Spaceships and Magic, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

While my punch backed up by my energy blast had clearly been powerful, it hadn't been enough to take my adversary out in a single hit. 

They lifted themselves off the ground with some kind of propulsion ability of their own. Jets of air rippled out of the palms of their hands, similar to the repulsors in Tony Stark's Iron Man suit. 

"If that's the hardest you can hit, you're going to be in trouble human," Tresourian said before diving toward me, still in the air. 

It was all I could do to drop down into a crouch to avoid the incoming strike. The alien's claw barely scraped my head, but my corona shield was more than strong enough to nullify any damage that the strike would have done. 

I turned and blasted another energy beam, but this one was so low powered that it merely skittered off of the alien's own shielding, dissipating harmlessly in the air. 

"If that's the fastest you can move, you're going to be in trouble Embran," I shot back, before leaping into the air and blasting my propulsion as hard as it could go. 

Whether it was because the alien was floating in the air or I was moving just that fast, Tresourian was unable to dodge this strike. I barrelled straight into the lifeform and brought them down onto the ground… hard. 

We skidded across the floor, me using the Tresourian as some kind of skateboard as I knelt on top of their body. The moment we came to a stop I sheathed my hands in energy and went to town, hitting the alien in the face time and time again.

Tresourian struggled against my attacks. With one hand attempting to block my blows they managed to sneak the other up against my stomach, where they planted a high powered blast of their repulsor energy. I flew up into the air thanks to the blast and used my own propulsion to get some distance. I didn't want to let my opponent follow up on their attacks too easily. 

Once more they stood, though this time I could tell they were struggling a little more than before. 

"You say you are different from the other humans in the universe, and yet you still fight with the same rage and brutality that they do," Tresourian said, turning to spit out some blue-green blood. "All that power burning at your fingertips, and all you do is throw punches and run around."

I bristled at that. This alien had no idea who I was. They had no idea what I'd been through to get to this point. Sure, maybe my moves were basic, but I was learning how to use them to the greatest possible effect and getting stronger every single day. 

I dashed forward once again. 

No matter what, Tresourian was going down… hard. 

I charged my energy beams. It was hard to control more than two energy beams at once, but with BB at the helm and moderating the power draw I could tell that spawning six different beams as I had this time wouldn't negate the power of each strike too much. 

I let all of the beams loose as I drew closer to my opponent, who had taken a much more defensive stance, clearly realising that I was a threat. 

The beams ripped away from me with such power that the floor of the supposedly manna resistant battle arena warped and melted under the strain of the power. The beams attacked in staggered waves, two lancing out at a time. 

The first two went wide, but still forced Tresourian to dodge right into the path of the second two. Both hit, exploding on the alien's body with bright flashes and plumes of smoke. They fell from the sky, right into the path of the last two, which exploded in a similar fashion and sent Tresourian crashing down to the ground. 

But the alien wasn't done yet. They were still struggling to get up, just like they had been before. I snarled and poured even more manna through BB to increase my propulsion up to ungodly levels. I'd never moved this fast before. Thanks to my enhanced perception, which made things seem slower the faster I moved, everything was crawling at a snail's pace. 

I grabbed the alien by the throat and slammed them into the wall so hard that it cratered and crumbled under the impact. 

"That's how hard I can hit," I growled, and let the alien fall to the floor. 

For a moment I was worried that I had accidentally killed Tresourian, but the steady in and out of their breathing told me that they were still alive, just unconscious. 

Which meant that I had won the battle. 

Twin flashes of light consumed my vision, the first warping Tresourian away and the second taking me with them. 

When the light receded, we had both been teleported back up to the healing bay of the Initiate's rooms. 

A healing drone peeled itself out of the wall next to where I was now lying, suspended in the air. Part of me wanted to get out of the bed and stomp away from the healing drone. I was angry, Tresourian had poked some sensitive issues, both regarding my strength and my similarity to the other humans of this universe. I wanted to rage, and scream and shout. 

But that would just prove Tresourians point. 

The fact of the matter was, I'd beat the alien. I'd won, and I was moving forward to the next fight. I didn't feel injured, but I was also running on an angry high. If I stomped off now and didn't let the drone fuss over me like it was now doing and it found out that something was wrong I'd feel like an idiot. 

So I lay there. I breathed deeply, in and out, and waited for the machine to finish whatever it was doing. 

I had won. I could be proud of that.