Chapter 114 - Attempting To Pay Off A Debt

*Bam!

The sound of a loud thud was heard, the product of Vedran having blocked a kick from Jay.

Even though this attack of his had been reinforced with wind, for Vedran it wasn't much of a problem, even giving him room to counterattack, which he was about to do.

"!"

But the next moment, Vedran suddenly saw out of the corner of his eye a shadow coming towards him at full speed, forcing him to stop his counterattack to move and dodge.

*Crash!*

Immediately after, a hammer made purely of shadows and of great size fell on the place where Vedran was standing, creating a small crater and making it clear that said esper had made the right decision in dodging.

"For such a tall guy, you sure move pretty fast."

Holding the handle of this large hammer was none other than Vilda, his hands also shrouded in shadows, fulfilling their function as gloves.

Although the figure of Vilda, whose height was only average at best, looked somewhat strange holding a hammer almost as large as himself, the power behind it was no joking matter, even to Vedran.

Not wanting to waste the fact that Vedran had not yet regained his balance, Jay quickly moved to pursue Vedran, wanting to prevent him from recovering in any way.

Seeing this, Vedran's brow furrowed, as he had no other choice but to concentrate fully on blocking.

Although his energy level was quite a bit higher thanks to being a super and mostly thanks to his esper ability, if he couldn't even take a break, it wouldn't be long before he started to get tired.

'...This doesn't look good...' Vedran thought to himself, unable to see an opportunity to be able to break the disadvantageous pace of this fight.

He had already analyzed both Jay and Vilda, from their attacking power, combat experience and fitness level.

As a result, he determined that he was superior to both of them in fighting experience, but the rest was a bit more complicated.

Vilda was slow, unlike what his slender figure and somewhat small stature suggested, but his attack power was high and fully capable of hurting him.

Jay was the opposite, possessing great speed and agility but for some reason lacking enough attack power to be able to pose a serious threat to him.

Vedran was certain that in any other situation, facing either of them, he could easily win, but only if they were separated, for if they were together, the fight would sooner or later turn into this discouraging situation.

Every time Vedran tried to get close to Vilda since Vilda was slow, Jay was there to prevent this, and when he was about to take care of Jay, Vilda would soon attack him with everything he had.

It was definitely a problem to take both of them on.

However, Vedran was not going to give up so easily.

'...I guess I'll just have to take a hit from that hammer...it'll do some damage, but I'll be able to take care of Jay in return, then it'll be easy to beat Vilda.' Vedran thought, mentally preparing himself for the impact by swelling the muscles in his right arm.

He himself acknowledged that Jay was fast, but thanks to said esper's lack of combat experience, the pattern of his attacks was easy to predict, making it possible for Vedran to predict the odd attack.

*Bam! *

Said and done, the same kick that Vedran had seen so many times that night came, and of course, he didn't waste the opportunity, already having thrown a punch towards Jay.

As if it was a repeat of the previous exchange of attacks, the same oversized shadow appeared again in the corner of his eye, but this time Vedran just gritted his teeth without pausing in the slightest.

*BAM!*

"Ack!"

The noise was louder than the previous times, though of course, how could it not be, after all, almost as if they were synchronized, the large hammer slammed into Vedran's body at the same time as Vedran's fist hit Jay.

The result was Vedran being forced to his knees and Jay being sent flying for several meters, only stopping after bouncing a couple of times on the ground.

"...Tsss, that looked painful..." Said Vildan, who had an expression of alien pity on his face as he looked at Jay, his large hammer still stuck in Vedran's arm.

He looked completely unconcerned despite being so close to Vedran, although it was an understandable reaction since ashe knew that even if Vedran possessed exceptional strength capable of sending a person like Jay flying with one blow, his hammer was heavier still.

"I'd better watch out, I wouldn't want to-"

But at that moment, before he could continue, Vedran's left arm suddenly appeared in his field of vision, connecting a blow with Vilda's chin.

"Agh!"

Due to the force contained in the blow, coupled with the fact that it came from below, Vilda's body rose up for a moment before falling to the ground, his large hammer losing its shape and dissolving into shadows.

"...This wasn't bad at all... but you lack a little more training." Vedran said, standing up as he rubbed his right arm, right where it had taken the impact of the hammer, "Now, according to what we said, I don't have to come to work anymore, right-"

At that second, Jay's voice rang out across the yard, "What are you talking about...? I'm still up."

Just as Jay had said, even though part of his face was bruised and his body bore dirt marks from falling on the ground, he had gotten up, and was more than ready to continue.

"...I see you are tougher than you look..." Vedran said as he watched Jay, in his eyes a hint of interest.

Next, Vedran proceeded to take a step forward, but Jay spoke again, "Vilda, I know you're conscious, tell me, do you think you can give me one of those shadow weapons...?"

Hearing this, Vedran's expression changed to one of confusion, as he could have sworn he had truly knocked Vilda out, however, Jay's words indicated otherwise.

"..."

A silence then stretched in the surroundings for a few seconds, until a sigh coming from the supposedly unconscious shadow esper broke it, said esper then started to slowly get up from the ground.

With the aforementioned esper already standing, Vedran could see that on the latter's chin, there was a dense patch of shadows, undoubtedly the reason why Vilda didn't seem too affected despite receiving such a brutal attack.

Without paying much attention to Vedran's reaction, Vilda merely replied to Jay as his hands filled with shadows, "I can, but it can't be as big as my hammer and I won't be able to move much to let you use it."

Although his skill and the control he had over it were above that of the average esper, the limitations of being a rank (D+) super still had an effect on Vilda.

"No problem, I'll take care of it... I just need you to give me a bat." Jay said as he approached towards Vedran.

"A bat... got it."

With a smile of interest and anticipation on his face, Vilda quickly made a shadow bat before tossing it to Jay and proceeding to sit down, as he needed to concentrate on the shadow bat holding its shape despite being away from him.

The moment Jay grabbed the bat by the handle, the wind currents that originally surrounded his body began to wrap around the bat, as if it was just another extension of Jay's body.

Without waiting a second longer, Jay then began to run towards Vedran, who had shifted his stance in order to repel this desperate charge.

Although Jay had now acquired a weapon, Vedran wasn't that worried, as again due to Jay's lack of combat experience, while the weapon increased his attack power, it would further limit the attacks he could make.

'He's going at a good speed, so he'll surely try to take advantage of that acceleration to attempt to land a strong hit, probably aiming for a vital point...' Vedran thought, ready to react to any action.

Then, when Jay was at a close enough distance, just as Vedran had thought, Jay swung the bat aiming right at his head.

It was a blow that had both the force and speed to be a threat to Vedran, and although there was a chance to dodge the attack, if he didn't do it perfectly, he would get part of it, and that would end badly.

Therefore, Vedran decided to use the same tactic as before, raising his left arm to block while preparing his right arm to launch a fierce counterattack.

The closer the bat got to his face, Vedran thought, 'Now is when I should use more force to counterattack, I wouldn't want this to go on too long.'

However, just at that moment, Jay's figure, along with the bat, moved erratically and suddenly at a much greater speed than before, completely changing the course of the attack.

'What?!' Vedran thought with a surprised expression on his face.

The next moment, the most unprotected part of the aforementioned esper, his left side, received a heavy blow.

*BAM!*

"!!"

Vedran couldn't say anything except seeing stars for a moment before retreating several steps and kneeling down on one knee while holding his left side.

Unexpectedly, the power behind the metal bat was much higher than he had thought, but what surprised him the most without a doubt was the way Jay was able to suddenly change the direction of the attack.

'...Was that... his ability...?' He thought, trying to figure out the reason for such an unnatural movement.

But before he could think about it any further, Jay spoke up, "Come on, the fight isn't over yet, didn't you desperately want to cancel your debt?"

The tone of his voice, while it might sound like prideful, was actually a mixture of confidence and excitement.

This was understandable, as for Jay, despite having faced several people already, none of those confrontations helped him understand his own strength to a better extent due to the fact that they were fights where he had to defeat his enemies as fast as possible using everything he had, which included using unconventional methods.

However, now that he was facing Vedran and there was no risk of being killed, plus the fact that said esper's strength was not too far from his own, Jay could give free rein to all the moves he thought might be useful in combat.

"...Yes, that's right." Vedran replied, "To be honest, you should have started using that bat from the beginning... you made me hold back in vain..."

As Vedran knew his own strength very well plus the fact that he thought he could win easily, he didn't go all out and instead held back against both of them.

But obviously, that was about to change.

Only a second after speaking, Vedran stood up and let out a big sigh at the same time as a change occurred inside his body.

Although Vilda also vaguely felt it, the one who knew exactly what was happening was Jay, using his vitality radar, he could feel the energy inside Vedran begin to build up, further nourishing his body.

For a brief moment, Vedran's eyes released a faint glow of red, but just as quickly as it appeared, the glow faded.

"Heh, now we're talking!" Jay said, adjusting his grip on his bat.

His little ones then also began to provide energy to Jay's body, as if not wanting to lag behind what Vedran was doing.

Clearly, their trump cards aside, the two espers were about to fight using everything they had and could afford to show.

As for the inevitable spectator, Vilda, although he was focused on keeping the shape of Jay's bat, the expression on his face gave away that he was extremely interested in watching this showdown, almost even more than taking part in it.

Thus, with one person gambling free labor and the other wanting to settle a debt, these two young men faced off under the watchful eye of another who was only present out of curiosity.

As for the outcome of this fight.... it would not be discussed by any of the three for a long time to come.