Chapter 48: No.48: New Bet {3}
On listening to Naomi’s condition, Bruce visibly hesitated for a few seconds as he considered his chances.
Though he was without a doubt strong and talented at the moment, Bruce was still nowhere near as strong as Naomi, who was an experienced Elite Ranked Hunter capable of not just creating a means to use Mana, a thing deemed dangerous by humanity, but also mastering it by herself.
As such, his chances of winning head-on in a direct confrontation weren’t favourable, to say the least.
Understanding his hesitation, Naomi added, reassuring him in the process.
"Don’t worry. Though I know you’re currently powerful enough to defeat most Awakened at your level in terms of raw strength, I’m well aware of the difficulty facing a high-levelled Awakened such as myself possesses."
"So, I’ve decided to make things a bit fair for you. In order for you to win, all you have to do is land a single hit on me. You’re free to use anything at your disposal to win, be it the equipment around, Mana, or even your Ability, if it favours you."
Pausing a bit, she added,
"Plus, I won’t even use my Ability or Mana in the fight. Oh, and don’t worry about damaging anything either. I’ll take responsibility for that. So, that way, you’re free to go all out. Sounds fair enough, right?"
Smiling as she said this, Naomi calmly awaited his response.
Though her words might sound overconfident or belittling, it was a known fact that higher-levelled Awakened possessed more Stats at their disposal than regular Awakened.
This was especially true for those that were combat-oriented, as they also had an encyclopedia of experience to back up their overall strength, making the mere thought of even facing a higher-levelled Awakened under such conditions still somewhat inconceivable, as the odds were still stacked against him.
However, Bruce wasn’t a regular Awakened either, as he now possessed Stats far higher than what the majority of Awakened at his level could possibly dream of attaining at that point.
Not to mention, he was also able to harness Mana, boosting his overall strength to completely new heights.
With that in mind, Bruce stood up as he thought out loud, walking around his stool as he did.
"As tempting as that sounds, even if you say I’m free to use anything at my disposal, we’re still in the gym for crying out loud. So, it’s not like I can just hurl a treadmill at you or somet-..."
Upon reaching the back of the stool he was walking around as he talked, Bruce swiftly harnessed the Mana he’d sensed within himself while sitting as Naomi was talking.
Using it to amplify his already frightening strength, he spun, kicking the stool with devastating force and causing it to hurtle towards her at an insane speed before he even completed his sentence.
Knowing he was still at a disadvantage despite all the handicaps Naomi had placed on herself, Bruce was aware that the only way to win in such a case was to catch her off guard.
Easily dodging the attack, as she’d already sensed the subtle change in Bruce while he sat and she explained, she was aware that he intended to act despite his earlier claims.
Upon dodging it, the stool streaked past her face before hitting the ceiling of the sturdy structure some distance from her, causing it to pierce halfway through it before getting stuck.
Seeing this, Naomi glanced back at him with a silent, judgmental look that said, ’Really!?’
Shrugging at her reaction, Bruce awkwardly scratched the back of his neck as he muttered,
"Oops! My bad!"
Shaking her head at his reaction, Naomi prepared herself, as Bruce didn’t plan on giving her any time to think.
Launching himself at a frightening speed, he swiftly appeared before her, delivering punches and kicks at devastating intervals.
Dodging them with a bit of effort, Naomi was surprised that someone of his level was able to display such an amount of strength and speed at this point.
Even with the help of harnessing his inner Mana, she doubted he was supposed to be this strong, as his strength could easily rival most mid-level Awakened despite still being a Level One, especially since he most likely hadn’t ventured out of the City yet, much less killed his first Mutant to increase his Level.
Yet, he was already able to display such a level of strength?
The thought was frightening, to say the least.
However, though he was strong and talented, based on their brief exchange, she could easily tell that he was still green when it came to facing another person, as his attacks were sloppy and left way too many openings that could easily be exploited.
Not to mention, though he constantly tried to change his attack pattern, she was still able to sum it down to a somewhat readable technique of punches, kicks, and jabs before distancing himself whenever he noticed she was about to retaliate.
Frowning at the realization, she became aware that despite his talent and frightening learning speed, he was still a rookie deep down.
This further cemented her resolve to make him aware of just how dangerous getting ahead of himself could be.
With that in mind, she easily dodged another of his punches aimed at her face.
However, contrary to before, instead of following up with a kick as usual or distancing himself to create enough room for his next attack, this time, he suddenly shifted his footing as he changed his attack mid-swing from a punch into a direct elbow jab aimed at Naomi’s face, which was still dodging his previous attack.
Mildly surprised by this sudden change, Naomi was still able to react in time despite being caught slightly off guard.
Shifting her footing as well, she narrowly avoided Bruce’s explosive counterattack.
Retaliating with an attack of her own, she delivered a swift, slight sweep at Bruce’s legs, which had just changed footing mid-swing from his previous attack, causing him to stumble as a result.
As everything seemed to slow down around her, Naomi noticed Bruce’s defenceless butt cheeks, which seemed to jiggle ever so slightly as he fell.
Unable to resist the temptation, she decided to dish out one last attack at his rear.
Delivering a swift kick at Bruce’s behind, Naomi added a final attack to seal the deal of his defeat.
As her leg drew closer to him, a subtle smile appeared on Bruce’s face as he thought,
’Gotcha!’
Placing a hand on the ground as he fell, he swiftly shifted his position mid-fall, his leg now aiming at Naomi’s ribcage as he intended to deliver a kick in return.
’I win!’