Tales Of Fantasia

Edward woke up on the operation table once again beside him stood the old man, with an unspoken sadness in his eyes he stared down at him silently. Edward didn't say much ignoring the headache he forced himself to get up and get dressed in one of Pi's old clothes before heading to the elevator.

"You sure about it my boy? You clearly aren't used to your new body yet."

Edward didn't want to speak, to him speaking didn't feel natural because the voice that came out from this mouth wasn't his just like its face wasn't his own.

"I'm sure."

The old man lets out a sigh before getting up and following him to the elevator it was obvious that he was unwilling to lead him to the training ground, but he still did because his son wanted to. Whether that was good parenting or not Edward doesn't know but that doesn't matter now, does it?

***

Once again in the familiar training ground, he stood silently with a mace in his hand instead of a spear. His eyes didn't leave the familiar-looking puppet that was standing in the middle of the training ground. This time he won't hesitate, with that in mind he ran towards the mannequin while preparing to strike it with his mace.

He closed the distance between himself and the mannequin quite fast, not comparable to the mannequin but fast enough to far surpass the human limit. Without hesitation he swung his mace as its round and spiky end came close to its featureless face it tilted its head dodging easily. 

"Tsk."

He tried to jump back to make a distance between himself and it, he thought he was successful but that came to an end when he lost his sudden balance by feeling his feet getting twisted by an unknown force. Making his landing unsuccessful, he leans forward prepared to hit the floor but the feeling of his face and the metal plates of the floor colliding never come.

Instead, his mind went blank as he felt his head twisting from the excessive force from the side and a white and golden blur caught at the corner of his eyes.

***

3rd attempt, he was now holding a sword in his hand.

This time both he and the mannequin rushed towards each other, he didn't hurry to attack carelessly like the last time instead he decided to parry the mannequin's attack and do a counterattack.

He raised his sword in a defensive position expecting the mannequin is attack and it came but not where he was expecting. He fell on the floor as he felt an unexpected kick land on his calf making him lose his balance, and that's all the opening the mannequin needed. It twisted his sword-wielding hand on the mid-air creating an opening for itself to knock him out with a simple good stomp on the chest.

***

In 5th attempt, he used an axe.

The swings never landed on the target as it twisted itself in unnatural ways to easily get away from his attack trajectory, in frustration he have tried to catch it before splitting it is head apart but that was his other mistake, it caught his hand before sending him flying with a shoulder throw. Sadly he landed on his axe ending their match rather shortly.

***

10th attempt. With a spear again.

He throws the spear directly toward the mannequin who dodges the attack without breaking "eye" contact with him. The moment the spear hit the floor making a loud "thud" sound, both he and the mannequin rushed towards each other. His punch easily missed the puppet, but it didn't with a swift motion it stabbed him in the liver area.

Colors flashed in front of him before, he felt his neck being twisted.

***

20th attempt. He chose gauntlets.

With an additional weight on his fist, it gained power behind each hit easily denting the floor every time it landed, as the puppet kept dancing around him gracefully.

"Stop moving so much!"

Finally, he felt something wrapping around his waist before lifting him and smashing his head on the floor ending the match with Russian Suplex.

***

30th attempt. There was no longer any weapon.

Edward decided to challenge it in bare-handed combat, he knew it was more agile and flexible than him so he must be precise and effective with his attacks. He took a boxing position prepared to counter anything that the mannequin threw at him, first, he decided to keep their distance because the less distance he had have less space there would be for him to maneuver.

First, he threw a jab at it which it dodged by twisting its body and attempting an elbow strike exactly to his jaw, making him twist his body and take the strike on the shoulder rather than jaw. 

Kick the floor under his feet make a distance for himself, look out for its legs, and attack from above. After landing on the floor safely he felt a little relieved but that didn't last long. Puppet twisting its body using it like a spring it launches itself towards him, then it rolls on its air twisting itself just like it did during their first match.

Edward raised his hands while sidestepping deflecting its kick to the floor, earning himself the opening he had been looking for. He threw a knee strike to the back of its head, to only see that the puppet twisted its upper body to look at his direction, catching his leg and snapping it with ease.

What followed next was a few seconds of pain before blacking out once again.

***

60th attempt, Edward is now wielding both sword and knife.

He closes their distance once again, skillfully using the sword and knife to cut off its move set and keep it from making physical contact with him. He even threw a few kicks at it and one out of every eight kicks it even made contact with it.

"C'mon, you clever bastard isn't this long enough? Just die already."

He doesn't get tired but his joints will ache when he moves them too much, perhaps being constantly brought back from the death by the old man who did something to his body. Well, perhaps it was constant death that did the trick. He didn't care anymore, right now he just wanna kill and turn this thing into scraps of metal.

With each swing, each slash, each thrust, they felt heavier and heavier as if this whole place was being slowly covered underwater, everything felt so heavy. Slowly Edward falls to his knees as he feels his body reach its limit before looking at the puppet in front of him with a defeated look in his eyes.

It stared at him silently with its featureless face.

"What are you looking at? You faceless bastard."

The mannequin didn't say anything before silently twisting itself and sending the finishing blow towards him.