CHAPTER 24 – Shortest duel ever.

"The match is not considered won until the other side admits defeat or falls unconscious.

So, are both of you ready?" Alice who has taken the role of referee, asked.

It was already evening and Alex had decided how to make Frank have a perfect defeat. So, when Alice asked if he was ready, he nodded his head and so did Frank, not knowing what was coming his way.

Frank had invited many people to watch the performance after letting out some steam together with a lady from the guild he felt that whatever he felt was just his imagination or maybe Alex used some dirty trick.

Frank even invited everyone he could and thought of humiliating Alex in front of everyone. Still, he didn't hold back even a little as he knew even though he might be stronger, Alex was still an S-rank Raider (Frank's thinking).

'Have you bought 'it'?' Alex asked Sophia.

[Yes, it's in the inventory.] Sophia replied and giggled a little, [You are bullying him.]

'It's his fault for being ignorant and I am not killing him or anything.' Alex just shrugged mentally.

Sophia knew the reason why Alex's personality was changing but she liked the new Alex better as he was more open to his desires, so, she didn't tell him anything and neither was she planning to do that anytime soon. It would be different if Alex asked, though.

Alex then looked at Frank's stats as he saw Frank rushing towards him, his Agility was A+ ranked showing his weakness so Alex just dodged the flaming fist covered in red scales.

Frank's skill is called salamander; he covers parts of his body with the scales of a salamander that provide heightened defenses and strength. His flames were also a little strong though much weaker than Alice's.

Alex dodged ten or more of Frank's punches and everyone realized that Alex was better than Frank, at least in speed, even Frank realized that, so he shouted.

"Stop dodging like a rat and face me like a man." Hearing Frank shout some of the people in the guild who didn't like Alex also did the same and it has only been 10-15sec since the match started.

"Oh? All right then, I am standing right here." Alex said with a gentle smile, but his intentions were anything but gentle, he opened his inventory, and a small pill came inside his right fist.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." Frank smiled arrogantly thinking that Alex was a fool for listening to his taunting and rushed at Alex at full speed while using all of his mana to empower his right fist.

"Huh?" Some people were worried, some were happy, and some didn't have any reaction, still, everyone was expecting a loud booming sound.

But all they heard was Frank's dumbfounded voice, and looking at the scene in front of them everyone became dumbfounded, be it Nick, Alice, or Ann who was holding the pup in her hands.

"Is that all?" Alex asked in a relaxed manner as if he was not stopping the hand that held the attack of a full-powered strength-type S-ranked Raider.

Alex was holding Frank's flaming fist with his left hand as even if Frank was a Strength-type Raider with the strength of S rank the maximum his strength would go would be SS-, and maximum means if he used his abilities perfectly with perfect control over mana, not how he was using.

Alex, on the other hand, had his base stat at SS- right now, so, how could he not be able to stop a punch of that caliber?

"Now, it's my turn, right?"

Alex asked with the same smile but this time the smile reminded Frank of what he had felt before and he started trembling he opened his mouth to admit defeat but right at that moment, he felt his mind go blank.

*Woosh* *Boom*

This is all everyone heard and when they saw what had happened, their jaws couldn't help but open wide enough for an egg to enter.

Alex used his SS rank speed to quickly punch and push the pill inside Frank's mouth when he saw him open it to surrender.

His speed was so fast that no one even noticed, not even Frank noticed that he had swallowed a pill since the pain and shock his brain experienced was too much for him.

Alex didn't punch Frank out of the court, he simply pushed Frank's face towards the ground along with his punch causing him to lay flat on the place he was standing.

Frank's face was now pressed on the ground and it also caused a booming sound as most of the impact was transferred to the ground.

Alex knew that if he punched Frank with his full strength, that too when Frank was not covering his face with the scales of a salamander, Frank would have died, either from his neck breaking or his face being crushed.

So, he controlled his strength in a way that, even though it would stun Frank's brain for a few seconds, it would not cause any major damage, but some power still remained in the punch, so he transferred that to the floor, causing it to break.

It was clear as day that Frank had lost the match, everyone thought that the match was over even Alice also moved towards the platform to announce the result while she sighed secretly seeing that Frank was alive.

"He has yet to admit defeat." When Alex's words were heard, everyone stopped in their place. The people who were about to go back to their work stopped, the healers who were about to move towards Frank stopped and Alice also stopped.

Then everyone turned towards Frank who was now trying to open his eyes with a very uncomfortable expression, showing that Frank was still conscious.

They had thought that Frank would have been unconscious after taking a direct hit from Alex since the punch was strong and they had thought the match was over, but for Alex, it was just the start.

...…................

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