Chapter 9

They stood on opposite sides, unmoving despite the fact that the match had already started. Reid was being cautious in his decision to stay still and observe. If there was one thing he had learned in life, it was to never underestimate your opponent. Depending on the situation and the stakes, a frightened house cat can become a fierce lion.

This was what he kept reminding himself as he resisted the urge to deadpan as he watched his 'opponent' literally shivering in position. Unlike Reid, Tobio decision to stay still wasn't because he was being cautious, it was because he actually couldn't move. His body refused to listen to him and was frozen in fear.

Seeing Reid not making any movement also added to his fear. The crowd had begun to loudly mumble in irritation as it had been one full minute and neither side had moved.

Meanwhile the observant ones had begun to notice his behavior. At first they thought he was just nervous but looking at it now, it was clearly fear and even more confusing, it was directed at Reid.

What had the young boy done to make him feel so afraid. The instructor watching from the sideline, also noticing this, called out to Tobio.

"Hey, Tobio! Is everything alright?" He asked in concern.

Some of the observant audience that were close enough to hear him, looked at the man as if he was an idiot.

'You can clearly see that he's not okay and yet you still ask?' This was the thought going through their minds upon hearing the question.

Tobio who was still frozen had yet to register all of these things happening around him. His complete attention was on Reid and nothing else.

Getting tired of waiting, Reid moved. Not wanting to waste energy, he pushed forward at normal speed towards Tobio with his hands tense. He expected that seeing him move would also spur his opponent to move.

Contrary to his expectation, even when he was right in front of Tobio, the other boy simply didn't move. His only reaction being his frightened eyes widening in even greater fear.

Reid, who had already pulled his arm back then aimed his tensed palm towards his opponents stomach only for something unexpected to happen.

Just before his palm made contact with Tobio, the boy fell to the ground. Everyone was watching was feeling a mixture of confusion and shock. They all wondered what happened.

There was no sound of impact and the way he fell didn't indicate that the attack hit him. The instructor then came over, kneeling beside Tobio to inspect what happened.

After a few seconds of inspection, he stood back up. His face was a mixture of confusion and embarrassment.

"He fainted." He said lowly but despite that, everyone heard it clearly. Now it was their turn to be in shock. While everyone was still wallowing mumbling in shock and confusion, Reid was simply annoyed, evident by the way his left eye constant twitched.

He had been planning on using this fight to level up [Combat Mastery] in preparation for the fight with- he had finally remembered his name- Haze.

The instructor then began to speak again, catching everyone's attention.

"Winner by…knockout?" It was more of a question than an announcement. Nobody could understand the amount of embarrassment he felt. Although he hadn't started teaching them to fight, for his student to faint before he was even hit was highly embarrassing.

He simply sighed as some medical personnel who had arrived, carried the unconscious Tobio to the infirmary.

"Next match, Haze vs Reid!" He announced once again. Hopefully this one would be much better.

They both watched as Haze walked towards the circle with a serious expression on his face. On the outside, Reid looked completely calm but he was cursing inside.

'This is bad! I initially wanted to drag out the fight with Tobio to see if I could possibly level [Combat Mastery] before going against him. He's better than me at hand to hand combat. There's also that…' He immediately recalled what happened at the battle royal.

'He wasn't bothered if they got a hit in. He also wasn't affected by them and simply brushed them off. Why?.'

His mind was running at full power trying to find an answer. The answer was at the tip of his tongue but he just couldn't figure it out which annoyed him to no end.

Apparently his annoyance showed on his face as Haze who had finally gotten to the stage, seemed to glare at him even harder. He had mistaken Reid's annoyance at the situation for Reid looking down on him.

Seeing the intense glare directed towards him, he felt confused and a bit irritated.

'What now!?' He thought in exasperation.

"Begin!" The instructor announced before quickly leaving the circle.

Not wanting to give Reid any time or space, Haze rushed towards him, throwing a flurry of punches. Caught a bit off guard, he just barely managed to dodge them.

'He's fast!' Reid thought as he leapt backwards to give himself some space but Haze wasn't having any of that.

Rushing in again, he began his barrage of attacks, this time adding kicks into it. Reid tilted his head just in time to dodge a jab that grazed his cheek, leaving a tiny bruise.

'Is he trying to kill me or what?' He thought as he saw a kick swinging towards his head faster than he could dodge. He brought his forearms up to guard against it which proved to be a bad idea.

Although he blocked the kick, it still sent him back a few feet and that wasn't all. Reid looked at his slightly trembling arms. They hurt a lot but at least he figured out something.

Haze wasn't better than him at hand to hand combat, they were at about the same level but what made the difference was that in the end while Haze was just a bit below him in speed, he made up for it in strength.

That didn't seem right though. During the race he observed that was faster than Haze by a decent amount. It's impossible for him to cover that gap in speed so quickly. He still felt like he was missing something important.

[*Ding!*]

[You have gained +1 Vit!]

'Not exactly the right time.' He thought, dismissing the notification. His eyes widened a bit as he got an idea.

'I wanted to save these until much later but I guess I don't have a choice.'

Making his decision, he watched as Haze once ran towards him before dumping the three stat points he had into Dexterity pushing it to thirty.

Haze, who was now in position, threw a jab at Reid which didn't connect. Getting into a handstand just below the jab, he pushed his leg upwards as hard and fast as he could. His foot connected with Haze's jaw sending him backwards a few feet.

Now standing upright, Reid finally noticed something which caused his eyes to widen.

'So that's it!' He exclaimed internally.

Looking closely at Haze, Reid saw it. At the point of contact, for just a brief second, there was a faint blue glow around him. It wasn't noticeable if you didn't know what to look for.

'This bastard has his Aura unlocked!' He screamed internally in shock.