Chapter 23 - The Truth

"What are you talking about? Why did you hit me?" Ian said angrily and confused.

"You lied to us about your power. Your base strength isn't 31. It has to be higher," Kevin yelled back.

Ian gave a more confused look before saying, "And what gave you that idea?"

"While watching your fight, I was paying close attention to both of you. If it were true that your base power is 31 and Ellie's is 19, then you should have gotten a bit tired from the fight. But not a single drop of sweat appeared on you." Kevin replied angrily.

Ian thought something like this would happen and so he already had a reply to it.

"I'm a hunter. You've seen the types of creatures I kill in a single trip. I can hold my own against opponents that are stronger than me. A fight like this wasn't going to tire me out so easily." Ian yelled back slightly frustrated.

When Ellie heard this she felt a bit hurt. Not only did she not tire Ian out, even by a bit, but he pretty much said that their fight was less than pointless. She wanted to say something but Kevin cut her off again.

"That may be true but the reason for what I said also helps confirm my suspicion."

"Oh, and what reason may that be?" Ian didn't think that Kevin had a real reason to back up his claim so he wanted to see what he would come up with.

Kevin, upon hearing what Ian had to say, said, "That punch I threw at you had a power of 40 behind it and you were able to block it easily without taking any damage."

Ellie and Emmett were surprised to hear this. If it were true what Kevin said then Ian's arm should have been hurt from the attack. But it wasn't.

Ian did not expect anyone to pull something like that. If someone thought of doing the same thing and it turned out that they were wrong, then it could have serious consequences.

However, Kevin was going to take that chance. He must have believed that his theory was correct. And now he had even more evidence to back up his claim.

"Fine, if you really want to know what my base power is then I'll tell you. It's 39." Ian said this hoping that it would convince them. But the next moment, Kevin threw another punch at him.

Ian was quick to react and put up both of his arms to block the punch. When the punch landed on him he could immediately tell that it had more power than the last one.

"That punch had a power of 50 behind it. Are you going to tell us the truth or am I gonna have to increase the strength of my punches?" Kevin was not going to take any of Ian's garbage.

Ian couldn't think of any excuse for this situation. He stayed quiet trying to think of a way to get out of this situation. He didn't say anything for so long that Kevin threw another punch with the 60 power behind it.

Ian was able to block this punch as well but this time he did feel it. It may have not been a strong enough punch to hurt him but he did feel a bit of pressure on his arms.

"So your power is still above 60. You better tell me what it is or else I'm going to keep increasing the power of my punches." Kevin said as he readied to throw another punch.

Ian didn't want to tell them the truth mainly because he didn't want to cause an uproar in the village. No one has ever heard of someone having a base power higher than 35, so for someone to have a base power of 63 was unheard of. He also didn't want to bring too much attention to himself since he enjoys his privacy.

Kevin was getting ready to throw his next punch while Ian continued to think of how to get away from this. He wanted to run away but both Kevin and Emmett could catch up to him. Not only that but there was barely anywhere to hide.

He had no more options. Kevin threw the punch which was aimed at Ian's face. Right as it was about to hit him, Ian put up his hands and yelled out, "OKAY! Okay, I'll tell you, just don't hit me."

Kevin's fist was only a centimeter from Ian's face when it stopped. He quickly retreated his arm before saying, "Go on then."

Ian fell to the ground as he let out a sigh of relief, then went on to say, "I'll tell you what my base power is but PLEASE don't tell anyone else. I would like to keep it a secret for now."

Everyone looked at each other trying to see if anyone had any objections. No one said anything so they all nodded in agreement to Ian's term.

Ian took a pause to prepare himself before saying, "My true base power…is 63."

There was a moment of silence as everyone took some time to process what Ian had said.

"63!" Emmett and Ellie screamed in shock. They didn't know what to expect but this was beyond anything they could have thought. Kevin on the other hand looked unfazed and said, "Okay, I believe you." afterwards, he walked away.

Emmett was trying to wrap his head around the news when he decided to ask, "So if your base is 63, then what is your max output?"

"I would rather keep that to myself until I figure something out," Ian replied, expecting them to ask something like that.

Emmett wasn't going to push it since he didn't think he could process what the answer would be.

Ellie, however, took the news in a different direction. She still had a hard time believing Ian, but then a thought crossed her mind. She angrily walked up to him and grabbed his shirt before saying, "So you're telling me that I could have used my full power and I still wouldn't have been a match for you?"

Ian had a moment of panic and tried to explain, "This is why I didn't want to spar. You said that you wanted a fair fight and I knew that I couldn't give it to you."

"BS! If I knew that your power was this high then I could have gone all out. I told you that I wanted to know what it's like to go up against someone who is stronger than me and with your base power I can truly test my skills."

Ellie let go of Ian and went back to her side of the battleground. When she got there she yelled out, "You owe me a proper match so get ready."

Kevin agreed with her and told Emmett to move away so they could fight again. Emmett compiled and moved to where Kevin was.

Ian was surprised, he didn't think that Ellie had enough energy to keep going, but then again when she gets angry she can ignore her fatigue.

Ian wasn't going to complain and instead chose to go to his side of the field. He once again took his battle stance and waited for Kevin to give the signal to begin.

Kevin looked at them to see if they were ready. When they were, he yelled out, "BEING!" to initiate the fight.

Ian wasn't going to wait for Ellie to make a move so he decided to rush her immediately. This surprised her, she didn't think that Ian would come running at her, not only that but he was moving at twice the speed he did before. She had barely had enough time to react, but even so, she was too slow.

Ian swiftly moved behind her to avoid Ellie's attempt to attack. However, he wasn't going to end the fight so soon. He had been embarrassed by Kevin and was going to let out some of his frustration in this fight.

Ellie had trouble keeping track of Ian as he did laps around her. Even with her power activated, she couldn't follow his movements. This was going to be a true test of her abilities.