Chapter 133: Nuts

**

'This guy's fucking nuts!'

That's the general consensus of the audience when they heard Garrick's battle cry.

He wasn't emitting any killing intent, just pure aggression, making a handful of people think that, at the very least, he still has a little bit of his sanity left. That said, just because there's no intent to kill, doesn't mean that there wasn't one to hurt.

...well, that's Garrick's goal at least...to hurt Cedric.

This is the first time that Garrick faced Cedric in a battle and he had been patiently waiting for this. Since the Entrance Exam, he already wants to fight him just for the sole reason of measuring the gap between the two of them.

Unlike Isabella, Garrick had no qualms about losing since he was used to it. He's always been like this... aggressive and brash, and it put him in numerous disadvantageous positions before so he's not a stranger to setbacks.

For Garrick, losing is part of life and one couldn't expect to escape it. He also couldn't imagine winning all the time since wouldn't that be boring? There's no thrill when there's nobody that dares to cross you anymore.

Garrick obviously knows that the gap between him and Cedric is just getting bigger with each passing day. However, this was no problem to him since he understands that there will always be someone better.

Frankly, facing someone of Cedric's caliber makes him excited because just like Isabella, he's usually the one who excels and receives praise because of his luck in the class and talent lottery.

But then, Cedric appeared. Compared to him, even the likes of Garrick looked ordinary. But instead of feeling vexed or stifled by the sheer difference between the two of them, Garrick was even more pumped by this challenge.

Boom!

Garrick crossed the distance between them in no time and with a mighty swing, he hacked Cedric with his great axe. But of course it's not going to be that easy.

Before he could even see what happened, Garrick already felt it. The sensation of hitting something extremely sturdy and solid. When the smoke cleared, he saw to his shock that Cedric received his blow with bare hands.

Gasps could be heard from the audience because of this ridiculous display but the contenders didn't pay any attention to it.

Garrick yanked his axe and was relieved to retrieve it. He wasn't fooled, of course, he knew that if Cedric truly wanted to, he could've held to the axe, effectively disarming him.

'Just like I thought...his control of his Ki was phenomenal. Even a simple reinforcement practically becomes a divine skill.' Garrick judged inwardly.

He knew what that display entailed, but again he wasn't deterred. He's already aware that Cedric's obscenely strong and he wasn't the slightest bit offended that the guy was taking it easy on him.

After retreating briefly, Garrick charged again at his top speed, performing an overhead strike at Cedric. At the peak of his strength, lightning struck his axe, empowering his attack and boosting its speed...

"Tch." Garrick was unsatisfied.

Obviously, it's because that did nothing to Cedric - who simply hopped to the side, creating enough distance to not get hurt by his attack.

Hefting his axe, Garrick grunted before starting to spin. He carried great momentum which generated strong currents of wind to revolve around him. His spinning got faster and faster until he turned into a tornado that was quickly approaching Cedric.

This skill is called: 'Tornado Swing', a physically demanding skill that no ordinary Tier 3 could cast. Because of Garrick's Divine Physique though, he's able to learn it and attain some level of mastery over it.

Even as he was spinning so far, Garrick's senses could see Cedric clearly. He saw the guy getting into a horse stance with an open palm stretched out.

Garrick hated the fact that his instincts once again told him to dodge when he was fully committed to his attack. But before he could get distracted, Cedric already responded to his attack.

'Ballistic Fist.'

There was no extravagance or unnecessary glamour behind this technique. It was the simplest, most basic punch according to martial arts. However, due to Cedric's sheer mastery over the skill and phenomenal control over his strength and Ki, its effect reached a rather absurd level of strength.

Pow! Boom!

As Cedric's fist reached its full length, the force he accumulated exploded like a whip. It's as if he punched the sound barrier just then.

The force it generated completely and utterly neutralized all of the momentum that Garrick's Tornado Swing accumulated, rendering it useless. Garrick wasn't hurt, but the fact that an attack of that caliber was so easily neutralized by a simple punch was a little too jarring for the aggressive dude.

Gritting his teeth, Garrick was about to launch another attack but as he blinked, he was surprised to see that Cedric had already breached his space and was already in stance for another attack.

That moment, Garrick felt the world slowing down and he was included in it. He could only watch as Cedric held his breath and punched him five times in his stomach at the same spot without a millimeter of difference.

He did it so fast that Garrick almost thought that he must've been seeing things. But then, Cedric disappeared and was already back to where he was...

The next thing he knew, he was hurt...like really badly. He collapsed on the floor, feeling the sharp pain that made it difficult for him to breathe. He had to manually gasp to bring in air to his system.

His mind was spinning and he almost vomited. He felt the pain echoing on his entire body and the dizziness was becoming stronger. That's the last thing that Garrick felt before he lost consciousness and his defeat was announced.

As for the audience, the majority of them didn't know what happened. A small handful only saw Cedric's silhouette blinking and then his opponent collapsed in pain.

Cedric paid them no mind as he wasn't inclined to explain himself. What's clear is that he won this fight and he defended his position.

And since he was done here, there was no reason to stay so he left.