I Can Make Everything Level UP

Svan insisted on that strategy of delivering fast, strong, and compact punches. They were pretty heavy, and thanks to that, Billy couldn't do much aside from dodging them. Still, thanks to that, he got used to their speed and rhythm. Even though Svan decided to be patient, after failing to land a single punch after throwing dozens of them, he was getting impatient… It would be wiser if he mixed some kicks as well, but it seems that the barbarians were only used to fighting with their upper bodies. Still, Billy couldn't be sure, that could be just a trap to make him drop his guard and then get a single attack that will completely destroy him. On average, kicks are three times heavier than punches, after all. A single one of them could probably turn around the tide of the easiest battles... endurance wasn't Billy's forte compared to barbarians, so he had to watch out.

Although Svan was annoyed with the fact that he wasn't hitting anything, the audience looked ecstatic whenever they felt the blast of wind caused by his punches. Just once… They were waiting for just one punch to land, and then Billy would fall. They weren't wrong, but Billy wasn't willing to go with the flow…

Although Svan only punched once per charge, he always left his left hand ready to be used in case Billy tried something. So, he had given up on using kicks. Using punches wouldn't work as well due to the difference in power… In any case, Billy was starting to sweat a lot.

"I have to finish this soon… I can't look lame in front of my kids," Billy thought.

Billy didn't want to cheat to look cool, so he could only win the hard way. When Svan attacked again, Billy stepped forward while dodging the punch instead of moving away. Even though he dodged the punch and prepared his counter, Svan still swung his right arm down to knock Billy out. Still, he stopped midway and jumped to the side when he noticed that Billy wasn't retreating and it was aiming for his ribs.

While causing a similar sound and impact to his punches, Billy's attack passed nearby Svan's body. He almost felt like how it was to almost be punched by something like his own attacks. Still, Svan only thought that he had to make his punches sharper… He soon found a way to do that.

Svan charged again, and this time, his punches got lighter, and they didn't make those blasts of wind anymore. Still, instead of that, Svan began to punch a lot more in the same moment. He only punched once with each charge, and now he punched three times. While Billy dodged the first strike aimed at his face, he got hit in the shoulder and then on his left side. The damage hadn't been that big, but… The surprise had been quite something.

While Billy was moving backward, wondering how come Svan managed to increase his speed that much and attack him three times before he could do anything, Svan charged again. He was capitalizing the momentum to the point where he even began to use his left arm as well. At that rate, it seemed that he began to punch as fast as Star Platinum…

Despite the surprise, Billy understood the weakness of that sequence of attacks. Since it was something that Svan came up with in the middle of a fight, it was only obvious that it had some serious flaws that he couldn't detect clearly while he was using it just for a few minutes.

When Svan attacked again, Billy didn't attempt to dodge. He attacked as well… Svan's fist. While he was weaker, he used Palm Cannon, and that completely blew Svan's attack in the opposite direction… Leaving his right side wide open. Svan realized that sacrificing that much strength for speed wasn't a good idea, and so he returned to his usual compact punch with his left hand, but Billy still didn't fall back. He used his enhancing skills and attacked with his left hand.

For a monument, Billy's strength and speed surpassed Svan's, but not to defeat him completely with a single strike. Both attacks hit each other and pushed each other away from the center of the ring. Cracks appeared on the floor around, and both combatants were trembling a little since they had absorbed the power of the strikes. Still, things ended up equal since Svan was tougher and had more experience getting hit.

"I guess something as simple as that won't be enough…" Billy thought.

Billy had some free status points to use, he could easily solve that problem with his buffs as well, but he didn't want an easy way out. He wanted a true victory, and to achieve that against Svan… he had no idea what to do exactly.

Thanks to Stamina Manipulation, which was a skill that Svan didn't know, Billy managed to attack Svan's punches with his. The audience grew silent while watching those two throwing punches that made the ring tremble and crack more and more… The people-watching thought that Billy would lose instantly, even though he showed quite the skill in the other fights, but now they changed their mind.

Still, eventually, the hands of those two got too hurt, and they became unable to attack like before. So, they began to prepare to finish things in the next moments… It was weird, given that neither of them had gotten hit in the face until now. In any case, Svan changed his stance, and his body began to turn red after he put his left foot forward and inclined his body while protecting his chest and head with a crossguard. Billy had no idea how he was going to punch him like that, but he knew that the next attack would be the strongest…

"I suppose using my brain won't work against him… it is time to stop sandbagging and go all out," Billy thought.