As soon as the instructor announced the fight to commence, Mako immediately bolted backward to get out of the ring because it was one of the rules of the duel that if the opponent is accidentally thrown out of bounds, the match will be over, and the person remaining inside will be declared the winner.
Mako used this tactic almost every time he was paired with a person whom he knew wouldn't go easy on him.
As Mako was about to reach the boundary of the ring, suddenly, a wall of earth emerged in front of him, blocking him from moving any further. Mako very slowly turned around to face Bill, who had a massive sadistic grin on his face. He slowly started to walk toward Mako.
"Oh, you didn't think I would let you go that easily now, did you?" Bill said as he continued to move slowly toward Mako.
Mako immediately considered ways to escape his current predicament, such as maneuvering to the side of the earth wall and exiting the ring, but before he could take even a couple of steps to the right, Bill conjured up even more walls to fully trap him.
Seeing as there was nowhere to hide or run, the only option that he had was to fight in hopes of getting knocked out quickly so the duel would be over.
The only way for the match to end was to either get knocked out or get thrown out of the ring; otherwise, the instructor would not interfere.
The only other time an instructor would call off the duel was if a student was on the verge of grave injury. Injuries didn't matter to them, as medical healing pills were so advanced that they completely healed minor injuries in a few hours.
However, Mako didn't have access to those pills as he would have to pay a hefty additional fee to receive them on behalf of the school in case of an injury.
Mako threw a left jab straight at Bill's face, but he easily dodged it. Mako continued to throw punches, kicks, and whatever other moves he could think of, but not a single one landed on Bill.
Bill continued to dodge everything, and the spectators started to laugh and ridicule Mako for his pathetic performance.
"This is getting annoying! It's time to take out the trash!" Bill suddenly shouted as he threw a crisp right hook into Mako's gut, sending him flying back. Saliva came out of his mouth as he collided with the solid earth wall.
Bill started running toward Mako, who was still disoriented from the first hit and didn't even notice the barrage of punches that were about to come his way.
All the spectators, except a few students, started cheering louder as Bill tossed Mako around, not holding back in the slightest.
There were cuts and bruises all over Mako as he was continuously picked up and thrown around, beaten, and slammed onto the ground by Bill.
He didn't stop there as he conjured a club out of a piece of rock using his earth ability and smashed it hard on Mako's forearm, causing him to yell out in extreme pain.
"Come on, dough boy! Don't die just yet!" Bill shouted as he continued to beat Mako in non-critical spots such as his limbs so that he would still receive the pain of every hit without passing out.
"What? Do you need your pathetic little granny to come save you? Oh, she can't! Because she's DEAD! Honestly, that's for the best; at least it's better than raising trash like you who only knows how to run away!" Bill taunted.
*Thud!* Thud!*
A sudden silence ensued in the hall as Bill uttered these words. As Bill raised his bat to land another heavy strike on Mako's back, Mako suddenly jumped in the air with all four of his limbs and kicked Bill in the abdomen with as much force as he could muster.
The crowd was in shock when Bill was knocked back a couple of steps. Mako managed to get on his feet in that short window of time. The entire gym became silent, with Mako's quick and heavy breathing the only sound that resounded throughout.
Mako continued to breathe heavily as the pain surged through his body. He raised his bloody face to make eye contact with Bill, who was also in shock at what had just happened.
"I have tolerated all of your beatings... tricks... and... bullying for almost four years since I got here, and I didn't once try to fight back, but if you F***ING DARE bring my grandmother or any of my family into this then I will F***ING END YOU, SO DON'T GO THERE!" Mako shouted with immense anger and resolve in his voice while facing Bill as well as the crowd of spectators who were cheering before.
The atmosphere around the ring completely changed with Mako's bold announcement, as anger and pain were the only things Mako could feel, with adrenaline pumping hard through his veins just to keep him steady.
After a few moments of shock and silence, during which everyone was absorbing Mako's sudden change in character, Bill couldn't take it anymore. He busted out laughing at Mako's ridiculous statement.
Suddenly, Bill stopped laughing as he took on an even more serious and scary expression while stating," I would like to see you try!"
With that said, he rushed forward and attempted to hit Mako in the head with his bat with every ounce of his strength.
This time, however, with so much adrenaline pumping through his system, Mako was able to dodge the bat just in the nick of time as it grazed past his head. After a successful dodge, Mako immediately went into a crouching position and unleashed as many punches as he could muster onto Bill's abdomen.
Even though Mako hit Bill's abdomen many times, his punches were weak and barely left a scratch on Bill's bare body. Bill stood there for a couple more seconds to try and humiliate Mako even more. Mako kept unleashing his fury of punches to try and cause damage, but to no avail.
The crowd and Bill started laughing loudly, which brought Mako back to his senses. His vision became blurry as he realized that his anger had just dug his own grave.
Mako slowly started to back away from Bill, who was still laughing like a madman, hoping that he would have a sliver of mercy in his heart and just quickly knock out Mako, but Mako couldn't have been more wrong.
Even though Bill laughed, it was just to ridicule Mako even more. Inside his consciousness, he was bubbling with pride and anger.
'This mere worm dares to even have the audacity to fight back, and not only that, he threatened me? ME?!' Bill thought.
"Oh, you're gonna pay for that heavily, MAKO GREY!" Bill shouted as he stopped his feet on the ground, which made the whole ring shake violently as if they were experiencing an earthquake. This earthquake, however, was only limited to the ring as the spectators didn't feel anything at all, but Mako knew exactly what was coming.
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Bill was one of the few people in Emerald High who had a level 3 ability as they were extremely expensive and the only way to obtain them was to have rich parents or in Bill's case, who has a retired father from the military who could source high-level abilities directly from the military for a lot cheaper.
There was a huge difference in the level of abilities as it was almost impossible for a person of a lower ability to defeat a person of a higher ability. The higher the ability, the more skills the person has access to and the more versatile and powerful the person's fighting style is.
Bill was about to use a skill he had displayed a few times before: small, blunt rods that would come out of the ground at random positions and erupt everywhere, dealing massive damage to anyone hit by them.
"Earth Pillars!" Bill shouted as he activated his ability. Multiple small pillars of the earth, with a surface area of a baseball and decent speed, came out of the ground at random, aiming at different positions on Mako's body.
Mako was assaulted from every direction at once as his body was bruised and cut by the pillars that were tossing him about. There was no resistance from Mako as he could barely get his thoughts together at this point, while the pillars kept tossing him about like a dead leaf being tossed around by raging winds.
Bill noticed that Mako was about to be knocked out cold, so he improvised his strategy to give Mako as much torture as he could physically muster.
"Earth Spikes!" Bill shouted as he activated yet another ability.
The pillars disappeared back into the ground, and small spikes made of earth with pointed ends started to erupt from the ground.
These spikes stabbed Mako all over his backside but didn't penetrate hard enough to damage any organs, as that would have disqualified him from the match.
Mako screamed in pain as the multiple spikes stabbed and remained inside him, holding him in a sitting position where even the slightest movement would cause immense pain and suffering.
Unable to move, Mako watched as Bill conjured another Earth bat and slowly started walking toward Mako. Mako just closed his eyes and accepted his fate as Bill approached him, ready to take a swing.
As the bat made contact with Mako's head, Mako's body was smashed into the ground, with the spikes retracting back into the ground.
Mako was knocked unconscious from that blow, with massive injuries as he lay there in a pool of his own blood.
This was by far the most brutal beating Mako had ever received, but Bill was still not satisfied. He didn't back down and conjured a boulder of Earth to squash Mako flat. But before he could drop the boulder on top of Mako, the Instructor stopped the match.
"Mako Grey is disqualified from the duel due to being knocked unconscious. Bill Johnson wins!" The Instructor announced.
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Author's Note: Hey guys! Universal Power System is one of my favorite projects, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. This is my very first work, so expect some amateur writing and a few slips. However, I always try to learn and correct myself so I can create a more coherent narrative. I hope you guys enjoy it. Don't forget to check out my other works!
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