While the last time the predator's mindset came into action ended up with countless dead people, not even eligible to be called corpses as their remains turned into particles no greater than a speck of dust, even though my statistics still remained at the same level at what I had back then, even though my output strength was greatly limited by Bonger per my wish, just the system upgrade alone was apparently enough to hold back its influence over my mind, allowing me to make proper use of its intended purpose.

Twisting my body at an unimaginable angle, I managed to turn what could be otherwise a lethal hit, into nothing more than an itchy scratch, instantly grabbing the girl's wrist, and using it as a support as I kicked the ground with my legs and lined my upper body with her arm.

Despite how her movement continued with a great force resulting in my entire back slamming heavily into the ground, I simply ignored the pain reverberating through my bones as I shoot my legs towards her neck, aiming for one of the most popular chokes connected with arm hold from the wrestling industry.

Sensing the danger, the girl lowered herself and smashed her chin on her solar plexus, making me unable to set a proper choke, while reinforcing her position by lowering herself by bending her knees.

Realising how pointless my attack would be, I allowed my legs to fall to the ground, each of them on the other side of her body, before pushing them forward in the typical scissors attack at her knees.

Unwilling to let me just tackle her, the girls kicked herself from the ground, making my legs fly below the soles of her feet, just in time to prevent me from tilting her balance. But inborn, she was unable to react to my counter, as I stopped the leg moving towards my back, and tightened my muscles to force it to move along with its twin brother.

With the girl currently in the air, my whole torso held tightly to her arm and my legs shooting to the side, there was no way for her to avoid the inevitable. Following the momentum of my legs, she was forced to fall on her back, just like I did only with my body lying in the opposite way.

As the wave of the pain already left my body, I had a slight timing advantage, with her own bones only now reacting to the fast encounter with the hard stones of the floor. Still holding her arm tightly to my torso, I straightened my upper body and continued to lean forward, as if I wanted to blow my own penis, with the only difference in my arm closer to the opponent now aimed at her ribs.

Just as I was about to sink my fist in her belly, her remaining barrier tensed up, slowing down my moves enough for her to kick her leg up. Unhindered by her own technique, at this rate my head would be smashed way sooner than her belly. Unable to continue this attack, I infused all the energy I could without breaking the limits I set on myself, twisting my entire body towards the girl as if I wanted to rest my head on her abdomen while pushing my energy infused knee through her barrier towards the temple of her skull.

"BREAK!"

The second her soft shout left her lips, the barrier that managed to slow the advance of my fist earlier imploded, turning the entire place motionless, as if the sudden void deprived the both of us of the ability to move before the energy collapsed in itself and exploeded, splitting us forcefully away.

While be both flew away, almost instantly crashing to the ground due to the low attitude of our air travel, I simply allowed my mind to suffer the pain of the multiple scratches as I dug my feet into the hard stone and kicked myself back towards my opponent.

This was it. This was the real fight I craved for since I could ever imagine deriving joy from a fight! With my body already flying towards the girl that was still sliding backwards on the ground, I finally had the upper hand in this duel, instead of just following and countering her prepared moves.

With my guts and predator's mindset agreeing that the simplicity was the best way to end this fight right here and now, I simply allowed my right hand to flow freely as I flew forward just a few centimetres above the ground, with the intention to simply slam it against the curled-up body of the girl. With the strength that she presented, this hit would be enough to turn her unable to fight any longer, while not putting her in any real danger.

Even if we would later end up fighting to the death when the time to set the matters with this city straight would come, just the sheer respect for her wits and ability made me unwilling to just kill her in a simple duel. Not to speak about the potential repercussions of killing such a genius that would fall on my head after the trial would be over!

"RELEASE!"

With the girl's eyes finally unblocked by her own body, she realised what position she was in, shouting yet another vague word.

Just as my first was about to reach her body and sink deep inside her most likely super soft skin, a wave of insane energy swept me aside, throwing me against the other end of the area, and holding me up there, before suddenly retracting and allowing me to fall powerlessly to the ground!

"I… I'm sorry. No. We are sorry."

As I raised my head, barely capable of doing it without releasing my own strength, I could see the girl now standing while surrounded by a light, blue aura as if she was some kind of goddess. All the bruises from her earlier tumble on the ground cleared itself out, with her simple robes now having an indescribable divinity to it.

"Seeing how you just smashed through the ranks of our disciples, the high goose council sent me to gauge your real strength, without subjecting our pupils to such trauma. In the end, I didn't expect you to be soo talented and ended up forced to release a seal on my cultivation. As such, there is no doubt that you would've won this duel in a normal situation, or rather, won the entire trial, achieving something that didn't happen since three centuries ago."