His face paled as Erik felt the mana swirling around Nathaniel's fists.
<DAMN!>
His opponent started running toward him. However, his speed was several times higher than before.
<He is using his power on his legs!>
Indeed, Nathaniel's legs and feet were surrounded by mana. He was using his energy to create small bursts that propelled him forward, severely increasing his speed. Erik could barely jump to the side before Nathaniel punched, missing his target but creating a small explosion of energy in front of him.
SWOOOOOOOM
In a cone radius, the students closer to the ring were thrown several meters in the air. The adults didn't have particular problems since they all joined the militaries in the past or were currently inside the organization, meaning they were plenty strong to resist the attack. Still, their hair was at least disheveled by the wind the move released.
<HOLY MOLY!> Erik thought. That attack was devastating. It wasn't probably something life-threatening, but it was still powerful enough to break his bones. If he got hit even a single time, then that was the moment he would lose!
Nathaniel looked at Erik, who was still trying to stand up, and immediately rushed to him. The young man noticed, quickly stood on his feet, and started backing.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA LOOK AT THE COWARD," a student from the crowd said.
"Yeah, he acted all mighty against Euan but now is running in front of Nathaniel," another added.
Amber, Gwen, and Floyd looked at the match with worried looks. Floyd told Erik not to embarrass himself. However, it was clear that the match for Erik was more challenging than they did imagine.
"No, no! Erik, what are you doing?!" Floyd shouted from the side.
Erik heard his friend, but at the moment, he was having problems avoiding Nathaniel's attacks. The young man punched, mainly the air, but his energy was enough to shake the ring. It was like he was releasing air cannons that were impossibly hard to evade, and Erik was trying to keep his distance from him.
BOOOM
Nathaniel punched the air again while Erik jumped on the ground to avoid the attack.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH, IS THIS ALL THE MIGHTY AWAKENER CAN DO?!" Nathaniel shouted.
"The awakener?" A person from the crowd said.
"Did I hear it correctly?" another asked.
The fact that there was an awakener inside the nation was something not many people knew. Most students, and probably their parents, were aware of this. Still, ordinary people and basically everyone aside from the students attending the matches knew this.
Nathaniel punched again from a two-meter distance, and Erik rolled to the side to avoid the attack.
"Hey Rosie," a father said to his daughter, "What is the Idor rank of the boy on the ground?" he asked.
"You mean Erik, the plant hugger? He should be a SIGMA2... What a loser!" It was common knowledge that most third-year students were at least on the RHO1.
Still, for someone being at the SIGMA2, that meant they were severely lacking, and yet, the man saw that, despite Erik being on the losing side, his strength, speed, and reflexes were insanely high, it was almost like he was a RHO2.
"The other boy called him the awakener; was he joking?" the man asked his daughter.
"No, he really is an awakener. He awakened a month ago..." Rosie replied.
"Why didn't you tell me anything about it?" the man asked his daughter.
"I didn't think it was important. Apparently, he couldn't improve his brain crystal that much, only to the E-rank, and the power he awakened was not even that good. Only at the D-rank," Rosie replied.
The man didn't say anything else, there was an awakener inside their nation, but he wasn't that strong. That was something unfortunate. However, if he was a SIGMA2-ranked student, how could he be strong enough to even stand against a RHO3 like Nathaniel?
pαndα noνɐ1,сoМ The young man jumped on his feet again, and Nathaniel chased him. All over the ring, "STOP RUNNING AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!" he said to Erik.
Nathaniel punched again, sending a bolt of energy in his opponent's direction. Erik was far enough to dodge the attack, but he could not close the distance with Nathaniel. Not only was he faster than him, but he also had ranged attacks. Erik could do nothing but evade in that situation.
Nathaniel dashed again at the young man and punched, releasing a huge burst of power that shook the ring once more. Erik avoided the attack again, but he basically had to dive down.
<How the fuck can I fight against him?> he thought.
The man quickly stood up, only for his opponent to try again.
"Hahahaha, look at the rat you are!" Nathaniel said.
At that moment, Erik rushed toward him, and his opponent did nothing. Erik unleashed a series of punches at the young man, but he avoided them all. Then the awakener tried to grab him, but as soon as he did, Nathaniel retreated several meters back with a jump.
"C'mon! Let me see what you can really do!"
Erik dashed again, and as before, Nathaniel didn't use his power. He was toying with Erik to show everyone how strong he was.
The awakener jumped high in an attempt to hit Nathaniel on the head, but the latter simply punched Erik in the stomach, stopping him mid-air and making him fall to the ground. Erik gasped in pain, he was having trouble breathing.
Clearly, the young man realized that he would lose the match, as there was nothing he could do against this monster. Even then, it would be hard to even land a hit on Nathaniel.
It was true that with his power, Erik stopped his opponent from attacking him with his bare body, yet that was hardly a drop inside a bucket.
However, Erik didn't want to lose the match so badly. He didn't want to surrender without even trying, so he decided to try one thing: tank Nathaniel's power to see if he could reach him.
Without hesitation, Erik started running toward his opponent, who grinned from ear to ear.
"Is this the best you can do?!" Nathaniel said with a scornful look. He channeled more mana and prepared an energy fist. Erik did the same; he channeled as much mana as possible on his arms and kept running toward Nathaniel.
"YOU ARE DONE FOR!"
Nathaniel punched, and a blast of energy shot from his fist, hitting Erik in full. However, the mana that Erik infused inside his arms with was much more than the one Nathaniel used for this current attack.
As soon as the energy hit his opponent, the now thicker coat of mana surrounding the young man's arms worked as a sort of small barrier.
Erik was able to protect his body, and thanks to his strength, he was able not to be thrown away by the blast; however, his left arm broke. He could still reach Nathaniel, and the young man slashed at his chest using his working arm, creating a severe wound.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Nathaniel said, "YOU ARE DEAD!"
Everyone was surprised by Erik's attack. He had been able to injure the strongest fighter inside the school. However, everyone could tell how dangerous that attack was since, in a life-and-death situation, this was basically a game over for Erik. He would have been dead by now.
Nathaniel was too close for Erik to dodge, and since he used his power to increase his speed, he basically appeared in front of the young man.
POW!
Nathaniel punched him once, twice, and he kept doing so until Erik lost consciousness.
"I WILL KILL YOU, BASTARD!" Nathaniel shouted. The healers and the referee had to intervene since the young man kept beating the unconscious Erik.
"YOU STOP IMMEDIATELY, OR YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED!" the referee said. Nathaniel regained his clarity and immediately jumped off Erik, but inside he was seething with anger. The plant hugger dared to hurt him!
That was unacceptable! Karl and Natasha went inside the ring and stopped their friend from doing something he would regret. After some minutes, Nathaniel calmed himself and was escorted back to the gym.
"ERIK!" Floyd shouted, immediately running toward him. Gwen and Amber did the same.
"How is he?" Gwen asked the healer.
"He has a broken arm and several concussions, but its nothing life-threatening. A couple of hours and a little bit of our help, and he will be able to stand again," the healer said.
Then they treated the young man and brought him to the infirmary, where he remained for forty minutes.
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