Chapter 51: A simulation... Or not?

He saw right through it. He wasn't acting arrogant. It wasn't that he thought of me as a speck of dust. It wasn't all that. He was waiting. He was waiting for me to get agitated; to lose my common sense. So that he could get a chance like what he had right now.

Up until now, I was the only one who locked my eyes on him; it wasn't the other way. But at that moment, he was straight up staring at me. His eyes looked hungry. He wanted to beat the shite out of me. I could see him revving up for the punch, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. I could do nothing to stop the onslaught that was gonna rain on me if I got hit from his shot. The situation was bad. I could clearly see his eyes, but the punch… It wasn't the same one from before. It was different. I couldn't see it. I couldn't give a guess on what it's trajectory was gonna be. It really did seem like I was trapped. I was made aware of it, but there was nothing I could do about it. It sucked. I was up for a pummeling from this guy.

I closed my eyes and was preparing to receive the beating of a lifetime. That's when a bright light shone right before me. I opened my eyes because of the brightness, however there was nothing brightness inducing out there. I was still before the behemoth named Guo Ning ready to receive the punch. You know how people say that when you're about to die, time seems to move slow? That was my situation. I could see the people move slowly; I could see his pupils moving oh so slowly. Everything was just slow… Other than the punch. It wasn't that it was slow. For some reason, I couldn't even see the punch and that was the problem.

That's when I got curious. Why did it shine when I closed my eyes when nothing bright is out here? What happened? Since my curiosity took over me, I closed my eyes once again. Once again, a bright light was seen. This time, I didn't open my eyes. I tried facing the light. The more I focused on it, the more compact it became. To the point that the said bright light, ended up becoming a bright hand. Then the change was quick. It was the same as if I opened my eyes. Guo Ning was before me. He was still staring darts at me. However, there was a distinct difference between the two situations. In this case, I could actually see the punch for whatever reason. That's when I realized that this isn't the reality, but something related to it. I didn't know whether it was a simulation or plainly the future. It couldn't be the future, right? Because, if it was the future, I wouldn't have seen the punch coming. Now that I can see the punch, there was something weird about it. The trajectory was all messed up. I thought that the punch was coming from the side. Hell, I was sure of it. However, the punch that the Guo Ning from this simulation was from the top for some unbelievable reason. If that was the case, his target wasn't my face, but the top of my head? Is he trying to break my head open or something? Anyway, this punch… I simply couldn't avoid it. It hit me; straight in the middle of my head. Simulation or not, watching this big man's hand drop straight into my head was terrifying. The talk about me being a dragon and stuff… I learned that it was total BS at this point. I'm no dragon. I'm just human. A human capable of being terrified when these things happened. Anyway, the worry subsided when I couldn't feel any pain from the potential skull bashing punch.

Okay, from this simulation, it meant that Guo Ning's gonna pull a weird trajectory on me and end up destroying my skull. Ha, but what's the point? Even if I opened my eyes, I'm gonna end up in the same place. I believe that I have wasted so much time that his hand would be straight above me at this point.

Screw it. I wanna face it… like a dragon! I might not be a dragon right now. I might just be a scaredy-cat. But I wanna face it. Will I end up getting destroyed? No. Because just like the Weasel bandits, I have an insurance policy as well by the name of Goldy. He'll save me, goddamn it!

So, I opened my eyes to see the sight of Guo Ning's hand over my head. But something was weird. What I saw before me right then was a scene that I saw right before. The smug look on Guo Ning's face, like he didn't give a crap about me trying to attack him; the cunning fox waiting for a moment to attack me and then staring darts at me; isn't this exactly what happened before?

[!]

Goldy can feel it as well, don't you? What happened? Wasn't it just a simulation? How did I end up a few seconds in the past? Was the stuff I saw before closing my eyes fake? Or is this moment fake? I had questions in my mind.

But one thing was for sure. I was gonna get punched if this continues. Because once again, just like before, I couldn't see the hand that he swung towards me. Which meant that this is reality… Right? I'm so confused. However, there was a bigger problem before me. He had already swung the punch. I'm already in the middle of the air. Although I know the trajectory, it's pretty useless if my skull gets bashed into a billion pieces. I have to dodge, even if it is a centimeter away from the punch. But for some reason, the body of mine, which was really eager to move when it wanted to punch Guo Ning, wasn't moving even a bit. What the hell, body? This is where you have to move. How come my motor functions suck at a moment like this?

That's when I felt a slight pull from my back. It pulled me back exactly one centimeter from the punch's zone. If it was a bit late or if it was any closer, my brain would've just plopped out of my skull. Seems like I have to thank the guy who helped me on that…

[Don't. The fight isn't over yet. Thank me later. Your body movements. It got messed up because of the Dragon's rage.]

{What? I didn't even turn it on though?}

[Ah, yes. I shouldn't call it that then…. Well, the pride of a dragon inside you didn't like how smug Guo Ning looked back then.]

{Then what about now. Why did it not move when it should have?}

[It sensed defeat. No matter how much you struggled, you would've faced defeat… A bitter defeat.]

{Wait a minute. First of all, when did the dragon inside me become a separate entity? Secondly, who is it to decide if I'm gonna lose or not, huh? What a fickle minded dragon that is.}

[It's not a separate entity. It's your emotions doing your work for you. When you moved back then, you got angry, right? Your anger was assimilated and amplified by the dragon inside you. It basically moved according to your emotions. The moment you stopped right there… You stopped because you had no hope of winning by yourself. So, even if you blame the dragon, it's your fault that it happened… Your fault that you failed to keep your emotions in check.]

He straight up destroyed me with that. He's right though. I should keep my emotions… my real emotions on check. Or else, I would end up getting destroyed. I mean, Goldy's gonna move back to his body someday… Maybe not soon, but someday. So, what would happen if something like this happens yet again, and I lose it. I'd die. That'd suck…

{Ah, by the way. About the sim-}

[We'll discuss that later. The big man is pouncing at you right now.]

{Shoot!}

That's when I realized that Goldy somehow pushed me pretty far away from Guo Ning… or the shock waves created by his punch just helped my movement backward to a great extent. Either one of them is fine though, since the farther I am away from that guy, the better.

Now comes the dilemma. By now, I realized that I can't see his punches for some unknown reason. So, should I trust in the unknown power that I have or just keep distance from him while he attacks and counterattack while he winds up for the next one? Well, one of the options seems pretty detailed to me while the other ones freaking shady as heck, so I guess there's just one way to go with it… I'm gonna counterattack the heck out of this guy!