After he rolled to the side, a feeling of danger coming from his back made him jump and roll again as he realized that the King had already rushed towards him and launched an attack which would have almost hit if it weren"t for his instincts which had been honed during the months of traveling.
Seeing the consecutive rolls in the middle of the field, the people of the Black Raven Kingdom couldn"t help but laugh with satisfaction as they became filled with the sweet feeling of seeing their enemy beaten down in front of them.
After the Raven had missed its mark, Elanev hadn"t been able to figure out where it was, making him feel an additional sense of danger which was all the more frightening as he did not know from which direction it would come from.
Meanwhile, the Black Raven King was raining down punches and kicks at him in a barbaric style that emphasized offense over defense.
Since childhood, Elanev had been trained in punching and kicking techniques which would try and take advantage of an enemy"s weakness while also protecting the user.
The technique the King was using was the ant.i.thesis of what he had learned.
By forsaking defense, although there are many holes in the King"s technique which he could take advantage of, the speed of the offense was so high that if he wanted to land a punch or kick, he would have to allow himself to be hit multiple times.
The lack in experience was already showing its mark. The first attack itself has served to throw Elanev off his game, putting him in disadvantages position which the King had capitalized on to push him more and more towards defeat.
Knowing that that was the only outcome if this continued, Elanev used one of the trump cards he had picked up since leaving the Kingdom.
Pus.h.i.+ng energy towards his feet, Elanev took two steps which looked normal.
Yet, two m.u.f.fled explosions could be heard in the stadium while Elanev flew back in a controlled manner before vaulting in the air and smoothly landing on the ground.
This almost made people suspect that the challenger was actually a mage, but their doubts were answered when they saw that two clear footprints had appeared on the exact spot where the man had stepped off of on the ground to fly into the air.
This was definitely some sort of technique that used force to push oneself and result in this effect.
Only one man among the crowds almost stood up with shock, seeing a familiar technique being used in a place far away from home.
Meanwhile, Elanev had taken out two strange looking trinkets that seemed like they had been designed to be worn.
Although they looked like they were made up of a metallic material, as Elanev put them on, they bent to perfectly surround his fists, making them s.h.i.+ne in the sun.
Seeing the strange trinkets, the king only smiled before advancing towards his opponent again.
He was not even wearing any weapons, showing his confidence in being able to win the fight even if he was barehanded.
Yet, the moment he threw another punch at his opponent, he realized that he had probably made a mistake by underestimating him like so.
The reality was that although his power had been restricted to that of a fifth-grade Eminent Human Fighter, his experience allowed him to output a fist power at least two levels above his due to the perfect usage of stance and movement.
Each punch travelled from his foot to his hand, resulting in a power that would make one feel as if they were facing off against an Exalted Human Fighter.
This was something that could only be learned by years and years on the battlefield, as it required a near subconscious focus that could not be trained.
Although he had known that it was very unlikely that his challenger was also aware of such a technique, he had decided to take the cautious route by using the Raven to distract him before launching his attack.
This had allowed him to see that the opponent indeed did not have any such technique to amplify power.
Hence, he had simply walked up now and punched thinking that the opponent would just be blown away.
Yet, his fist had been met by a metallic object which made him wince.
More than the strength of the metal, it was the strange phenomena which accompanied each punch that shocked him.
It was as if a snake had slithered into his arm at the moment of contact, which would definitely burst with a simple command from his opponent, thereby rupturing his blood vessels and causing a grave injury.
Thinking quickly and understanding exactly what it was, the Black Raven King used a technique to expel foreign force.
By shaking his hand vigorously in a certain direction, he managed to lessen the force that was traveling through his arm so that even if the explosion really did occur, there would be very minimal damage.
The problem was that when he had been absorbed in this process, the opponent had already thrown three more punches at three different locations on his body.
Understanding that it was now his turn to retreat, the Black Raven King hurriedly commanded the Raven which had been lying in wait to initiate an attack.
This gave him a moment of respite, which he used to jump back and use the same technique as before to get rid of all the "snakes" that had entered his body.
Meanwhile, Elanev had had no option but to give up the advantageous position he had grasped using the element of surprise.
The d.a.m.ned Raven had managed to swoop down from the sky in his blind spot, making him pause his attack and move in order to escape its sharp beak which would definitely impale him if he gave it the chance.
On the other side, the Black Raven King had already managed to expel all the "snakes".
"Interesting. Enough warmup. It"s time to end this farce."
With these words began the most disastrous fight in Elanev"s entire life.
It started with the Raven flying back into the sky, while the King charged again and began attacking in the same way he had before.
Yet, the difference was that each punch from him was accompanied by an attack from the Raven from a different direction.
Unlike the Raven of the Fighter he had fought before, this one could agilely turn in the sky whenever it wanted, allowing it to return back and attack him again and again even though it kept missing due to his careful dodging.
Even though he did land some punches on the King in the process because he wasn"t fl.u.s.tered like before, it was as if the explosions had no impact whatsoever on this man who did not even flinch at the pain of having his blood vessels and skin torn open.
SHWIP.
BAM.
HWEP.
BOOM.
The sound of their punches synced with the sound made by the Raven as it kept turning and attacking him repeatedly, not even giving him a moment of respite.
Only a minute had pa.s.sed since the moment when he had made the King retreat, but he had already taken eight punches and three kicks to his body while blood had already risen to his mouth indicating that he was internally injured.
Still, he looked fine on the outside, as opposed to the King who had taken five of the Hidden Kill punches which made blood flow down his body due to the patches of skin torn off on his hands where the leather armor had holes due to the explosions which came from inside.
The crowd couldn"t even follow the movements of these two individuals, whom anyone could have mistaken as Exalted Human Fighters instead of the Eminent ones that they were.
The only thing they could catch clear glimpses of was the Raven which kept reorienting itself to keep launching attacks.
After a minute and a half, the two figures finally separated.
Both were panting, but where one was so bloodied that he looked like he had swam through h.e.l.l, the other looked the same as he had at the beginning of the fight.
Noticing that it was actually the King who was the b.l.o.o.d.y one, shock appeared on the faces of the people of the Black Raven Kingdom who started to fear the worst.
If they were given a moment longer, no one could tell exactly what the emotion could have devolved into.
Yet, the chance to find the answer was lost.
The challenger moved forward one last time as if he had a last punch left in him, but the step he took made him shake suddenly, almost as if someone had electrocuted him.
This made him fall to the ground, leaving the King standing. Clearly, he could take no more.
This time, the entire stadium shook as everyone got on their feet and jumped with joy, seeing the pride of the Kingdom defended in such spectacular way.
As the broadcasters on the NOA kept raining praises on the King who had clinched the victory, Daneel narrowed his eyes and glanced at a specific corner of the stadium, before casting a spell to contact his dear brother whom he had missed for so long.