[Lightning Whip], a technique that many lightning users were familiar with. The technique could barely be considered Low-Gold in difficulty, but still required the user to have basic knowledge of physics. Though the science of physics hadn't truly been established in Zodia, there was still a broad understanding of how the world worked. The science taught in Zodia wasn't classified as biology, chemistry, or physics, but contained material from all three of them.
The concept behind [Lightning Whip] was that of charged and uncharged bodies. It was common knowledge that electricity, and therefore lightning, travelled from charged to uncharged bodies. The user needed to overcharge the tip of their fingers and point them towards the earth. Since the earth is largely uncharged, the electricity travels from the tip of the user's fingers to the earth. If the user continuously channelled their lightning magic towards the ground, it would form a thick, visible connection of electricity that could be swung forward to attack the opponent.
Axel lowered his body towards the ground defensively as Ansel got back to his feet and stretched his sore back. He extended his arm outwards behind him, his outstretched fingers hovering over the ground just low enough for a connection to form. He didn't initiate the technique since he wanted Ansel to be caught off guard. The right moment to execute it would be as the thick-skulled boy rushed towards him.
Just as it was in his character, Ansel ran towards Axel, this time holding his right arm out back in a claw shape. As he moved closer to Axel, a ball of electricity flashed in and out of existence in the centre of his palm. Strings of electricity flickered from the tip of his fingers to the centre of the ball, vibrating violently as Ansel took each step.
5 metres…
4…
3…
Axel burst forward while keeping his upper body close to the ground. He instantly covered the gap between him and Ansel, causing the surprised boy to suddenly take a step back. Axel swung his lowered hand upwards towards Ansel's chin. A chilling smile crossed his face as a long rope of lightning extended between the ground and him. The crackling whip tore through the ground as it dug towards its victim, dislodging the concrete in its path and tearing it apart.
The chain of electricity clashed into Ansel and wrapped around him. The unexpected increase in energy around Ansel caused the ball of electricity in his hands to go out of control. A bright flash of electricity erupted from within his palm and a screech echoed throughout the Arena.
The unstable electricity exploded around Ansel and burnt off the small amount of clothes he was wearing. His pants were barely saved from the clash of techniques and were on the brink of exposing him to all the first year students.
Without wasting another second Ansel grabbed onto Axel's head and pushed him to the side. Both of them had been caught off-guard by the explosion but Ansel's drive for victory had pulled through at the last second despite the damage he had received. Axel was right in front of him, and he wouldn't miss the perfect chance to overpower him.
Axel stumbled over some of the rubble his [Lightning Whip] had created, giving Ansel the opportunity to jump right on top of him. While the shock from the burst of lightning still numbed his right arm, he was perfectly able to force himself into throwing a few punches. A rush of ruthless punches flew towards Axel's face as he was pinned under the weight of his cousin.
Left-right-left-right, Axel's head swung from side to side as Ansel's heavy fists pounded his face into a pulp. Axel dug his nails into Ansel's arms as he tried to pull the boy off of him, but the barrage of punches disoriented him. Both of his cheeks were bruised blue, and the insides of his mouth were beginning to bleed as they cut themselves on the sharp edges of his teeth.
Each punch exploded into a jolt of electricity as it retracted from its target, tearing through Axel's clothes and slightly burning the skin on his chest. The punches slowed down as Axel's protesting arms fell to the floor and his eyelids shut over his blackened eyes.
Ansel's hand hovered over Axel's face for a moment before the last punch landed. It exploded in the largest and strongest show of Ansel's power yet, sending Axel out of commission as the exaggerated flash of electricity seeped through his bones and shot his nerves. That punch signified many things to Ansel. It signified the end of his mental struggle regarding why his brother left the family. It signified the end of the hatred he felt towards Axel's unbothered expression every time he beat him. None of those things mattered to him anymore, because most importantly, the last punch signified his victory after multiple defeats at the hand of the brother he once adored.
Ansel slid off Axel's limp body and lay down next to him, breathing heavily with satisfaction. The audience's cheers had gone dead silent and no one, including the judges, dared to speak a word.
A low groan escaped Axel's swollen mouth as Ansel's maniacal laughter filled the Arena. "I've done it!" Ansel thought as he laughed uncontrollably. "I've finally defeated him. I beat him. I beat Axel!"
His laughter only grew from there and his eyes began tearing up due to how excited he was. But along with all that happiness there was a strange sense of guilt. He had mercilessly beaten up his brother who had made sure Ansel was mostly unharmed after each fight. Though Ansel had lost every match up to that point, he had never been injured beyond repair. It was just now that he realised how careful Axel had been when fighting him.
Ansel rubbed the tears from his eyes as he got up. He faced the audience, his back turned to Axel's limp body. "Can you just announce my victory already?" He shouted at the top of his lungs as the frustration got to him. The guilt only intensified the feelings of frustration and the two exponentially increased as time went on. The judges and referee remained quiet without a trace of their former horrified expressions lingering on their faces. They now looked eagerly at the stage, their faces cheering up as the audience imploded with encouraging comments.
"I've figured it out now Ansel." A soft voice came from behind the large boy. "I've found the secret behind that punch of yours."
The familiar trail of light followed in an arc and landed straight in Ansel's face as he turned around. Another bright trail thrust itself into the back of Ansel's right knee, throwing him off balance.
"What? How did he survive that?" The question lingered in the back of Ansel's mind as a flurry of bright trailing lights shot all over his body. His body flung from side to side with each hit, and his mind began blanking up as the hits continued.
"You fought well, Ansel. You came really close to defeating me this time. I did not expect you to grow this strong since our last fight. I'm really glad I got to fight you."
Though Axel had taken quite a beating and nearly blacked out, his mind was strong enough to grab onto consciousness. He was lucky that Ansel decided to consecutively use that punch of his since it allowed Axel to figure out how it worked, and therefore how to counter it, before he took a lot of damage from it.
The concept behind the punch, as Axel had theorised, was similar to the [Lightning Whip] technique that Axel had employed. The reason it worked so well was because of how hard it was to execute. No one would think of the lengthy and complicated requirements when trying to decipher how it worked, since such a method wouldn't fare well in an actual fight. But Ansel, despite his heavy build, was fast and strong enough to perfectly pull it off.
There were only two steps involved in executing the punch. The first was to make sure Ansel's fist was uncharged as it came in contact with the opponent. Using his magic, Ansel would briefly deprive his fist of any electric signals. He would do this after the punch has already been thrown since the electrical deprivation would stop the neural signals from travelling to his fist.
Since charge and electricity moved from uncharged to charged bodies, all the charge in the area where his opponent is punched will move into Ansel's attacking fist. The pain from impact along with the electrical deprivation at the area of impact would cause further damage to the opponent.
The second step involved overcharging his fist right as his opponent was knocked back. It was necessary to time it right so that the optimal space was present between his fist and the opponent. Overcharging the fist would cause all the charge to travel into the uncharged area where the opponent was attacked. This was the explosive electricity that everyone had witnessed after Ansel's punches. It caused the attacked area to numb and added an extra bit of jolt to the punch.
Almost all of Ansel's punches had employed the first technique that depraved its opponent of the electrical signals. He held back on following the second step since it used up a lot of his stamina. This, however, gave Axel enough time to analyse the first step and predict how to cancel its effects. The reason Axel had not been knocked out after all of the beating he took was because he had charged his attacked points right as the deprivation kicked in. This allowed him to take more hits and act as if he had been knocked out.
The flurry of punches and kicks continued after a brief pause, but Ansel's mind had been cleared up after those words. Despite his body being rampaged by hits, his mind could think clearly. "Of Course I wouldn't stand a chance against him if he decided to get serious. He was always cautious not to hurt me in our earlier fights, but we've both grown older now. There's no reason for him to hold back anymore.
"I never stood a chance against a monster like him."
The one in front of Ansel wasn't the calm, friendly kid he knew. It was definitely a monster. Each punch dug itself perfectly in the thin gap between his muscles and sent an electrifying shock to his bones. Each surface level punch numbed the muscles it attacked, and Ansel's limbs had gone limp long before he realised it.
"Have you been hiding this side of you all this time, brother?" The words left Ansel's mouth in pauses, but they hit Axel all together.
The stream of punches ceased almost immediately, and Ansel's body was finally allowed to fall to the ground. The audience too had been quiet for quite some time despite cheering for Axel as he had gotten back up. The judges' faces had the same horrified expressions on them as earlier.
Axel stood still over his brother's beaten body, staring intensely at the strokes of blue bruises that he had created. Ansel's back represented a shabbily created painting on a carefully created canvas. It was horribly discoloured and looked more grotesque as it rose and sunk with every breath.
Axel brought his hands close to his face and stared hard at them. They were free of any bloodstains, but the brutality they had issued was painted all over them.
"Something darker thrives within you, Axel." He recalled his father saying before the two had left the Filgor family house. "The longer you stay here, the crueller it will get."
The referee jumped in immediately and halted the match even though none of the participants were moving. Ansel was taken away to the school hospital without further delay and Axel was, reluctantly, announced the winner of the match.
The applause that followed was scarce and the cheer was even lesser. Even Wolfe and Nova were unsure whether they should clap for their friend or not. They couldn't make a decision after witnessing the sinister smile that had corrupted his face as he beat his cousin down.