"Well… you were right…"
"Of course, it wouldn't be so easy, would it?"
The confidence that the two on the top thirty and three felt for Mares took a blow once they realized just who he would have to deal with.
"Isn't that guy…"
"Yes, yes it is him. That will be hard. Think the kid can make it?"
"I have hope that he will, I just don't know how."
It was similar to those in his own room. All confidence was replaced with anxiety while hoping to see Mares prevail.
Even in the Colosseum, the mood changed. The silence changed by noises of surprise, that started quietly but spread out, and soon people were cheering and screaming again. However, the feeling was no longer unanimous.
Some still believed Mares would win, some wanted him to win. Some believed he would lose and some wanted him to lose.
None of that concerned the silver-eyed, nor did he know about it.
It was a simple greeting, but the way his adversary moved around and presented himself told a lot to Mares. While he seemed to be acting casually, there was no opening and he was ready to start attacking at any point.
The man was a bit big, standing on what was probably two meters in height.
Mares couldn't figure out what his skin was made of. It looked like scales but not too solid, it was something quite weird to look at.
The difference between this guy and everyone else Mares fought was astronomical and simply his presence and way to move around could show it.
"Silver?"
It was the first time the silver-eyed was going for small talk. It would give him some time to analyze his opponent.
"It's how everyone decided to call you because of those fancy eyes of yours. How much do you think they would sell for?"
It was the most simplistic attempt to annoy Mares, to the point that it probably was just genuinely small talk.
"I don't know. I would like to think that a lot."
The man smiled, slowly nodding.
"I bet they would. I am the Lowest King."
Because of his mask, it was not possible to see Mares raising his eyebrow in confusion.
"The what?"
For a moment the man seemed amused, thinking Mares was messing with him until he made an expression of understanding.
"Right, I forgot the folks at the lowest ranks aren't in the know of our positions. Basically, I am the leader of the little faction that you pretty much massacred. The biggest guy in the tiniest pond, you could say."
Though those were his words, his expression and tone were still playful, which only increased Mares' vigilance.
"So, your position is…"
The silver-eyed had his guess, but he preferred to have a confirmation first.
"Six thousand."
The Lowest King replied crossing his arms. He was confident, overbearingly so.
"I see."
During their exchange, Esen passed what she knew about King's race to Mares.
'A Sofduro is capable of making their scales the studiedness increase various times over, and this gets increased even more with Astral Energy. If there is something else he can do, I don't know.'
It was basic, but for Mares, it was much better than going toe to toe against someone who was on pair with him strength-wise.
The two looked at each other and suddenly, they were face to face, with Mares' sword going forward to strike King's chest.
King responded by putting his right arm in front of the sword and taking the hit with it. However, when the weapon landed Mares was shocked, it felt like he was hitting something soft that could distribute all the impact of his hit. It got bad enough that the sword couldn't even cut through the arm.
Before he could react and retreat, King's left arm hit his jaw, and the impact was powerful, making Mares go back a few steps. His jaw hurt but it would have been worse if it wasn't for his reinforcement.
Still, that strike had been weird, Mares knew he felt his own strength hitting back at him.
"A technique?"
That was the first thing that came to Mares' mind, but he felt it wasn't too likely. There was something different about King's powers that seemed to set it apart from a technique, but the silver-eyed failed to point out what.
'A martial art…'
Esen on the other hand had enough knowledge to pinpoint what his opponent did.
"Martial art?"
The surprise was both in Mares' voice and in King's expression.
"Didn't think you would figure it out so fast. You really are something, huh."
King had an appreciative nod while pressing ahead, wanting to press on his advantage and not give Mares more time to think.
'What do I need to know, Little Bunny.'
'Martial arts are the application of Astral Energy through the training of the body. It can achieve great scales, and it might be less fleshy than techniques, but just as dangerous. The one downside is that they usually take longer to master, so people, especially young ones, tend to prefer to learn techniques or focus on the ones they already have instead of learning martial arts. Even so, there is an uncountable amount of them, so I don't have a clue which this guy might be using.'
Mares registered every word she said and if he wasn't fighting right now, he would have asked much more. While his focus couldn't be put on the subject right now, from Esen's description he became quite interested in learning more about martial arts.
King's fists came from all directions and even if Mares managed to defend it just pushed him further while each strike was growing in strength. It was very clear his opponent could accumulate power besides being able to redirect it.
The way he moved, with large arcs that were fast and precise, not leaving many openings, allowed him to carry the strength of each hit to the next one. The more this went on the more of a disadvantage Mares was getting himself in.
Changing the sword to a spear, he pierced it on the ground and used it as a shovel, taking a huge chunk of rock from where King was standing.
It didn't break his balance but he had to jump back or Mares would have an opening to attack. Both put some distance between themselves, allowing Mares to take a break and rethink his approach.
'He can attack me back with my strength and accumulate power on his own attacks. Repulsion would only increase the power he will have to use against me, so that's out.'
During that brief time he was defending Mares used his eyes to see if he could figure something out, and he noticed that every strike allowed King to accumulate more Astral Energy in his fists.
The mechanics of using the opponent's power against himself were probably similar.
The idea of using his other techniques briefly went through Mares' head but was abandoned. Besides just raising questions from others, he could see that it would change nothing to his opponent.
Each of King's strikes was hard and powerful, but when Mares attacked him, the feeling was that he was hitting something soft that canceled his strength by distributing it around.
Not even the sword and spear could do much about it. They managed to make some cuts on King, but too shallow to be of any real damage.
'Hard to attack and soft to defend. Not a bad combination.'
If he wasn't in so much of a pinch, Mares could appreciate the power of the martial art.
'You have an idea?'
Asked Esen, sensing a plan forming from Mares.
'Of course. It might be a bit hard… I will figure something out.'
From the moment Mares managed to disengage from him ending his conversation with Esen, only a few seconds passed and King went to attack again.
Mares went ahead with his plan, first putting away his weapon and making it back into a glove. That made King raise an eyebrow, but he ignored it and just went for a punch.
This led Mares to his second step, where he did not dodge or strike back, instead, he received King's punch with a headbutt of his own.
The ground below him cracked and broke, a crack also appeared on the mask and blood flowed from his forehead. Mares felt like his skull would have been cracked if he hadn't used his reinforcement. Even with it, the impact shakes his very core.
Clenching his teeth, all that pain was ignored, and using the shock he caused on King and the opportunity he managed to get for himself, with his hand put below King's arm, Mares turned the multi-weapon back into sword form.
This time King's fist was still in its hard state and as such it wouldn't affect the strength behind Mares' hit.
Once he pushed the sword up it didn't feel like he was hitting something soft, it felt like he was hitting a sturdy rock, hard to either cut or break, but with enough strength, those things would be possible.
Mares had enough strength.
The sword passed and cut through, if Mares only had the chance to swing it he might be able to enlarge the cut until it reached the hand and fingers, but King didn't stay still.
Taking a page from Mares he headbutted the silver-eyed, damaging him enough for the hold on the sword to get weaker. Even with his regeneration, injuries on his head, and especially his brain, were still extremely serious and could cause his temporary destabilization. And now his head had just been smashed twice repeatedly, it wasn't something he could just brush off like most injuries.
Not to lose the opportunity, King kicked him away.
Just as he was about to lose hold of his weapon, while only his fingers were still connected to it, Mares changed it back into a spear and kicked it, sending it in the direction parallel to where King was standing and taking a small chunk of his arm with it.
"Fuck!"
King cursed, grabbing his arm with yellow blood flowing from the injury. His expression was horrible, distorted with pain and rage.
Once Mares fell on the ground, there he stayed, not moving and for the first time, without his weapon in hand.