Alex vs. Bronze Tiger

'Bang!'

In the dark street, illuminated by the powerful headlights of a motorcycle, Alex's lean figure and Bronze Tiger, a beast like a fierce tiger, exchanged a punch.

Both stood firm. Under the glare of the headlights, their eyes met, flashing with a different light, as if they had gauged each other's strength.

Bronze Tiger's fighting spirit surged. He deliberately agitated his Blood Essence, his body growing hot and restless. His muscles tensed and relaxed with perfect rhythm, his physical strength boiling. His gaze burned with passion, yet remained calm as if the sky were falling. He shook his fists, pushing Alex's punch away, and immediately unleashed extraordinary combat skills.

The next moment, in the headlights, Bronze Tiger lunged forward. His right hand chopped down like a blade towards Alex's chest, while his left hand guarded, a slightly conservative defense. This was the most cautious opening, a stance that could both attack and defend.

Alex's right hand reached out, intercepting the side of Bronze Tiger's blade-like hand with his forearm. He twisted, deflecting the fierce chop, then clenched his fingers and thrust forward. It was the Spear Finger from Wing Chun, incredibly fierce and vicious, aimed at Bronze Tiger's carotid artery.

Bronze Tiger's eyes lit up. The hand chop against Alex's arm changed. His fingers curled into an eagle's claw, and he reversed his grip, grabbing Alex's arm joint. With a slight bend, he moved with the momentum, using a police-style joint lock to neutralize Alex's fierce Spear Finger and move behind him, subduing Alex.

Before Bronze Tiger could fully restrain Alex with the joint lock, Alex's arm suddenly went limp. Bronze Tiger felt his grip loosen, as if he were holding a slippery loach. Alex's arm slipped from his grasp. Instead, his left hand moved forward, countering with another joint lock against Bronze Tiger.

In the headlights, the two tall figures immediately engaged in a contest of counter-joint locks. Police grappling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Aikido, Mongolian Wrestling, Indian Jiu-Jitsu, Shaolin Bone Breaking Technique, and other strange and wondrous skills were used in rapid succession. Their figures intertwined fiercely, hands and movements clashing, shifting and changing with incredible intensity and speed under the bright white headlights.

Bronze Tiger had traveled the world, exchanging blows with famous martial artists everywhere. He had been an assassin, a mercenary, and had emerged from mountains of corpses and seas of blood. His combat experience was incredibly rich.

Alex lacked Bronze Tiger's combat experience, repeatedly finding himself on the verge of being subdued. However, his sensory organs, which surpassed human physical limits, allowed him to escape Bronze Tiger's extremely experienced counter-joint lock techniques time and again, narrowly placing himself in a safe position.

Though on the defensive, he countered without falling behind. The more they sparred, the more he felt he had mastered the techniques for using his body's joints. Finally, relying on his superior perception, he matched Bronze Tiger in their counter-joint lock spar, achieving a stalemate.

"Good!"

Bronze Tiger's eyes grew brighter with joy. He felt that despite Alex's lack of combat experience, he could always escape the crises he created at the last moment and counter him unexpectedly. Alex's physical control was almost at its peak, even surpassing his own. A surge of hot blood rose in his chest, and he let out a joyful roar.

This "Good!" served as a warning.

The next moment, Bronze Tiger suddenly attacked, gathering strength in his shoulder and shoving it into Alex's chest, sending him flying out of the headlights and crashing into a damaged wall, disappearing completely within it.

Bronze Tiger's footsteps followed. From within the broken wall, a fierce symphony of fists and feet erupted. This time, they weren't sparring joint techniques. Instead, their fists met with brutal, man-like ferocity, nearly demolishing the entire dilapidated structure. Bricks flew, dust billowed, and a violent aura exploded.

In the dark, ruined house, another figure was sent flying out. Bronze Tiger's eyes were sharp, his dark muscles strong and solid, as unyielding and indestructible as black marble. He had been fighting Alex in the darkness within the broken wall when Alex kicked him out, sending him back into the glare of the headlights.

In the complete darkness, fighting solely by perception, Alex's senses, which surpassed human physical limits, gave him an advantage. He had landed a blow on Bronze Tiger.

Both knew that blows of this magnitude wouldn't harm the other. Their eyes gleamed. Alex's figure leaped back into the headlights, and within the light, they exchanged punches and kicks again, the sounds of impact fierce and loud. It wasn't like sparring at all; it was like sworn enemies fighting to the death.

Once back in clear sight, Bronze Tiger's rich combat experience, combined with his visual senses, unleashed his full combat power. With his extensive experience, he could predict and read an opponent's movements through their body language, instantly neutralizing and deflecting all their techniques. He could often strike Alex from the most unexpected places with ease, suppressing Alex's combat at times.

However, as Bronze Tiger sensed Alex's strength, he gradually increased his power. From using sixty percent of his strength in their spar, he escalated to seventy, eighty, and finally, one hundred percent. Yet, even at full power, he could only temporarily suppress Alex with his vast combat experience; he couldn't defeat him.

This surprised Bronze Tiger.

To be able to fight him continuously, despite having less combat experience, relying solely on his powerful senses and physical prowess, Alex was undoubtedly strong.

But Alex's strength still surpassed his imagination.

This battle was like a vivid lesson from a combat master like Bronze Tiger, teaching him what a real fight was like.

Previously, Alex's opponents had always been petty thugs and gangsters.

Alex hadn't intended to fight them extensively. Relying on his advantages in perception and physique, he'd simply resolved them with a gun. His combat experience was practically non-existent.

Now, fighting Bronze Tiger, he was like a sponge, deducing dozens of possible subsequent changes from Bronze Tiger's every move, and it continued. This broadened his horizons, allowing him to truly witness the might of the world's top martial artists.

The battle lasted nearly half an hour. Bronze Tiger had thoroughly unleashed his passion. His eyes grew sharper with the fight, and in the end, he exerted one hundred and twenty percent of his strength, fighting purely on instinct without thinking. He fought to his heart's content, breaking into a sweat.

As the fight neared its end, Bronze Tiger had exhausted all his powerful techniques but still couldn't completely subdue Alex. He even felt subtly suppressed. Realizing he could no longer predict and read Alex's movements through his body language and neutralize all his techniques, Bronze Tiger took a step back, breathing slightly heavily, a sense of shock in his heart.

They stood apart under the headlights.

"You weren't using your full strength?"

Bronze Tiger's passion receded, and his tiger-like eyes looked at Alex in astonishment.

He was now drenched in sweat, his pores open, allowing his breath to flow and his strength to gradually recede. This intense spar had allowed him to unleash his full power, a satisfying exertion.

He was inwardly astonished. In his eyes, Alex still stood tall and straight, his black combat attire only slightly dusty, otherwise flawless. His aura was as stable as a mountain.

So effortless?

"No."

Alex answered truthfully. Although he had been suppressed by Bronze Tiger many times, he had indeed not used his full strength. His full strength lay in Magnetic Psionics, the ability to transform his power into magnetic fields. This was far more versatile and focused than his physical limbs. Once unleashed, it could control an opponent's limbs, leading to an overwhelming and effortless crushing of their limbs, rendering further fighting unnecessary.

He had surpassed human physical limits. His body's capabilities were stronger than Bronze Tiger's. The difference in body control wasn't just one or two levels. At the very least, after this fight, Bronze Tiger was slightly out of breath, his pores opening to allow his strength to flow smoothly and recover his stamina. However, Alex, by regulating his internal balance, could recover his fatigue. Visually, he appeared completely at ease, and in reality, he was indeed more at ease than Bronze Tiger.

He fought Bronze Tiger partly out of gratitude for Bronze Tiger's care for Jack, and partly because he wanted to spar with a world-class martial artist to test himself. Therefore, he didn't want to use his full strength.

"Use your full strength." Bronze Tiger frowned, feeling a sudden discomfort. Not even using his full strength felt like an insult to him, a world-class martial artist.

At this moment, Bronze Tiger's expression turned grim. He had an awareness of death in combat, willing to die in the fight.

In the past, many martial artists had died at his hands in their pursuit of the peak, and they had no regrets. Now, he had the same mindset.

Alex's eyes narrowed. He saw the determination for combat in Bronze Tiger's gaze. He frowned slightly, not wanting to insult this martial artist, and said, "If I use my full strength, you will be defeated instantly."

"Good."

Bronze Tiger's gaze was resolute. Although he had used the strength of his entire body, it wasn't his peak full power because this was a spar, and breaking a sweat was his goal. But now, it was different. He wanted to witness Alex's so-called full strength.

He tore open his black vest, revealing his solid, dark muscles. His will firmly controlled his pores to close, unleashing a surge of adrenaline that sent blood rushing to his brain, his eyes burning with madness and determination.

"I want to see what kind of power can defeat me instantly!"