"Let's finish this"
The moment Alex said that, the two men lunged at each other. Due to their overwhelming speed, they closed the gap between them in a split second and attacked.
Alex swiped his claws toward Jonathan's head, while the latter tried to hit him on his chin.
The two hands met in the middle, and a powerful shockwave spread in all directions.
Jonathan willed the swirl of wind around his arm to attempt to dissipate Alex's smoke-made claws, but it failed. Alex's control over his element was so perfect that even the wind couldn't break down something made of smoke if Alex gave it a solid property.
Meanwhile, Alex transformed a portion of his gauntlets back into a gaseous form and then shaped this part into needles, thrusting them toward Jonathan's head.
Jonathan created a sudden gust of wind, sending the needles back toward Alex with even greater speed than they came with.
Alex didn't even attempt to dodge the needles, and why would he? He was immune to the smoke element, so those needles wouldn't hurt him even if he let them hit him.
The needles just bounced off his face, surprising Jonathan, who was unaware of Alex's immunity.
Seizing the moment when Jonathan became distracted by the failed attack, Alex swiftly pivoted and delivered a round kick to Jonathan's side.
Jonathan bore the brunt of Alex's kick, stumbling backward, an instant later, the same needles that he had sent Alex's way pierced his right shoulder.
While the needles didn't inflict much damage initially, since Jonathan remained within the range where Alex could control smoke, Alex increased the size of the needles until they began drawing blood.
Witnessing this, Jonathan dispelled the swirling wind from his left arm and attempted to remove the needles with his bare hand.
"Wrong move" said Alex with a sinister smile.
The moment Jonathan touched the needles, they turned gaseous, leaving his right shoulder. They then reshaped themselves into needles again and lodged into his other shoulder!
"Arg...."
Jonathan groaned in pain as his second shoulder was pierced.
He should have realized that when Alex enlarged the needles, he was still within the range where Alex could control smoke. However, he didn't pay attention, and now he found himself with both arms pierced.
Even now, he remained in danger, as Alex could inflict more damage. That's why he increased the intensity of the fire at the sole of his feet and ascended into the air.
He flew upward until the arena became a tiny dot in his line of sight. Only at this moment did he extract the needles from his shoulder.
"I can't use both of my arms" lamented Jonathan.
The rules of the competition forbade the use of healing or strengthening potion, so he was struck with these wounds till the end of the fight.
'I can only count on my abilities now' sighed Jonathan as he descended from the sky.
When he descended to a height where he could see what was happening in the arena, his eyes twitched upon seeing Alex sitting leisurely in a chair made of smoke, smoking his pipe while gazing at his descending figure.
"You finally decided to join us?" asked Alex as Jonathan landed on the ground.
Jonathan didn't reply; instead, he activated his wind manipulation ability and created a tornado of wind.
He didn't directly launch the tornado toward Alex; instead, he added fire to the tornado, transforming it into a fire tornado.
"Just what I've been waiting for!" exclaimed Alex as he sprang to his feet.
Before Jonathan could grasp the meaning, Alex took a puff on his pipe, then exhaled green smoke.
Without waiting a second, Alex expanded the green smoke and swiftly transformed it into a giant spear that he sent hurtling toward the fire tornado.
Jonathan didn't know what this green smoke was made of, but his danger alarm tingled, prompting him to quickly seek cover.
Unfortunately, he was too close to the fire tornado, preventing him from getting far before the spear of smoke made contact with it.
BOOOMMM
The moment the spear hit the fire tornado, it detonated in a large explosion.
Fortunately for Jonathan, he was far enough to avoid being burned by the explosion, but close enough to be whipped by the shockwaves resulting from the blast.
He was sent hurling and crashed against the wall of the arena violently.
The mushroom of smoke created by the explosion lasted for about a minute before it began to dissipate.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
When Jonathan tried to get up, he coughed blood and collapsed on his knees.
"You should stay down; you are seriously wounded," said a voice.
Jonathan gazed at the direction from which the voice came from and spotted Alex walking toward him while whistling a happy tone.
"I guess, cough, cough, I lost" said Jonathan through his coughing.
"Yep!"
"What did...you mean...by 'what I've been waiting for'?" asked Jonathan as he rolled on the ground to lay on his back.
"You know that smoke users can control different kinds of smoke depending on the thing burned or vaporized?"
"Yes"
"You remember that green smoke, right? It was created by vaporizing a liquid called kalnium. The extraordinary thing about this liquid is that it can be vaporized despite exploding when in contact with fire. From the start of our fight, I've been pushing you so that you would create something like that fire tornado. That's why I targeted your shoulders, so you could only rely on either your fire or wind ability."
"What would you have done if I didn't use my fire ability and created just a wind tornado" asked Jonathan
"I don't know, but I would have a way" said Alex as he shrugged his shoulders.
In fact, Alex could have ended the fight the moment his smoke needles pierced Jonathan's right shoulder.
He could have targeted one of Jonathan's vital organs instead of his left shoulder when the latter made the mistake of trying to remove the needles with his bare hands.
However, he didn't do so for a simple reason: From what Jonathan said, his father had tasked him with helping Alex achieve his goals. So, Alex just wanted to know what the one supposed to help him reach his goals was capable of.
People hailed Jonathan as a genius, but he wanted to confirm it for himself.
'He is lacking in terms of control over his abilities; besides that, everything is good,' thought Alex with a satisfied smile.
Alex suddenly chuckled.
"Why are you laughing" asked Jonathan.
"Oh, nothing, don't mind me".
What made him laugh was the fact that he was judging the strengths and weaknesses of others, while just last week, he was considered a useless weakling by everyone except his close family members.
'Life sure has a way of coming around.'
"Anyway, what is your verdict about my current strength?" Asked Alex.
"Overwhelming" replied Jonathan as he was certain that even against him, Alex didn't go all out.
"Glad to hear that" replied Alex with a grin.
A few seconds later, Adrian appeared and shouted:
"The battle ends! Alex wins!"