Chapter 263: A Very Powerful Opponent (2)

Chapter 263

....But George managed to raise his arm and deflect most of the impact.

Even so, Alex could tell that the attack had hurt him. George’s expression remained calm, but his breathing had become slightly heavier. Finally, some progress at last.

Alex pressed forward, determined to exploit the opening before George could recover. Yet the longer the battle continued, the more something began to bother him.

George had opportunities upon opportunities to attack.

There had been moments when Alex’s movements left openings that a skilled fighter of his caliber could have exploited. George had noticed those openings, judging by the way his eyes followed Alex’s movements, yet he never took full advantage of them.

Sometimes he countered with a harmless strike that merely forced Alex to retreat. Other times, he simply blocked and waited for Alex to attack again. On two occasions, George had even taken a direct hit rather than retaliating immediately.

That made no sense. Alex wasn’t some inexperienced rookie who had wandered into a fight without understanding the consequences. He knew how dangerous an opponent could be, and he had been doing everything possible to kill George.

So why was George refusing to attack? Was he toying with him?

That was certainly possible, but Alex couldn’t shake the feeling that something else was happening.

George’s smile suddenly appeared even more irritating.

"What’s wrong?" he asked, deflecting another punch. "You’re slowing down. Don’t tell me this is all you have to offer."

Alex ignored him and drove his fist toward George’s jaw. George blocked it, then leaned closer.

"Come now. I heard so many interesting things about how you took down two Ascendant Realm fighters. Surely you can do better than this?"

Alex pulled away before George could continue. His expression remained cold, but his thoughts were moving rapidly. Something was wrong.

He couldn’t explain it yet, but every instinct he possessed was telling him to end this fight immediately. And if George intended to drag things out, then Alex would simply stop playing by his rules.

He jumped backward, putting ten meters between them. George watched him with open curiosity.

"Oh? Have you finally decided to run?"

Alex didn’t answer. Instead, he raised both hands, and crimson light began gathering around his palms.

The temperature in the surrounding area raised as the bloodthirsty energy condensed into three blazing spheres. Their surfaces churned with destructive power, and the air around them distorted from the sheer intensity of the blood red energy packed inside.

George’s eyebrows rose slightly.

"Now that’s interesting."

Alex thrust his hands forward, causing the three Crimson Supernovas to shoot toward George from different angles, moving so quickly that the surrounding air exploded behind them.

George immediately shifted his body and dodged the first sphere. He stepped sideways to avoid the second, then bent backward as the third passed above his head.

All three attacks missed.... At least, that was what it appeared to be.

George straightened, still wearing his familiar smile, but the expression finally disappeared when he noticed where the crimson spheres had stopped.

One hovered several meters to his left. Another floated to his right. While the last one hung directly behind him. Together, they formed a triangle, with George standing almost perfectly in the center.

For the first time since the battle began, his face finally changed. His eyes narrowed, and his relaxed posture disappeared as he finally understood what Alex had done.

"You little...!"

Alex vanished using void step and then reappeared beside Celine, who was still lying near the ruined building. He caught her around the waist before she could react and immediately activated Void Step again, carrying both of them several hundred meters away in an instant

Celine barely had time to gasp before the world shifted around her. When they reappeared, she found herself standing on a deserted road, with Alex holding her securely against his side.

"What do you think you’re...!"

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The explosion swallowed her words as a monstrous flash of crimson light erupted behind them, making even sky look red for a brief second, followed soon after by a deafening roar that shook the surrounding area. The three spheres detonated almost simultaneously, unleashing a devastating wave of energy that tore through the ruins and engulfed everything within a radius exceeding one hundred meters within it’s destruction scale.

Celine stared at the distant explosion, with her eyes now widened in shock.

"Since when did you have an ability as destructive as this?"

She turned toward him, looking as though she wanted to continue asking several questions at once.

Alex couldn’t blame her.

He had just unleashed enough destructive power to flatten everything within a considerable area, and he had done it without giving George any warning.

However, he wasn’t particularly concerned about the destruction.

He had noticed that the surrounding streets were already empty. After George and Celine’s earlier battle, the residents had long since fled the neighborhood, leaving the area deserted. That was precisely why Alex had decided to use Crimson Supernova without holding back.

If innocent people had still been nearby, he would have chosen a different approach. He wasn’t about to let his desire to kill an enemy turn into an excuse for murdering people who had nothing to do with their fight.

Celine opened her mouth again, apparently preparing to ask something else, but she eventually closed it and remained silent.

She could wait until the battle was over.

Alex continued staring at the smoke.

He could barely make out anything inside the enormous cloud, but he knew how destructive Crimson Supernova could be. With George trapped between the three spheres when they detonated, escaping the center of the explosion should have been extremely difficult.

Even if George possessed some kind of defensive ability, surviving the combined blast without sustaining serious injuries would be another matter entirely.

Alex slowly exhaled. That should do it. Either George was dead, or he had suffered injuries severe enough to end the fight.

For the first time since the battle began, Alex allowed himself to believe that he might actually have won.

Then all of a sudden, a fist slammed directly into his stomach.

The impact was so sudden and violent that his eyes widened in disbelief. His body folded around the blow, and an unbearable wave of pain exploded through his abdomen before he was launched backward like a cannonball, flying hundreds of meters through the air while coughing out blood midair!