A Great Bond

After dinner, the atmosphere got even livelier. Nivelet had announced to the entire pub that there will be a challenge between him and the humans. Soon the tables and chairs scrapped the floor, providing them with a wider stage to act on. The fighting stage soon became crowded from the excited customers. It wasn't often that fights were allowed to occur in the pub, but since the bar owner was on good terms with Nivelet, they gave him permission.

Eric was currently in deep thought after learning about the challenge conditions. He had fought many battles, but this... this was a unique situation.

"Blindfolded? You want to fight blindfolded?" Eric asked Nivelet incredulously.

"Yup! Don't tell me you are to scared to do it," he sprouted an annoying grin.

"Well it's not something I've done before."

"There's always a first for everything, I'm sure after this match you'll learn a thing or two," his annoying grin still plastered on his face. "No weapons or magic, but abilities are allow."

'Well, that renders 99% of my abilities useless.' Eric grimaced at the thought.

They took their respectively places put on the blindfolds. Eric let out a breath and tried to formulate a plan in his head.

Aerin was about to signal them to start, but then remembered what they were doing. With a face flushed red, she shouted, "start!"

Getting into a stance, he held up his fists in front of him and concentrated. Not one moment later, a fist connected with his face sending him flying. It felt like an entire stone slab was smashed into his face. Eric tried to locate where the fist came from but it disappeared as soon as it appeared.

-OOOOOHH OUAHAHHH

The spectators on the side cheered on, they didn't care which side won, as long as it was entertaining.

"Heh, you gotta do better than that, it barely tickled," Eric goaded him. He thought that if were to listen closely to the impact the footsteps made when they hit the ground, he could pinpoint where it came from. But the fact that everyone around him was cheering non-stop was not helping one bit.

Before he could recollect his thoughts, another punch came. This time it was an uppercut. The momentum from the punch carried him into the air. Before he landed back onto the ground, a pair of fist formed into a hammer and smashed his stomach, accelerating him towards the ground.

BOOOM!

A new crater was formed from the impact. The bar owner looked at his floor like his heart was going to break.

As Eric slowly got up from the crater, he took a deep breath and muted out all sounds around him. Focusing solely on the vibrations travelling through the ground, he took off his shoes and planted his feet firmly into the ground.

Know that the audiences were around him, Eric set his sense of vibration to a radius of 10 meters around him. This way, the moment anything steps foot into his radius, he would be fast enough to react to it. Loosening up his stance, he provoked Nivelet once more.

"Come! Is that all you got?! Even my grandma can punch harder than you!"

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOHH, HE NEEDS SUM MILK!

This time, he felt it clearly, a set of footsteps heading straight towards him from his back. Timing Nivelet's arrival precisely, he launched a backhand punch of his own and connected it squarely on his face.

'Ah that felt real good.'

The pub suddenly went quite, even their movement ceased. They were amazed that Eric somehow managed to return a blow, and there was one question floating in their minds right now, 'who is that guy?'

Sensing the location of where Nivelet landed, Eric proceeded to gift him a few more punches. Nivelet then blocked one of his punches and jumped back. This exchange happened a few more times, and Eric was sure he was getting the hang of it, but then something changed.

It was as if a switch was flicked, the vibrations stopped coming but the punches continued. This time, Eric was the one defending. Raising up his arms to guard his head, he could only receive the punches from god-knows-where. Now, even the only sense that he could rely on was useless.

Nivelet was not a weak fighter, not by a long shot. Every punch was precise, and not one missed their mark. The punches themselves were not overpoweringly strong, but after hitting Eric over and over again, Nivelet was slowly tiring him out.

The onslaught continued for a while, even the patrons looking at him felt pity at the state he is in. It was then that Eric made a sudden move. Analyzing Nivelet's attack pattern after receiving it a hundred times, he gauged roughly on where he would appear next and made a huge thunderclap.

Bringing both palms together, Eric smashed them together creating a huge shockwave. This startled and disoriented Nivelet, causing him to stumble.

THUD!

His foot finally hit the floor. After an extended period of silence, the vibrations caused by him felt huge. Before Nivelet fell onto the ground, Eric immediately grabbed his arm and pulled him forward. Using the last ounce of his strength, Eric activated Colossus Strength and delivered a finishing blow into Nivelet. The whole pub shook from the impact, everyone watching felt the shockwave in their chest, their hearts pounding furiously.

As the dust settled, both fighters were laying on the ground, gasping for breath.

"You are not bad, shall we call it a tie?" Nivelet turned his head, his chest still heaving up and down.

"A tie? Hahahahaha, i shall accept it for now. The next time I see you, it'll be on a much grander stage and 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 I shall whoop your royal arse." Eric smirked.

"We shall see, we shall see..." Grinning, he reached out a fist and Eric bumped it in return.

And thus, a great bond was created.

'Men..." Anastasia and Aerin simultaneously thought in their head.

"Now that you finished kissing each other's arses, let's get on with our challenge," Aerin said from the side.

After witnessing the epic battle, even the bar owner was hyped up.

"Drink's on the house!" He announced. The entire bar roared in return.