Ender vs Elliot

*Pheeeew!!!*

Suddenly, Elliot's entire figure got covered by an intense flow of wind, making him a walking tornado. Then he blasted toward Ender.

Ender dodged by simply moving to the side and letting Elliot's speed do the job. As expected, Elliot completely missed him and almost crashed toward the barrier. Ender re-positioned himself while saying,

"Sheesh, you running late somewhere?"

Elliot looked at him coldly and this time, instead of floating with an uncontrollable speed toward him, he ran. Ender expected the running speed to be faster-than-average but Elliot suddenly appeared in front of him.

*BAM!*

[-38HP // 22/60 HP]

Ender got thrown toward the barrier while clutching his stomach in pain and coughing blood. People drew a breath after watching Ender falling to his knees while struggling to breathe.

Sakura stood there indifferently bringing a hand to her eyes like she didn't want to see what was happening in front of her.

For Ender though, it felt as if the entire world was spinning. He felt his insides re-arranged in a way that caused him extreme pain and couldn't almost think from the shortness of oxygen. He tried to get up but fell again because of it.

["Hm? That was a really good Hollow Strike."] Ren complimented Elliot's punch.

'Elaborate, quick!' Ender shouted in his mind while subconsciously activating Healing.

["The technique is based on stopping the punch before hitting the opponent and letting the massive amount of wind force strike, very dangerous if mastered."]

Ender cleaned the blood before having to dodge a narrow strike from Elliot. So close that he even had to use Dash to get away. Even with the skill, Elliot could still somewhat follow Ender's movement with ease.

Ender tried to drag the fight long enough for his pain to stop aching. Once it stopped, he made a counter-attack and threw Elliot toward the ground. This brought him some seconds to catch a breath and allow his wounds to partially heal.

He spat some blood to the ground and tried to keep Elliot on the ground as much as he could, though...

"Will you stop it dammit!" Elliot then pushed his arms to the ground and a wind surge lifted him in the air, before gravity acted, lowering him to ground level.

They both were breathing with difficulty and stared at them, waiting for someone to make the move. Ender, already healed from his wounds, made two mental notes.

First of all, never underestimate an opponent just because of a mistake he made, because it could not be a mistake but a distraction.

Second of all, containing yourself was a bad idea no matter the scenario.

He cleaned some blood left from his face and taunted, "Fancy moves..."

He re-positioned again and decided to make the first move. He ran toward Elliot and started to throw a barrage of punches. As he expected, Elliot dodged them with ease, so he decided to make an uppercut to try a jaw dislocation.

Yet he missed.

"You don't know to shut the fuck up, do you?"

Knowing the opportunity, Elliot tried to strike Ender in his exposed kidney area, but before he could even move, Ender's speed increased and the next second he was sent flying as a fist connected with his back, "You were saying?"

He pushed the wind to the opposite side but couldn't stop the force and crashed toward a barrier. He closed his eyes for an instant trying to endure the pain but he received such a strong punch to the jaw that almost knocked him out.

He opened his eyes and found Ender grabbing him by the neck and preparing for another punch.

Ender, on the other hand, was praising himself for the combo he just made and couldn't think of any other way but to end the streak with a bang.

*BOOM!*

[-12HP + Multiple Mild Bleeding; 48/60HP]

[Warning: Host will lose 5 HP every three seconds!]

Before getting sent flying again... This time, however, it was more intense.

People gasped when they saw all that energy coming from Elliot and wondered if he was going to pass out from using that. On the other hand, the instructors, all three of them, stood up in case they needed to intervene.

Ender started rolling on the ground, every meter he felt as if his entire body burned in pain. When he completely stopped, his entire body ached with an intense burning sensation.

He looked towards his arm and realized it was full of deep cuts, each one of them bleeding profoundly. The moment he saw this he activated Healing but...

[Warning: Healing effect cannot stop the bleeding! You will lose 2 HP every four seconds until the bleeding is over!]

'I must be dammed...' He thought. He looked all around his body and found the tracksuit somewhat ripped with little cuts and leaking blood.

He looked in front of him and saw Elliot clutching his abdomen. Turning to the side, he saw people watching with interest in both of the situations, and the instructors carefully analyzing the situation.

He tried sitting and watched his hand covered in blood and slowly dripping. Not only that, he was even leaving a small puddle of blood beneath him.

'I need to stop it... I'll try to make it subtle enough.'

Ren looked with curiosity from the consciousness and when he felt the Fire Element energy, he knew what Ender was going to do.

Ender took a deep breath and used Fire Coating, but only for his wounds. Then, he used Empowerment and started increasing the element to the point it started to burn him. He let out a cry of pain, and when it felt more painful than the wounds themselves, he stopped.

[Bleeding effect has been stopped.]

He looked at his arm again and saw the wounds covered in black ashes, meaning the wounds were successfully cauterized.

Ender got up and he could see the reactions from the people, most of them gossiping about his wounds. He slowly started walking toward Elliot while wondering what happened, but once he saw that he didn't longer have that wind aura, everything made sense.

'He overpowered his element, making the wind aura explode everywhere into tiny blades... not bad.'

Elliot saw Ender coming towards him and tried to get up with difficulties. He clutched his abdomen while trying to hold the pain within him. He clenched his teeth while squinting his eyes.

'He probably has more aces up his sleeves... might as well make quick.' He thought while quickly dashing towards Elliot.

The black-haired boy of coursed noticed it and activated that wind aura again, boosting his speed. He dodged Ender's punch but received a quick knee strike on his nose, stunning him.

He tried to block another attack but ended up receiving a throat punch that blocked his oxygen intake for some seconds. He even tried to charge that explosion again, but it came out as a really weak barrier.

Using this to his advantage, Ender activated Dash and started punching and kicking Elliot everywhere, sending him flying backward and unconscious.

"Ender Rialto has won the fight!" An AI announced while some people cheered for Ender.

He looked around and saw Sakura smiling at him, and he also saw Loren, Emma, and Rachel clapping for him.

'This feeling... I need to thank the System for appearing in my life.'

The next second, the barriers went down and a medical team came to give some aid to Elliot and give Ender a healing pill. Suddenly, a green line appeared, marking where he needed to go. He gave some waves here and there and quickly left the arena, following the green line.

In the end, another waiting room appeared, this time empty. There were some activities to pass the time, meaning that he would stay here for a long time.

Instead, he decided to drop on the couch exhausted, "This was harder than Derreck's."

["Remember that Derreck was a mindless human at that point. This, however, was a proper fight. Both sides make quick strategies and decisions. How was the first time?"

"I'm exhausted, somewhat physically but mentally? I'm broken." He said while letting his entire body relax.

["That was expected. When you have no experience the first thousands are like hell, and the next comes more naturally. You start gaining a combat sense and making decisions way faster"]

"Even with my intelligence and thinking speed, it was hard as heck..." Ender said while clutching his forehead.

["Well, as you said, the System is a mere help, you need to do all the other work. Hell, I feel like if the System disappeared you could still become someone of relevance because of my Element."]

"I guess... by the way, how did you know what was a Hollow Strike. I thought you had no idea of anything. I mean I didn't know that was a thing before you told me."

["Well, I'm starting to remember some things about me... but when it comes to fights I can easily pin-point everything."] Ren said.

Ender sighed while touching his forehead and realizing it was covered with sweat. He easily found a bathroom and started washing all of it off. Before finishing he heard,

"Participants Vera Rakkan and Larisa Hiroko, please step up to the arena."

When he heard the announcement, he laughed it off but a sudden realization stroke him. He quickly went towards a hologram panel and opened the brackets, which now showed a photo of each participant.

He was moved to the semifinals, but under him, two names sent him into a spiral of hell, Vera and Larisa. Which meant...

"If Larisa wins I need to fight her... Fuck!"

["What? Scared of beating a woman? That's simping behavior, won't tolerate it."] Ren said while laughing.

"It's not about that... it's just a fucking mood breaker." Ender said while sighing. He lay on the couch again while clashing sounds could be heard from the arena.

He wanted nothing to do with Larisa if possible, which meant that he needed to speed-run said the fight to avoid any unnecessary feelings from popping out.

It's not that Ender still had a crush on her, but let's say he didn't trust his childish feelings. He didn't trust himself at all.

After some minutes of intense deep-breathing Ender finally calmed down and decided to relax and enter the next fight in his better state. He stared at his fingers for some seconds while remembering something he thought.

["Why didn't you use the Claws?"] Ren asked.

"Too obvious. I can't go there suddenly transforming my nails into claws, if there was another way to inject fear without the Claws..."

Ren chuckled and stopped the conversation right there. For now, Ender could only wait for his turn again... and he prayed not to fight Larisa.