Chapter 63: Lars vs Grant Pt 2

Lars wasted no time making a dash towards Grants left side ready to attack. He quickly closed the distance and threw a punch aimed directly at his jaw. Without even looking at the punch, the colonel parried Lars's attack sidestepping to the right, rendering him off balance.

"Heh" Grant laughed

Lars continued to follow through his punch falling towards the ground as his punch missed parallel to the colonel.

"Typical rookie put all your weight in one punch and-"

Catching himself Lars guided his hands towards the ground and curled himself into a cartwheel. Now upside down in a handstand he made a second swipe for the general with his left leg in a powerful upside down roundhouse.

"Too fast I cant parry!" Grant thought

The Colonel ducked under the kick barely avoiding it, but this time Lars used the swing of his legs momentum to spin himself, leading into an aerial kick.

Grant maneuvered blocking the kick in a crouched position. As Lars then flipped into the air again to deliver another blow.

"Wow not bad" Thought Grant as lARSdropkick came close to connecting. "He pretended to be off balance to catch me off guard… He's definitely been combat trained, that's without a doubt. But by who?"

(Lars remembered)

"Alright Ax today were going to talk about fighting opponents that are stronger than you!" Vince said gleefully.

"You mean tonight?" Lars said looking around the empty Lagara valley. It was pitch black with only the embers of Vincents hands to guide him. "There's a strategy for that?" Lars asked

"Of course! I'm sure you noticed it in your first fight, opponents that are stronger than you are typically off their guard and aren't as cautious as normal opponents."

"Yeh that did happen with PB… How do I use that to my advantage?"

"Easy you do the same thing! Or pretend to at least!"

"What?"

"Haha don't worry Ax I'll show you… There's a way to make your opponents believe that you are just as caught off your guard as they are. They'll lay back even more and start to neglect you completely…. Then the second they lower their guard you bombard them with attacks before they can react! Wait until there is a super powerful foe you seemingly have no chance against and I promise this will work!"

Lars Jumped into the air and front flipped into a falling kick. The colonel, using one arm to block the attack suspended Lars in midair. Lars used the colonel's arm as a springboard and jumped a few more feet into the air. He landed on his arm again this time with considerable force causing a slight crack in the ground below the colonel's feet.

"Not bad," Grant grunted

Smiling the colonel looked into Lars's eyes unfazed as he suspended him in midair with the blocked kick.

"Ofcoarse that didn't do anything at all to him!" Lars thought

Realizing he had lost the element of surprise Lars fell back to where he had started creating a distance between Grant and himself.

'Aww c'mon kid that's all you got? Your gonna become an agent with those moves?" The colonel laughed.

Getting provoked Lars took a step forward ready to make another go when he realized the situation.

"If I couldn't get off a single hit while he was off guard there's no way I will get one in now… The strength difference is too big, But…" He thought scratching his chin

"Hey General… you said no matter how hard I attack you won't hit back right?

"Yup that's the deal ya have my word" He said taking a bow. "Not until the hour is up"

"Alright I know a normal opponent isn't going to give me that courtesy but… Here goes nothing."

Lars began to squat channeling his ether into his hands. As he closed his eyes a torrent of water came flooding into his hands.

"Ether concentration" The colonel thought. "I can almost see the strands, he must be atleast channeling 20%... Lets see what happens"

"Take this" Lars yelled

"Water Bullet!" He said thrusting a large ball of water towards the general with a fast velocity.

"Hmph" grunted the general, smashing the water ball with his hand.

As the water bullet popped the general's view began to clear up revealing at least a dozen more water bullets coming his way.

"Heh too easy" he said, punching his way through the rest. From a distance it looked like the colonel was popping giant water balloons with a pin as the spheres of water exploded on his every strike. He swiftly popped the spheres of water gracefully barely using energy at all to move his hands.

When the barrage had finally stopped he saw Lars hunched over with a huge surge of water pulsing in his hand.

"Get ready for this!" Lars yelled.

Lars sprinted towards the colonel, collecting a powerful torrent of water that followed behind him like he was being propelled by a jet ski.

He came to a halt and lifted up the large torrent of water a foot away from the colonel.

"Alright Water Knuckle!" He said smashing his fist into the sphere of water inches away from the colonel.

There was a loud crash, like the sound of a large wave, and soon the Colonel was completely out of vision enveloped in the cone of Lars'swater attack.

"He surely he had to have taken damage from that!" lARSthought

As the water cone dissipated, a misty cloud appeared in front of him baring the colonel's shadow. When the mist cleared he saw the colonel standing there with no damage taken!

He was standing there nonchalantly pointing a finger down at Lars.

"What… what are you pointing at?" Lars said.

"Pointing? I'm just raising my guard, one finger is enough to stop your attack." He said laughing.

"One finger? He stopped that with one finger?" Lars thought.

"There's no way I can-" laRSthought as he tried to regroup.

Once again the scene went dark with the Colonel reappearing in front of Lars walking away. Lars began to lose breath and fell to the ground aching in pain.

"Your hour is up!" The colonel yelled As Lars lay on the floor.

"Guuuuhh"

Once again Lars's body was filled with the whiplash of a high speed motor accident. As the pain pulsed through his body, he howled trying to compose himself.

"That settles it" Lars thought. "The difference is way larger than when I fought PB with no powers… At least I was able to move him! There's no way I can win this exam in a physical fight."

Struggling to his feet, Lars took a hard look at the colonel desperately probing for a weakness. He was bigger, taller, stronger, more experienced and more seasoned than Lars would ever be. How was Lars supposed to beat him?

"Are you beginning to see it now kid?" The general asked.

"See what" said Lars

"The difference between you and your friends."

"What are you talking about?"

"You can't even land a blow on me and you want to become an agent? How far do you think you can get in this force without killing someone"

"It's not about killing someone" Larssaid dusting himself off. "It's about the intent to do so! How can I call myself a protector when I'm aiming to kill!?"

"And tell me what good is fighting a fight you can't win, there's no way you're going to pass this test! Try as you might I bet the next punch will knock you out!"

"Do you worst!" Lars said opening his arms. "Have a free punch on me!"

"You shouldve never joke about that kid!" Grant said pulling back his arm. "I'll finish this whole exam right now!"