--- [Alex’s perspective]
“Like always, I’m going to pick the order randomly by spinning a wheel.” – Leanne
Like so many times before, she lifts her hand, and a stone wheel rises up from the ground.
She inscribes our names in it, then spins it.
“The first one up is Jesse Equus. Remember, you can only attack once, so make it count.” – Leanne
He walks up to Leanne and Roxy, but seems a little lost.
“So, uhm… What am I supposed to attack?” – Jesse
“Just hit the air. It doesn’t matter what you attack, I can always tell how powerful it is.” – Roxy
“Alright.” – Jesse
Enters his stance, takes a deep breath, then unleashes a punch.
“2766.” – Roxy
I have no idea if that’s a lot or not since I have nothing to compare it to.
From the looks of it, it was a decent punch, but nothing spectacular.
I’ll have to wait and see though.
Roxy walks up to him and looks him in the eye.
“Good luck.” – Roxy
He braces for impact, and she shoves her fist into his stomach.
He doesn’t budge…
Is he just that durable, or did he undershoot by too much?
By the look on his face…
I think it might be the latter.
“I… Can I try again?” – Jesse
“No. Now get back, it’s someone else’s turn.” – Leanne
“…” – Jesse
She spins the wheel yet again and…
“Rin Nox, you’re up next.” – Leanne
“Okay!!” – Rin
She doesn’t waste any time, and quickly does her thing.
A shroud of lightning envelopes her arms, and she slices the air in front of her.
“4948.” – Roxy
“Hmm… Not bad.” – Rin
Higher than the last guy, but it still didn’t look all that powerful.
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However, if I were to guess, her attacks are probably considerably more deadly than the number might suggest.
Cutting attacks concentrates all their power on a very tiny area, meaning you can cause quite a lot of damage even if the power is relatively low.
Since cutting seems to be her expertise, that puts her at a disadvantage.
Just like last time, Roxy walks up to her and wishes her good luck.
The punch knocks her over, and she struggles to get back up for a second.
I don’t think she’s the best at taking hits…
From what I remember, her speed was what made her stand out.
In the end though, she doesn’t seem to have taken any major damage, so she’s good to go for round three.
Leanne yet again spins the wheel.
“Next is Lucas Nix.” – Leanne
As he gets ready to attack, he mumbles something to himself…
I can’t quite make out what he’s saying, but I think I heard word ‘please’.
He clenches his fist and gets ready to let loose a massive blow.
It rips through the air, and without even hearing the exact number, I can tell his attack was considerably stronger than the previous ones.
He’s not the kind of person to hold back…
“11549.” – Roxy
Wow…
Okay, that’s more like it!
Compared to what came before, he’s on an entirely different level.
Despite that…
He seems a little disappointed…
Like he was expecting it to be higher.
Or rather…
Like he was expecting something to happen…
Could it somehow be connected to his specialty?
I don’t know…
What I do know is that he should be proud of himself, there’s no way he doesn’t make the cut with numbers like that.
Besides, now comes the hard part…
Not only does he have to take that hit head-on, but he also has to suppress his reflexes at the same time…
Dodging isn’t an option here.
As Roxy stands before him, ready to attack, you can tell he’s concentrating with all his might.
Her fist makes contact, but only for a split second before he’s launched backwards.
Wait…
Did he…!?
I might be wrong, but it looked like he intentionally made his body as limp as possible to disperse the power throughout his body.
So while he had to suppress some aspects of it, he was still able to use his perfect muscle control to somewhat lower the damage!
He gets back on his feet, and although he’s clearly hurt, he’s still conscious!
“Not bad…” – Roxy
“Well then, onto the next person!” – Leanne
She spins the wheel and it lands on none other than…!
“Shin Magnum, you’re next.” – Leanne
“Aight.” – Shin
I wonder…
Is he going to use the fire sword?
I know he has trained to lower its output so that he can use it more than once without passing out.
But if he’s not careful, he might still produce an attack so powerful he can’t withstand it.
It’s a risk, but…!
It’s one he’s willing to take!
A flaming swords appears out of thin air, and he casually swings it in front of him.
“14226.” – Roxy
“Oh boy…” – Shin
Lucas’s attack was weaker, and he was able to disperse some of the damage, yet he was still clearly hurt…
Shin might be in trouble…
“Come on, Shin! You got this!” – Alex
He does everything he can to defend, but as her fist drills itself into his stomach, all of it goes out the window…
He falls down face-first into the ground.
“…” – Shin
Is he…?
“Ouch…” – Shin
!!
He’s conscious!
He did it!
His legs shake as he stands up; he almost falls on his way back to us, but he gets here in the end.
“You should rest until the next round begins. Sit down.” – Alex
“You’re… Right…” – Shin
He’s struggling to even get the words out…
“You good?” – Alex
“Yeah…” – Shin
“Is ‘yeah’ codeword for no…?” – Alex
“Yeah…” – Shin
That punch really took the wind out of him…
But he’ll be fine.
He’s lucky he was one of the first ones to go; he gets a couple minutes to rest before the next round begins.
“Next is Nora Piscis.” – Leanne
She points her index and middle fingers at a tree, and the entire thing is ripped up from the ground, roots and all.
As she moves her arm in an arc around her, the tree follows the same path into the air.
She quickly moves her hand down, and the tree slams down in front of her.
“4820.” – Roxy
“Damn it!” – Nora
That’s just slightly less than Rin…
That could be the difference between going to the next round or not, so it’s understandable that she’s pissed.
Just like every other time, Roxy throws a punch of the exact same power level at her.
It’s enough to make her take a step back and groan in pain, but she walks it off without any injuries.
Telekinesis…
That’s an interesting ability, but I guess it’s not best suited for raw power output…