Chapter 185 New Challengers
One moment, Simon was standing in a perfect shot for Satoshi. The next moment, he was gone, reappearing on one side of the map as if he teleported out of nowhere. Did he fuse with the wind? Or maybe he just disappeared and reappeared? But how could he do that? The last time Satoshi fought him, he didn't have the superpower to teleport, much less trick someone that he teleported. It was a conundrum for Satoshi and he couldn't come up with an answer for it.
'No, I may not know this right now but this new skill of his is somewhat connected to his magnetism superpower. But how could he... hmm.' Satoshi contemplated in his mind as he descended to the ground, signaling the pause of the fight.
"Surprise, hehhe~" Simon extended his hand, pleased that his newfound skill caught Satoshi off guard. At the very least, he had proven to Satoshi that he wasn't the only one improving on his superpower. Ever since they fought the last time, Simon took down notes on where he could improve on and after months of training, he had finally overcome one of his main weaknesses, limited mobility.
"Then I guess I should show you something as well." Satoshi flashed a grin towards Simon who had been expecting him to unleash one of his special moves as well. In an instant, Satoshi used the Nailgun's cloning technique once again and fired off Elemental Nails around him.
Now, Simon already knew what the Nailgun was capable of. And that's why he only dodged what needed to be dodged. The nails that would for sure not hit him, he ignored, and he just stayed in place, using his magnetic force field to parry the other nails that got too close for comfort.
However, he misjudged the part where the nails didn't have anything in them.
As soon as the nails hit his magnetic forcefield, he was hit by a gust of wind that swept him off his feet, sending him hurtling in mid-air. Before he could use that weird superpower of his where he teleports, Satoshi didn't miss a single beat to fire both fire nails and wind nails on his way, causing a huge fire tornado to appear.
"What the— "
Satoshi wasn't done yet.
With another wave of his hand, Satoshi unleashed water nails and ice nails toward the fire tornado, freezing it in an instant and trapping Simon inside it. Once the frozen tornado was put in place, Satoshi kept on firing ice nails toward the tornado, then fire nails to cause it to heat up and turn into water.
As a cherry on top, just when Simon was drenched with water, Satoshi fired off a single electric nail on his way. One could tell what was going to happen next and Satoshi didn't have to describe it to everyone.
Bzzt! Bzzzzt!
Satoshi could've sworn that he saw Simon's skeleton appear from his skin when he was electrocuted. He quickly stopped the attack and rushed to his aid. "Are you all right?" He asked, not daring to touch Simon since he'd get electrocuted as well.
"Not quite, that was impressive," Simon said. "I'm assuming all those attacks came from the nails you shot? That's clearly overpowered. Even with my new skill, I wouldn't be able to hold a candle to you." He continued.
"I just caught you by surprise, that's all there is to it. If you'd known that my Nailgun familiar is capable of such a feat, then you wouldn't have given me time to breathe. With that teleportation skill of yours, you might have been able to push me to a corner." Satoshi extended his hand, offering it to Simon who has collapsed knee-first on the ground.
Simon willingly obliged and took the hand, shaking it as soon as he got up. It was a nice, albeit a quick match. Nevertheless, he enjoyed it, and he was looking forward to having another rematch with Satoshi sometime in the future. "You're right. I guess I still have training to do. Are you up for a rematch some other time?"
"Yup, any time. Just swing by our classroom during breaks or something. I'll welcome a challenge." Satoshi gripped Simon's hand as he shook it in return.
The two audiences by the sidelines who were watching the whole fight were speechless all throughout. Even Shiroi who put it upon herself to be the referee didn't even get to speak a word. As soon as the match started, well, it was over, and there was nothing for her to comment on, nor was there anything for her to say since she was blown away by the sheer power of the two. She couldn't tell how Simon could teleport like that despite having magnetic powers, nor could she tell how Satoshi managed to imbue elements on his nails. As far as she knows, Satoshi never had those skills when it comes to his Nailgun familiar.
"Great match, is everything all right, Satoshi... you know... " Shiroi whispered as she come up to Satoshi. She was talking about the incident where the suppressor was used on him.
"Ah, yes, despite the setback it helped me out a lot," Satoshi responded. He didn't want to go through the intricate details of how Cherry and Kuroe helped him out with the setback though.
"..."
"Right, in that case..." Shiroi trailed off before nodding towards Fuuka who was also having the same thought like her. After witnessing the fight, they started to wonder whether Satoshi and Simon together would be willing to fight with them, just to change things up a bit. For a few weeks now, after all, Fuuka and Shiroi had been combat-training and they pretty much know each other's move sets already. With the two new challengers available in front of them, they just couldn't help but challenge them, this time, on a two-on-two where they'd team up against Satoshi and Simon.
In response, Fuuka nodded along, gesturing that she fully agreed with Shiroi's idea. "How about another round? This time with the two of you against the two of us." Fuuka challenged, to which Satoshi and Simon nonchalantly smiled.