"Get up."

The shock in everyone's eyes heightened upon hearing this statement from Klaus directed at X. It was a clear taunt from Klaus, but the guts required to say such a thing to such an opponent brought chills down the spectating demigods' spine in fear for Klaus. However, among the shock between the demigods was a smile that filled Mia's face upon realizing why Klaus had made his daunting statement.

Klaus towered above his opponent with a menacing glare as he awaited X's next action. The pure rage in X's eyes could be seen from the spectator's location for a brief moment as the other demigods wondered what would happen next.

Eventually, after a brief moment of silence, X suddenly began to stand up from his fallen state with his head facing the ground. His silence while doing so had a frightening aura oozing from him as he slowly got up on his feet. X's face remained directed at the floor as the silence intensified.

Suddenly, while still looking down, X immediately moved his right hand to the holster of his sidearm, picking up the weapon and pointing it at Klaus in less than a second before firing one round at his opponent's head. The spectating demigods watched as the bullet connected with its target, causing Klaus' head to move back until it was facing the sky above them.

"Oh my Gods," Rose commented at the spectator's location upon witnessing what had happened alongside the other demigods.

However, after the few moments subsided, Klaus returned his head to his opponent untouched, revealing what appeared to be the fired bullet between his teeth before spitting it to the ground.

Turning his attention forward, X noticed what had occurred, increasing his ever-growing rage. He then tossed his sidearm to the ground before walking closer to his opponent with a more serious expression. The two fighters began to brawl once again in hand-to-hand combat, but unlike the previous times, this one was completely different.

Effortlessly, X began to dominate his opponent, making sure that Klaus was unable to land even a single hit. The gap between both fighters heightened significantly, making the spectating demigods remember the power difference between the two. Klaus continued to swing at his opponent, but X's actions were fluid in evading, allowing him to chain a counter after every swing from Klaus.

Klaus was getting beat up.

The ruthless punches that connected with Klaus were painful for the demigods to watch, making them wonder how it would have felt. X's straight expression made the fight even more brutal, almost like he was reminding Klaus of his place in the fight. He then grabbed Klaus by the arm before slamming his opponent to the ground afterward. But this did not seem to be enough as Klaus got back up on his feet and continued his assault.

Seconds went by and the same outcome continued. X continued to find different ways of flooring his opponent, but Klaus never remained on the ground for more than mere seconds. Although this action frustrated X, the demigods were more concerned about Klaus since this scene was similar to the last battle between both fighters during the Cosmic League.

"Not this again," Shade stated while spectating the battle, worried about his brother.

"Why isn't he using any abilities?" Rose asked in concern.

"I am assuming he wants to beat his opponent on even terms," Quinn stated, confirming her understanding of Klaus' actions.

"What?" Rose asked. "How the heck is this even?"

It felt like Quinn was saying that Klaus was deliberately choosing not to use his abilities to fight X on even terms. It also made more sense since the only time Klaus used his light powers was when X had used his weapons earlier so upon his opponent dropping his weapon, Klaus probably decided against using his.

"This idea from Klaus is honorable," Lance stated before continuing. "... except he fails to understand that X himself is his own weapon."

Klaus continued to get overpowered by X. His intention of making the battle fair did not appear to be the case to him so he knew that he had to go against that idea if he truly wanted to triumph over his opponent.

Once again, X managed to evade an incoming attack from Klaus before landing a devastating punch to the gut on Klaus and hitting him to the ground once again. Klaus stayed on the floor for longer than he had before, however, this appeared to be his intention.

On the ground, Klaus then stretched his left hand outward before forming what appeared to be a second grade of Solar Ball in mere seconds. X readied himself for the attack Klaus had created, but the intention of the ball of light was not what X had anticipated.

Suddenly, Klaus slammed his left hand onto the ground, causing the ball of light to detonate upon contact with the floor's surface. This caused a tremendously bright light to cover the entire battlefield, blinding X and giving Klaus an advantage of sight.

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Using this opening, Klaus then moved to X's right side before rushing at his opponent with a devastating attack. But before his attack could connect, X instantly moved out of the way before using his motion to catch Klaus off-guard and connect his attack to Klaus' jaw.

Klaus fell to the floor in pain and understandable confusion as to what had happened.

"What?" Klaus asked himself as he held on to his jaw.

It took a second before Klaus managed to understand what had happened in the short period.

"His senses are something else," Klaus whispered to himself before picking himself off the ground.

Klaus figured out that while being affected by the blinding light, X was able to heighten the rest of his senses, specifically his sense of sound, to compensate for his lack of vision. In doing so, X was then able to pinpoint where Klaus had moved to before coming closer with a strike, allowing him to counter Klaus. With this information, Klaus knew that he could not bet on the same tactic since the amount of energy required was not worth the risk.

The wound that Klaus had received earlier from X's blade had caused him to lose a lot of blood during the duration of the fight, but as the battle progressed, the wound eventually stopped bleeding and began to heal over time. However, due to the connected attack from X, Klaus had to deal with the open wound while still focusing on his opponent.

Eventually, the light began to subside, allowing the spectators to continue witnessing the fight. Upon sight, they noticed that Klaus had not gained any advantage from the light that covered the battlefield and was somehow more damaged than before, understanding that his attempt had not worked.

"C'mon Klaus," Rose exclaimed among the spectating demigods. "I know you can do this."

Klaus' stress was clear to the spectators upon noticing his hesitation. But after the brief moment, he let out a soft sigh before stretching his left hand once again, forming a first grade of the Solar Ball technique and rushing at X.

X began to evade Klaus' held attack as Klaus continued to battle while attempting to connect the ball of light with X. While evading, X noticed that he had to do something about the attack so upon jumping backward, he pulled out a small needle from his side pockets and threw it at the attack, causing it to detonate upon contact.

The brief burst of light expanded for a few seconds before the two fighters continued to swing at each other once again in combat. X still had the upper hand, but the fight was not as one-sided as it was a few seconds before. It felt like Klaus was learning to hold his own against X despite his opponent constantly changing his attack style every engagement.

Every time X landed an attack, Klaus withstood it and continued to attack. Every time X grounded his opponent, Klaus still got up and rushed back into the fight. Klaus' unyielding determination to keep fighting was so intense that even X himself began to wonder if Klaus was mortal or not.

"His resilience is unfathomable," Lance commented while spectating the ongoing battle. "Such an astounding fellow."

The spectating demigods could not believe the intensity of the battle that was occurring. Although Klaus remained inferior in the majority of the battle, the difference between both fighters was incomparable to their previous brawl. Eventually, Klaus and X clashed punches at each other before moving back a few meters from one another.

X's silence accompanied by Klaus' own gave the battle an eerie tone and all that could be heard were the slight breathing of both fighters. The silence did not last for long before it was broken by X, who decided to say a few words.

"Tell me... what makes you fight?"

This was the same question X had asked Klaus earlier, but unlike before, this time felt like X was genuinely curious as opposed to earlier. And surprising to all the spectators, Klaus finally decided to respond.

"Our priority, the sole purpose of our existence... is the protection of precious life. Yet the hypocrisy of your actions exists."

"Hypocrisy?" X questioned. "Do you think all life is the same?"

X's response made Klaus more frustrated before he continued his reply.

"People deserve to be killed... and you are too delusional to understand true reality."

Hearing X's response kept Klaus silent. He knew that there was no reason to continue such a pointless topic so he continued to walk forward at his opponent to engage in combat. The brawl continued once more between the two fighters as time progressed.

"This fight is something else," Link commented from the sidelines.

"Yeah," Quinn responded. "And I honestly have no idea who'll win at this point."

The fight between Klaus and X, at this point, remained even from a spectator's point of view. The rest of the demigods had no idea of how the fight would turn out, but one of them seemed to notice a strange advantage after a few more seconds of clashing.

"He's getting tired," a voice revealed to be Iris commented after a brief moment of silence. "X, I mean."

"Are you sure?" Mia asked.

"It's faint, but I can notice his speed and aggression depleting by the second."

X noticed that he was not attacking at his optimal level as well. He knew that the fight had gone longer than he had anticipated and he began to wonder why he had allowed such. He had also disregarded his intention of using True Accuracy earlier and because of how far the battle had gone and the level of energy he had left, he knew that the strain afterward would be devastating. But from the way Klaus remained on his feet, X knew that he was running out of options, as well as chances to use the ability.

Klaus continued to swing attacks at X on even terms. Both fighters appeared to be around the same level at that point due to X's loss of energy, and Klaus knew that this was his best chance to eliminate his opponent. With that idea, Klaus spawned a small Solar ball above his left palm before rushing at X.

However, upon doing so, X managed to evade his opponent before grabbing onto Klaus' other arm. With this action, X then used enough force to snap Klaus' right arm, before using his back to launch his opponent off his feet and into the air.

Klaus grunted in pain before getting tossed up by X. He spun over his opponent before finally falling to the ground. But before Klaus could fall, as he turned his attention to X, he noticed his opponent's constricted eyes as they looked back at him. Not just that, but in between Klaus' eyes was the tip of X's sniper rifle as X held on to the weapon with his right hand and pointed it at his opponent.

X knew that this was his only chance of finishing his opponent, so he decided not to hold back on his attack. True Accuracy, alongside the sniper rifle that had a reputation for perfect accuracy, meant that Klaus' chances of survival were almost impossible.

"Perish."

After this word flew out of X's mouth, the loud sound of the fired sniper, along with a sudden bright light echoed around the room before Klaus could touch the floor.