A hint of frustration flashed on Nel's face. He was struggling to tag Kane, and thus far he hadn't laid a single finger on Kane. He had spent quite some time, swinging every time his nerves and senses tingled, but that strategy had failed.
The problem was simply sheer inadequacy.
Nel was slower than Kane.
He was less mobile than Kane.
He was less efficient than Kane in his movements.
Kane was an evasive specialist, and Kane had the Void Step technique on top of that.
Nel just had too many tables stacked against him. If not for his constitution, Kane would have already begun dominating him.
His only possible path to victory was outlasting Kane. However, Rui did not think this was realistic. There were several reasons for this as well.
While using the Void Step technique, Kane didn't need to go as hard on maneuvering. In fact, he didn't even need to use normal maneuvering technique, he could just take a casual stroll, and dodge every time Nel manages to get a strike somewhat close to him thanks to his sharp senses.
This way, he could conserve an immense amount of energy.
On the other hand, Nel fought like a maniac and burnt energy like there was too much. Every single movement was made with maximum effort regardless of whether it was necessary or optimal or not.
Furthermore, Nel hadn't mastered any Apprentice-level techniques yet, he was compensating by consuming far greater power than Apprentices did.
For example, if Nel and Rui launched a strike with equal amounts of power, Nel was able to consume several times more energy than Rui did for the same strike.
All of these variables meant that even if Nel had a greater energy reserve, his energy consumption was similarly greater. The two largely cancelled out each other.
Even if he did possess an advantage in stamina, it would not be a gigantic one due to these factors.
But, Kane had yet to find a win condition himself.
Just as Rui had though that, a change occurred.
Kane decided to take a risk and dashed in straight towards Nel.
Nel threw a strike, but Kane effortlessly dodged as he focused on Nel's eyes.
This was the most vulnerable vital area that was susceptible to Kane's power. Everywhere else was rock solid compared to Kane's measly offensive potential. Furthermore, if Ne's eyes were incapacitated, it would be game over. He would be unable to sense Kane even with his enhanced sense and Kane would have won.
Normally, it wasn't easy to jab someone's eyes since they could see you coming. But thing was,
Nel couldn't. Not properly. As long as Kane maximized speed and precision, he estimated it was worth a try.
This was Kane's plan.
Kane forked his index and middle finger, and jabbed them into Nel's eyes!
Blood spilled as Nel's head jerked back.
Kane's eyes flew wide as he felt a sharp piercing pain from his index finger.
He had paused for a moment, inadvertently stopping the Void Step technique.
"He... He bit the flesh off Kane's finger tips off!" Rui exclaimed.
Nel's head returned forward with a gleeful grin, with Kane's flesh and blood on his tongue. He immediately jabbed his palm straight at Kane.
The jab bruised Kane's cheek as he barely avoided it, going Void Step immediately.
"Hehehe..." Nel spat out the flesh, grinning. "Again!"
When Kane had jabbed at Nel's eyes, the latter had felt an incredibly heightened senses of danger, furthermore his sharp vision had picked faint traces of Kane's attack at close range. The eyes were extremely delicate, even for Nel, and he ducked back, while biting where his eyes used to be as hard as he could.
Unfortunately for him, he wasn't able to use bleeding to identify Kane, not a single drop hit the ground after.
Kane complete retreated, after his best shot, and eye attack, was not only a complete failure but also caused him harm in turn. He simply gave up on voluntarily offense.
The remaining fight was intense as Nel grew energized by the success of his first successful damage inflicted on Kane, however, it was not enough.
With Kane in almost complete retreat mode, there was nothing Nel could do. They fought fiercely for hours, neither side being able to inflict any further damage on the other.
And fought some more.
Eventually, after a long time, Rui was one of the few people still watching the fight. Although the Martial Apprentices were interested in the outcome, no one wanted to watch Nel kick air for hours. None of them were able to sense Kane like Rui and Nel could.
And this is how, one of the most anticipated fights in the preliminary contest received the most anti-climactic ending ever.
"Draw due to timeout." The supervisor waved his hand, ending the match.
Both sides were simply unable to make any meaningful progress in time.
"Tsk." Nel tutted. "You sure vanish hard, vanish boy."
"Not as hard as you bite, you Martial Maniac." Kane grumbled.
"Thank you." Nel smiled smugly, raising his head with pride.
"It wasn't a compliment!" Kane complained.
"Well, mine was." Nel replied earnestly. "Kane right? Let's fight again!"
"I'm good." Kane turned around as he walked over to Rui.
"Great fight." Rui handed him a healing and rejuvenation potion.
"Thanks." Kane consumed them immediately, sighing in relief as his finger healed. "That was rough."
"You underestimated his reflexes, they're frankly close to as good as your own." Kane chuckled as he glanced at Nel. "You should bolster your offense."
With this, Rui was the only one at rank one. Kane had broken his unbroken win streak. He could feel the burning gazes of his fellow Martial Apprentice contenders.
It was a result he should have been happy about, but he was concerned.
Neither Hever nor Kane could do better than drawing against Nel. The same could be said Kane, perhaps even moreso since he didn't think Hever had a chance against Kane.
These two were frankly undefeated even after facing each other, the two greatest threats.
Confident of victory was one thing Rui was not, at this very moment. Regardless, everything would end tomorrow and the day after.