September 27, 2020

  Mara rolls into the town of Omaha. Right off the bat she can see all of the damage done by Waldo and Mahoraga. The tremors from their fighting reach out even at this distance. Mara has this uncanny feeling of deja vu, like she’s been put in this situation before. She takes steady deep breaths to recover from her run. She lets go of the wagon’s handles and sits down next to it. She looks up and manages to see Waldo and Mahoraga duking it out in the distance. Surprisingly, Mahoraga is getting manhandled by Waldo. Despite its large size and intimidating strength, it doesn’t compare at all to Waldo. Waldo proceeds to beat Mahoraga into the ground with a volley of powerful punches. The ground below them crumbles away and cracks spread across the city. Mahoraga eventually grabs Waldo by his leg and throws him off. Waldo lands on the ground without a problem and blasts multiple shockwaves at Mahoraga. Mahoraga gets up and runs through the shockwaves, charging in with an unstoppable assault. Waldo stops with his shockwaves and charges towards Mahoraga. The two of them throw their arms and get into a wrestling stance. Mara watches from afar while munching on a piece of toast.

  Waldo and Mahoraga get into an intense power struggle in the form of wrestling. Waldo suddenly grabs Mahoraga with his cursed energy and proceeds to perform a suplex. The amount of force causes the surrounding buildings on the block to shatter and a large crater to form in the ground. Mahoraga surprisingly lands on its feet and grabs Waldo’s arm. It throws Waldo into the ground in the exact same manner, causing even more damage to the surrounding city. Waldo pushes himself away with shockwaves and skates through the concrete before the friction kicks in. Mahoraga grabs an entire part of an office building and lifts it up. It steadies its balance and hurls it at Waldo. Waldo gets in stance and widens his arms. As the debris gets closer towards him, his smile continues to widen. He then grabs and catches the chunk of debris as it gets into his range. Waldo easily manages to lift it back up and chuck it back at Mahoraga. Mahoraga is struck in the face with the chunk of debris and it scatters everywhere. Waldo then appears in front of it and throws a punch.

  God Flash!

  Mahoraga is struck with a God Flash and half of its body explodes from the power. Fortunately for both sides, Waldo is holding back his power so as to not win this battle so easily. If he had gone all out from the start, Mahoraga would have died right here and then. Waldo acknowledges this fact. He reels his punch back in. He stares at Mahoraga’s half blown up body as well as the massive collateral behind him. Nothing in front of Waldo survived the impact of the God Flash. If there was a building still standing, some debris on the streets, or even an unknowing bug or two, they were all completely wiped out with no trace. Waldo watches as Mahoraga’s body quickly regenerates and builds back its flesh. In the instant its body finishes healing, Mahoraga swings the Sword of Extermination. Waldo dodges the blade, jumps up, and kicks Mahoraga across its face. However, Mahoraga recovers quicker than usual and thrusts its arm towards Waldo. Waldo flies back using a shockwave and avoids getting caught by Mahoraga’s grasp. The shockwave also ends up colliding with Mahoraga and sending it back. The wheel above its head spins once. Waldo figures out that its adaptation to his shockwave has now begun. Shockwaves will soon become ineffective against this beast.

  “I suppose I’ll just have to beat you senseless before you can completely adapt. It will be interesting to see how you go around it.”

  Mahoraga appears in front of Waldo in the middle of his talking and swings the Sword of Extermination down again. Waldo weaves around the sword, vaulting over Mahoraga’s arm. He grabs one of the wings coming out of its face and lifts them up. He begins to spin his arm around, gathering momentum. Mahoraga spins incredibly fast in the air as Waldo continues to swing his arm around. Then, Waldo slams Mahoraga down onto the ground. With the added momentum and speed, the damage is devastating both to Mahoraga and the surroundings. In that instant, the ground erupts with several waves of shockwave volleys. They endlessly blow up on Mahoraga, taking away chunks of its flesh with ease. Waldo jumps back and watches the chaos unfold. He multiplies his cursed energy as it reaches certain low levels to continue the shockwave volleys. With this, he can continue to increase the output and power of the shockwaves as well as experimenting how long it will take for Mahoraga’s adaptation to be fully utilized. Soon, Mahoraga charges out of the shockwave volley and towards Waldo. Waldo throws a punch and so does Mahoraga. The two fists come off of each other and release a ripple of power across the entire city block. Mahoraga thrusts the Sword of Extermination forward, now with more speed. Waldo dodges and blasts them with a shockwave, but it does significantly less damage than before. Mahoraga is adapting, and adapting fast.

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  Mara continues to watch from afar. She’s surprised at the quick pace of Mahoraga’s adaptation. It’s starting to catch up to Waldo’s pace. She bites into her piece of toast and spectates the battle with a close eye. Suddenly, she sees Waldo disappearing from his spot. Her eyes widen in surprise since an attack from him isn’t following up. Then, she feels a big hand go on her shoulder. Before Mara can even turn around or question what is happening, she’s lifted off of the ground and hurled into the air. From her spot on the wagon, to suddenly flying towards Mahoraga, the speed of her flight is intense and staggering. Mara crashes straight into Mahoraga, the force knocking it down onto a pile of rubble. Mara lays on the ground, her head dizzy and her ears ringing. Waldo appears right next to her and looks down.

  “This time, you’re not going to watch the fight. You will do much more than that.”

  Mara slowly gets up and clutches her head, which is aching from her contact with Mahoraga. She hit them really hard. She looks up at Waldo.

  “What… Do you want me to do?”

  Waldo begins to smile and release a sinister feeling. Mara then has an idea in her head, but it can’t be that, right? Waldo wouldn’t put her up against that, right?

  “It seems that you’ve already caught on. Very good. Indeed, I’ll have you fight against this beast. Don’t worry now, I’m not going to have you try and kill it. You’ll never be able to accomplish that in your state. I’ll simply have you survive against them… for 4 entire minutes. I will not be assisting you in these 4 minutes. It is up to you to return to me alive and in one piece. Well, one piece might be asking for too much.”

  Waldo laughs out loud. Mara’s face drops and she sighs. Her worst case scenario has come true. Mahoraga proceeds to get up and shove the rubble out of its way. Mara jumps back and stares at the hulking white figure in front of her. Waldo jumps back several meters and crosses his arms as he lands. He watches as Mahoraga stares at him with a sense of confusion. It looks down at Mara, but it doesn’t bother with her at all. It walks forward and pushes Mara out of the way with its arm. However, Mara jumps up and kicks the back of Mahoraga’s head. Mahoraga stops in their tracks and turns around. Mara looks up at Mahoraga and has a determined expression on her face.

  “You’ll have to get through me now!”

  Mahoraga looks down at Mara and snarls at her. Mara stands strong despite being in front of such a Herculean being. She just has to survive 4 minutes against Mahoraga. She should be able to do that if she gives it everything she has. Waldo looks at the situation from atop the roof of an office building. The reason why he stopped his own fight and dragged Mara into it is simple: Growth. Mara hasn’t been in a real fight in a while. Battling low level cursed spirits and the occasional curse user every now and then won’t get her any experience. Training with her can only get her so far. She needs hands-on experience, and what better experience can she get than by fighting against Mahoraga? It’s the perfect opportunity. Now he wonders if she would be able to survive the 4 minutes against Mahoraga. It doesn’t seem too unreasonable. Mara can be quite resilient. Waldo is interested in seeing how Mara will handle this new situation.

  “Let’s see it, Mara. You’ve been through training, but how will that training get you through this? Mahoraga is no ordinary opponent.”

  Mahoraga thrusts their arm forward at Mara, attempting to grab her. Mara, using every single muscle in her body, manages to dodge Mahoraga’s giant hand. Mara then grabs a large chunk of sharp rock. She rushes towards Mahoraga and attempts to strike it with the rock. However, Mahoraga appears right in front of her and a punch connects. Mara is struck in the body by a large, powerful punch and nearly blacks out. This is what the punch from a real threat feels like. Waldo would massively hold back his power during their own training sessions. However, Mahoraga has no intention of holding back against her at all. Mara is then hit with a palm strike and sent flying, crashing through the wall of a nearby house. Mara lands on the ground and coughs. Mahoraga appears in front of her and attempts to Mara with the rules roof. Mara gets out of the house before the roof collapses on the ground. She jumps up and latches onto Mahoraga’s back. Mahoraga begins to reach back, but Mara instantly activates her technique.

  Mahoraga’s body is lit on fire. Their hands stop reaching towards Mara. Mara continues increasing the temperature of the fire, watching as Mahoraga’s flesh finally shows signs of burning. Mahoraga then proceeds to run backwards with incredible speed. It jumps up high into the sky. Mara’s eyes widen, having an idea of what Mahoraga is about to do. They begin falling towards the ground, Mahoraga’s back facing towards the earth. Mara lets go of Mahoraga’s back and uses the surrounding air around her to stay afloat. Mahoraga lands on its feet and stares up into the sky. Mara grunts and wipes away some of the blood coming out of her mouth. A minute has passed since the fight began. She can do this.