Author's P.O.V
Luca made it to the door of his team waiting room but then sighed in a stressed-out tone, he opened it to be met by a loud cheer that drove him to cover his ears.
"LUCA THAT WAS SO AWESOME!" everyone shouted out except Trinity who just smiled at them all, as Luca just walked in with a stressed look on his face and made it to the couch.
"You had us going when Paul started to have an edge on you" dante called out with both Rin and Mark nodding at a fast pace. "I thought you had planned on finishing the battle pretty early"
"Yeah, what happened to 'I am not gonna spend time on this battle', was it just a bluff?" Rin called out and folded her arms with smugness on her face, though this made Luca t just glare at her with 'Really?' look "Hey! I'm just asking really"
"Well at least my opponent put up a good fight and wasn't behaving like a wet noodle, You technically had their weak link," Luca said back, while laying down his sheathed katana on the floor... And proceeded to lay on the couch with a very big sigh of relief. "Though I could have ended it all from the very beginning... But he had something up his sleeves."
"Huh, what do you mean-." dante tried to question but was then cut off by Luca, who just kept on staring up to the ceiling.
"I could have ended the battle as fast as possible... But I couldn't because of two things" Luca pointed out while bringing up two fingers and still deep in thought. "I decided to let my guard down and just blindly overestimate him from the very beginning, due to the mana test and I have far more mana presence than him... But obviously, that wasn't the case, this battle proved that he had more to give, the almost endless attacks of wind moves and not to mention that his twig... I look small but trust me, it packs a punch."
"Yeah we kinda figured that out, but that shouldn't even be a problem for you It seems you out-skilled him," Rin said while still having her arms folded and even dante nodded in agreement with her, but Mark seemed to be in deep thought.
"I know, it was quite obvious from our first encounter... But that's when the second reason comes into play-" Luca was about to call out this reason but was then interrupted by Trinity, who just held up her right hand and grabbed his attention.
"He had a second relic or arm with him then... Guessing that you were pushed back during one of your finishing attacks by an attack that seemed almost too precise... Am I correct?" Trinity finally spoke and gave her analysis of his battle, as while everyone was in shock by this, Mark still kept on being deep in thought. Luca folded his arms and looked down with a sweat drop.
"... Y-yeah... Though I want to say it!" Luca muttered with an annoyed look on his face as Trinity just giggled at his childish expression. But then Luca got back his serious expression and focused on what he was on about. "But yes... If you were to sum it up. The relic was a medallion that seemed to create this auto defence mechanism... But there was this crazy feeling I got from it... This odd vibe from it..."
"What do you mean Luca... By odd?" dante called this out and hardened his face due to the gravity of attention Luca had placed on that particular part of his words.
"That medallion was meant to give off a mana presence similar to the user's mana presence ... But instead, It felt so foreign from Paul's own... It wasn't just an arm or relic... It was a charm... A strong one." Luca called out as this made everyone in the room take his observation very seriously. "... I don't know where he got it from... Or from where it is... But just make sure to be extremely careful-."
Mark got off the ground and started to stretch his shoulder blades and head towards the door.
"Yeah, I already got the memo... No holding back from the start." Mark said placing his hand on the door handle and staring back at them with an excited grin on his face. "Trust me, this just makes me even more pumped up... And I wouldn't have wanted it any other way."
"You speak with so much confidence Mark... Please be careful alright." Trinity called out to him with her usual gentle smile on her calm face, resulting in him grinning even more.
"Next up... Mark Kinal!" the general announced and a loud cheer erupted for him to make it to the arena.
"I will... Now time to kick some ass." Mark concluded and walked out of the door and headed straight for the arena.
Mark then walked into the arena and just as he stared up to see his opponent, the general then called out for them to start the match. Making Mark get a good look at his challenger.
'Cron huh... Let's see.' Mark thought and just started to get into a fighting stance with his right fist outward and his left inwards, as his leg got spread out to make sure he had a better footing and then his face was suddenly painted with a large grin that started to get to cron from across the arena. "I'll make this as quick as I can."
"You seem confident huh... Trust me, this isn't a battle you'll just be able to punch your way out..." Cron resorted out towards him and just had a very neutral look on his face as he kept on staring at Mark's face. "You're an Aurora user huh... Then let's see if you know the true way of inner control"
Cron started to shift his form into a more serious stance.
"Get ready... Fight!" The very moment the general announced, a sudden blast of wind and dust exploded from the terrain and just as the cloud of dust had cleared, it revealed Mark had zoomed from his position to Cron's back area as if already landing a strike, though everyone just stood idle and quiet and the sound of small rocks that got displaced into the air started to fall to h ground... Creating an almost heard echo that indicated just how quiet the terrain became.
Suddenly Mark started to lean further as if he was about to fall face first and was starting to cough out blood though he held his heart in pain his facial expression was far from being in pain.
"Let me tell you something... It's no use being an Aurora user if you just charge in head first-" Cron got cut off by Mark who had instantaneously blitzed to the side of Cron and was ready to launch a side jab to his face, as this shocked Cron a little bit. 'he's still going huh?'
Cron thought until he just evaded and grabbed Mark's jabbing hand and Judo flipped him hard towards the group with so much force that the ground shook from the impact. A cloud of dust rose from the ground but just as it cleared, Mark's body was not present anymore and just as Cron stared up, he immediately jumped off the ground to avoid a devastating stomp that technically shattered the entire floor with so much force.
'This guy just keeps on moving even with the first technique I did on him from the very beginning... Which is meant to stop his heart for just some time for him to get fortified... But he still stands.' the cron thought with his same neutral face, but then he started to notice that Mark while remaining in his stomp form, started to breathe heavily. 'Although... It seems to still be wearing him down... I may not even need to go very seriously.'
The moment Cron started to reach the floor, his instincts immediately screamed for him to move his body backwards into a mid-air flip to avoid an uppercut from Mark who was already there... But how.
The shockwave from the uppercut caused a short-timed swirl of wind to spread around the ring, though Mark seemed to remain in that position as Cron had finally landed on the ground.
"Your strength and speed is something that is far above my expectations... Though in front of my techniques and patience of execution... They're nothing..." Cron said with his usual neutral voice, as Mark's mouth started to bleed and his body started to shake just a little. "My next move should be just enough to put you down... You're not gonna win."
Back at the 12th reps waiting room.
"COME ON MARK!" Rin tried to cheer out, but everyone seemed to have a very troubled expression on their face... Though Trinity was still very calm and just said.
"It seems Mark is going to have some problems from here on out... Though I'm sure he'll get his footing." dante then stared at Trinity with a confused expression on his face.
"But that cron guy is using techniques over Mark. And Mark is just getting injured badly from them... Even his speed and strength is not helping..." dante pointed out and Rin agreed to this and even Luca seemed worried by this and nodded at this observation.
But Trinity just kept on her calm expression and kept her stare at the screen but then squirted her eyes just a little bit and smiled, as she turned her head towards dante.
"Well, haven't you heard of the expression" Trinity spoke and dante replied.
"Which is?"
.
.
.
"That when it comes down to untamed strength... Even techniques are useless at that very point." she retorted.
Back at the battlegrounds.
Cron stood and was about to attack but then felt a tinkle of blood spill from his right cheek and felt a sudden pain in his rib cage left side... And then his eyes widened in shock and stared at Mark who was not in his previous stance from the very beginning... And had that big grin from before.
"You said I'm gonna lose huh... Then let's test out that theory, come
at me!" Mark roared out with a look of determination, as both he and Cron then charged at each other.