Ascension of the elder

"You think I'm pretty, sorry I don't swing that way."

Willem's eye began twitching when he heard this; his hands balled into fists and produced a cracking noise. Kyle simply looked at him with a little grin on his face while the crowd were silent for a moment before they burst into loud laughter.

The girls were also laughing at Kyle's words while his parents were a little embarrassed by what he said they were also laughing as they couldn't help themselves. Even the imperial overseer was struggling to keep from laughing.

The only group who weren't amused at this was the Miles family as they looked at how everyone was laughing at them but those in authority were swearing to themselves that the reckoning would be coming soon.

Elena was laughing but suddenly she had a look of shock on her face which turned into fear and worry. She looked to her friends beside her who saw her look and stopped laughing.

"What's wrong El?" Clara asked with some concern, she knew Elena didn't see the world in the same way as most of them did and feared she had noticed something they had missed.

Miranda also ceased laughing and looked to her hoping it wasn't anything that could cause problems with her family and more specifically to Kyle who was gradually outpacing everything else to be the most important thing in her life.

"Is he coming onto Kyle? What if Kyle decides that he wants part of that life and leaves us behind?"

Miranda, Clara and Alena heard this and their brains seemed to pause for a moment before they began howling with laughter even more than before.

Clara was thinking to herself that she couldn't wait to tease Kyle with this new Elenaism. The other two were crying with laughter which attracted the attention of the people around them who had gradually stopped laughing making them turn red and become silent looking demure and shy once again.

Kyle who was in the ring took his eyes of Willem when he heard their laughter and was curious as to why they were laughing but due to the way they were laughing and the fact Elena was looking at them with a confused expression he could guess she had said something.

While he was looking away Willem decided to attack, even though the match hadn't started yet he struck with speed and accuracy with his skill in place with the apparent intent to injure or at least put Kyle at a disadvantage.

As his fist approached Kyle's head suddenly Kyle's arm suddenly rose up and caught Willem's fist without even looking at him. Kyle's fist was coated in massively condensed mana far more so than Clyde's and easily overpowered Willem's skill.

Kyle gave Willem a swift side kick to his stomach sending him sprawling to the other side of the ring before turning to face him. Willem lifted himself into a kneeling position and was holding his stomach when he looked towards Kyle.

Kyle was watching him with a soft smile on his face and when he was sure that Willem was giving him his full attention he raised his hand and extended his index finger before wagging it in front of Willem.

"Uh uh uh not until the match starts."

Everyone in the crowd was silent at this as they had seen the control Kyle had over his mana which seemed to be greater than they had yet seen, the greater shock however was his physical strength as his kick which sent Willem flying wasn't reinforced and was based on pure strength.

Willem gradually recovered and moved to his starting position while Kyle did the same. There was no noise as everyone focused on these two competitors, they hoped this would be a good match at least as good or better than the one between Clyde and Willem previously.

"Begin."

The referee stepped away once he began the match but Kyle and Willem didn't move. Kyle was relaxed and was just waiting for Willem to make a move where as Willem was watching Kyle intently looking for an indication of when he would attack.

After nothing happened for about a minute the crowd began getting restless. So to move things along Kyle began walking slowly towards the centre of the ring. When Willem saw Kyle moving forwards he began to circle the outer perimeter of the ring looking for a spot to attack from.

Once Kyle was in the middle of the ring he stopped moving and didn't even turn to keep Willem in his view and simply waited. Willem had begun to sweat from an invisible pressure he had begun to feel from Kyle so once he had reached Kyle's 7 o'clock he moved forwards to attack.

The crowd held their breath when they saw Willem beginning to move to Kyle and thought he would turn or move or just do something but Kyle just waited until Willem began his attack.

Kyle could sense everything around him due to his soul sense and when Willem's fist was about to hit his neck he suddenly lowered his body and moved slightly to his right so Willem's mana reinforced fist passed over his left shoulder.

As the fist became visible in his peripheral vision Kyle caught his wrist with his right hand and pulled it forward. As Willem's arm was extended Kyle gave 2 quick elbow strikes to Willem's side before he rotated to his right while still holding Willem's arm.

Stepping back at the apex of his pivot he knocked Willem of balance and with the addition of the centrifugal force from his turn he threw Willem over his hip. Willem had a funny perspective at this point as he couldn't do anything to change the throw and could only see Kyle's head as he went straight over.

Willem smashed into the ground like he was a plank and could just let out a groan, Kyle hadn't let go of Willem's arm when he threw him so he moved his arm so it was by Willem's ear and put his other hand on his elbow so he couldn't move his arm.

Smiling down at the immobile Willem, Kyle flicked him on the forehead before he released him and stepped away. This move showed everyone that if Kyle wanted to defeat him he could have already done so and was instead playing with him without showing any regard for the standing of the Miles family.

Willem gathered himself and took a stance again but he was shaking because he was still recovering from being slammed to the ground. Kyle was still smiling as he was looking at Willem before he spoke.

"You know you should really quit I don't want to have to hurt you."

Willem was angry with this lack of respect from Kyle so without thinking he attacked him with a flurry of punches and kicks.

Kyle blocked everything without even moving his feet and just blocked or swung his body to avoid strikes without even lifting his feet. The speed of Willem's strikes gradually increased and began to become infuse with more and more mana but Kyle just blocked everything.

The people couldn't tell but Kyle had also infused his fists with mana so every time Willem's strikes were blocked he would receive a little sting from Kyle's mana. Willem was getting out of breath from punching out so quickly and for such a long time while Kyle didn't appear to be winded at all.

The crowd was silent once again as they saw this battle, it was far faster and nastier than the battle between Clyde and Willem before. A few also remembered that Kyle was also younger than Willem and shouldn't even be in this age bracket.

Gradually Willem ran out of steam and with a few more strikes could barely throw another punch. Usually in a fight there would be a flurry of activity and then the combatants would break apart giving them a chance to breath but in this case there had been no break.

With a final punch Willem was done but as his fist approached Kyle he caught it straight without blocking or redirecting it. When he caught Willem's fist Kyle charged mana in his other hand, suddenly there was a flash which blinded everyone followed by a thump.

Once they could see again they saw Willem laying several feet away from where he was before while Kyle was standing nonchalantly still in the same position. Upon seeing this the referee rushed up and checked Willem and on confirming he was fine announced the result.

"Winner Kyle of the Powell family."

Kyle nodded to the referee before he returned to the bench as if nothing had just happened while Willem was helped up by a couple of his clansmen. One of his arms was noticeably hanging loosely at his side when he stood up.

When Willem's father saw this he rushed over to him and inspected the arm. There didn't appear to be any broken bones or visible damage to the arm but there was no movement.

"Willem what's wrong with your arm?" His father asked with a little concern and a lot of anger.

"I don't know when he struck it felt like needles were put in my arm and now I can't move it."

Hearing his son the Miles family head looked to Kyle in anger before he started moving towards him when a voice sounded out from behind him.

"Excuse me what do you think you're doing?"

It was Maria who spoke to him, turning too her with a sneer on his face the Miles family head spoke to her as if he was speaking to a slave.

"Your son has injured mine so I you will compensate me for his injury."

Mariah looked at him like he was a fool before responding.

"This is a tournament he owes you nothing and neither do we."

Hearing her speaking to him like this the Miles family head became even more enraged.

"Who do you think you're speaking to woman know your place."

When she heard this her calm was gone and lightning began to flow around her and her eyes began to glow with a blue light. The Miles family head stepped back when he saw this as it seemed he had forgotten she was a mage as well as a sorcerer and she seemed to be more powerful than he was aware of. Just as it looked like there would be a brawl between these two Landon stepped in.

"Dear it's the juniors turn to fight let's leave them to it."

"Okay but if he tries anything again I'm turning him into charcoal okay?"

"Of course I'll even get some wine so I can watch in comfort."

The Miles family head breathed sigh of relief when they said this as it looked like he dodged the lightning but as he grabbed Willem and was heading to the medical tent he heard Kyle just behind him.

"I'm just curious but what is your name I've never heard anyone refer to you by it."

The Miles family head looked back and could only see curiosity in Kyle's face so he responded hoping to avoid any further issues.

"My name is Edith."