BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

Zakir gloated over having bested him, he felt invincible. He then started inciting the crowd by moving his arm widely and shouting, "Do you want me to finish him?"

"YES!"

"I will ask you again: DO YOU WANT ME TO FINISH HIM?!"

"YES!" The crowd shouted back.

As Zakir turned to unleash his last move, Erik knew he had to do something, or he was going to lose. The fight barely lasted ten minutes, but his opponent surprised him countless times as he wasn't good at fighting only, but his brain crystal power was mighty too.

Erik tried to stand up while Zakir walked toward him with his tendril swaying in the air like cat tails, but he still had some problems breathing. He desperately gasped for air, and when he finally got enough of it into his lungs, he started channeling mana at breakneck speed.

This move was only possible thanks to his ten neural links, which allowed mana to travel smoothly inside his body.

As the ethereal substance permeated his entire being, Erik willed it to thin until his entire body had been enveloped by a thin coat of mana that could cut anything. He basically sharpened himself. Though, Erik's mana reserves were pitiful, especially compared to Zakir's ones.

He could not only employ massive amounts of mana to empower his tendrils, make them longer, bulkier, and faster but could also make them last much longer than Erik could keep his sharpened state active. So he had to act fast if he didn't want to lose the match.

Zakir was now on him, he sensed Erik's change, but he couldn't understand what he was doing exactly. He knew that Erik had the ability to sharpen things, but he wasn't aware of how it worked, and he didn't know that his body could be sharpened too.

For this reason, Zakir relaunched his tendrils at Erik. Erik didn't dodge this time, but he only protected himself by raising his arms, and as he did, the tendrils got severed in two.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" Zakir shouted in pain. That was his power's downside; his tendrils had nervous termination all over them, meaning that he could feel pain. Though it was hard to injure them but not impossible.

At that moment, Erik decided to counterattack. He ran to Zakir, perfectly aware that he had to pay attention not to unleash deadly moves, so he didn't aim at his opponent's neck or face.

Though, Erik punched, swung, kicked, and head-butted Zakir everywhere else, making sure not to hurt him too badly. With every attack, a wound appeared on Zakir, as Erik was still using his power.

Finally, after he'd exhausted all possibilities of inflicting damage upon his enemy without killing him, Erik stopped attacking. Zakir was left agonizing.

He understood at that moment how really dangerous could Erik's brain crystal power be; he basically became a living sword, with every move he made cutting his flesh easily.

Clearly, Zakir knew that Erik didn't use a lot of mana; he could feel it. He was sure of that also because his wounds weren't much deep.

It was clear to Zakir that he had lost control during their battle: his eyes were filled with tears, and sweat streamed down his forehead. His body was bleeding all over, as he had a hundred cuts on his body. His mouth was wide open as if trying to catch more air.

As he bleeded, Zakir's strength started waning; he needed to be healed asap, but he didn't want to lose the match and still had plenty of mana to fight.

While Erik was still punching him, Zakir mustered all his concentration to strengthen his Tendrils. He made them more durable to resist Erik's attacks.

So, he then pushed the tendrils onto the ground and gained distance from Erik, who was still punching him non stop. After he got far enough, he started swinging his tentacles wildly.

Erik could no longer cut them, and every time his body and Zakir's tendrils made contact, sparks were sent flying. Though Zakir was slowly losing blood, it was just a matter of who would end his reserves first. Would Zakir become too weak because of blood loss, or would Erik end his mana reserves?

The attacks continued, the two exchanged attack after attack, move after move. In the meantime, Zakir kept moving away from Erik who could only fight against his opponent's tendril while trying to get closer to him, and hoping that he would tire out before he did run dry. But Zakir wouldn't let Erik win, even though he was tired, and his strength waned he wanted to prove that he was stronger than Erik, the awakener.

Though things weren't going as he intended, as he started feeling very weak, but there wasn't any sign that Erik's mana reserves were close to being depleted. The truth was that Erik's pitiful mana reserves wouldn't allow him to fight for long, and he had to win the match as fast as possible.

Zakir was about to faint, and Erik took advantage of the situation by charging at him with all his might. The tendril user swung his tendrils one last time, trying to cover as much space and distance as possible.

Still, Erik performed an inhumanly high jump, avoiding Zakir's tendril and landing directly in front of him.

It was there that Erik unleashed a barrage of punches at his opponent. While doing so, he felt his mana reaching rock bottom, and the one surrounding his body disappeared. Though this meant he could punch his opponent in the face, and he did.

Zakir had no more strength to fight, he could barely see Erik, and when he saw his fist coming for him, he thought it was the end. He tried to protect his head with both hands, but it was useless. A strong blow on his temples, followed by another, and then yet another, made the young man see the stars countless times, until darkness started to embrace him. As his vision went black, he heard Erik say, "You talk too much, by the way..."

And then darkness swallowed Zakir...

As he fell to the ground, the healer rushed to heal his wounds, Zakir had lost a lot of blood, and he needed urgent help.

The healer then channeled mana and pumped it inside Zakir; his wounds started closing at breakneck speed, the process visible to the naked eye.

After five minutes, he was all patched up, but nothing could make up for his blood loss, so the young man was left unconscious on the ground. The healer then called someone to bring the fighter to the infirmary, and soon someone came.

All the people that saw the fight were left speechless. It wasn't only that Erik won an impossible fight that left them without words, but also that he basically turned a hopeless situation into a winning one.

The young man just made an impossible comeback, a master move, and his power proved itself to be on par with the other top students' ones.

If Erik could make even his body sharp, that meant that, once he really mastered martial arts, he would be deadlier than a gun.

Obviously, the match results spread, but nobody wanted to believe that Zakir was defeated. Everyone knew that he was a tough guy; besides, the mere thought that Erik had won against a former top student sent shivers down the other's spines.

Soon the crowd dispersed, leaving behind a few people like the healer, who healed a battered and bruised Erik this time.