Interesting Battles

Kane found the next match quite interesting and wanted to pay attention to it.

The contestants were Uthal Hakimi and Shadiyah Haddad. Uthal was a man who was in his mid-twenties. He had black, short hair and average looks. He was wearing something that looked like blue-light-blocking glasses. He was in tier 4 of the mutant realm.

Shadiyah was a lady who was also in her mid-twenties. Her hair was short and dyed green. She had average looks but her chest was considered bigger than the average size for ladies her age. She was in tier 5 of the mutant realm.

This was what made the match so interesting for Kane. This was the first match between two combatants that were not in the same realm. Others might quickly conclude that the match would be easily won by the combatant in the higher tier but Kane was different.

He really wished the man would win. This was because he had one of the lowest, if not the lowest power level of everyone in the mutant realm group in the recruitment examination. He knew that when the second stage began, his opponents would most likely be people above his tier.

He wanted to see how this match would go and get some pointers on how to defeat an enemy at a higher tier, that is if Uthal won the match.

The two competitors stood up from their chairs and calmly headed for the teleportation platform. They were soon teleported out of the waiting room and onto the stage.

The referee who stood between them looked at the two competitors to confirm their conditions before stepping back and waving his hand to begin the match.

Shadiyah took out a broad sword from her waist pack and charged at Uthal without even giving him a chance to prepare. She quickly arrived in front of him and swung her sword at him. Uthal did not even flinch before distancing himself from his attacker at a speed that she could not even follow unless she concentrated entirely on his figure.

He appeared at a location that was quite far away from Shadiyah and took out a green longbow and a quiver of arrows from his waist pack. He took an arrow and aimed it at his opponent before firing. This was all done in almost an instant.

Shadiyah whose sword was pointing to the floor as she missed her attack sensed an impending threat that was about to befall her at an alarming speed. She quickly rolled to the side barely dodging the arrow that struck the ground behind her. She expertly transitioned from a roll to standing on her two feet as she quickly dashed toward her opponent.

She knew that this was going to be a really tough fight. Her opponent seemed to be an excellent archer who possessed extreme speed. The difference in their power levels was also not much. She had to end this fight quickly or she would be snipped to death. She had no method to get around this tricky situation but could only try to reduce the distance between them.

She quickly arrived before Uthal and faked swinging her sword. Uthal immediately dashed to the side and put adequate distance between them when he saw the attack. He aimed an arrow at Shadiyah before firing. Shadiyah who did not go through with the attack but just faked it immediately adjusted her sword to block the attack.

Clang!!!

There was a loud sound as the arrow struck the sword. The force behind the arrow was easily dispelled as she was at a higher level than her opponent and was naturally stronger. She saw a ray of light in the dark tunnel.

Her opponent did not obtain speed from any beast blood mutation but was instead, using a skill. This meant that he would soon run out of elemental energy while she on the other hand had not used any skill. With the fact that she was on a higher tier than her opponent and thus had a larger pool of elemental energy, she was sure she could exhaust her opponent if she could keep forcing him to use his skills.

She dashed again and arrived before her opponent faked her attack once more. Even though Uthal could guess that she might have faked the attack again, he still had no choice but to use his skill 'overcharge' to speed up and escape once more.

Overcharge was a skill passed down in his family and was an augment type ability that could be used to strengthen their physical bodies or even some of their skills. The only downside was its elemental energy consumption which was a disadvantage to him in this fight especially because his opponent was a level higher than him.

He had to end this fight immediately. When he was at a safe distance away from Shadiyah, he used overcharge once more but this time, he used it on the skill, piercing shot. The next arrow he shot had tremendous power behind and its speed exceeded the arrows he had fired before in this match by a lot.

Shadiyah who sensed the arrow realized that the speed of the arrow was too high and dodging it was out of the option as she would only be changing what part of her body would be hit by the powerful arrow.

Her reaction time was excellent and she successfully raised her sword to block the incoming attack.

BANG!!!

The arrow and the sword collided and sparks flew. The force transmitted to Shadiyah's body from the overcharge empowered arrow shot with the piercing shot skill was tremendous. The force displaced her sword and her body tottered as her defensive stance was broken, leaving her momentarily defenseless. The arrow also shattered into tiny pieces.

Uthal did not miss the opportunity before him. He also activated the overcharge skill to augment another skill, consecutive shots. He rapidly fired seven arrows consecutively almost instantly with their speed and power significantly boosted.

Shadiyah noticed that shit had hit the fan and hurried to readjust her position. Unfortunately, the arrows had already arrived before her and she could no longer dodge. She wielded her sword fluidly to defend herself. She immediately swiped at the arrows knocking away those that were aimed at her vital organs first.

She could not do much against the others though. She tried to adjust her position and successfully dodged one arrow. The remaining two hit their mark. One pierced through her calf and the other one struck her shoulder.

She was momentarily stunned by the nerve-racking pain that had flooded her senses and she could not react in time when Uthal appeared before her.

Uthal knew that an opportunity to end the battle had presented itself when she was pierced by his arrows. He quickly used overcharge and boosted his speed and appeared before Shadiyah. He wielded his bow which was rated at tier 9 mutant real like a club and swung at his opponent's head.

The bow hit her square on the temple and she fell over sideways. He wanted to make sure that she was down for the count and stood over her body that was crumpled on the floor before raising his bow high above his head and about to swing down on her head again.

His action was stopped by tremendous resistance and the bow would not budge. He turned around and saw the referee who had grabbed his bow and was shaking his end to signify that his opponent was already down.

Uthal relaxed and moved away from Shadiyah after the referee released his grip on his bow. The referee called the match to a close and declared Uthal as the winner before both contestants were promptly teleported out of the stage.

...

Kane tore his eyes away from the screen. He was thinking about the match that just ended. He soon realized that the most practical way of defeating enemies stronger than him was probably not to give them the chance of attacking at all and to always keep them on the defense.

The requirements were high and any slip-up would be met with a fierce counterattack.

"That guy is quite dangerous. His skill looks like an augment-type skill. That was why his speed and strength would explode in short bursts. Remember, he is still in the mutant realm and his secret skill did not boost his arrows but instead boosted his strength which he used to bring out more potential from his bow.

He can only be beaten if you can force him to continuously use that skill and exhaust him. Hmm, it looks like geniuses from far and wide have come to join the storm cradle sect this time. The sect higher-ups should be shaking in their boots in joy" said Abel.

Uthal who had just been teleported into the waiting room calmly adjusted his glasses and walked toward his chair amidst the watching eyes of everyone in the room.