On the plaza, at the center of a crowd of over a thousand seated American soldiers.
Kyle and Steve had been silently facing off one moment, then both exploded forward with a stomp, charging at each other the next.
To the outside observers, they had already engaged in a fierce close-quarters battle in the blink of an eye.
"Watch out."
As if realizing he could not let Kyle seize the initiative, Steve took the lead in applying pressure.
The moment he entered striking range, his left hand, already drawn back and charged with force, whipped viciously toward Kyle's face.
Brother, don't hit people in the face!
Kyle held back his complaint. Reacting swiftly, he raised his unarmored right arm and blocked it.
Bang!
When the strike failed, Steve bent his left leg back and drove his angled knee upward.
He clearly intended to give Kyle no chance to recover, using an unbroken barrage of high-intensity attacks to crush him.
As if expecting it, Kyle lifted his left leg. Moving after Steve but arriving first, he kicked the side of Steve's braced leg, bringing the knee strike that was about to slam into his stomach to a perilous halt.
"Hmm?" Steve frowned, not expecting to suffer a hidden loss from the gap in experience so quickly.
He gritted his teeth and advanced rather than retreating, continuing to launch punches and kicks as he fought Kyle at close range.
Bang, bang, bang!
Though they were only trading blows with their fists and feet, powerful explosive impacts rang through the air!
"Is this what it means to be a Super Soldier...?"
"So strong. One punch from them could beat an ordinary person to death, right?"
"Cough, cough. Could the people in the back move farther away? I'm getting a little scared."
The gathered soldiers stared in shock. Those seated closest to the center swallowed hard and instinctively shuffled backward, terrified that the two fighters' battle would spill over onto them.
Kyle blocked another punch. Though he still seemed at ease, constantly defending under such frenzied offensive pressure gradually left him struggling to catch his breath.
This secretly delighted Steve. He felt that his gamble to keep attacking had paid off, but as they brushed past each other once, he suddenly saw a faint smile on Kyle's cold face.
He was actually smiling.
Cold sweat seeped from Steve's forehead. Yet with the two locked in close combat, he could no longer stop attacking. He could only grit his teeth and see it through to the end.
"Finally realized it?"
Kyle maintained the smile on his lips. Steve really did understand him, knowing that his offensive methods were far stronger than his defense. That was why Steve had desperately intensified his own assault from the start, unwilling to let Kyle take the initiative.
"Unfortunately, don't you understand that you've given up your natural defensive advantage this way?" Kyle lightly shook his head. The defensive stance of his hands and feet abruptly changed as he forcefully shifted himself into the attacker—
Counter-Attack Combat!
Endurance Combat!
Military Boxing Combat! Grappling Technique!
More than a dozen offensive fighting techniques flowed seamlessly into one another as he struck without pause!
Steve's expression drastically changed. Kyle's combat techniques shifted far too quickly.
He tried to switch from offense to defense on the spot, but a barrage of punches and kicks landed across his body, leaving him completely unable to gather strength for a counterattack or defense.
"Let me teach you what real offense is!" Kyle sneered coldly, suppressing Steve completely. His punches landed with a faint rush of wind, each blow striking solid flesh, giving Steve no room to resist.
Steve smiled bitterly. Forced into a passive position, he could only shield his face with both hands as he was beaten one-sidedly like a punching bag.
"What—what just happened?"
"Second Lieutenant Kyle was being suppressed just a moment ago, but in the blink of an eye, he's beating Captain Steve senseless?"
"I can't make sense of it either..."
The watching American soldiers erupted into an uproar, gazing complicatedly at the dramatic scene in the center.
"You little brats, this is what you get for not working hard enough on your combat techniques." A voice sounded from outside the crowd of soldiers. Several soldiers turned around and saw that Captain Joseph, dressed in an officer's uniform, had somehow become part of the audience as well.
As Joseph watched the two fight, he said, "Steve's combat techniques are far inferior to Kyle's—if Steve knows as many as five combat techniques, then Kyle already knows more than fifteen."
At that, Joseph laughed and sighed in admiration. "This kid really is a monster among monsters!"
"Go down!"
At the center of the plaza, Kyle unleashed a full-power straight punch, cleanly and decisively smashing into Steve's lower abdomen and sending his entire body flying.
Steve groaned in pain. The shield on his back scraped against the ground as he slid, only barely stopping after crashing into the watching soldiers.
"Concede, Steve. There's still an obvious gap between us. If you were an enemy, you'd be dead in fewer than fifty exchanges." Kyle panted out hot breaths coldly, his gaze fixed on Steve lying on the ground.
If they were judged solely by physical constitution, the two were actually evenly matched.
But even without using ruthless, lethal methods, Kyle's strength still crushed Steve's. Just as Joseph had said, the gap between their combat techniques was far too great!
Kyle knew every combat technique Steve knew; but Steve did not necessarily know every combat technique Kyle knew.
Of course, Steve could not be blamed for that. Even with the ability to learn quickly, he still needed to devote great effort to studying, mastering, and honing those techniques through real combat.
Kyle was different. There was no need for learning—he only had to read and draw cards. It was a little like the helplessness of a premium member encountering a player using cheats in an online game.
"Not yet..." Steve struggled to rise from the ground, spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, and said resolutely, "I haven't conceded yet. I can keep fighting like this for another day!"
"Suit yourself." Kyle shrugged. Just as he was about to advance and attack again, Steve's next move made him show a hint of surprise.
Steve took the Adamantium Shield from his back and strapped it onto his left arm.
"That's more like it. Otherwise, this would be too boring." Kyle smiled, then suddenly accelerated and charged forward explosively.
This time, Steve did not recklessly rush in again. Watching Kyle charge straight toward him, he calmly raised his shield, then suddenly swung his left arm forward with force, throwing the shield from his hand—
He had actually used the shield as a thrown ranged weapon!
Kyle's pupils contracted slightly. Seeing the shield rushing toward him, he quickly raised his right fist and collided with it.
He blocked the shield, but with a sharp whirring sound, it curved like a boomerang and flew back toward the direction from which it had been thrown.
"This shield—oh no!"
Kyle realized something and tried to retreat. But it was already too late. Steve had leaped forward into the air above him, caught the returning shield with his left hand, and smashed it down from above.
Caught off guard, Kyle could only drive his elbow toward the shield. The instant his elbow struck its surface, the force of the blow was completely absorbed.
At the same time, Steve's shield strike continued to crash down powerfully, instantly forcing Kyle's body lower and making him support himself on one knee. Even the packed dirt beneath him sank into a noticeable depression.
It was Kyle's first time facing the properties of the Adamantium Shield, and he suffered a major loss.
The Vibranium component in this shield had clearly absorbed all kinetic force! As long as an attack landed on its surface, it was forcibly a MISS!
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