William had just begun to snarl, "Bastard, I’ll break you like—"

When Faust pulled both of them off the walls.

The voices of William’s shocked friends accompanied the whistling of the wind in Faust’s ear. William reached for him in the air, but Faust kicked him away just before they both hit the ground.

BANG!

People glanced up at the ramparts then back at them, whispering of how they must have fallen while the two boys rose casually.

Faust eyed William carefully, before using Appraise.

[Name: William]

[Level: 4]

[Combat Power: 520]

Most of that combat power must have gone to the Constitution. It was a guess, but with a Schema called Fortress, you couldn’t be soft.

William’s combat power would also be boosted by his equipment, but Faust had a feeling their Constitution was similar. He had been mostly focused on Spirit and Agility anyway. But William was focused on Constitution and Strength.

In any case, Faust matched his highest stat, boosted by a Schema and surpassed William everywhere else.

And that was without Faust counting his own equipment.

He flexed his hand with a surprised look. "You were a bit heavy. Have you been eating more or was that some equipment passive?"

"Bastard," William spat, brushing the dust off his body. "You’re going to regret that."

With that, William shot at him, rearing back his fist. The move was sudden and practised, not like anything William would have done two days ago. And Faust was once again reminded how quick he was.

His agility is at least 100. He can probably barely keep up with Zen, but would fall behind Spider.

Faust’s agility was unfortunately at a flat 300.

He sidestepped easily and watched William glide past him. His instincts told him to strike then. William had overstretched, and was barely even prepared for a dodge. But he stayed his hand for now.

People were whispering now, some tried to come forward and stop the fight, but Faust gaze froze them in place. On the walls above them, William’s friend shouted words of encouragement. But Liora looked impassive. He smiled at her.

William turned and his eyes betrayed some confusion, but he came back at Faust more measured this time. Punches rained down on Faust without much coordination.

Faust parried each blow aside but felt the weight in them inquisitively. To a lesser player they were deadly. But to him, they were nothing.

He caught a fist outright to show William that and pulled him off balance.

William roared, "No!"

Suddenly he grew much heavier, so heavy the ground crack underneath him. Instinctively, he reared his elbow back and managed to catch Faust across the jaw.

BANG!

Faust skidded backward, pain blooming over his jaw. But he barely flinched instead smiling.

"That’s an interesting skill. Or is it your Schema? No Iron Grade skill is that strong."

William studied his jaw but found a barely visible bruise and gawked. "There’s no way.... How? How did your jaw not break? Why are you so fast—"

"Why can I catch your hits with my bare hands?" Faust completed. "Have a think, Willy. Maybe that prized strength of yours isn’t so impressive."

William’s grey eyes flickered up at his friend on the wall then around to the people watching them. He turned red and glared at Faust with murderous rage. He took in a deep breath.

Faust felt the change immediately.

Power was flowing in William somehow. The sunlight bouncing off his steel armor grew brighter. There was no change in appearance, but Faust could feel the shift in energy.

His system?

William had mentioned having an Ally System, but Faust guessed it was for sharing Exp or something. But it seemed he could draw power from them too.

"Strength borrowed isn’t equal to strength earned," Faust said simply.

"Shut up!" William spat back.

The ground cracked as William moved. His speed instantly increased. The right hook he threw made the air whistle with force.

Faust ducked under his blow and slammed a palm into William’s open side.

Sweeping the feet from under William would be the usual move, but Faust was cautious of that strange weight.

William bent and groaned from the palm strike, but he shrugged it off and attacked again. He jumped into the air and came down with a heavy punch. But it slammed into the ground as Faust glided away.

BOOM!

The ground caved in under the blow. The people watched shifted back in sheer awe of the physical power a human was exhibiting.

Can I take that? Faust thought casually.

So he stopped as William closed in for another heavy blow. The fist connected to his jaw with enough force to dent steel. A loud bang rattled the front of the gate. Everyone flinched back, expecting Faust’s head to be torn from his body.

But he didn’t even shift back and inch.

William pulled back and watched the faint bruise on Faust’s face with disbelief. "That’s... that’s not possible. You don’t have a Schema."

Rolling his eyes, Faust rubbed his jaw slightly. The bruise was already fading thanks to Blood Regeneration.

"Is that your best? You should give me your best shot. I won’t kill you for trying, since you so graciously promised not to kill me."

The gate was silent. All eyes were fixed on him with varying degrees of shock.

He turned the other cheek for William. "Come on, Willy. You can do it."

The mocking was what finally pushed William to his limit. The ground trembled and cracked under him, dust rose and clothes fluttered as though a miniature explosion went off.

Up on the walls, all of his friends had turned pale. The sick look on Liora’s face clued Faust in on how the Ally system worked. He could draw strength from them and maybe vice versa. But draw too much and his allies were left weakened.

A dark cloud covered the sun, bathing William’s face in shadows. His eyes were red with rage. "If you die don’t blame me!"

***

A/N: Thank you all for the Powerstones and Golden Tickets. Life’s been a bit stressful with my Service period, but all the support has helped me push through.

Also thank you for all the help correcting mistakes when they come up. Writing Litrpg is fun but always hard. I am certainly enjoying myself and I hope you are too.

But if you aren’t you can always be sure I will listen to your criticisms and try to make corrections.

We’re almost at 10 reviews so I’ll make sure you get those extra chs. As for 100 powerstones we’re getting closer each week. Thank you so much, and have a wonderful day.