Chapter 108: knowing your limit
"Kellen! Are you alright?" Gwen’s voice was shaking as he coughed. He sucked air into his lungs again before looking up. Gunther stood behind the panicked Gwen, and gone was his cocky, excited expression. Instead, his face was stern as he looked Kellen over.
"I’m sorry Kellen." He apologised, his tone somber and Kellen coughed again. He rubbed his throat. It felt sore, but he knew it was only temporary. It should be fine tomorrow, maybe even later tonight.
"I-It’s alright. I almost called a stop to it at the S Class level." His voice was a little scratchy, but nothing painful. Gwen’s eyes were saucers.
"You’re a Guide! You have a weaker body than us! You should have!" She was very upset, and Kellen grinned at her, reaching out to touch her face.
"Come on Gwen, this isn’t the worst I’ve had before. Gunther stopped it in time." Gunther and Gwen didn’t seem appeased.
"Kellen, you know better than most that S Class bots are set to kill. You should have stopped me if you weren’t sure you could handle it. You aren’t a new recruit in this sense." Gwen nodded along to Gunther’s words, her eyes watering. Kellen smiled sheepishly.
"I kinda wanted to see how far I could go, you know?" He suggested mildly and the sigh that left Gunther held a piece of his soul.
"Well, small blessings. You got farther than all of the new recruits. You made it to the minute and a half mark against the S Class bot." Gwen sniffed.
"I made it to a minute, just so you know." She bragged, and Kellen smiled.
"Glad to know all of Mom’s training worked out for you." There was silence in the room as the other had no idea what to do. Kellen coughed again. "Well, I still failed, didn’t I Gunther?" Kellen asked.
Gunther seemed conflicted. It was clear from everyone’s reactions that Kellen’s match was the only one where the bot got it’s hands on the person it was fighting. Kellen confirmed this when, instead of being angry that some random Guide got a better score than them, the new recruits were all in shock.