"Good luck."
Said Rick with a smile when Henry went up the stage to stand in front of him however Henry didn't feel like there was any sincerity in his words, it just felt like he was playing a role.
"You too."
He didn't think much about it and waited for the referee to give the go, he had around 6 minutes and 30 seconds left before the effects of the potion faded which meant he had to win this fight before that happened and he fell for that thing again.
On another stage Rose was also standing in front of her opponent, these 4 were the only ones left in this tournament which meant whoever won their fight would go to the final, then there will be a last fight between the two losers to decide who is ranked third and last to join the academy !
FWEEEEET
The fight started, Henry wasn't the type to take the initiative but he had to end this fight fast so he pulled out his daggers and rushed to his opponent.
'This obviously won't work against him, I just need to probe him for now."
Rick pulled out a rapier from its scabbard that was hanging on his waist and thrusted forward towards Henry's chest, his attack speed was so high that Henry couldn't react and was pushed back ! Happily his armor in the body tight form protected him a bit, if he wasn't wearing it he might have been out of this fight !
'I didn't expect him to be this strong...'
As soon as he was pushed back Henry tried to catch his opponent non guarded and threw the dagger in his left hand towards his head, since only small parts of his armor such as behind his knees or elbows weren't protected it would have been really hard to aim for these parts, instead he aimed for his head and expected the surprise effect to make his opponent show a weakness.
In a split second Rick lifted his armored arm and pushed the dagger away, instead of flying towards Henry it flew over the limit of the ring, Henry had just lost a weapon with this strategy !
"That dagger was aiming for Rick's face ! He was trying to kill him he should be disqualified !"
"I agree ! Disqualify him !"
The crowd who was almost completely on Rick's side started attacking Henry with words and tried to make the win easier for their idol, most voices were from girls but the people from the Capitole also joined them.
'This guy's reflexes are in perfect condition, isn't he targeted by the psychic attack ?'
Although he didn't have a lot of time to end the fight Henry was still trying to guess where the attack came from, he also felt it was weird that his opponent didn't seem affected at all.
If he kept thinking about it he wouldn't be able to focus on his fight so he pulled his newly bought whip and and with a swing of his wrist it went at ultra high speed towards Rick.
"What's this supposed to do ? Hmph."
Rick's arrogance was starting to grow because of the advantage he had against Henry and didn't expect what happened next.
He lifted the armored arm to block the hit but as soon as the whip made contact with the armor a big explosion occurred and he was sent back and ended up sitting on hit butt near the limit of the stage !
"What the fuck ?!"
Rick looked at the arm that had been hit and realized there was a deep hole from which he could see his burnt forearm, he was so surprised that he screamed out loud, at the same time a second hit of the whip came towards him and almost hit him if he hadn't dodged by crawling on four limbs.
The ring's floor that was made of smooth stone exploded and created a wall of smoke !
While the audience's vision was closed by the smoke all they could use to guess how the fight was going were the repetitive explanations they could hear coming from the ring and Rick's screams !
Although he wasn't being hit, the fear of pain made him as jumpy as a fearful mouse.
Rose who had ended her fight in no time was also watching Henry's fight, the curious thing was that when Henry's fight started the psychic attack faded completely, this gave her an inkling on where that psychic attack came from !
The lady referee couldn't see what was happening and was hesitating on stopping the fight when suddenly
ROAAAAR
Henry jumped back a few steps and waited for the smoke to disperse with his guard high.
'This is the native skill Thomas told me about, the demonic beast shape shifting.'
With a swipe of it's tail, a huge dark lion with a flaming mane made the smoke disappear. The lion was wearing a similar armor to Rick's and Henry finally understood why there were additional parts that looked useless on Rick's armor.
The audience was finally able to see the state of the ring that had already been made into a pile of rubbles.
ROAAAAAR
The lion roared again in an attempt to pressure Henry however it didn't work, Henry whipped again towards the lion and the explosion sent it flying back a few steps.
"What's that weapon ?! Even a transformed Rick is being pressured and can't get close to him !"
"How rich can that kid be ?! Is he some kind of prince ?"
Rick's classmates were in a flurry, they all knew how strong he was and some other secrets about his strength so how could he be losing ?!
The whip kept hitting on the armor wearing lion and pushing it back a few steps every time it connected.
After a few hits the lion transformed back to a bloodied Rick who fell on his back and fainted, the medics ran over and carried him in urgency.
"Winner is Henry from planet Buton!"
Henry checked the time and it had been more than 7 minutes, since the effects of the psychic attack hadn't came back Henry was more sure than ever that the one who targeted him and Rose was linked to Rick !
He had had suspicions since earlier but he was sure now that it was verified.