With Bernard's ability, he and Raia managed to handle the attacks being thrown by the General. When the General attacked with a fist or a kick, Bernard would become a meat shield and absorb or defend the attacks, making them ineffective.
With the True Origin in his body, it mutated his body into something rubber-like. Every physical attack was nullified by his body. Blunt attacks were also ineffective. His body was very flexible and agile, and with his incredible strength, he became an opponent that was tough for Matthias to beat.
Bernard also handled the all-on attacks from the General while Raia looked for windows of opportunity to strike a blow at Matthias. It turned out, their combo was quite effective. Every blow they dealt damaged the General's body.
The unusual thing was that the General didn't seem to mind the pain at all. He didn't even wince; he just received Raia's force-filled punches and kicks with no emotion as he focused entirely on Bernard.
Now, Raia thought that Bernard might be the greatest threat to Matthias. That must be why the General was focusing on Bernard alone while disregarding Raia.
With that thought, Raia's ego was tapped. His broken pride became fuel, channeling anger into his attacks.
Tumultuous feelings of anger filled Raia's heart. He could feel intense energy flowing through his body. These energies suddenly spread from his fists, legs, and feet. Now, with every strike he threw, Matthias looked at Raia more warily. Raia now knew that these intense emotions powered up his strength and improved his attacking ability and speed.
As time ticked by, Matthias could feel the burden these two students were placing on him.
Every close call forced him to choose between maintaining his image as a good role model General or winning the match.
He wanted to use his powers as well, but doing so would hurt his ego. It would mean admitting that these students were strong enough to challenge a General like him, who had already been through so much to become stronger.
He just couldn't, especially not in front of the nearly two hundred students watching today.
He continued fighting them with raw strength and combat techniques. His technique was a mix of kickboxing and traditional boxing. He got serious this time and fought the two students as if they were real enemies.
He jumped and threw a downward kick that mimicked an axe, aiming to cleave Raia at the shoulder. The force of the attack dropped Raia to the ground. Raia could feel the intensity of General Matthias's emotion, he was truly getting more serious by the second.
Raia attempted to block the kick with his arms by crossing them together, but he was hammered down by the sheer force.
"Since I can't defeat this rubber man, I'll shift to you!" Matthias thought. Since he could barely damage Bernard, he shifted his target to Raia.
Raia's face slammed into the floor of the ring.
Blood came from his nostrils. The blow had really hit the mark.
Raia wiped the blood off and shifted his focus to defense. Matthias kept attacking, and each hit made Raia wince in pain. The force felt like being struck by a speeding truck. He felt like he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer.
Bernard tried to shield Raia from Matthias, but it had no effect. Matthias always found a way to reach Raia, not giving him time to catch his breath. The fight got hotter as students cheered. Some wished for the students to win, while others, envious, wished for their defeat.
Matthias then stopped and took out the pocket watch again.
Raia and Bernard thought that Matthias would use the pocket watch's ability again, but instead, he stopped them with his words.
"Thirty minutes left."
After saying that, he suddenly increased his speed, putting Raia at a clear disadvantage.
Raia tried his best to block the attacks, but he wasn't fast enough. A punch landed on his face and sent him flying to the edge of the ring.
Raia helped himself up and stared at the approaching Matthias. Raia didn't want to fail. He looked around, observing his surroundings, trying to find a way out. He was cornered.
In the corner of the ring, he could now see how wide the space was, about thirty-six feet in area. He looked around and spotted something that might help.
A few meters away were three large quills, as thick as glass, lodged into the floor.
Seeing the incoming General, Raia tried to dodge but was greeted by a kick to the hips, making him plummet to the left side.
Once again, he hit another corner. General Matthias went after him again. The General lifted his fist, ready to strike the final blow, but Raia smiled. The smile troubled him, and then three quills sprung into the air. Raia threw them at him. He thought Raia was acting out of desperation, but Raia still held his smug smile.
"These quills weren't for me!" Realization hit the General as he looked in the direction the quills were heading.
The blunt ends of the quills hit the heads of the unconscious students on the floor. In a few seconds, they began to rise, trying to remember what happened.
When they saw the General and Raia in the corner of the ring, they remembered that they had to defeat the General.
Bernard saw through Raia's plan and quickly informed the three students.
"Let's work together this time. There are less than thirty minutes left before we lose this challenge. We need your help to hold the General off and give Raia some time to think and breathe." Bernard explained.
Surprisingly, they agreed.
They weren't just brawn and power at all, their level of understanding was exceptional too. The Werewolf, the Porcupine guy, and the Knives guy knew that for the past few hours, Bernard and Raia had been fighting the General without getting knocked out. They understood their strength and chose to trust them.
The Werewolf Girl attacked first, becoming wilder. She unleashed a series of slashes on the General, who tried to dodge. But the Knives Guy was also awake and attacked him from behind.
Knives and claws left white marks on the General's skin. It wasn't enough to truly hurt him, but at least they gave Raia time to rest.
The Porcupine Guy didn't let them steal the spotlight. Instead of acting as the marksman, he changed his approach.
Quills were scattered across the ring, and he didn't have the energy to control them all, but he could if he did it only one at a time.
He ran to the closest quill and pulled it out. Then, he ran toward the General and pushed the blunt end into his face.
Naturally, the General took it without flinching... the quills didn't affect him! His skin was tougher than iron!
It didn't dishearten the Porcupine Guy. He continued. One last time, he lunged the blunt end of a quill at the General, and the General didn't avoid it.
Little did he know, it was the dumbest thing he had done.
There was blood on the quills, and it splashed into his eyes, temporarily blinding him.
'Sh*t!' he cursed inwardly. He had gotten reckless.
With the opportunity, the Werewolf, Porcupine, and Knives Guys used all their strength to attack the General one more time.
The Werewolf's claws turned into the hungry heads of vicious wolves, slashing the General's chest, ripping his shirt as red blood spilled. She was overjoyed. She had managed to hurt the General!
But she detransformed and collapsed as her fatigue caught up, and strange purple liquid covered her arm.
The Knives Guy was about to strike too, but when the General's purple blood touched his arm, he dropped to the ground, paralyzed.
The Porcupine Guy, with a bleeding back, turned in fear upon seeing this. Purple blood splurted onto his wound. He tried to jump off the ring but stopped abruptly. His body froze.
"Good job, you three. I'm really impressed. You managed to hurt me and make me use my powers," Matthias said, wiping the blood from his eyes.
He saw the paralyzed bodies and turned his gaze to Bernard, who was in the corner preparing for an attack.
Matthias had no choice now but to use his powers. He wanted to see if Bernard's rubber body could endure his paralyzing venom.
The General jumped up and attacked Bernard as purple liquid oozed from his fingers. Bernard watched closely, anticipating every possible move.
After observing, Bernard let himself be hit by the deadly fingers.
The General felt something was off. Bernard should have dodged... but he didn't. Suddenly, Bernard's body stretched rapidly and wrapped around Matthias, tangling him.
Stunned, Matthias couldn't move. He was pinned by Bernard's strength!
"RAIA! DO IT NOW!!!"
Before the three others were poisoned, Raia and Bernard had already discussed a plan to defeat the General.
Raia had come up with it with the help of someone... his Inner Self.
'I can help you defeat him. Let me tap into your body once again and I can paralyze him with a neurotoxin,' Inner Self had said.
Raia was confused. He thought Inner Self can only gave him information and heightened senses. This was new.
"What do you mean… neurotoxin? Paralyze? I thought your job was to inform me or enhance my senses? What is this new mechanism?" Raia whispered to himself.
'Just make him stop moving. I'll do the rest. Don't question me,' Inner Self responded, avoiding to answer the question.
Raia didn't have time to argue. His three classmates had just fallen to the General's venom. He had to trust Inner Self, who had helped him many times.
Raia ran up to Bernard and explained the plan. He just needed Bernard to immobilize the General.
When the General took the bait and was trapped, Raia acted on Inner Self's instructions.
He closed his eyes and let Inner Self take partial control. He didn't know what Inner Self meant, but he trusted him.
Inner Self instructed him to say a few words.
"Death Toxin!"
Raia felt purple energy flow through his system. It swelled chaotically, but Raia calmed himself and directed it where it needed to go.
The purple energy flowed to his fingertips. His senses sharpened.
He saw an image in his mind. In his brain, a huge purple butterfly was floating, then it reverted to a cocoon, then to a striped caterpillar. The stripes felt familiar, but the power surged into his fingers making him forget about the stripes.
Raia pressed his index and middle fingers together, channeling the energy.
When he heard Bernard's call, Raia knew it was time.
With a burst of speed, he appeared before the entangled Matthias and looked him in the eye.
Matthias was shocked, he had forgotten about Raia.
Now, because of his recklessness, it had spell his defeat.
"Checkmate!" Raia said, plunging his fingers into the General's abdomen. The energy surged inside, making the General immediately stiffen.
Bernard felt the resistance drop and jumped away with Raia.
The General dropped to one knee, then the other. He could feel paralysis creeping in. He never imagined Raia had this kind of ability!
It was similar to his own, but different. Raia's toxin was more potent. He began to get dizzy and dropped but managed to keep both hands on the ground, holding him up.
Luckily for him, his powers were based on toxins, venoms, and poisons. To control them, he had to ingest or experience them as he was doing now. The surprise was how strong Raia's neurotoxin was. It clouded his mind.
Slowly but surely, he started regaining control.
"Do you really think you can use toxins on me? Raia, I thought you knew about my powers. I can control all poisons, venoms, and toxins. Your power is useless against me. You're done!" Matthias declared.
Raia and Bernard furrowed their brows. Their plan had failed. Bernard thought it was over and sighed. He could even feel the numbness of the poison that the General injected inside him.
"Nope. Of course I knew it wouldn't work. But I knew it would stop you from moving for just a few seconds," Raia replied.
Bernard glanced at Raia and received a wink.
Matthias caught the bluff and chuckled. He thought Raia was just saving face, he scoffed and returned to controlling the toxin.
"Bernard... let's do this! One last strike!" Raia called.
Bernard looked at Raia confusedly. He then turned and caught the situation the General was in and chuckled. "I get it now!"
"On three?" Raia asked.
"Okay. One..." Bernard agreed.
"Two..." Raia continued.
"Three!" they shouted together, jumping high.
They pointed their feet down, channeling all their energy and strength into their heels.
"Drop down, dog!" Raia shouted as both of their feet landed on the General's back.
BOOM!
They jumped away and saw the General on the ground... his whole body collapsed.
They won!