Sparing

Seeing the group make their way into the training room, Arran had to clamp down on the sense of foreboding that he was feeling. When they had all gotten to him Arran finally had a chance to get a good look at them all.

Apart from Rommel, who Arran recognized, the rest all gave Arran a mixture of various feelings. Arran was able to sense that all of them had very different opinions about him, chief of those being a strong dislike that Arran was feeling coming from the eyes of a particular well-muscled gorilla.

As the group reached Arran, beating Rommel to the chase, Stock wasted no time in saying, "boy come over here, we have a little test we want you to participate in."

Rommel, who was about to say something, shot a glare at Stock but ended up keeping his words to himself. It would not be good to look divided in front of an outsider who did not know of the rivalry that existed between them.

What he failed to realize was that Arran did not miss this particular detail.

Arran, knowing that he was under other people's roof, did not have any big reaction and instead asked.

"What is this test that you all want me to participate in?"

Stock replied, "it's very simple, you just have to spar with this recruit over here." Saying so, the group opened up and Stock pulled out a person who had been behind them all this time.

Arran looked at this person closely. He had actually seen him before, hanging behind the group but had quickly dismissed him as an unimportant person since his aura did not quite fit into the overall group.

Now Arran paid closer attention to this person.

At a glance, Arran was quickly amused. The person was for want of a better use of a word, unsuitable to be called a sparring partner.

He was a slightly freckled person of average appearance and he was still wearing a white lab coat which gave away his identity as one of the medical staff.

Seeing the look in Arran's eyes, Stock realized the situation and was slightly embarrassed. He shot a look of dissatisfaction at the person they brought for the test.

Brendell was a person who could be said to have great ambitions. He had grown up from humble beginnings and had put in a lot of effort to get to this place. Other than hard work he had prided himself on being able to spot various opportunities to attach himself to different pillars of strength.

He knew that he did not have the talent to become a warrior and instead had to use his smarts to develop as an intellectual instead.

That was why, when this group of bigshots came to the lab to asked for new recruits to perform a task for them, he was the first to rush up and offer himself in order to curry favor with them. Even if they were not from the same department, who knows, he might just impress them and they will, in turn, remember him. For him, that was enough.

That was until he got here and found out that the task was to spar with this person.

He had heard all of the rumors of a mortal that had recently been brought from the lower realms and upon sensing that there was not a shred of vital energy coming off of Arran, he was already very sure of his identity.

Feeling confident, he stepped forward and said loudly, "mortal I will be your opponent. But don't worry, I'll go easy on you."

Taking a quick look to the side and seeing the perplexed looks on the faces of the bigshots, Brendell felt that they were impressed with his attitude and this confirmed his resolve to put on a good show.

Arran was looking at the clown while sneering in disdain.

He had already figured out what kind of person he was, so without sparing him another glance, he turned to Stock and asked, "how am I supposed to spar when my opponent is stronger than me in the first place."

Stock, whose skin was sufficiently thick answered, "you don't have to worry. Since you don't have any attainment, he will suppress his in other to even the playing field."

He continued, "in case you say we are still being unfair, then you should know that your martial skills are much higher than his, so you should have enough confidence to not lose very badly.

Brendell frowned when he heard the bigshot say that the mortal's skills were better than his own. Sure, his martial skills were not his best achievements, but he did not think that he would lose to a mortal.

Arran did not care for Brendell's thought and immediately agreed.

Seeing that Arran had already agreed, the group made their way to the side to make way for Arran and Brendell to move to the ring at the center of the room.

Immediately they got onto the ring, Brendell's face turned hideous and he did not bother looking at Arran straight, instead choosing to do so with his nose up in the air.

He said to him, "mortal, it is your misfortune to be able to exchange blows with me. For me, it would not even take more than a single hand to defeat you even if I have to suppress myself."

Arran upon hearing this, was on the verge of laughing out loud because he had heard something similar from Kasack the other time. This situation was very amusing because Brendell in front of him did not even give him a tenth of the pressure that Kasack gave to him, so what gave him the courage to say those words to him.

Arran was enraged and was feeling murderous because he knew that he was being underestimated and his face held a wisp of killing intent.

To the side, Rommel and the group had the urge to beat Brendell senseless, but after feeling the killing intent coming from Arran, their expression changed and they were looking forward to the match even more.

Not wasting any time, Stock immediately said, "begin."

Immediately, Arran moved.

Arran's steps were steady as he made his way towards Bredell. Each stride that took him closer to Bredell increased his aura and momentum such that it gave one the impression that there was a dangerous beast lurking by the corner ready to pounce.

Stock and the rest nodded because they knew that this was an intimidation tactic that was used against a strong enemy in order to make them flustered and lose their cool, which will lead to them making mistakes.

Brendell was affected by this and it made him feel a trace of doubt in his ability to deal with Arran. This only infuriated him and he felt a sense of shame knowing that the bigshots were watching this fight. Because of this, he was determined to crush Arran.

When Arran was close enough, Brendell immediately swung his arms ferociously, like a mad bull swinging its horns around. His move created a strong gust of wind as his arm made its way to Arran's face.

Arran felt the strength contained in that punch and knew that he could not receive it, so at the next moment his moves changed and he retreated.

When Brendell saw Arran retreating he was overjoyed and started giving chase. In his mind, Arran was afraid of him and he did not dare to meet him head-on.

As the fight continued, Brendell's moves grew increasingly wild and unrestrained. Each of his moves felt like it could rend flesh and shock bones. Seeing this Rommel and the others frowned in dissatisfaction.

Arran who was facing him smirked to himself, his actions were steady. He was tossing probes and taunts, trying to bait Brendell into revealing holes in his defense and fall into a trap. One moment he was throwing a jab to the waist, in the next he circled around Brendell to deliver a kick to his shin.

As the fight continued, Brendell was getting impatient.

Arran was like a slippery loach and there was no way to land a hit on him. Knowing that he was likely to exhaust himself before he could land a hit on Arran, Brendell stopped and purposefully exposed a flaw. He started gathering power like he was about to make a big move.

Arran immediately noticed this flaw and did not let it go to waste. Like a tiger, he pounced forward and stomped on the floor to deliver a kick to Brendell's head.

Brendell sneered to himself and immediately threw himself towards Arran.

What Arran didn't know was that the technique that Brendell was using was a way of accumulating power in the body so that one would be able to resist one attack and catch their enemy off guard and capture them in a grapple hold.

This was used especially to trick the enemy and end the fight in one fell swoop.

The people-watching on the side shook their heads at this and started commenting.

"Sigh, the boy was too hasty in that attack now."

"If he had been a little more patient, he would have been able to exhaust his opponent."

Someone else said, "you can't blame the boy, it's not like he is familiar with our move. I feel that he has done well so far."

"That's right. Besides, who's to say that the boy would not end up exhausting himself instead since his vitality is far from his opponent's level?"

Everyone felt that the fight was already over and that Brendell would win.

Stock looked at Rommel and said, "Rommel do you see that. I said that the boy would not be able to compare to his peers. Look he cannot even win against an intellectual even when he was given a handicap."

Rommel looked at him and said, "The fight has not ended yet, so what's the hurry?"

"Hmm, do you see something that we don't, or are you just reluctant to admit defeat," Stock asked.

Rommel just let out a small smile and said nothing. The others who knew how Rommel was immediately shifted their gaze to ring and paid closer attention.

At this moment, the situation on the ring was progressing as predicted and Brendell who was confident in his victory was laughing loudly and said.

"Hahaha, I told you that there was nothing you could do to win against me. I said that you had no chance."

"You are just like a clown jumping in the palm of my hands."

Arran hearing all this was still very calm.

Just as they were about to come into contact with each other, Arran withdrew his leg and they brushed past each other.

Brendell's face betrayed his shock.

"How?" he was about to ask.

Arran did not give him any time to recover and using his foot as a pivot to swing his body, he kicked Brendell in the back of his head.

The kick stunned Brendell whose movement froze slightly. For Arran, that was all he needed.

Not letting up, he delivered another kick to Brendell's temple and continued punching him until he was almost knocked senseless. Seeing as Brendell was not falling even after receiving a serious beating, Arran could not help but be envious of his vitality, even if he did not specifically train his body.

This furthermore confirmed to him how strong everybody here was. Even someone who was not a fighter was able to cause Arran to use all his strength to defeat him.

Not giving Brendell any time to catch his breath, Arran continued to beat him down until his face was bloody and he was rolling on the ground like a bug. He would have continued if Stock had not raised his voice to interrupt.

"That's enough."

Throwing one last kick to the gut, Arran immediately made his way down the ring and stood before Stock and the others as he asked cockily, "well, how did I do?"