Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 53: Strength Enhancement

Stanley looked at Johan, someone he rarely interacted with. As far as he was aware, Johan’s powers had something to do with making him fight better than normally. As for what exactly the powers were, he didn’t know.

He didn’t even know what the requirements were for his powers. Either way, he had to be careful.

Stanley looked at the teacher and wondered, ’Do I have to act like I’m activating my powers too? Will they notice?’

He decided to do it just in case. Freddy was there and he knew about his powers, so it was better to be careful. Otherwise, if they started asking questions about why his physical body was so strong, he would have no answers to tell them, and that may cause him to be an outcast again.

Stanley took a deep breath as the teacher reiterated the rules from the side.

Ever since that day 3 months ago, he hadn’t won a single fight during his training. However, he had been through quite a lot since then.

’Don’t get distracted,’ he told himself. ’The feeling will come. Be prepared for it. Focus on the fight.’

"Now, Begin!"

Stanley gripped his sword tightly and dashed forward with his eyes on the opponent.

The chubby Johan ran forward as well with surprisingly swift dexterity. He swung his sword the same moment Stanley did as well, and the two swords clashed.

For the sake of not hurting his opponent, Stanley had weakened his strike, but to his surprise, his opponent had enough strength to stop him even at his best.

The clash knocked back Stanley’s arms, opening him up for a kick. He quickly brought his left arm to block the attack, but the straight kick still flung him backward.

With that, Johan received 1 point.

’Alright, he’s strong,’ Stanley thought. ’And my danger warning didn’t activate either. Why not? Was it not dangerous?’

Stanley didn’t have time to think as Johan followed up with his attack. He swung at Stanley, who struck back with equal force.

Johan was surprised to see that, but he didn’t falter at the surprise. Instead, he tried to kick once more.

Stanley spun to the side and swung at the man again. Johan blocked the sword with his own sword.

They pushed off of each other and moved backward to reset before jumping back in.

A sword swung to the chest. A kick to the shin. A punch to the chest.

The both of them dodged each other each time the other one attacked and continued their fight for over a minute.

The trainee and teachers were surprised to see how long the fight was lasting. Usually, a fight involving Stanley lasted no more than 20 seconds. As soon as he lost himself to his trauma, the fight would end.

However, this time around, his trauma wasn’t surfacing at all.

’Is it because I know it’s coming that it is not?’ Stanley thought. ’That can’t be. It always comes when I’m in danger.’

As he fought, a thought came to him. ’No, not just danger. Unknown danger,’ he thought. ’So... if I know the danger is coming, it won’t activate?’

That was surely the reason. For now, Stanley would operate under those assumptions.

He continued his fight with Johan, and at one point they clashed so hard that their wooden swords broke into a dozen pieces.

However, just because they didn’t have a sword didn’t mean that the fight was over.

Johan went in for a punch, which Stanley dodged while swinging in with a kick. Johan slanted to the side as the kick flew over him.

He then kicked straight at the unbalanced Stanley. His kick was about to hit when suddenly Stanley dropped entirely, falling to the ground on all 4s. Then, he jumped back up with a spin while back-kicking Johan on the arm.

Johan was blindsided by the attack and ended up taking a kick to the biceps. He stood where he was, without being hurt as much, but he had still lost a point as it was a clean hit.

Johan wasn’t angry or surprised. He was simply confused.

"How are you hitting me so hard?" he asked. "And you can keep up with my attacks too."

"I awakened my powers recently. I have physical enhancement," Stanley said.

"Oh! Like me?" Johan asked. "Do you have to burn away your fat too?"

’Was that what it was?’ Stanley thought. "No, just hold my breath."

"Really?" Johan looked puzzled. "Were you holding your breath this whole time?"

Stanley simply nodded and got ready for battle once again. The two of them squared up and rushed at each other again.

After a few bouts, Stanley managed to barely get in another hit that counted. With a point lead, he only needed one more point to win the fight.

However, that was when the problem started.

As Johan had mentioned, his power involved voluntarily giving up the fat in his body so that he could be physically stronger and faster.

As he gave away more and more fat, while his strength remained the same, with a not-so-fat body, his speed started increasing even more.

As the fight went on, Johan became faster and faster for Stanley to deal with. Then, at one point, he managed to bait Stanley into blocking with his arms, while leaving his stomach open to a kick.

Stanley did not see that coming at all, and that was when his danger warning was triggered.

He had been expecting the trigger to occur soon, but it still didn’t help as much as he had expected.

Not wanting to remember his mother’s death only made him remember it.

’Ignore it. Focus on the fight,’ he told himself as he quickly got back up from the kick. He was starting to breathe heavily, which he had to stop as quickly as possible.

If they saw him breathing this hard while fighting, they would figure out that he was lying about his power.

’Ignore it,’ he told himself again and tried to focus back on the fight. When he did, he realized that Johan was already next to him, ready to attack.