Chapter 237: Chapter 214 : Martial Grandmaster Vs Combat Master (Part 4)

What was the pinnacle of hand-to-hand norin combat?

This question barged into the minds of the audience as they watched the clash between Lamar and Silver...and how it could? Never had they captured such martial excellence. The question came suddenly and so too did its answer. They need not look for it, for they were already witnessing the answer play itself out before their very eyes.

This conclusion wasn't just the ignorant masses either. The six Martial Masters felt this way as well. The displeasure and grievances they had regarding the duo and their title had vanished entirely, now replaced with awe and admiration. Forget Combat Master, they would gladly refer to Silver as Combat Grandmaster. They were moved by Silver’s combat prowess, a few even getting teary-eyed as they watched the epic clash unfold.

The pair of Lamar and Silver put on a clinic in hand-to-hand norin combat, demonstrating things like distancing and space management to an absurd degree of skill.

While most could follow the broad strokes of the battle, only a few dozen souls in the audience could understand the finer details. Those on the ignorant side were struck with befuddlement at many points, unable to comprehend certain actions taken by the pair.

The pair's many freezes were especially baffling. They would, halfway through an attack or a hold, suddenly stop before pulling back or switching stances. These bizarre phenomena appeared several times already and on occasion, both fighters did this simultaneously, resulting in a comical spectacle.

Those in the know saw this spectacle for what it was though: true masters at work, course correcting to avoid a dead-end. In the minds of the fighters, hundreds of possibilities/imagined realities were delved into in real-time, that they had to skillfully navigate to avoid the clutches of defeat.

Those in the know like the Martial Masters understood this well enough, seeing similar phantom images themselves. They looked on in reverence at the pair’s mastery.

Every limb and muscle group saw activity during the clash. Punches, kicks, elbow strikes, knee strikes, and even headbutts saw several appearances. Strikes dominated the showing but joint locks and wrestling too ate up a significant chunk of time.

The match’s nature was in constant flux. In one moment, it would be graceful and ascetically pleasing with the fighters performing airy dodges, executing lithe parries and exchanging flowing strikes, and then by the next, it would get rough and messy, with the pair grabbing and pulling at each other, and even wrestling on the dirty cracked floor. No tile was left untrodden during the clash. Silver and Lamar used the entire platform and for a good thirty seconds, fought off it.

It was a fight in every sense of the word. Pure martial styles vanished in favour of necessity. The fighters played everything by ear, utilising any style or action to better their ‘position’.

Yes, position. The term was apt. The match was no different from a chess game...but things were far from black and white. After five minutes of battle, things were in a deadlock.

*Swoosh*

Silver shifted back, avoiding his opponent’s axe kick. Lamar's right foot slammed down with a hefty impact. The already heavily cracked tile shattered completely and several stone fragments exploded upward, with two pebble-sized chunks flying towards Silver’s face.

With his enhanced vision, the fused being caught their trajectory with ease. He could capture bullets fresh from a pistol's barrel so these stone fragments moving at the speed of a released arrow were well within his scope.

He bobbed his head rightward, avoiding one cleanly while the other clipped the top of his head in passing. Lamar loaded his next kick in the chamber as this was happening. Twisting his body, his right foot shot up like a lunging snake. Silver didn’t block nor dodge, and instead snapped his body counter-clockwise to perform a right hook. The kick landed solidly against Silver’s chest but so did the punch to Lamar's joint.

*Bam* *Bam*

Knocked back, both fighters were frazzled in the immediate aftermath, unable to take advantage of the other’s state. Readjusting at the same time only moments later, the pair resumed trading blows.

Trading in this manner had become common, more common than dodging or blocking even. The result was many many injuries. The horrific sound of bones cracking, of skin tearing and of innards being jolted, rang out repeatedly during the clash, inducing groans and cheers alike from the stands.

The pair’s healing factors were made to work hard during these last few minutes. Still, looking at the fighters’ bloody forms, it was clear that even their enhanced regeneration couldn’t keep up with the continued abuse.

Many in the audience held their hands over their mouths in disbelief and horror as they questioned how the pair could continue to fight as fearlessly - or even fight at all - in the battered states they were in.

The pair themselves didn't care for their deteriorating states at all, only their opponent's. Their fighting spirits were an unmitigated blaze at this point, burning white hot. The battle enthralled them to no end, the pair relishing every passing moment of the experience.

Within each other, they found a sturdy wall, one that they desired to smash to pieces. This was what they lived for, to prove their dominance and superiority by crushing mighty obstacles that dared stand in their way.

Silver and Lamar were under the influence of a unique brand of ecstasy...and it clearly showed on their faces.

Where previously blank, the fighters’ expressions were much more expressive now. Lamar brandished a toothy smile as his crescent-shaped eyes swirled with frenzy.

Silver’s crazed smile was telling, but even more so, was the chaos swirling within his gaze.

Looking at him, one needn’t ask what his inheritance potion was called. One could venture a guess and nail it within five tries at most. Yes, he had become the spitting image of an asura. The audience members that weren’t swept up in the hype, took in this sight and had chills run down their spines.

With both fighters on a high, their connection to reality slipped away bit by bit. This would be bad usually, but on this occasion, it allowed their mind's eyes to delve deeper into the endless possibilities. It was a worthwhile trade. Everything fell away and only combat-related memories filled their heads as they sought their victory.

‘Victory? Ah, that’s right…’

If he wasn’t using his hands to block at this moment, Silver would have surely slapped himself in the face. Coming to, his expression returned to normal, becoming poised and calm.

‘To lose myself in the heat of battle, how unbecoming. I suppose it's because I haven't been challenged in a while. No. No excuses,' he chastised internally as he zigzagged backwards, avoiding Lamar's torrent of kicks and punches.

While battling was fun, victory was what he ultimately sought. Battle without victory was hollow and unfulfilling. In his high, he had forgotten to wholeheartedly pursue victory in favour of savouring the flavour of battle; a mistake he now looked to correct.

‘Had more than enough fun. Enough playing around, time to win.’

Despite thinking this, Silver couldn't win at will. His ‘playing around’ so far had been trying to essentially out-calculate his opponent. Fusing did nothing to increase the body’s physical stats at all. What Silver brought to the table was a greater pool of combat experience and elevated processing capability, the latter being the most valuable.

When it came to combat-related experiences, Silver - and even the duo as individuals - had way more experience under their belt than the Martial Grandmaster. However, while they had more experience, Lamar’s Natural-granted superhuman processing speed allowed him to better use his more limited pool of combat experiences.

The result was the dominance he had shown against Ralf and Ray. Silver had come into the match thinking his elevated mental stats would overcome this difference…but it didn't. There was still a gap between him and his opponent, a small but definite one.

Instead of the previous 4:5 exchange rate, it was: for every twelve attacks Silver landed, he would receive thirteen. By now, it was clear to him that in terms of pure combat prowess, Lamar was the better fighter. He didn’t have a hard time admitting this, Silver knew not to delude himself; one could only play with the cards they had.

After coming off his high, Silver had heard the crowd mention Lamar’s Natural status. Catching this, he abandoned the pointless competition. He was proud of his intellect but wouldn’t - and couldn’t - compete against what was essentially a supercomputer.

To defeat Lamar, conventional means were out. There was no point in continuing to tangle in hopes that his opponent committed an inaccuracy or blunder down the line. Lamar was a well-oiled machine, in both body and mind; Silver foresaw no errors from him. No. To win, he’d have to use a sure-fire strategy or make use of a novel tactic.

Concluding this, his prodigious mind cast nets out, one to the void and the other to his mental library, and within moments, dozens of ideas flooded into his head.

While norin combat took a backseat to Psi combat in the Mental Space training, his experience in this domain wasn’t to be underestimated.

Thanks to a certain project, he had plenty.

‘The draining strategy remains our bread and butter, it seems…’

Lamar had been fighting for nearly ten minutes now, with most of that time spent at full tilt. His inheritance potion's enhancements focused on strength, agility, and toughness. The Martial Grandmaster's stamina was still superhuman but it was well below his other stats.

While he wasn’t taking gulping breaths or sweating buckets, the signs were there, and abundantly clear. He couldn't fight forever, nor for much longer. Examining the other, Silver didn’t believe Lamar had another ten minutes in him if they continued at this frenetic pace. The fused being though knew he could continue as is for another twenty minutes at the very least.

And even if he was off about his opponent’s numbers, he didn’t believe he was so off that the result would be reversed. If they continued fighting as is, Lamar would be the one to hit his stamina limit first. Once exhausted, his higher computational abilities would mean nothing; he would be easy to defeat.

‘...but that’d be pretty underwhelming. Let’s explore some other options first.’

While Silver would settle with any method if it meant victory, he still had his preferences. Ideally, he wanted something decisive, to demonstrate his superiority over his opponent and have them understand that they had truly been defeated by him.

What about the mental signal spike tactic?

The tactic was not only a bust, attempting it had nearly gotten Ray knocked out. As his two-minute mark neared, Ray decided to go for it. After a wrestle, he managed to rip the netherian stone from Lamar's swaying necklace before tossing it into the stands.

Without the starstone acting as a defence, the Martial Grandmaster was helpless before the tactic...at least, that's what Ray had initially thought. Luckily, his combat instincts flared up in the nick of time. He veered away at the last moment, dodging Lamar's sneaky punch.

In the aftermath, Ray showed a bitter smile as he put two and two together. The starstone-embedded necklace was bait, bait that Ray had bitten into. Lamar had let it get snatched, pretended to be frozen, all to land a cheeky hit. Whether he possessed additional netherian stones on his person or whether his inheritance potion gave him immunity to Em waves like Violet's did, was unknown to Silver; still, what was known, was that the tactic wouldn't work on him.

Going to stop holding back and beat me in one punch?

I could…but I’ll spare you and myself the damage.

The earlier exchange popped up in his mind as he searched for alternative winning methods.

To many, Ralf’s reply had been cheeky for cheeky's sake, but this wasn’t the case. There was a way to end the match in one punch. The White Asura’s Perfect Control allowed the duo/Silver to…perfectly control their bodily functions with cognitions. They mainly used it to enable and disable their various senses but this ability wasn't limited to just that. Perfect Control also allowed Silver to access his body's hysterical strength at will.

Hysterical strength.

It was a self-destructive type of strength which worked by going beyond the body’s ingrained safety limits. Usually, one could only access this strength when under immense duress. Tapping into this reserve of strength allowed even ordinary humans to temporarily become superhumans, albeit at the hefty cost of damaging their bodies.

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The White Asura also had hysterical strength and with Perfect Control, could access it whenever the duo/Silver wished. Being already several times stronger than a regular human at its base form, the White Asura's version of hysterical strength was frightening. The duo had only tested it a few times but that was enough to understand its potency.

That’s why had Ralf phrased his words as such. As long as Silver timed things properly and was prepared to sacrifice his body, he could easily defeat Lamar; his elevated speed and power would be too much for the other to deal with.

Still, while he could…Silver rejected this avenue entirely; it was cheating, after all. He and Lamar had already set their strength and speed values. To alter his stats during the match…he might as well just break out his Psi while he was at it.

Cheating concerns saw him reject tactic after tactic. One of the first thought-up tactics of this ilk was to use the stone fragments from the shattered tiles. He had designs to use them as sharp and blunt melee weapons and even as projectiles. Doing so would end the match quickly. But again, cheating concerns. They were only allowed to use their physical bodies to attack.

'Stick to the rules, Silver.'

Reminding himself of this while continuing to zip across the platform, he ran through the tactics that were left.

‘A sonic attack? A clap or a shout, loud enough to debilitate for a second or two? Hm. Suffocation? Wrestle and mount him then vomit in his mouth, before sealing his mouth with my own? Hm,' such thoughts crossed his mind as he sported a cool visage, hair flowing like a model in a shampoo commercial.

Had his many admirers in the audience heard his thoughts during these passing moments, instead of love, it would be disgust that they'd be struck by. But they couldn't, and so the swoons and squeals continued to ring out from the stands.

The duo/Silver in victory-chaser mode was shameless in the truest sense of the word. Not seeing any fault with his thinking, he continued.

‘What about vomiting to make something for him to slip on? If I vomit my stomach acid out, I could fling it at him, or even soak my fists in it, then attack. It’ll burn my hands but it’ll be worthwhile. As long as I land some near his eyes, the match will quickly come to an…huh?’

The speeding car that was Silver’s thoughts crashed as it registered the sudden change. Lamar had ceased his pursuit. Stopping his dodging motions, Silver relaxed his posture before addressing his opponent.

“What gives?”

Lamar returned a bitter smile. “That’s my question. You haven’t been attacking for a while. This dance requires two, so dance will you, partner.”

“Sorry, I was just deliberating.”

“Mm, what exactly?” Lamar asked, growing more casual in stance and tone.

“What method I want to use to achieve victory...that’s what,” Silver said, Lamar’s and the audience members’ eyes flickering in response. “This is a dance for two, but I’ve had my fill. It’s time to draw the curtain, we can’t dance forever after all.”

“Oh,” Lamar uttered as though just realising the sad reality. He too had lost himself in the heat of battle. “I suppose you’re right. Then, deliberate away…I’ll do the same.”

Saying this, Lamar made his way to the opposite end of the platform, returning the fighters to their initial positions.

“What’s going on?”

“They said it right, they’re deliberating.”

“Silver's still confident even after all that, what's up his sleeve?"

"Nothing, obviously. He's just bluffing. The brat's in a corner with no way out."

"Oh, want to bet on that?"

"Of course, I'll put everything on Lamar's victory."

"Me too."

“My money’s on Silver. I think he can turn things around, somehow.”

“Ha, then your money will be my money soon. There’s no way Lamar loses. Lamar's like top three strongest Martial Grandmasters ever. I say he’s been holding back to enjoy himself. He’ll clean that punk’s clock in no time."

"Yeah, Silver is on his last legs. He'll fall in no time.”

“Big words, let’s see.”

A light buzz sounded from the stands in the passing seconds as people discussed the match’s possible outcomes in hushed but frenzied voices.

‘Speaking of damaging my hands, I could also use that. It worked on Grey so it'll work on anybody,’ Silver thought as he repeated the gesture Ray had done earlier, clenching and unclenching his hand.

Before shedding light on the thought-up tactic, ‘Grey’ needed to be explained.

Grey referred to a specific Zero, a combat-orientated AI - the strongest combat-orientated AI.

The duo had continued to work on improving Zeroes’ combat code throughout the years, and Grey could be considered the culmination of their efforts.

At first, Grey's reference material only consisted of the tens of thousands of norin battles the duo had fought, but after coding, this reference material grew into the hundreds of billions.

The duo made millions of Greys and had them fight each other at hyperspeed in slowed-down time, over and over and over...until eventually, the network of Greys mapped out what could be considered a tablebase for all possible fighting sequences and moves. When combined with the sophisticated self-learning programs and the Zero System's ungodly processing capabilities, the end result was Grey, the ultimate norin combat fighter.

The AI was the Zero chess engine equivalent to one-on-one norin combat. At version 404.5, Grey was, in a straight-up battle in a confined area with nothing else present, undefeatable to the duo and Silver. Noteworthy though, Silver had managed to beat version 404.4, a Grey nearly identical in strength by using an ingenious tactic.

After a hundred matches without a single victory, the fused being was at his wits' end, snapping his fingers and gouging his eyes out in frustration. Pain flooded his being but he welcomed him, rationalising that it would get his creative juices flowing. There was a method to his madness and lo and behold, a certain brilliant idea had arrived before him. Ecstatic at having thought it up, he gave it a go…and he won.

It was simple really. He bit off his fingertips until only exposed bone remained. He did this for all fingers save his thumbs, then used the exposed bones as blades. He utilised a knife-hand gesture and keeping evasive, sliced away at Grey, killing it via death by a thousand cuts.

It was highly effective. The Zero had no counter, he was essentially weaponless in a knife fight. His cuts served to drain Grey’s blood and sever its nerves. From that point onward, defeating it was simple. Silver killed Grey a hundred more times and then added an update to counter the knife-hand tactic.

‘Lamar’s computational ability is impressive but it should be nowhere near Grey’s, I’d have already lost by now. The knife-hand tactic will work on him. With the right timing, I can end the fight with one slash to his neck. The only question is if I’ll be allowed to do it. Hm...'

Grey had given him the time to bite at his fingers but Lamar might not do the same - no, he was certain that he wouldn’t. Humans were adaptable creatures. No, more than him, Silver worried that Sigurd or his friends would interfere and ruin the tactic, thinking he was insane or something, crazy right?

‘Ah?!’

As the knife hand tactic appeared shaky, another tactic, and an even more brilliant one, descended into his mind from the void. Thinking through the details, Silver’s eyes flashed with victory. This was it.

“Looks like you’ve settled on something,” Lamar spoke up, noticing the brightening in his opponent’s gaze.

“Yeah, something like that,” Silver replied, not hiding the fact.

The Martial Grandmaster chuckled. “Excellent, I'd love to see it...and then crush it."

"You may try. What about you? Think of anything?"

"Nope. Never been one for tricks. I'm the type to overpower and overwhelm, so that's what I'll do. Now," Lamar fell into a stance, "let's resume our dance, shall we?"

“Let’s.” Silver stomped and a stone fragment popped up, before landing atop his right hand.

After tossing it a bit, the fused being let the stone settle in his palm. He glanced toward the cloudless sky as Psi gathered around his hand. A moment later, the stone was telekinetically flung high into the air. Watching its trajectory for a second, he dragged his gaze back to Lamar and began walking toward him.

“When the stone hits the ground…”

“...we resume,” the Martial Grandmaster said, finishing the other’s sentence.

Getting a confirming nod, Lamar cracked a smile and broke into stride himself. The matter of the falling projectile didn’t weigh heavily on his mind. It was but a feather. He tracked it with ease while maintaining strict vigilance on his opponent. Tension rose in the stands as the fighters made their approach and the deathly silence returned as anticipation and excitement rendered the crowd mute.

*Thok*

The stone landed between the fighters, at the exact centre of the platform. The collision wasn’t loud by any means, but at that moment, the sound could be heard in all parts of the Academy. Set off by the sound, the fighters exploded into action to deliver the match’s bloody conclusion.

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