--- [Alex’s perspective]
“We’re now going into the fourth match, almost halfway through the final round of the exam. The D-rank hunters have proven why they deserve their rank by showing off their incredible power, but at the same time, the candidates are not to be taken lightly either. Who knows what will happen next! Let’s not waste any more time and get right into it!” – Leanne
She spins their wheel…
“And representing the D-rankers is Noah Anima!” – Leanne
As soon as his name is called out, he makes his way into the arena.
“And as for the candidates, the next fighter is Lucas Nix!” – Leanne
He too makes his way down into the arena…
--- [Lucas’s perspective]
Noah walks up to me and reaches his hand out, wanting to shake hands before our match.
Obviously, I can’t do that.
“I won’t bite!” – Noah
“…” – Lucas
He extends it even further, pressuring me to take it.
I still don’t…
“Aaaalright…” – Noah
He retracts it, and an awkward silence takes over until Leanne interrupts it.
“Let the match begin!” – Leanne
I dash towards him, and bombard him with jabs.
He dodges most of them, and blocks the rest.
I don’t let up, and suddenly, one of them slip past his defenses.
Rocked in the jaw, he takes a step back.
I try to follow up, but he starts going on the offensive too.
His fist rolls off my face, and his leg doesn’t reach.
After evading all his attacks, he starts looking a little annoyed.
“You’re a slippery one, aren’t you? Is this your specialty?” – Noah
“Who knows.” – Lucas
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“Secretive… I like that. Telling me about your specialty can only ever hurt you.” – Noah
Our assault against each other goes on for quite a while…
As expected of a D-rank hunter, he’s better than me at BDM.
He’s stronger, faster, and more durable.
Most of my attacks don’t hit, and the ones that do don’t really hurt him all that much.
At the same time, due to my perfect muscle control, his attacks aren’t landing either.
It’s pretty much a stalemate, except none of us has revealed their specialty yet.
I can’t activate mine on command; I just need to get lucky.
The power of my critical strikes is immense, but only if the original attack is too.
I can’t afford to waste it on weak punches.
Every hit counts; they all have to be as strong as possible.
I have no idea what his specialty is, and he has given me nothing to work with either.
There’s no way for me to figure it out right now; I need more information.
He hasn’t used it yet, so he might want to save it until he really needs to use it.
If I can land a critical strike to his vitals, he’ll either immediately lose, or be forced to use it.
I switch up my attack pattern; instead of attempting to land any hits at all, I focus on his weak spots.
“I see what you’re doing… It won’t work. You were already struggling with getting any hits in before, do you really think you’ll land any now?” – Noah
“Yup.” – Lucas
I continue to only go for his vitals, but with no luck.
Out of nowhere, I switch it up, and hit him in the arm instead.
If he figured out my attack pattern that quickly, I can’t stick to one thing.
If my specialty activates on some random punch, then so be it.
It seems I can’t be picky.
Suddenly, he manages to grab my hand…
Shit!
I think he knew I wouldn’t stick to my plan of only going for weak spots, and goaded me into attacking his arm, just so he could grab me.
It hurts so much!
I need to get him off of me as soon as possible.
I try to pull my hand away, but he doesn’t let go.
He clenches his hand as hard as he can, making it impossible to get away.
I desperately start hammering his arm over and over again to make him stop, but despite it clearly hurting him, he doesn’t let go.
While I’m busy trying to make him let go, he gets ready to throw a massive attack with his other arm.
I can’t get away while he’s holding me; if I’m not quick, he’ll hit me!
He throws his punch, but just before it hits, my fist slams into the arm holding my hand with a critical hit.
His arm snaps in two, and the shock and pain make him step back.
“Gahhh!! Fuck!” – Noah
…
So close…
Had his punch connected, he probably would have knocked me out…
Now he’s down an arm, his gambit failed.
“What was that? Your power… It grew exponentially there for a second.” – Noah
“We already went over this. I’m not telling you anything.” – Lucas
“Right…” – Noah
The fight is pretty much over.
It was even before, but now he’s down an arm.
There’s no way he wins…
Or at least that’s what I’d like to think.
He still hasn’t revealed his specialty…
I have no idea what it could be, but I have to be prepared for the worst.
I could play it safe, but I don’t think that’s a good call right now.
Physically, I’m in a better spot right now.
Instead of giving him time to use his ability freely, I should just try to end it quickly.
I rush in yet again, and throw a bunch of attacks at him.
With only one arm, he’s not nearly as good at defending as he was before.
A ton of hits land, and his body is slowly getting broken down.
His nose breaks.
His eye is swollen.
His body is bruised.
With every hit, he’s getting closer and closer to defeat.
Yet, he’s still not activating his specialty…
What is he waiting for?
Could it be that…?!
“Do you not know how to use SDM, or what?” – Lucas
He smiles…
“Oh, I do.” – Noah
As soon as the words come out of his mouth, my body suddenly feels stiff.
I…
I can’t move a muscle!
I fall backwards; completely unable to move.
What’s going on?!