Emperors War 56 Why Do I Fight?

Aker stood tall as the ox got closer as if though the pressure from the increased gravity didn't affect him at all. In reality the pressure he felt from the Ox was negligible to nonexistent due to all of the training he had done under the increased gravity in his cell.

Aker was already living and sleeping at 2 times normal gravity in his cell for the better part of a few months. This Oppression Ox was merely a Level 1 Basic Magic Beast and as such its ability to exert its force over gravity was merely 1.5 times normal gravity. For someone who had not trained under heavy gravity this 1.5 would be detrimental and destructive but to Aker it was similar to a light breeze in a spring meadow.

If this Oppression Ox was a Level 1 Expert Beast it could exert up to 2.5 times normal gravity, in those circ.u.mstances Aker would certainly be pressured, but as it was his concern was not the ox's magic capability but its charging ability. Even removing the extra gravity of this beast, the size, speed and the ma.s.sive horns all made this ox one of the toughest opponents Aker had faced.

Its raging and wild eyes locked onto Aker as it charged forward while Aker used his smaller size and superior agility to dodge and roll out of the way. Already the ox's long horn had barely grazed across Akers chest plate leaving a large gnash in the metal.

While the horn wasn't able to directly cut through the metal armor the impact was still felt, a blow of the horn that was capable of shredding metal even if it didn't make it to Aker's skin seriously hurt from the impact.

Aker had been playing a game of cat and mouse with both of these opponents since the start of the battle. Both the Lava Boar and the Oppression Ox were aggressive beast that were strong, fast and big. As Aker fought them, he spent the entire time dodging to and fro, avoiding the tusk of the boar and the horns of the ox.

Aker had lured the boar close to the wall taunting it to attack without reason. Just as the boar reached Aker, he used the wall as a jumping board and flew over the top of the feral Lava Boar. Unable to stop, the boar smashed into the wall of the arena full force knocking itself out. Aker had no time to celebrate because just as his feet hit the ground the ox was kicking up dust and rock as it tilted its head leading forward with its ma.s.sive horn.

Luckily Aker was able to step back and turn removing most of the impact however the force was still enough to lift his feet off the ground and drive him back through the air slamming into the same wall he had tricked the boar into.

Even a glancing blow from the ox was detrimental.

Over the last 8 months that Aker had been fighting in The Pit he had met countless scenarios where victory and defeat...No, life and death were hinging on one right or wrong decision. Having removed the Lava Boar from battle the pressure that Aker felt had diminished slightly but the Oppression Ox was just so powerful.

The Lava Boar specialized in a fire that was molten and as it stood in place for a short moment it would create lava pits, this was its special battle technique. As the fight between the Lava Boar, Oppression Ox and Aker had been going for over 20 minutes there were dozens of Lava Pits riddled across the arena floor. Not only did Aker need to battle the Lava Boar and Oppression Ox but he also needed to stay aware of the lava pits as well.

The only benefit for Aker was that while the Lava Boar was impervious to the lava pits the Oppression Ox was not, so it needed to avoid the lava pits as well. Now that the Lava Boar had been removed from the battle Aker was darting around the arena using the lava pits to his advantage. If he maintained a strict distance with the Oppression Ox, he could essentially force the ox to go left or right of the lava pit based on how he avoided them.

Understanding his control over the Oppression Ox Aker again had to use the wall of the arena to gain a height advantage over the ox. The minimum height of a magic beast was two meters tall and they only went up from there while Aker was barely 140 centimeters tall. He spent a considerable amount of his time in his cell practicing jumping from wall to wall due to the extreme height difference between him and his opponents.

"Hey there he goes again; this stupid ox is done for now!"

"Ya, when the boy takes to the wall there's no chance for that creature to keep on fighting."

"Hahahahahahahaha....looks like I'm going to win another bet, I keep telling you if you want to win just bet on the boy...hahahahahahahaha...I'm going to the bar again tonight, every night has been bar night since I started betting on the kid....."

"You idiot could you wait to start bragging until after the boys done won!"

"What's there to worry about, the kids never failed this move before."

The two clowns in the crowd were already celebrating Akers victory seeing his first foot land on the wall as his second foot was just getting ready to be placed there as well.

Aker could now run up the side of the arena wall three to four meters with his current capabilities, which was more than enough to gain the height advantage he needed against any of his foes so far.

As Aker had reached the now infamous four-meter height distance on the arena wall, rather than turn and jump off Aker simply pushed straight back. As Aker was falling, he swung his feet over his head completing a back flip and landing squarely on the back of the Oppression Ox. Aker had basically perfected this move having done it over a dozen times.

Now on the back of the Oppression Ox Aker lowered his center of gravity as to not get tossed off of its back, pulled out his sword and drove it into the side of the Oppression Ox. As the sword made contact with the Oppression Ox a slight "ding" rang out and Aker's sword was repelled.

'Huuuuuhh...another magical beast that I can't puncture with my sword' Aker's long sigh and thought was slightly irritated. This was now the tenth magical beast that he had the upper hand against but couldn't use his sword to puncture it. It was probably because the Oppression Ox was an earth based magical beast which gave it an extra level of hardness as opposed to those non earth magic beast.

Normally in this situation Aker would move forward and aim for the eye's however his concern was the horns. Due to the angle of the ox's horns he could only swing from the middle section of the ox's head and couldn't come in from the side because the horns would block it.

If he went to the middle of the ox's head to swing the sword for the eye, he would have nothing to hold onto and would run a high risk of being tossed from the ox before he could do any damage. Not only would he not be able to harm the ox and lose his current advantage but he would also be injured and exposed to the ox.

Looking at the ox Aker came up with a brilliantly stupid idea. Aker jumped off the back of the ox and right onto one of the ma.s.sive horns. Before the ox could react, Aker's full weight and strength went into driving the single horn towards the ground. Before the ox knew what happened, it felt its head turn down and its horn and face bury into the ground.

As soon as the horn was about to hit the ground Aker let go as he tumbled across the dirt floor of the arena sustaining light injuries.

The ox however was not so lucky. Face planting into the ground and not being able to stop its momentum the ox's back feet did a full 180 degrees as it began tumbling across the arena. After three awe inspiring tumbles the ox was laid out in the dirt on its back its feet straight up in the air. Somewhere along the way the horn that Aker jumped onto and drove into the ground had broken.

Seeing the sorry state of the ox Aker stood up and dusted himself off.

'How many fights have I won like this? How many close battles can I sc.r.a.pe by and be the winner of? Why? Why is it so hard for me to defeat these beasts but when I check my Peerless Body it's only giving me 5 or 10 points for the battle?'

Aker was baffled. He had thought on this numerous times over the last few weeks and still couldn't come up with an answer.

As Aker picked himself up and walked through the gates that left the arena and led to his home, he was oblivious to the cheering and shouts of "Aker" as his mind was pondering over his previous question. As the months had rolled on more and more people had discovered the huge benefits of betting on Aker.

After getting checked up in the medic station Aker was led back to his cell. In his cell he was focused on absorbing nature particles by pulling them into his body and into his Venas where they would cycle through before being dispersed to his organs.

Aker's mind was not on absorbing nature particles as today's fight with the Oppression Ox had left him befuddled.

In Aker's mind the battle with both the Lava Boar and Oppression Ox was a life and death battle. While he didn't necessarily feel the reaper at his throat he did understand that one slip up and he wouldn't survive.

If that was the case then why was his Peerless Body telling him that his strength and abilities were beyond his opponent to the point that he was just barely receiving points for his battles?

Could his a.s.sumption be wrong? Could his strength versus the strength of his opponent not play a role in how many points he received for his battles? Aker had already dismissed this thought, while he as of yet couldn't definitively prove it, he was fairly confident that the points he received was based on how strong he was compared to his opponent.

Based on how close the fight with each of these Level 1 Basic Magic Beast have been Aker felt like he should be getting hundreds of points for his Peerless Body per battle instead of single digits.

'What am I missing?'

Aker who had been lost in thought for hours suddenly heard "roooooaaaaaaar". The roar rang out rattling both Akers ears and soul, it felt as if though it could shake all of heaven and earth and gave the impression that all living creatures needed to prostrate and bow before it. Before Aker could react the words "Why do you fight?" suddenly entered his mind.

Aker was startled and looked around the cell still slightly shaking from the previous roar. He listened to wait for the screams and yells of the other prisoners as there was no possible way they could have missed such an earth and heaven shattering roar. As Aker listened his ears were met with utter and total silence. There wasn't any indication that the roar that Aker heard truly existed.

After waiting for several minutes Aker chalked the entire situation up to fatigue. Aker who had been studying medicine was fully aware that when the mind was tired and pressured enough that any number of odd and unexplained events could be perceived.

Still Aker was left with the question that suddenly entered his mind "Why do you fight?"

'I fight because I have to in order to survive' was Akers first thought.

However, after that initial thought Aker questioned himself 'Does that mean that if I was released now, I would stop practicing my Peerless Body? I would stop on the path of a magic fighter? No….I would still grow, I would still try and become strong.'

Aker had a flash of insight. This entire time Aker had gone into each battle because he had to, because he was being forced to. His thoughts had been, I have to fight because they are making me fight. I will get revenge because they are making me do something I don't want to do. I will practice because I have to survive.

Aker slowly thought about his battles, slowly thought about his practices. While his advancement with the sword and knife was extraordinary, was he really realizing his full potential? His growth in the fields of medicine, cooking and blacksmithing was astonis.h.i.+ng and even beyond a normal person's comprehension, however, his battle strength wasn't keeping pace with his other skills.

Aker who was truly enthralled with medicine, blacksmithing and cooking hadn't felt the same way about battling.

'I am fighting because they are making me. I'm practicing because I have to fight. I want revenge, but why do I want revenge? Because they took me away from my home? Because the tortured me and threw me in here? Once I get my revenge will I be done?'

Aker began pondering his future. He was so consumed with being ripped away from his home and thrown into The Pit, he never stopped to ask himself if he would still do it. Knowing what he knows now, understanding what he understands now would he still choose to be a magic fighter?

'Yes, no matter what I would still choose to be a magic fighter. I would still choose to advance my Peerless Body.'

Aker didn't even have to consider the answer to the question he would still choose the path of a magic fighter and would still grow his Peerless Body.

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'The only way to grow my Peerless Body is through battle. The only way to grow in the path of a magic fighter is through battle, hahaha...hahahahaha....hahahahahahah...'

Akers thoughts were now running rampant.

"How could I demonstrate my strength when I never wanted to fight in the first place? How could I fight with my full potential when I was behaving as if though I was being pushed into the path? How could I overcome those weaker and inferior to me when I was giving them power over me by denying my strength and exaggerating theirs?" Aker mumbled aloud as his mind was still processing his thoughts.

The answer was becoming obvious to Aker the more he considered it. Could he step back now? Could he go back to just being a normal boy?

'Then why do I fight? I'll fight to protect, I'll fight to destroy and I'll fight to conquer. I'll fight to protect those that are important to me, I'll destroy anything and everybody who threatens what's important to me and I'll conquer everything so that nothing can be a threat.'

Aker could feel the change within himself as he was no longer suffering from a tormenting internal struggle that had been weighing him down, the feeling of being whole and complete washed over Aker's mind. The entire time he had been fighting he had been reluctant and oppressed by it, but now he realized that The Pit was his opportunity. Without The Pit would he have his Peerless Body? Would he have had the opportunity to become a magic fighter?

He now understood that the path he wanted to traverse would lead him into countless life and death situations and he would face countless enemies and struggles on the way. "Hahahahahahaha...hahahahahaha...How fortunate am I that I am allowed to grow step by step here in The Pit?"