A battle unfolded in a way Alex never anticipated, but there was nothing he could do. For someone as abnormal as Spamati, words seemed to have no effect.
As if he had glimpsed into the future and knew that his knee would soon be rendered useless, Alex swiftly altered his movements. He used both of his hands to push against Spamati's chest, creating some distance between them.
Spamati, losing his balance because of this, couldn't land the punch he had in mind. He thought:
"Haha, this guy is quick-thinking. He looks like he has a lot of experience, but why would an ordinary person have this? This country hasn't seen war in a long time, and there aren't any battlefields nearby either."
Though he found it a bit perplexing, Spamati's evaluation of Alex went up a notch. But that didn't mean he would stop attacking Alex.
Suddenly changed the intention to attack, and Spamati didn't immediately rush forward. Instead, he stood still, staring at Alex, who was still trying to regain his balance.
Seeing Spamati standing there watching him, Alex thought:
"What's going on? Why did he suddenly stop in the middle of the fight? Does he have some kind of motive?"
Before he could finish his thought, Spamati spoke up:
"Hey, you're pretty good. Want to become my lackey? We can rob, kill, set fires, and then rule this world."
Alex was startled by this insane proposition. He immediately shook his head and replied:
"I'll never kill people even if they want to kill me. I will never steal, destroy property without cause, or desire to be a king."
Spamati furrowed his brows, feeling puzzled. According to him, such a proposal should be very tempting to an ordinary person. He thought:
"Maybe I misjudged him. This guy doesn't look like a normal person at all, so he wouldn't be tempted by wealth or power. Although I'm not fond of those things either, the process is what's interesting."
But since Alex refused, there was only one option left - beat him up. Spamati shook his head and said:
"What a pity. I thought I'd have a useful lackey. If you won't listen, then get ready to take a beating."
Once again, Spamati charged toward Alex, but this time, there was a significant difference. His speed was much faster than before.
This startled Alex, who was now desperately thinking:
"What? Has this guy reached the second level? No, it's the peak of the first level. But what kind of monster is this? Is he some kind of illegitimate child of God? How can he be this lucky?"
Even though the opponent hadn't summoned his martial soul yet, Spamati was now at a level that Alex couldn't fight with ordinary means.
Summoning his martial soul, Alex immediately thrust his spear straight toward Spamati's heart, hoping to injure him.
It wasn't about killing him but injuring him because Alex knew he had no way to destroy Spamati at this moment and he didn't want to kill human.
And indeed, that was the case. In Spamati's eyes, the spear tip darting toward his heart wasn't moving too fast. He smirked:
"Haha, too slow."
He instantly grabbed the shaft of the spear and, with astonishing speed, slammed Alex to the ground.
The violent impact caused Alex to cough up blood, and cracks started appearing in his bones. But he was still conscious enough to immediately retract his martial soul.
While this move did slow Spamati down for a brief moment, that was all it accomplished. Spamati quickly appeared in front of Alex and flashed a "friendly" grin.
He grabbed Alex's leg and used him like a nunchaku, repeatedly slamming him into the Earth. The poor Earth suffered some damage on the surface, while Alex was beaten to the point where most of his bones were on the verge of breaking.
Suddenly, Spamati stopped and tossed Alex to the ground. At this point, Alex's body was so battered that just one more strike from Spamati would be enough to kill him on the spot.
This pause wasn't out of momentary pity but rather intentional from the beginning. What Spamati did next was even stranger.
He immediately climbed up a tree and picked an energy fruit, but instead of eating it, he threw it right in front of Alex.
Clearly, since he had reached this level, he understood the value of the energy fruit. If he used it for himself, he would obviously become even stronger.
He looked at Alex, who had completely lost consciousness. To be precise, Alex had been unconscious for a while but was still being slammed into the ground by Spamati.
Spamati looked at Alex for a moment, then simply laughed and walked away, saying as he went:
"Haha, try to get a little stronger, okay? You're so weak that after just a little fighting, you're almost dead. Too boring!"
As for whether Alex could continue living, Spamati didn't care. If he experienced even a slight impact now, Alex would die immediately. If he were lucky, he might still have a chance to regain consciousness.
If he did wake up, he'd have a shot at survival because the energy fruit had the ability to restore his body. This, of course, didn't apply to those of too high a level, as it didn't contain enough energy.
If Alex managed to survive, it was hard to say whether that would be lucky or unlucky since he had caught the attention of someone who enjoyed beating him.
Although the energy fruit might make him stronger, he was still far from Spamati's level. In the near future, if they met again, he'd likely get beaten to a pulp once more.
But that would still be considered lucky. Given Spamati's nature of doing whatever he liked, it wouldn't be surprising if he killed Alex outright.
.....
A day passed just like that, with Alex lying still in the same spot until dawn. Luckily, there were no predators around. Otherwise, we will never see the Human Saint again.
A few friendly birds flew by and left a small gift that dropped onto Alex's head, causing him to wake up. What that gift was? Of course, it was something the bird wanted to get rid of.
Alex slowly opened his eyes, his face looking incredibly haggard, as if he were on the brink of death. He was severely lacking in energy due to his body having expended so much during the recovery process.
He no longer had the strength to turn his head and look around, but fortunately, Spamati had left the energy fruit right in front of him.
Alex was quite surprised, thinking to himself:
"What's this? I'm still alive? Did that guy suddenly have a bout of compassion? Never mind, I'll eat first, or I might die soon anyway."
He summoned all his strength to move one of his arms. His actions were not much different from someone recovering from paralysis due to a stroke.
He touched the energy fruit, then slowly pulled it closer to his mouth, and began to eat.