Chapter 25: Strengthened Instincts

Awareness was not innate. A human could have sensitivity the same way as artificial intelligences.

However, no one was truly 'aware' from the start.

Every child born into the world started off as a blank slate. Their only guideline innate systems.

The circulation of blood, breathing, ejection of waste substances, etc etcetera… It was all instinct.

Nothing more than their sensitivity as a human.

And what made them more 'humane' over time was the creation of awareness. Their viewpoint in life.

The chaotic sounds coming out of their parent's mouth became 'words'. This, along with 'actions'.

New concepts were born as awareness expanded.

Especially when it came to the nature of social behaviour and physics. The normal state of mind.

Though this 'normality' wasn't present one time…

There was once a child of the surname 'Stuman'. A baby boy birthed with an innately high awareness. 

His parents were worried about him throughout life.

Tests showed that though not psychologically unstable or born with a disability, he had symptoms  that were similar to psychopathy. Although this notion was dropped in favour of having a high IQ.

From what the data of child psychologist's had shown, the young boy had no 'antisocial deviance'.

Rather, he seemed highly attuned with impulse control and deep-rooted empathy towards others.

The only problem was his deficient emotional responses to stimuli. A contradictory trait to have.

This result puzzled the couple, but what could they do? Only their child could probably tell them why.

The only thing they could do was see how he'd react growing up in a 'normal' school environment.

And as they expected… He'd grown up well.

A class president in high school with an above average academic performance in middle school.

What better could they hope for the young boy?

He'd exceeded all their expectations.

However, none of them knew the true thoughts of that boy. After all, an psychological analysis was only an outer evaluation. No one could know how he felt unless he voiced them out personally.

A thing he'd never done throughout the years.

The teenager who would later have his name changed to 'Simon Rainglow' embodied altruism.

His eyes clear of prejudice and subjective opinion.

He walked around the hallways with his back straight as a sword when school recess initiated.

His eyes perpetually narrowed and sharp…

It didn't seem like he enjoyed his place in the world.

There was a darkness- No, an emptiness that consumed him while he was in his teenage years.

Simon never knew what 'enjoyment' tasted like…

He just did as he was supposed to on the narrow line his parents had drawn. No more, no less.

Never pushing himself to exceed the average.

That was… until having an fateful encounter.

"You know… smoking isn't accepted at school. If I see you doing it again, it will be reported." 'Simon' grabbed the lit cigarette out of the mouth of a youth who was skipping class. Eyes full of doubt.

He wondered how the youth was skipping class.

"You don't know me, right? If you really did, you wouldn't have done that." The delinquent smirked.

"I won't repeat myself." Seeing the class president bring up such a boring topic, the youth got angry.

But he quickly stopped himself from exploding out.

It looked like he got interested in this block of wood. The class president who everyone knew.

Despite not wearing glasses, the descriptors those who knew of the NERD was 'Glasses', or 'Textbook'.

His lack of originality piqued the youth's interest. 

"You don't have many friends, do you?"

"Define 'friends'."

"See~! You just admired it," The delinquent pointed while circling around the 'prez' with a teasing look.

He continued while extending a pack to him:

"You should try it, my father likes them."

"Nicotine is easy to get addicted to and hard to put down. The long term side effects are never good."

"…So you're telling me not to smoke?"

"I'm just confused on why you would." The class prez's those sincere eyes made the youth falter.

"Anyway… My name is Ron, and what about you?"

"I'll tell you if you quit smoking."

"You're still gonna harp on? Fine, alright." The class skipper threw the cigarette box into the trash can.

The two of them hit it off straight after.

Their conversations the longest 'Simon' ever had.

For the first time, he'd laughed at another's joke. A response that never happened since he was born.

It made him cherish this 'friend' he had made.

'I should care about him.' For the first time, he had an inking of bias towards one person in particular.

An occurrence that didn't happen with his parents.

To the point that he felt like the world changed with Ron was around. There was something different…

After class on another day, he spoke his thoughts:

"I feel like I was born to meet you."

"That's the gayest thing I've ever heard." The once well-known delinquent was back to doing classes.

He could feel the clinginess of his good friend…

"…But I'm being sincere?"

"Is this a confession?"

"Probably…"

"Then I decline your feelings. I'm happy enough you're tutoring me." He lifted a textbook at him.

The words on it reading: {English Literature}

'Simon' laughed at the irony when it came to what he joked and what the class had been about.

And the topic they were looking at for this was the story of Romeo and Juliet. About a certain scene.

That was the death of the two lovers…

"Stop… Your sense of humour is out of what. I mean, I get it though… but…" Ron tilted his head.

He couldn't quite explain the cognitive dissonance.

Especially when a quiet guy suddenly starts and stops laughing at such abrupt intervals after a joke.

It wasn't exactly 'normal'…

"…Sorry." The nerd wiped away his deep smirk.

"Anyway, what did you think of the class?"

"So you actually paid attention." The deadpan face 'Simon' always had on was immediately equipped.

"Miss wasn't exactly letting me doze off."

"So you mean about the question she asked? The one about what meaning their death meant to us?"

"Yeah, that…"

"Errr…" Despite his various talents, the reason he was simply called 'Glasses' in school showed itself.

His answer was all the reason they called him that:

"That they had bad luck, couldn't get away from adult interference, and made the wrong choices."

"That's a textbook answer. What about YOUR thoughts? I'm really trying to help you on this, so-"

"Alright. I'll try to give a proper answer." He logical and consistent mind went through all probabilities.

From what he read, the two loved each other enough to go against their families to be together.

And they either drank poison or fatally stabbed themselves whenever they thought the other died.

Meaning…

"I think they just wanted to die." This answer got a cold stare from his friend, so he quickly elaborated:

"Knowing they'd have to live in a world without their significant other, they lost their will to live. I saw a lot of our classmates bringing up different thoughts, but no one brought up that simple fact."

"Yeah, because it's so obvious…"

"But that doesn't mean it's not significant."

"That's what I mean by 'being obvious'. Can't you add some flare to it that hasn't been said before?"

"Just listen… It's not a bad answer. It's not like you came up with a better one after being asked of it."

"…I just told her what it meant to me."

"And your opinion was that Romeo should've aimed for higher peaks after Juliet died. Really? REALLY?"

"I guess she would've slapped him after she woke up from that fake poison thing, so it's a little bad."

"That's not- You know… Let's just go with that." A long sigh came out of the class president's mouth.

"But you can't say I'm wrong. If he lived longer and just accepted being single, they would have lived."

"If they hadn't wanted to die, they both would've lived for a lot longer." Was what 'Simon' countered.

The two of them argued over this over a long time.

They never stopped bringing up this argument.

'Love and Death' was a totally different concept from 'Love and War'. They two words didn't mingle.

At least the latter was about desire and trampling over others to get what you want, but this wasn't it.

The story was the former… 

Romeo deeply loved Juliet, but his love brought forth a feeling of dependence on only her warmth.

Without her, life wasn't worth living anymore.

But choosing to die had lead to irreversible results.

Maybe if he'd accepted the death of his love, they both would've been able to live a life together.

Though their 'argument' about it was nonsensical because they ended up at the same conclusion.

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Death is not a solution…

…but it's definitely something those who know how to love consider. A point 'Simon' took time learning.

If he had understood from the beginning, then…

*Clank!*

The stimulation caused by a sword hitting one of his demonic bull horns woke him back to reality.

His mind was confused…

"Huh? Where was I again? Where's Ron?" Simon asked while moving his arms to redirect a sword.

There were many techniques he saw being used.

Swordsmanship of different variants, staff to axe to hammer to spear mastery, and usage of firearms.

'Black stars' kept on manifesting out of Adam's body and turning into many weapons to fight with.

Simon's memory finally recovered again…

"Oh yeah, he left…" A certain memory arose while disarming the blackened figure to do proper CQC.

His bad memories interrupted by a look of awe…

"Since when did you know these things?" The devil spoke while exchanging blows with his opponent.

Not only did Adam show many forms, but he seemed to be influenced by a comprehensive style.

He had the fists of a Street Boxer, the elbows of a Muay Thai expert, the grapples of a Jujitsu practitioners, the grip of a Judo grappler, the body of a Karate master… and the list went on and on.

The most damning thing was the man's 'Kung Fu'.

Rather than stopping his movements to copy the posture of an animal, his body would alter slightly.

If he needed a tail for the 'Scorpion Style', he'd grow a poisonous tail. If he needed the claws of a feline for the Tiger Style, they'd grow. Even if he subtly changed from Tiger to a similar but more agile style of a Panther, his muscles would adapt.

This was the greatest aspect of 'Empty Darkness'.

And that wasn't all.

The Landlord wasn't interrupting his hand-to-hand movements to switch to weapon styles, he was bolstering his Kung Fu with everything else. His body became the nexus point for all martial arts.

This made the devil look at him in awe…

"I learnt from you." The blackened figure finally spoke. He was covered in a layer of 'emptiness'.

Red lines of blood energy marking his body…

Was this the survival instinct he'd tapped into?

His memory was bad, so he couldn't remember how long they were fighting and what he'd taught.

But the smoker remembered his original intentions.

Teaching to influence external strength wasn't what Simon intended. In fact, it was more internal.

He wanted to teach Adam the strength of mind.

But the only way to do that was by cornering him.

The drunkard turned chainsmoker took a deep 'sip' of the mind withering compound in his Black Cigar.

His sanity started to waver once again, and the memories he'd lost shifted his personality again.

"…Where was I again?" This question hurt Adam.

He had seen this exact thing happen multiple times over the decades. His 'emptiness' staying strong…

…only to be repeatedly hit by this stupid question.

Their relationship starting from point zero all over again. He wondered how long it would take now.

The last time Simon took a deep sip of his Black Cigar, he'd been in an unstable state for months.

The time only extending the more he did so.

However, that didn't make him get any weaker.

"I remember… I remember…" The 'rhythm' the old geezer's attacks changed abruptly from before.

The black void-like world changed in his eyes…

Hallucinations of a large palace overlaid the world he was seeing. The aggressor had also changed.

To him, Adam became no more than an assassin.

One sent to make sure he die on his throne.

"I am… the King of all Beasts, Alex Stuman!" A roar came out of the horned devil's mouth straight after.

His attack pattern becoming extremely ferocious.

Rather than one style of Kung Fu, the demonic man chose the one that was most suitable for his body.

The choice he made being… Jeet Kune Do.

Ironically, also called the 'Human Style' of Kung Fu.

He didn't copy Bruce Lee, the founder of this particular style. Rather, he inherited the philosophy.

Simplicity, directness, individuality, and freedom.

How a fighter's specific form of Jeet Kune Do was highly based on how they put their moves together.

The 'Form Of No Form' meant to be highly adaptive and changing based off your situational awareness.

Which was exactly why the horned devil took on a fictional 'Bull Style' by raising his hands up high.

Since he was taller than Adam when standing straight, this seemed like an odd choice for Simon.

Raising your arms meant less defence for your lower body. The same with such a straight back.

It was as if he was inviting the Landlord to tackle.

However, his opponent had learned his lesson many times before. He wouldn't fall for this.

A 'black star' of energy shaped itself into the projection of a gun type Spirit Essence in his hand.

One powerful sniper bullet traversed the distance…

Only to be blocked by the near invulnerable body of the king. Simon laughed, taunting his weak foe:

"Assassin, you have chose the wrong palace to intrude. I'd spare your life, but only after showing you why your weapons should never point at me again." The demonic man proudly charged toward.

His arms like the horned of a bull…

Adam's shock on how 'different' the quality of his current dark persona dissipated. No time for that!

He needed to find a way past that defence!

Regardless of whether Simon's mad ravings were true or not, he'd only focused on his survival.

Anything else could be thought about another day.

For that, the blackened figure 'evolved' once again to match the strength of his overpowering foe.

All martial arts had one nexus point…

Therefore, he also needed to steal that technique.

Adam transformed into a chimera of different animal parts. His 'stars' forming into a 'black sun'.

This time, the manifestation he made hovered above the ground telekinetically… glowing silver.

A new power had emerged!

He collided and focused his attacks all on the horns of Simon. It was the geezer's weak point.

However, all his great evolutions were for naught…

"Judgement shall fall like a hammer on those who defy my reign! Tyrannical? Tell your bastard employer that the people summoned me as the king. The throne is rightfully mine by destiny!"

More mad ravings that didn't make sense came out of Simon mouth. Then, two arms dropped forward.

This was a 'Double Hammer Mongolian Chop' that was altered from the wresting move of same name.

The move eerily similar to Shane's 'Hammer Drop'.

Two hands crashed into Adam's shoulders before his body or weapon could make any contact…

…and his body literally exploded straight after.

The difference in their strength like night and day.

'I will never win.' As his body was regenerating, the Landlord finally admitted inwardly that he'd lost.

Winning once against Simon was just a dream.

He had already known it when the old devil showed his separate mastery in many forms of martial arts.

However, now it was even more clear than before.

His survival instincts started faltering at that moment. He wanted to beg for the man to stop.

Unfortunately, this had proven to be a useless act.

The chain-smoking demonic man would never listen. He'd continue to destroy him inside and out.

…Until there was nothing left.

The moonlight silver weapon he'd evolved started to melt… all until it vanished upon hitting the floor.

The darkness covering his body also weakened…

To protect his mind, he finally shut off consciousness. Choosing to fight on autopilot.

If he was going to lose anyway, he was going to make sure his mind could survive in the end.

That was his choice when seeing an eternal hell.

Adam would never lose hope!

In fact, the irrationality of the events only made his will to live strong enough to become its own entity.

To the point that ego could fight on his behest…

The moment Adam fell into a deep slumber, the melted weapon fused with the shade around him.

His Semblance became independent.

His body crumbling to the point if became a complete reverse of his fighting style from earlier.

Rather than a humanoid chimera, the blackened figure turned into a chimera with humanoid parts.

It even ran on four legs rather than two…

This eternal stalemate finally broke a while later when the door to the outside world showed itself.

Figures walked through that shining exit…

The only thing distracting was that it was more than Hyuk and Sebas, there were women too.

Their focus being taken on the battle at hand.

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