Adaptability

With ten hours left in the survival round of the Grava Academy tournament, things have gotten slower, but the battles have become longer.

In the city area, Wayne, who is battered and bruised, is walking up what looks to be an abandoned hotel. He is slowly walking up the stairs of the hotel.

Wayne reaches a door in the hotel.

"Maybe I can use this place to rest until this is all over."

Wayne opens the door, and he instantly sees Aurora sitting on a bed watching TV. Aurora looks over to Wayne at the door.

"Oh, it's just you. You're Wayne from class one, correct?"

"Umm, yeah, I am."

Wayne puts his hand on his blade.

"You can stop being defensive. I have no desire to fight."

"Wait really?"

"This is the last day, so soon we will be teleported back to the auditorium. It's way smarter to rest up and wait for the round to be over."

"How long have you been in this room?"

"Well, I've been in this room since yesterday. I was in another building, but that one was completely destroyed by the battle with Paul and Marfumi.

Wayne looks at Aurora more closely and realizes who she is.

"Wait, you're Selena's friend. Aurora right?"

"Yes, that's me. So now that you know who I am, will you please come sit with me? You can watch whatever you like on the TV."

"Oh, I mean, you do make a good point. I'll relax with you until this is all over, but I will be on my guard."

Wayne pulls out his pistol and takes a seat on the floor.

"Fine with me, but I will be on my guard as well."

"How did you even get a TV to work in here?"

"You'll find out at a later time."

Aurora looks out the window of the room.

"Only ten hours left."

On the other side of the city, Chika, the number one of class two is standing in front of a board that says, "Best fast food on the planet to your left."

"Where's the fast food?"

Chika walks over to where the sign is pointing.

"They really sent us to these different areas without food. Not only that, it's so boring out here. I wish I could use my phone, but there's no signal."

A lower-class student jumps from the roof above Chika.

"You shouldn't be walking out in the open like this dumbass!"

"Like seriously, I know this is supposed to test if we are fit for the main tournament, but I really want to eat something before we get teleported back."

The lower-class student throws a punch at Chika, but when his fist gets close, it gets sliced up out of nowhere.

"Ahhh!"

Chika turns around.

"And who the fuck are you?"

"You bitch! What did you do?"

The lower class all of a sudden gets cut three times in the chest. He instantly gets teleported back to the auditorium.

"OK, back to looking for some food."

As Chika started walking down the road, she saw Paul, who was eating an apple.

Paul looks over to Chika with a blank expression on his face.

"Hello, Chika I haven't seen you since the entrance exam."

Chika walks over to Paul with a serious expression.

"Oh, don't tell me you want to fight right now. Wouldn't it be better for a climactic battle of opposing drives in the actual tournament?"

Chika points to the apple in Paul's head.

"Where did you get that apple from?"

"Oh, I forgot you always focus on the smaller things over what's important. I packed a bag of apples before the tournament. I always pack apples before I train."

Paul pulls out a bright green apple.

"You want one?"

Chika grabs the apple and bites it happily.

"It's sour"

Chika takes a seat next to Paul.

"You said you bring apples every time you train. Does that mean you look at this whole tournament as a training session?"

"Of course, I look at everything as a way to become stronger."

"I saw your battle with Marfumi."

"Oh, you did. I hope you're stronger than him, or I will become stagnant."

"You beat me during the entrance exam, but this tournament will be different. I will defeat you."

"Good"

Meanwhile On Frost Island, Kage and Jason are having a hand-to-hand battle. For the past six minutes, Kage and Jason have been going back and forth with punches and kicks. Kage dodges a punch from Jason and tries to grab him, but misses.

"You know, for someone so polite, you're pretty good at fighting!"

Jason flips and kicks Kage in the face. He then does a handstand and kicks Kage's shoulders with both of his feet.

"Of course I am; my parents always taught me it is good to know how to defend yourself."

Jason jumps away from Kage.

"You're pretty good at fighting, too!"

"Good, because I think it's time to up the power!"

Kage forms a ball of energy in his hand.

"Multi-attack!"

Multiple beams of energy release from Kage's hand, and they start chasing after Jason.

"Those attacks aren't fast enough to catch me."

Jason starts avoiding the beams of energy without breaking a sweat.

"This attack is really cool, but I suggest you make the beams faster because they're pretty easy to dodge!"

Jason keeps dodging the beams of energy.

"You know you should pay attention more instead of talking about my attack!"

Jason dodges the last beam of energy and looks behind him. He sees a huge circle of energy.

"Impressive! Those small beams of energy were just a distraction, and their true purpose was to form a bigger beam of energy behind me."

The circle of energy releases a giant beam of energy.

"Yes!"

As he celebrates, Kage sees Jason pull a piece of metal out of his pocket and grip it tightly. The energy beam hits Jason directly. Kage looks closely at the snow where Jason is.

"Where did he go? Wait, don't tell me I killed him!"

Kage grabs his head and starts panicking.

"Wait, that's against the rules, right?"

"Calm down, Kage. Stressing about things before knowing the whole story is bad for your health."

"Why do you keep—"

Jason gets out of the snow he was buried under. Kage quickly notices that Jason's body has turned into gray metal.

"Oh, what's wrong? Are you surprised by my change? This is tankish metal, a metal found in an underwater sea cave four years ago. This metal is the most durable metal on the planet, and what makes it better is its light."

Jason uses the accelerate technique and starts running at full speed towards Kage.

"He's quick!"

Jason does a backflip and kicks Kage in the head.

"Turning into this metal allows me to upgrade my accelerate technique and flex technique to another level."

Jason uses his right foot to trip Kage and punch him into the snow. Kage quickly jumps back up, but is instantly met with another punch to the stomach.

Kage puts his palm on Jason's shoulder.

"I need to get some distance from him! Energy shot!"

A focused blast of energy released from Kage's palm, sending Jason flying back.

"An attack that focuses on breaking through defenses."

Jason swipes the spot Kage used his attack on.

"But that won't work on this metal."

From the sky, a pillar of energy comes down and slams into Jason.

"Thanks for talking so much; you gave me enough time to build up my energy pillar!"

The energy pillar blows up, but before it does, Jason breaks out of it with the flex technique.

"A huge-scale attack for maximum damage. Impressive!"

"Energy cannon!"

Kage releases a huge beam of energy from his mouth. Jason puts his hands out and blocks the energy beam.

"Wow, this metal really is amazing if I can defend against attacks like these."

Jason quickly runs around Kage and starts hitting him with an onslaught of punches. Kage is barely blocking his punches. A punch grazes his right arm and leaves a bloody cut on it. The blood gets into Kage's eyes. Jason pulls his left arm all the way back and punches Kage in the stomach.

"So do you still want to fight Kage?"

"He's overpowering me!"

Jason jumps up and kicks Kage away. Jason continues his pursuit of Kage. As Jason pursues him, Kage's mind starts racing.

"That stupid metal is getting in my way! I can't even do any damage. Wait, he said earlier that he became that metal. Is his power turning into metal?"

Kage dodges a punch from Jason and parries two of his attacks.

"Maybe if I can break through that metal, I can win this battle. Yes, that's it! It will take a lot of OGI, but this is the only attack that can break through that metal."

Kage ducks under a punch from Jason and grabs Jason's waist with both of his hands.

"Full power energy shot!"

An even greater force of focused energy released from both of Kage's palms. Jason punches Kage away. When Kage gets up, he sees that his attack did no damage.

"It did nothing!"

"I told you this metal is super durable, and this is even more proof of it."

Jason takes a step, and instantly his waist cracks.

"What!"

Kage smiles with confidence.

"You talked a big game with that metal, but now you're going to lose!"

Kage uses the accelerate technique to get in front of Jason. He then applies the flex technique to the muscles in his arms and punches Jason. The punch causes Jason to crack even more.

"Yeah, not too tough without your metal!"

Kage points his right fist at Jason.

"Energy shotgun!"

A shockwave of energy releases from Kage's fist, and when it makes impact, it completely breaks the metal.

"Ha! Now this battle is over!"

Jason looks at his cracked body.

"Wow, you're really strong you know. I commend you!"

"You again with these compliments, you know this is a fight?"

"There is no problem with complimenting you for your power."

Jason's body starts to turn back to normal, and the cracks start to disappear. A snowstorm kicks up, and Jason looks up.

"What perfect timing."

"What are you on about?"

"My power is called "adapt," and with it, I can turn into any element I touch, and when I become that element, I gain the power to control it. Water, earth, carbon, and even snow."

As the snow hits Jason, he slowly starts to turn into snow. The snowstorm started to intensify, and Kage looked around in confusion.

"Wait, where did he go? Did he actually turn into snow?"

As Kage looks around, he gets hit by a ball of snow so fast that it tears through his shoulder.

"Ahh! What the fuck?"

The snow in the air comes together and forms an image of Jason.

"You know snow is more powerful than people actually think. When thrown fast enough, they can be deadly."

"Shit! This is bad. I'm completely surrounded by snow, and if he can control all the snow in this form, then..."

"Enough facts; now it's time to end this!"

Kage starts to get pummeled by balls of snow, and every time he gets hit by a snowball, more holes are put into his body.

"Don't worry Kage. I will make sure to not hit any of your vital points. Soon you'll be sent back to the auditorium."

Kage's health bar continues to get lower and lower as he gets hit by more snowballs.

"I can't beat this guy, but I can't lose!"

Kage started to use the flex technique all over his body, but even so, the snowballs do massive damage.

Kage falls to the ground after taking massive damage.

"Oh, is that it Kage? Okay, I'll finish you off now."

All the snow from the snowstorm gathers in the sky above Kage.

"Avalanche!"

All the snow gathered in the sky slams onto Kage, burying him. Jason turns back to normal and stands on top of the snow.

"You were pretty strong, but you'll be sent back to the auditorium soon."

Jason touches the snow, turns back to snow, and flies away.

Chapter 97 end