55 Chiaki's Defiance

The announcer jumped again as if he was slightly afraid of Chiaki and nodded his head. It probably wasn't as if Chiaki was stronger than him, considering the average level for an adult is around five to six hundred, but the brat's sheer tone of voice was enough to scare a soldier.

"You...you got back up!?" Ayako raised her voice slightly, putting up her stance once again.

"Hm?" Chiaki returned his focus to his opponent, never once putting up a stance.

"I'm surprised…! Not many people can just take hits like that and brush it off. No, it's probably not that you brushed it off...you just happen to have enough perseverance to get back up, is that it?"

"..."

Chiaki popped his neck and stretched his arms a bit, yawning.

"I guess," he said, his eyes comparable to a corpse. "You could also say that I've got some kind of ambition right now, one that you gave me of course."

"Huh?" Ayako lifted an eyebrow.

"The things you said kinda pissed me off, so I have to stay standing in order to punish you."

Ayako laughed. "What? Even if you're out for revenge now, you just took some serious damage. In fact, you're probably--!?" She took a good look at Chiaki's legs and noticed something she thought to be of slight concern.

"His legs...I don't see...any sort of struggle. He's not struggling to stand up…?" she thought to herself, her eyes slightly widened.

"Oh yeah, and about that damage…" Chiaki began, catching Ayako's attention once more. He finished stretching his arms and popping his fingers. "You didn't notice how I just stood there and took it?"

"...What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I could've avoided your attacks, dumbass. It wouldn't have been hard. No, I intentionally got hit."

"So, what, you have some secret magic art that powers you up after you take damage or something? I think I've heard of something like that before."

"No."

"Hngh?"

"All I wanted...was to see how hard I'd have to try to defeat you." Chiaki continued. "And judging by what you've shown me...I don't think this should be too difficult."

"Tch…! You're insulting me, aren't you?"

"And? What's so bad about me returning the favor?"

"Alriiiight!!" Kiyomi screamed at the top of his lungs, not only forcing Nakayama to plug his ears, but also catching the eyes of many people around him. He put his hands on his hips like a confident superhero. "I knew all along that Chiaki was going to be just fine! That just goes to show that all you need in this life is a little bit of faith!"

"Geez!" Nakayama grunted in frustration. "If you're gonna yell that fucking loud, at least spout something that's actually true!"

Chiaki spat blood to the side confidently and eyed down Ayako. "I don't need some power-enhancing spell to kick your ass. I can fill the minuscule gap in our levels with skill."

"Skill, you say?" Ayako questioned, but she kept a cocky smile as if she knew that there was nothing to be afraid of.

Chiaki nodded and proceeded to lightly hop up and down as another type of warming up.

"Mhm. Martial arts, karate to be exact," he said with a hint of tension in his voice as he continued to warm up. "I've been practicing it for a good while now, so I wouldn't take anything I'm saying lightly right now. And after all your flailing earlier, I think it's safe to say that a difference of 5 levels…" He stopped jumping.

"Means absolutely nothing to me."

"Alright, you're starting to piss me off," spouted Ayako with hostility, her smile no longer existing. "I tried to be nice in the beginning, but now I think I'll just beat you half to death with no mercy." She put up a fighting stance and prepared to rush Chiaki.

"It's mutual, then," Chiaki said without emotion.

Ayako took a step forward and ran for Chiaki, her fist pulled back. Yet again, Chiaki made no effort to move.

"After taking that much damage, there's no way you can beat me now, sorry to tell you! Just give up! Haaagh!!" Ayako threw her fist at Chiaki's face---

It missed.

He ducked ever-so-slightly, allowing her fist only to graze the hairs on his head. However, Ayako smirked and swiftly performed an unrefined roundhouse kick

With an impactful tapping sound, Ayako's kick failed to reach her opponent's face as he brought his arm up, forcing her leg to strike the back of his arm, dealing extremely minimal amounts of damage. He didn't even look at her, he kept his eyes on the ground as if all he needed was to read the motions of her lower body and feet.

"Ngh! Haah!!"

Kobe brought her leg down and used the arm opposite to the leg she used to kick Chiaki to strike him in the face.

Fwoosh! The sunset brat, without looking at anything above her waist, moved his head slightly to the side so that her fist only grazed his cheek. She grunted again, gritted her teeth, and launched a flurry of blows in the direction of Chiaki, only for him to dodge every one of them with ease.

She yelled once more and shot a final fist towards Chiaki's face to which he caught it with one hand. Though he may have shown more skill in physical combat, that did not increase his strength. As a result, they came to a lasting stalemate where Chiaki pushed Kobe's fist back and Kobe his open palm. They planted their feet firmly into the ground and pushed using all their strength, grunting the entire time.

"Grrrrghhh!!" Ayako's vocalization contained more than just the result of constant physical confrontation, but it was also a product of her frustration. "Damn it! So you had this up your sleeve the whole time!? You let me beat you up just to embarrass me, did you!?"

"You could say that," Chiaki muttered, his eyebrows furrowed. That enraged Ayako even further, encouraging her to try and punch him with her offhand---

Thoom! Chiaki used the palm of his hand to strike her chin, causing her to look up at the sky, pushing her back. The impact forced her top and bottom rows of teeth to grind against each other, traumatizing her jaw and leaving her in pain.

"D'aaagh…!!" She let out a groan of agony as she stumbled backward, yet she never once fell down. As she came to a stop, she put her hands up to her jaw in pain and stared Chiaki down with eyes of hatred. Were her true colors coming out or something? "Yaaaaagh!!" She leaped towards Chiaki once again.

"Wind Art: Air Slicer---!!" she recited until…

"Flame Art: Blaze Wall," Chiaki spoke with monotony and slid two fingers horizontally across his field of view. A thin wall of fire formed itself about 2 meters in front of him and spanned about 20 meters in length. It disabled both his own and Ayako's ability to see their opponent.

"Tch!! Shit!!" Ayako was already leaping towards Chiaki and preparing a spell, she didn't expect him to retaliate that quickly nor with such a spell. She couldn't stop herself in time, the wall was already only a few inches away from her face. "Aaaaagh!!!"

Her body went through the fire, burning her skin in the process and distracting her from the spell she was attempting to launch. She used her hands and instinctually patted and rubbed all over her body to try and put out a fire that didn't exist and fell to the ground.

"Tch…!" Her eyes opened wide as she realized how vulnerable she was. She tried to get up, putting her hand on the ground and pushing herself upward...until her eyes met the black dress shoes of her opponent. She darted her head upwards to get a look at him and her eyes looked like she was saying "please give me a moment."

"You're slow," muttered Chiaki as he pulled his leg back and swung it fiercely into Ayako's torso, launching her back several meters. The girl let out an extended grunt that sounded like all the air in her lungs was being forced out as she tumbled across the stone ring.

As she rolled across the floor, she somehow found the rhythm and swiftly got to her feet, gripping her stomach in pain.

"Haaah....haaah…" she huffed.

"That flame art of yours…" Chiaki began, pointing at Ayako. "It sure hurt like hell. I assume that might be your ace in the hole?"

"..."

"That spell creates a large number of explosions all in a widespread area, making it incredibly difficult to avoid. To be honest, someone of my level probably couldn't even dodge it if I tried. I'd go ahead and use it if I were you."

"..."

"..."

Ayako narrowed her eyes and gave Chiaki a sharp look, to which the sunset brat kept his stone face the entire time. She took her hand off her stomach and put them to her sides.

"Better watch what you wish for…!" she said before spreading her arms out, preparing for that grand clap she performed not too long ago. As Chiaki narrowed his eyes, she began reciting her spell.

"Flame Art: Aero-Blast--!!"

Schooom…!

"Ah!?"

As her arms began to close in the middle, Chiaki shot forward with unbelievable speed. He was only about a meter away from her and his fist was pulled back. A stream of fire traveled from his feet to the place in which he originally stood and his face was completely opposite to the way it was before.

Pure aggression. He was surely putting every last ounce of power into his movements. And soon, his attack.

It was only for one instance, but Chiaki's fighting prowess left Nakayama a bit shocked. Not only was the brat able to keep up with someone 5 levels above himself, not to mention the beating he took earlier, but he was also able to demonstrate the use of a spell in a manner that he didn't know one could. That stream of fire shooting from his feet looked to be the same as his Inferno Tsunami which meant…

Spells could even be shot from peoples' feet!?

No, surely there were just some exceptions to the rule. Then again, if someone was able to conjure a sufficient amount of mana with the proper formula, which was how spells were created and launched to begin with, it would make sense that they could do it from anywhere on their body. Though, the hands are most likely the easiest to shoot spells off with since they're the things that people have the most familiarity with, considering how much they are actually used for tasks of high intelligence and coordination. Perhaps the Inferno Tsunami was easy to learn, therefore that difficulty translated over fairly well to the feet.

Either way, the boy was impressed.

"Ngh!! What the hell!?" Ayako yelled, canceling her spell and trying her damndest to put her arms in front of herself to shield her body from whatever Chiaki was about to do.

"I said you should use the spell, but I never said I'd let you."

It was no use trying to defend herself as the brat had already driven his cold knuckles into her stomach, tearing the bottom of her crop top to shreds with a high-frequency ball of water surrounding his fist.

"Water Art: Liquid Strike!!"