Everyone moved farther away from the open space in the middle of the guild. The Adventurers who had been waiting in line gathered near the walls, whispering among themselves as they watched Nova and the leader prepare to fight. Even the guards remained where they were. They knew who the boy's father was, and none of them seemed eager to find out what would happen if they interfered.
Nova noticed their reluctance, but he had already agreed to the wager. There was little point in complaining about the circumstances now.
Across from him, the leader cracked his knuckles, his confident smirk making it clear how he expected the fight to end. His two friends stood behind the crowd with the boy in glasses, who looked as though he wanted to say something but was too frightened to open his mouth.
Wonderful. Even the guards are scared of his family, Nova thought. I suppose I'll have to be careful about what I break. My own bones included.
The thought was only partly amusing. He had trained relentlessly for the past two weeks, but there was an enormous difference between performing exercises and facing someone determined to hurt him. Worse, his opponent was awakened, while Nova had yet to awaken even a single pillar.
At the reception counter, the young woman who had gone away crying returned with a damp paper towel in her hand. She stopped when she saw the crowd gathered around the two boys. One of her colleagues quietly explained what had happened. Her eyes moved toward Nova, and she flushed when she realized he was standing there because he had defended her.
She wanted to thank him, but the fight had already begun.
The leader rushed forward and threw a punch toward Nova's face. He hadn't summoned his ability yet, apparently preferring to prove he could beat an unawakened opponent with his fists alone.
Nova slipped to the side, avoiding the strike by a narrow margin, and immediately returned a punch of his own. The leader managed to pull his head back before it landed. Both stepped away, their feet shifting over the polished floor as they reconsidered the distance between them.
The leader's smirk faltered for a moment.
"Not bad," he muttered. "For someone who hasn't awakened."
"You haven't hit me yet," Nova replied, keeping his hands raised.
"Don't get ahead of yourself."
The boy came at him again, this time with more force. Nova avoided the first punch and blocked the second with his forearm, though the impact stung more than he expected. His opponent was stronger than an ordinary person, and even a simple exchange reminded him of the difference in their bodies.
The anger he'd been suppressing since witnessing the boy's behavior returned. He had dealt with Apollo's nonsense in Heaven for longer than he cared to remember, but the feeling was different here. He couldn't silence this boy with divine authority or remove him from the room with a thought. He had to stand in front of him and accept the possibility of being struck.
The book said awakening might happen after a traumatic experience, Nova remembered. Or from an overwhelming emotion, usually a negative one.
For one foolish instant, he wondered whether his anger might be enough. Nothing changed. No pillar appeared, and no unfamiliar strength filled his limbs.
Right. That would have been convenient.
Nova moved forward instead. He threw a quick one-two combination, followed by a straight jab and a right hook. The leader twisted away from the first strikes and leaned back from the hook, looking pleased with himself.
"Is boxing all you know?" he asked.
Nova didn't bother answering. He lowered his weight and swept a leg toward the boy's ankles. The leader hadn't expected the change in height or direction, and his footing slipped beneath him. Before he could recover, Nova pivoted around his side and drove an elbow into his ribs.
The strike made the leader gasp. He dropped onto one knee with a hand pressed against his side, struggling to draw a full breath. A murmur moved through the watching crowd, followed by several surprised exclamations.
Nova retreated a couple of steps and returned to his defensive stance. His own breathing had quickened, and his forearm still ached from blocking the earlier punch. He wanted to smile, but he knew how easily a moment of satisfaction might ruin his concentration.
There was something satisfying about bringing an arrogant opponent to his knees. Still, he wasn't going to attack someone who was already down, especially when the boy hadn't admitted defeat.
"Get up," Nova told him. "We're not finished, are we?"
The leader slowly lifted his head. The expression on his face had changed completely.
"You fucking asshole," he snarled as he forced himself upright. "I'm going to end you."
Nova said nothing. He watched the boy's hands instead.
A faint Circle of Pillars appeared near the leader's hand. The floor trembled, softly at first, then hard enough for several people nearby to stumble backward. Chips of stone rose from the damaged surface and gathered in the air, twisting into narrow, pointed spikes.
Earth manipulation, Nova realized. Of course. I knew he'd have some elemental ability.
It was one thing to guess at an opponent's ability from a distance and another to watch the ground itself respond to his command. Nova shifted his feet, looking for a path through the stones. The leader raised his hand, and the first volley shot toward him.
Nova moved at once. He ducked beneath one spike, twisted away from another, and stepped backward to avoid a third. But there were too many coming from different directions, and the reflexes he'd trained over the last two weeks were nowhere near enough to keep up with all of them.
One spike tore across his cheek. Another cut into his upper arm. He tried to turn away from the next two, but both struck him before he could clear their path. Pain spread through his shoulder and side, sharp enough to make him lose his balance for a step.
He caught himself before falling. When he touched his cheek, his fingers came away red.
For a moment, Nova stared at the blood. The sting in his face was nothing like the small wound he'd given himself earlier. His whole body had reacted to the attack, and he could feel his heartbeat in each injured place.
A grin began forming despite the danger.
So this is what it's like. A real opponent who can hurt me.
"What's so funny?" the leader demanded.
"Nothing," Nova answered, wiping the blood away with his wrist. "I'm enjoying myself."
"Then let's see how long you keep smiling."
More stones rose. Nova's excitement threatened to overcome his judgment, and for an instant he wanted to charge straight through the attack simply to discover how much pain he could endure. He stopped himself.
He hadn't come to Earth to die in his first serious fight. He wanted to struggle, improve, make mistakes, and live with their consequences. Though reincarnating again was possible in principle, throwing away this life over a foolish wager would defeat the purpose of coming here.
Control yourself. Enjoy the fight, but don't be an idiot.
The next volley came faster. Nova managed to evade most of it by moving sideways instead of retreating in a straight line, but a pair of spikes still caught him. One scraped along his leg. The other struck close to his stomach, leaving a wound he couldn't properly examine while the boy was still attacking.
Nova sucked in a breath and pressed forward before another wave could form. The leader laughed, apparently delighted to see him running into range. Nova closed the distance and swung toward his face, aiming to interrupt the next attack.
A stone wall erupted between them.
His fist struck it before he could pull back. Pain shot up his arm, and he recoiled with a gasp. The skin across his knuckles had split, leaving blood on the rough surface of the wall. Nova stumbled away as the leader laughed from the other side.
"What happened?" the boy called. "I thought you were enjoying yourself!"
Nova barely heard him. His injured hand throbbed, and something warm was spreading beneath his clothing. He looked down and realized the spike near his stomach had left a small puncture. Blood was seeping steadily through the fabric.
He placed his uninjured hand over the wound and gritted his teeth. The pressure hurt, but letting go made the bleeding worse. He was dizzy now, and he wasn't sure how much of it came from the pain or the blood he'd already lost.
This is bad.
Around him, the spectators had gone quiet. What had begun as an ugly argument was becoming something far more dangerous. Nova heard someone ask whether the guards planned to intervene. No answer followed.
The leader allowed the wall to crumble. The remaining spikes lost their shape, falling back to the floor as he walked toward Nova with his chin raised. He moved slowly, deliberately, as though the outcome had already been decided and the last few moments were merely for his enjoyment.
Nova kept one hand against his stomach and tried to steady his breathing. His legs trembled, but he refused to kneel. He watched the leader approach, waiting for the one chance his opponent's arrogance might give him.
Just a little closer.
"You dropped like a fly after all," the leader sneered when he was almost within reach. "Now die, like the rest of the vermin."
He raised his hand. Loose pieces of stone stirred near his feet, gathering into a larger mass.
Nova moved before the rock had finished forming.
He lunged forward with what strength he had left, caught the leader by the collar, and pulled him off balance. The sudden movement strained the wound in his stomach, sending a fresh wave of pain through his body, but he didn't let go. He drove his knee into the boy's abdomen, then twisted his weight and dragged them both to the ground.
They struck the floor together. The leader gasped as the air left his lungs. Nova landed awkwardly beside him, his injured hand scraping against the floor, and for a moment neither boy could rise.
Nova could hear his own breathing above the noise of the crowd. He was hurting everywhere, but he had managed to bring the boy down. He didn't know whether the wager would count as a victory, or whether the leader would simply summon another wave of rocks and finish him before anyone stepped in.
The leader began lifting one trembling hand.
Then a voice rang through the guild, deep and commanding enough to silence the room.
"The match is a tie. Anything further will result in an immediate and permanent removal from the guild."
The stone fragments stopped moving.
Nova turned his head toward the source of the voice. Someone stood above them near the staircase, and even from where he lay, Nova felt the immense pressure of his presence. It wasn't an attack, but it was enough to make the difference in their strength painfully obvious.
His throat tightened. For the first time since agreeing to the fight, he had no desire to say something clever.
Nova swallowed and kept his eyes on the figure, knowing that arguing with whoever had just spoken would be an exceptionally bad idea.