The duel part I

Two days later after Jamal had proposed the idea of a duel between Carla and Andre, both challengers were brought to a prepared field where they could confront each other.

The place was an old field of football so it was quite spacious.

With the help of Brad and some other few friends, Jamal had taken some wooden planks which had at least two meters height, the width of two men of normal size, and had a thickness of three fingers. They placed them vertically all over the terrain following a specific pattern to make it look like a labyrinth but way less complicated.

In the city, everyone heard about that competition opposing the two people, they didn't know though what was the real purpose of that match but they were still excited about it as there were not many sources of entertainment in the city and thus an event like that was not something they would like to miss.

Even Brad and his coworkers, who were with Jamal during the preparation of the terrain, were not aware of the reason for that duel. At a moment, the former had questioned Jamal concerning that fight but the latter didn't give him a clear answer, he just told him that Andre had something to prove and so he gave him the chance to do so. And when Brad had expressively shown him that he hadn't understood his point, Jamal didn't add a word but instead, he just patted his shoulder and left him with an enigmatic smile.

In the end, the young man decided to not mind it too much and he calmly returned to work. [ He must have his reasons for not telling me ] he thought for himself.

Before he even realized it himself, Brad had greatly changed from what he used to be and the amount of trust he had developed for Jamal should have been the first hint.

When he first arrived in the city, due to the sense of guilt and regret he felt because of the wrong and unforgivable decisions he had taken in the past, he directly decided to be helpful and would always ask Lina if there were any tasks he could do and it didn't take long for him to become one of Lina's closest employees or how she liked to call them "her subordinates". He had initially intended to impress her with his devotion and his hard work but before he got aware of it, it became a habit for him to always be the first one to step up whenever they would need volunteers to do a job. He soon could feel that he wasn't doing that due to the sense of guilt anymore, that altruistic behavior was rather becoming part of his personality.

...

The mayor had decided to hold the event in the last hours before the sunset when they were sure that everyone would finish their daily works, though they have finished the preparations even before noon.

Jamal gathered the workers in a side of the field and started to pass by each of them to distribute bottles of freshwater. The sun was taping hard for a few minutes and though they couldn't hide the fact that they were quite tired Jamal figured out that they would not explicitly tell him so he decided to take the lead and relieve them a little.

" Good job everyone! " He went to stand in front of them after he finished distributing the last bottle, " you have been a great help, thank you. You can pass by the city hall's office tomorrow to go collect your remuneration ".

Hearing about remuneration, the workers started to glance at each other with smiles on their faces. When Jamal asked them they revealed that they thought it would be a benevolent job and so they didn't expect to gain anything. Jamal was pleased to see that announcement made them happy.

" Does that mean we are done for the day? " Brad asked while plugging the empty bottle in his hand.

" Yes, as you can see we have already finished placing the planks according to the plan, what left is to clean the field but I can do it myself, " Jamal paused, " you guys can go ahead and have some rest, I know you are exhausted. I will be arbitrating the match of this afternoon, so we may meet again if you come ".

" I will stay and help you to clean, it will be done quicker if we are the of us, " Brad announced him.

That proposition didn't surprise Jamal, Lina had already informed him about how reliable he was, as he would always be the first and most of the time the only volunteer whenever there would be work to do. And even Jamal had been able to witness it for himself during the few days since he came back.

" No need to push yourself too hard, it's okay I will take care of it, " Jamal tried to turn him down politely though he could clearly see that Brad would not give up so easily.

" I still have the energy, " the latter said with enthusiasm but then his face curiously changed a little, turning into a sad or rather culpable expression. " and anyway I... I have nothing else to do at this hour ".

Jamal understood what he meant, he heard that his girlfriend had taken sessions with Dom and together they were working to get her rid of her addiction and cure her traumas as well. Jamal could suppose that she must, at that hour, be in her daily session with Dom, that was why Brad said what he said.

Presented like that, Jamal realized that he could hardly tell him no so he sighed and said, " alright, do as you want the quicker we finish the better ".

They were about to return to the field when they noticed that the others weren't leaving, they stayed immobile at the same spot, staring at the two men and they seemed like they wanted to say something but were too shy to say it.

Jamal shook his head before shouting, " what's wrong? ".

They glanced at each other as if they were trying to decide who should respond before a guy finally stepped forward to express the thoughts of his comrades. " Well... we have been thinking that we, too, should stay to help finish the job ".

" But guys... " Jamal couldn't but giggling a little before he could complete his statement as he found the situation very amusing, " the job is already done, I have told you that the only thing left is to clean so no need to force yourself to stay when you already look so exhausted ".

" We are not forcing ourselves " the same guy replied, he glanced at his friends on the back who simply nodded at him and he continued " I mean... we do want to stay, we are not that much tired, and the more we are the earlier we can finish, don't you think? "

Jamal lowered his head and chuckled again before putting his hands in the air as if to say that he surrendered, " alright alright, you win. Let's go finish with that once for all ".

•••

Jamal later went to meet Lina and Natasha at the hospital after he had finished with his work and passed by his apartment to take a quick shower.

The two women were sitting on a bench next to the door of a room and they both stood up when they saw him coming.

Jamal simply gazed at them, and without saying a word, just with the expression on his face, they immediately understood what he wanted to ask.

Lina shook her head, she grabbed his hand and pulled him gently towards the door. The three of them entered the room to see Matteo while he was lying unconscious on his bed.

" The nurses said that he has been in this state since the last time we came to visit him, " Lina informed him after a short moment of silence.

" Did they notice any movement or reaction of him since then? " Jamal asked without taking his eyes off the boy.

" They couldn't stay all the time with him but they said that whenever they would come to check on him, he would keep the same quiet expression ".

Jamal walked forward and went to sit beside Matteo while still staring at him with the belief that he would open his eyes at any time soon and he didn't want to miss that. The two women glanced at each other looking sorry as they could guess what he was feeling at that moment. He hated to see people suffering while being unable to help them that was one of the reasons he preferred to carry out, the most of time, the missions and tasks all by himself.

[ Seeing an innocent young boy putting his life on the line while being powerless... that must be unbearable for him ] Natasha thought while staring at Jamal.

" Looking at the situation we are now I was thinking that about the duel- "

" We will maintain it " Jamal suddenly said, interrupting Lina before she could finish expressing her idea.

The woman waved her hand, " why would you do that? I know you want to keep your promise but you see that Matteo's state is more prior, don't you? Besides, that fight is not that important, you can just postpone and stay here to watch over him until he wakes up ".

Jamal didn't answer her immediately, he kept quiet for a short while and as Natasha started to think that he would just ignore her as he would sometimes do, he took his calm voice and suddenly responded.

" We have here two kids who are yearning to prove to us and especially to themselves their legitimate right to stand where they want to be... Lina, don't you think it would be disrespectful to pass the combat of someone over the other one's... as if his ambitions were meaningless in comparison, hmm? "

Lina had a short moment of hesitation as she once again got proof that she still had difficulties considering people's emotions while taking a decision. " No that... that is not what I was trying to say. It just that, you know Matteo needs us to be with him and support him as he is fighting that threatening and mysterious enemy, " she slowly said, not totally convinced by the strength of her arguments.

" Matteo has already taken his decision which is to fight. The best we can do for him is to trust him and to have faith that he will soon come back to us victorious, " he paused and slowly stood up, " but, besides that, we have another duty to fulfill which is to be present and watch Andre as he, too, has chosen to fight. To my concern, I don't have any doubt about the victory of the former but when what concerns the latter, I have to be there and see the result of that duel with my own eyes ".

As he moved and reached the door of the room Natasha announced, " I will stay here with Matteo until he wakes up ".

Without turning his head to look at them, he bowed down his head a little, smiled slightly, and muttered a 'thank you' before he walked out.

" W-wait " Lina shouted to him, she grabbed Natasha by her shoulders, kissed her on her both cheeks, and hugged her to thank her before she went off the room to run after her lover.

Once she was finally alone, Natasha calmly went to have a seat next to the unconscious Matteo and started staring at him while wondering what can possibly be happening inside his head at that moment.

•••

Even though a quite long time has passed since Matteo voluntarily put himself in a deep sleep, in order to face his mysterious enemy who had tortured him the last time, in his subconscious mind it was like he just spent a couple of hours.

When he had finally come up with a plan to defeat his enemy he had intended to finish with her as fast as he could but in the end, he couldn't do better than those hours.

When he fell asleep, as expected, he found himself in the same dark place where that hooded person had trapped him before, and the only difference was that instead of her waiting for him Matteo was now the one waiting to ambush her.

However, he didn't have to wait long before she appeared before him.

" I have to admit, you are quite courageous to come here yourself, " she sneered at him, with her face hidden in the shadow of her hood as usual, " I can guess that for you to be the first to take the first step, you must have come with a plan to defeat me, am I wrong? So what is it? "

Matteo knew that it was pointless to try playing the brave as she could easily see how scared he really was but he still didn't intend to reveal any of his cards yet.

He was completely aware that she was suspecting him to prepare something that was why she was trying to distract him. [ I have to stay focus and not let her break my concentration ] he kept repeating to himself.

The thing was that he had only one plan in mind moreover he wasn't even sure that it would work, but he thought that he had to give it a try anyway as he knew that if he hesitated or stepped back now he would be running away all his life.

He closed his eyes to make an abstraction of the person in front of him and started to initiate his plan.

The latter, who was already on her guard, seemed to have realized the potential of the danger of what he was about to do and she decided to stop fooling around and quickly stop him before it's too late.

She jumped forward towards him and used her invisible cords to tie him up just like the last time but way faster.

" I don't know what you were thinking when you came here but it's useless now you can't escape from me and this time I will make sure to totally break your mind for good, " she spat while approaching him slowly. She summoned her metal sticks in her both hands and just as she was about to pierce his body, Matteo raised his head and smirked at her making her understand that she was the one who fell on his trap.

The next moment she found herself standing in the middle of a curved road surrounded by buildings on both sides of the road. By reflexes, she turned around scanning the surroundings to find Matteo as he suddenly disappeared before she started mumbling and cursing between her teeth as she couldn't see him anywhere.

She couldn't believe that he has been able to figure out the potential of power he had in that dimension in such a short interval of time. The first time they met she thought she had been careful to not leave him any hint of how to use his power there and though she was fully aware that he was very attentive and smart as she witnessed it herself, she had anyway thought that he would still need some more time to figure out how to manipulate that dimension yet in just one first try he has been able to transport her in another space.

She realized that she had to quickly catch him and take total control of that dimension otherwise she would be in a very bad situation.

She was sure that Matteo was hiding somewhere near, as he had already figured out that her time there was limited she thought that he would try to gain as much time as he could.

[ Don't underestimate me boy ] she said while placing the palms of her hands on the ground and began to scan the zone. She deployed her senses as far as she could and in less than ten seconds she got the position of his hideout.

Matteo was sitting on the floor hiding behind the counter of an empty store, hoping that his enemy's time there would run out before she got his localization, but of course, he was aware that it wouldn't be such easy.

" Here you are ".

Matteo suddenly turned his head and found his chaser standing on the counter behind him. This time, she didn't even bother hiding her emotions behind a confident smile, Matteo could see how irritated she was as her face was tight while she was clenching her teeth hard.

He tried to run away by the side but she was obviously way faster. In an instant she caught up with him, kicked him hard on his ribs sending him flying away, making him pass through one of the windows of the store and crashing hard in the middle of the road.

He normally should have had many ribs and members broken as well as other injuries but it was an immaterial body in another world, not his real one. Thus, in that dimension, he could only feel the pain but he wouldn't take any of the damages and he had figured that since their first encounter.

He tried to stand up with many difficulties as the pain didn't want to fade away but before he could sit up his enemy jumped and landed over him. She pushed him to the ground, crushed his left arm under her foot, and nailed his right hand to the ground with one of the metal bars she had summoned. She bent over and pressed his neck as she was moving her face closer to his and that was only then that Matteo noticed that she was wearing a purple mask hiding the upper half of her face.

She curved the corners of her lips to reveal him, probably, her most naughty and malicious smile. " Did you really think... you could escape from me in my domain? " she mocked him.

" No... it's not... and you know it " Matteo managed to articulate despite the strong grip she had on his neck. His words made her victorious smile vanish away and it was time to show her his. " It was a real pain... to figure out... since you didn't leave many hints... I had to think a lot but now... now I know it's, in reality, my domain ".

Suddenly, the scenery around them changed again and they were now on the top of a building.

The hooded woman was standing alone on the side with her metallic bar in her hand while Matteo was standing on one knee on the other side busy rubbing his neck which was still hurting a little.

" You did your best to make me think you had the control over this space but it seems like you have made some kind of mistakes, " he continued to explain enjoying the fact he had now the higher ground.

" You know you can't defeat me," she snarled with a grimace after a short moment of silence, it seemed like she was trying to come up with a plan, " you are too weak so what are you gonna do? Continue to run away until the end? Because if that's your plan you can already forget about it, I won't let you go I will keep coming, again and again, night after night, whenever you will try to find some sleep I will be here waiting for you I will keep chasing until I finally break your mind, you hear me kid? " She sneered between her teeth.

She then jumped toward him as fast as a lioness jumping on its prey but she couldn't catch him, she found herself transported in small parking and Matteo was now behind her. She slowly turned around and told him " you can't run away forever, I will end up catching you, and let me tell you that once I do so I will make you regret being alive. All those teleportations consume a lot of energy, I'm sure you can already sense your body losing strength second after second ".

She was totally right, Matteo was panting as if he has been running for hours, however, he had already anticipated that situation, the case that so many transportations would exhaust him. He slowly stood up straight to face his enemy and he told her, " you're right only in one part which is that I can't keep running away forever but where you are wrong is that I have never intended to keep running ".

" Do intend to fight me? Don't make me laugh, you know have not the slightest chance to win " though she said she was still being on her guards as she knew that the boy was very cunning and thus she couldn't know what was he thinking.

" Oh no, I don't plan to fight of course, " he replied, " but as I have told you I'm the master of this dimension and as such I'm planning to use my rights as I want ".

" What you- "

" Let me explain to you " he interrupted her, he had to distract her since what he was about to do would need a lot of time, " remember earlier, the reason why I let you capture me with your invisible cables and get close to me was just to verify your status in this dimension as well as identifying your spiritual mark and guess what? You are just an intruder ".

She frowned as she began to slowly understand what he was trying to say.

" I have been able to verify it in my first teleportation as I have been able to send you in a place other than where I sent myself " he paused, " but as you have said it consumes a lot of energy to do that so I was hoping that I could keep escaping from you until our next encounter but I'm sick of running, I rather take the risk and end with this right now ".

The hooded woman seemed to be alarmed by something, her senses were running wild as she had the intuition that Matteo was plotting something dangerous. " W-what are you doing? " she asked not trying to reveal her worries in her tone, in vain.

" Isn't it obvious? " the young boy replied before he closed his eyes to concentrate, " you are just an intruder and as the master of this world I'm on right to expel you from here indefinitely. I have already memorized your spiritual mark in this dimension, with that it's totally possible for me to ban you ".

She realized just too late what he was up, she began to run towards him while screaming all her rage, [ I can't let him do that... I can't let him do that... I can't let him do that... ] she kept repeating to herself.

She was normally very fast but not fast enough to stop him, she threw with fierce her bar of metal like a spear but before it could reach him it was too late, she had been already expelled.

•••

Natasha was putting a plate of food on the small table next to Matteo's bed when he suddenly woke up and sat up in a scream making her almost flip the plate.

He started to make big signs pointing at his neck and immediately Natasha understood that his throat was dry and he needed water.

She hurried herself to serve him a glass of water, she placed it on his lower lip, put her free hand behind his head, and helped him to drink. He emptied the glass and released a sigh of satisfaction before he let himself fall on the bed.

" W-what happened? " Natasha timidly asked as she was afraid of shaking him too much after the traumatic situation, she supposed, he just went through.

Matteo turned his head to look at her, a delicate and weak smile slowly appeared on his face as he told her " I won ".