Chapter 31: The Closest To Him
The friction of the barrier made Logan’s descent to the floor slow, yet it didn’t lessen the agony thrashing his innards.
"Guh!" he groaned, hitting the ground. Heat seared his mind, ushering entire waves of white-hot pain. The torture was endless, each throb taking entire seconds to dissipate, then quickly being replaced by another.
It felt as if someone had placed a knife under his skin and wriggled it around all his organs—turning his organs to mush and brain to goo.
Logan’s eyes welled with tears, feeling the way his chest caved in unnaturally‚ unsupported by the bone below.
"Looks like I broke a few of your ribs," Zack said, cracking his neck from the distance.
Logan looked down, then up again. Haphazardly, he jumped up from the ground, immediately bringing about incredibly fast, hammering flames to engulf his body and destroy him. "AAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"
"Logan, this isn’t good..." Pixel called from his pocket. He nodded, but didn’t speak—not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t.
If he did, then the first words that left his mouth would be those of forfeiting.
Gripping his chest as tight as humanly possible, he kept his eyes on Zack—hard as it was.
’He’s not—ugh! He’s not attacking me?’
Just as Logan unfocused his vision, Zack raised just one fist ahead of him. "You know, I thought it was weird—you wanting to fight to the death. After all..."
The ground struggled against the force coming from Zack’s legs, reverberating with its anti-mana technology to dissipate the energy.
Logan’s eyes couldn’t follow the movement, but for just a moment—a moment too fast for the untrained eye—he saw Zack’s body in the air, lifted by his strength.
"You’re weak!" Zack roared, fist raised and legs bracing for a quick descent.
Blind to his injuries, Logan rolled to the side with all the strength that his body would allow.
He accelerated so fast that he lost his balance, dropping to the floor. Still, that was a much better outcome than the image in front of him—of Zack’s fist on the ground where he was just a moment ago, throwing up an entire whirlpool of air from the impact.
"Didn’t think you’d dodge that one," Zack admitted, "although, I guess you were always scrappy. That’s what had you beating me back in the Ward, right? Before I got my power."
Logan grit his teeth, helping himself up. "Zack, why are you doing this? We used to be such good friends, I just don’t understand why you hold such disdain for me."
Zack sneered. "Oh, the irony! You flaunt your ignorance of the world like a little squirrel, then question others for detesting the act!"
With one small twitch of Zack’s eyes, Logan reacted, rolling to his left before he could even get to his feet.
Fwoooh!
Zack kicked his leg, the velocity so jetting that air kicked up again to swirl through the entire battle station.
Although Logan had dodged the initial impact, the air served too powerful for his body to resist. Quickly, he lifted from the ground, slamming into the barrier ahead.
This time, he braced himself for impact, straightening his back to alleviate some of the pain. Still, it didn’t help that he broke his ribs not that long ago. "Grrrggghhhhhh!" he whined.
"Say, why didn’t you want to use faux weapons for this duel? Even if it didn’t work against me, you wouldn’t have to worry about being killed." Zack waited for Logan, but received nothing. "What about the pain inhibitor? There’s no way you’re not feeling all of this. Why don’t you just quit?"
Coughing out entire trails of blood, Logan pushed up against the wall, using it as leverage to help him get off the ground. "Zack, you know me. When I set my mind to something, I can’t give it up..."
Zack shook his head. "That’s a fatal flaw of yours, not something to be proud of. But if you really want to die on that hill, then be my guest!"
Bangs and howls echoed all across the battle station as the students in the stands watched, breathless.
A loud impact would resound, then a painful groan would follow. It was a loop.
"Hey, isn’t he way too weak...?" a student in C-rank said, leaning back to turn away from the scene.
"Yeah, there’s no way this is the guy who could reverse time," another said, this time coming from D-rank.
"But, you know, I saw it with my own eyes. The guy reversed time to revive himself. Why doesn’t he just do that to heal his wounds?" one asked in the higher tier of the stands, a B-rank.
While students begun their own speculations, one sat in intense frustration, gripping their fists. "Oh, come on, Logan! Do something! Show them who you are!"
It was the robed figure beneath Sabrina, shuddering her head once another powerful blow released from Zack’s fist.
"Hey, who is that?" Jasmine asked, pointing down to her.
Sabrina took her hands to her head, unknowing. "I don’t know, but they seem to know him." She tapped the figure, attracting her attention. "Hey, how do you know Logan?"
The girl jumped at the random touched, quickly fixing the cap of her disguise over her head. "Oh—uh, ah, he’s a good friend of mine!" they responded, finger pointed up. "Well... maybe that’s the wrong way to put it. I’m the closest to him."
"The closest!?!" Sabrina blurted, unintentionally spitting in the girl’s face. "Oh, sorry!"
The girl rubbed her face. "You don’t have to apologize, I guess that I shouldn’t have said that to his girlfriend."
"Girlfriend...? No, you have it all wrong, me and Logan are just good friends."
The girl looked down with relief. "Ah, that’s good to know."
Sabrina’s face twisted to one of annoyance. ’Good to know? Just who is this girl, sitting next to me when she knew who I was, then showing relief when she learned that I wasn’t in a relationship with him.’
Quickly, Sabrina peeled back the girl’s hood, causing her black hairs to wave wonderfully through the air.
They each ran off like glimpses of deep space, evoking a dark, bubbly feeling. One of intrigue—the same you would feel gazing upon the stars.
Sabrina found her eyes sparkling, for just a moment. Then, down into darkness at the memory of the person in front of her.
"Selene, is that you?" she asked.