Ray's technique, Splintering Fist, was a high grade technique just like Mane's Extreme Burst. But there was no way this technique would be able to match up to Mane's combination technique, Flickering Burst. That wasn't to say that Ray didn't have any combination techniques of his own. He did. He just wasn't using them. At least not yet. Besides, for his punch to be effective, it had to hit Mane first. But it didn't.
*Boom*
Ray's fist struck empty air, the force from his attack travelling all the way to the end of the room, and effectively causing more destruction to the already destroyed wall. It seemed stupid. Why didn't they just reinforce the wall with better materials so that their bouts wouldn't cause so much destruction? Well, the basement wasn't initially made as a training room. It just had one of its rooms converted into one because of Mane's training. They needed an area where they could train unhindered, and not expose their abilities to any of the workers of their home. And it wasn't like they hadn't considered reinforcing the room. They had. But the materials needed for a project like building a training room that could support Mane's training all the way to the nobility realm and beyond, were scarce and could hardly be found on Zandor. That didn't mean that they weren't searching. They were. But it was going to take some time before the materials were procured. Until then, they could only use spells to mend the broken walls. As for the barrier that surrounded the room, it was Alexis' doing. One will wonder why she didn't make the barrier an internal one, and not an external covering that encompassed the room like a thick winter coat. Alexis had chosen to use such a method because of a simple reason. She wanted to see the duel. Since she wasn't allowed inside the training room, at least not currently anyway, she made the barrier outside the room so that when her loved ones destroy the walls- which they always did- she would be able to watch the bout without much issue. Ray knew this, and so did Mane. That was why they had never complained.
Mane appeared right next to the injured Ray clone, and ruthlessly struck it with a left uppercut.
*Boom*
The poor clone was launched into the air and travelled all the way until it was smashed headfirst into the ceiling. It then burst into flames and disappeared.
"One down" Mane mumbled, as his figure disappeared from his current location and reappeared ten metres to the side.
*Boom*
His decision to leave was a smart one, since the other Ray clone descended upon that location with a ferocious punch that left an imprint on the marbled ground. The clone was surely not as strong as Ray himself, but that didn't mean that Mane should underestimate him. And although his beastly armour lease ensured that regular attacks wouldn't leave a scratch on him, it wouldn't be the same if he was struck on the head. The technique he had used on the dead clone was the Flickering Burst technique. This was the technique he had created after successfully merging the Extreme Burst and Star Flicker skills. He had gone through a roller coaster of names, but he finally settled on this one. To him, this name best suited and explained the technique. His initial shout of the technique was a ruse, one that was meant to force his father into thinking that he was going for a head-on strike. It was a fake, and it had worked like a charm. Ray had assumed that it was going to be a momentum surge. A clash that determined who was the stronger of the two. But Mane was no idiot. Although the clones weren't as powerful as the original, they were still threats. They were threats that meant he was outnumbered three to one. And he needed to reduce their numbers. Luckily for him, he had noticed something vital. The clones weren't all the same. They didn't necessarily possess the same stats. Although the spirit scan placed their power levels on a similar scale, it wasn't extensive. Spirit scan was a technique that was strengthened depending on the power of the user's spirit. But even powerful spirits needed an equally powerful body to function effectively. Mane's spirit was powerful, but his body wasn't in the same league of strength as his spirit. Currently Mane's powerful spirit was being hindered by his relatively weaker body. Until his body was strong enough, his spirit will be restrained. And it was because of this that his spirit scan wasn't able to give him all the information he wanted. The information he got was good, but it wasn't enough. Hence, Mane had to figure out some things on his own.
"When did you notice?" Ray- the original Ray- asked with a bitter smile on his face. He had felt his clone disappear. In fact he had turned around just in time to witness it disappear. He was impressed with Mane. Impressed with what his son had found out. He just wanted to know when he did.
"Just now. I wasn't sure before. But I thought it was strange that its health points were so few. Especially when it is meant to possess half your power level. This suspicion was further heightened when it attacked me. It was definitely weaker than you. But it wasn't at the fifty percent mark. I realised that it had 75 percent of your attack power. That was when I realised that the clones could be linked to each other, and share their stats." Mane slowly explained.
This was what Mane realised after exchanging a few blows with the clone he had just killed. Although it shared the same stats as the other clone, his spirit felt uneasy. It was as if there was something that Mane had to know, but was currently too weak to see. But Mane trusted his instincts. He knew such a feeling wouldn't just appear. He had fought hundreds of battles, and his superior instincts had been born from these battles. There was no way it would be wrong. So he had put his faith in it, just as he had a hundred times. And as usual, his instincts were right. There was something missing. That something was that the two clones were linked. It wasn't strange that they were. After all, they were also linked to the original. What was strange was that the bond they shared was stronger than what they shared with the original. So Mane had theorised that the clones weren't all the same. Although they both had the same stats on the surface, their skills may be much deeper than what it seemed to be. Building on the fact that the deceased clone was twenty five percent more powerful than it was supposed to be, Mane wondered if it was twenty five percent weaker defensively. And his hypothesis was further strengthened by the fact that his initial kick to the clone had wiped away half of its life. And since his combination skill was stronger, and added to the fact that he smashed the poor clone into the ceiling headfirst, it was no surprise that the reminder of its life was completely wiped off.
But his theory was after all just a theory. He still wasn't certain of it. At least not until now. He realised that although the other clone that just attacked him struck the ground, its power couldn't destroy it completely. Half of Ray's power should be able to achieve that, but it didn't. This meant that it was weaker offensively. That may very well mean that it had an increase in defensive stats. But he still wasn't sure until Ray had questioned him. A regular opponent wouldn't ask this question. After all, it was never good to help your opponent gather information about yourself. But Ray wasn't your regular opponent. Although they were fighting so ferociously, it was still a training session. Mane was expected to learn as he fought, and Ray was more than ready to help with that.
"That is impressive. My clones aren't like the normal ones. It is good you noticed that." Ray complimented his son with a bright smile. Mane was pleased with the praise. And a bit impressed. When he spoke to the 3rd earlier, she had informed him that it was more than possible for Ray to create more than three clones. It was actually possible to create up to ten clones with the Brute King's strength currently at the earth realm. But with every extra clone, their fighting power will decrease. For instance, if Ray had made four clones instead of two, they would all have 25 percent of his power. The formula was basically, the power level of the original, divided by the number of clones created. But she also informed him that people with a high understanding of the Reformandam lease were able to bypass this restriction. And Mane was certain that since his father used this skill so much, his understanding of the technique wouldn't be mediocre in any way. And from what Mane had noticed, it wasn't. This meant that his father restricted his clone creation to two for another reason. And Mane was sure it was because of the rare skill his father had that allowed him to decrease the defensive attributes of a clone and stack it to their offensive attribute, and vice versa. There was no way such a skill would be easy. The toll it would take on the brain had to be astronomical. This meant that his father's limit for this technique was currently two.