Lost Origins: SS Ranked Awakening-Chapter 145: Surprise

All their hopes fell at the sight of his faint figure, and when the dust settled, they felt their hearts sink down to the bottom of their stomachs.

"H-how?"

"That’s not possible!"

"He’s only half awakened!"

The audience broke intro murmurs of denials, unwilling to accept what they saw right in front of them. Something that should have been impossible based on what they knew about him.

"You aren’t half awakened like they say!"

Dain said, his voice carrying lesser weight than during that last attack, the effects still pressed down on Kieran’s figure, but he seemed in affected.

"I was. Until a while ago!"

Dain’s eyes closed at that statement. He was starting to wonder if he had truly picked out the right opponent this time around.

’Sigh!’

"This is going to be a hassle. Such talent, too bad I already picked you!"

Dain said, the confidence in his voice the same as ever.

Kieran’s actions might have confused and bothered him, but he was confident in his ability and what he had yet to show.

Seeing this, Kieran had a small smile.

’He’s confident’

He stared at the long staff in his palm, feeling the constant pulling force drom the other end, before letting it go.

He turned around to look at the stage behind him and the reason behind the audience’s strong shock and denail was bared before him.

’Damn!"

The point where he stood was unaffected, but the entire area behind him and been shaved off completely. With that last attack, Dain had almost cut the stage in half and rendered it useless.

Yet Kieran had taken that attack head on without moving and all that changed was the ripped arm of his clothes, there wasn’t a single visble injury present on his body.

’That was dangerous!’

Kieran’s eyes flashed. The only reason why he took that attack head on was because he was curious to see the extent of his body now that he awakened fully, and he had successfully fulfilled that goal.

That attack was his limit, the most he could take without getting severely injured. Any more and the story would have been different.

"Shall I proceed?"

Kierans voice rang through the ears of Dain and those watching.

Dains response to his words was another series of attacks, but Kieran had already seen this coming, taking multiple steps beforehand and appearing before Dain before he could grasp what had just unfolded in front of him.

’W-wah?’

Dain’s eyes widened as he tried to comprehend what had just happened in such short moment, but Kieran didn’t give him that chance as he dragged his leg to the back, lowering his body, bringing his clenched fist to his side.

"Huu!"

BANG!

Kieran let out a deep breath and let out a fist that could only he described as explosive, landing squarely on the chest of Dain, denting the amor.

Unlike what one would’ve expected, Dain wasn’t shifted back. He didn’t even look moved as his mind pondered on something else.

Kieran didn’t back down though. That was only the start of his next series of attacks as his fists rainded down on Dain’s figure, imprinting themselves on his amour.

His hands and body flashed so fast he became a blur in the eyes of those watching

BANG!

"Ugh!"

"Focus!"

Dain grunted and Kieran’s cold voice reached him, as his pushed his hand further into his face. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"THUD!"

A dull sound was heard as his next attack in was caught by Dain, pushing him back a little.

"Don’t you think you’ve done enough?"

He said applying more pressure to his hand with intentions of crushing Kieran’s fist

’Got you!’

The white dots in Kieran’s eyes flashed and he closed the small distance between them sending a knee straight at the amour on Dain’s body.

"What use is tha—"

CRACK! SHATTER!!

Dain swallowed the last part of his sentence as he felt the sudden lightness of his body. His amour had been broken through!

’How?!’

Dain was flabbergasted, his mind going down a dangerous spiral filled with confusion.

His amour had gotten a few dents from Kieran’s attacks, but it was no where enough for it to shatter like a piece of glass.

Using that moment of confusion, Kieran slashed his Dain’s hand with his left claws forcing him to met go of his hands.

"You’ve come so far only to achieve nothing!"

Dain said to Kieran who had closes up on him, ready to give another series of attacks with his clawed hands.

’I might be able to handle them, but no doubt, I’ll be injured!’

Dain thought looking at those claws with shone beneath the light of the sun.

’Fine then!’

"Titanborn!"

In that moment, just before Kieran was to land his attacks, he spoke!

Dain’s voice was heavier than before as he rotated his staff above his head before bringing it to the ground in a striking motion.

Kieran’s eyes flashed at that moment, his body and mind screaming in alarm and he jumped back creating space between them, as much space as the broken stage allowed him, which wasn’t much.

"Moment break!"

The mountain image he had seen previously behind him re-emerged, becoming more vivid and detailed.

"!!"

Kieran hurriedly looked away from it. Within those few seconds of staring he left an impossible weight wanting to crush him.

THUD!

The dull sound of Dain’s weapon hitting the ground wss like the sound of deep war drums as it echoed through the entire arena and the already shambled stage cracked further as the pressure multipled exponentially.

"This should do it this time right?"

"I think so. He used moment break!"

"Let’s see!"

The audience spoke amongst themselves. They were no longer talking with the certainty of Dain’s victory as they subconsciously gave room, expecting Kieran to pull something off at the last moment.

And Kieran wasn’t one to disappoint as his cold expression cracked completely for the first time during the match.

A dark smile made its way across his face, as he moved unhindered underneath the immense pressure cast by Dain.

’It’s useless against my eyes, Dain!’

Kieran had figured the extent of Dains ability the moment he ’opened’ his eyes and used a bit of ’Absolute insight’ an ability he had unlocked during training.

It let him see into the true appreance of things and people, reading their energy flow and predicting their movements based on readings. He could feel that there was more to what the ability could do, but he just wasn’t strong enough to find out what laid beyond.

He couldn’t even maintain his Absolute Insight for more than a few minutes, but after several tests and discussions with August, he had managed to come up with a batter way to use those eyes of his.

By using parts of its abilities at once, Kieran could significantly increase the usage time of his eyes without suffering any backlash.

He had chosen to read the flow of energies around him and Kieran had noted something interesting.

Dain’s ability, Titanborn was based on his ability to gather momentum. That was the very reason why his attacks became increasingly heavier and harder to take the more he attacked with Kieran dodging those attacks.

But that wasn’t all. His ability to gather moment came from how ’grounded’ he was.

Every move of Dain was carrying a shadow weight of a mountain. Such heavy weight affected not only Kieran but Dain himself.

A single miss or miscalculation and he could loose control of the weight behind his attacks and end up hurting himself.

Because of that, he barely moved around the stage, depending on mid range, heavy attacks to fight. This way, he had more control over his attacks and with his control ability with pressed down on the opponent and dealt with their movements, he didn’t have to worry much about missing attacks.

Even when he did, it didn’t affect him since he was in total control. This method prevented him from unleashing his full potential, but Dain didn’t mind.

Instead, he came up with his ’Steps’. Every few moves, Dain would take a ’Step’ or ’Heavy Step’. At that moment, Kieran coukd see his ability to gather and release momentum increase exponentially.

Dain had used that to gather some of the momentum he had accumulated to the tip of his staff which resulted in the devastating attack that had wiped out half the stage.

Kieran had to acknowledge the ability of Dain. It was well rounded and the recruit had made sure to account as much as he could for his weaknesses. His confidence, although annoying wasn’t unfounded.

Unfortunately for Dain, while he tried his best to compensate for his weaknesses, it wasn’t perfect and that was all that Kieran needed.

Being able to see the flow of things with his eyes, Kieran could naturally see the blind spots and openings in his opponent and exploit that opportunity. That was how he had manged to to block the ’Third Step’ attack head on.

He had, at the last moment, pierced through the blind spot he saw and he was about to do the same.

Moving through the unstable areas in the field his opponent had created, Kieran was able to move like he was unaffected by the attack and pressure than seeked to push him back and crush him from above.

In the eyes of the audience and Dain, Kieran had flashed from his previous position, appearing right in front of Dain as he spoke in a tone that only both of them coukd hear.

"This is over!"

Kieran looked him dead in the eye and stated in a matter–of–fact tone.

"Hmph! I’d like to see you break through m—"

Dain’s eyes reddened in a split second, almost popping out of his eyes as he felt Kieran’s hand tear through his clothing and skin, forcing itself into his body.

"What the h-he-cough! are you!"

Dain coughed up blood, placing his weight on the staff on his hand and Kieran’s shoulder.