Fernan had a beautiful face aesthetically, many would say. His soft features were calming and pleasant.
This was in sharp contrast to the rest of the body. Two extra arms stuck from an opening on a bump on his shoulder while a huge black-feathered pair of wings grew from his mid-back section.
One pair of arms folded into closed defensive guards while the remaining two took an aggressive stance.
Rui nodded, this made sense. With four arms, he could maintain the perfect offense and defense at all times!
His wings lifted into the air, stretching back as much as they could.
His intentions were clear. He intended to get into flight the moment the match began.
"Begin." The arbiter began the match.
WHOOSH
A huge gust of wind was released as Fernan took the air immediately. Apprentice Jivia had tried to intercept him before he could reach the air, but the distance was too great and Fernan was not slow.
Rui was amazed at how stable Fernan's flight was, his trajectories were smooth and uniform, he didn't wobble or stumble midair or do anything of the sort.
He was even able to hover midair in a stable manner, which truly impressed Rui. Most birds weren't able to hover stationarily. There were only a handful of birds that could that, like the hummingbird. It flapped its wings with high frequency to generate a constant thrust upwards that canceled its weight.
Fernan was doing a similar thing with his pair of wings. He simply hovered as he looked down at his opponent. The initiative of the battle was thoroughly in his hands.
Finally, he made a move.
BOOM!!
He flapped his wings with incredible swiftness.
A tremendous wind blast emerged from his wings. The sheer force and speed of the wind attack greatly surpassed Rui's Tempestuous Ripple! Objectively, his power was not particularly above Rui's own power since Tempestuous Ripple's power was much below his normal power and lethality. However, it shocked Rui that he could output from such a distance. Not even Ana's Martial Art allowed her to output such levels of power from a distance.
Just this one symbiote had resulted in wings that basically allowed him to surpass Ana's Martial Art.
BAM!
Apprentice Jivia grimaced as she failed to evade the swift wind blast. Its powerful impact inflicted some amount of damage on her abdomen.
She leaped into the air, launching herself at him.
Rui shook his head, sighing.
BOOM!!
A powerful wind blast drove her into ground with such force that it broke her ribs.
"Argh!" She grimaced as she coughed blood. She tried getting up one last time.
BOOM!!
The third wind attack crushed her to the ground and put her in a critical state.
"The match ends there!" The arbiter declared the match over as Jivia had lost consciousness and was bleeding profusely. "Winner; Apprentice Fernan Melver."
Rui smiled.
Fernan was strong. He would have swept everybody in the Martial Contest with ease asides from maybe Fiona, who would have put up a fearsome fight. Rui wondered how that matchup would go.
Fighter after fighter arrived, yet none of them could put so much as even a scratch on him. Several Martial Artists with long-range techniques were able to attack him but he managed to beat them soundly with much greater physical parameters.
Rui completely understood why he was the reigning champion. He was truly worthy of the position.
"Up next, we have Lady Freier's Apprentice Falken." The butler announced.
Instantly, a wave of excitement fluttered through the crowd of guests. Two defending champions facing off against each other. And the two most exciting ones as well.
"Good luck." Nartha cheered.
"Thanks."
Rui made his way to the arena, stopping at the starting position.
"Take your stances." The arbiter instructed.
Fernan took the same stance that he normally did.
Yet his eyes suddenly narrowed as a wave of pressure washed over him.
"Fuuuuh..." Rui exhaled deeply as he finished preparing himself mentally as he hopped lightly between his feet, his hands loosely held at chest level.
It was a stance that prioritized maneuvering.
The weight his concentration mounted onto Fernan's mind escalated by the second as the very air itself was wrung by the powerful Martial Apprentices.
"Begin!" The arbiter commenced the fight.
WHOOSH!
Fernan instantly took to the air swiftly, gaining altitude swiftly. Rui didn't bother moving from his spot or trying to stop Fernan from taking flight with a Tempestuous Ripple, the probability of success was too low.
BOOM!
Fernan launched a powerful wind blast at Rui.
BAM!
The attack missed Rui narrowly as it struck the ground next to him.
Rui merely stepped aside.
People frowned. Wasn't this the same attack that everyone else had failed to dodge for any extended time? Why did it suddenly look so easy.
BOOM!
STEP
Rui hopped out of the way once more.
Fernan frowned.
Something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
as he launched more attacks, yet Rui dodged them all with casual ease.
('He's not extraordinarily fast...') Fernan frowned. He could see Rui's movements quite clearly. Speed wasn't the issue here.
Fernan narrowed his eyes as he launched another attack, yet Rui moved a beat before his attack even launched.
Fernan's eyes widened as realization dawned him. ('He's not reacting or moving fast, he's reacting and moving earlier.')
Fernan simply didn't understand. His wings were incredibly swift agile and smooth, how on Earth was Rui able to time his movements so well? He was already halfway out of the way of Fernan's attacks by the time the attack was launched. Even if his movements were slower, he needed to move a very small distance to get out of the way while Fernan's attack needed to travel a large distance before it could reach and hurt Rui.
Rui could sense his confusion. ('It doesn't matter if I can't reach you very well. As long as you can't reach me, I'll eventually win.')
