Adopted Soldier

Alex who was still having sudden headaches every now and then, felt it was a bit irritating. The pain wasn't something he couldn't handle, the problem was the memory that keeps on resurfacing when his head hurts. It was a memory of the person who killed his parents. Alex who had closed off most of his emotions, and even created a fake memory of that event to lessen the burden on his mind. Was now suddenly having his emotions and memory come back to him.

He thought that he had full control over it, but as it turns out he does not. Alex didn't want that memory to come back. Even though he was strong now, Alex feared that he was still not prepared for what's to come when he remembers the truth.

So he tried as hard as he could to once again suppress the memory. Alex was in great pain in the inside while on the outside he remained ever stoic, Rachel seem to be looking at him every now and then. She looked at Alex a bit worried, but not because of the pain he was going through. No, actually she was worried about what Alex messaged to her last night.

Rachel was blinded by the fact Alex might confess to her at any moment. Alex on the other hand was confused by her giving him stolen glances.

...

Alex who was having difficulty concentrating in class right now, suddenly felt his spine tingling. He could sense that there was danger nearing him. Alex looked out the window and saw a familiar looking boy pointing a rifle at him. Alex could see his smile a very sadistic looking smile as he pointed the rifle at him.

Alex knew why the boy didn't fire at him, since he wanted to prove his superiority not by a surprise attack but by fighting Alex directly.

Alex raise his hand and when the teacher called him, he explained that he needed to dismiss himself. Alex without waiting for the teacher's answer stormed out of the room.

Oliver and Sayaka were too focused on each other that they failed to notice the boy hidden in the trees. They only noticed something was amiss when Alex suddenly left the classroom. In a normal situation the two of them would have spotted the boy as well, but because they were in their own little world they didn't notice it.

Still it wasn't weird for Alex to suddenly burst out of the classroom since he has done this several times in the past. Rachel was thinking that Alex might be actually preparing for his confession to her.

...

While everyone in the classroom was thinking about the reason Alex stormed off, the man himself was standing on the rooftop of the school waiting for the person holding the rifle. Alex took out the colt 1911 and desert eagle he hidden in the rooftop. He also double checked the knives hidden in his uniform.

The enemy that came this time, was someone he has known for a very long time. The boy with the sniper rifle look at the ever stoic Alex from a tree he was hiding in. He was a bit irritated that even now when he has the advantage of equipment and the element of surprise, Alex remained ever stoic, ever confident.

It was as if he had everything planned, and he was dancing in the palm of his hands. The boy then recalled the first time he met Alex a few years ago.

...

Alex wasn't the only one to be consider a prodigy on the battlefield. There were three of them with the same age that were considered true geniuses of the battlefield. These three were thought to be the closest to become the next generation SS rank mercs. Though no one knew Alex's true age as the silent flash, everyone knew he was pretty young so he was part of the three.

The other two were James Bourne and Matthew Zephyr. These three made even old veterans a bit scared of their talent.

...

James Bourne was the monstrous prodigy of the Shadow Mercenaries, an almost legendary band of mercs, that existed since the beginning of the mercenary system. It was said the system was created because they existed. Even in this kind of legendary mercenary group, James Bourne was still able to keep up and surpass most of the members. He was rumored to be only a child barely even ten years old.

Last among the three was Matthew Zephyr the holy son. He was the one and only apprentice of the strongest person in the Southern Union. The heavenly Saint that protects the Southern Union was his master. The heavenly Saint also known as Arthur Glory was the strongest of the Southern Union not only was he a Saint he was also the only SS rank merc of the Southern Union.

Matthew being the only pupil of such a person took much pride of his status. He was sure that he was the best of his age group, and that he would be the strongest once he matures enough. It was at that time, Matthew heard about other two boys near his age that could equal him.

James Bourne and the silent flash. Both of these mysterious mercs were hard to find but between the two of them the silent flash was easier to contact. It was a well known fact that the silent flash has very deep ties with Carlo Samarita's mercenary group. He found it funny that a person near his age would be able to keep up. Since he was able to kill even B rank mercs that were older than him.

So Matthew decided to hire Carlo's mercenary group for a job, he requested for silent flash to have a spar with him. He even offered a huge amount of money. Carlo seeing him request for such a thing, asked Matthew.

"Why do you want to fight the silent flash?"

"I want to prove that I am the strongest of my generation."

"Just for that?" Carlo said a bit confused by the kid's request.

"Don't just dismiss it as just that! That is everything I want and it is everything I desire. It is my dream and my one and only wish! So do not just dismiss it like that!" Seeing the fierce look of Matthew made Carlo think that he was the complete opposite of his son. Yet their desire for strength was real.

"Ok then, I will allow it. You can spar with the silent flash, only if you agree to keep his identity secret. If you accept this then you can spar with him." Carlo knew with Matthew's immense pride that once he agrees he would never go against his words.

"I agree. I swear on my master's name as well as my own pride, that I would keep the silent flash's identity a secret." Matthew answered without hesitation. Carlo hearing the boy's answer nodded his head.

"Very well... Alex come here." From within the crowd of mercs a little boy who looked to be the same age as Matthew. He was already expecting this, but seeing it was still surprising.

The boy called Alex looked at Matthew with an uninterested gaze, which felt like he was mocking him. Matthew couldn't wait to beat up the kid before him.

...

Carlo asked Matthew what kind of sparring he wanted to do. What where the weapons he wanted to use.

"Anything is fine, choose anything that he is good at." The he Matthew was talking about was obviously Alex. Carlo smiled at how arrogant the is little kid was.

"Alex is good at using almost all weapons so, you need to choose what weapon to use." Hearing this made Matthew a bit irritated.

"Fine, let's use all the weapons available. I will spar with him using all the weapons in this base. Is that alright?" Matthew who was really itching for a fight said this with a bit of impatience.

"You're the client so if that's what you wish for then so be it." Carlo who sounded like he thought that Matthew was being stupid, and snickered as he faced Alex and explained the situation.

...

The two kids got into position and the first weapon that they were using was a gun loaded with rubber bullets. The rules were simple the first to hit wins.

The fight started and Matthew with perfect accuracy tried to hit Alex, but Alex was able to evade the bullet in an odd fashion. Matthew wasn't that surprised cause he has seen some people dodge bullets, and even he could do it as well. So instead of wasting bullets Matthew charged in and tried to hit Alex in close range.

When Matthew got into close range, Alex's muscle started to bulge a little, and suddenly out of nowhere Alex disappeared from his sight. Then he suddenly felt something painful hit his back, it was at that moment of shock that Matthew heard Carlo's voice.

"Match over, Alex wins."

Matthew couldn't believe his ears, he lost. He lost to someone his age. Matthew was shocked by this revelation but that didn't keep him down. He stood up and continued to fight Alex.

Alex and Matthew had a total of sixty eight fights. They used all manners of weapons and even their fists. In all the fights, Alex won sixty seven times, and Matthew won only once. The only time Matthew won was when they were using a spear, Alex's spear handling wasn't up to par with his other abilities.

Matthew who was thoroughly defeated was convinced that the only reason Alex could win was because of the weird technique were his muscles start to bulge.

After that fight with Alex, Matthew tried to have a sparring session with Alex again, but he always avoided him. Until one day Alex aka the silent flash disappeared from the battlefield all together. Matthew tried every possible means to find him, but he couldn't let others know of Alex's identity so it was very difficult to look for him.

Yet one day while he was on a resort in the capital of Berdonia, he saw a video of Alex hitting a punching machine and breaking it. It took Matthew quite awhile to find out where the video came from, seeing as all sources disappeared a few minutes later.

Still through undying perseverance Matthew finally found Alex, and he was now about ready to get his revenge.

'You might have the advantage before, because of RELEASE, but I and my master created a similar technique that releases all the potential of the human body. Let's see who wins if we are on equal grounds.'

...

Alex who was waiting on the rooftop of the school, heard somebody climbing on the side of the building. A few seconds later somebody jumped onto the roof. It was a boy with black hair, and fierce glaring black eyes. He has grown quite a bit from the last time they met, but Alex was sure this was the Holy son Matthew Zephyr.

Matthew smiled at Alex and spoke, "It's been a long time Alex. I see that you still have that irritating poker face."

"It's been a long time Matthew. So why did you come here?" Alex as usual went straight to the point.

"Oh don't be like that, aren't we friends and rivals. Can't I just see my friend and say hi?"

"Is that so... Did you come here just to say hi?"

"You know me better than that. What I truly came for is this." Matthew suddenly had his veins enlarge and you could see it covering his body. This move look like it was RELEASE but it wasn't since Matthew's muscles didn't bulge.

Matthew who was in a weird state suddenly burst forth and stood in front of Alex his rifle pointing at Alex's face.

"I came for a rematch Alexander Samarita, the silent flash."