Sitting in her private lounge, Theresa shook her head when she watched the grin full befitting an absolute battle junky marring Adam's handsome face.
Even though he didn't fight at close range like her, there was no doubt about the fact that this boy had indeed been raised by none other than Cecilia.
He showed the same no-style no-sense way of fighting as that battle-hungry brute of a sister that she had. It was a way of fighting that relied more on pure instincts and moments of craziness than any strategic way of fighting. It was an absolute show of beastly instincts.
The one thing was, 'Just how many powers does he have?'
This wasn't a normal phenomenon.
Telekinesis, illusions, lightning control, as well as gravity?
It was clear that he was an apostle. But even for an apostle, using so many different skills at the same time would need years upon years of training and they would be limited by the power of the entities with whom they signed a contract.
'Did he sign a contract with Zeus?'
It shouldn't be possible. Zeus' contractee was already known and powerful gods like them rarely signed contracts with two people at the same time.
'Perhaps Susanoo?'
This would be a much more logical conclusion. Susanoo did have many authorities such as the Seas and the Storms among others. Furthermore, Susanoo did sign a contract with the Kaminari house before. There was a reason they had the Kusanagi no Tsurugi. So it wasn't impossible for that god to find a true contractor this time around.
'How intriguing…'
The more she went on the more questions she had. But now, all she could do was watch the fight and wait for it to end.
'Show me more of what you got, boy.'
She wanted to see more of what the young pup who was the son of her mistress and was raised by her sister was able to accomplish.
This may have started as a simple pissing contest to provoke Cecilia, but now she was heavily invested in the outcome.
———
The fight between the two young people went on a crescendo.
Hiding far away, Mark had completely forgotten that he was supposed to be the referee of the match.
But who could blame him?
He was not even able to see what the hell was exactly happening for the most part.
His mind was overloaded with sounds and visions of light as all he could observe was the clash between the two fighters and the roar of lightning that enveloped the whole arena.
They were blitzing fast.
Makoto would run around leaving a trail of thunder behind her steps whenever she would move. Her jumps and her flying slashes allowed her to reach the levitating Adam, which caused him to constantly fly around to avoid her moves.
His two supercharged rotating swords would destroy anything they touched and Makoto would repel, block, or simply avoid them while counter-attacking with her own set of attacks.
As if that wasn't enough, out of nowhere, the ground would suddenly cave in, or rocks would be lifted and thrown at Makoto, making her slash and destroy them before they could even reach her, which would cause all the debris to fly around and scatter in the surroundings making the area a literal danger zone.
Mark had always been proud of being a silver rank at the age of thirty. It might not seem much, but it was impressive for a human to reach this level of power. The number of gold-ranked hunters in any country was extremely rare and Executors were even rarer than that.
As a hunter with a higher lifespan, he had hopes of reaching the Gold level even if he did not obtain the official rank.
But this….
'How long would I last against any of those two monsters?'
The answer was clear and evident.
'Haha.'
A fire was ignited in his heart that seemed to have died down over the years.
This was it. This was how it should be. The guardians of mankind should be this strong and talented. Those young people were the ones who held the future of their race.
He became emotional as he watched the fight unfold before his eyes.
Though, this didn't stop him from scribbling in his notebook,
'Need to watch out for Candidate Adam's Gospel mental state. Possible masochist?'
The more this fight went on, the more wounds covered Adam's body. But far from grimacing or even slightly flinching in pain, all he showed was glee and joy while his near maniacal laughs continued to echo in the stadium.
It was as if for him, even the gravest wound was of no matter and the more the fight went on, the more berserk he became.
Going from using tactics like fake illusions and so on to simply giving up on everything and going for a pure showcase of unbridled power.
Boom~!
Another explosion followed suit and Mark jumped aside like a cheetah as a boulder went past the place he was previously standing.
"Sorry!"
His heart beat wildly against his chest as he witnessed his life flash in front of his eyes for an instant there.
'Should I stop the fight?'
He hesitated a moment, but hearing Adam's laughter full of joy again, goosebumps covered his arms.
He didn't know why, but his instincts were telling him that if he proposed to stop the fight, another boulder might come his way again and this time he might not be lucky enough to stop it.
———
'Hahaha. This is definitely fun.'
A grin was splattered on Adam's face for the majority of the fight now.
How could he not enjoy this?
He had fought many times in his life. Be it for money in the past or for survival recently.
All those fights had always been very important and full of pressure. There was no time to ponder, he could only go all out and bring down his enemy or die trying. It was with this attitude that he faced most of the fights in his life.
But this time, for the very first time in his life, Adam could fight to his heart's content without worrying about life and death or what would happen if he lost.
Wounds? They were inconsequential.
He was bleeding? So what? He simply needed to kill himself and revive to revert his body to its most optimal state.
All he wanted now was to enjoy this moment and let his creativity bloom.
Earlier, he had finally been able to bring out a true psychic shield. It hadn't been completely enough to block the attack, but it was becoming stronger with each passing moment of the fight.
His mastery of the electric part of his electromagnetism was coming along nicely and now he was able to slowly use more and more illusions in real time.
Saying that he was growing in the midst of fighting was an understatement. But this once again didn't matter to him. He was simply having a blast fighting with his opponent.
'Still, I am getting tired.'
Makoto was definitely an impressive fighter. She wasn't unscathed but she only had some scratches and one bleeding wound on her left arm. She managed to keep a certain edge all along, showing her superior experience and fighting capabilities as well as mastery of her technique.
She was fast. She was strong and she was also experienced.
"You are truly impressive."
Adam expressed his respect. She had not even used her Divine weapon yet. He knew that it would magnify her natural abilities manyfold once she used it.
If possible, he wished that this fight would last forever. He wanted to fight more and more against her.
But he knew that this couldn't last for long. He had been overworking his mind and he was becoming sluggish with each moment. He had used up all but one of the weapons he had been given at the start.
"I wish I can fight you again and this time, with you using your full power."
This was why he was going to use one last technique in his arsenal.
Makoto breathed deeply. Her forehead was covered in sweat. This fight hadn't been as easy as she imagined it to be.
For starters, she had to constantly be careful of the output of Prana to not break her sword. But more importantly, Adam was a tricky and cumbersome opponent to deal with. She was not able to get the upper hand in the battle by any means and this was enough to prove Adam's powers.
Hearing his words, Makoto shivered slightly as she felt her hair stand on end. It was as if she was suddenly being locked on by a sniper rifle, a sensation she was all too familiar with as she had to escape such attacks during her training.
She watched as Adam positioned himself as if he was holding a bow and the last weapon he had, a knife, floated in front of him before starting to spin like a spiral.
She knew then… This would be the last attack he would be dealing her with.
She did not hesitate to sheathe her sword again and fill it with as much Prana as possible for her body, not caring even as the sword cracked and showed signs of exploding at any moment.
If she had any doubt in the past then they were crushed as Adam had proved through the entirety of the duel that he was not someone that she could underestimate.
The pressure started to build in the surroundings.
『 Gravity Reduction 』
He first made the knife as light as possible and started to increase its rotational power, as if it was a bullet about to be ejected at any moment.
『Accelerated Perception 』
Then, from Adam's perspective, the world crawled nearly to a halt as everything seemed to slow down as his cognitive abilities increased tremendously.
『 Imbue Lightning 』
A buzz filled his ears as electricity filled the blade, causing the acceleration to increase even further.
『 Hawk Eyes 』
Finally, his gaze landed on Makoto, and all his senses locked on her figure.
"Combined Technique new edition."
『 RAILGUN 』
Lightning roared.
Makoto moved at the same time.
『 Lightning Style: Lightning Cutter 』
Like a comet, she rushed at the makeshift technique that Adam threw at her and finally the two attacks met in the middle.
A blinding light filled the stadium as a force of lightning faced another one of the same caliber and the resulting explosion was devastating enough to shatter the surroundings into pieces.
(AN: I hope you liked the fight. Since Makoto is Japanese, I was wondering if I should put her technique in Japanese. It could be interesting. Like in Bleach how all races use different languages for the technique(Japanese/German/Spanish). I would like to have your opinion of the fight and the language thing.)