"Tap! Tap! Tap!"
After defeating three opponents, Lucas didn't gloat or celebrate. Rather he refocused his attention on the remaining disciples, remaining mobile by lightly jumping in place. While he hadn't experienced it himself, Lucas had heard many stories of people who should have won losing due to letting their guard down and he was determined not to do the same.
The remaining disciples looked around at each other and reached a tacit understanding. Turning towards Lucas they all decided to attack him together. Noticing this Lucas was unsure of how to respond, he had never before faced so many people at once.
"AAARGH!!!" With a mighty yell the disciples collectively charged towards Lucas.
In response to this, Lucas charged towards the group. He was aware that remaining stationary wasn't an option. Picking a target from within the pack, Lucas rushed towards them. Gathering aura within his legs, Lucas executed a battle technique called Leaping Grasshopper. The technique allowed one to jump as if they were a human sized grasshopper.
Leaping forward with extreme force Lucas unleashed a flying knee towards the fac of his target. While the disciple tried to defend his face, Lucas was too fast connecting with a clean hit to the jaw. Which was promptly shattered by Lucas' knee.
"Sorry!" Yelled Lucas towards the already unconscious disciple as he moved on to his next target.
Hopping around like a Grasshopper, Lucas rained down devastating blows upon his opponents while simultaneously dodging their strikes. So far, only one disciple required more than a single strike to go down. However, this wasn't because he was much stronger than the others, rather the reason for this was Lucas's exhaustion.
"Hah hah hah" Lucas was panting heavily by this point as sweat drenched his clothing. At this moment he was exhausted beyond belief.
A person in the lower realms of Body Refining and Integration, weren't leagues ahead of regular humans. While they could utilize aura to preform super human feats of strength and speed, they couldn't maintain that level for extended periods of time. Especially in high stress situations where pacing yourself wasn't an option. A low-level cultivator was closer to a sprinter in this regard.
Of the original twenty combatants present at the battles start, only four remained Lucas and three others. Like Lucas one of the disciples left was also drenched in sweat as they had been involved in the battle since the start. Contrary to expectations however, two of the remaining disciples were in perfect condition.
Both disciples had identical appearances, possessing athletic builds and short golden-brown hair. The only distinctive factor between the two was their robes; one was donned in black while the other wore white. These two were; Niveus Geminae (dressed in white) and Ater Geminae (dressed in black). Known collectively within the valley as the Yin Yang Twins for their signature style of dress.
It was clear to all that the twins had purposely abstained from the battle, and frankly it was a good move on their part. Just looking at the current situation, the twins were set to win this battle using minimal effort.
"Boo! Boo, get off the stage." Yelled an audience member toward the twins.
"Who are these scum who don't even know how to fight fair!" Yelled another.
"If they let those two win, I'm going to boycott this whole tournament!" Exclaimed someone in righteous indignation.
It went without saying that the audience were outraged. Over the course of this match they had grown to fully support Lucas, who had won over their hearts through his stellar display of going one against many and still coming out on top. Now all of his effort was going to be undermined by people who didn't even fight. They found the notion to be extremely unfair and against principle.
Hearing all this uproar caused Lucas to sigh in frustration. Where was this anger when he was being ganged up on?
"Hypocrites" muttered Lucas to himself.
While Lucas was annoyed by the audience's hypocrisy, the twins were taking it all in stride. All the outrage did little to discourage them, rather the two boys seemed to feed on it only getting more excited in the process.
"Lucas do you want to quit now or quit after getting beat up and humiliated by the two of us?" arrogantly remarked Niveus.
"Sigh, do you two really think that this will end how you planned it?" Said Lucas.
"Who are you kidding Lucas? Look at yourself you aren't in a position to fight back!" Yelled Ater.
"Who says I can't?" Responded Lucas before he turned to the other remaining disciple.
"It's probable in your best interest to hop off the stage. You fought a good fight, but you were unlucky. Maybe next time you'll have better luck." Said Lucas to the disciple.
After thinking about it for a while the unfortunate disciple decided to heed his words and jumped off the stage forfeiting the match.
Seeing this Lucas smiled and returned his focus to the twins getting into a standard orthodox stance.
"I don't need to beat both of you, one is enough." Declared Lucas.
Instead of responding the twins simply decided to charge Lucas. Once again Lucas decided to charge his aggressors. Using the Leaping Grasshopper, he launched himself towards Ater hoping to blitz him. Unfortunately for Lucas the twins were much better coordinated than the band of disciples he faced earlier.
As he was about to strike Ater, he was met with Niveus' full force Berserker's Fist which sent him flying across the stage.
The Berserker's Fist was a battle technique which followed the principle of forsakes all defense in favor of the strongest possible strike.
Luckily for Lucas his reactions were fast and he was able to mitigate the impact by jumping with the punch. Although he was injured by the attack, the serenity was much lower than it would have been.
"Cough cough cough!" Lucas coughed up some blood as he made his way back to his feet.
"Is that all you've got?" Said Lucas as he wiped away the blood around his mouth.
""Stop acting tough!"" Yelled the twins in unison as they charged towards Lucas.
Once again Lucas activated his leaping technique, only this time he whizzed between the twins before unleashing a spinning kick at Ater from behind. This time Ater was forced to defend himself. Reacting quickly, he managed to catch Lucas' leg with his arms. However, before he could celebrate, he was met by Lucas' second leg which connected cleanly with his face sending him stumbling backwards.
Sensing an opening Lucas rushed forward hoping to finish off Atar, only to be met once again by Niveus' attack. However, this time was different, Lucas was expecting it. Ducking underneath the incoming attack, Lucas countered with a gazelle punch (a leaping left hook). The strike knocked Niveus completely off balance, before he could recover Lucas followed up his strike with a full 10x boosted overhand right which slammed Niveus into the ground instantly cutting of his consciousness.
"Hah hah hah"
The arena was silenced, the only sound that could be heard was Lucas' labored breathing. Against all odds he had won.