21 Chapter 21: Making use of Everything

Without hesitation, Derek sprang forward, his movements fluid and powerful. He launched a series of lightning-fast punches and jabs at the old man, who seemed surprisingly nimble for his age. With a grace that belied his years, the old man sidestepped and blocked Derek's attacks, his movements economical and precise.

Despite the old man's skill, Derek continued to press forward, driven by a fierce determination to prove himself. He feinted left, then right, then left again, trying to find an opening in the old man's defenses. But the old man remained steadfast, his eyes locked on Derek's every move.

For a moment, the two combatants stood in a tense stalemate, their breathing heavy and labored. Then, with a sudden burst of energy, Derek launched a roundhouse kick at the old man's head. The old man ducked and swept Derek's legs out from under him, sending him crashing to the ground.

As Derek lay there, dazed and disoriented, he realized with a sinking feeling that he had underestimated his opponent. The old man had not only matched his ferocity, but had also outsmarted him with his superior technique and experience. Slowly, Derek rose to his feet, his respect for the old man growing with each passing moment

Despite the formidable appearance of the iron gauntlet, it was no match for the old man's bare arm, which seemed impervious to its impact. On the other hand, the sheer strength of Derek's punch was palpable to everyone present, as evidenced by the visible shock wave and the formation of cracks beneath the old man's feet as he struggled to resist the force. The onlookers were awestruck by the raw power displayed in that moment, and many wondered what other feats of strength these individuals were capable of.

"Nice punch, brat! But it's not enough!" taunted the man, evading another punch and delivering a blow to Derek's gut. Derek doubled over in pain, feeling the air forced out of his lungs. He struggled to catch his breath as he tried to regain his footing. The old man seemed to be enjoying the fight, a sly grin on his face as he watched Derek struggle.

Derek gritted his teeth and managed to stand up straight. He knew he couldn't let this man get the best of him. He took a deep breath and lunged at the old man, hoping to take him by surprise. But the old man was too quick, easily weaving out of the way and delivering a counter-attack.

Derek stumbled backward, feeling dazed and disoriented. He could feel his strength waning, but he refused to give up. He squared his shoulders and took a deep breath, ready to continue the fight. The old man circled him, watching him with a predator's gaze. Derek knew he had to be careful if he wanted to win. He balled his fists and waited for the old man to make a move, his heart pounding in his chest

In a sense, their match was just like a boxing. But with super strength, so Lukeas didn't really learned much from it, but he still memorized their habits, how they move, how they respond to certain attacks, and how they counter back. Giving Lukeas a better idea about the old man's way of fighting.

The fight went on for quite a while. Lukeas even saw Derek use the Dempsey Roll. But as usual the oldman easily avoided and blocked. At this time Derek have directly hit the man 7 times already. And all of those were in the weakness points of a normal human. The stomach, the face, the liver, he even went to the back of the oldmans head. But the oldman remained standing as if nothing happened at all.

And currently Derek was breathing heavily, his clothes soak in sweat and blood. And he suddenly lunged at the oldman surprisingly even at his fatigue state. On this punch he seemed to have glowed faintly and a faint green mist envelope his whole right arm and he performed a perfectly made rights hook.

At this moment the oldman seems to have went serious. And moved so fast no one couldn't see it. Not even Lukeas. And suddenly all they saw was Derek thrown in mid air with a flow of blood gushing or if his broken nose.

"Hahahah! NOT BAD KID! YOU CAN ALREADY MAKE USE OF YOUR MANA? GOOD!! VERY GOOD!... DEREK! YOU PASSED!" the oldman yelled excitedly. As he stared at Derek's body, everyone thought that he have indeed passed. But his body shuddered and slowly he turned on his side. And slowly stands up.." Good fight geezer.. " he weakly said. But he seems to genuinely mean it. "Ill beat you one day" he said looking at the man with determination and he made his way back to the crowd, which quickly made a way for him.

After that nothing much happened other than more fighting. At this point the oldman have already fought more than 900 people and no more than 600 have passed.

Allan Lunes Von Astrid the brother of the first volunteer fought wonderfully as well. But he was using fire magic instead of going physical. And for Lukeas who have not seen magic yet was so entranced and was so amazed by it that he watched everything.

And even tried imitating it. But nothing works. Based on his observations, the spell needs a certain hand gestures, incantation, or phrases before it could be cast. He tried all of it but no fire came out. And as how the oldman fight it? Well, he used his sword and swat it away, sending sharp blow of wind and force to depend from it.

Allan even made use of trap spell. A spell that could only be activated once a certain things happen, like stepping on the invisible seal on the ground, or some other stuff. But the oldman was far too keen to it. He seems to only activate it to see what it'll do before easily avoiding it. And as expected Allan passed.

And then the Princess Cassadin Jehies(Jay-yeas) Aurelius turn came. And Lukeas was flabbergasted, she used wind magic this time, and she even cast a spell that created a literal tornado, that even other students was forced to distance themselves from harm.

Sharp wind blades was also common, traps, AOE attacks and she made use of her wind magic to make a huge jumps and distance herself from the oldman. And it was also the first time Lukeas saw the oldman bleed and once again went serious. Before defeating the princess quickly. And of course she passed.

Then the it was Prince Casper Dearborn Aurelius turn. Unlike her sister he fought using a spear. And he was incredibly good at it. Making use of various footworks, various forms, different counters and techniques of attacking. And Lukeas was euphoric he absorbed all of it like a drug addict and memorize everything, from the prince footworks, stance, and the entire fighting style.

This time since the prince was more skilled Lukeas managed to see all the moves and how it chains and interconnect with each moves, how it cycles, which attacks can be used to follow up over another until it turned into a entire cricle. This what Lukeas called moveset chained loop. It contains every possible connection, chain attacks, flows, and all making one big chain.

And just as the match ended Lukeas have already memorize everything. And while waiting for the next volunteers Lukeas didn't hesitate to go into his mind and visualize all the moves.

And yes.. For some reason Lukeas have mastered this, at first he was just doing this to make the memory stay on his mind but here he was.. Shadow boxing in his mind..or maybe mind boxing? He does not care..

One thing he have also noticed.. He was getting better and better on mimicking things, his mind was also getting more and more better at memorizing as if it's- 'Adapting'... Lukeas opened his eyes.. 'so my skill formless go as far as that huh?... Just.. Just how broken is that... Goodness..' he thought.. Not sure whether to celebrate or be wary.

Anyway.. The prince passed obviously. And the fight continues on. And Lukeas watched every single one of them with glee amd serious concentration. He have learned longsword, bow, dual blades, daggers, mace, chained mace, scythe, katana, great sword, staf, spear, halberd, tonfa and many many more.

He have also learned countless of footworks, stances, techniques, tricks, and many more which just made him even more happy.. 'The best decision I've made so far!!' He thought as he opened his eyes. He just finished training how to walk on his mind.

Thats right.. Remember his self made skill? [The step of a thousand?] he have further improved it. And renamed it [Death March] a name he's proud of. It was the combination of all the footworks and walking styles of everyone he copied. If he visualize the Moveset chain of this move its so vast and huge that it circles around him. Of course it's only visualization it's not true..

But other than that... He still haven't copied the oldmans style.. For some reason all of his move just doesn't connect.. As if every attack he did was new.. Or... Maybe his fighting style was so much bigger that he could use a move that was a thousand move away from another that it doesn't make sense a fighting style so vast its hard to predict, copy and imitate....

Then suddenly Lukeas eyes brighten up.. 'A vast amount of move? A lot of style so vast its hard to predict?... Don't i already have all of those requirements?..... Lets do it... Lets FUCKING MAKE OUR OWN FIGHTING STYLE BABY!!'.. What he doesn't noticed was he was smiling and snickering in reality... Making others look at him weirdly and distance them selves. But Lukeas didn't even noticed it as he was busy MAKING USE OF EVERYTHING.