IN VERSION

Advanced Ability users are very rare. About less than five percent of Ability Users evolve to the Advanced stage. Ability users comprise of exactly 3.7 percent of the world population. This meant that with the Advanced Ability users were less than 0.2 percent of the entire world population."

TIME PASSED: Approximately 133 hrs. 35mins (Day 6)

LOCATION: Valeria (Ruined world)

"Alright, time's up!" Darey hollered at the two boys laying on the ground.

It had been a bit over an hour since they had concluded the first part of the training, and now all that was left was their challenge with Darey. Judging by the time they had spent, they still had plenty of time left before calling it quits for the day. The day was still young.

"About time" Tenny said as he stood up, full of vigor and energy.

"We're ready!" Kyron stated almost immediately Tenny finished speaking.

"Good, now then..." Darey said, with a wicked grin on his face. "Just for good measure, I'll revise the rules."

"All you have to do is hit me three times, and it's your win. Use all means necessary. Should you receive any severe injuries, I'll be forced to treat you, which will lead to your loss, and you'll have to start from scratch. Also should the time be up, and you're not done, the next day you also start from the very beginning." Darey stated. "Any objections?"

"Well, what if one of us is injured, but the other is still fine?" Tenny asked.

"That also results in your loss, so make sure no one slows the other down, and make sure you cover yourselves" Darey said with a smile.

"B-But..." Tenny said, nearly in protest, but decided against it. "Fine" He finally agreed.

"Good." Darey said with a tone of finality. "Now... In the absence of no other objection, let us start."

The three boys were standing, looking at one another, on the wasteland of a planet. Darey stood over 18 meters from them, so they first had to close the distance. That, however, wasn't the issue. Both of the boys could travel that distance in no time, but they hesitated. Darey was their target, but they knew... That in reality, their positions were reversed. Darey was in all truth the hunter.

Sweat dripped down Tenny's face. He already knew he stood no chance against Darey. He had seen Darey in action a lot of times and had realized the vast difference in their abilities. However...

"Everyone has a weakness! Even for Darey, he needs to have several." Tenny stated to himself. "Darey said so himself. All abilities have weaknesses, and since he has multiple abilities, that means he has a lot of weaknesses." Tenny reasoned.

Tenny had already devised his strategy. He just needed to drag the battle for as long as he could. That way, he could observe and analyze Darey's abilities. After knowing them, he would probe at their weaknesses, and then use them to his advantage. He had already seen quite a few of Darey's abilities already, and so all he needed to do was to figure out the rest.

"How many could even they be?" Tenny asked himself.

He estimated a few dozen at least, and then a hundred at most. They would take him a lot of time to discover and counter, but in the remaining time they had, they could achieve it. Since the total amount of time they would be spending in training was 720 hours, and they had expended 133 hours, that would leave 587 hours left.

Tenny estimated it would take 500 hours at most to fully learn all of Darey's abilities, counter them and ultimately defeat Darey. That meant that remaining 87 hours or preferably less would be used in his inevitable battles with Kyron. Seeing how the events were unfolding, he would not underestimate his enemy. He would use all the time he had to the maximum, and then... He would WIN!

Kyron glanced over at Tenny, who seemed to be in the middle of analysis. He had basically gotten the gist of Tenny's plan. It was a sound one, totally efficient and logical, but still, Kyron could not shake off the bad premonitions he was having. Was it due to instinct? The success of Tenny's plan hinged on Darey's level of power in the end. Kyron did not want to overestimate Darey, but he could not afford to underestimate Darey either. He had to just try the best he could, as long as he WON!

Darey smiled at the two boys who were before him. They had no idea how little their chances of victory were, or even how to increase their chances of success.

"I guess when it comes down to it... They just have to see for themselves..." Tenny said under his breath "... How nonexistent their chances are."

Immediately after he completed this statement, Darey vanished from sight, and before both Tenny or Kyron could react he was behind them. As Tenny's eyes were about to close and Kyron prepared to leap away, Darey snapped his fingers, which caused the activation of one of his abilities, 'NERVE CORROSION'.

"ARGHHHHHH!" Both of the boys felt pain course through their bodies, but could not express them as they fell down, paralyzed.

"NERVE CORROSION can be regarded as a fatal move. Within minutes you both will die." Darey said softly. "Also, the longer the ability is active on you, the more severe the side effects will be, even if the ability is deactivated eventually. Worst case scenario is total paralysis of the body and nerve disorder. Brain damage is also a possibility..." Darey said calmly.

"Now with the both of you not having any solution to this ability, i call it my win, after all i can't have you boys waste precious time recovering instead of training." Darey said as he snapped his fingers again, which undid his ability.

"Ahh" Tenny heaved as he felt feeling return to his body as he rose up from the ground.

"That was... New" Kyron stuttered as he spoke.

"Indeed. If i had used it when i was right in front of you, Tenny might have had the chance to quickly blink out of the range of the ability. As for you, Kyron, if i had performed this head on, your strong mind might have resisted it, if you were on guard. Therefore, by catching you by surprise i eliminated the both of you while you were still recoiling from shock.

"I-I see..." Tenny hesitantly spoke.

"It'll definitely take us a lot of time and efforts, but eventually... We'll win!" Tenny said to himself.

"Just so you know, our fight didn't even last a minute. You both have to do better next time." Darey pointed out. "Remember, this is a training for me as well, so you better prove to be challenges for me." He stated bluntly.

"A-A minute?" It felt longer than that to Tenny. He then decided, he was going to surpass his limits, and then, given time, he would definitely last an hour, two hours, and then as long as was possible. "I won't lose!" Tenny resolved.

"Now... Since you lost, I assume you know what awaits you." Darey hinted.

"Ah, y-yes." Kyron and Tenny said, breaking out of their thoughts.

"Time to start over... From scratch!" Darey said with a huge grin on his face, as the two other boys expressed weary faces.

TIME PASSED: Approximately 420 hrs. (Day 18)

[Progress] : The challengers only lasted 10 MINUTES against Darey.

TIME LEFT: 300 hrs

TO BE CONTINUED...