2nd Segment. (Part-5)

The stillness on the Stage prevailed for nearly two minutes before Henry took the initiative to make a move.

With 100 uninterrupted Blaze Pulses stacked together, the coral-red Aura over him grew thicker to the point Henry's appearance was barely visible.

Henry closed in on Pompa while still maintaining his boxing stance. Each footstep was systematic and had a rhythm to it.

It was funny to see Henry lowering his stance to match Pompa's height to fight him.

Even then, Henry's stance showed no opening in his defence. Meanwhile, Pompa steeled himself for Henry's punches.

All Pompa needed to do was firmly latch onto Henry, and the rest would be the same as it happened with Tyuk.

Pompa didn't try to dodge the punch in order to wrap his arms around his opponent's waist.

However, despite the improved defence, Pompa lost 30% of his overall Health from a single punch.

Only then did he realise how powerful Henry's attacks had grown in just two minutes.

Disregarding the incoming punches, and the massive damage that accompanied them, Pompa managed to wrap his arms around Henry's waist.

With two more consecutive punches, his Health plummeted to the last 10%, and one more punch from Henry would spell death for him.

So, Pompa could only activate his 2nd Innate Exclusive Skill, <REJUVENATE>.

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<REJUVENATE>: For a limited duration, the user's Health remains at its brim unless the entirety of it depletes in one go.

Duration: (Base Vitality/10) =~ 10 minutes

Cooldown: 10 hrs (After the skill's effect ends, User's Health will be halved for half the Cooldown duration =~ 5 hrs)

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Upon activating it, all the lost Health was refilled in an instant.

Pompa was practically invincible for the next 10 minutes unless Henry could deal an abnormal amount of damage that could deplete all his Health in one go.

Pompa didn't stay idle as Henry continued to land one punch after another on his back. Although he was near unbeatable in terms of Health, the pain he received was by no means refined.

So, without further ado, he applied crushing pressure on Henry's waist, just like he did with Tyuk.

The next moment, that action began to affect Henry as he felt the crushing pressure on his trunk.

Henry sped up his striking rate, but his punches powered by the Blaze Pulses showed no lasting effect on Pompa's ever-recovering Health.

Moreover, Henry's Blaze Aura and stacked-up Blaze Pulses enhanced his defence only to that of a Tier-3 High-Phase and couldn't hold against the sheer brute strength of Pompa, who used <SELF-IMMOLATION> to the full extent.

In terms of Strength and Endurance attributes, Pompa exceeded the boundary of a Tier-3 lifeform. It would undoubtedly be Henry's loss if he couldn't escape Pompa's grasp in the next couple of seconds.

Realising the severity of the situation, Henry went all out as he used the strongest move in his arsenal, <Blaze Eruption>.

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Lv.25 <Blaze Eruption>: Erupts the stacked-up Blaze Pulses into a concentrated attack, further amplifying the damage output. Every 25 Blaze Pulses could increase the enhanced base attack damage by once its own.

Cost: 100 Stamina for erupting 100 Blaze Pulses at once. (Cost is equivalent to the number of Blaze Pulses erupted.)

Prerequisite: Requires at least 25 Blaze Pulses to activate 'Blaze Eruption'.

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With 100 Blaze Pulses stacked together, Henry's last punch was five times the damage of the previous ones.

Once his fist came in contact with Pompa, an ear-deafening bang resounded in the Colosseum, similar to a smaller-scale volcanic eruption.

With that punch as the center, a series of scorching fire waves spread upon the Stage, blocking everyone's view.

Just the after-effects spread cracks to every corner of the Stage barrier, showcasing the lethality of <Blaze Eruption>.

Soon, the waves of fire settled down, making it possible for everyone to see the situation on the Stage.

Henry stood there huffing in exhaustion, whereas Pompa lay on the cratered Stage with no movement whatsoever.

The last attack was so deadly that even a Tier-4 Low-Phase lifeform could die, much less someone like Pompa.

With such destructive capability, Henry could be ranked above Brandon and Sergei, only next to Olivia.

But it wasn't the case since Henry's abilities came with a major flaw.

Once a Blaze Pulse was interrupted, Henry couldn't stack any more of them unless he was willing to expend them all through 'Blaze Eruption' and once again begin stacking them up.

That was why Henry's fighting style revolves around not receiving a direct attack as it interrupts the Blaze Pulses, thus affecting the damage output he could produce.

Only those with higher movement speed or someone with high combat expertise, like Brandon and Sergei, could interrupt Henry's Blaze Pulses and not let him reach the full potential of his attack power.

In Pompa's case, he met neither of those requirements and could only be outmanoeuvred and suppressed by Henry.

Beside Pompa was Felarial, with obvious disbelief on his face. It was justifiable since he was just a moment away from saving Pompa but failed to do so due to how close the combatants were close to each other.

Felarial checked for signs of life on Pompa but failed to find any. That only intensified the disbelief on his face.

He had long seen the Fortune Paths of all the strongest individuals in the Tournament, and Pompa was one among them.

Just like most of the Earth's Alpha Chosen, Pompa had an eight-doorway Fortune Path, indicating the high possibility of reaching Tier-8 in the future.

The fact that he died without reaching Tier-8 made Felarial doubt the abilities of his own Innate Talent.

But the next instant, something happened, something that left almost everyone in the Colosseum dumbfounded.

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Discord Link for 'Earth's Alpha Prime' :

https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ

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If you have any suggestions for this chapter, I am all ears. I will make any reasonable corrections based on your feedback.