William swung his sword down at Conor, who used the flat side of his sword to parry the blow before the residual force of the blow sent him flying backward.
Conor formed tendrils of shadows that caught him mid-flight and forcibly launched him back towards William, who was still in the middle of his downswing.
As the blade neared William in a diagonal arc, the blade of his own sword had finally plunged into the ground, and with a violent kick of his foot into the flat side of his sword, sent chunks of burning dirt and rock towards Conor.
A thin membrane of shadow energy attempted to cover Conor's vitals, but a large rock still slammed into his stomach, knocking the air out of him along with a spout of blood, but his forward movement did not stop, and Conor's blade slashed from shoulder to hip, tearing deep.
SHING!
The blade whistled sharply as it tore through William's remarkably resilient flesh, leaving a deep, bloody gash across his body.
With a swift motion, the wielder leapt back, creating distance between them.
William's chest began to heal visibly, the wound closing at an astonishing speed.
In the observation room, the onlookers couldn't help but marvel at the rapid pace of his recovery.
"Alright, who's placing bets?" one of the agents called out, and the room erupted into a scene reminiscent of the chaotic energy of the stock exchange.
BOOOM!
An explosive collision of blades brought their attention back to the fight, and they could see on the screen that William and Conor had knocked the weapons from each other's hands, and the two were now in an all-out brawl with fist and foot.
Conor punched William in the gut with a fist wrapped in shadow energy, which seeped into his body, and a wave of force rippled out from his back, but William countered with an uppercut to Conor's chin.
CRACK!
The sounds of bones cracking are heard by both fighters before they are launched in opposite directions.
"AGGGHH!" Both William and Conor let out grunts of pain as they landed, but the smile wickedly displayed on their faces made it clear to those observing that the fight was just beginning.
CRACK!
The ground broke around William's foot, and he suddenly appeared in front of Conor, catching him off guard.
"What th..."
Conor's thoughts were interrupted, and he was unable to defend himself when a hand grabbed him by the top of his head and pulled him towards his other fist.
BOOM!
A resounding impact sent Conor shooting towards the ground, and his body carved a deep trench in the ground.
William allowed himself to land softly at the edge of the trench and squinted his eyes as he searched for Conor.
RUMBLE!
The ground began to shake, and William could make out the sound of something moving under the Earth.
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACK!
Tendrils of pure shadow energy erupted from the ground and wrapped around William's arms and his neck while attempting to pull him down to their level, but he would not be taken so easily.
"HAAAAA!"
William roared as the flames he had suppressed suddenly surged forth violently.
BOOOOOM!
The shadow tendrils writhed within the flames before dissipating into nothingness, and the ground beneath William's feet had nearly melted while forming a small crater around his body.
CRUNCH!
Conor emerged from the shadows that seemed to surge towards him like he was a magnet and formed into an orb in his hands that appeared like a Kamehameha[1], but the energy within its surface was spinning rapidly like a Rasengan.
Seeing this, William had a thought and cupped his hands together in a similar way.
FWOOSH!
Fiery orange flames erupted from his hands, engulfing them completely.
William's brow knitted in concentration as he poured every ounce of focus into condensing and controlling the ferocious flames that roared with untamed energy.
The fire was wild and defiant, resisting his every attempt to dominate it. Beads of sweat cascaded down his face as he battled to harness its power. After a grueling effort, he managed to seize a sliver of control, molding the flames into a turbulent yet precariously stable sphere that hovered between his palms. Despite his relentless resolve, further compression of the sphere eluded him.
The air around him shifted violently, rushing past as the intense heat disrupted the surrounding pressure. A heavy silence followed, gripping the audience and leaving them perched at the edge of their seats in anticipation.
Grins stretched across both William's and Conor's faces, a shared understanding sparking between them. Though the hues were different, they both knew they were recreating a moment, a fiery echo of the iconic clash between Goku and Vegeta, although in this case, their places were swapped.
Time seemed to pause between the two fighters, and a single drop of sweat fell from William and onto the Earth.
As soon as the bead of sweat touched the ground, it seemed to act as the cue for the attack to start.
WHOOOSH!
Conor was the first to act, sending a wave of concentrated shadow energy sweeping towards William before the shadows seemingly morphed mid-way into the shape of a dragon.
FWOOOSH!
William did the same and sent the concentrated flames between his hands, shooting forward towards the incoming attack.
As the two attacks neared each other, the very air seemed to crackle with a chaotic mix of energy.
Before the collision, both fighters had a look of mutual appreciation on their faces, appreciation that could only exist between two anime fans fulfilling a lifelong dream.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
An explosion swept through the entirety of the training room and held such force that not only did the entire facility shake, but outside the bridge itself began to creak as the force transferred successfully to the massive bridge cables.
CTCHHHHH!
Both William and Conor were sliding backwards due to the force they were up against, but William, with his superior physical strength, managed to plunge his feet into the ground to stop his backward movement.
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACK!
William began to take steady steps towards Conor, each step causing the ground underneath him to crack around his feet.
Conor attempted to use his shadows to stop his backward momentum, but the shadows, being ephemeral in nature, could not compete against the forces at play and began to fall apart when the pressure continued to increase.
As Conor slid backward, he noticed the gleam of his sword as he was being pushed backward and reached out with his mind, connecting with the weapon.
The dark sword suddenly rose from the ground, small chunks of earth falling from its surface as it sharply turned towards Conor and shot towards his waiting hands.
WHOOSH!
Suddenly, the flames punched a hole through the shadow dragon after passing through its gaping maw, and the temperature around Conor began to become uncomfortable.
Conor closed his eyes as deep purple shadows coalesced around his blade, and he took a single step forward and swung his shadow sword in a downward arc, sending a concentrated blade of shadow energy towards the approaching beam of concentrated flames.
CTCHA!
The flames were severed down the middle by the blade of shadows before William himself found himself nearly cleaved in half as the blade struck him from his neck down to his hip and stopping at the pelvic bone.
Conor began to panic internally and was about to rush to check William's condition, but when he saw William's body stitching itself back together, he paused.
The translucent blade on the other side of Conor began to shake subtly before it rose out of the ground on its own.
Feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, Conor leaped into the air just as the translucent red blade shot past him and into William's waiting hand, where it immediately roared into scarlet and orange flames.
FWOOSH!
Conor's blade exploded with shadow energy as if matching the sword in its opponent's hand, and he and William took their stances and prepared for further combat.
Yells and screams of both joy and frustration echoed from the observation room and even began echoing into the hallways, getting the attention of several important individuals who all rushed to see the reason for all the noise.
Rex and Hunk were the first to arrive, being the closest, followed shortly by Santana, who arrived in a streak of lightning.
"Oh, shit what are we gambling on fellas?" Rex happily asked as he approached the desk where the screens were showing what was going on inside the training room.
When Rex saw what was going on, his mood shifted, and he took on a serious and gloomy expression.
On screen, Rex could see a swordfight with movements so quick that he could only see the silhouette of the swords as they moved.
"I... Impossible!" He muttered, but his voice was drowned out by the arrival of Immortal, who was flanked by War Woman and her assistant, who looked at Rex immediately as if he were a worthless insect whose only purpose was to be squashed.
"The hell is her problem?" He thought before looking away with a flushed expression on his face.
The rest ignore this interaction and approach the screens.
Immortal's eyes squint as he looks at the screen, specifically, the swordplay, "As clumsy as they are, they do have a lot of potential!"
War Woman had a glow in her eyes as soon as she saw who was fighting, and Immortal suddenly felt a cold chill in his spine as he remembered when she had given him a similar look.
"Well, if they survive, at the very least, they will come out more powerful." Remembering the amount of pure torture he had suffered when that woman had taken him as a disciple caused him to visibly shiver.
CLANG!
CLANG!
SWISH!
WHOOSH!
The sound of the fight intensifying forced the Immortals' attention back to the screen, where both William and Conor were in a clinch, and Conor was currently being overwhelmed with pure physical strength.
Conor attempted to wrest his hand free from William's grip, but was unable to budge them so much as an inch before his back was slammed forcibly into the side of a rock formation
BOOOM!
William lifted his leg and slammed his feet hard into Conor's ribs, causing him to pass halfway through the large rock formation before stopping.
SHINK!
SHINK!
SHINK!
Shadow spikes pierced into the surrounding rock walls and began morphing into hands as they pulled out large chunks of stone.
William was smashed by a massive boulder that sent him flying backwards into the air.
"AAHHHHhhhh!" His scream of pain faded into the distance as the boulder eventually smashed him into the ground.
As William lifted himself off the ground, Conor continued to throw massive boulders at him.
William raised the sword that was dripping with his own blood, and a spout of flames surged to life around it before he brought the blade down to meet the first boulder.
SHING!
The burning blade both sliced and melted the boulder as it passed through, and both halves missed William as he shot forward.
SHING!
Like a lightsaber, his blade carved through the boulders with next to no effort, and William continued to pick up an astronomical level of speed before arriving in front of Conor, whose eyes turned into pinholes as he was currently in the middle of throwing another boulder.
"Shit!" Conor thought and said at the same time.
FWOOSH!
The flames went out, and William tilted the sword so the blade would not kill Conor before the sword struck him.
CRACK!
Conor could feel the blade destroy the left side of his clavicle before he felt the same pain in his ribs.
Time seemed to slow as a ribbon of blood left Conor's mouth, and he flew backwards uncontrollably with a deep red gash on his body.
As the spar was occurring in Teen Team HQ, in another part of Chicago, a man made of stone leaped from a tall building's luxurious window to escape from a hail of bullets.
A group of armed guards approached the window to check, followed by a man with a machine for his head.
"Tsk... Find him and bring him to me alive!" Machine Head yelled, his robotically simulated voice causing mild discomfort to those hearing it, but despite how uncomfortable they were, these men would not even dream of going against this man.
They looked over to see a large bipedal lion man holding a massive mace in his hands and shivered.
To impose his dominance on the guards when he arrived, the alien lion bit a man in half like he was chewing a stick of jerky, and in response, Machine Head made him head of security while offering him the chance to fight strong opponents.
Battle Beast, as he called himself, suddenly looked over to these men who all visibly shuddered before fleeing the room entirely.
"HMPH... Weaklings!" Battle Beast snorted.
He had begun feeling pent up from the lack of action and was feeling an itch that would need scratching one way or another.
The man made of stone landed hard on a nearby building and rolled to break his fall, "I remember when I first gained this ability, and I thought I could survive anything hehehe if only I knew!" He rubbed his leg, which still held a hint of that fateful injury that made him humble himself on how potent his powers were.
Hearing the sound of approaching choppers under the control of the Order, the man immediately continued to run and, after a few choice leaps of fate, managed to land relatively safely in an alleyway.
"These people have my family, I cannot do this by myself, I need help!"
BANG!
His fist collided with the garbage container, leaving a noticeable dent in its metal surface. His mind raced, fixating on the only group he knew could offer him help. Yet, the thought lingered, what would their price be, and could he afford to pay it?
[1] RIP Akira Toriyama