Mike Vs Kris (II)

Mike tensed his arm and started to swing it, his aura taking the shape to allow for Primal Rend.

But just as Mike was about to complete the motion...

SPLURT

Pain shot through his arm as his movement was halted.

Mike's eyes widened as he saw that one of the chains hadn't pierced through his wrist, blood flying.

The chain had been fast, far faster than the prior ones. But more than that, it looked different from the other ones.

It was a bit thinner, and the silver color was more prominent than the others. However, the most notable feature was the sharp, bladed head at the end of it. The same head that had pierced through Mike's wrist. Which was shocking, considering his durability.

Before he could think more about it, the chain wrapped around his arm, and his entire body was lifted off the ground before getting slammed into the ground with so much force that he bounced.

Mike felt the air leave his lungs from the impact as the chain lifted him again, and this time, he was whipped through the air like a rag doll before being slammed into the ground with even more force.

Mike's vision went white temporarily as the pain overloaded his senses, but it was only for an instant. But even then, as soon as he recovered, there were already dozens of chains descending on him. None of them had the same sharp heads as the one that was currently through and around his arm, but that many would definitely halt his movements.

Growling, Mike made a claw with his free hand and unleashed a Primal Rend on the incoming chains, the attack destroying a few and halting the others.

Then, Mike gripped the chain that bound him with both hands, not caring about how it aggravated his injury.

Kris noticed this and immediately tried to make the chain slam Mike once more. But to his surprise, Mike didn't budge.

It was like he'd tried to pull an unnaturally heavy boulder, and the surprise at his attempt failing was enough for Mike to do what he wanted.

His aura flared as he allowed the Primal part of the ability to come into play. The integrity of the chain immediately lessened, and with a grunt, Mike pulled the chain, and a moment later, it snapped.

As soon as it did, the chain dissipated into particles of energy, and Mike's wrist now had a sizeable hole within. But astonishingly, the flesh within started to regrow at a pace visible to the naked eye, a tuft of steam being emitted as it healed.

For a moment, Mike and Kris stared at each other, having a bit of a standoff.

Then, Kris snapped his fingers, and several more chains with sharp ends manifested.

Seeing this, Mike exhaled.

'If those are anything like the one from before, then dodging them will be too difficult, let alone blocking them. Unless...' Mike took a breath, and in the next moment, he did two things.

First, he unleashed his aura at its maximum output.

His pores opened up to the max as the smoke-like aura thickened around him. Moreover, Mike allowed the Primal part of the aura to run freely, and immediately, his surroundings seemed to become oddly muted, as though everything in the vicinity was cowering.

After that, he did something that was, understandably, quite risky.

THUMP

THUMP

THUMP

Mike's heart rate started to pick up rapidly.

He immediately glanced at his status panel. Specifically, he looked at his ferocity.

Ferocity: 17% (slightly unstable)

Ferocity: 21% (slightly unstable)

Ferocity: 29% (unstable)

Ferocity: 35% (unstable)

As his ferocity rose, Mike started to feel a shift in himself.

Suddenly, everything started to get sharper, and it was like the world was entering a different sort of focus.

His breathing started to turn ragged and his veins bulged. He felt like his blood was on fire as a restless energy filled him. His muscles also expanded a little, and his blue eyes glowed even brighter.

There were some small changes, like his canines getting sharper, his fingernails getting longer, and his hair growing out a little. The changes were small, but they were there.

He wanted nothing more than to run around and vent this extreme energy that pulsed through his veins. His entire body felt hot, but not in a bad way.

It was like he suddenly had an adrenaline rush, and he wanted more.

He wanted to give in to the intense feeling more, and he could. All he needed to do was think about it, and he would fall further into this feeling.

But he didn't.

He took a shaky breath, and his ferocity stopped rising, stopping at 39%

Mike had been thinking a lot about ferocity.

It was closely tied to his emotions, and upon reaching a certain threshold, he would start to transform into his wolf form.

However, Mike had noticed that whenever his ferocity rose, his stats would start to rise.

Moreover, the increase wasn't small, either.

He speculated that if he were to fully transform, he'd get a boost of around ten times. Then again, it wasn't easy to measure, as there weren't clear increments whenever his ferocity rose.

Anyway, Mike had been thinking, 'What if I can use this to my advantage?'

Essentially, he'd get himself angry in and allow his ferocity to rise to a certain point without crossing that threshold, granting him a boost in strength in the process.

It was an extremely risky thing as Mike was walking a fine line, and walking over the edge would have significant consequences. So was it smart for him to try something like this during a spar that had absolutely no consequences whether he won or not?

No

But Mike didn't want to lose.

At the very least, he wanted to give it his all. Well, as much as he could give without exposing himself, before he conceded defeat.

Now, while it was risky, the payoff was simply huge as Mike looked at his stats.

STATS

Strength: 51 → 119.0 (+68.0)

Agility: 52.8 → 118.3 (+65.5)

Endurance: 56.4 → 141.5 (+85.1)

Vitality: 80.8 → 137.4 (+56.6)

Perception: 51.2 → 105.8 (+54.6)

Allocatable Stat Points: 15

Ferocity: 39% (slightly unstable)

Mike stared at the stats and felt a strange feeling well up within him.

It's crazy to think that he'd only joined the Academy two weeks ago. If he had to fight himself from then, he'd be able to thrash dozens of those versions with ease, especially when one remembers that every stat point Mike gains is increasingly better than the last the more he levels up.

From start to finish, Kris hadn't attempted to stop Mike from doing what he was doing. In fact, he almost seemed to want Mike to push himself so far.

Mike grinned, his lips pulling back to reveal unnaturally sharp canines.

"Time for round two." He said and started to run Crimson Ladder as well.

He leaned forward, and then his figure blurred as he covered the distance between himself and Kris in a second.

Several chains immediately intersected in front of Kris, and as soon as they did, Mike threw a punch with his full strength behind it.

It sounded like a bomb had gone off as Mike's punch created a visible shockwave that swept through the arena.

The chains bent inward slightly as they started to crack, Mike's aura passively suppressing the energy that made them up.

Several more chains appeared around Mike, but he didn't even pay them any mind as he opened his fist and grabbed some of the chains before using his other hand to do the same, and then he pulled.

CREAK

There was a loud metallic groaning sound before several chains snapped in quick succession, leaving a small gap in Kris's defense.

Still grinning, Mike pulled his fist back and was about to throw a punch, but then one of the sharp-tipped chains shot from below to wrap around his arm.

But amazingly, as soon as it got close and made contact with Mike's aura, its appearance visibly dulled as the chains almost turned muted, and the speed was reduced significantly.

Mike ignored it as it made contact with his body, but by then, it barely weighed on him as he finally threw a punch.

For the first time during this entire fight, Kris moved.

He sidestepped Mike's attack with a calm yet calculated movement, and in an instant, two chains wrapped around each of his hands as he put his arms up. He wasn't scared of close combat, it seemed.

Mike obliged as he prepared to throw hands with Kris, ignoring that there were more than a dozen chains aimed his way which would undoubtedly be annoying, but he believed it wouldn't be consequential.

But before they could collide.

They suddenly jumped back as a bright orange flaming arrow struck the ground between them and erupted into a pillar of flames that stretched for several meters into the end before settling.

The boys slowly turned to look at Theresa who had manifested her flaming bow. She was still in a shooting motion, and right now, she had a sour look on her face.

"Try not to fucking kill yourselves, alright?" She huffed.

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