn''t do much but at least it was good for small injuries.


    Treating his wounds he got up on the manticore''s body andyed down over it. It was now utz who needed to take a rest. He had indeed pushed himself a lot during the fight.


    But he didn''t let down his guard.


    "What kind of skill did he use?" utz thought. He suspected that Steve had got it back at the [Satan''s cradle] even if he didn''t have any concrete evidence.


    ***


    "Dammit!" Steve cried as he punched the floor. It cracked underneath his punch as dark mes red from his body. The mes grew higher and higher.


    [Time remaining: 00:10]


    He punched again and again, taking out all of his anger on it. There was darkness all around him with only his mes to create little illumination but he didn''t care.


    *Bam*


    ''I couldn''t win!'' Sweat poured from his hair as it dripped onto the cracked floor.


    Steve never had the chance to win against utz. Their fight had no spectators with even the manticores being chased away thanks to their shes. But if there had been and they knew of the nitty gritty of their powers they would have clearly dered utz as the winner from the get-go.


    The only reason Steve was able to fight was because he had caught utz off guard with a new kind of power. Had utz known the details he could have just stayed hidden until the 2 minute cooldown. When ites to hiding nonepares to a ninja like utz.


    And utz would have killed Steve when he was at his weakest.


    But no matter how much the odds were against him. No matter what others think. He himself had firmly believed that he could win!


    It wasn''t arrogance over his powers rather a firm belief in the phrase ''where there is a will, there is a way''. After all, how could he have mustered up the courage to fight utz if he didn''t believe in himself? And Steve had wanted to defeat utz with all of his heart.


    "My will is not strong enough."


    ***


    Author:


    Creation is hard for authors. Cheer me up with your power stones!


    Let me know your thoughts about the chapter in thements sections!