(“I'll throw you a bone here. Healing yourself with Ki isn't something the average warrior can do.”)

(“Aren't I lucky?”) Tibaut sarcastically remarked. (“Still, I feel pretty great… and if I remember correctly, I didn't do anything crazy like a kamehameha the last time I was like this right? It should just affect my punches and kicks right?”)

Although he couldn't see them, he could feel them shrugging their shoulders in disinterest. (“I suppose so.”)

He scoffed at their reaction and brought his attention to Ash, who seemed to be surveying him with an almost sickly sweet smile plastered on his face.

“You really are bringing this old man back to better times boy! I haven't fought a proper martial artist in ages!” He said, his voice almost cracking from the anticipation.

(“So it seems like this ki is just a general power boost, unlike mana. Based on how Elizabeth described it, it should be more than enough to even the odds. My arms were starting to feel sore so I guess I ease off the magic for now.”)

Both men closely watched the other and as if a starter pistol was fired they both ran towards the other, with Tibaut clearing a greater distance.

(“Woah!”) He said as his own speed caught him off guard.

Ash swiftly dodged the boy heading towards him like a freight train with Tibaut struggling to stop himself. By the time he had dug his feet deep enough into the ground to stop himself, he narrowly parried a punch aimed at the back of his head. Ash quickly opened his parried hand and created another torrent of flame, albeit smaller this time, that blasted Tibaut in the face. Tibaut quickly backed into him and sent the man flying back a few feet.

He gave a dry cough before laughing.

“What's wrong boy, can't control it!?” He shouted before uppercutting a stone thrown his way. Why did he hit it instead of dodging it? Why wouldn't he, with each bit of pain this body experienced he was reminded of his newfound youth.

Tibaut quickly closed the distance with a dropkick that followed the thrown stone. Mr. Bentley again dodged to the side but Tibaut, by opening his arms and catching him with a unique-looking clothesline that caught the young man's side. The gauntlet on his hands made the blow feel like he had been struck with a hammer.

The blow sent Ash spinning before falling to his knees, while Tibaut flew a few more metres, landing on the ground and quickly getting back up. He made Ash his first priority, ripping dirt off the floor with every step he took. Ash narrowly managed to jump between the feet of Tibaut as he approached, grabbing one of his legs and tripping him.

(“I see. He has potential but he seems like quite a novice when it comes to using it. It makes sense I suppose, using an untested power against Ezekiel may have been a death sentence.”)

He thought as he burned the air and placed a flame on the boy's leg before backing away.

Tibaut pushed himself off the ground and got some considerable time in the air before landing on his feet.

(“Damnit!”)

(“Having a hard time? I suppose it's not-”)

(“Shut up you asshole!”)

Tibaut said as he slowly approached Ash. Each time he had tried to run him, he'd somehow end up overshooting, or have a weak deceleration. He decided the best course with his current body was to walk towards him.

Ash simply shook him and sighed.

“Wrong choice boy.”

He blasted him with another flame using both his hands clasped together. The flames roared like an untamed beast and Tibaut pushed through with no problem until his gauntlets burned uncomfortably hot. He didn't care anymore and jumped as high as he could, trying to land anywhere in the vicinity of Ash.

When he was airborne he saw his gauntlets were red hot at the front and felt as if they moved differently. Closing his fingers definitely felt like it required a bit more force.

(“That bastard, was he staring to melt them!?”)

But as he fell, he realised another part of him was burning. The leg of his pants.

Ash quickly backed away and Tibaut immediately tried to put out the flame on his leg with a few kicks but it didn't seem to be working. It was now starting to leave serious burns on Tibaut’s leg and he tried to take his pants leg, only to realise that part of his pants was burnt off ages ago. But it wasn't useless, he did grab something but it wasn't part of his pants but the flame itself. He quickly tossed it aside and he used both gauntlets to block an uppercut that was aimed for his face.

With the gauntlets still quite hot, they hadn't yet regained their hardness and Ash's fist left an almost perfect imprint of it on one of them.

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The two were now in close quarters and in the corner of his eye, Tibaut noticed the flame on the floor had disappeared.

(“How did he do that?”)

(“What, surprised he wasn't throwing those paltry fireballs you love? You have the same magic but you don't possibly think it can develop the same do you?”)

Tibaut and Mr. Bentley were locked into a blow of fists but after the first two blows, it was clear who had the advantage.

The pair had thrown punches, with Bentley landing one on Tibaut’s side and Tibaut’s fist rubbing against his side but Ash quickly went on the defence after feeling that first blow.

Although the blow hadn't connected cleanly, the force of it was more than enough to tear pieces of cloth from both the jacket and the shirt he wore and even ripped a portion of skin off.

Ash was forced to block and parry his punches with each punch he parried taking more and more of the skin on his off or at the very least shaving a small layer of him.

Another parry got his arm sliced by the blades on Tibaut’s gauntlets and he quickly threw himself into Tibaut slapping both of the boy's sides.

The two headbutted and Tibaut attempted an almost telegraphed uppercut. But even with such an obvious attack, Ash was forced to use every muscle in his back to avoid the punch. If he hadn't been dodging the instant the headbutt ended and his head would have flown high enough to reach the clouds. It scraped against his chin and he breathed a sigh of relief, thanking the Gods that was it.

The force of the blow was too much for Tibaut to handle and he inadvertently threw himself into the air like Ryu throwing a shoryuken giving Ash some time to back away and catch his breath.

But even as he backed away, he felt himself stumble to his knee slightly and his head ache slightly.

(“Impossible, that punch caused this much damage with a graze!? Haha, Tibaut you're amazing! I thought Elizabeth might have been a worthy opponent but you, YOU are a perfect opponent for Ash to make his resurrection as a warrior. To think the world would pick out such a perfect opponent for me to test this body and bring it to its limits.”)

Tibaut threw himself towards Ash, using all fours after falling on the ground. The boy had his attention briefly taken away by something and Ash landed a blow directly to the face of Tibaut, sending him flat onto the floor.

(“Gah, it's these flames again!”)

The flames on the side of his body that Ash placed on him had now heated up to an unbearable temperature, even for him. He pulled them off and threw them back at him as Ash threw another punch at the grounded Tibaut. They dissipated as soon as his fist descended on Tibaut. A second or two passed without the fist slamming into his gauntlets and he soon felt an indescribably painful blow strike his crotch.

“GAFFGGFHH” He shouted in pain with glazed-over eyes.

(“You do know he has body parts other than his fists right?”)

Ash backed away as Tibaut gritted his teeth, got back up and threw what looked like a curved blade of flame. Tibaut dodged it but it wasn't just one Ash threw. He continued to dodge the onslaught until one caught him and wrapped around his arm.

(“Huh? Is this?”)

(“It seems he's combining his earlier attack with a that, hmm, yes let's call them sticky flames.”) The voice chimed.

He immediately tried to pull it off but it was far more difficult to take off compared to the earlier flames.

He ducked a punch from Ash, who had silently made his way over and was forced to block and dodge Ash's rock-hard fists.

He was focused on the flame as he knew how hot it could get if he left it there for long enough. It might even burn his arm off if he wasn't careful.

But that didn't mean he didn't try to attack. He parried a blow and pushed himself forward to land an elbow strike on Ash's jaw.

The young man pushed it aside almost too casually, smirking all the way before landing a blow on his face.

(“Ah, yes. F.Y.I. the elbow you used to do that little trick earlier isn't fully healed so it still moves a little sluggish compared to the rest of you. It's the reason you missed that uppercut you tried to land earlier as well.”)

(“And you're just now telling me!?”)

(“Of course, you can't expect me to fight your fights for you.”)

Tibaut tried to throw a punch at Ash's face but he used too much force and ended up flinging himself over his shoulder.

Ash briefly let his guard down and had Tibaut’s knee greet his face. He managed to block it but both of his arms screamed out in pain based on their cracking and the force of the blow, even if he did block it, left him somewhat dazed for a moment.

Tibaut was left with his stomach resting on Ash's shoulders and used the brief moment to rip the flame off his arm, as it had now gotten unbearable and slapped it onto Ash's, with the sound of sizzling instantly being heard.

Ash soon threw him upward slightly and landed a blow to his nether regions with his fist this time. Ash's strength allowed him to keep Tibaut in the air in such a position with only his fist.

Ash's fist was conveniently about the same height as his neck and Tibaut showed no restraint with his counterattack, bringing a knee to his face.

Both fell to the ground, with both breathing heavily and clutching the parts that experienced immense.

(“Is my jaw broken?”) Ash wondered as he felt his jaw and moved it from side to side.

(“Well it wasn't as if you were going to be using them anytime soon.”) The drake commented.

Tibaut could only whimper in pain as he picked himself up. Mr. Bentley quickly got up as soon as he saw Tibaut do so and placed one of those flames in his face. Tibaut headbutted him and pulled the flame off before slapping it on his face.

It dissipated but the brief moment he was blinded by it gave Tibaut enough time to land a punch in the face.

It was with the weakened arm but you wouldn't have been able to tell. The punch sent Mr. Bentley flying a whole ten feet backwards.

Thankfully, his blows to Tibaut’s royal jewels were the only reason he had a face left to begin with.

He placed a finger on one side of his nose and blew the blood out. He sat up and looked at Tibaut who was quickly approaching, his battered face no longer showing amusement.

(“He's tougher than I expected. It seems this new body alone isn't going to be enough to snuff out his flame.”)