Dom was left speechless. He didn’t think that the wasp had that sort of capacity. Wasn’t it just a normal wasp?! Why did it suddenly spray that blank ink mist?
He couldn’t see past the cloud of blank ink dust, so Dom didn’t know how to control the Iron Spartan.
“Yes! It worked!” Roni rejoiced.
He didn’t think that his tactic would work.
“What did you do? What happened?” Dom felt helpless when he didn’t know what to do.
He suddenly felt that his control of the Iron Spartan was suddenly going out of his power! He felt like he couldn’t control it anymore! That was impossible! Even when his vision was obscured, he should still be able to control the iron particles in the Spartan. As long as it was in his range of control, he should have an intangible connection with the iron!
“When I created the wasp, I imagined it to have a skill of spurting a mix of moisture and electrolytes that would make your iron golem rust and disintegrate!”
Dom had a bad feeling about his own Iron Spartan. Once the black cloud of ink dispersed enough to show the result, everyone was surprised to see that the silver glean of the Iron Spartan was nowhere to be seen, and it was now filled with reddish rust that chipped and disintegrated by the second.
After a few seconds, the Iron Spartan turned into nothing more than a mound of rust in the middle of the room.
“No way…” Dom fell to his knees and cupped the mound of rust in the ground. He couldn’t believe that there was nothing left of his construct. It all happened so fast. He wasn’t even able to do anything.
“Yes! I won!” The Cartoonish Wasp flew back to Roni’s shoulder and then flew back into his notebook to become another two-dimensional drawing.
When he made the cartoonish wasp, he imagined it to have a secret ability to create a cloud of ink that could quickly rust and disintegrate iron! Even he was surprised that it worked. After all, he drew the wasp the same way that he drew it when he fought Jorn the first time.
The only thing different was that Roni believed his wasp to have this ability. He used the best of his creativity to create a backstory for the wasp. He imagined it to have evolved in a world where they subsist by eating honey that was stored inside trees made out of iron. And the only way they could get to that honey was to rust the tree until they got to the honey inside!
“Roni has won this battle,” announced Andres. “Don’t worry, Dom. This is only natural.”
Dom was disappointed, but he wasn’t surprised. He also knew that his Money Teqx was very weak against Fame Teqx. That was just how the world worked; he couldn’t do anything about it.
However, that didn’t mean that Dom would simply accept his defeat. He vowed to himself that he would work hard on his cultivation so that he’d be so far ahead of Roni that he’d be able to defeat his Fame Teqx!
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[Your investment (Roni) has defeated an equal opponent in a spar]
[You have earned 100 Yi Power as a dividend]
Patty got another reward just by doing nothing. He got excited as he thought about the possibilities. As long as these three interns continued to improve and spar against each other, Patty would eventually earn a lot more Yi Power.
With those Yi Power, he could plant some Yi Power Carrots, which he could give out to his interns, making them much more powerful. And once they improved, they would spar again, which would give Patty another batch of Yi Power dividends. So the cycle continued.
“Okay, now it’s time for the last fight,” Andes said.
(Jorn vs. Dom)
Jorn was feeling good about himself. He had won two of two matches, which gave him the feeling of being very powerful. He didn’t know it, but he was feeling the same superiority that other Power Teqx users out in the world. After all, physical strength was the easiest way to show dominance against other people.
Dom, on the other hand, was feeling very motivated to redeem his loss. He knew that he had an advantage against Jorn because of their Teqx, but he wasn’t overconfident. He still treated this fight as if he was the underdog.
After a few minutes, he found his control over the Iron Spartan return. The iron atoms from the rust separated from the oxygen, creating another pure iron bar. Because he had overall control over the iron, he was able to merge them into the same Iron Spartan humanoid again.
“I hereby name you, Iron Spartan II,” he said as he controlled the figure to raise its sword in the air to symbolize its return from the ashes.
“If you can touch my body with the Iron Spartan II protecting me, then you win.”
“Hehe, sure. That’s easy. I feel like I could bend metal with my strength right now!”
Andres got in the middle again and mediated between the two.
“Okay, fighters. On my count. Three…two…one…GO!”
Jorn glided over to the wall again and pushed off, creating momentum and speed towards Dom. As soon as he was able to even touch Dom’s clothes, then he’d win. From his perspective, this was a very easy challenge.
After all, he could simply just glide away from the Iron Spartan very easily. With his speed, not even that hunk of metal could stop him.
However, he underestimated the strength of an iron figure. Not only that, this iron metal wasn't just regular old iron, it had an invisible string in another dimension that flowed directly over to the Money fabric of the universe. This increased the durability and strength of the iron to supernatural levels.
Just as he thought he’d have his hands touch Dom’s shoulders, he suddenly felt a strong force push his hands and body away from Dom. Unexpectedly, the iron figure was able to keep up with his speed and use its shield to push away Jorn’s hands before it could even come close.
“Argh! I need to be faster!”
Jorn was like a hockey player as he slid his foot on the floor, gaining speed as his foot slid against the thin ice that appeared under his shoes. Just as when he was about to reach Dom again, the Iron Spartan II figure was there to protect him.
This got frustrating for Jorn. He thought he’d be able to overpower the small iron figure easily. The reality put his arrogance down a peg.
So, Jorn decided to be a little more smart about it. He started to slide across the room from wall to wall. He didn’t come close to Dom, and the Iron Spartan didn't chase him across the room. This allowed Jorn to gather more momentum and speed for one final attack!
With one kick at the wall, he sped directly towards Dom. The iron figure was prepared to defend.
And just as before the Iron Spartan was able to push Jorn out of his path towards Dom. However, Jorn smiled. This was all part of his plan. He used the Iron Spartan’s power to shoot himself across the room and away from Dom. At this speed and trajectory, he would collide face-first with the door!
However, no one expected Jorn to raise his legs just as he was about to land on the door. Then, defying physics, he used the momentum and force of his speed to glide over the door and onto the ceiling!
Jorn’s speed was so fast that no one expected him to suddenly come back towards Dom from the ceiling!
Dom and the Iron Spartan were both caught off guard. He knew that he didn’t have enough control over the Iron Spartan to overpower the speed and power of Jorn’s momentum.
The Iron Spartan won’t be able to defend against Jorn this time.
So, in a last-ditch effort, Dom pulled the Iron Spartan back into his arms. And just like when he was forced to play baseball in the Ruobber company retreat, he swung his arms to the best of his abilities and flung the Iron Spartan directly towards Jorn.
Jorn wasn’t expecting this. His speed became a detriment. He didn’t have enough time to react as the Iron Spartan went past his fist, and his arms, and directly headed over to his head. It was unfortunate that he couldn’t coat his face with ice. If he was, then the figure would have simply slid across his face.
The Iron Spartan’s shield collided with Jorn’s chin, immediately knocking him out in the air.
“Yes! I won!” Dom celebrated as Andres’ clone caught the unconscious Jorn from the air.
However, that wasn’t the end of it. Because the Iron Spartan was too far away from Dom, he wasn’t able to control it anymore. He watched as the figure ricocheted from Jorn’s face and headed directly toward Patty!
Not only that, it had its iron sword raised, threatening to pierce through his eyes.