Tales Of Fantasia

When the morning light hit the room Edward was located through the window he had already gotten up from the bed and twisted his body in various ways, he then tried to imitate the mannequin's movements and techniques finding them surprisingly easy. Slowly he got rid of the illusion of pain allowing his body to move freely and do things the normal people can't.

The restless experiment with his body also helped him forget the feeling of heaviness once his body succumbs into he moved too long without any rest. The puppet doesn't need a rest and it doesn't feel pain it simply does what the puppeteer in this case his mind tells it to do.

He got a feeling that things will be different this time once he fought against that damned mannequin at the training ground. He got up and opened the door finding that the old man was sleeping not too far from his door always guarding it.

For the first time in a while he felt warm inside, he felt like he was getting cared for once again. He gently comes beside the old man shaking him to wake him up. But he knew he shouldn't feel like this after all he wasn't Pi, he wasn't the person the old man was worrying for or looking after.

He was simply a man who hijacked his son's body for his own.

"Huh? Pi? Is it already time to train again?"

Edward nodded his head as he helped the old man to get up and head to the elevator. Inside the elevator, they waited quietly, as it slid down to the floor where the training ground was located.

"Are you going to challenge it once again my son?"

Edward nodded his head.

"Perhaps another day or two worth of rest would be beneficial for you? I can see you are getting more flustered with each loss you get after your matches with it."

Edward becomes quiet for a few seconds before answering him.

"I think I got enough rest."

The elevator stopped going down and slowly opened the door revealing the familiar gigantic metal gate, with the old man activating the training ground he easily entered it. The claw picks up another mannequin and places it middle of the training ground.

He simply picked the weapon he first used against it, while holding a spear in his hand he slowly walked towards it and it did the same too.

"From a puppet to a puppet. I wanna say thank you."

He masterfully spins the spear around himself, as the distance between them closes but none of them speed up their speed.

"Thanks to you I trained hard and got used to using a variety of weapons. Not only that I realized a few important things."

Then only a few steps away from each other they stopped, Edward moved every individual joint in his body as if showing it off to the mannequin.

"But as a person, I wanna only tell you one thing..."

He then swings his spear towards it as it dodges it by bending its upper body backward and stabbing its hands into the ground to use it as a support.

"Go to hell you piece of scrap."

With a swift movement, the puppet raised its legs, trying to catch him in its way. Edward didn't give it the chance he pulled his upper body back while twisting his waist like a twisted while holding the spear from one end. Then he bends his knee before swiping the ground with a spinning attack by releasing his twisted waist.

The sound of the blade of the spear sliding through the metal floor at high speed echoed through the training ground. But it didn't contact with the mannequin as he saw it rolling in the air above him. As he senses the dangers Edwards quickly jumps away from where he was sitting as the floor gets pierced by the legs of the mannequin.

It has pulled its legs to its core to the limit before launching it towards him like a spring, Edward must admit in a way of using your body's flexibility it was way above him in mastery alone. But that doesn't matter because this time he will win against it no matter what.

While making the distance between themselves he started thrusting his spear towards it, the mannequin would try to rush towards him from time to time but would retreat helplessly as it met with the blade of his spear. Thanks to him optimizing his body joint locations and movements a little he managed to shorten the time between his thrusts.

"What? Can't get close? It's annoying, right? That was the feeling I had when fighting against you last time. For a little different reason of course."

The feeling of being not able to get close contact with your enemy because you are at a complete disadvantage in the close quarter was as much as annoying as not being able to get close to your enemy. Of course, he wasn't sure if this thing could feel emotions but that didn't stop him from trying to provoke it a little.

'Yeah, for some reason I felt at ease when fighting against it now.'

No more flustiration or fear of pain even the heaviness that slows him down is no more, now he simply felt at ease. His mind was clearer allowing him to calmly counter its attacks as he searched for an opening.

The puppet was no joke at least not one he could laugh at as he got pushed back more and more the puppet was still pushing him back even though it looked like he was at the advantage currently. He can feel his movements are getting more and more restricted as he swings it around more.

The distance that the mannequin travels before its retreat becomes longer and longer as time passes by it is a matter of time before he will have no choice but go to hand in hand with it.

It seems like he could only abandon the spear with that though he changed his attack from thrust to swing trying to force it to bend back so he got a chance to make the first strike while rushing. But he underestimated the puppet as it slid down hitting him in the leg causing loss of balance.

'Curses!'

And next moment he was held in a lock as if caught by a wild viper it wrapped around him limiting his movement while slowly breaking his limbs. It could also be said simply a hopeless situation, after all, no matter how flexible his new body was it still had a limit.

'I'm going to lose again?'