The Absolute: Humanity's Second Chance

Kang~

The hammer fell upon the piece of metal once again, and this time, the young man felt like his entire being melded together with the hammer. He fell like he was falling with the hammer.

He had, become the hammer.

Kang~

They, the hammer and the young man, fell upon the metal once again, and this time, they melded into the three states of the flames, entering a cycle of refinement, purification and self forging.

He had become one with the flames.

Kang~

They fell upon the metal piece, and it exploded out into star-like sparks that lit up the entire room, making everything seem Heavenly. But they disregarded that.

They then incorporated themselves into the metal, and underwent refinement, purification and self forging together.

They all became one.

Kang~

They all became the hammer. Hammering down on themselves.

Kang~

They all became the Flame, refining themselves within the extreme heat.

Kang~

They all became the metal piece, and then embodied the final product.

Kang~

They finally... became the product. And at that very moment, they exploded out into blazing orange-red flames that lit up the room.

Bang!!

And the final product was born. A red blazing orb that cried out of divinity and power, being a half failed, half succeeded godly artifact.

"Whoo~ Another failure, huh." The young man thought, as the flames burning all over his body died out, and his synchrony with the hammer fell apart.

He threw the finished product within another pile of similarly forged products, that numbered in the tens. Some were red, some were blue, some were purple etc.

But none were complete.

The young man took a piece of cloth besides his door and wiped his hands, then used another one to wipe the sweat off his face.

But overall, he was still dirty and sweaty.

He then left the forge room to catch some air. The day had just begun, and he still had a lot of time in his hands. So resting was necessary.

Once outside, he saw a cloaked individual moving towards his direction and he put an amiable smile on his face. The streets were awfully quiet, yet he ignored that.

He greeted, "Good morning sir, long journey right? Is there something that I can help–"

But while he was greeting with a smile, and a polite gesture, the cloaked man disappeared, and abruptly appeared before him.

Then a wind piecing fist abruptly came out of nowhere and smashed heavily on the left side of his cheeks, cutting short his greeting.

Bang!!

The fist sent him flying like a canon ball and smashing onto a house nearby, toppling it down to nothing but rumbles, while his figure flew out of the rumbles and smashed into the next few following houses.

"..."

*** Flint Falsar ***

My name is Flint. Just Flint. But if you will, you can call me Flint Falsar. Everybody here was a Falsarian, a Falsar, a resident of Falsari.

We are a small tribe of less than ten thousand individuals. And if we are correct, we are the only tribe throughout the whole world.

Thus there is only us, within this vast world. And that is why we treat everyone and everything with compassion, for our race might go extinct any other day.

But that is irrelevant today.

"..."

Haaah~

I sighed to myself, in disappointment at that. I had a feeling that something was wrong, yet I still went on and pretended otherwise.

I mean, the shady cloak, the hidden appearance, the gray mask, all these spelled out 'dangerous', and yet I acted as if he was my friend.

Aiy~

I helped myself up and dusted off the dust and dirt of myself. I did not feel much pain, nor did I suffer damage from that. But not that I would like to experience it everyday.

I took a deep breathe and cleared out my thoughts. Let's just hope he's not another foe. I am tired of killing these guys already.

"...Sir, there might be a mistake. Am I the person you're looking for?" I smiled my usual smile, and tried to brush this off as a wrong encounter. I have done this often.

But the cloaked individual ignored me altogether, and kept walking towards me with steady, relaxed steps. He was not bothered by my words whatsoever.

"..."

I was speechless and slowly retreated with every step he took. The closer he got, the more I would be forced to fight. And honestly, I am not a fan of–

The man vanished out of sight out of the blue, and my senses alarmed me of danger. Of course, it was not to the point of life threatening, but I'd be displeased regardless.

I heightened my senses and was ready to receive an attack from any direction.

And indeed, an attack did come. One that was fast and quite powerful at that, and it was coming from... besides me!!

I hurriedly reacted and placed my hands before the left side of my face, and braced myself for impact.

Bang!!

The fist struck and the collision was loud, like thunder roaring within the clouds. The force of the collision was not great. At least, not great enough to push me back.

"Sir, please, we don't have to do this." I tried once again, only to be met with a thunderous punch that went straight for my face.

Oi, what's wrong with my face?

Why is he targeting only it?!

I hurriedly lowered my center of gravity and avoided the fist, but it was clear that I made a great, grave mistake.

For when I bent low to avoid the fist, I was met by a knee strike that directly struck my nose, and sent me staggering two to three steps backwards.

And within this fight, that was a bad move.

"..."

Before my senses could kick in, a powerful punch struck me right on my left cheek, followed by another that struck my face with clear and swift coordination.

It was painful, slightly painful.

I was struck left and right by this person, using high leveled martial arts that did not allow me to avoid his barrage at all. I even tried to fight back, but my hands were easily caught, and used to break my posture even more.

While my legs were deflected to disrupt my balance. Hence I got beaten black and blue. But of course, I still suffered no damage even at this moment whatsoever.

And I don't remember how many punches I've received from then. All I remember is being beaten one-sidedly by this strange being.

Worst of all, my strength, speed and endurance were directly around his level. Yet I was being played around with, like a toy. It was infuriating.

Then I was finally met with a powerful punch to my stomach, that resulted in me bending over due to reflex. Then from below, came a rising uppercut that sent me flying up.

When I thought that was over, the cloaked man appeared above me and struck me down with yet another powerful blow.

Boom!!

My body struck the ground, and shattered it into cracks that spread all around me like a spider-web. And at this moment, I used every bit of my will power to regain control of my senses.

I then hurriedly rolled aside, opening up space for the cloaked bring to smash an after image of my self as he fell. Shattering the ground even more.

I then stood up, and he had also got up on his kneeling posture, already rushing towards my direction. I grit my teeth, and held my fists before myself and waited for him to push on closer to me.

Once he was close by, I sent out a powerful punch at my full speed and strength, aiming directly at his jaw. This was a sure hit kill for sure!!

But right then, the man held up his arm to cover his jaw, hence my fist striking his arm. He then packed up a punch and sent it towards my face once again.

Again with the face...

I hurriedly raised up my open palm to meet up his fist. With the same strength, I believed the force would cancel each other out.

Unfortunately for me, I was never a fighter, physically wise. Hence I had misunderstood something. I was not sparring here, but fighting!!

The man opened up his fist mid way and our palms met with "Pa~" sound, that resounded around us like a thunderclap, then out of the blue, I felt his fingers lock into mine.

It was so unexpected, I also felt my fingers lock into his subconsciously and instinctively. It was a bit romantic. But I was surprised and blurted out with shock, "Wha–"

Unfortunately once again, I was cut off when the cloaked man suddenly pulled me closer to him, breaking more of my posture.

And I was once again caught off guard, and with my senses, could see us getting closer and closer to each other.