Chapter 80

As Jack continues to send waves of his attacks towards Yuji, drips of sweat start to come out of his forehead as he notices none of his attacks were effective.

"What is this!? He's charging at me, yet I can't hit him!" Jack thought.

Alicia cheered, "that's it Yuji! Keep it up!"

"You're moves are awesome... How did you learn all these?" Yuji said.

"Experience, and now that experience is now instantly yours,"

Suddenly a massive piece of the ground emerged in front of him.

"I won't be able to dodge this one... Then,"

Crash*

Yuji smashed the massive part of the earth, using his hand, making it in into massive pieces of rocks.

"I knew that wouldn't work... If I can't do anything from that distance then my only option is to get closer!"

Using the glove in his hand, he pressed a switch by the side and clenches his fist behind him, as his body prepares to launch.

"I have an A-class item and one B class on me... I have the advantage!"

Opening up his hand with the glove, a sudden burst of an explosion emerged out of the glove, pushing him forward at a very high speed.

"Crap... I might have put too much power!"

Yuji moved aside the rocks and swiftly dodged Jack, running past him.

At that moment, as if time had slowed down, they both got a good look at each other's faces and recognized who each other was.

Both of them drifted their feet on the ground, stopping themselves from getting any further from each other.

"Y... you!" Jack said in shock.

"So it's you..." Yuji said, being calm and observant.

"H... how... How are you alive? And... You were the one that jumped off from a building!?"

Yuji stayed quiet for a short moment, "nice to see you too," he replied, not knowing what to say.

"I see..." Jack grabbed his head in stress, "so is that what this is..."

Yuji raised his eyebrow in question.

"You... You were hiding your power from the start... And was just observing how amusing we were to you, huh!?"

"Where the hell did that idea come from!?"

"I see... I see... You must be really strong then... To look down on us..." Jack said, emitting a raging aura.

"Seriously, what's with this guy!?"

More burst of waves from the ground emerged, this time more vigorously.

"We get people like that from time to time... The reason is mostly because of their upbringing," Alicia said.

Yuji dodged continuously, "I don't think I have the time to think about it,"

"Yeah, just knock him down and get out of there,"

"You're so calm about this... That's easier said than done!"

"If you want to take care of situations like this more efficiently, then you need to get your composure back,"

"Oh yeah... That's right..."

"Jeez, you've already been through a lot, don't go start being lazy just because you got a little bit of power,"

With her words, Yuji came to a realization. He took a deep breath as his eyes focused on his situation.

And so, with an emotionless expression, he moved faster than before.

"What's this!? He's moving faster!", Jack felt panicked as Yuji came closer and closer, "in that case..."

As he rushes a thought, he quickly decided to get closer to Yuji and attack in terms of close combat.

"Don't underestimate me!" Jack shouted, dashing towards Yuji.

Jack switched the mode of the glove, "maximum output!" He raised his hands aiming at Yuji as he pulls himself closer.

The gloves front shined, indicating an explosion.

Noticing this, Yuji slapped Jack's hand upwards.

BOOM*

An explosion emerged above them, coming from the glove.

The ground cracked, Jack stood still unable to move, and as if time had slowed down, Yuji was picking a spot to hit.

"There are so many openings, I can hit him everywhere I want... But the most crucial spot is..."

SMACK*

Yuji hit an uppercut on the lower side of Jack's face, making his body fly upwards and hit the ground hard from above.

Yuji exhaled, "even if they say that spot is crucial for regular humans only, it doesn't matter if the force is as powerful or more than the one being hit.

And so, Jack was left unconscious on the ground.

"And that settles the battle on that spot!" The commentator said as the crowd cheered, "oh! It seems he's going to loot the guy!? Classic game rule!"

"Yuji..." Erina said as all of them stayed silent.

Yukina took a deep breath, "well, that seems to be just about expected,"

"Eh? You knew Yuji was that capable?" Layla asked.

"Have you forgotten? Both of us faced an archdemon together, I don't think it'll surprise me much seeing him fight against other people,"

"Though, a bunch more surprises came after that day..." Yukina thought.

"I see... It was so shocking that I forgot about that... Yuji actually faced an archdemon, I wonder how strong he is now..." Layla said.

"I know he was strong, and if he got power, I know he'll be able to put it to good use... But why do I feel like something was off?" Erina thought, thinking of Yuji's movements.

"Anyway, what's taking Gabriela so long? Maybe I should check on her," Yukina turned around, "see you later," waving her hand, she left.

"See ya!" Layla shouted, waving back as Yukina leaves.

In a rush, Yuji ran outside of the area and made his way towards the stadium.

"Are you sure?" Alicia asked.

"Hm? About what?"

"You only got his exploding glove thing and that box with a shoe on it,"

"It's not just any shoes, it's metal-plated and it seems to have multiple functions too, since it's metal-plated, Erina could use this too,"

"I get what you're saying... But that's not what I meant,"

"Hm?"

"You left that guy there unconscious, yet you left him his case of syringes and his other weapon on his pocket too,"

"I see... So he had another weapon,"

"LIAR! I can read your memory you know!"

Gulp*

"Hehe... I'll just let him have it, my goal is to pass, not to eliminate others anyway,"

"Are you sure? Aren't you planning on getting to the top?"

"Not really, just enough to be recognized for difficult missions,"

"And being at the top helps you with that,"

"It does?"

"If you got him eliminated right here, then you would get a huge point for that, it's not like he'll automatically fail though, he'll just start from a lower rank, I think,"

"I see... I'll just let that pass for now, I'm not in a hurry, plus I don't think I got the full grasp of your power,"

"Yeah, you don't,"

"Pretty straightforward... How far am I?"

"About twenty percent probably,"

"Twenty percent!? Didn't I manage to pull off your trump card?"

"One of my trump cards, plus it's not that difficult, you got out of control with the power output, didn't you?"

"T... that's right,"

"If it's just releasing pure power, then you got it, but it never ends well with just power, and you of all people should know that,"

"I do..."

The speaker rang, as he was running in the streets.

"Looks like things are being settled at other places too!" The commentator said, "and looks like a bunch more other contestants are finally making their way back to the stadium!"

Yuji glanced, "I wonder how the others are doing,"

Meanwhile at the stadium.

"While waiting for the things to calm down, let's watch some tapes that we might have missed!" The commentator said as the massive screen began to play a montage.

"They manage to get a montage this fast!?" Layla said, watching the massive screen with Erina, with both of them sitting on a plastic chair provided for them.

"Look, they got our escape," Erina said.

The tape showed footage of Layla blasting the ground, with a laser gun, covering the area with dirt, as other students get closer to them.

"They even got that," Layla said.

"That was a really smart move by the way, you held my hand and pulled me through the smoke, avoiding enemies with your thermal vision, making us get out without a scratch,"

"Hehe, thanks, but the fact that no one bothered to try and come after us was thanks to you though,"