BOOOM!
The two clashed at the centre, each with a high kick that created a loud boom with the shockwaves from the clash spreading violently outward.
"Now that's a clash!" A student exclaimed with pure delight as he cheered loudly at the show before him. And he wasn't the only one that felt their blood boiling.
From the moment Alex and Ross sped forward, not everyone was able to catch them moving. To some, they were standing still and in the next moment, they clashed in the centre.
For those who were able to see them move, they could only see blurs of their movements. They moved too fast.
Naturally, this applied to the first years as the other years were able to follow their movement. Yet. They were shocked by the display of power.
"Were we able to bring out that much power in our time?" A senior asked in curiosity. This was not to say their batch had no genius, it was just that this year was especially different.
They were not just genius among geniuses, there was an anomaly, an outlier who broke all known conceptions with his existence.
And finally watching him, they couldn't hold back their excitement. The cheers were especially loud as the entire fight was watched by everyone.
There were no more multiple fights taking place. With just a few students left to compete at the top, they could afford to show one fight at a time.
"I'm not sure and I don't care… So shut up and enjoy the show!"
After their first violent clash, Ross and Alex did not stand still for long and soon, began to exchange heavy blows at intense speed and power.
Every clash of theirs produced loud booms that generated gusts of wind that would have created massive craters in the real world, brought down buildings and changed terrains.
It was that violent.
But the two people creating that much chaos only had wide grins on their faces as they moved around.
A few seconds later after multiple exchanges, they separated with a final boom that pushed Ross several tens of meters back while Alex moved back half that distance.
"I'll be going for killing blows from now on, so prepare yourself. It's going to hurt like hell," Alex spoke after a moment of silence.
Ross chuckled and replied, "Likewise…"
"Hohoho…. Things are about to get more intense. I wonder how they'll go about that without using weapons or mana."
"Beant themselves to death, that's how."
The spectators paid rapt attention to every word the two exchanged.
And soon the battle resumed.
With eyes locked on, Alex and Ross determined their timing and whooshed forward once again.
Meeting head-on, Ross threw a powerful right punch forward, going straight for Alex's face. This time around, he utilized every bit of power from his body.
His stance was perfect as his footing made maximum use of the stage to generate as much power as possible. The resulting blow was a faster-than-usual punch.
Even then, Alex saw it coming and responded by evading to his left as the blow whooshed past his ears.
In the moment, Alex and Ross's eyes met and a smirk flashed on Alex's face. Ross had gone too far in and the momentum couldn't be stopped.
'Too much, bro.'
Alex had many ways to take advantage of that momentum. And he chose the one that would make Ross bleed for his mistake.
The point was to go all out, not use all your momentum and power that would prevent you from defending or dodging in case your opponent saw through your move.
While still locked in his fierce momentum, Alex dished out a heavy chop to Ross's exposed side quickly followed by another to the back of his neck.
Each chop produced a small boom that shook Ross's insides. The resulting blows first bent his side inward and the neck chop snapped his head to the other side diving Ross's head to the ground.
But that was not the end.
Alex followed those two attacks with a swift knee to Ross's face once it came down enough for the knee to deliver a heavy blow that produced a heavy crunch audible to everyone watching.
The damage was severe as Ross was smashed into the ground head-first.
BANG!
"Ouch! His nose is definitely broken. A blow like that can knock a person unconscious.
"And if he somehow remains conscious, he's going to feel disoriented."
"Mm."
As the students commented on the intense battle, Alex backed away from Ross to give him time to recover.
He shook his head at his friend's overly excited desire to deal a blow to him, and as he waited, the terrain changed from the stage to a desert.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
Noticing the changed environment, Alex raised his brows and looked around. The new environment was just like any normal desert.
However, what caught his attention were the dunes that would rise and fall from time to time and move as if they were waves on an ocean.
The surging thunderstorm that shrouded the place in darkness and strong winds added to the dangers the terrain presented.
Ross slowly recovered and stood to his feet with some difficulty, a few groans and grunts before noticing the changed terrain.
Looking at the rumbling thunder high above, he remembered what happened to Abigail and her opponent.
He then looked at Alex who was now facing him, "Took you long enough. Things will be getting rough soon. Care to continue?!"
Alex had to shout to be heard through the blowing winds that carried loads of dust along its path.
It's been a minute and a half after their fight began and had less than the same time to conclude their spar.
Before Ross could give a reply, the two noticed an incoming sand storm that expanded as far as the eyes could see with the height of the storm reaching all the way to the clouds.
The storm moved extremely fast and would be on them in a few seconds at most. But the problem wasn't the sandstorm itself, but the blue tendrils of lightning that mixed with the storm and rumbled with mad fury.
Ross and Alex exchanged looks, understanding that running was futile. The storm moved faster than they could outrun. And there wasn't even any place to hide.
They were going to be affected whether they liked it or not.
In that case, the two only had one option.
With a subtle nod that expressed their shared understanding, the two channelled their mana and dashed towards each other in one final move.
'Let's go down in style.' Ross thought as he conjured a flaming great sword in both hands, two meters in length and then lunged it forward, arming for Alex's body.
The flaming sword blazed with intense heat that cut through the strong winds like hot knife through butter... well, through the wind in this case, literally at that.
With his hand strengthened out like a sword, he conjured a right-hand blade shimmering in golden lights and a subtle hum.
But Alex went a different direction. The moment he was close enough to Ross whose sword was already before him, he instantaneously produced a burst of speed, evaded the sword and appeared directly behind Ross.
To Ross and most students, it was like he teleported from the front to the back.
Now standing before an exposed back, Alex drew back his right hand as the intensity of the hum increased for a moment.
His eyes briefly glanced to his side where the sandstorm was already upon them and would strike time as Alex.
"Sorry, buddy," Alex muttered before plunging his hand into Ross's back. The strike met a small resistance from the armour before it tore through it and pierced skin, tissues and bones and came out of the other end.
"Mm." A muffled groan escaped Ross's lips as the sharp pain washed over him. At the same time, the sandstorm arrived and swept them off their feet, throwing them in different directions; this was followed by the lightning tendrils electrocuting them in mad fury.
The fight concluded with Alex coming out as the winner. While expected, the fight was more than satisfying for the crowd.