The crisp sound of powerful flesh striking each other resounded on the roof of the apartment complex.
Maāabu struck Kael with a powerful punch only for Kael to casually parry it to the side.
Kael did not fight back immediately, instead, he waited.
He waited for Maāabu to attack again.
And Maāabu did just that, throwing out more punches and kicks.
Maāabu was exceptionally skilled, and it was clear that he had spent a considerable amount of time honing his abilities in his humanoid form.
Although the fighting technique he was using was more akin to a freestyle martial art, something that most lions employed, he was precise and demonstrated expertise.
His punches flew with coordination, never straying from the path intended for them to follow.
He would jump and kick Kaelās head, clearly wanting to knock Kael out or kill him if possible.
Whenever Kael used his arms to block or raised his knees to shield against the attacks, he would feel pain and numbness.
Kael would tolerate the pain and numbness, taking it with a calm expression and eyes that promised much worse.
Maāabu did not know why Kael was not attacking and he didnāt care, he just wanted to kill Kael.
So what if his powers were taken away, he would attack with whatever might he had left.
Not once did he believe that Kael would spare him if he won this fight, that was a joke only a naive idiot would believe.
Kael would never be that merciful to him, not after Exalonās death.
The fact that Kael had brought him all the way to this strange planet infested with humans told him that the All-King already had nefarious plans for him.
Kael was not a saint, he would lie if he wanted to, when he wanted. Honesty was a luxury that he could not be bothered to enjoy.
Maāabu just wanted to make sure that even if he was going to die, he would take the All-King down with him.
After all, that was what he had been fighting for all this time.
Maāabu formed a knife hand and spun around, swinging the flat palm at Kaelās neck.
Kael calmly backed away by a single step before suddenly rushing forward again.
Maāabu carelessly had one of his feet placed forward and Kael ruthlessly stepped on that foot.
Maāabu hissed but couldnāt protest as he watched Kaelās forehead enlarge in front of him.
It was like he had been rammed by a bull. Maāabuās head arched back and he stumbled away.
When he stabilized himself, he was bleeding profusely from his nose. The blood streamed down from his nostrils and over his chapped lips, dripping onto his chest.
"Aaaargh!" Maāabu seemed to have gone crazy, realizing that he had not done any serious damage to Kael but Kael had seriously injured him with just one move.
He rushed toward Kael, his tattered clothes stripped away by the wind as he closed the distance between him and Kael once again.
He jumped, raising his two arms to the sky to bring them down for a hammer slam.
Kael, as if to mock the efforts of the once proud heavenly terrorist, took two steps to the side.
He barely evaded the attack.
In that moment, countless scenes flashed through Kaelās mind. They were experiences of fighting techniques and combat instincts trying to take over.
Kael saw many ways he could have utterly demolished Maāabu with a few strikes before he landed any attack.
Alas, he refrained from doing something for his own reasons.
Maāabu followed up with more maddening attacks. Swinging his fist from left to right or up to down. He would throw out sweeping kicks, or axe kicks, or catapult kicks.
All the time, his body flew from one side to the other like a dumb bull being led around by a red cloth.
And all the time, Kael would dodge or block the attacks easily. Whenever he attacked, it was just to provoke Maāabu to fight more rashly.
Kael may have declared that this was a fair fight, but he still lied.
It was literally impossible for Kael to play fair with anyone even if he wanted to.
It was his nature as a Primordial of Conquering to only engage in an activity if he was sure that he would have an advantage.
And even if he disregarded this nature, Kael was just way above the league of anyone in his power level bracket.
Even now in this human form, Kael was still stupidly powerful.
His strength was at best that of a super soldier, his thinking ability had slowed to a crawl but was still better than the smartest humans on the planet.
With the skills Kael had alone, he could dominate this planet without any superpowers.
With that kind of broken advantage, Kael just wanted to know if despite all that, he was still so inferior to Maāabu that he had actually fallen for his scheme.
"As expected," Kael said, his brows furrowing into a serious formation.
He turned his shoulders, redirecting a slap from Maāabu and nearly breaking the latterās wrist.
"It wasnāt that you were better than me," Kael sighed.
He lashed out, grabbing Maāabuās wrist lightning fast.
"You were not lucky."
Maāabu used his other hand to throw a power-packed punch. Kael also shot out with a power-packed punch of his own.
But Kaelās fist had one finger poking out slightly.
When the two fists clashed, Maāabu screamed, feeling something sharp briefly shift the knuckle bones on his free arm.
Kael didnāt give him time to think, he kicked, smashing his toes into Maāabuās exposed kneecap.
*Crack!*
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...."
Maāabu screamed and buckled under the weight of his own body. His left leg had lost all the strength to lift his torso and he could barely find his bearing with just his right leg.
Kael shifted like a cheetah, flashing to Maāabuās back with the wrist still in his hand.
Another cracking sound was heard as Maāabuās right hand twisted to an odd angle.
Kael then slammed his elbow into Maāabuās back, pushing his whole weight and force into the attack.
Maāabu was shocked, literally. He felt a sharp pain followed by paralysis.
Kael had shifted one of the vertebrae of his spine, rendering parts of his body completely unusable.
In under five seconds, Kael had taken down Maāabu with cold surgeon-like precision.
"If you arenāt better than me, and you arenāt lucky, why then did you win?" Kael asked no one in particular.
The lion kings, Memphis, Fidel, and Ozia, watched all this with indifferent expressions.
Memphis was the one who showed the most emotion in her eyes but it wasnāt for Maāabu. She was slightly worried that Maāabu might harm Kael, but thankfully that wasnāt the case.
Kael placed his hand on Maāabuās shoulder and forced him to his knees.
"I was careless," Kael admitted, a deep feeling of melancholy trying to overshadow his heart.
"Thank you for killing Kael," Kael said, grabbing Maāabu by his hair and shooting his finger at Maāabuās open eyes.