Hearing the name Cromwell being called out brought a lot of excitement to Eric. He smiled with anticipation. He was planning to watch Hurst fight as well, so since the both of them were paired to fight, it really worked out for him.
'Ok, Arlo, let's see what you are made of.'
Eric had some suspicions about why his scan ability did not work on Arlo. One reason was that the ability was still weak and couldn't pull up the information. That seemed odd because it seemed to work on all the other trainees. His other thought was that Arlo was just too strong to get a read on. That felt unlikely; the only ones that he could get a read on were a couple of the sergeants and the lieutenant. Him being on the same level as them seemed highly unlikely due to his age.
The two fighters walked into the area and stood twenty feet away from each other. Hurst stood there with his feet in a fight stand, but his arms were to the side, bent up like he was flexing. Arlo stood there straight up, almost like he was in attention, just a little more relaxed.
"Begin!" One of the sergeants called out.
Hurst lifted his palm up, and a rock formed floating above his hand. It was the size of a basketball. He thrust his arm forward, and the rock followed suit. It launched right at Arlo's head.
'What is he doing?' Eric asked himself, seeing that Arlo had no expression at all and didn't even move.
Right be for the rock made contact Arlo stepped to the side. The rock wizzed by his head, barely missing him. Arlo's silver hair was seen swaying in the wind that came off the rock.
'What was that? Does he have bad reaction time? No, I can't be. He's not that fast to wait to the minute to dodge it.'
Arlo began nonchalantly walking toward Hurst.
'No way, this guy doesn't seem to be taking this fight seriously,' Eric thought.
Hurst lifted up both palms this time, creating two stones of the same size. He thrust both palms forward so that they went flying at Arlo once again. Still, Arlo had no expression about what had been launched at him.
Arlo took a step to the side and got out of the path of one of the rocks. When the other rock was two feet away, he threw out a punch, hitting it. When his fist collided with it, a loud thud was heard. The rock exploded into pieces, leaving a small dust cloud where the rock used to be.
Eric could see that Hurst's eyes widened in amazement, but he wasn't the only one. The rest of the spectators had the same responses. Eric's also noticed that the hand of Arlo that hit the rock wants injured in any way. The skin didn't even break a little.
'What kind of ability does he have?'
Arlo straightened his uniform and continued walking forward. This time Hurst held out his hand, creating another rock hovering in mid-air. This time it was twice as large as the ones he previously made. He twisted his hand, and with that, the rock began to spin. He would twist his hand back and forth a few more times, each time the rock would spin faster and faster.
When Hurst was satisfied with the spin, he thrust his hand out again at Arlo. Arlo squinted and turned his head to the side, like he was confused by it. When it was just three feet away from him, he stepped forward and grabbed it with two. A loud buzzing sound could be heard from it still spinning in his hands. While holding it, he started to slide back.
Eric turned to look a Hurst. His hand was in his forward thrust position, like we were still pushing it.
"Rrrrrrrrrrah!" Arlo let out a roar, and then the rock stopped spinning.
Soon after it stopped spinning, it began to crumble in his hands. He began walking again to Hurst's location, smacking his hands together and shaking off the dust.
'This guy is a monster. I'm stronger than most or the trainees here, thanks to my system, but there is no way I could pull that off.'
He was only ten feet away, and Hurst didn't waste any time. He dropped down and placed both hands on the ground and said, "Earth Pillar."
When those were said, an earth pillar shot out from the ground, aiming right at Arlo's groin. Arlo saw this coming, so he threw his legs back and lunged his upper body forward, placing his hand on the pillar. He let the pillar push him back. Once the pillar stopped moving, he stood up and went toward him.
It is a common practice for people to call out names for their abilities. All abilities are used in conjunction with their imagination. They have to visualize what they want their powers to do. It is easier for most to have a name for what they want to do to help with the visualization process. Saying the name immediately creates the visual of what they want.
Once Arlo was right in front of Hurst, Hurst stomped his foot and said, "Earth Pillar!"
A pillar shot up under Arlo. He jumped back and took a swing at the pillar. The top two-thirds of the pillar were busted up and fell to the side. Before the dust was clear, Hurst threw a punch and hit Arlo in the face with his fist covered in rock. His head slightly moved to the side. Hurst threw another one with his rock fist, and it had the same result, with Arlo's head moving to the other side.
Hurst then decided to go all out and threw out a volley of punches hitting his face. This took place for but a moment before Arlo grabbed both fists and then immediately Hurst stomped his foot on the ground. Every one could feel the earth tremble. One of the pillars that created the fighting area dislodged and fell toward Arlo.
'Hurst has a fast reaction time in response to Arlo. It's almost like he had it planned. He has definitely improved since the last time I was with him. But, sadly, I don't think its going to end well for him either way. I hope he can prove me wrong.'
Arlo kicked Hurst in the stomach, sending him flying ten feet away, and then he jumped back, dodging the pillar. Hurst coughed up a bit of blood, then stood up slowly. When he looked up, Arlo was already standing there in front of him.
'I was thinking he had super strength for an ability, but he moved way too fast to have that ability.'
Arlo, with one hand, grabbed Hurst's uniform jacket and said, "Concede... please."
Hurst made a rock fist and threw a punch. Before it could hit, he kicked his leg, bending his knee in the other direction. A loud pop could be heard where the knee broke.
"Aaaaaahhhhh!!!" Hurst cried out in pain.
Arlo let go of his uniform jacket, and he dropped to the ground. He took a step forward and placed both hands on Hurst's head.
"Concede, or I will kill you." Arlo said with still no emotion on his face.
Arlo started to move Hurst's head around. Showing him that his life was in his hands.
"I… I… Give up!"
Arlo let go, and one of the Sergeants proclaimed, "Cromwell is the winner."
With that, Sergeant McKenny teleported in doing the same thing as before. Teleporting away with the injured and teleporting back. The sergeant called the match and walked over to Arlo, giving him the beast gem he had won.
'Wait a minute. The match was over as soon as Arlo grabbed Hurst's head. But the match wasn't called. Were they actually going to let that play out? Are they really going to let him kill the others? What is happening here? Something is going. Something has changed since we arrived. Are lives not important?
Something felt off with Eric. Thoughts about this whole thing started going through his mind. He didn't understand why the academy was going to such extreme lengths. He had a mixture of emotions. Confusion and anger filled him. Confusion because he didn't understand why all of this was happening. Angry because he was tired of people not being valued.
'Even if we are at war, aren't we supposed to fight to protect lives?'
He took a deep breath to calm down. He did it a couple of times due to his anger.
'I guess my second suspicion was correct. He is insanely strong. What could this guy have gone through to have been pushed to get to this level?'
He grabbed the beast gem in his pocket and pulled it out. He stood there looking at it in the palm of his hand.
'I was hoping to get something made from this or even perhaps sell it for money so I can buy equipment. For me to stand a chance now, I don't have a choice.'