"This is Natural Fighter at his full strength." Nathaniel said with a smile. "It's basically his body doing what his mind can't. It's like a primal instinct taking over."
Ryan placed his hands under him and kicked his legs furiously in the air, but Kiernan dodged them and then slammed his fist towards his face.
Ryan rolled out of the way while the fist hit the ground with a loud thud.
"Whoo!" Ryan's fingers jabbed towards Kiernan's face.
"Sweeping Catch!" Kiernan snatched the fingers and squeezed tightly, causing Ryan to wince in pain.
Ryan jumped off the ground and kicked Kiernan's chest repeatedly.
"Anatomical Bind." Kiernan moved Ryan's arms down and forced him down on the ground with his face planted on the ground.
"I don't want to break your fingers." Kiernan said while holding Ryan's fingers tightly. "Surrender."
Ryan moved his feet towards Kiernan's jaw but didn't hit him yet.
"If you break my fingers, I'll break your jaw with my kick." Ryan said with a determined look in his eyes.
"…" Kiernan slowly let go of the fingers, then jumped backwards away from the kick's range.
Ryan shook his hands as they were aching and then saw that a few of his fingers were bruised.
'He just grabbed my fingers, but they were already bruised. If he wanted to, he could've immediately broken my fingers.
'Is this what he was talking about with his steel hands? Is he in the process of body conditioning to make his body as strong as steel?
'That thought alone scares me. Is he becoming an even scarier monster?'
However, he still clenched his hands into fists. He didn't plan on giving up now!
With his upper body leaning closer to the ground, he moved into his sprinting stance, and the ground under him immediately cracked.
His leg muscles swelled and turned bigger. He was putting all his effort into this attack!
'I won't hold back. This will most likely be my last attack, as I can't keep standing once I am done with this.
'But this is my ultimate attack. It's something beyond that of Super Acceleration and Super Jump. He will never expect this one, no matter how much of a genius he is!'
He placed his right arm right beside his waist, as if he were planning to throw a punch.
'Another one?' Kiernan frowned and moved to his defensive stance. 'What will he plan on doing now? Super Acceleration or Jump?'
He glanced behind him and noticed that he was about ten meters from the edge of the ring.
'Too big of a distance, so Super Tackle is out of the question. He can't push me off the ring, so it will be one of the two.'
However, Kiernan then froze for a moment, and he narrowed his eyes.
'That stance is different. Is he planning to confuse me? No, this sprinting stance isn't perfect, as he has only one hand touching the ground and another next to his waist.
'It is an incomplete sprinting stance. It is more of a punching stance. That will weaken his speed, so unless this is a trick, it must be a new move.'
Kiernan gulped slightly as a few sweat drops fell on his face. If he didn't defend properly, he could lose.
'When he vanishes, should I just jump out of the way? I'm not sure what to do.'
For the first time in a long time, he didn't actually know what to do.
If he chose the wrong move, he would lose, and he didn't want to lose. Even if his opponent was one of his friends, he didn't want to lose.
That was part of his ego and arrogance.
'Alright!' Kiernan's eyes widened. 'Reduce the unnecessary thoughts and react. Try to see him move!'
The ground under Ryan exploded, and then with a loud scream, he sprang off the ground like a missile.
He vanished from everyone's eyes.
Kiernan's eyes bulged wide, and with every fiber of his being, he decided on one move.
"Shield of Ares!" Kiernan placed his right arm in front of him, the fist of the arm facing the sky, and his forearm muscles bulged like a balloon, becoming a shield made out of pure muscle!
Ryan appeared in front of him, the fist of his own arm colliding with Kiernan's shield of muscle.
The two forces clashed, and the ground shattered under them.
"Argh!" Ryan looked at his fist and saw that his wrist broke, turning purple, swollen, and throbbing with pain.
At that moment, the ground shook as Kiernan stomped towards him with a look of pure rage in his eyes.
"K-Kiernan?" Ryan's eyes shook.
"You've pushed me farther than I thought." Kiernan's right arm started turning, and then he moved into a punching stance. "I'll end this fight with the same move I did with Johan."
"Ah…" Ryan spread his arms wide and smiled. "Good, that's what I wanted…"
The fist sent Ryan flying off the ring and crashing onto the hard floor below.
The audience gasped before bursting into cheers.
It was loud and chaotic, the energy in the arena electric.
"The match is over!" Azer announced. "The winner is Kiernan Hunter, and still the top-ranked student of the school!"
"Ah!" Nathaniel jumped to his feet and looked over to Ryan.
The medical staff came with a stretcher and took him away as he got knocked out because of that punch.
"What the hell was that end?" Timothy's voice shook. "Ryan did a new move, and so did Kiernan!"
"Ryan's move was quite similar to Super Acceleration, but he placed his fist in front of him while running, acting like a human battering ram."
"That was to counter Kiernan's move." Nathaniel said. "If Kiernan had placed his fist in front of him, Ryan would've smashed his fist into his fist and broken Kiernan's hand because he had the momentum to carry his punch."
"So scary…" Klaus thought out loud. "Kiernan expected a new move and defended it, but that was not part of his rock-solid defense; that was something entirely different!"
"Ryan pushed him to such an extent that even Kiernan's unwavering trust in his own victory started to shake."
Nathaniel grabbed his jacket and waved his hand. "I'll go see him at the medical bay."