Chapter 57：One foot in front of the other

Colverk began accelerating beyond comprehension. He ran across possibly every square centimetre before reaching half he top speed. James forced his energy into a ball of fire in his right hand and slapped it onto the floor. The dome of fire created by the explosion expanded with immense force but Colverk switched up his pattern and ran around the outside of the fighting ring. The force of the turbulence behind him forced the dome back to James before being forced upwards like blooming flower. James, who had put his arms over his head in protection, looked up to only see a very faint red and blue blur forming a wall around the arena.

A sharp pain filled James' right leg as Colverk hit it with his foot. Normally, his hit wouldn't have hurt nearly as much as it did but the speed at which Colverk was going the force behind his attacks was multiplied by astronomical values. A second hit - a punch to the back this time - caused a loud snapping sound to emanate from James' spine. He fell forwards onto his hands and knees and felt a tingling sensation as his spinal column repaired itself. Macull, watching from his chair, slid a hand over to The Book placed on the table. He flicked it open to the most recent page and, with pen in hand, looked down at James taking hit after hit from Colverk. Macull let out a short and quiet chuckles.

"You know what James, you can fight this one yourself. I'll just sit back and watch the fireworks" he said to himself while closing The Book and placing it back on the table discretely.

Colverk's frequency of beatings increased fourfold but James merely stayed put and took each and every hit. Getting bored with the repetitive punches and kicks, Colverk swung his arm backwards like a wheel and hit James in the chin with the speed of both him and his arm spinning. This forced so much kinetic energy into James' head it was close to tearing right off. But it barely clung on and dragged the rest of James' body with it high into the sky. On the ground, Colverk began running as fast as his legs could go creating a near vacuum. It drew in loose objects and the air around it ... including James.

He quickly began falling towards the area of vacuum head first. James reached out with his right hand and landed. His momentum completely stopped as Colverk came to a stop as well.

"KINETIC REBOUND!" shouted James. The energy stored from the punches, kicks, and hitting the floor was released in a fraction of a second causing the solid stone arena to shatter and Colverk to be blown off his feet. James was left doing a handstand on a small portion of the arena left intact and he looked at Colverk flying backwards.

Suddenly, Colverk snapped his head in James' direction and launched himself off a piece of the arena flying beside him. He repeated this and accelerated towards James. James flipped himself onto his feet and launched towards Colverk; destroying the last, intact piece of the arena as he set off. The distance between them closed quickly. They pulled their fists back and pushed all their might into a final punch. Their fists collided sending a pulse of white light out followed by a blast of air. Repelled back by the blast, they hurtled backwards.

"NO! I am NOT losing in the first match!" shouted Colverk and he found the tiniest piece of arena left in the air and caused another shock wave as he rocketed towards James. The crowds were enveloped by a wave of heat as James entered blitz. Colverk and James collided with Colverk's head gasped firmly by James. Through the gap between James' thumb and index finger, Colverk looked at James with anger. The ground was filled with cracks as if it was glass as James slammed Colverk into the ground.

The crowd were silent while they watched in awe as James landed on the ground beside the unconscious - nearly dead - Colverk.

"COLVERK IS OUT OF BOUNDS AND UNCONSCIOUS! JAMES IS VICTORIOUS!" shouted Macull and the crowd erupted into applaud and cheer. Blitz dissipated and James quickly sat down on the floor. He fell backwards and lay on his back breathing heavily while Colverk was lifted up and carried off by probably the same force the moved everyone else.