Alex slowly lifted himself from the rubble and dusted the dust off. He then massaged his left shoulder, relocating his dislocated shoulder with a crack. Fortunately for him, his wounds did not reopen making him understand the pain was what mostly remained.
"Ah, that's better." He then focused on Ethan who was ready to attack again. "Relax bruh, I'm not going anywhere."
"And you, what are you waiting for? An explicit say-so? Come find me once I'm done with him." He instructed Abigail who came out of her thoughts and looked at Ethan to see what he'd do, but said person had his gaze on Alex.
'Don't mind if I do...' She thought and slowly backed away. After gaining sufficient distance, she disappeared into the commotion that was the warzone.
"Now then, second round?"
Ethan just smiled in reply. There was no use of abilities or their weapons, at least not yet. It was lying somewhere in the rubble.
The two boys went silent for a second and as if a signal was given, the two disappeared from where they stood.
BOOOM!
Fist met fist in a high-speed clash. Alex and Ethan exchanged multiple blows in a second, moving around the destroyed area and causing more damage to the place. The more blows and kicks they exchanged; the more Ethan realized that he was no match.
'He isn't weak at all! What the hell?!' Ethan's mind was racing to find a solution to his problem. He knew he was going to lose if the fight continued the way it did.
They had moved from their position to other parts of the ruined city, causing destruction and ruin to the already ruined city.
"What the…? Who are those guys?!" A student who was unfortunately to be caught up in the shockwaves of their fight exclaimed in horror, quickly distancing himself from the maniacs. But he was one of the lucky few. Some students were turned into light particles as Alex and Ethan clashed.
As the seconds ticked, Ethan noticed how Alex's left blows were weaker than his right hand. 'It's the same arm that also attempted to stop my second blow earlier… Is he injured in that arm?' His thoughts reached this conclusion as he decided to hammer on that.
"So, you've finally noticed," Alex commented with a small smile.
"However, it's not going to be enough to overcome our power difference."
"..."
Ethan was silent and with gritted teeth, continued to hammer on the weak point of Alex. After another exchange of a powerful blow that separated them, they stopped moving and just sized each other up.
"The outcome of this fight is clear; you're still a long way from beating me." Alex continued, a smug grin on his face. Even after his own words of finishing all fights quickly, he couldn't help himself when he came across an exceptional student. He felt the desire to drag the fight out.
Ethan was now at a point where his physical stats wouldn't be enough to defeat Alex.
'The only way is to take him by surprise with my ability…' Ethan's mind raced with the thoughts of how he was going to achieve that. He wasn't deranged enough not to accept his own weakness. With his twin blade somewhere around the city, he could only use his ability to eliminate Alex.
'But how exactly…?' He subtly looked around to see if there was something that could assist him in achieving what he set out to do.
Alex observed how Ethan's expression changed several times in a few seconds and let out a small smile. He may have returned to his cheerful and uncaring nature of not taking the battle seriously, but his guard hasn't been lowered since. He was always aware of his surroundings; he knew where the students who wished to take advantage of their fight hid and how many had their abilities at the ready.
'I'm sure the more daring ones would jump out any time soon. Our fast-paced battle kept them at bay. Now that we have come to a stop, I can see they're all itching to take their chance.' He knew Ethan was also aware of it as he sometimes caught his gaze wondering about their surroundings.
"Let's finish this in the next move." Alex suggested, "I agree." Ethan accepted. Melee combat without the use of abilities was going nowhere. Alex had already shown that his fame and strength weren't for nought.
'So, what's wrong with him?' Ethan was confused. When he first heard of Alex's participation, it jeered him that someone with his opportunities played around, but that didn't seem to be the case.
'Hmm…'
Ethan knew instinctively that even if they used their abilities, he would still lose this exchange and surprising, he was not bothered by that fact. In fact, a small smile emerged from his lips.
...….
"What exactly is Alex thinking? He can finish off that guy anytime he wants, why still play around? Especially when he's injured?" Julia asked Ross who just sat there with a stiff smile. Julia was fuming from the way Alex was playing around and letting that boy send him flying when he could have easily evaded the blow.
'How am I supposed to know that?' Of course, Ross wasn't dumb enough to say that to her face. He knew not to mess with an angry woman, especially one seeing their most cherished person being toyed with when they could do so much better.
"Maybe he's just having fun, you know? How many times do you see him interact with other students on academy grounds? Not to mention have a sparring match." Ross gave his best thoughts on the matter, at least from his perspective.
The comments flying around about how Alex was almost eliminated half an hour ago didn't help either. She was practically fuming.
After a year in the academy with him, he began to notice something about his friend; his love for fighting. Alex had the strength and speed to finish a battle as fast as possible, but he always seemed to play around.
'Oh Alex… You shouldn't play with a woman's emotions that way. She's a nerve wrack right now, and you keep making it worse. I pray you survive her rage once you return.' Ross silently prayed for the life of his friend.