"Come on then, Persival. Want me to move? Then make me move."

Matthew spread his arms wide, his entire body turning to pure steel. His obnoxious grin never left his face. He was taunting Damon, and Damon knew it.

A B-Rank versus someone who had only just awakened.

Even if Matthew was the weakest B-Rank in the academy, he was still a B-Rank. The outcome was obvious, painfully obvious.

But Damon didn’t care about that right now. He wanted to test how powerful he had become. Even if it meant being utterly defeated by Matthew, it didn’t matter as long as he could gauge his strength.

[STATS]

[STR: 15] +2 -> [STR: 17]

[AGI: 12] +2 -> [AGI: 14]

[VIT: 14] +2 -> [VIT: 16]

[MAG: 18] +2 -> [MAG: 20]

Damon watched his attributes rise, and that alone was enough to make him strike.

"Fine."

Damon was the one who moved first.

It wasn’t a calculated choice. He didn’t stop to assess the situation or carefully weigh his chances. The frustration he had carried through a month of training and two long years of silence had simply built up too far, and now it needed somewhere to go.

He crossed the distance in three quick steps and drove his fist toward Matthew’s chest.

The sound of the hit rang out like metal struck by a hammer.

Pain rushed up Damon’s arm, running from his knuckles to his wrist. It was like hitting solid concrete. Matthew didn’t budge. He didn’t even flinch. His steel-hardened body took the blow as if it were nothing, leaving not even the faintest mark.

"That’s it?" Matthew laughed, his voice bouncing off the stone walls. "A month of training, and that’s all you’ve got?"

Then his arm came around in a wide backhand, the motion almost lazy, almost careless. The speed behind it, though, was anything but. Damon barely got his guard up before the strike landed, and the next thing he knew, he was airborne.

He crashed to the ground, rolled twice, and then slammed into the wall hard enough to force the air from his lungs.

"Getting thrown into walls," Damon coughed as he pushed himself up onto one knee. "That brings back memories."

Matthew was already making his way toward him, each step heavy and deliberate.

"I expected more, but I guess I should cut you some slack since it looks like you’ve only just awakened. That doesn’t mean I’m going to go easy on you, though."

Damon wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and got to his feet.

His body ached, and his knuckles were already beginning to swell. But beneath the pain, something else stirred. The system was there, warm and steady, pulsing quietly at the edge of his awareness.

"I’ll be honest, Matthew," Damon said, rolling his shoulders. "I was kind of hoping to finish this without using any skills."

Matthew gave a short snort. "You say that like you actually believe it."

"Maybe I was too much of an optimist then."

Damon lunged, the floor exploding beneath his feet from the force of his movement. An average athletic human had an estimated Strength stat of around five; for a martial-based awakener, it was closer to ten.

And Damon’s stats were far above average for a level one.

He lunged again, but this time, the space in front of his fist began to distort as bright golden magic converged into a single sphere, momentarily distracting Matthew.

"Is that your skill...?"

He asked, his smile widening as he spread his arms once more, ready to take the hit.

"I’ll take everything you’ve got," Matthew said, his voice ringing with metallic resonance. "Show me what your shiny new system can do!"

Damon didn’t answer.

It was already too late to stop. The golden energy swirling around his fist seemed to move with a will of its own, dragging his arm forward faster than he meant it to, as though the skill itself was impatient to be released.

[SOVEREIGN’S STRIKE]

The sphere of light tightened in on itself, shrinking from the size of a fist into something smaller, denser, and much brighter. Heat shimmered in the air around it.

Then it burst.

The blow crashed into Matthew’s chest with the force of a battering ram laced with lightning. The sound was no longer the dull clang of flesh meeting steel, but a sharp, splintering crack, like a hammer striking stone.

Matthew’s grin disappeared.

His feet lifted off the ground.

He was thrown back before landing hard on his back, his steel body gouging a shallow trench through the floor. For a moment, he only lay there, staring up at the sky, his expression caught somewhere between shock and anger.

Damon stood above him, breathing hard, his right arm still humming with the last traces of energy. His knuckles were split and bleeding, but the pain felt far away.

"Was that enough for you?" Damon asked.

Matthew pushed himself upright at an almost lazy pace. The place on his chest where the strike had landed was no longer gleaming steel.

Fine cracks spread across the surface of his metal skin, while the area around them had faded into a dull gray.

"You cracked my Shell," Matthew said. His voice was quiet now, stripped clean of its earlier amusement. "Do you have any idea how long it’s been since someone cracked my Shell?"

"I’m guessing a while."

Matthew got to his feet. The cracks in his chest began to close, fresh steel spreading over the damage like water slipping across sand. Within seconds, the mark was gone.

"But that was your one shot," Matthew continued. "Well, two if you count the weak first one. Guess you already know the drill, huh?"

Damon just laughed. He knew exactly what Matthew meant. He was about to get beaten up, just like before. After all, he was still no match for a B-Rank.

But at least now he knew how powerful his skill and strikes were. And he’d count that as a win, besides, he knew he’ll get his precious taste of revenge soon.

"Yeah."

Matthew’s grin returned, but it was different now. Sharper.

"My turn."

He moved.

Damon barely even saw it happen. One moment, Matthew was standing three meters away, and the next, a steel-hard fist had driven deep into his stomach, forcing every bit of air from his lungs in one helpless burst.

He was already on the ground before the pain truly caught up with him.

"One hit," Matthew said as he looked down at him. "That’s all it took to put you back where you belong."

Damon tried to push himself up, but a kick slammed into his ribs and sent him skidding across the floor until he crashed into the wall. Stone cracked behind him, and his vision shimmered. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

He couldn’t keep up with the movement. He couldn’t even follow it. Matthew was simply faster, stronger, and every advantage Damon had thought he’d gained meant nothing in the face of a gap that wide.

"Remember this," Matthew said, his voice drifting from somewhere above him. "A shiny new skill doesn’t make you my equal. It just makes you a target finally worth hitting."

The last thing Damon saw was the corridor ceiling. Then one final blow came down, and everything went dark.

Matthew’s footsteps slowly faded, and silence settled over the corridor.

Damon Persival had just suffered his first real beating as a Resonator. And as much as he hated the pain, he loved the fact that he could finally fight back somewhat.