Rei had a lot of things in his mind after the second round with every student being able to advance. Some of the contestants had withdrawn themselves out of the third run since they were either out of stamina or spiritual energy to continue. "Looks like I'm going first again…" He uttered out to himself as he saw his name and Keitaro's, it was a moment for a challenge for the two who will be the victor.
"Good luck!" Haruki cheered while Erika and Hinata gave him some motivational cheering then Sylvie winking at him as if it was gonna motivate him to win; it's gonna work either way.
"No need to activate your prowess for me to copy. I can do this." Rei said to the group when the trio offered while Sylvie didn't since her prowess would be too much for Rei to handle.
The stadium was loud especially when both him and Keitaro had entered the stage, the two had an intense staring match at each other which intensified the atmosphere as Eto who caught them glaring at each immediately started her announcement before starting the first match of round three.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the first match of round three!"
People are cheering loudly.
"We have Rei Nishimura of the Assault Division and Keitaro Sasaki of the Investigation-Recon Division!"
More cheering and shouting emerged from the crowds.
"Are both contestants ready?" Eto asked as both Rei and Keitaro nodded their heads before the green haired woman smirked, "BEGIN!"
As soon as she announced them to begin, both males had activated their prowess as Keitaro immediately tried to burn Rei to crisp except the latter had copied his flames except it was the same level as his.
"I should've expected this!" Rei gritted through his teeth, the prowess he had copied wasn't even at its maximum power but more like a slight withdrawal of an ability instead, "This fxcker really is holding back!" He clenched his other fist before blasting a wave of flames amplified with his spiritual energy since he couldn't amplify it naturally like he does with copied prowess from others.
"It's not just flames…" He thought to himself before engaging in one hand to hand combat with Keitaro, both on par to each other.
Each strikes and blocks were both easily countered and parried which made the fight even more intense. Rei knew he had no choice since the copied prowess would just hinder his fight while he was holding back his trump card.
Rei had to make a choice to either risk it by hiding his new technique or to use it now to gain an advantage while risking everything he had in the line. He has taken the risk of going all out instead.
"Totality." He muttered in his thoughts as he let go of the copied prowess, his glowing eyes flickering upon deactivation and reactivation.
......…
Sylvie stood panicked as she saw Rei deactivating his prowess before reactivating it again, "What is he doing!?" She thought to herself, wondering what kind of bullshxt the male was gonna do.
"Did he just let go of Keitaro's prowess?" Haruki asked in which Sylvie responded by nodding her head, making the other two girls surprised and a bit worried about Rei's action.
Sylvie was panicking until she saw Rei's red aura of his spiritual energy becoming thick and surrounding him in what seemed to be in the form of lightning sparks.
Rei flicked his middle finger which broke through Keitaro's wave of fox fire like flames as the wind pressure had almost knocked him out of the boundaries if it weren't for his quick thinking to use his flames to stop him from going any further.
"What?" She thought to herself as she wondered if there was anything that Rei mentioned about being able to do something like this until it clicked her mind of how he was able to do such a thing.
Aura Manipulation. Rei's ability allowed him to use his spiritual energy to mimic the aura or flow of energy flowing through the user's body. The only thing he couldn't copy are mutation type ones since it alters the biology of the user while those who are clearly higher than him in level, he could copy it in a weaker variant instead since the power level is too high.
But if his prowess allowed him to manipulate his spiritual energy to control his own aura or flow of energy that's being released or gathered in the body, there was no doubt that Rei could use some sort of stockpile like ability to release the energy that he had gathered to make some powerful moves just like now.
"You are one clever motherfxcker." Sylvie grinned as she relaxed after seeing Rei being able to gain an advantage. The commentator on the other hand was panicking through the mic.
"What?! How is Rei Nishimura performing such moves without anyone within him activating their prowess?! Is it a cheat code?! Or a re-awakening?!" The other commentator immediately answered for those who were curious with Rei's new move.
"His prowess is called Aura Manipulation and not Aura Mimicry. When we use our prowess, we naturally use our spiritual energy to flow through our body which causes us to glow and have an aura in which Rei can copy and sense any active prowess before shaping his own spiritual energy to mimic our flow when using our prowess henceforth the mirroring like effect except he can amplify it and combine it with those that are compatible with each other although complicated ones are harder to copy due to the complex nature of the prowess and those who are higher level than him."
All spectators were surprised, shocked and amazed with how complex Rei's prowess was before the same commentator continued.
"In addition to that, Rei's prowess mainly focuses on manipulating his spiritual energy to control the flow and aura through his body which not only allows him to copy but to do some sort of stockpile-like ability henceforth his new move in this match."
The complex description of Rei's prowess and its ability was difficult to understand for others but for Sylvie, Haru, Keitaro, Erika and Hinata immediately understood what it meant.
It meant that Rei had somehow managed to improve in a short amount of time to be able to develop new aspects of his prowess even further.
......…
Rei was silently embarrassed at using such a new technique since he based it off from one of the shows that Sylvie was watching. It was one of those what people used to call animes back in the days called academia something.
"Damnit… Totality really does take a toll on me too…" Rei muttered to himself, red lightning sparks still going all over his body as the latter was feeling the slight sting over his body.
"Gathering every spiritual energy that I have then releasing them is a different fxcking thing. No wonder the main character from that show often breaks his body…" He uttered to himself before speed blitzing to Keitaro as he released the energy on his foot to create a fast leap to land a hit into their guts.
Using totality on his foot and arm already putting a toll with how much stinging pain that's going all over his body as Rei managed to at least make Keitaro exhausted at doing their best to stay in the ring.
"This guy… He's still holding back after that?" Rei thought to himself, his passive ability picking up on the spiritual energy flowing in Keitaro that still had a potential to use higher levels of their own prowess.
Keitaro, on the other hand, was feeling his limit as the heat of his own flames were eating him alive with how much he was putting himself to push Rei out of the boundaries. "Is this guy a masochist or not? Cause I've been putting such work into this yet the guy ain't going down and is tanking every fxcking hit…"
Rei was taking every hit that Keitaro was sending such as a fox-fire ball and a blast but it didn't bother him due to the pain tolerance that he had endured during his days of acting as a 'blank' and when he didn't awaken his prowess until later on.
"Is that all you got? I can tell you're holding back, you goddamn prick." Rei grinned before punching Keitaro right in the guts as he managed to almost push him out of the ring.
"Come on. Stop caring about them, let's just vent this out. Shall we?" Rei taunted, making Keitaro flinch, memories of something he tried to hold drawing into his mind while trying to finish the fight.
"Shut up! You don't know what it's like to be on the top then holding back all because you are not the one they want where no one will care!"
Keitaro's statement was filled with anger and frustration as Rei understood what it meant. "Really? Tough luck. Cause I've been there before so stop blaming them or yourself and do your goddamn best!" Rei responded back before hitting Keitaro right at the head after dashing and sending a high kick.
"Cause in the end! People who really care about you will be the one to stay by your side!" Rei's face, filled with both frustration and determination, either trying to win the match or lend a helping hand.
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