Ken looked up at her, and she was already making her move. She entered her stance and slashed, but she didn’t approach like before. An invisible sword arc ripped through the air and headed right for Ken.

He could sense the attack coming, and so he leaped into the air as the attack hit right into the ground.

BOOM

It cut into the floor deep and left a two-foot-deep gash in the ground that extended for at least three meters.

"That’s powerful," he muttered to himself. He landed on the ground and got ready again, but before he could move, she was already in front of him, her sword coming for his chest extremely fast.

’I can’t block that, it’s too fast. Tch, fuck this,’ he screamed in his mind as he pulled his sword to the front to block the attack, giving it his all in that moment.

He managed to get his sword up just in time, but the attack never landed, and as he looked up, he saw that she had vanished, only for him to feel a blade at his neck from behind.

’She got behind me? When?’ Ken thought. He had never sensed her movements.

"You did pretty well, but against me, that’s not enough," she said.

Ken stood there. He took a deep breath and then spoke, "I said I would not lose no matter what."

"Hmm? But you have," she replied.

Ken shut his eyes. He took a deep breath as he attempted something. He had seen her use mana in the same way the introduction to qi said he could use qi. He didn’t have qi in his body, though, which meant he could not use it to fight.

But something that he did have was the same mana.

’This is do or die, let’s see how this goes.’

First, he tried to feel for his mana very fast, and maybe due to the fact that he had dealt with qi, he was able to find it in only a few seconds. He could sense the mana inside him in a pool.

With that, the plan was near completion. He channeled the mana, causing it to surge through his body without stop. He didn’t try to restrict or control it, he allowed it to take its course and hoped that the strength of his body would do the rest.

The pain was immediate and very sharp. He gritted his teeth and pushed through it. In that moment, his strength surged as he was amped by mana now.

He moved fast, spinning around and hitting her sword away before leaping backward and putting some distance between them.

Sierra was stunned when this happened. She looked at him with pure shock.

"How is this possible?" she asked. She could sense the mana that was surging through every part of his body now. He was using a quasi version of what she was using.

Ken yelled, his sword over his head and pointed at her, "Now that I’ve managed to close the gap again, let’s end this."

"I don’t know how you were able to pull off something like this. It is very impressive to see, but even then, it will not be enough," she said, trying her best to hide the shock that she was feeling right now.

"Haha, let’s see about that," he said and burst forward with so much speed he became a blur, going in for a slash while his entire body screamed in pain.

She pulled a leg back and blocked the attack. Their swords collided and a huge gust of wind picked up, rushing in every direction and pushing people back. The floor also began to crack.

’That wasn’t enough, she is extremely strong I must say,’ Ken thought and pulled back fast, attacking again, but she blocked, pushed his sword to the side, and countered with a slash. She countered with a powerful slash, he dodged to the side fast, and a massive gash was left on the floor all the way to the edge.

Ken pulled away from her again, but only for a second before attacking again, moving faster than before, his attacks coming from impossible angles.

Stab to the side.

Slash to the leg.

Diagonal slash up.

Sierra blocked every attack with relative ease, but the pressure was climbing even for her, and if she stopped concentrating, she would pay for it.

’Tch, this body is still weak, I can’t overcome the gap between us. Tch,’ Ken said in his mind, pissed by the situation. He wanted so much to find a way to win, but he knew that wasn’t possible. Regardless, he was going to give it his all. He pushed even harder and attacked with more effort, managing to push her back quite a bit until she finally countered.

Her slash came in wide and powerful. She channeled her mana right into the tip of her blade, and as it came down, it surged out in a thin arc, but extremely fast and powerful. Ken could not even react to the attack. He tried to block but was not fast enough, and it slammed into him.

His body was hurled back through the air. He hit the ground hard and rolled until he fell off, meaning he lost. There was a slash on his chest which was bleeding, but he was still awake, eyes open.

He got on his feet and looked at the wound. He had his mana activated, and that was what helped him take the blow.

He looked onto the stage and saw Sierra looking with panic. She had gotten too carried away and attacked with something far stronger, hurting him.

Ken, on the other hand, was not thinking about that. He was thinking about the fact that she had more in her arsenal.

’Seems we are not even close in strength yet, she is leagues above me, but not for long. I’ll cover the gap before our next fight for certain, haha, this was a good fight.’