Transcending Stages wasn't unheard of, it was possible and sometimes happened with skilled individuals. Andrew even did it when he was Stage 0, but it should be known that it is unheard of for a newly ascended Stage One to deal such a heavy hit to a Stage Two and especially to such an extent as Cage had done.
Despite the injury, Andrew was smiling. And despite Cage's attack not dealing a decisive blow, he was smiling. Andrew was having fun fighting someone of Cage's talent, and Cage was having fun with the challenge of fighting someone a Stage higher.
"Kid, what the hell was that attack?!"
"I should be asking you that, old man. How many more devastating skills do you have?!"
Andrew just laughed it off. "It's time for round three!"
[Wind Aura!]
Andrew rushed towards Cage with explosive speed, almost double what it was before. In the blink of an eye, Andrew appeared before Cage while rearing back his fist.
[Gale Fist!]
Cage knew he would be unable to block it and he didn't have enough time to dodge it. That left only one option.
[Burst!]
Cage used [Burst] right as Andrews fist made contact with his chest to make it act as a cushion and lose some momentum.
Whoosh!
An incredible wind force came with the punch and Cage once again, sent flying into the wall. Cage's breathing was ragged, it felt like his ribs were broken into powder. He knew that several of his ribs were fractured or broken. Thankfully, it hadn't punctured or poked his lungs.
His internal organs were definitely not in good shape. Regardless, he still pushed himself to stand. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, "Could you have hit me any harder?"
If he continued the fight the way it was going, he would surely lose. He didn't have any way to compete with Andrew's strength, speed, and skill. He was outmatched, heavily.
Cage realized his fighting style was too linear. He couldn't use the same tricks over and over because Andrew would learn them and use them to his advantage.
That left only his Skills. The only problem was it could take days, weeks, if not months to make a Skill. He didn't have that kind of time during a fight where it could be decided in an instant. He also couldn't use the skill he had gotten from the man in the void because it required elemental mana.
Cage saw Andrew approaching again. He really didn't have any time to collect his thoughts. As if a ghost, Andrew vanished from Cage's vision. Cage instinctively turned around and crossed his arms only to see Andrew's skill imbued punch about to hit him.
[Gale Fist!]
Before he could even register what happened, he felt his surroundings blur and his arms go limp with a sickening crack. This put him at a severe disadvantage. Losing one's arms in a fight could be considered a death sentence, especially when going against someone of Andrew's caliber.
Cage planted his feet and slid across the dirt floor until coming to a stop. he stood hunched over slightly with his arms at his side. His arms hurt like hell, but that level of pain wasn't enough to make him lose consciousness.
He saw Andrew slowly approach him. "Impressive! You're still standing after taking two [Gale Fist]'s! Not even a Stage Two would still be able to fight as well as you have been."
Cage was exhausted, he could only pant with a ragged breath. On the contrary, Andrew was barely even sweating. His only injury was his broken arm, but that was negligible due to his speed.
'Damn... I think I'm destined to lose...'
No matter how he looked at it, his condition just didn't allow him to win. He was only had about a third of his mana left.
'If only my skill was stronger! ... wait, stronger? That's it!'
Cage took a step forward with a strange smile that could even make a demon have chills go down its spine. Leaning forward, he activated his burst skill one more time.
Swoosh!
At a speed that even Andrew had trouble tracking, Cage ducked down and slid past Andrew's guard without Andrew being able to even react. 'What! He got faster! How did he... No way, he actually learned how to do such a thing!'
Cage quickly spun his body and swept Andrew's legs out from under him. Andrew's eyes grew wide as he stared at Cage in shock.
Using the momentum of his attack, Cage quickly flipped forwards and jumped into the air to deliver an axe kick.
Boom!
Spiked to the ground, Andrew was temporarily out of focus from the impact.
Not letting the chance go to wast, Cage sent another downward blow to Andrew.
Cage put all of his remaining mana towards his last attack. If it didn't win the fight with this attack, he would be a sitting duck and Andrew would certainly come out the victor.
Cage laughed, "Let's see if you can take this!"
[Burst: EX!]
Crack!
Kaboom!
The ground caved in and a crater 2 meters wide and 1 meter deep formed around them. A large dust cloud formed and blocked the view of the three observers.
The commander couldn't help but be in awe towards Cage's prowess. "Hahaha! To think that kid learned how to overcharge his skills in the middle of his fight!"
Upon hearing the commanders words, the two others had their mouths agape. They were shocked. Being able to overcharge skills and spells would provide a major boost in attack power and in conjunction mana consumption, but the cost was worth it. Normally only a Peak-level Stage Three would be able to overcharge their skills or spells due to the control required.
The commander approached the crater seemingly instantaneously. He swept his hand, and without using any skills, made the dust settle and clear away.
Looking into the crater, he saw the result of the fight. He turned back to the healer, "We are gonna need some healing over here..."
The commander didn't show it, but the result of the fight was a little surprising. In the crater, Cage and Andrew were both out cold. It looked like a scene that was scripted with how majestic it looked. They were both smiling in the crater, seemingly content with the outcome. Ironically, they both had almost the same injuries. Both of their arms were broken, and one could tell from a glance that they both had suffered internal damage.
'It seems that the kid was running off of fumes and passed out when he ran out of mana due to exhaustion...'
The healer hurriedly approached, golden staff in hand. The healer had a spacial storage pouch which allowed her to carry many medicines and tools and was a must have for a field medic, especially in a dangerous place like the soul stone mines where there were many beasts.
The commander had already retrieved the two and had placed them side by side outside the crater. The healer placed the head of her staff on the forehead of Cage. A brilliant golden glow soon followed.
[Healing Restoration!]
At a speed visible to the naked eye, Cage's crooked arm bones began to snap back to their original positions and his ragged breathing began to return to normal.
The healer then moved to Andrew and repeated the process.
[Healing Restoration!]
Soon after, both were resting fully healed on the ground. The healer turned to the commander with a beaming expression. "Sir, they are fully healed and should wake up in an hour or two!"
The commander nodded, "Good job, you can return to your normal duties."
The healer then saluted and left. The commander watched her bounce away with a hop in her step until she left the area. He then turned to the remaining person, the assistant and observer. The commander stroked his goatee. "So, what did you think?"
The assistant was a little perplexed. "Sir, what do you mean?"
"Let me rephrase that, what do you think about that kid. I looked at his file, and he had undergone soul reformation as a Stage Zero. He also has a Stage One soul so young, he even has high combat potential and incredible talent to boot."
"If I may be permitted to speak my opinion, I believe he is a threat. While it is true he is incredibly talented and had high combat potential, his soul seems... off..."
The commander raised his eyebrow. "Oh? elaborate some more, I'm curious."
The assistant hesitated for a second until she made up her mind and spoke out. "He is the son of that beast-person Tricia, and we both know the confidentiality of the matter. It has been three years since you assigned me to observe him. At first nothing was amiss. But once he started to absorb mana... Something changed." Thinking for a moment, she continued,"We can assume that he has begun the process of-"
The commander cut her off. "Enough, I understand. Remember not to share a single detail of this. We don't want those bastards from the Agrius Kingdom to catch wind of this matter though their spies. Get someone to take those two back to their room."
"Understood, I will take my leave now, Sir."
After watching the assistant leave, the commander looked back to the crater and walked to the edge. Walking to the bottom, he cleared away a meter of dirt to reveal a brick floor. The bricks were partially tainted with black streaks.
The commander could only shake his head and smile bitterly. 'What a monster, to think he is already able to corrupt enchantments to this extent...'