Chapter 11:The second bout

After buying myself a drink I chugged it down in one raise, I stood before the vending machine trying to run more battle simulations using the data I'd just collected from the other matches when a tap on the shoulder jump startled me

"Oh it's just you, Chloe"

"Don't it's just you me,what were you thinking about so deeply you didn't even hear me calling out your name"

"Just tell me what you want, I don't have a lot of time to waste"

"Me neither,I just need you to answer my questions,and be honest while you're at it"

"Lemme here them"

"You have a mutual bond and yet you claim you don't have any ability, what you did out there today should be impossible,there has to be something to it".

" Your point"

"Do you actually have an ability and are pretending not to?"

"No I don't and even if I did what ability do you think I'd have?"

"I don't know, maybe an ability that strengthens your body"

"Hahahaha,you just wasted my time on this irrelevant topic, if you don't mind I'm rather busy."

"Just know that I'm onto you, anyway good luck with your next match you're gonna need it"

She walked away in a funny manner probably because she still wasn't fully healed from the punch earlier, she probably thinks she's smart and perceptive for noticing the abnormality in what I did earlier, but it's quite obvious everyone has already noticed it by now.

"Hey Brian,was that Chloe just now"

"Yh she just came to mess with me a little,what about you Mike?"

" I just came to congratulate you on winning your match,you were so cool and strong".

"Really",I asked shyly,"I didn't do anything worthy of such praises"

"Spare me the humility, you were....aaaahhh"

"What's wrong, what's the matter mike!!?"

"M-my, my eyes they hurt like crazy it feels like they're gonna pop out,it hurts"

"We have to get you to a medic quickly "

"No! Just get away from me you're the cause!"

"What do mean by that I'm just trying to help as a friend"

"Just get away!",he screamed,he was starting to make a scene so I left him and headed to the locker room. I was still worried about Mike but I also had to focus on my upcoming match, for now I should see if the fixtures have been publicized.

After Brian had given him a wide berth the excruciating pain Mike was experiencing began to die down, normally his eyes would only throb around Brian but this time around it was different, the ominous energy he'd seen in Brian's other soul had begun to grow, at first he couldn't possibly imagine Brian being one of them but now he wasn't so certain.

The fixtures for the next bout are finally out and I was unlucky to be pitted against the person I least wanted to fight,Ashraf. I'd run a lot of battle simulations on him but I've never won any of them, there was just no way to beat him even in my mind. I was now face to face with Ashraf in the ring,though in my head I wanted to make a run for it, my heart was racing in excitement. A glance at his face and I knew he was ready to murder me, we didn't really click back in the day, not that we do now either.

"Fate is an interesting guy isn't he Brian?, he's just offered you to me for a free beating, something I've been longing for all this time"

"C'mon Ashraf the past is in the past there is no point in holding grudges, let's leave things in the past and move on, we can even be friends"

"Yh right after what you did to me, you mutated my lab frog and made it eat me,do you have no idea how it feels to be in a frog's stomach?!"

"But you're fine now besides it's what you get after bullying me"

"So you're not sorry huh, I only let it slide because our parents intervened but right now I'm gonna make you pay, brace yourself I'm gonna hurt you"

I activated Pulze-overdrive before the buzzer sounded, as soon as it did I punched into the ground with all my might sending ripples through the earth and breaking up the arena floor.

"What power,and he doesn't even have a pulze ability, where'd he get all that strength!!?,once again I'm your commentator and I have a guest with me, she's a pretty famous alumnus of this school. Welcome back miss Felice strider it's a pleasure to have a superknight in training visit"

"Thank you very much, it's a bit much with the honouring though"

"So what are your views on this match, is your brother winning?"

"Brian certainly is strong and that helped him in the first match, but he's unfortunately no match for his opponent this time, his luck has just run out".

"Is that the case?,then let's find out"

As the ground shook and broke apart Ashraf used his ability to lift off the ground and back away from me, I wanted to create a similar situation with Chloe by making him lose his footing and attack when he was confused, but he's evaded it easily, without hesitating I followed my first attack by kicking and throwing debris at him at very high speed, I was like a minigun raining bullets at him. Using his sound ability Ashraf vibrated the near bullet speed debris moving at him and broke them into tiny fragments, with all the dust in the atmosphere his vision had blurred so I took the opportunity to attack him, but he'd already caught onto me and before I knew it I was taking a punch to my face followed immediately by a forceful blast of sound energy.

With incredible speed I was sent from the center of the ring crashing into the border with my back...