Strongest Among the Heavens

'Unarmed, huh?' Observing the eager shifts in William's forearms, Kazi deduced he must have been taught in a martial art or two.

"Might be a good thing for Marta to watch. Why not?" Kazi rolled his shoulders and got up to stretch. William smiled excitedly in response.

"You better grit your teeth," warned William. "I'm actually really good at throwing hands."

"I believe you," Kazi replied, arms in a cross.

Stretching was over. It was time to spar. On her little stone, she shifted and became the defacto referee.

"Um, no dirty fighting!" Marta exclaimed. "Aaand, uh, no low blows! Let's have a clean fight!"

Creating a distance of five feet between each other, they readied themselves. The classic boxing stance ripped straight from Muhammad Ali faced Kazi, who went for a basic combat stance, palms opened and moving.

"Notice the space, Marta?" Kazi said. "Watch my feet. It's always important to gauge the space around you. How close you are to your opponent, if your opponent is at a disadvantage, or whether something is going to potentially obstruct you. Always stay vigilant."

"Nice advice. Can you do the countdown?" William nudged at Marta.

"S-sure. Three, two, one…"

William's feet spread and his left fist shifted back.

"Start!"

William ran in, head bobbing left and right, and faked him out with a left jab and proceeded to do a lead hook with his right. Kazi effortlessly dodged it with a graceful sway of his head and then—

"Ow!"

Kicked William at the top of the calf. Immediately, the blonde dropped down and sucked a painful breath. Kazi turned to Marta and raised a finger and began explaining.

"See that? Flashy moves don't matter. It's all about the critical hits. See that spot I kicked? Super sensitive stuff. It might not work on a person but the principle of it is what matters—everything has a weak spot. A place where if you hit it, it caused structural damage."

"H-hold on. It's not over yet." William inhaled sharply and lifted his fists. Kazi gave a two-finger gesture telling him to come.

William came in swinging. He sent jab after jab, and it nearly nicked Kazi.

'Wow, he's fast!'

Kazi couldn't let up, even for a second, or else William would land a devastating blow. This wasn't a surprise exactly, Kazi had seen William in action and how perfect he was, but to experience it was another matter.

The fact of the matter was, specs-wise, William was perfect. Strength, agility, and durability, there wasn't a single fault in any. While wielding an axe, he did have to slow down and wind up his attacks. However, in hand to hand combat, as Kazi was experiencing just now, there was none of that. There was nothing he could particularly exploit.

Jab, jab, jab, and eyes that watched his legs. 'He must have been taught at a gym.'

Kazi's movements were eerily fluid, as if he could predict every punch. William tried a combination of hooks and uppercuts, but each punch was met with an uncanny, almost preternatural defence.

"Gotcha!" William grinned as his fist drove forward and got his shoulder. Gleeful, William was wholly unprepared for the fist that slammed into his cheek and knocked him onto his butt.

"Sorry, did I hit too hard? My bad."

William sat there, too bewildered to accept his extended hand. His fingers wiped his cut lip and he looked up at Kazi. "Y-you're good."

"Can I be honest with you, William?"

"Go ahead," he said, getting up on his own.

"I'm saying this with total respect, by the way. Like, I really hope you don't take this the wrong way. I just feel I should say something before…something happens."

The confusion grew on him. "Okay…?"

"You're bad at boxing. Like really bad. As in, you have no talent for it."

Wince. William opened his mouth but Kazi continued, "I've never boxed in my life. My experience is limited to journeymen at underground boxing rings, you, and that's it. Again, no offence."

"None taken. But, also no offence, I think you're underestimating boxing and me. You got a lucky shot. I'm sure I can do better next time."

There it was. Kazi suspected something was happening. After losing to the Wendigo, and from what he heard the Ronin too, William was losing confidence in himself. No, rather, he was convincing himself he was still strong. He was a teenager. He was supposed to be strong and young. He was supposed to be stronger than Sun-young and Kazi.

He wasn't supposed to lose. He should win! Win, win, win, like an invincible game character. 'That's the issue. Teenagers too often believe they're immortal. Not out of arrogance but out of lack of life experience.'

"Then come on." A finger beckoned William to fight. "Let's go again."

The next time they fought, William wasn't able to land a single hit. The round after, Kazi was totally untouchable, as if he was the wind. William struggled. He got knocked down several times.

"Let's stop." Marta got between the two after a nasty round. William was on the ground, hands cupping his bleeding nose. Kazi kept punching and punching in that same area, yet William failed to learn and refused to give up.

"N-no, I can still—"

Kazi dropped down to his level and read the unrelenting pupils of his blue eyes. "You don't know how to work range or how to jab, don't know how to control the action, can't throw solid combinations, gas out after five minutes, and, worst of all, you can't take a punch."

"That's not true!"

"Let me put it another way: you have the principles down. You can do a jab, sure, but you're not doing it at the highest level. You're not doing it when you need to. Does that make sense?"

His eyes lost that aggressive focus in them. Good. He was getting through to him.

"Sparring and real combat are very different things, William." Without warning, he threw a punch and stopped less than an inch away. Rather than flinch, William had frozen, his eyes closed tight. "See that? Right there, you closed your eyes the moment you knew you were about to get hit. That's a bad habit of yours. You anticipate attacks, but you don't anticipate them in a way to counter. You just want to tank them. To be fair, it's not a terrible thing, but it's not good either. You need balance."

His expression tightened. Kazi smiled.

"But! That doesn't mean you don't have potential! I see a lot in you, my friend! I'm guessing you were taught by a gym friend?"

"Y-yeah. I had a gym coach. He taught me everything I know."

"Marta, heal him up. William, get some rest. Think over your next moves and tell me all about your coach. We can start training where he left off. Okay?"

A nod and a wipe of the blood on his mouth. "Okay."

Once Marta started to heal him with her holy magic, Kazi's thoughts went back to what happened yesterday in the Shadow Hall. After personally fighting William, he could say for certain he was above the average person in terms of fighting ability. So was Sun-young.

Yet the Wendigo was so far above them that it could have one-shotted them if they weren't careful. He understood William's frustration and why it existed.

'It wasn't so strong that it was impossible to defeat nor was it acceptable for the current level of players. That means the Wendigo came from higher up. But how? It couldn't be a mistake, could it?'

No doubt, if any other party had encountered that thing, they would have been wiped out. Then again, if Kazi hadn't been there, they wouldn't have discovered it either.

'There's something else too. Descriptions of Wendigo's vary bit by bit depending on the tribe. The Ojibwe and Innu described them as giants. The Cree don't. So which was this? It was way taller than us so I assume the Ojibwe and Inuu.'

"Good work, Marta," Kazi praised. She casted Luminous Mend at what he considered field-level of skill. "Now then, are you ready?"

Marta rose to her feet, her eyes darting left and right. "Me? R-ready…?"

"Arms up," Kazi said. "I'm gonna instill some hand to hand combat into you too."

"W-wait, b-but I'm a mage," Marta sputtered.

"Don't worry, I won't abuse you. We'll start with the basics, like how to punch and how to take a hit."

"I'm really concerned about the latter!"

Kazi smiled and asked, "Do you want to get strong?"

"...I do."

"Then come on. Arms up. In battle, no matter how ready or prepared you are, you WILL get hit at some point."

Marta swallowed. Her mouth formed into a circle as she exhaled. After much contemplation, determination settled in and she raised her arms in the same boxing manner as William did.

"Good. Now grit your teeth and get ready for the first hit."

"Y-yes sir!"