"I am sorry, guys…" Nath scratched the back of his head, ashamed of his poor performance.
"You did your best." Jin patted his shoulder and asked, "Need some ice?"
"I am fine." Nath sat down and poured water on his head to cool himself down.
While others were occupied by the next match that was about to start, Nath slammed himself in the head a couple of times and repeated:
"Whew, haha." Gray Ashworth let out a few chuckles of relief. "It looked dicey in the middle, but in the end, the match ended as expected."
"Hmm, oh…" Muriel looked over to the ring and turned disappointed. "It is not his turn yet, huh…"
"Oh, that must be Ryan Lee." A man with dark hair said. "I heard he is a Natural Fighter."
"Oh?" Gray voiced, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "Like Johan?"
"Yeah, this might be an interesting matchup."
Ryan stepped up to the stage with a cold look on his face. Each step felt more suffocating as Kornelius' intense aura was locked in him.
'What a monster…' Ryan clicked his tongue. 'If I had only ranked up, I could win.'
The more despair he felt, the tougher the bottleneck became. However, he couldn't help but feel despair and frustration at himself.
The elderly referee looked at the two and said, "Second match, Ryan Lee vs. Kornelius Ashworth. Are both fighters ready?"
"Always." Kornelius hopped on his feet with a confident look.
After making it through the first match, he was feeling less pressure on his shoulders. It made his body feel lighter and more agile than it did in the first match.
"I am." Ryan responded and moved to a very forward stance, with his arms lined up in front of him and his body leaning forward.
"Fight!" The referee swung his arm down and escaped from the ring.
"Ashworth Family Style…" Like before, Kornelius planned to go straight on offense.
However, he was slower than his opponent.
Ryan's leg muscles tightened a little bit, and he accelerated forward with crazy speed.
Kornelius abandoned his attack and punched widely, but Ryan slid under his arm and jabbed him in the ribs. Pow. Pow. Pow.
"Oh!" Jin exclaimed. 'I thought he was going to use Super Acceleration straight away, but instead, he used only a small fraction of that speed so that he wouldn't ruin his legs before the fight even began.'
"Tch…" Kornelius backed off with a bruised waist and clicked his tongue. 'He is fast.'
Ryan stopped moving, turned around ninety degrees to face Kornelius, and again charged forward. The ground under him cracked with the force of his speed, sending bits of tile flying into the air.
'That movement…' Kornelius frowned. 'He can only run in a straight line?'
Ryan's legs whizzed across the ring, and when he reached the striking distance, he whipped his leg at Kornelius' thigh. The kick landed with a loud smack.
"Ashworth Family Style, Spirit Punch!" Kornelius launched a powerful cross punch.
Ryan weaved back and narrowly avoided the blow. He then threw another few kicks that landed on Kornelius' legs.
'Hit-and-run tactic, huh…' Kornelius scoffed.
"Haah, haah…" Ryan panted heavily, a warm sweat rolling down his face. 'What am I missing? Kiernan managed to advance easily, so why can't I?'
Kornelius grinded his teeth and launched a bombardment of punches. Ryan weaved around the punches with his superior speed, but then one of the punches scratched his cheek.
It almost looked like his cheek exploded. It was now raptured, showing the raw red flesh underneath. A single scratch turned into a gushing wound, with blood pouring down his face.
"Ashworth Family Style, Spirit Bombardment…" Kornelius smirked.
'Wait, what was I thinking?' Ryan frowned and quickly backed off to the edge of the ring. 'I don't have to think about anything else. I'll have to focus on the fight!'
This was the first time in the entire month that he stopped thinking about advancement. That thinking was the reason for his bottleneck becoming tougher and harder to break.
Now, slight signs of the soul having a layer peel off were beginning to show.
Each heartbeat pumped his body with greater strength.
Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump.
'I think I am ready for that move…'
Ryan moved to his sprinting stance. With his eyes locked on Kornelius, his leg muscles started to bulge with explosive power. He took a deep breath, and the ground under him was cracked by the weight of his legs alone.
"He is going to do it!" Jin cried out.
"Go!" Klaus and Timothy shouted.
Nath dug his nails into his palms, ignoring the pain that came with it.
'Ryan's preparations have been successful…' Kiernan thought with a smile. 'Kornelius won't know what hits him.'
Kornelius thought with a scoff. 'It somewhat looks like the same stance from the start of the fight. So he plans to use his speed to attack me. Unfortunately for you, I already know that you can only run in a straight line. You're an easy target!'
Ryan's legs strained as he pushed off the ground, propelling himself forward with incredible speed towards his opponent.
Kornelius, without any hesitation, punched forward with all his strength, as if he were able to tell where his opponent was going to be.
At that moment, Ryan completely vanished in front of him.
'H-he is gone?' Kornelius' eyes shrunk. 'Is his speed just so fast that I can't see him…'
That thought lasted a single second. It was too long.
A kick landed on his collarbone—the collarbone shattered instantly—then his body fell down on one knee, struggling to remain conscious as excruciating pain shot through his body.
"Aaaargh!" Kornelius screamed so loudly that foam poured out of his mouth. It was the worst pain he had ever felt.
Ryan landed back on the ground with a fatigued face. His legs were shaking uncontrollably, as that move had taken everything out of him.
"Yes!" Supporters from Karuza High erupted in cheers.
'He played him!' Jin thought with a grin. 'Ryan wanted Kornelius to think that he can only run on a straight line so that his Super Jump has a greater chance to succeed!'
Inside Ryan, his soul showed signs of peeling at an amazing rate. It only needed one final push.
"Grandson!" Gray cried out with a pale face.
"So that's Natural Fighter." The man with dark hair whistled. "What a tremendous natural athleticism."
"The fight's over." Muriel said with a smile. "Neither one of them can continue fighting. It would be foolish because there are more matches to come. I guess it will finally be his turn~"
The coach of Raimei High used his hand to comb back his hair and sighed.
"We'll need him well-rested for tomorrow…" He grabbed a towel from the bench and threw it on the ring.
As soon as the towel landed on the ring, the referee blew a whistle.
"The second match is over, winner Ryan Lee!"
"W-what?!" Kornelius screamed while holding his left arm. "I haven't lost yet!"
"Kornelius, it is fine." The coach said with a sigh. "I know you can beat your opponent even with one arm, but we'll need you tomorrow at your full strength."
'Tomorrow, huh?' Jin shook his head. 'They're not even considering us a threat…'
"Damn it!" Kornelius screamed, threw one look of hate in Ryan's direction, and left the ring.
Ryan breathed out loudly and grabbed his trembling knees.
"You too, Ryan…" Jin said. "Your job is done; excellent job."
"Oh…" Ryan nodded with a sigh and slowly limped off the ring. He then exchanged high-fives with others before getting seated on the bench.
"Ryan Lee has surrendered!" The referee shouted. "Bring your next fighters!"
All the eyes on Karuza High's bench landed on Kiernan. Their hopes landed on his shoulders.
Kiernan took one final sip of the water, then stood up and high-fived with others before going up the stairs to the ring.
On the opposite side of him, a dark blue-haired young man with tattoos filling his arms was waiting for him with a grin on his face.
"The third match—Kiernan Hunter vs. Kalen Lightning!"