The Rematch (Part 2)

[Phantom Shift has been activated]

From everyone's perspective, it looked like Mako just shifted to the right slightly but the weird thing was the fact that Bill didn't change his trajectory as he continued to attack Mako in the place he was before.

From Bill's perspective, Mako never moved; but as soon his club made contact with Mako's figure it dissolved into the air as the club basically hit nothing but air.

The crowd was confused, but no one as much as Bill. He turned to the side to see Mako standing there with no changes in his facial expression and taking the same exact fighting stance.

"You're gonna fight or what?!" Mako taunted Bill which brought him back from his daze.

He stared at Mako with a pure look of confusion as he didn't understand why he missed the hit when he himself saw the club connect.

'Doesn't matter anyway, I have a job to do here, and this trash just got lucky!' Bill thought in his head as dashed forward once again trying to bash Mako with his giant earth club.

The result, however; was the same as before with Mako dodging the attack. Bill tried again a couple more times but to no avail, every time the club seemed to have connected but it would always go through Mako's figure and Mako would appear a bit to the right or left of the attack position.

Bill tried to adapt to Mako's weird fighting style by trying to aim a little left or right of Mako's figure hoping he would hit him that way, but Mako was also adapting.

By using his agility and perception, Mako was able to predict where the club would land and use phantom shift appropriately so the club would always miss him.

Aggravated by the whole situation, Bill yelled loudly and just started unleashing continuous attacks hoping that Mako wouldn't be able to dodge them all.

There was a downside to attacking continuously as even though the hit rate would go up the accuracy of the attacks would go down. Mako used this to his advantage yet again as he sometimes only had to use his agility to dodge a hit while preserving his energy by not continuously spamming Phantom Shift.

Swinging a huge club made of rock a couple of times is no big deal for Bill, but long uses such as his current predicament were making him lose his energy at a much faster rate than normal.

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The world government strictly regulated the level of an ability that could be possessed by the general public who didn't have an ability permit and weren't over the age of 20 to only level 3 and no more.

Even though a level 3 ability is not that strong, it is plenty to be considered the strongest in an entire high school.

Bill and only a couple of students who had good family backgrounds or rich parents had been able to acquire level 3 abilities as mostly all the students in Emerald High had level 1 or 2 abilities.

That being said, it was still a low ability level so it had limited skills and a short energy pool.

Bill's best and signature skill was the giant rock club, so Mako made a plan to just dodge every attack till Bill was exhausted and had used all of his energy before attacking and finishing the fight.

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"Humph! I thought that the strongest kid in school should at least be able to hit me once!" Mako taunted Bill some more while hopping on his feet like a bunny.

Consumed by pride and rage, Bill didn't even notice the fact that this was what Mako wanted him to do. He kept attacking with his club and Mako kept dodging it.

After several minutes of this, the crowd became more and more impatient as almost everyone there had bet money on Bill to defeat Mako but Mako was still standing without a scratch on his body.

Seeing this, Bill winded the club back towards his left hip and intended to swing the club horizontally which wouldn't be that efficient since clubs were not meant for slashing but would cover a larger area making it so that wherever Mako shifted, the club would still make contact.

Mako already understood what Bill was trying to do, and seeing no way out Mako knew that it was time to counter.

'Add 2 Attribute points to Strength,' Mako commanded the system.

[2 Attribute Points have been added to Strength]

[Strength: 10]

Bill swung his club, but before it could hit Mako; he jumped in the air with all his might and started to spin midway.

The spin helped Mako to change his direction midair as he jumped vertically but was coming down horizontally. When he was completely horizontal, he extended his right leg out towards Bill's head with intense speed.

Bill's hands were occupied due to performing the swing from the club, so he wasn't able to block Mako's kick which did connect with Bill's head.

*Whack*

A loud thud sounded followed by Bill skidding back a few feet and tripping. The entire crowd went nuts after that hit.

"WHAT! IN! THE!...."

"I NEED TO GET MY EYES CHECKED!"

"DID MAKO GREY JUST LAND A HIT ON BILL'S FACE!"

Bill's head was still spinning because of the heavy hit it took without any protection. It took him a couple of seconds to regain his senses after the concussion and that was when he realized what had happened in the past 12 seconds.

"How did you do that!" Bill shouted towards Mako who went back to make the same stance as before.

"What? All tuckered out from just one kick?" Mako continued to taunt.

Bill felt rage like never before but this time this wasn't the only emotion he felt. Another emotion started to well up inside him.

Fear!

'I have to defeat him! If I lose, then he will for sure kill me!' An intense thought started to bubble in Bill's head.

Standing up, he dusted himself off while giving a confident grin to Mako.

"So cocky just because you landed a lucky shot? I will put you in your place!" Bill shouted as he quickly placed his palm on the ground.

The ground started to slightly rumble as Mako had a sudden feeling to move. Mako didn't understand why, but he didn't question his instincts and just moved.

As soon as he moved an earth spike penetrated from the floor and rose 7 feet into the air.

The crowd became scared, but no one was as terrified as Mako who very nearly avoided death.

"ARE YOU INSANE!" Mako yelled at Bill, but he didn't reply rather he placed his palms on the ground again.

Now knowing Bill's intention Mako had to quickly devise a plan to finish this fight before he got killed.

Mako started sprinting toward Bill with speed while earth spikes kept protruding from the ground at different angles to hit Mako.

Since Mako had to run forward as well he couldn't efficiently dodge all the incoming spikes which caused a lot of shallow cuts to appear on Mako's body as he barely dodged the incoming spikes.

Narrowly avoiding death Mako came close to Bill who made a small earth shield to protect against the punch that Mako aimed at his face, but the punch never landed on the shield as it hit his guts instead.

[Phantom Punch has been activated]

Saliva forcefully came out of Bill's mouth as he was knocked a few more feet back.

The crowd now watched in a stupor as Mako engaged Bill in a fistfight. He was running low on energy and had to decide things quickly as he couldn't continue dodging Bill forever.

Bill, on the other hand, was proficient in fistfights but because of using the Earth ability constantly and taking two major blows, his fatigue was making him sloppy which made it so that Mako could fight on equal terms with Bill.

The fistfight lasted a couple of minutes. Both boys had bruises and scratches all over their faces and body. They were both exhausted from fighting, but Mako still had the upper hand as he pushed Bill back against his own earth wall.

Blocking another punch from Mako, Bill used what remaining energy he had left to make a club again although this time it was much smaller.

Bill swung the club at Mako again and it actually managed to hit Mako in the face as Mako was not expecting that sudden move. Mako spat out blood from his mouth while the crowd cheered.

Enraged and tired, Mako rushed toward Bill hoping to settle the fight with this final attack. Bill saw this as he tried to block the attack by holding his club near his body.

Mako threw a kick which was; in fact, aimed at Bill's body, but Bill also didn't expect what happened next.

[Phantom kick has been activated]

The crowd, online viewers, the instructor, and Mako himself couldn't understand what had happened. Bill Johnson was knocked out cold and was lying on the ring floor.

"Ummm... Mako... Grey won?" The boy with the long hair announced.

The crowd erupted but not with joy but rather in anger and sorrow as they all had lost a lot of money.

They started throwing their drinks and other garbage at Mako, but Mako couldn't register any of it as he kept staring at Bill who was knocked out.

Well, not exactly Bill, but rather the system screen that had multiple notifications displayed on it,

[Quest Completed]

[Rewards: Instant level-up, one random skill]

[User has leveled up!]

[Reward: +3 Attribute points, Random Attribute increase]

[Perception has been elevated to 7]

[Current Level: Lvl 5]

[Inventory Tab Has Been Unlocked!] ⓘ

[Choosing Random Skill]

[New Skill Learned: (D-Tier) Analyze!] ⓘ

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