No stage was needed, their stage is in the middle of the backyard. The sound of 'Backyard' may not be impressive, but given how rich the Wiflheim family is, their backyard would of course be huge.
Walking towards the middle of the backyard, Lucas and his opponent, Mike stared at each other for a brief moment before beginning to perform their battle stance.
Although Lucas didn't show off a 'cool' battle stance that could be used to wow the ladies, instead, he only chose to stand still, his gaze landed on Mike, before long, a huge grin grew in his mouth.
His calm and cold attitude disappeared in an instant and was replaced with a battle maniac attitude, the crowd went stiff as they saw Lucas' expressions, it was that of a serial killer.
Meanwhile, Ashton was also surprised while looking at the frenzied Lucas, he had been through fights with all sorts of people, but there was only one person who had the gaze Lucas has, Levi!
Ashton hasn't fought Levi head to head, but with all the recordings the HeadQuarters has of Levi, there was no mistake that Lucas has learned or at least was given guidance by Levi.
'To be able to nurture a Black rank martial artist... Just what are you, Levi?'
Even though he has doubts, Lucas' gaze strengthened his hypothesis of Lucas being Levi's student.
The fought began, Mike was cautious so he didn't charge straight on and distanced himself from his opponent, meanwhile, Lucas hasn't moved from his position.
His calm attitude came back again, all of a sudden, Mike threw a feint punch which provoked Lucas.
Just when Mike was about to retreat from the feint punched he threw, a gust of wind blew on his face, his face turned ugly, he was about to dodge but Lucas was already in front of him, the grin on Lucas' face when he ran in front of him scared him sh*tless to the point that he fainted.
Lucas was about to throw a punch to the other party's face but Nicholas interrupted them, "Next!"
Although he wasn't satisfied with the first fight, he couldn't disobey his father, so he could only curse under his breath.
Meanwhile, in the crowd, a few contestants peed themselves. Even though they were only observing the fight, they couldn't help but be scared, what else could they do if they were to fight Lucas head-on?
"I- I think I'll quit...." A contestant said.
"Me too..." Another contestant said.
"Me three."
The three contestants got up and left, their pants soaked with urine as they walked towards the gate.
Only three contestants were left, although the two contestants were surprised at Lucas' might, they were confident to say that they could at least land a few hits on him. Even if they lost to him, they thought that it would be worthwhile to fight with such a formidable opponent.
After drinking water, Lucas is called up again, his opponent this time is Kye, a Low Yellow rank Inner Martial Artist, even though his rank is pretty low in the ranking, he could still put out strength close to that of a High Yellow rank, cultivating his body throughout the start of his path to martial arts, even a few martial artists feared him. But, that is only his raw strength, compared to a true High Yello rank martial artist, he could only hurt them.
The reason he is still here is because of the bottleneck in his cultivation, so he decided to try it out. Even if he loses, he could still gain insight into his opponent so that he could breakthrough his bottleneck.
Facing Lucas in the middle of the backyard, the air grew tense as Lucas' sharp gaze landed on Kye. His gaze alone made Kye's legs turn to jelly, but he still stood his ground, not missing the opportunity to fight a formidable opponent, he clasped his arms and bowed slightly to earn the other party's respect.
Lucas nodded in reply, even though his opponent's rank is far lower than his, he still admired his opponent's willingness to fight him even with the huge gap between them.
The fight started and Kye charged at Lucas. While getting closer to his opponent, he realized that something was amiss, he looked at Lucas who has a faint smile on the corner of his lips.
His sixth sense acted up and he hurriedly dodged, Lucas' fist was a hair's length to his face, beads of sweat began pouring down his back. If he were to be hit with that punch, he wouldn't even know how he was defeated.
Kye retreated several steps to gain distance from Lucas. Meanwhile, Lucas still stood in the same position, not even moving an inch.
He hurriedly tried to think of solutions to counter Lucas but he couldn't think of one, even then, he tried the same strategy, charging.
It wasn't a normal charge, though. Using his momentum, he jumped from side to side to try and force his opponent to throw a punch and then he could counter it.
How foolish he was, Lucas was surprised at the sudden strategy his opponent made up, a smile crept on his face as he looked at Kye that is slowly getting closer, a look of disdain, as if looking at an ant trying to fight an elephant.
Kye got closer and closer, thinking that his opponent would be deceived by him jumping from side to side, his heartbeat getting faster and faster, he looked at Lucas to see if he fell for it, but only a faint smile could be seen in Lucas' face.
Kye's face turned ugly, he was getting closer and closer, but the faint smile in Lucas' face proved that his efforts were turned to waste, 'I can't stop now!'
Even though his body began feeling numb because of the technique he is using, he still persevered and tried to at least land a punch on Lucas.
Kye is at now at a distance that his punch could reach his opponent, he didn't hesitate and threw a punch at Lucas' stomach, he could punch Lucas on his face but the time that it would take for him to punch him in the face is too long, so he decided to punch his stomach instead.
With his body aching because of the technique he used, it was only a matter of time before he would break down, Lucas stood still and didn't move, Kye's punch landed but...
It didn't even put a scratch on Lucas, Lucas still stood in the same position, yawning even as if to mock his opponent.
Kye's body slowly fell on the ground, the punch that he poured all his efforts on was wasted, he sighed and obediently fell on the ground.
Even so, his strength was that of a High Yellow rank martial artist, thousands of questions popped up in his mind trying to think of how the other party could defend his punch with just his bare stomach.
Suddenly, Lucas' voice permitted the silent backyard, "Do you know why your punch didn't damage me?"
Kye silently listened while lying on the ground, Lucas continued, "It's simple, the backlash caused by the technique you just used must've used up all your strength; hence making the punch you accumulated in your fist got sucked dry by the technique."
Kye's eyes grew wide as he listened to the other party, it was true that all of his strength got sucked dry by the movement technique he just used, not only that, it even sucked up all the strength he accumulated in his fist.
"When your punch landed, it was only that of an ordinary martial artist, that's the reason I only stood there." Lucas continued.
The sudden enlightenment the other party gave him solved all of the questions he had asked in his thoughts, the movement technique he just used can indeed deceive high rank inner martial artist, but he forcefully used it, hence the backlash.
He now understood why. Something so obvious yet he still didn't know it until Lucas pointed it out.
Lucas yawned and went to a chair near the stage and drunk a bottle of water.
The contestant near Ashton shivered in fear as he watched the event unfold, he saw Kye do his techniques while doing warm-ups and there was no mistaking that Kye possesses the strength equivalent to that of a High Yellow rank martial artist. He's only a Low Yellow rank, what else could he do against such a formidable opponent?
Looking back at his self that proudly said that he could at least gain some insight from the opposite party, how could he gain some insight from the opponent if he couldn't even touch a hair?
With that, he forfeited and only Ashton was left to compete.