Chapter 19: Astral Countering Bullies
Kalon stood across the rooftop from Brandon without moving a muscle.
Brandon’s brow rose as he saw this.
"Not going to chicken out and squirm like you usually do?" He turned to his friend and laughed. "Look, Kalon’s grown some balls under his micropenis!"
The friend Brandon was laughing with was named Pedro. Kalon remembered his face very well.
Pedro had taken a picture of him when Richard pulled his pants down. He was a big part of the reason why the word had spread around the first year.
What made it worse was that the boy wasn’t even strong... most of his stats were F+ rank.
If it wasn’t for his dad being the owner of a professional fighter organization made only for attractive women, no one would give a fuck about him.
"Can we get this over with? I have stars to look at."
Kalon’s words cut off their laughter.
Brandon’s face became serious.
"You might be the first man to ever rush a beating. Haha, let’s do it then."
Then the brute started approaching.
He didn’t bother moving with any speed. Not because he was too big to, but rather because there was no need.
Kalon would never dodge his attack or fight back. Brandon was a brute with D- strength, so Kalon knew he had no chance.
Eventually, Brandon stood towering over Kalon, looking down on him.
His left hand shot out to grab Kalon’s shirt.
His hand was swatted away...
Brandon looked down at his hand, confused. There was even a red mark on the back of his palm from where it had been slapped away.
His face suddenly filled with rage.
"How dare you?!"
Brandon reached forward with both hands this time, grabbing hold of the smaller guy’s shirt.
Kalon tried to slap them away again using his agility, but it didn’t work.
When Brandon moved with full force, even an agility buff couldn’t save Kalon.
His shirt was grabbed, and suddenly, a red energy began to form around the top of Brandon’s skull.
He tilted his head back until he was looking up at the sky, then swung it forward.
Kalon’s eyes widened in fear.
He did not know the details of this skill, but he was very familiar with it.
Once, the man had headbutted through a brick wall.
Even with Steel Body, Kalon doubted that he would be able to survive an attack like that. At the very least, he would be concussed and suffer brain damage.
This wasn’t like the officially sanctioned battles that took place in healing domes, which would heal you from even the most severe injuries.
This was the real world. A place where death was possible.
Kalon couldn’t allow himself to die.
He activated Astral Counter.
Parrying a strike from this position was difficult. As the head came toward him, he lifted both hands and swiftly placed them between their faces, pushing upward.
The force of the strike collided with his hands. He felt a few bones in his hands rattle, but the headbutt didn’t reach his head.
Instead, Brandon was forced to let go of Kalon, who was sent sliding a few meters back across the rooftop.
Brandon’s head lost its red glow, but a look of surprise appeared on his face.
"You actually survived? Maybe your training is paying off. I’ll make sure not to hold back then, hehe."
Brandon began to stalk forward again, but what he didn’t know was that Kalon had already stored the energy from that previous attack inside his body.
He gained an understanding of the skill.
D+ Rank Skill: Meteor Headbutt
The force of this D+ rank skill had spread throughout his entire body, and now it could be sent back to his opponent with a catch.
It seemed the strike did not need to be returned through a headbutt.
As long as he struck with blunt force, he could add the power from that absorbed skill into the strike, doubled.
He waited for Brandon to step into range. The man expected Kalon to defend himself, but he didn’t expect him to fight back.
So when Kalon suddenly burst forward, Brandon’s eyes went wide.
He was unable to react.
Kalon’s fist was covered in a red force as it crashed into the man’s chest. He felt the rib cage break beneath his fist, and the sound rang throughout the rooftop.
For a moment, the two remained there, Kalon’s fist still lodged against Brandon’s chest.
Then Brandon coughed up blood and collapsed to the floor.
Brandon Brookhouse was a larger man with durability likely in the low D ranks.
Unfortunately, he was still Bronze. Without Steel Body or a specific defensive skill, there was no surviving that attack unscathed.
Brandon did, in fact, own multiple defensive skills, but since he wasn’t expecting the victim to fight back, he didn’t have time to prepare himself.
Underestimating his opponent was what led to this swift defeat.
Brandon was on his knees, coughing up blood whilst Kalon stood over him.
He glanced over at Pedro, whose eyes were wide as though he had just seen an alien.
"Please take him to the infirmary. Some of his ribs are broken. I felt them," Kalon said calmly.
At first, Pedro remained standing there in disbelief.
Then, when Brandon coughed up more blood, he hurried over to help the chubby young man to his feet and carried him back down from the rooftop.
Neither of them glanced at Kalon as they left.
...
Now that he was alone, Kalon sighed and looked at his hand.
He clenched and unclenched his fist a few times.
"Well, that’s sure to make new rumours spread."
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