Chapter 6: The Three Days of Hell

Nazan wakes up to the sound of his alarm. He gets up and warms up, ready for training.

After finishing his morning routine, he notices Raiyaji approaching the house.

Nazan steps outside and walks toward him.

Raiyaji speaks, "Are you ready, kid?"

Nazan smirks and replies, "Yeah. I'll give it my best for the next three days."

They arrive at a massive training field. Nazan looks around and asks, "Where's Kinato?"

Raiyaji responds, "Kinato's at the office. He got a sudden call for work."

"Being the leader of this country must be hard," Nazan mutters.

Raiyaji turns to him. "Kid, why did you ask me to train you again?"

"I need to improve my powers and my combat."

Raiyaji points at a thick log. "Punch that log until evening. Don't break it until then."

Nazan is confused. "What? How can I punch it until evening without breaking it?"

Raiyaji pulls out a chair, sits down, and says, "Figure it out yourself."

Then he takes a book from his pocket and starts reading.

Nazan shouts, "What?! What a pain!"

He begins punching the log. His fists ache, but he keeps going.

Hours pass. Nazan's hands are bleeding, bruised, and shaking. He's exhausted and nearly breaks the log.

"Wait… maybe I can reduce the pain by focusing my power while punching."

He concentrates and continues. After minutes of focusing, something clicks.

Suddenly, Nazan floats into a strange dimension where Dark Shadow appears.

"Hey Shadow!!" he shouts.

Dark Shadow calmly approaches him. "You think you can beat that guy who turned his arms into drills and destroyed you easily?"

Nazan smirks. "You underestimating me? I'm gonna beat Suzuki without your help. When Axl coughed up blood, I knew it was you. But I'm gonna tame you… and make you mine."

Dark Shadow laughs. "Didn't I tell you yesterday? You can't tame me, no matter what."

Nazan glares. "I don't believe that."

He focuses harder and suddenly wakes up from the trance.

It's now evening. Nazan's hands are bleeding, covered in bruises but the pain don't hurt much than before.

He catches his breath and sees Raiyaji, still asleep, with the book covering his face.

Nazan delivers one final punch and destroys the log.

He walks over to Raiyaji to wake him but Raiyaji suddenly throws a small object at him.

It hits Nazan. He coughs up blood and collapses.

Nazan wakes up in his room with his hands bandaged and a note beside him.

The note reads:

"I accidentally threw something at you. I'll make it up to you tomorrow."

Nazan tears up the note in anger. "How the hell can I do this for another two days?" he mutters with a pissed smile.

He goes to sleep and wakes up at 8 a.m., ready again. He finish breakfast and he heads to the field and wait for raiyaji.

Raiyaji shows up and hands him a burger.

"Oh hey, a burger. One of my favorites," Nazan says.

Raiyaji grins. "Today, you'll improve your stamina and endurance. You'll be chased by three giant dogs until evening. Either hide or fight."

"What? That's it?" Nazan smirks.

"Yes, that's it."

Nazan stretches and gets ready. Raiyaji releases the dogs—huge, muscular beasts.

"Oh no…"

Nazan sprints into the forest, and the dogs chase him relentlessly.

He keeps running without a break, eventually grabbing onto a tree branch to hide. The dogs lose sight of him and split up.

"Thank god," he whispers.

Suddenly, one of the dogs jumps high and bites the branch.

Nazan bolts. "Oh no!"

Raiyaji, meanwhile, is just chilling and reading, casually tracking Nazan's location.

Nazan gets grabbed by the shirt. He punches the dog, but it only hurts his hand. Cornered by the three dogs, he assesses the time.

"I think it's been a few hours… I can do this."

He slips and falls into one of the dogs' mouths. Inside, he punches its teeth and gets spit out.

Nazan slams his knee into the dog's eye, causing it to stagger. Two dogs now chase him as he zigzags for 30 more minutes.

"What did they put in these dogs?!" he shouts.

Hours pass. It's nearly evening.

Nazan finally beats the dogs, his body bruised, clothes torn. He exits the forest, only to realize he's lost.

"Oh come on!!"

At 5 p.m., he finally finds Raiyaji waiting.

"What took you so long?" Raiyaji smiles.

"I got lost," Nazan mutters.

Raiyaji chuckles. "Tomorrow, you're gonna fight me until evening. Be ready."

He turns—but Nazan is already walking home.

Day 3

Nazan finishes breakfast and heads to the field. Raiyaji is already there.

"If you lose, you'll call me respectfully from now on. If you win, I'll call you my master," Raiyaji smirks.

"Sure," Nazan replies, grinning.

Nazan attacks first, but Raiyaji counters everything with ease. Nazan gets frustrated, throwing more punches but Raiyaji keeps dodging and countering.

"You're wasting energy. You should observe your opponent," Raiyaji says.

"Why are you teaching me while we're fighting?" Nazan replies with a serious glare.

Raiyaji lands a heavy punch to Nazan's chest, launching him into yesterday's broken log.

Nazan remembers his goal and gets up.

"I admit I can't beat you… but I'll endure until evening."

Hours pass. Nazan stays standing, despite the pain. With only an hour left, Raiyaji intensifies his attacks.

With 5 minutes left, Raiyaji uses his strongest attack. Nazan hits the ground hard and coughs up blood.

But Nazan rises barely standing, bruised, but smiling.

Raiyaji is stunned. "He's still conscious…"

Nazan finally collapses, unconscious.

Raiyaji smiles and tends to his injuries.

The Next Morning

Nazan wakes at 5:30 a.m. His mother and sister are already up. His mom hands them their lunch before they head to school.

Nazan eats his sandwich, preparing for the final placement exam.

At the school field, the students line up.

The announcer shouts, "This final exam is in teams of five. We've selected your squads, each member of the team have to get many points as possible to get to the top 50 and can combine their points to make it at the top 10 teams, only the top 10 teams will reach the top 50!"

Nazan looks at his team: Axl, Pilsen, Frenzen, and Justine.

All the students are transferred into new virtual bodies.

"Oh yeah by the way you can steal the points of other teams by defeating them."

They arrive at the battlefield a place with slanted floors, metallic structures, endless tubes, and over a hundred levels.

The announcer says

"There is over a hundred team here so goodluck."

Nazan and his team prepare for the battle.

To Be Continued...