His arm screams at him in pain as Daniel tries activating the 'basic rejuvenation rune' willing his internal mana through the rune to his injured arm.
The pain fades a little, not to the point of being able to use his broken hand though, just enough to be able to bear the pain.
However the moment the masked man sees Daniel trying to recover his injuries, his legs glow a pale white.
Daniel isn't so deluded as to think he can win with just his abilities as of now, He needs to use his head.
Matching the masked man's likely charge, Daniel waits for the man to close the distance before dropping into a shoulder charge and stepping into the attack.
He takes two rune charged bashes to his back, though thanks to his own strength rune, he manages to maintain his footing and tackle the masked man to the jagged, rocky ground.
Using a rune-enhanced arm to hold the masked man on the ground, Daniel attempts to use his other hand to attack him whilst he's on the ground.
But rather than any panic, all he sees is a bright green glow from under the masked man's jacket, before he gets thrown a few meters backwards.
'Attempting to match his strength wont work- And I won't outlast him if I let him take the initiative'
Daniel thinks quickly as he jumps to his feet, not wanting to catch an enhanced attack whilst he gets to his feet, though no attack comes as he regains his footing.
He doesn't take up the same stance as before however, opting to keep his intentions to himself for the moment, as he waits for a moment to engage the masked man in combat.
'He knows about more runes than me- I'll need to use the flight rune to match his speed'
Daniel wills his mana through the third rune up his arm, before moving around, testing the effects.
'This feels weird, But I'll have to deal with it'
The masked man can tell what Daniel is doing as he sees the white glow from his arm and his inconsistent movements; And doesn't wait around to let him get adjusted, breaking into a dash towards Daniel once again.
Though Daniel simply dashes backwards, doing his best to buy himself an amount of time to adjust to the reduced pull of gravity.
But the masked man catches up fairly easily, Forcing Daniel to exchange blows with him or get hit with a cheap shot.
Daniel does just that, keeping the Flight rune active to gain more experience with the strange sensation.
'Wait a minute- Reduces the effects of gravity, what if…'
With an Idea in his mind as the masked man matches him, Daniel forces as much mana as he can will into the third rune along his arm, drastically reducing the effects of gravity on his body, before doing the same with his strength rune. The feeling of mana being consumed faster than he absorbs it fills the back of his mind, though he ignores it, bringing his both of his hands up to match the wicked, rune-enhanced right hook flying towards him.
Before being sent flying backwards.
Having effectively reduced his mass, Daniel is sent flying by the massive force behind the masked man's blow, landing far enough away to spend a few more seconds adjusting to the flight rune.
Once again, the nagging feeling of being low on mana fills the back of his mind, though this time, rather than ignoring it, Daniel strains his force of will, taking deep breaths as he absorbs as much mana as he can force into his body. Almost instantly removing the feeling of being low on mana, He continues to draw in large amounts of mana to him body as he practices feeding different amounts of mana into the strength and flight runes.
Having been watching the masked man's approach to his new position the whole time, Daniel looks at the rune-powered, running man and determines the amount of time before he's once again forced to engage him, not bothering to think of what the masked man will do differently this time, but not naïve enough to think the same trick will be able to buy him any more time.
_________________________________________________________________
Having to put the excitement from such a promising candidate to the side for the sake of a true test, A part of the masked man is glad when he sees what Daniel does, flying away under the force of his fist.
'If he does that again he loses'
As hard as it may seem to injure someone with a vastly reduced pull of gravity, If he could just get a hold of him, the masked man could leverage his experience and ability with using strength runes to end the fight rather quickly.
But as he finishes closing the distance with the boy, Daniel doesn't try the same thing, instead opting for his initial style of trading blows for information.
'His proficiency with the flight rune is advancing at a frightening pace'
The masked man notes, an enhanced punch landing on Daniel's ribs with a rather disappointing thud, the boy being sent flying a few meters backwards.
Moving to close the distance between them once again, the masked man activates his own flight runes, only to see Daniel already dashing towards him.
Glad to see the fight change from one of attrition, regardless of his obvious advantage in that area, the masked man notes Daniel's stance, both hands raised infront of his head like a boxer as he rushes within striking distance.
Not bothered by the change in aggression, The masked man sends an empowered, lighting fast low kick towards Daniel's left leg.
Only to hit thin air, Daniel having dashed to the side, out of range of the kick; though still within striking distance, as he responds with an enhanced jab from his injured hand.
Moving to block the jab with one of his hands, The masked man blocks the blow fairly easily, only for Daniel to quickly retract that hand, sending the other towards the masked man's face.
'A feint.'
The man does his best to move his head to the side, only for the right hook to catch the side of his jaw, the rune-powered fist sending his reduced gravity body flying to one side.
The masked man barely has the time to get back to his feet as he sees Daniel closing the distance in an instant .
Throwing his hands up in defense as quickly as he can, The masked man does his best to defend the reckless charge.
Seeing the bandaged hand prepare to strike low at his stomach, the masked man maintains his guard over his face
'Bandaged hand- A feint- prepare for the follow up'
*Thud*
With a soft thud, the injured hand connects with as much force as Daniel could muster, a grimace of pain appearing on his face as it connects.
'Not a feint- Bad'
The masked man uses one of his guard hands to batter the injured hand away from his stomach, increasing Daniel's grimace, though he grits through it and; as the Masked man had expected, follows up with another unhanded right hook.
The masked man blocks it with his own, rune enhanced hand.
'Wait- Shit'
The force of Daniel's attacking hand is changed rapidly to the side, stopping aside the masked man's defensive hand and throwing it to one side.
_______________________________________________________________________
Pulling his head back after connecting with the masked man for a rune-enhanced headbutt, Daniel's head is ringing slightly from the massive impact.
'Push your advantage!'
Daniel fights through the recoil, noting the masked man looks much worse off than him, one hand on the ground as he struggles not to collapse.
Activating his flight and strength runes, Daniel sends a leg flying towards the masked man's exposed side, deactivating the flight rune in favor of just the strength rune to increase the force behind the attack just before it connects.
*Thud*
The masked man is knocked onto his side by the blow, the air knocked from his body.
Not hesitating one moment, victory within his grasp, Daniel closes the distance with a step before winding up a massive kick to the masked mans head.
Though just as the kick is about to connect and likely secure his victory, He feels as though his kick is forcing its way through a length of water.
Looking down at the masked man, He sees one of his hands held out towards the kick, the air surrounding his leg distorted with mana.
"Unfortunately, I don't have any desire to be unconscious."
The masked man stands up with both his hands behind his back, continuing to speak.
"Congratulations, You've won; the fight is over."