There were two people at the front of each of the groups respectively who were probably the leaders. They were standing and facing each other like it was a standoff.
It was too dark for me to make out their faces, so those weapons glinting in the dim light was the only thing I had to let me know people were there.
"Why are you here, Ramesh?"
Ramesh? Haven't I heard that name somewhere else?
Another voice responded to him sarcastically.
"Why wouldn't I be here? We're friends, and friends have to help each other out in times of need."
"Who's friends with you? You can go and shit on yourself."
One of them sighed.
"There it is. Again with the crudeness. Why can't you be classy?"
"Who needs to be classy when they can fight?"
"As much I hate to admit it, you're right. Why should we talk when we can fight instead?"
"Exactly, so let's get to-"
The person speaking was cut off by the sarcastic one.
"Is that what you thought I would say, you monkey? Why would I fight with you, when I get nothing out of it? Give me one reason why I should fight you."
The other person voice got more aggressive.
"Who cares about reason? My little brother is dead, and I need to hit something. That's all that matters."
"Didn't he die months ago? Why are you still on that?"
As they talked more, their tones changed from that of enemies to more of frenemies. It was obvious they were familiar with each other, but it wasn't on the level of being friends.
It was like enemies that had known each other for a while and consequently knew themselves well.
"It doesn't matter when he passed away, but I will bring him back!"
There was a shocked silence.
"My ears mustn't be working, did you hear that?"
"Yes I did."
Someone from his side answered his question which I suspected was supposed to be rhetorical.
My suspicions were confirmed from what was said next. The same Ramesh guy spoke to guy who answered in a defeated manner.
"You weren't supposed to answer that."
"Sorry."
He continued addressing the other guy again.
"Well then, since my set up has been ruined, I'll just get straight to the punch line. Did you say you were going to bring him back?"
"Naturally."
There was uncomfortable atmosphere.
"Antonio, how do I tell you this, you do know it's not possible to resurrect people right?"
The name Antonio sent me back in my memories and brought to mind that crazy guy who gave up his chance to not have to fight to someone else.
Antonio scoffed.
"Of course I know that, but I will make it happen!"
"You know, I'm actually getting worried about you. Are you sure you're okay? Do you need anything?"
"Stop! I'm not in the mood for your jokes! Since I'm irritated now, I'm going to fight you now. Prepare yourself."
"Wouldn't it be better if you didn't tell you me you were going to fight me?"
"Who cares? And I want you to know, this time won't be like the others. Only one of us will leave here alive."
As he said so, the somewhat friendly atmosphere disappeared to be replaced by a frigid, chilly mood. The amiability was gone and the gloves were off.
Ramesh's voice was now lacking the warmth it did before and was hard.
"You know, I never suspected you would want to fight me. You should know that if we fight, I won't be the one who loses."
"Who knows? We can't decide something like that without actually doing anything."
There were no more words exchanged between them, possibly because there were none that were needed.
I would've left immediately, as I didn't want to linger around for the fight between two people who had probably started training their Hani by now. I wonder how far they are from being normal humans now?
Well, I didn't have to wait long to get my answer. Just when I was going to creep away silently, the battle started.
Let's just say I can never think about Ranked the same way again. If this is what children can do, how about the adults who have been through many battles and are actually a true Ranked?
The ground cracked and split apart, the shockwaves blew me away literally, the sound of metal clashing against metal echoed in my ears and nature was devastated. This all just from the battle between two groups of children.
It's quite strange to think of them as children, after all I've been through, I feel like I'm not young but then I look at my underdeveloped body and remember my actual age.
I was forced to retreat in fear of being killed just because of the force behind the shockwaves. I couldn't even see them move, all I was seeing and hearing was sparks and explosions.
Upon seeing this, a feeling that I hadn't felt before crept into me. It was the desire to be able to do what they were doing, to have power. It might have been the child in me that dreamt of being a superhero and flying through the sky, but the fight I witnessed that day sparked something that has not faded and will never fade from me.
[Ramesh's POV]
I spun around and dodged Antonio's sword strikes. We had fought several times in joint group training before but he had never been this serious.
I'm a guy who doesn't like to feel pain. Simple. All I want to do is avoid all kinds of pain. That is why I train, that is why I became the leader of Group 10, and that is why I can't die. All I do is so that I can live without having to feel any pain.
I moved to the left and feinted while aiming for Antonio's neck with my mace. His instincts are sharp, so he was able to avoid it.
He stabbed at me with the point of his sword but I blocked it and counterattacked. We kept moving in the same loop of attack and counterattack but that couldn't last forever. We were both taking damage bit by bit and becoming exhausted.
This is turning into a battle of endurance, where the person who gets tired first loses.
I really don't want to fight him as it's too much of a risk but, I doubt he would let me go easily.
If I could I would substitute someone in my place. I made a wrong move earlier. There was someone who was watching us before we started fighting, I'm not sure whether Antonio noticed so I could have turned the attention onto the person thus making my clean getaway while he was distracted.
But there's no reason to regret things now, the main thing I should do right now is to win this and leave. I'm not sure how long my guys can last.
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