Darius Supreme

The special abilities that came with stats reaching a certain point were hardly used in high-level battles, almost to the point where they seemed forgotten about.

However, that was not the case. The issue here was expectation versus reality.

As was shown through Ash's battle, when two parties had the same special ability - or around the same - activating it was pointless because it would not give either party any real benefit. It would just drain resources and exacerbate the stalemate.

As such, it meant that one could only utilize it in battles against someone stronger or someone weaker. However, another problem cropped up here.

Against someone stronger, it would be useless as the person would then activate their special ability which was one stage higher than yours, increasing their already sufficient advantage.

Against someone weaker, you were already dominating them, so was there really a need to use it?

So from this, one could see that the need to use these abilities in combat was actually very low. They could help, but it really depended on the circumstances.

Killian had used Super Instinct because he was subconsciously underestimating Ash. His mind still refused to believe Ash's stats could be close to his, so he thought that if he used Super Instinct, Ash might not have the same ability.

However, that proved wrong, and was why Killian was currently dead, his corpse being carried away by some Critterbots as they cleaned the stage in wait for the next challenger.

Ash, who had cleanly won his first battle, was now much more confident about himself and gazed at the crowd silently. This look did not intimidate the Grandmaster, rather making them smile with strange looks.

They finally acknowledged the boy and his power, but whether he could survive against 10 Grandmasters back to back… hehe.

That's right, despite Ash beheading a Grandmaster right before them, none of the Grandmasters felt fear. They simply acknowledged that Ash had power close enough to theirs, but since when did they fear their peers?

As such, Ash's next opponent was decided immediately. A burly fellow who wore a set of hide armor tipped with steel landed on the stage, shaking the entire place.

He swung the huge sledgehammer in his hand casually as if it weighed like a feather, grinning at Ash maliciously.

[Name: Dodgan Mashre || Race: Human || Stage: Grandmaster || Jobs: Strongman, Hammer Bouncer.

HP: 81,378/81,378 (47,460) || MP: 4,717/4,717 (18,000) || STA: 24,386/24,386 (9,040)

Level: 89 ||  (Note: The stats in the brackets are still Ash's current stats, just in case you have the memory of a goldfish like me.)

Power: 297 (210) || Speed: 69 (127) || Constitution: 274 (226)

Magic: 53 (450) || Will: 21 (899) || Luck: 9 (50).

Skills: Grandmaster Hammer Bouncing Style, Extreme Smash, Hammer-copter, Hammer-rang, etc.

Spells: Tough Skin (passive).]

"Brat, I saw how you killed Killian. You used magic of the Gravity element, right? How impressive!" Dodgan began while swinging his hammer in a circle.

"However, that shit won't work against me!" He roared as he charged at Ash with his hammer still spinning, using the momentum to leap up and bringing it crashing down upon the lad.

Ash did not panic, rather opting to easily avoid the strike with his greater speed as Dodgan's hammer created a small dent in the tough arena floor. However, what Ash wanted had occurred, the sheer force of the hammer had gotten it stuck in the material of the arena, requiring time to be pulled out by Dodgan.

It might only be a second, but for someone with Ash's speed, it might as well be hours. He appeared beside Dodgan and struck out with a stab, aiming to gut him like a fish.

However, Dodgan suddenly smiled, and to the shock of everyone, a small shockwave erupted from the end of his giant sledgehammer that was embedded in the ground.

This acted like an ejector, sending it flying out of the dent and in position to strike. Dodgan wasted no time and released another shockwave from the opposite end of his hammer as he swung horizontally, sending the weapon hurtling towards has far faster than he could deal with.

Ash immediately moved his sword to block, not using the instant blink of Super Instinct for the same reason he killed Killian for it, it left one open. It was an ability EVERYONE could get and EVERYONE knew about.

Counters and ways to react to it had been long developed before Ash's 10,000th great-grandfather had been born. Using it on this fellow who had some trick up his sleeve was unwise, so Ash decided to tank the hit.

However, he clearly underestimated the strength of the fellow, as he was walloped so hard that he was sent flying across the arena.

(Author's Note: Just to be clear, Ash cannot see the stats shown earlier. I put them there, for you, the reader, to have an idea of the numbers behind the various actions taken in a fight.)

Ash crashed into the arena and managed to dig his sword in to slow his glide lest he ring himself out. His body was covered with blood, from his forehead to his armor.

One eye was severely bruised due to the force, while his left arm was broken and dislocated. The lad was definitely in bad shape, but he grinned.

"I now understand why Master made me choose this element despite my disposition. It's almost as if he predicted my fighting style would need it."

As Ash spoke, a pleasant white light covered his body as he used a spell of his fourth awakened element, Life. The spell in question was the Journeyman spell, Mend.

[Mend - Level 40 Spell (Max)

Cost: 200 MP

Description: Channel mana into the body of any living being to repair any injury they have suffered. This restores the stamina of a target by 20% and their HP by 50%, while alleviating all injuries on their person, both internal and external. ]