Chapter 20 - Jose

Facing Zero, Jose never felt fear at all. Even until now, he only thinks of Andres and he's never really giving much thought to his opponent right now, he wasn't even sure why Zero is mad at him as of the moment.

'I just absorbed his attack, why is he angry at me? Wait… After I defeat him, I can continue on to the floor 2, right?

Jose is ready at any moment for a fight, as he was trained by his grandfather quite extensively, although he didn't managed to be as proficient at fighting as Andres, he still managed to be somewhat competent and is confident in his fighting skills. He is able to master the art of Kali to some extent but what's actually something he managed to be really good at is using Shunpo, being somewhat close to how his grandfather is doing it.

Zero is also readying himself, coating yellow lightning throughout his entire body to improve it and to boost his physical capabilities such as strength, speed, and durability.

'I am a son of Zeus, I won't lose to a lowlife like this…' He thought to himself, he takes great pride being a God-Kin and especially as a son of Zeus, with numerous other siblings with equal or better capabilities as him. Although Zeus had never shown any attention to him due to his other siblings simply being better, he will work to be better, he will prove himself, as a son of the leader of the Olympian High-Rankers, he will make sure to someday get into a spotlight worthy of his father's attention. As of now, he's just starting out, he have plenty of time to prove himself, he will rise and ascend way beyond that his father will disregard his stronger siblings that are currently in higher floors after knowing of his potential. He will make Zeus proud and regretful at the same time for not knowing acknowledging his talent and determination earlier.

"This is interesting… So… Show me a good fight, will you?" The Moderator mumbled. He then declared loudly, "Now, begin!"

Zero immediately closed the distance with his speed, punching towards Jose. Vertical lines appeared on both of Jose's eyes, with the right allowing him to track movement with the left allowing him to predict movement. 

He intercepted the punch, parrying it with both his hands to the side and then elbowing Zero on the face, pushing him away.

Zero managed not to fall as he was sent back while grasping his face in pain. "You fucker…!" He hurled a lightning bolt towards Jose and darted forward. This time, he didn't try to throw a punch wildly and instead they engage in a fierce hand to hand combat.

With his currently unparallel speed, he threw a barrage of calculated punches but Jose managed to block and intercept every single one of them due to having his eye powers and his martial arts expertise, but he still sustained some damage because of the lightning on Zero's body.

W-what's happening…? Jose thought to himself, his eyes widening after realizing it. His movements are getting quite stiff and brief pauses happens here and there.

"You're feeling it?!" Zero asked with a maniacal smile while continuing his barrage of strikes.

He's getting paralyzed by the lightning! As soon as he realized this, he activated one of the ten dashes on his shoulder, each of which can increase his strength by fivefold. After finally finding an opening, he punched towards Zero which the latter blocks but sustained some damage to his forearm despite it being coated in lightning armor.

"He suddenly got stronger...!" Zero exclaimed in bewilderment, since he can't win in close quarters, he decided to settle for ranged attacks for now.

His lightning manipulation is natural since it's his Bloodline Powers, meaning that his lightning attacks doesn't consume mana at all and instead just made him somewhat exhausted but since he's been training himself since childhood, just this much is negligible. The only time he will consume mana is by creating effects using his lightning, as of the moment, he only have two effects he can achieve using his lightning manipulation and one of which is to induce paralysis the more enemies are struck by his lightning, even as little as grazing their skin, this paralysis will build up the longer the battle goes on.

He began amplifying the intensity of lightning as he blasts Jose from distance away but Jose is quite fast.

The spectators who are already quite farther away earlier even backed away way further due to these intensity of abilities being cranked up to eleven, the Moderator even deployed a barrier around the dueling platform with amusement all over on his face.

As Jose encircled around the platform thinking up ways to close the gap, he extended his left arm towards Zero and opened his palm while running.

A glowing green circle appeared on his left palm and tens of metallic spikes came flying out. This startled Zero, hurriedly trying to get away and while most never hit him, some did grazed him a little from one of his arms to his left shoulder, causing minor bleedings.

He looked back towards Jose's position after losing sight of him due to the hail of spikes sent towards him but the latter is already missing. He wasn't sure when or how, but he instinctively blasted lightning behind him just in case, and indeed, Jose was currently there. In that instant, the latter also managed to absorb the lightning using his right palm and teleport in front of Zero using Shunpo upside down while mid-air, since each of these spikes currently traversing the air are all laced with his mana, allowing him to teleport to any of them at any moment.

"Shit!" Zero isn't able to react at this successive teleportation and Jose managed to deliver a downward forceful kick using his right foot, which Zero managed to avoid just a few centimeters away but the force of the kick still grazed his chest. When his foot faced towards the ground, a burst of wind suddenly exploded that created a few inches deep crater on the platform and knocking Zero forcefully away. While still mid-air, Jose faced his left palm towards Zero who still hasn't recovered from being knocked away and an incredibly long metal spike came out of his palm which pierces Zero's shoulder at great speed, with enough force that it sent him away while deeply embedded on his shoulder, piercing through it.

"You fucker...!!" Zero shouted in pain while grabbing the front of the metal spike embedded on his shoulder.