Chapter 112: Your Best Is Just Not Enough

"Well, here I go!!"

SWOOSH!!

Edward dashes towards Adhara with both of his fists burning with fire, he is even faster than what Adhara expects.

Seeing this, Adhara back away while taking out her dagger.

The training she did behind Rex's back makes her comfortable enough to use a dagger in this match, she started to become a dagger wielder just like Edward.

CLANG!

Edward's punch hits Adhara's dagger.

From that exchange alone, Adhara was flung back even though she blocked Edward's attack.

Edward smiles cheekily, "You of all people should've known this, especially if you're hanging around Rex all the time"

Adhara perked up her ears before he continues, "When fighting an opponent who uses any kind of weapon, there is only one unbreakable rule that you must follow. The first to strike will be the first one to kill"

Hearing this, Adhara frowns. Getting reminded of something about Rex that she doesn't know makes her angry for some reason.

She's born from an ordinary family raised by her father, 

Although her father was also from the military, he usually trains Adhara physically, he never teaches anything about combat. or he didn't have the time to.

SWOOSH!

Edward flashes again, he was even faster than before.

Seeing this, Adhara activates the green rune on her neck before she tries to dodge Edward's attack.

BAM!

BAM!

Edward's attack was fast and precise, it always changes patterns.

This makes Adhara felt overwhelmed, the feeling is similar to the person who attacks her that night.

Edward aims for her legs but only changes direction to her stomach, his never-ending attacks rain down on her, and many of them manage to hit her.

It was akin to fighting a snake, trying to dodge its head and not realizing that its body already entangled her.

The crowd cheered after seeing Edward's relentless attack, it was a one-sided battle because of Edward's attack patterns.

The momentum makes her jumped back and back before she suddenly bumped into the arena's wall.

Adhara looks to her back and saw the wall is already right behind her, she tries to dodge Edward's attacks and unconsciously already got pinned to the wall.

She looks at Edward and notices the dagger on Edward's side, 'That daggers look familiar'

"You see now? Momentum is everything. Engaging in close-quarter combat will definitely result in blood, by attacking first will save you from the losing end", Edward said.

He's trying to teach Adhara even in the middle of the fighting.

"Flaming Scimitars!"

WHOOSH!

Dozens of scimitars appeared above Adhara's head, it was hovering idly and it emits a powerful heat that makes it blazing red.

But this heat didn't faze Edward, he only looks at Adhara with a smile.

Adhara waves her arms as the fire scimitars surround Edward from all sides like lurking beasts, it trapped Edward in the middle.

"What a powerful spell, I can tell that you hone this one to perfection", Edward said.

Although he praises Adhara's spell, the grin on his face didn't disappear in fact it got wider, "Fire Titan Art, Unbreakable Body!"

Edward's body starting to emit red energy that shields him, a red figure engulfs his body acting like some kind of armor that protects his entire body.

The crowd knows that Edward's fire is of a higher rank than Adhara's fire, it was evident from the way Adhara's fire swayed meekly when it got exposed to Edward's fire.

Before Edward can even finish, Adahra immediately launches the fire scimitars towards Edward.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The fire scimitars hit Edward again and again creating a booming sound, fire splashes everywhere as the scimitars exploded after hitting Edward.

It makes the crowd gasp because of the heat emitted from the arena.

Adhara glances at the blazing fire that engulfs Edward, her mind is still focused because she knows that Edward will not lose that easily.

Then, a silhouette appeared in the center of the blazing fire.

Adhara widened her eyes in shock,

Edward walks out of the blazing fire without a dent in the red-figure around his body as if the fire scimitars from Adhara are nothing.

Adhara knows that he's strong but to actually came out unscathed is still come as a shock.

Without wasting a single second, Adhara dashes towards Edward while imbuing her dagger with fire.

"That's it, you're starting to learn something", Edward praised.

CLANG!

Edward didn't move from his spot, the dagger collided with the red figure as it got stuck on it.

With all the power she had, Adhara can't seem to penetrate Edward's unbreakable body.

It felt like hitting a rock with a wooden dagger, the attack didn't hurt Edward at all but in contrast, it hurt Adhara's hand because of how rock-solid it is.

"At this point, you can just forget about being by Rex's side", Edward said harshly.

Adhara jumped back to create a distance, her expression darkened, "Stop telling me that", she mumbles lightly.

Her hands are trembling slightly, she got hurt by Edward's remarks.

"I know already! I know that I can't help him in the slightest, I tried my best okay! I did everything to be stronger!", she shouted desperately.

She knows from Rex himself that he needs someone that he can rely on, she tried to train in order to be that person.

But instead of getting closer to Rex, the gap between them become even wider.

The tournament today shows Adhara how far away Rex is from her, Rex even manages to reach peak rank three in such a short time.

Rex is growing too fast, she can't keep up with him.

Adhara knows perfectly well that the current her will never win against Edward, whatever she does in this fight, she will definitely lose in the end.

Edward is miles stronger than her, and she knows it.

This scene makes Edward shakes his head, he didn't expect it to be like this.

BAM!!

Out of nowhere, Edward suddenly appeared beside her as he sent a fiery roundhouse kick directly to Adhara's stomach.

"Huakh!!", Adhara was sent screeching to the other side.

Her body got flung away before stopping a couple of feet away, she spat a mouthful of blood that colors the ground around her.

Adhara's body is trembling because of the kick, It hurts her a lot.

She tried so hard to get back on her feet with a dagger in her hand, she manages to do it despite the pain all over her body.

Edward walks towards her slowly, "It seems your best, is just not enough", he said while taking the daggers from his sides.

Seeing the red dagger, Adhara widened her eyes.

"That dagger...you're the one who ambushed me before!", she shouted as she realizes.

The white figure that ambushed her that night is also a Fire Elementalist, his movement was precise and calculated, and he also has two red daggers on his side.

It is so similar to Edward's fighting style, the eye-catching red daggers give Edward off.

Hearing this, Edward smiles, "You caught on, at least you're not slow to realize", he said.

"Why did you ambush me?", Adhara asks slowly, she thought that the white figure was an enemy that wanted Rex but it's actually Edward.

Edward is Rex's friend so ambushing her doesn't make sense.

Just as Adhara becomes even more confused, Edward turns his head to Rex before he said, "Why you ask? Of course, Rex is the one who asks me to"

Adhara widened her eyes in shock, she didn't understand why Rex would do that.

Edward then continues, "And from what I experienced, I must say that I'm not impressed. It's even a little bit disappointing"

'Why did Rex do that? Is that a test for me? Will he abandon me now that he knows that I'm not up to standard?', Adhara thought in panic.

She's overthinking the situation, she even got dazed from the arena because of it.

Adhara glances at Rex and saw that Rex turns his head away, he knows that Adhara will lose this before he signals to Edward.

Seeing this, Edward puts the daggers back before his body burns in flame.

From the way Adhara currently looks, she didn't have the will to continue to fight anymore.

He then glances at Adhara still with his smile, he raises up his fist that emits terrifying fire energy, "Goodbye"

"Colossal Punch!"

SWOOSH!

'No, please don't! Rex!', Adhara screamed inside her head as Edward's fists arrive in front of her.

She looks at Rex desperately, before suddenly,

BAM!!

Edward's fist landed solidly on Adhara's stomach, it was as fast as lightning and she felt as if she got hit by a car right on her stomach.

"Akhh!!", She shouted in pain.

BOOM!

Her body got flung like a broken kite before she hits the arena wall creating a web-like crack.

Adhara's body got planted on the arena wall, it happened in a flash that even Adhara herself didn't get any time to react.

She raises her head to look at Edward with blurry vision.

Not long after, her vision becomes even more blurry as her eyes close amidst the cheer of the crowd.

The scene where Rex turns his head away is the last thing she remembers before she passed out.

The medic team went inside and take Adhara out of the arena.

Adhara fell unconscious because of Edward's punch, it was too heavy even for her half-werewolf body.

Inside the backroom, Rex sighs.

He's not worried about Adhara's well-being, she's a half-werewolf so her regenerative ability will definitely help her recover faster.

'Well, she got stronger but her opponent is Edward so I don't blame her', Rex thought.

Rosie on the other hand is still sitting on the bench, she's currently steadying her breath because of the nervousness that doesn't seem to go away.

She saw Adhara got beaten badly by Edward, and that makes her even more nervous.

The third round continues,

After another round where Rex uses his Alpha Intimidation, Kevin started to become suspicious.

All of the Faraday University representatives wake up stating the same thing, they didn't know what happened but they suddenly got dazed.

'What is happening? Who could've caused all of this', Kevin thought.

His head unconsciously glances at the Ochyra University's backroom, out of all the possibilities his hunch is telling him that Rex did it.

The fight keeps on going with Rex helping his teammates.

He keeps using his Alpha Intimidation and it always works because his Mental Stats is overwhelmingly high for early rank four even when it's weakened.

Thanks to Whiro's Necklace, his mental stats got boosted by 30 which is a lot.

'Alpha Intimidation is the best skill I currently have, it is overwhelmingly useful as long as my mental stat is high', Rex thought.

Because of this day, he realizes the Alpha Intimidation skill he has is very strong.

He decided to groom this skill because he thought that the skill will keep on being useful, 30% stats decrease is a lot.

'System, how may Skill Upgrade do I need to upgrade Alpha Intimidation skill?'

<upgrading alpha="" intimidation="" skill="" requires="" 20="" skill="" upgrade="" for="" its="" next="" upgrade,="" alpha="" bearing=""></upgrading>

Reading this, Rex frowns.

20 Skill Upgrade is a lot, even if he combined all of the Skill Upgrade he got until now he's still short a couple of Skill Upgrade.

'It's so expensive, what is this Alpha Bearing skill do?', Rex asks.

He was curious to what kind of powerful skill it turns into for it to require an astonishing 20 Skill Upgrade.

<alpha bearing=""></alpha>

The user's body will radiate the bearing of an Alpha, everything with lower mental stat who gaze onto the user will have their stats decreased by 30%. The user's presence will bring imminent fear to lower life forms, and the fear effect can be stacked.

Seeing this, Rex's eyes bulge in shock.

Alpha Bearing skill is a very powerful skill, it can decrease anything that gazes onto him.

'This skill is basically Alpha Intimidation that can affect countless enemy, unlike Alpha Intimidation that can only be used to one person', Rex thought.

Because of reading this, he really wants to learn this skill.

It was akin to a debuff to anything Rex fights, it is an effective skill that is made to fight multiple enemies at once.

While Rex was thinking, Hera and the others were cheering happily.

They manage to get the lead somehow making Faraday feel threatened to lose the tournament, they all didn't know that all of their wins are thanks to Rex.

Just then, Rosie suddenly got up from her seat.

Rex notices this, he glances at Rosie and finds her trembling slightly as she walks to the gate.

'It's her turn?', Rex thought.

Because of his conversation with the system, he didn't hear Rosie got called.

Rosie didn't talk to him as she went straight for the gates, it was so unlike Rosie that makes Rex quite surprised.

'What's wrong with her?', Rex thought.