After his encounter with the lunatic, Sonic fell on the ground and heaved a sigh of relief. He stared at his hands which were on the verge of death. This was the first time he felt his confidence in his speed dwindle while he recalled what happened a few moments earlier. It''s as if he came face to face with death itself... no, more like life and deathbined into a swirling vortex of the unknown. Sonic didn''t know how to describe the feeling he felt. Either way, he was scared out of his wits. It was one of those unforgettable moments that will scar someone forever.


    "I came out of there alive, unbelievable." Albeit his unusable hand, Sonic didn''t feel bad about escaping. He could finally rx.


    Sigh~


    "Oh, wait~~~!"


    Suddenly, an all-too-familiar voice resonated through the forest, making Sonic perk his ears up as he stood in a sh. He knew who owned the voice— the crazy girl.


    ''Run!''


    ''Run!''


    ''Oi! I said run! What are you doing?!''


    No matter how much Sonic patted his legs, it wouldn''t budge. He was glued to the ground as his knees buckled. Once again, he felt shivers run up and down his spine while he felt like throwing up. The genuine fear of death arose as well, which cemented him in his ce.


    From a distance, he watched in horror as Sassu ran towards her, waving her hands frantically as if to taunt him to run. Despite that, Sonic helplessly gulped as he finally copsed on his knees.


    Three meters.


    Two.


    One.


    With a gulp, Sonic shut his eyes tight he felt the ragged breathing of Sassu in front of him. And somehow, he felt her shadow, much more sinister than normal— or maybe it was just him overexaggerating things. Nevertheless, Sonic was on the verge of peeing his pants, the tingling pain on his dying hands became all the more evident.


    "I forgot something!" Sassu cheerily said, fully knowing that Sonic was really afraid of her. And yet, she continued to torture him by touching his injured hands— the hands that Sassu used her life force superpower on. "It looks like a tree bark, doesn''t it? Does it hurt a lot? I reckon it must''ve hurt a lot." Sassu went on, pressing on Sonic''s forearm, then at his palms, then at each of his fingers. "Does it hurt? Does it? Come on... you tell me, I won''t know unless you t out tell me. Come on! Come on!"


    Meanwhile, Sonic just kneeled there, on the verge of tears. Of course, it hurts a lot, but he didn''t want to encourage the demented girl in front of her. Doing so is just begging for more, after all.


    While all that was happening, the pain in his hand was gone in an instant. He clenched and unclenched his fists and to his surprise, it was all back to normal. "My power''s the life force, what I take, I can bring back." Sassu continued. "Don''t worry about your right hand, it''s all back to normal. Sorry for scaring you like that back there, I was a bit scared and I didn''t know what to do."


    After coquettishly showing off her eyshes at sh, Sassu then stood up and waved her hands. "See you whenever! Sorry about all that!"


    And just like that, she was gone.


    .....


    Siril bit his lips, as another de flew by, almost cutting his head off. Well, to him it felt that way but such wasn''t the case. First off, killing isn''t allowed in the Inter-High Tournament. That''s why using a killing blow would result in immediate disqualification. But then again, it''s not like the killing blow would be stopped on time so the victim would be dead nheless even though it would result in the disqualification of the other party. ''Yeah, I''m just overthinking thi— no, definitely not overthinking things!"


    Another de of wind passed through his head. This time, it was more powerful than the first and it cut the tree behind him cleanly. With that enough force, it would''ve been rtively easy for his head to get chopped off and he wouldn''t even feel a thing. ''What a terrifying superpower. It''s just wind maniption and yet it''s this scary. Third years really are on another ne of existencepared to us first-years.'' Siril said.


    Right now, Siril knew it wasn''t the right time yet to transform into his Dragon Form, that''s why he only transforms a part of her body here and there. If it was about to get cut, then he''d shift that certain body part into its dragon form. That way, his opponent won''t know what his superpower is, and at the same time, he''ll be able to save enough energy until help arrives. When Siril thought about ''help'', he was pertaining to his opponent receiving help. As soon as they''re gathered around, he''d unleash his superpower and blow them all away. It would be a quick loss for them and free additional badges.


    "What are you doing? You won''tst long enough! Haha~!" The opponent screamed as he continued firing Wind des in an erratic manner. "Just keep on defending like a coward. Let''s see where you''ll end up." He grinned, continuing his onught.


    If it were any other guy, then they''d have been afraid of multiple wind desing at him. But it was Siril who was on the other side of the ring. For better or for worse, he could defend himself for a few days before he runs out of energy. But the guy whom he was fighting with, he stood no chance at all. Not only was he exhausting himself out, but he was also wasting every bit of his power in case something unthinkable happens. ''He''s the type of guy to go all out, guns zing, on the first round of a match. He''ll get tired soon.''


    Siril may seem like he wasn''t having a hard time but in all essence, he was. Right now, it was taking every ounce of his focus to just carefully expect the Wind desing at him. Fortunately, he trained his reflexes so that he could shift and revert as fast as possible. He never would''ve thought that he''ll use something like that in a pointless fight such as this.


    "Why won''t you go down?!" The guy screamed However, he didn''t stop relentlessly attacking Siril. He was getting exhausted but he knew he had one job. He was tasked to attack someone from the USA and injure him or her in the very least. That way they''d have lesspetition on the next rounds. He could still remember the exact words of their leader before they were all transported to the stage. ''Find one, injure him or take it out, then regroup with us. We''ll be waiting by the center of the stage. Take care guys.''


    It was supposed to be easy. Yes, it was supposed to be easy and yet everything was backfiring at him right at that moment. His opponent was unscathed after all the attacks he fired at him. Moreover, he didn''t budge at all. For some odd reason, he managed to deflect orpletely defend all his attacks.


    "What''s going on? Are first years from the USA really this strong? My wind des are already powerful enough to cut through rocks. How is he still alive after all that? No, maybe he has a superpower that focuses on defense. Yeah, that may be the case!"


    With that thought in mind, the guy briefly smiled before changing his tactics. If regr wind des won''t work, then he''d just have to condense them and make them even more powerful. He will still be expending the same energy but his wind des are much smaller, faster, and a few more times deadlier.


    "He''s changing his tactics. I''m sure of it." Siril told himself. For a moment, he thought that maybe he should use his trump card and defeat the guy in an instant. But after further contemtion, he decided to challenge himself and try to hold out as much as he could. Because of that, he also smiled briefly, leaving the guy confused.


    "Did he read me? Is he a psychic? Maybe that''s what his superpower is." The guy continued.


    On the first hit, Siril flinched. He could tell that the wind des have gotten stronger. It was strong enough to even scratch his dragon scales, which was scary since none had ever scratched his dragon scales before. ''No wonder he''s a candidate here. There aren''t any noobs in here.'' Siril thought.


    He still didn''t shift to his dragon form though.


    .....


    On the other side of the brush,


    The man whom Satoshi and Midori noticed back then was finally leading his team to the center of the stage. But before they could get there, they heard a scuffle. Curious, he gestured that everyone remained quiet as he sneaked to watch what the fight was all about. ''If I''m lucky, I''d be able to steal another badge, or two.'' He licked his lips.


    But upon seeing that one of his team members was fighting, he felt a bit confused. There he was, the strongest wind maniptor in his school, and he was having a hard time bringing down a defenseless opponent.


    "What is he doing?" He asked himself, perplexed.