Chương 100: A Lesson for Uvogin

"Uvogin, your Big Bang Impact is strong. The problem is that you used your trump card immediately without regard for timing. Against someone faster than you, it can be avoided easily. A powerful move that can't hit is useless." Aren sat on Uvogin's back, his tone teasing but not entirely joking. Whoosh. Uvogin swung his left arm violently behind him, aiming straight at Aren on his back. Aren's words made Uvogin pause for a fraction of a second. But this was not the time to think.

Aren jumped lightly, avoiding the strike, then rotated in midair and landed on the edge of the ring untouched by Big Bang Impact. He glanced sideways at the referee, who had fallen off the stage and was still coughing. The man was lucky. He had jumped off the ring just before Big Bang Impact's aura exploded. It seemed people who could referee on the two-hundredth floor had decent crisis awareness. Bang. Uvogin pulled his right hand out of the ground and rotated his wrist to loosen the joint.

"Deputy Leader, what you said makes sense." Then Uvogin grinned.

"But I don't listen." As he spoke, aura gathered on his right fist again. He rushed up from the crater and punched at Aren. Aren sighed helplessly.

"Reasoning with an Enhancer really doesn't do much. If words won't get through, I'll make your body remember." The next second, Aren turned quickly, letting Uvogin's Big Bang Impact brush past his waist as he slid to Uvogin's side. Taking advantage of the opening created by Uvogin's momentum, he punched Uvogin in the stomach. Compared with Uvogin's stiff aura flow, Aren's was extraordinarily smooth.

In an instant, the fist striking Uvogin had gathered seventy percent of Aren's aura with both of them using equal aura. That was only because Aren feared concentrating too much would knock Uvogin out in one punch. Otherwise, Aren could now shift one hundred percent of his aura to any part of his body within one second. Although Aren and Uvogin were using the same amount of aura, Aren's fist carried seventy percent, while most of Uvogin's aura had gathered on his right fist.

That left only around ten percent aura for defense on Uvogin's body. At the last moment, Uvogin barely shifted another ten percent to his stomach. Even so, that was only twenty percent defensive aura. The result was obvious.

"Gah!" After being struck in the stomach, Uvogin spat out a mouthful of saliva. Piercing pain drilled through his abdomen. His body curled involuntarily, and he dropped to one knee with a thud. Whoosh. Before Uvogin recovered from the pain, Aren's whip kick swept toward his face. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Because Uvogin had fallen to his knees in front of him, both the height and angle felt extremely convenient. Bang.

At the final moment, Uvogin managed to raise both arms and block the kick. But in his haste, he could only maintain Ken. Facing Aren's kick, which still carried seventy percent aura, Uvogin could not hold his ground and was sent flying. He crashed directly into the padded barrier outside the ring.

"Clean hit. Aren scores one point. Ring-out. Aren scores two points." The referee, who had climbed up from outside the ring at some point, began making the judgment. To be fair, he was quite dedicated. In the commentator booth, the commentator had also been caught by Aren's smooth sequence and forgotten to speak for a moment. The audience did not care about their previous rivalry anymore. Aren's movements had won them over. In the end, Uvogin's fans were combat fans first and Uvogin fans second.

Unlike some of Aren's supporters, who were Aren fans first and only began paying attention to fighting afterward.

"Amazing."

"So smooth. Like flowing water."

"Those movements are beautiful."

"Husband, go. Beat that stupid bear down." Aren, the person involved, showed no reaction. He looked toward where Uvogin had been knocked into the smoke.

"Hey, I didn't use that much force just now. Uvogin, you can still stand, right?"

"Cough, cough." As soon as Aren finished speaking, a piece of padding was thrown aside. Uvogin walked out of the smoke, coughing slightly.

"Deputy Leader, you really are strong. Even without abilities, you're still strong enough to make people despair."

"Oh? Uvogin, are you scared?" Aren asked, amused.

"Hmph. Hahaha... hahahahahaha." Uvogin's laughter grew from low to high until he was throwing his head back and laughing wildly. Along with that laughter, a presence like a savage beast began spreading from his body. The spectators closest to Uvogin felt that aura. It was the pressure of a predator standing above its prey. The crowd that had been cheering excitedly suddenly quieted, and cold sweat began running down their backs.

"Scared? Impossible." Uvogin grinned.

"I'm excited. Deputy Leader, the stronger you are, the happier I get. Come on. Let's keep killing each other." An even stronger burst of Nen erupted from Uvogin. His originally colorless aura slowly turned red. At that moment, Uvogin's aura reserve had broken through ten thousand units and was climbing higher. It was not stable, rising and falling, but overall it remained above that threshold. Without question, Uvogin was fully fired up. Next, he might return to his most primitive state.

Looking at Uvogin's half-mad expression, Aren suddenly thought of the phrase meeting strength with greater strength. The stronger the enemy, the more Uvogin could draw out of himself. Seeing Uvogin this fired up, Aren felt his own fighting spirit stir.

"Good. Come, Uvogin." Whoosh. The moment Aren spoke, Uvogin stepped forward and rushed to him, punching toward his head. This time, Uvogin had finally learned. He did not use Big Bang Impact immediately. That move had to be saved for the right moment. Aren casually deflected Uvogin's fist and sensed the change. In this red-aura state, Uvogin's strength, speed, aura reserve, and aura flow had all risen by one level. After Aren deflected one punch, Uvogin's left hook immediately followed.

Aren leaned back slightly, letting the hook brush past his face. His counterattack arrived at the same time. An elbow struck toward Uvogin's forehead. Uvogin seemed to predict it. He had already gathered aura on his head and took Aren's elbow head-on.

"Heh." Uvogin grinned. Using the force of Aren's elbow, he leaned backward and snapped his right leg toward Aren with the momentum. That move slightly exceeded Aren's expectations. He watched the whip kick approach with mild surprise. But... Still too green. Because Uvogin had taken Aren's attack head-on, he had gathered a large amount of aura on his head. In the short time available, he only managed to shift fifty percent of his aura to the right leg attacking Aren.

His aura-transfer speed had improved greatly compared with the beginning, but it still was not enough. Aren blocked Uvogin's confident kick steadily, then grabbed the man's right leg and pulled hard toward himself. Uvogin's falling body was dragged directly in front of Aren. Bang. As Uvogin was pulled close, Aren slammed a heavy punch into his face. Because Aren's pull left Uvogin no leverage to adjust his posture, he had to take the punch squarely with his face. Uvogin was blasted back into the crater.

In the commentator booth, the commentator gave the exchange the highest praise.

"An astonishing offense and defense. Their duel is truly incredible. Did everyone notice? Since contestant Aren jumped out of the crater, he has not moved a single step." The exchange between Aren and Uvogin had been genuinely exciting. The spectators had even held their breath without realizing it, afraid to miss a single second. Ptui. Uvogin, whose half-swollen face had just been punched, climbed out of the crater again and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.

"Uvogin, your aura flow is too rough," Aren said from above.

"Even when you create a good opportunity, you cannot seize it effectively." Uvogin charged at him again.

"Your movements are too large. That increases your inertia and creates openings." After another exchange, Aren seized one of Uvogin's openings and punched the other side of his face.

"Clean hit. Aren scores two points."

"Contestant Aren has keenly seized another opening from contestant Uvogin and landed another punch. With this, contestant Aren has already reached eight points."

"Contestant Uvogin has been pushed to the brink. Two more clean hits at most will decide the match. Can contestant Uvogin find a way to reverse the outcome?"