''Why the hell can''t I see him move?'' Rocky wondered as he felt genuine pressure while facing an opponent for the first time in his life.


    Usually when he fought an opponent, he could catch their muscle movements which helped him estimate the direction of their iing attacks.


    It was either their eyes that gave away where they were aiming, or the constriction of their muscles, or if Rocky could not see either, then it was the movement of their limbs which helped him anticipate the direction of their iing attack, however, with Zhi he could not notice either.


    The guy was unreadable, one moment he was in front of him and the other he was attacking from the side.


    It was impossible for Rocky to track his movements which made blocking his attack a near impossible task.


    *Bam*


    *Bam*


    *Bam*


    *Bam*


    Rocky kept getting hit on his bare body with nunchucks non-stop, as he felt every inch of his body hurt and bruise.


    If he did not have the constitution akin to that of an orc, Rocky would have undoubtedly broken every single bone in his body under Zhi''s relentless barrage, however, since he had a really resilient body, he managed to weather the impact.


    ''Motherfucker-'' Rocky cursed in his mind as an attack from Zhi hit his left rib with great speed and seemed to have left a crack.


    *Swoosh*


    *Swoosh*


    Swinging wildly, Rocky tried to catch Zhi off-guard, however, his wild sword swings only opened up his defenses for a counterattack, as Zhi hit a nunchuck straight to his jaw.


    *St*


    A mouthful of blood escaped Rocky''s lips when the nunchucks hit his face as for the first time in his life, Rocky felt the taste of metallic blood fill up his mouth during a spar.


    ''At this rate I won''t even survive 30 more seconds, he''ll knock me out cold …'' Rocky thought as he staggered backwards and for the first time in his life thought about running away from his opponent, just to buy more time to regroup.


    ''I don''t know what''s going on, but this speed and power has to be artificial, if he was so strong naturally then I would have been pushed back from the first time we exchanged blows.


    Whatever technique he''s using to increase his speed and strength has to be artificial for sure-'' Rocky thought as although he did not understand why Zhi was so fast and so strong to the point that he could not even track his movements, however, he was convinced that nobody should be able to sustain such speed forever.


    ''I should run away-'' Rocky thought, as his brainmanded his feet to move backward, to create space between himself and his enemy, however, his ego would just not let it budge.


    ''The champion of Gemini doesn''t run away from anyone-'' Rocky''s ego said, as although he knew that he was wrong to be so egotistical, he still could not bring himself to retreat.


    ''Is standing my ground here more important than victory itself?'' he questioned himself, as he felt two more blowsnding on his back and back of his knee, as he buckled under the force.


    *Cough*


    Coughing yet another mouthful of blood and being dropped to his knees, Rocky looked absolutely pitiful and on the verge of defeat, as all he could do was put his arms up like a boxer, to protect his most critical organs from a defeating blow.


    Trying to stagger back his feet, Rockymanded his knees to get back up, however, his muscles did not respond to his will.


    Although he wished to regain his posture, his body did not feel strong enough to get back on its feet as Rocky felt the umted damage from all the hits he had received finally catching up to him.


    *POW*


    *POW*


    *POW*


    Zhi repeatedly bashed Rocky''s arms with his nunchucks, trying to break open his guard and end the fight, however, Rocky held firm and absorbed all the shocks.


    Usually an opponent''s bones would have shattered to pieces against a single one of Zhi''s blows, however, while Rocky''s skin turned red and his bones started to bruise, they did not break outright, which surprised Zhi a lot.


    ''Just how strong are his bones? Is he a half-dragon?'' Zhi wondered as he kept repeatedly hitting the same spot again and again.


    *Crack*


    Finally at the seventh hit, Rocky''s right arm-bone finally cracked with a loud sound sending waves of pain through his body, however, at this point his knees finally regained enough strength for him to stand back up as he was able to dodge the eighth hit.


    At this point, Rocky faced a near Importance choice.


    On one hand he could try to run away and dy the fight, hoping that Zhi ran out of gas, or stand his ground without any hope of fighting back.


    The rational choice was to definitely run away and Rocky understood now that if he did not run away now, he would undoubtedly lose this fight, however, he still refused to run away because deep down in his heart he felt like running away was the wrong choice.


    He was a very prideful man, who truly considered himself to be a dragon amongst men.


    His pride was not unfounded nor was it a projection of what he wanted to show himself as. But it was rather a goal that Rocky worked towards realizing someday, and he knew that if he ran away today, then the first thought in his mind whenever he faced a tough fight would be to run away and he could not ept that.


    The stakes in this fight were minimal, even if he did end up losing this fight, apart from his public image taking a dip there was no other loss. However, if he ran away, the loss would be in his own perception of himself, as while Rocky could ept being a loser, he could never ept being a coward.


    Hence, standing his ground, Rocky once again tried to use [ Twin de Hurricane ] and once again Zhi somehow slipped through it and hit Rocky hard in his guts.


    *Pah*


    Buckling down to both his knees, Rocky spat a mouthful of blood as he clutched his stomach trying to lessen the pain.


    At this moment, everyone watching the fight felt assured that it was over, that Rocky had lost, as it was evident to everyone that Rocky was not Zhi''s match.


    "I can''t believe it…. I can''t believe Rocky is losing so pathetically to someone of our generation."


    "Are all Champion''s of gods such freaks of nature? Are we really talented ourselves or are we frogs at the bottom of a well?"


    "Rocky is not even participating in the university tournament. If a freak like him doesn''t even make the cut for Principal Liam, then how high will the difficulty of the tournament actually be?"


    " I think this defeat is for the best, Rocky really needed to be shrunk back to size, his ego was starting to be as big as a mountain troll.


    At least now he will be more humble around the university halls-"


    "Shut-up, when has Rocky not been humble? He''s a really nice guy to talk to, don''t spread baseless rumors about him-"


    As everyone seemed convinced of Rocky''s end, and as Zhi swung the finishing blow aimed at Rocky''s neck, something unexpected happened as Rocky''s body got enveloped in a light purple aura.


    As Zhi''s attacks hit Rocky it almost bounced off harmlessly against the purple aura, as Rocky slowly staggered back to his feet.


    *Sizzle*


    *Sizzle*


    Suddenly, Rocky''s upper garment started to sizzle and burn as within seconds his upper body was bare, with his rippling muscles on full disy.


    Purple smoke seemed to be rising from his exposed back, as the source of the smoke seemed to be the giant tattoo on his back.


    "That child just received a god''s blessing…. How lucky…" Mu Ban murmured, as Liam''s frown deepened.


    On rare asions, Champion''s of gods received temporary blessings from their patron gods and the current protective aura that Rocky had around him seemed to be one such blessing.


    Although Rocky waspletely unaware about the entire process, somehow he felt his injuries rapidly healing and his body insted against all attacks as he literally turned invincible.


    Zhi kept trying to open up his defense using his most powerful attacks, however, no matter how hard he tried, all his moves only bounced off Rocky''s aura harmlessly as while Rocky could still notnd a counterattack on Zhi, thetter could not hurt him either.


    Caught in a stalemate, it became a waiting game for the duo to see when Zhi ran out of steam, which after about 20 seconds he did, as his movements suddenly turned sluggish and readable.


    *Block*


    *Block*


    *sh*


    Finally opening up his defenses, Rocky found himself capable of turning the tides as his sword shed open Zhi''s side, drawing blood from his opponent.


    "Yield Zhi…. It''s over" Mu Ban shouted from the stands, as for a moment reluctance shed in Zhi''s eyes as just like Rocky he did not wish to run away or yield either, however, unlike Rocky he wasn''t stubborn enough to stick with it.


    With his mana burn over, he knew that he was progressively going to only grow weaker over the next few seconds and that there was no way for him to retaliate against Rocky''s offense anymore.


    " I….yield-" he said hesitantly, as Professor Mae instantly stepped between the two, calling for the end of the fight.