Edge of The Apocalypse: Chapter 12 – The Final Test

Throwing himself onto the metal bed, Allen had no strength left in his body. From noon till dusk, he had repeated the basic movements of Crescent moon non-stop under Ron’s guidance. A simple sweep of his leg took up the whole day’s practice, and it was still not up to Ron’s expectations. It was obvious this monotonous training would accompany Allen for a very long time. 

When analyzed, the “Shida’ technique within the army seemed to be comprised of extremely simple movements even commonfolk could follow, but every action required intensive training, and repeating a single action for more than a million times was something common folk would never do. For example, the Cresent Moon Ron demonstrated had extremely strict requirements for speed, preciseness and strength.

Without meeting those requirements, it would just be a simple sweep of the leg. 

Furthermore, the true essence of the Crescent moon was not on the action, but instead. the balance of the body’s center of gravity. When attacking, one had to constantly find the balance within their bodies, only then can their attacks be truly considered to be Crescent Moon.

After grasping the Crescent Moon technique, it could be applied to the user’s weapon. Only after Allen could treat his weapon as an extension of his body and apply the technique onto Massacre, would he be qualified. And because of the flexibility of Shida, despite mainly comprising of fists and leg techniques, it was still considered the spirit of all combat techniques. 

Staring at the ceiling, Allen felt numb. The three children now had their own rooms made of iron sheets as the treatment they received became considerably better. Other than a metal bed, there was even a closet and a few simple furniture decorating the room. Massacre was propped against the bed, and its black figure made it seem like a simple steel rod.

Soft knocking came from the steel door suddenly, followed by a girl’s voice, “Are you there? Allen.” This surprised Allen. It was Mary, the third girl to ignite her tinder. She was an ordinary-looking girl that was about 14 years old, slightly older than the rest. She was plain, but her long legs were able to attract the gazes of the instructors and soldiers alike.

There were barely any interactions between the children, especially so for Allen who had wholeheartedly focused on training. Much less with this girl, he didn’t even talk to the boys. He was confused, what was Mary trying to do now?

As he opened the door, Mary bolted inside. The girl’s hands held onto the corner of his shirt and her gaze swept past the black steel dadao, composing her heavy breathing, an embarrassed smile appeared on her face, “ I guessed that you just got back.”

Allen had never been so close with a girl before, much less stayed in a room alone with one. A normal child of his age would have been aware of the differences in a man and a woman, but Allen was someone who had extremely little contact with humans since turning five. To his confusion, he instinctively felt nervous, why would he be afraid of a seemingly weak girl when he wasn’t afraid of murder and bloodshed? 

He sat on his bed and lowered his head to hide his uneasiness, “Can I help you?”

Mary moved to sit next to him, “I want to become your partner.”

“Partner?”

Allen raised his head, and to his surprise,  his face was inches away from hers. Quickly retreating backwards, he watched as the girl nodded, “I don’t like Mao, so you see, maybe we can become partners to kill his chances of surviving.” the girl paused, “Its simple, I only want to survive. I’ve heard that the test in two months will only have one survivor. If we work together, eliminating Mao wouldn’t be a problem.”

Allen’s brows furrowed, “Then what?”

“I’ll escape this place, and you can report back to the barracks to say you’ve killed me as well. Even though I’ve ignited my tinder, I’ve used the drugs thrice, according to the instructors, I only have ten more years to live. Therefore, this chance to change my fate is completely useless to me. I only want to enjoy the rest of my time, it’s that simple.”  Mary’s gaze was pure as she stared at Allen.

And after a minute, Allen replied with a low voice, “ You shouldn’t have told me this….”

“No, I really am sincere about becoming your partner. I can help you, and I can make you happy…” She gently placed Allen’s hand onto her thighs.

This was the first time Allen had touched someone of the opposite sex, despite the rugged training she had gone through, the touch of her uneven skin was still a new experience for him. And as she led his hand towards the depths of her thighs, Allen instinctively knew what was next.

And as the temperature of the steel sheet room increased, Ron’s abrupt voice came from outside, “Mary, get out now. I know you’re inside, do not test my patience.”

Mary’s face changed immediately as she ran out of the room. A loud slap could be heard, followed by Ron’s angry berating. Coming out of his room, Allen could see Mary running in the distance. He turned to the lieutenant, who was looking at him with a roguish smile, “You should thank me, kid. If it weren’t for me, you’d probably be too tired for training tomorrow.”

“Get back into bed, forget everything about that woman. What you need to think about is surviving, with enough power, you can get any woman you want.” Ron turned to the direction the girl had disappeared to, “As for her, she’s just a lowly whore.”

In the following month, Allen constantly repeated the same monotonous training. To him, the most blissful time was the two hours of meditation training. There were two methods to train Origin, one of which was meditation that aided in the control of the Origin’s circulation in the body that strengthened it. In this process, if the user reached a certain level of tranquility, they could even reach the depths of their gene to extract Origin. As for the other method, it was much simpler, but also more dangerous. 

Through battles, one could nurture their sense for combat. At the threshold of death and life, the function of a human’s brain will reach its peak, and at that moment, the speed of the Origin’s circulation was more than ten times, or even a hundred times faster than what meditation could achieve. And after every near-death experience, the strength of the survivor would increase exponentially. Of course, it was impossible to rely on only one of the methods, the best way to temper Origin was by combining the two methods together. 

After a month, Allen finally fulfilled the basic requirements of Crescent Moon. As he kicked open a steel dummy’s head, he was able to barely reach the speed, strength, and preciseness needed for the technique. Only then did Ron allow him to begin training with Massacre using the same technique. The only difference this time was the weapon used, but the difficulty increased by a few times. Thanks to the foundation he previously built, it only took Allen half the time to achieve the bare requirements of the move. And when he did, he was able to condense his third Origin Vortex after the constant intense training and meditation.

Today, Ron had begun to teach the advanced steps in Crescent Moon.

Allen had to understand and grasp the point of balance between the chain of attacks, something Ron called the breathing of combat.

“There is a subtle balance between inhaling and exhaling when you breathe, and it helps to maintain a certain level of oxygen in your lungs. By finding the balance point between your attacks, your movements can become as natural as breathing. As your attacks become smoother, there would be fewer openings in your movements, which gives your opponent more pressure. Remember, combat is about pressuring your enemy to find an opportunity to deal the finishing blow. There is no point in using any excess movements, we are fighters and killers, not performers or dancers!”

From this day onwards, Allen’s physical training was cut in half and the remaining time was all spent on training the Crescent Moon technique. Every single day, Ron would only let him off after pushing him to his limits. And after that strange night, Allen never spoke to Mary again, when they occasionally bumped into each other, they would simply nod as a greeting. 

And as Allen’s grasp of the technique got exponentially better, Mao and Mary didn’t waste their time either, all of the three children underwent their own specialized training in this time. Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye, during which Allen was able to achieve some enlightenment into the technique and was now able to execute Crescent Moon five times consecutively with Massacre. This meant that once Allen gained the chance to attack, his opponent would have to wait for five moves for an opportunity to counterattack. 

If Allen’s Origin was stronger and his understanding of the technique got better, he would be able to continue increasing the number of consecutive attacks he could execute. And once he was able to execute one hundred attacks consecutively, he would’ve grasped a popular combat technique: Thousand Moons! 

Those capable of reaching that standard were at least a lieutenant like Ron in the army. 

And on the last day of the fifth month, the children enjoyed a precious day of leisure. Other than leaving the barracks, they could do anything they wanted. And on the next day, they would have their last, and most important test in the barracks. 

The three children would be tossed into the mountain forest behind the barracks, and in the next three days, they had to eliminate the other two people to gain the right to leave.

The next day was a battle for survival, and it also concerned his fate. Allen didn’t waste his time, he continued to train his technique with the steel dummies in the room. As for the other two, they had locked themselves together into their room, enjoying a day of madness. After being disrupted by Ron, Mary changed her target and hooked up with Mao. This meant that Allen had to fight the two of them together tomorrow. 

Just before sunset, Allen left the isolated room. As a result of his training, countless pieces of the dummies could be seen scattered around, and one of them in particular had seven deep gashes. Looking at the damage, Ron smiled. Allen’s technique had improved yet again, increasing by 2 more attacks, it was an improvement in his attacks of about 30%. 

And this progress only took a day. Ron had great expectations for this white-haired boy. 

And after a good rest, Allen woke up to the dim sunlight peeking through his windows on the second day. Picking up Massacre from the corner of the room, his fingers glided past the cold blade. Raising his head, there was a burning fighting spirit visible in his bright red eyes!

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