Doomsday Pillars

The fight was finally reaching its conclusion. Alex had surprised the audience with his Hexagram martial arts technique. But Nathanael, apparently, also had his own trump card. A traditional small Indian ax.

The most common weapon carried by the special forces was a knife and in the hands of a skilled martial artist, a knife was a lethal weapon at close range. Sometimes, there were also some members of special forces who equipped themselves with a small ax. But for Nathanael, he brought his personal ax for this mission. 

It was a small 60-centimeter ax not much longer than the combat knife.. This ax was passed down from generation to the next generation and was only given to the strongest warrior in his tribe. 

Ancient legends from his tribe told the story of its creation. At the beginning of creation,when the earth mother died, she had a son and daughter, the sun and its sister, the moon. The sun and moon together emitted alternating light which gave life back to the earth. The earth finally moved and scattered the stars in the sky. But one of the stars decided to settle on earth and form this small ax, which Nathanael\'s tribe found.

This ax, which only had one sharp edge, had a trunk made of solid black wood with carved decorations. Seeing the engraving, Alex confirmed that the small ax was one of the artifact weapons. Nathanael was still in the mortal realm, but the attack he had just released with the weapon was very powerful. Alex suspected that the weapon was a medium-level artifact weapon. No less valuable than the stone golem that Alex gave to the Regent. This was the reason why Alex did not send Arief or Rama in this duel.

An elite special force, a spirit enhancer who managed to cultivate his spirit enhancer abilities and also has a medium-level artifact weapon. It would not be wrong to say that Nathanael was currently the most powerful man on Earth. No wonder the members of his army considered him a monster.

The Admiral saw Alex, lost in thought, finally spoke, "Mr. Alex, you are our mission, if you die, we will fail our mission. I suggest that you surrender. I\'ve seen that ax cut through steel like a hot knife through butter."

Alex looked around and saw that his members, who were previously so excited, had doubts. Devita also looked very worried.

"Theo, he doesn\'t want to listen to me, please help me convince him," Devita said.

Theo was one of Alex\'s closest friends, he was a psychic spirit enhancer who could read minds and he could feel that Alex was still far from despair. He knew he couldn\'t persuade Alex to back down. Theo felt Alex\'s change in demeanor too, he was very different from the Alex he knew. The Alex, whom he had known for a long time, was a calculative and carefull man and would not bet his life for the sake of a competition. He could not understand the new Alex, hence, he believed there\'s nothing he can do to convince Alex.

Alex finally spoke, "Stop? Give up? I am having so much fun! Why would I want to stop?"

Admiral Gerard became a little furious to hear that, at a time like this, Alex was still full of jokes. The ax had no eyes and if Alex died, he wouldn\'t know what to do. He suddenly thought the competition might not be a good idea. Maybe he should proceed with plan B instead of this. But while he was deliberating, Alex advanced to attack Natahanel.

Alex began to control his breathing and pushed his body to the limits with the level four hexagram. He dashed forward like a bullet towards Nathanael.

"!!!"

Since Nathanael could not control the strength of the ax, he was hesitant whether to strike or not. In the end, he dodged and Alex punched the empty air. Alex returned to using hexagram footsteps and tried to chase after Nathanael, but the speed of his technique couldn\'t catch up to Natahanel. A wind spirit enhancer\'s advantage was their speed. Alex\'s fists only hit the empty wind again.

The level four hexagram may improve Alex\'s physical abilities, but the strength of this technique comes from the formation of his footsteps. This technique could make his opponents confused. When it looks like Alex moves to the right, he actually moves to the left, when Alex steps forward, he actually stopped. With hexagram, Alex\'s movements would be very difficult to avoid, but to chase a wind enhancer in the same class as Nathanael proved to be difficult. Alex must predict his opponent\'s movements precisely and find a gap to trap him into his formation.

After more than a dozen attacks from Alex, he finally managed to trap Nathanael and hit Nathanael\'s head. 

BAAMM !!!

Nathanael was shocked, the heavy blow made him dizzy. It also pissed him so much. He couldn\'t just let this man go. He was the greatest warrior of his tribe; he decided not to retreat anymore.

Nathanael grasped the small ax and began to swing it again with all his might.

ZZZiigggg!! ZIINnggg!!

This time there were two sounds that were deafening to the ears of the people around. Alex immediately used his full strength and moved to the right to avoid the attack.

KABOOOM!!

One strike made a mark on the concrete floor of the field, the second strike cut toward the audience. Fortunately, this weapon had a limited distance. Alex estimated that the farthest was only about 10 meters, after that the shockwave would disappear and felt just like a strong wind. If the weapon had no limits, Alex would force the audience to disperse.

ZZiinnggg! ZZiinggg !! ZZZinggg !!

Nathanael swung his deadly ax again and Alex continued to concentrate fully avoiding the attack. Alex managed to avoid all three attacks perfectly. The fight carried and every attack from Nathanael left the audience breathless, but Alex never disappointed the audience to keep avoiding it. Nathanael just needed to wait for Alex to make a mistake, because at this time Nathanael\'s relentless attacks didn\'t open a gap at all for Alex to strike back.

The fighter continued for several minutes. With the battle taking place before the eyes of the audience, it opened their eyes to a new level of fighting. Nathanael\'s deadly weapon and speed of movement, and Alex\'s stride technique, all of these made the fighters received a burning desire to become stronger. Rama and Arief realized that they might not be able to defeat Nathanael. And those who believed they had reached the peak of their skills, were once again full of motivation to become stronger again.

The fight had been running for almost 10 minutes. Alex was convinced that the attacks from the ax must have a limit, the attacks drained a lot of Nathanael\'s energy. Alex could see from the reduced intensity of the attack and Natanael\'s paleness. It seems like Nathanael would soon be exhausted. But Alex was also facing his own predicament, he was having a hard time maintaining the level four hexagram. As it turns out, the mortal realm body could not completely handle this technique. Although this technique was not complete until he receives the original legacy from the Doomsday Pillar, the middle-level level 4 technique was still strong for his current body level.

Nathanael continued on swinging the deadly ax without falling; Alex decided to take some risks, he couldn\'t lose this fight. 

Alex glanced at Admiral Gerard and said, "Admiral remember not to break your promise."

These words made the Admiral very worried, not because he was afraid of losing and giving up the weapons and equipment that were the ingredients of the bet, but he feared that Alex was going to do something stupid. He wanted to stop this match when then cheers suddenly rang out.

Alex jumped in the direction of his katana and grabbed it from the ground. He raised the katana ready to attack. Seeing Alex with a weapon, did not surprise Nathael but instead made Nathanael more cautious.

ZZZZIINggg!!!

A vertical slash came towards Alex as he took a defensive stance with his sword, it seemed like he wanted parry the attack.

"Stupid!! swords like that won\'t be able to hold my ax!" exclaimed Nathanael.

KABOOMM!!!

Smoke covered the area Alex was standing on, but then Alex came rushing out while wielding the sword. Apparently, Alex was not trying to fend off the attack but to create a smoke with the shockwave while avoiding it. He then used the smoke to fool Nathanael and stole a few seconds to reduce the distance between them. Nathanael was a little surprised but didn\'t panic. They were still six meters apart. He swung his deadly ax once more believe that there\'s no way Alex could avoid this.

But before Nathanael could release the shockwave, Alex threw the katana towards Nathanael\'s face.

SWIISSHSHH!!

Nathanael turned his head easily avoiding the katana passing by, but as he turned to face Alex again, Alex was less than three meters away and with his fist ready to throw his death blow.

Three meters... not too far, not too close... all of the audience felt as if time had frozen for the next three seconds. This attack would determine the outcome of this match, whether Alex could throw a punch or if this would be Alex\'s final fate. Devita could only close her eyes in prayer when Nathanael reflexively used his special abilities, his arms quickly swung the small ax one more time...

"!!!"

Rama and Arief could see that Alex was late, if Alex\'s opponent was another peak mortal realm fighter, Alex would have succeeded in throwing the blow, but Nathanael\'s hand movements were too fast. Alex\'s opponent this time was a wind enhancer spirit.

Admiral Gerard yelled, "STOPP!!!"

But it\'s too late...

ZZZiingggg!!!

CRACCKKK!!!

This time it was not just the shockwave, but the ax itself directly hit Alex\'s chest...

Alex did not try to dodge contrary to what people were expecting but instead continued to strike his fist directly at Natahanel\'s chest.

AARGGHHH!!!

KABOOMM!!!

The sound of screaming and explosion ensued as both bodies flew in opposite directions.

"!!!"

The two fighters, Alex and Natahael lay motionless on the ground. The crowds immediately fell silent. Devita lost strength in her knees and almost fell. An attack so powerful that it could make the concrete floor shatter, directly hit Alex\'s body. It was hard to believe that Alex could safely withstand the attack... almost all of the viewers arrived at the same conclusion.

Admiral Gerard was worried not just to Natahanel but also to Alex. Theo immediately ran to give Alex one of the panacea serums that can cure dying people, which he had been holding. He hoped he was not too late. But before Theo reached Alex, Cindy held him back.

"Hey! Are you stupid or are you stupid?! You don\'t have to panic like that."

Theo wondered what she meant, but as he turned to look at Alex\'s body once again, he got his answer. With the battle finally reached its conclusion, Alex was the first to stand up. Everyone watching looked with surprise.

Cindy mocked Theo again. "You only look smart on the outside, but have you forgotten that Alex has that?"

Theo thought for a moment and remembered, "Oh yeah!!!"

Alex stood upright with no visible injuries, other than the pain of being hit hard, he was fine. At this time, the sharpness and the explosive attack power of the ax was successfully dampened within the low-level protective artifact clothing he was wearing. The protective suit that he got from Hans, the member of Ahnenerbe organisation.

"Wow, the attack was truly powerful. With just one attack, the artifact\'s protection effect disappeared. It will probably would take a few days to get this usable again."

Alex walked toward Nathanael, who had not yet risen, and helped him to his feet. It seemed that Alex\'s punch and Nathanael\'s tired body made it difficult for him to get up. Once Nathanael was able to stand on his own, he paid his respects to Alex.

"I am Nathanael, son of Changacook, the mohican, i respects your courage, speed and strength."

What an interesting man, Alex thought. Having someone with abilities like him was a fortune, but Alex knew he couldn\'t be greedy, he could only hope that Jerry would soon succeed in making a breakthrough and be as strong as this man.

Alex turned around and looked at Admiral Gerard, "Looks likei win the bet Admiral."

The Admiral ran out of words. But before he could speak, a little girl came rushing and grabbed Alex\'s leg.

"Daddy, daddy... there are bad men trying to hurt us."

Alex\'s face immediately darkened as he glared at the Admiral. Alex raised his hand and suddenly dozens of troops  approached the field fully armed aiming at the American troops.

Kenny saw this immediately startled "What is this?!"