''woah... that was rough.''

ross thought as he stood tall and looked at brad in the distance. he was not going to lie, that sound attack did a number on his senses. even now, his vision was slightly blurry and his ears rang insistently.

that sound attack was no joke. as ross thought about this, he promptly decided to end this before things got out of hand.no?v(el)b\\jnn

with a thought, he bolted towards brad who was recovering from the powerful blow he received.

the temperature, potential and kinetic energy ross'' flames carried hit him like a speeding train. it was incredibly heavy and if it wasn''t for his powerful stance, he would have been sent flying.

his right fist hurt like hell and he even felt that his digit bones might be fractured. as these thoughts spun in his head, he noticed ross running towards him like an angry bull determined to finish what it failed to do.

''tch.''

with greeted teeth, brad got up and readied himself to evade. their physical speed and power were not matched, but the difference wasn''t so wide that he wouldn''t be able to react to ross'' speed.

in a moment that felt like an instant, ross appeared before brad and threw a high kick powered by his flames as it closed in on brad''s face.

watching the approaching leg, brad bent backwards as the flaming kick whooshed past his face. he might have dodged it, but the heat coming off that kick was still too high for someone with little resistance to high temperatures.

as he evaded the kick, brad saw ross not react as he continued with the momentum and sent the other leg towards his chest. and unlike before, his other leg was without the flames.

it seemed ross was just going in for a physical attack before following it up with something else.

''you wish!''

with an internal shout, he brought both hands together and then made a gesture that created visible spiral ripples in the air. he was gathering his sound ability for an attack.

ross also noticed the action and broke a small smile. he then channelled his mana and his leg lit up in flames as a flame beam came out with the force of a speeding bullet.

the dust clouds, flames and resounding ring slowly died down as the spectators waited for both fighters to recover.

"that was unexpected..."

alex muttered and shifted his gaze to the site of their clash. he didn''t think brad was that strong and he was right.

in terms of physical enhancements, ross was stronger than ross. what they had overlooked was the uniqueness of the way he used his abilities.

because sound could bypass defences and mess with a person''s senses, it was a versatile ability designed to cripple your opponent.

the ability was even more dangerous in the latter stages of the power ladder, but that was just by the way.

right now, if ross didn''t finish brad off, he might become too disoriented to bring out his true power.

"well, he should have finished him off the moment the fight began instead of playing around." julia was not pleased with ross'' action, but what ross chose to do was up to him.

"doesn''t matter. at least now he knows he shouldn''t play around with a sound ability user." alex turned the experience into a learning moment.

they were still young and had a lot of things to learn and experience before they truly became strong. small mistakes like these were necessary for ross to learn and grow.

as ross and brad recovered from their shock and damage, they slowly shifted through the sea of sand and rocks before finally standing back on their feet with some effort.

ross could still feel his insides vibrate as a trace of blood leaked from the corner of his lips. everything his eyes fell on vibrated continuously, his ears were ringing and could not hear anything besides his own thoughts.

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it was a miracle he was even standing.

''lesson learned.''

he thought to himself and continued to examine his surroundings.