Air Hero

Max vs Kieran

Although the participants aren’t only Giovanni on the left bracket, everyone has dubbed him as the finalist. As for the right bracket, Elica versus Giovanni will be the final that everyone prefers, but they still have to go through the matches regardless.

There’s also still Kieran that is a strong contender for the title, and Max, who could be considered as a dark horse after he defeated Hyacinth, Heinrich, and Iki, who are the hot favorites.

As everyone expects, Giovanni secured another win when it is time for competition and has earned his place in the top 4. Elica also faced another hero that isn't weak at all. Once again, her ice elements helped her to come out victorious against him.

“Next match is one of the most unpredictable matches of today. The biggest dark horse, Air Hero versus Howling Lion.”

When his name is called out, Max stepped into the arena as he doesn’t have anything that he is afraid of. Instead, he is excited to be here and faces one of the most unique abilities. Not to mention that the winner of the next match will face Elica first.

“I watched your matches yesterday. Don’t hope that you could win over me with luck and small tricks.”

Hearing Kieran’s provocation, Max didn’t respond and calmly stepped onto the arena.

“Match start in 3…2…1.”

Max doesn’t know much about Kieran’s sound ability, so he needs to be cautious in this match.

Kieran also thinks the same as he isn’t sure whether Max still has little tricks up his sleeve or not.

“Let me start the attack then!”

Kieran then inhaled quite a bit of air and let out a silent scream towards Max. Although it is noiseless, it is still a real attack as Max dodged to the side.

“Oh, you can dodge that. That’s surprising.”

Kieran can say that it is surprising not because he thinks too highly of himself but because it was the truth. In his record at the tournament, none of his opponents could dodge the attack. So when his opponent dodges his attack, he feels that he need to give them appreciation.

The reason that Max is able to dodge the attack also isn’t because he could see it but because of his A-rank sensitivity. Max can feel the movement in the air keener than most heroes. So after dodging Kieran’s attack, Max doesn’t want to go into defensive and launches a wind bullet towards Kieran.

Looking at the approaching wind bullet, Kieran didn’t show any movement to evade the attack. Instead, he screamed, and as if there is a wall in front of Kieran, all the wind bullets failed to reach him as it stayed floating in the air.

“So, he could use his sound ability to do that.”

What Max means is the ability to form a shield. So far, Kieran has shown its attacking capabilities, the usefulness in dodging and movement maneuverability, and lastly, the defensive capabilities he showed just now.

“Alright, let me test the limit of his defense.”

Max then channeled his power as he is going to unleash the wind cannon. This move is another prove from Max to see how strong is Kieran’s defensive capabilities. The wind cannon is launched, and yet another scream from Kieran is able to stop the attack.

“It seemed that I wouldn’t be able to defeat him from long-range. However, his ability is even stronger in close range.”

Max, who has witnessed Kieran’s matches, knows that Kieran’s martial arts level is quite high. He has shown his ability several times in close combat, and combined with his abilities, Kieran is a tough opponent.

Max summoned his wind gauntlets and went into close combat with him. In the last match with Iki, Max is trading fist with him without any technique so that people couldn’t understand his close-range combat capabilities.

Kieran is more than happy to welcome Max to fight him up close. However, seeing that Max can dodge his ability earlier, he knows that he needs to win this match with close-combat skills rather than ranged attack.

Max launches his punch, and with the spinning gauntlet, Kieran’s body will be wounded if it hits. With another scream, Kieran managed to get his body away from trouble. Unfortunately, Kieran’s sound ability doesn’t seem to be able to transform into armor.

However, Kieran's close combat ability is nothing to scoff at. Fighting against him at close range, Max always seemed to be able to hit him but missed at the last minute. This time, Kieran opened his mouth again, and Max finally understood what happened to Strong Guy.

Max didn’t hear it before when he is watching from the waiting room. Now, he can listen to a high-pitched ringing sound, and it was something that he couldn’t block against even if he put his hand to cover his ears. Right at this moment, Max can feel that all of his internal organs are shaking and trembling. Max feels a warm metallic liquid inside his mouth as a moment later; he is coughing out blood.

“Ugh, I seemed to have suffered some internal injury. I understand now that Kieran's sound ability is traveling through the air as I feel the movement of wind, but the reason it could cause huge damage is the vibration. Just like a wave, it shook my internal organs and almost impossible to block against.”

Sound is created when an object vibrates. In this case, Kieran is the source of vibration, and it would then be moving through a medium, whether it was air or a solid object. So, like when a siren vibrates, the sound would travel through air vibration, water vibration, and even solid objects. That is also why Max could sense the movement in the air when it vibrates through the wind.

“However, since I sense it earlier, I might be able to stop it when it is passing through the air.”

With his high sensitivity, Max managed to find out something crucial about Kieran’s attack. First, however, he will need to test whether he could stop the sound wave or not.

This time, Kieran once again opened his mouth, and it was an offensive move that knocks his opponent out. But, again, Max can feel the air vibrates, and he used the wind to direct the vibration in another direction.