GODGAME

Adrenaline Rush

'Cough! Cough! Cough!!~'

Ren collapsed onto the mattress, unsure of which part of his body to clutch first.

As the agony slowly dulled out from his nerves, it left behind that same, heavy sense of absolute dread.

"Seventy times," he choked out, sweat dripping from his chin onto the sheets. "I have gone into that Sparring Void seventy damn times! And I can't even last a single second before getting knocked out."

He stared down at his wrapped bandaged forearms. "If what happens in the Sparring Void translated directly to reality, I would have died an hour ago from crushed bones, internal bleeding, hemorrhage, and shock."

He fell backward against the pillows, inhaling and exhaling in ragged, shallow gasps, right on the verge of hyperventilating.

"...I don't understand. I can't do anything! I can't dream of coming close to throwing a single punch at that shadow."

Instead of closing his eyes and risking another immediate trip to the meat grinder, Ren forced himself to look at the ceiling and think it through.

"The only thing the System rewards me for getting pulverized is Pain Tolerance. But it feels like the more I get hit there, the faster my mind absorbs the shock when I wake up."

He sat up slightly, staring out the window. "What's the point of a fight I can't win? What am I missing? I'm obviously not an advanced fighter, but there has to be something else gained from this void. There has to be."

The only response from the penthouse was the rustling of the silk curtains and the distant, low crash of ocean waves.

"What exactly am I doing wrong? How do I attack an opponent that is ten times faster and exponentially stronger than me? Is there anything inside me that scales up when the fight starts?"

He let out a heavy sigh, pushing the air past his teeth.

It didn't lift the massive weight off his shoulders, but it stopped his mind from spinning.

"...In two weeks, Takeda's real training starts. If I can't even comprehend how to fight in there, how am I going to survive whatever that stern man puts me through?"

Ren stood up from the bed.

Dragging the heavy metal IV pole along with him, he began to pace the polished floor of the bedroom.

"An opponent that isn't human. Faster in every possible metric."

He stopped tracking his footsteps. "I just have to match the speed. If I'm fast enough to dodge the initial strike, I can buy enough time to map out an angle. Then, I can figure out how to counter."

Ren looked down at his right hand. "But the last time I threw a punch at Za in the real world, my fingers and arm shattered into kindling. How can I even manage—"

He froze.

Ren moved his fingers, curling them into a loose fist, then rotating his wrist.

Beyond a slight soreness from the tight gauze, there was no structural pain, or grinding bone not even a torn ligament.

"Too much happened at once," he muttered. "I didn't stop to think about it. How am I completely healed? Did the System patch me up, or is my Essence doing this?"

Shaking his head, he forced himself to focus back on the immediate threat.

He walked back to the edge of the bed and sat down heavily on the mattress.

"Experience is the best teacher. To move faster than an apex predator..." A small, gritty smirk formed on his lips. "I know what to do. Or at least, I know what I'm capable of trying."

He inhaled deeply, held the air in his lungs for three seconds, and exhaled.

"Okay. Let's get this done."

Ren closed his eyes.

The moment his mind hit a state of absolute calm, He was standing right back on the suspended platform inside the Sparring Void.

"Yeah," he whispered, looking into the darkness. "This is officially the beginning of my lifelong trauma."

He cracked his neck, rolled his shoulders, and kicked his legs out to test his footing. "Alright. Round seventy-one."

A few yards ahead, the pixelated light formed itself back together, creating the pitch-black shadow personification of Za.

[BEGIN!]

The shadow didn't wait for Ren, before accelerating forward with that same terrifying, physics-defying velocity.

Ren took a sharp breath.

Focus!

As the shadow closed the distance, Ren's eyes tracked each angle of the shadow.

There has to be a tell. There's something I'm not seeing!

The distance closed to a matter of feet.

'Normally, when I throw a straight punch, I channel my entire weight to ensure the kinetic force focuses entirely on one point. What happens if I take that exact same explosive energy... and drop it into my feet?'

Ren's pupils contracted as the shadow's arm drew back, the air distorting around its forming fist.

He continued with his thoughts:

'I will transfer the energy, I won't throw a punch, I'll stop trying to hit it! I have to move away and dodge!'

Ren snapped his hands up into a tight peek-a-boo guard and drove his weight downward into his heels.

'I will have to exert the force...'

The shadow's fist launched straight for the center of his chest

'USE THAT SAME ENERGY!'

'TO MOVE!'

BOOM!

The shadow's knuckles cut through the space where Ren had been standing a millisecond prior, the massive wind pressure of the miss creating a sharp acoustic crack that echoed through the void.

The platform fell silent.

The shadow slowly turned its head.

Its target wasn't there.

A few feet to the left, Ren was panting heavily, his legs trembling from the uncoordinated violence of his sudden lateral movement.

His brain had barely been able to keep up with his own body.

But as he looked down at his legs, a massive grin broke through his shock.

"It worked. It actually worked!!"

DING!

[New Skill Unlocked: Level 1 Adrenaline Rush!]

"Adrenaline Rush..." Ren whispered, the pieces clicking together. "So that's the trigger? Adrenaline? When the body enters an absolute flight-or-fight threshold, the System lets me manipulate the output, forcing the kinetic energy directly into my legs."

The shadow didn't give him time to celebrate dodging a punch.

Moving instantly from the missed strike, it moved on its heel and threw a blinding left hook aimed right at Ren's jaw.

Instinct took over.

Ren snapped his upper torso backward and slipped downward, the shadow's fist shaving past his hair.

As he ducked, his eyes locked onto the creature's exposed flank.

'An opening!'

Ren drew a massive breath, filling his lungs to capacity.

He squeezed his fists so hard the blood stopped circulating to his fingertips, turning his knuckles a stark, ghostly white.

He drove his weight upward, aiming a devastating counter-punch straight at the center of the shadow's chest.

But before his knuckles could land, the shadow cleanly rotated its torso, pulling its arm back to meet Ren's strike with a counter-punch of its own.

'Oh no...'

Ren's pupils dilated as he saw the incoming collision.

'My arm is going to shatter again...'

'MY ARM—.. Oh No...'

The memory of his broken bones flashed in his mind, but a sudden surge of defiance burned through the fear.

His jaw clamped tight.

'I won't get anywhere if I stay terrified. I have to attack. I have to win! I don't care if this is just a simulation... I have to win!'

His grip tightened further, the bones in his hand groaning under the internal pressure.

'I HAVE TO WIN!'

CRUNCH...

CRACK...

BAM!

Fist collided with fist.

The monumental return of pressure didn't break Ren's hand this time.

Instead, the explosive buildup of kinetic force detonated outward.

The resulting shockwave sent the shadow flying backward, its dark form tumbling wildly across the platform before rocketing clean over the boundaries and disappearing into the endless abyss.

Ren stood frozen in his follow-through stance, his right arm completely outstretched, his fingers curled tight.

He blinked, staring at the empty space ahead. "Eh?"

He slowly lowered his arm, looking at his unblemished knuckles, then back at the edge of the platform.

"EHHHH?!?!"