Avery ducked into a side hallway next to him as Ezra came barreling towards him.
As he did, he saw a flash of light strike the wall behind where he had bene standing just a moment ago.
While his opponent was closing in on him, there was no reason for him not to open fire with his combined laser pistols.
To avoid being shot in the back, Avery ran down the escape route he had already planned in advance.
It was full of sharp turns that made it difficult for Ezra to get a line of sight on him, or to use his greater physical capabilities to catch up quickly.
’This is just like when Urs gave me that "test" before accepting to train me.’ Avery thought as he fled.
He was already used to someone stronger, faster, and more experienced than him chasing after him.
Having Ezra hunting him down almost felt nostalgic, despite the fact that his training with Urs had only ended a couple months ago.
When he knew he had no more leeway to run around the building, Avery jumped out of a window just as he had planned.
The impact upon landing sent a jolt up his body, but he forced himself to keep moving despite the sharp pain. He had certainly felt worse before and he would be fine in just a few moments.
Of course, Ezra followed suit without a hint of hesitancy.
He had tried to line up a shot on Avery, but his target had slipped into an alley with another building blocking the way.
Once his feet touched down on the ground, Ezra took off after Avery. In this game of cat and mouse, he was both stronger and faster. It was only a matter of time until he won.
Yet, just as he was about to round the corner Avery had gone by, several lasers flew down the path in a wide spread.
This stopped Ezra for a moment. Avery had clearly tried to time his suppression fire with the instant Ezra came into view, but he had been off by a fraction of a second.
’Not like that will stop me.’ Ezra thought, holding his hard light shield forward and preparing to force his way through Avery’s blasts.
However, as he rushed around the corner, he found an unpleasant surprise waiting for him.
"Now I’ve finally got you out in the open." Avery said, a smirk on his face as the open cockpit of his power armor closed around him.
He had given it remote instructions to come and wait in this alley for his return. Then he had hopped back in and fired his laser pistol to give the illusion that he was trying to hit Ezra, when really, he only wanted to slow him down a bit.
Now back in his Sterkur power armor, Avery activated the boost thrusters on its back and feet to go flying.
At a dangerously high speed, his power armor shot forward. It was now Avery’s turn to charge towards Ezra with immense might.
Unable to get out of the way now that he was in the narrow alleyway that just barely fit Avery’s power armor. All Ezra could do was hold his hard light shield forward and brace for impact.
Had a normal person been hit by a high-speed tackle from a suit of heavy power armor, they would have been run over in an instant.
But Ezra’s species had naturally strong bodies and his bionic enchantments further boosted his already impressive physical abilities.
While he was pushed back by Avery’s charge, he kept himself upright and dug his heels into the ground.
He could feel his muscles straining, but he nevertheless pushed back.
Eventually he was slammed into the wall of a building behind him and pinned.
The laser emitters on the Sterkur’s shoulders flashed to life and began blasting away at Ezra’s shield.
As durable as hard light was, it still had its limits, and its energy source would be exhausted long before Avery’s power armor ran out of power to fire its lasers.
His back literally against the wall, Ezra grabbed his finally reaming weapon and activated it.
A giant hard light halberd appeared from out of the pole he had been carrying, and he slammed it into the side of Avery’s power armor.
"Werrr! Werrr! Werrr!"
Alarms started blaring inside Avery power armor as the single hit from Ezra massively depleted his remining shield capacity.
Avery pulled back one of his arms and punched forward with his power armor clade fist.
He slammed hard into Ezra’s shield and the impact generator in his armor sent a wave of kinetic energy with it.
The sturdy building Ezra was backed up against cracked as he was smashed into it with extreme force.
Despite this only being a training match, Avery had unleashed the full force of his attack. Perhaps a bit overzealous considering they were not actually trying to kill each other.
Still, even as his entire body was rattled, Ezra did not let up, he swung his weapon again and ate away at most of what remained of his shields. They would not hold up to another hit.
"I didn’t want to have to do this." Avery grumbled, opening the Sterkur’s emergency exit and jumping through it.
The moment he did, Ezra broke through his power armor’s shield and his hard light halberd hit the outer plating.
Fortunately, Ezra’s weapon was currently set to emit a blunted blade, so it did not do any actual damage. Still, the program registered the Sterkur as having received a deep cut and the onboard computer lowered its capabilities to represent this simulated damage.
At the very least, the power armor had not been shutdown and still held Ezra in place. Allowing Avery to make his final move.
"Personal shield generators are certainly useful, but they can’t stop blasts at this close range." Avery said, his laser pistol pressed right up against Ezra’s stomach.