New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Alex was still using his mana vision and noticed something about Clark's last strike. 

The mana in his trainer's body had suddenly rushed to his fist!

Plus, the residual mana left in his own body was now blazing to life, with a microscopic thread latching between the two sources.

'I can't let his attack connect!' Alex thought, in panic.

He could feel like his body was being pulled toward the incoming fist, and there was only one thing he could think of.

"Thousand Thoughts."

Time slowed to a crawl from his perspective.

He watched as the thread between his stomach and Clark's fist became taut. He could feel the slow tug at him, telling him this attack was meant to hit a hundred percent of the time.

But he had a terrible feeling about it.

His instincts kicked in, and already his hair was changing colour, as were his eyes. Fur grew on his arms and face as his canines suddenly elongated, slightly protruding from his lips.

'I'm sorry, Clark. This is going to hurt like a motherfucker.'

His movements suddenly accelerated from the meld with White, and he moved much faster than Clark could even fathom. In less than a heartbeat, Alex grabbed the incoming fist, stopping it clear in its trajectory, and his other hand slammed across Clark's jaw.

Clark's eyes went white as they spun to the inside of his head.

The punch was more potent than a human should be able to hit, and it took him out instantly.

Sadly, that wasn't all it did.

The transfer of forces from Alex's fist to Clark's face also suddenly caused him to jerk backward. But since Alex was holding his arm, there was a limit to how far he could go.

This had the effect that Clark, instead of flying off like a rag doll, jerked back and flipped toward the ground, his head hitting the ring's mat hard.

If the punch hadn't knocked him out cold, this impact would have finished the job.

The surrounding people, who had already started looking toward the inhuman fight, were now in a daze.

Standing on the ring was a wolf-looking man, holding another's arm as he lay inert on the ground.

They weren't sure if he was alive or not, given the lack of movement of the second party. But already, fear could be seen rising in their eyes.

But before anyone could even yell a peep, people started rushing into the gym, wearing black suits, and ran up to the boxing ring.

"Alright, Mr. Leduc. You're coming with us. And so are Ms. Deveille and this man. Let's go."

Alex wasn't sure who they were, as he didn't recognize them. But he had a feeling he knew who was sending them.

He sighed, grabbing Clark, who was still half sprawled on the ground, with one arm raised in his hand.

'I'm sorry, Clark. Seems like our session will be cut short, and you'll wake up in a very unfamiliar place…'

Alex jumped over the ropes surrounding the ring and landed beside the suited men. He started walking, following one of them outside through the back door.

As he walked, a man tried grabbing Clark from his arms but got snarled at by Alex.

"Touch him, and you lose that hand."

The man yanked his hand back, his other one going to his side, where Alex could see a barely dissimulated firearm. But nothing happened, as the man was only reacting on instinct, and was already regaining composure.

They guided Alex and Phoenix to a black limousine parked out back, the former carrying Clark in his arms, and sat down in it.

As they entered the limo, Alex immediately got his confirmation.

"Mr. Gu. What a displeasure to see you are stalking me. Why am I not surprised?"

The Chinese man looked at him and chuckled.

"Mr. Leduc. You should have expected it. Did you think Mr. Boudreau wouldn't keep an eye on his most precious asset and ally? You should know him better by now," Mr. Gu teased.

"Yeah yeah. Whatever. I can already guess where you are taking us. Will Jack be there as well?"

Phoenix entered the limo and sat down, nodding at Jack's assistant, and soon after, the door closed, and the limo lurched forward.

"No. Mr. Boudreau is busy in his office nearby. I am only taking you to the compound for good measure until you meet with Mr. Boudreau. I will then personally escort you back downtown, where you will meet him in his main office."

This seemed like many unnecessary steps to Alex, but there wasn't much he could do. He wasn't going to bust open the limo and escape.

These were his allies, even if they were being excessively snoopy.

"Fine. But I hope you don't intend to rough Clark up too much. I don't think he meant to go overboard like this. I doubt he even knows how strong he's become…"

Mr. Gu shook his head no.

"It wasn't our intention. We will only test his capabilities, as we did for Miss Deveille previously, and then make sure he checks up occasionally. Nothing more."

Alex nodded his head, satisfied with this answer.

The rest of the drive was done in silence as Alex and Phoenix looked out the windows, peeved their day had just gone to shit so suddenly. It felt like shit was always following them around lately, and it was getting heavy.

Once they reached the private hospital on the northern shore, the limousine immediately headed down to the underground parking and stopped before a merchandise lift.

Mr. Gu got off the limo first, reaching the pad next to the lift and typing in a code in a swift, practiced motion. The lift doors opened, and two armed mercs waited inside.

"Come. Let's get this over with. We can check your progress as well, since we are already here. Save you the trip due next week."

Once Alex and Kary had stepped on the lift, Clark still in the former's arms, out cold, it shook slightly and started going down.

Alex wondered how long he would need to come here and 'get checked,' as Mr. Gu said. He felt like it was redundant.

Was there even a need to know exactly how strong he was becoming?

'I'll play along for a while. But not forever. My time is best spent elsewhere.'