Arthur lifted his head slowly, and both of his eyes were protected behind a vermillion crystal layer, making him see the world through a red lens... He cracked his neck while opening his mouth, flashing his crystallized teeth.
Then, he uttered calmly while gazing at Tyrese’s dazed expression, "Thank you, Tyrese... for freeing me. I couldn’t have done it without you."
"Huh?"
Before Tyrese could register what he meant, Arthur took a step forward, and then... There was no then.
Argh...
Tyrese found Arthur digging his fist in his stomach, sending an electrifying shockwave across his body... he went limp for a second, and Arthur caught him with the other arm, leaving Tyrese’s head to rest on his shoulder.
"Try to keep up..." Arthur whispered next to Tyrese’s ear as he was stopping himself from vomiting all the drinks he had taken.
Tiing!!
With a crystallized indestructible elbow, Arthur smashed it right on Tyrese’s temple, so powerful, he heard his skull crack.
Thud! Thud! Thud!...
Tyrese’s body was launched tens of meters, rolling uncontrollably while feeling a buzzing, disoriented sensation coursing through his mind... Yet, Arthur was only starting to return the favor.
Under everyone’s stunned expressions, Arthur charged after Tyrese’s rolling body, resembling a crystallized Behemoth unleashed from its cage.
He caught Tyrese by his dreads and dragged him across the floor while sprinting in the direction of the conference’s teams. Once he arrived, he skidded over the ground, half of his soles turned crystallized, giving him better sliding dynamics.
Then, he came to a stop, kicking up a cloud of dust in front of them.
Arthur lifted Tyrese by his head and tightened his grasp, forcing him to go limp from the pain of having his skull crushed... Yet, Tyrese’s teammates did not move an inch, knowing that it could cause their disqualification.
"Heliodor... Heliodor’s Raiders, engrave this name in your memory... You will be seeing us a lot." He uttered indifferently.
Baaam!!
Before any of them could react, Arthur did a round kick and smashed his heel on Tyrese’s stomach, hurling him back inside the arena.
Then, he arrived next to him in no time with the same indifferent expression... but he didn’t hit him anymore. He just gazed at his bloody state and short breaths.
He crouched beside him and said, "I know this isn’t your limit... You helped me break my limits, now it’s your turn... show me what you got."
Hearing this, Tyrese forgot all the pain coursing through his body... he knew if he hadn’t enhanced his endurance and strength, he would be a goner by now.
"Ha..ha..ha cough... cough... Ponytail... you’re crazy."
Tyrese laughed with great difficulty, blood spilling nonstop from his lips. He could tell that Arthur meant it, and Tyrese wasn’t one to back off from a Macho fight.
"I have never done this while drunk... but, as you said, it’s time to get out of my comfort zone."
He summoned his gourd and lifted it in the direction of Arthur, then he uttered with a maddened grin, "Forbidden Toast... Madness Uncorked."
"Noooooooo!! Don’t do it, Bosh!"
"Tyrese! You can die from it!"
Hearing what he said, Mira, Blake, and the rest of their teammates’ faces went as pale as a sheet of paper.
They knew that was his Pathfinder rank’s ultimate ability... the last one, and the strongest of them all. However, it was so potent, he was barely capable of staying awake while consuming the toast without being drunk.
To do it now? When he was clearly already nearing his tolerance limit? There was a high chance it might go terribly wrong.
But, Tyrese ignored them and clicked his gourd with Arthur’s fist... then he drank the entire gourd and started coughing his lungs out, feeling like he had just drank liquid fire.
"Po..ponytail... forgive me, for whatever about to happen next... burp." Tyrese glanced at Arthur with eyes slowly losing focus, "I may not be the one in front of the wheel anymore..."
As his voice faded, Arthur put some distance between them and prepared with a deep breath, his eyes narrowed in preparation... if he wanted to win, he could have taken advantage of the earlier beatdown, but Arthur wanted more.
His goal was to get as strong as possible to keep up with his brother... the only way to do so was to challenge himself, over and over, and over, not getting lax once.
He always proclaimed himself to be the strongest, but Arthur knew... he wasn’t being cocky, but manifesting his future, following the teachings of his wise mother.
"Every word you speak carves a path ahead... when you declare your future aloud, the universe has no choice but to listen... so, make it listen." Ruqya Larson.
As his mother’s words resounded in his mind, Arthur watched Tyrese slowly stand up, his muscles squirming nonstop like a million snakes were within him.
His head, arms, and entire stance hunched as hot, steamy smoke rose from him... then he snapped his head upward, revealing a wide, maddening grin with unfocused eyes.
"Shall we?" He said, his voice resembled a devil’s growl.
"We shall."
Then, without warning, they lunged, kicking off dust behind them as they fought in melee... no weapons, no shields, just hands and legs being thrown, each contact sent shivers down everyone’s spines, resounding akin to gunshots!
Boom! Boom! Boom!...
Tyrese threw a brutal series of punches, and Arthur met him head-on, his crystal-armored fists absorbing the hits, sending reverberations that shook the ground and sent nearby stones tumbling away!
Blood and shards of crystal flew with each collision, yet... both had a maddening grin plastered over their faces.
Seeing an opening, Arthur countered with a spinning kick, his crystallized leg striking Tyrese’s side like a sledgehammer!
Tyrese grunted, pain coursing through him, but he didn’t allow it to dictate his battle... Instead, he leapt high, spinning in midair, and slammed a downward elbow into Arthur’s shoulder, the impact causing the crystal to shine brighter.
"More! More! MOORE!!"
Arthur laughed... a loud, manic sound that blended with Tyrese’s own growling roar of excitement.
They circled each other like predators, faces smeared with blood, eyes shining with pure, unhinged exhilaration... Each strike became wilder than the last. Tyrese’s knees crashed into Arthur’s ribs; Arthur’s fists tore into Tyrese’s torso.
A never-ending dance of what it meant to have the undying will of MAN!
Every punch, kick, and elbow created a shockwave that shattered the ground, while the wind itself seemed to howl at such a level of violence.
"How... just how is still capable of keeping up with Tyrese in that fearsome state?" Mira murmured in disbelief, feeling like she was spectating a dream.
On the other side...
"To keep up with Arthur’s attacks, which were infused with absorbed kinetic energy... Tyrese is a real beast... as expected of the second strongest region in the world."
Levi uttered, watching as Tyrese kept eating Arthur’s bursts of destruction with his flesh and remained standing. He knew that in this transformation state, Arthur didn’t need the shield to channel the kinetic energy and transform it. His entire body became the conductor with that much crystal merged in him!
Thus, he could do more than just increase the power of his punches.
With a sudden, terrifying speed, Arthur vanished from Tyrese’s sight, reappearing behind him... his hands extended, and gripped Tyrese’s head.
With a roar of pure bloodlust, Arthur slammed him into the ground with enough force to make the ground tremble!
Tyrese groaned but laughed, blood dribbling from his mouth and nose... He grabbed Arthur’s forearm mid-swing and twisted, flipping him over. Then, he became on top and started raining down on him with punches.
Arthur blocked his face with his forearms, joining his maddening laughter... everyone watching could tell, those two Juggernauts were no longer fighting... at least not rationally. They were predators, lost in the carnage, each strike a declaration of dominance!
But in the end... their transformations were fueled by solar energy, and it wasn’t infinite... after another thirty seconds of nonstop blows, the two beasts had finally exhausted every bit of their energy.
Yet still, they were standing up close with their bodies covered in blood and wounds, punching each other lightly and slowly.
"I win... I struck last." Arthur said absentmindedly, his crystallized form went dormant a few moments ago.
"Not.. burp, a chance..." Tyrese punched him back on the chest, his punch barely touching him.
In the end, both of them fell side by side, their eyelids too heavy to open... yet still, they were murmuring under their breaths.
"I’m the strongest..."
"No.. It’s me..."
They kept murmuring faintly until they lost consciousness, going silent at last, and leaving behind a horrified audience and an arena resembling a WW2 battlefield.
"Feng Ling... I am starting to see your vision. Maybe, the next generation is the key to our salvation..." Dominic murmured as he gazed at the two monstrous children... one sixteen, and the other barely seventeen, yet delivering a devastation of two entry level Solarbound Daywalkers.