The Life I Gained From Dying

Chapter 57 - Kaden vs. Newt

Kaden bounced up onto his feet after realizing who had just saved him. However, the fact that he did save him had Kaden slightly confused about what his intentions truly were.

"Relax kid, why ya so tense up for?" The masked man asked.

"It's cause I know you." Kaden replied.

"Is that so? Well then, what's my name?"

"What?"

"Ya say ya know me, so then what's my name?"

"..."

"See, ya don't know me. Why're ya lyin'?" The masked man asked while stepping away from the kite like object he planted into the ground. "How could ya know me without even knowin' my name? Huh, Kaden Adams?"

Hearing his own name just made Kaden even more confused and on edge.

"How do you know me?" Kaden questioned.

"Apologies, I'm bored of questions now. Let's get into what I came here for, shall we."

Without saying anything further, Newt, the masked man, assumed a fighting stance about ten feet away from Kaden.

"You want to fight me?" Kaden questioned without defending himself.

Newt swiftly shifted stances and struck his palms in Kaden's direction, blasting an intense gust of wind at him. The wind was so strong and precise that it nearly sent Kaden off the edge of the column without disturbing a single peach hanging from the trees around them. Newt then took a few gather steps before performing a running front flip, but once his body was at the right angle, he used the wind to launch himself higher off the ground. By the time Kaden recovered and had looked up, Newt was directly above him and crashing down with a heavy axe kick. Kaden dove out of the way at the last second, and at the same time, Newt cushioned his own landing with a quick burst of wind.

"This guy, it feels like he's toying with me." Kaden thought to himself.

The moment Kaden looked over his shoulder, his eyes focused on Newt's fingers, which were pointed at him in the form of a gun. Kaden dropped to the floor at the same time Newt shot a compressed air bullet at him. The bullet grazed his hair and ripped a hole straight through a falling leaf.

"This guy's toying with me, but he's still so fast. And his precision is scary."

With a quick turn, Kaden violently swung his arm upwards, creating a rather large upburst of wind, which created a bit of distance between the two. Newt evaded backward but then quickly closed the distance once more with another sudden burst of wind from behind him. Kaden attempted to time his approach with a right hook of his own, but it was dodged and countered by Newt. Kaden then took a kick to the back of his knee after Newt placed him in a standing wrist lock.

"Agh!" Kaden groaned as the grip was tightened.

"This is boring, man. You've been in this world for how long now, and you have absolutely zero fighting skills."

"The hell were you expecting from me!?"

"I expected this jīng shí to be more, I don't know, exciting."

"This what?" Kaden asked with growing frustration.

"You've only used wind essence too." Newt stated as he tightened his grip once again. "C'mon lost soul show me something different."

Tension began to grow within Kaden as he became more and more conflicted with what he was supposed to do. On one side, he hated how Newt was only seeing him as some form of entertainment and the way he was looking down on him. On the other side, Kaden knew that he was up against a skilled martial artist, and if he were to fight back aimlessly, he would be destroyed in seconds.