Marcellus wiped the blood that was dripping from his nose. He looked behind him to assess the damage caused by the impact. The ground looked like a crater, a large part of the forest was decimated. Marcellus's whole body was shaking from the impact, he felt it to his bones and he felt as if his heart was going to burst out. He compared it to; standing right in front of a large speaker in a club, but the intensity was a hundred times greater.
"What the hell? That was the best fusion I could do, yet he managed to cause damage." Marcellus knew he was injured but thanks to fusion his body was recovering as he stood there in a matter of seconds.
Yahiko was at the same place where he punched Marcellus. Marcellus had been pushed about fifteen meters away even with his guard up.
"I thought you were good. what the hell was that weak guard?" Yahiko shouted towards Marcellus.
Marcellus collected himself as he watched Yahiko prepare another launch towards him. Marcellus realized that it was foolish of him to be satisfied with the level of fusion he achieved earlier. this guy was at least three times stronger than him right now.
Yahiko lunged at Marcellus as the ground beneath him cracked with the impact of his thrust, He covered the distance in less than seconds and started throwing a barrage of Violent punches at Marcellus.
Marcellus had hard a hard time taking those punches. Even if the punches were not as fast, they packed power. Marcellus was not blocking the punches, he was merely deflecting them accurately timing the blocks. If he missed the timing even by a microsecond, he would receive the full impact and be injured just like the first time. Yahiko had never in his life trained to fight and Marcellus knew noticed that however, Yahiko was adept at using his strength. Even if this was a fight between them without the aura in play, Marcellus would not have an easy time just because he was a professional fighter. Marcellus was a natural boxer-puncher, a balanced type fighter who possesses the strength of the strongest types but also excels in fighting techniques. Yahiko was like a slugger, he was all about strength. Yahiko possessed the instincts of a beast. every punch he threw was meant to destroy. fusion came naturally to him. He did not even know the fact that it was called fusion and that it was a very renowned technique among the awakened. He had mastered it off of his pure instincts.
Yahiko kept throwing punches and Marcellus kept dodging around. Each punch by Yahiko sent a strong gust of wind. Even if the punches weren't really hitting Marcellus, he could still feel their power because of the shockwaves they were creating in the process. Marcellus did not just want to evade. Practically, it was impossible to beat an opponent who had better fusion than you in a physical fight. The only way he could beat Yahiko was by matching his level of fusion. He was getting tired of running around. his ego was also taking the hits.
"Why am I so scared? I can't get better at fusion if I just keep running around. I have to face him head-on." He finally made a resolve.
However, just as he was bracing himself to take the next punch, Yahiko stopped attacking.
Marcellus jumped back a small distance and caught his breath.
"Why'd you stop? keep going." Marcellus did not want to be weaker than this irksome guy. He wanted to surpass him right now.
"I was just meant to test your level, I don't play with the weak," Yahiko said as he turned away from Yahiko to look for the jacket that he hung on the tree. As he looked towards the tree where he hung it his face suddenly changed color.
"What the fuck happened to that tree? where is my jacket?"
"Are you an idiot?" Marcellus's voice was loud because he was furious to have been called weak,
"You blew up all the trees that were there when you jumped at me the first time."
Yahiko looked back at Marcellus and then back to the empty ground that had trees and bushes just a few minutes ago. He kept looking back and forth in confusion. Marcellus could have sworn that he saw Yahiko's eyes getting teary.
"My favorite jacket, It was a limited edition one-time prize they distributed at the Mortal kombat all-japan tournament," Yahiko screamed.
"You fought in tournaments?" Marcellus was surprised to hear that but it was not unbelievable. Even as a normal human Yahiko might have had extraordinary strength and stamina. sometimes that much is enough to give you success in a ring.
"What kind of tournament was it? boxing? martial arts? free for all?" Marcellus curiously bombarded Yahiko with questions.
"Dude, how do you not know about Mortal kombat one of the best fighting video games to have ever existed?" Yahiko asked nonchalantly forgetting for a moment that he was panicking for having lost his precious jacket.
Marcellus was too dumbfounded and disappointed to say anything.
Yahiko ran off to look for his jacket before Marcellus could stop him. Marcellus decided to take a break and let his body recover, using fusion let him ignore the pain a lot but he could tell that his body had sustained injuries at the times he made contact with Yahiko's fists. As Yahiko started ploughing through the ground desperately to look for his jacket that he suspected was buried, Yahiko took the time to evaluate what just happened.
"This guy knows how to hit hard but he does not have full control over where he is hitting. It looked like I still had a slight advantage in reflexes and reaction speed, to be honest, if not for that I would have been gravely injured. Just in terms of the toughness and impact of his punch, he looks better than Davidson. This guy could become a monster if he learns actual fighting techniques." He felt a bit inferior for a moment but quickly brushed it off.
"Man this guy really is annoying," He was irritated at the fact that he just felt inferior to a guy he just met.
"But I can become untouchable once I obtain that strength," He quickly found his resolve again.
He clenched his fists" I must reach his level of fusion by the end of this day".
Yahiko managed to dig up his precious jacket. It was all dirty and unwearable but he was overjoyed to find it.
Marcellus ran towards Yahiko who was passionately dusting off his jacket.
"You," He said as he stood next to Yahiko.
"My name is Marcellus, what's yours?" He asked trying to make it look as not-polite as he could. Yahiko did not say anything for a while, he was not good with introductions and greetings.
"How old are you?" Yahiko counter questioned.
Marcellus hated people who did that, it always got on his nerves.
"19, why do you have to know that?" He answered anyway because he had no time to waste.
"You are younger than me, you better treat me with respect," Yahiko said with a smug look on his face. That surprised Marcellus, he did know eastern people cared about respecting people with age differences. he thought Yahiko was around his age or even younger than him, but you could never correctly guess the age of Asian men with their face alone.
"How old are you?" Marcellus asked but he had no intention of treating him with respect even if he turned out to be 30.
"20."
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Marcellus exploded.
"what?" Yahiko shouted back.
"You want me to show you respect just because you were born a year before me?"
"I'm stronger too," Yahiko stated.
Marcellus could not argue with that. That resonated with his own principles. he had come to accept that in a real drawn-out battle Yahiko would horizon over him with his current fusion level.
"Fine, I will have you tell me your name when I finally beat your ass by the end of this day," Marcellus challenged Yahiko.
Yahiko put on his favorite jacket. It was too dirty for someone in their sane mind to wear but he was afraid he would lose it again. Ever since he had awakened only three people had managed to stay on their feet after taking his punch. The first god he fought in Japan, Davidson who tested his power as soon as they met and Marcellus. Yahiko had a feeling of Marcellus growing more resilient to his strength as they fought earlier. This was the first friendly spar Yahiko had for the first time in his life. All the fights Yahiko fought were against people who despised him or wanted him dead or gone. This was the first time he fought someone who acknowledged his strength and competed even.
"You have the guts though, I'll give you that. make me bleed once and you will get my name." Yahiko smiled as his aura flared up even stronger than the first time they fought.
"Man, you say the lamest things I've heard my entire life," said Marcellus and charged at Yahiko for the first time since they met.
He got a clean hit on Yahiko's face but he just brushed it off and with a beastly look on his face said, "I could say the same about your punches."
The sound of them clashing slowly started being heard even outside the forest shaking the ground everytime they exchanged fists.