"How did you do that?" Chris couldn't help but ask.

"Come on now brother. You know better than to think that I'd reply to that..." Klaus replied as he straightened himself.

"Fine. I'll just have to beat the answer out of you then..." Chris spoke and charged forward.

Surprisingly, this time he didn't use his barrier magic. It seemed he wanted to duke it out physically with Klaus like old times.

Though honestly, he was just trying to buy himself time to think about Klaus's power.

Whether Klaus understood what his brother was trying to do, only he knew.

He didn't seem to care about that as he received Chris with his own fists ready to duke it out.

BOOOOM! BOOOOOM!...

Wave after wave flew out as the two brothers exchanged fists. Neither was able to get the advantage though.

They kept on blocking each other's fists with relative ease. Which was probably because they had fought countless times before the apocalypse descended.

And now, even though they were countless times stronger than before and had developed new moves. They knew each other well enough to instantly adopt.

That was until...

BANG!

Boom!

Chris did something unexpected and punched Klaus in the gut hard.

Klaus flew away and smashed into a tree before falling to the ground. A little amount of blood even flew out of his mouth.

This almost surprised everyone present as they expected Klaus to be the one to break the stalemate instead of Chris.

Anyway, they didn't get too much time to think about as Klaus immediately stood up and wiped away the blood from his face.

"As expected ofy brother. Your punch really... Well, it packs a punch. I don't even remember the last time I tasted my own blood. You really might have won if I was still the old me. But things have changed. Let me show you why I'm the older brother now..." Klaus spoke calmly, his smile not leaving his face.

Then...

The air around him changed... His body also seemed to become a bit leaner.

And Chris got the illusion that Klaus was gone and a beast has taken his place. And it wasn't just any beast. It was... He couldn't place it, but it was definitely not something common.

But when he scanned Klaus, there was no sign of any energy. No mana, nothing.

Yet he could sense that something was different. Hell, his body was clearly different.

But he didn't ask. He was curious to see what would be different now.

Klaus didn't make him wait long...

Whoosh!

Bang!

BOOM!

Whoosh!

Bang!....

Whoosh!

Bang!

Klaus disappeared.

Then Chris felt a punch getting buried into his gut before he flew away.

After that he hit hard into a tree. It was almost like Klaus was getting petty revenge.

Chris knew his brother enough to not rest after hitting the tree. So he immediately moved out of the way after hitting the tree even though he couldn't sense anything.

And that proved to be the right decision as Klaus's fist destroyed the tree right after Chris got out of the way.

However, that wasn't the end of it. Klaus still caught up with Chris and punched him on the face.

It was at that point that Chris realised that he couldn't win in this kind of battle.

So he deployed his barrier and regrouped behind it.

It was a transparent blue, so he could see outside while inside.

And so, he began looking for Klaus as h breathed heavily while trying to get his breathing under control.

It was a rather odd sight. Like he hadn't done much before he started getting beaten up. So there was no way he could be tired...

But then again, he was punched in the gut and he had been putting his all into trying to react to his brother's attacks.

So, even though he failed, it still took a toll significant enough to make him breathe like that despite not being tired.

"Are you looking for me?" A very ce sounded from above Chris as he was looking for Klaus and failing to find him...

He immediately looked up and saw that it was his Kris.

The disrespectful younger brother was actually seating on Chris' barrier while looking down at him.

"So, it's my win right? I mean, I got you to use your mana in a physical battle" Klaus taunted.

"Tsk. You're the one who used another energy first. Even if I can't sense it. The way your body changed is proof enough" Chris replied defiantly.

"Haha. Would you believe me if I said that I was holding back when we first started fighting? And even crazier is that I'm still holding back..." Klaus replied with a laugh.

"Impossible!" Chris refused as he thought that Klaus was bluffing.

After all, it wasn't beyond his brother's methods to gaslight him.

"Bro, you have no idea what's possible..." Klaus replied seriously this time then...

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

Pwak!

Before Chris could react, Klaus punched his barrier and destroyed it like weak glass with that single punch.

The punch continued until it was an inch away from Chris's utterly and completely shocked face.

Ot wasn't that it had run out of power. But Klaus had stopped it himself.

This was something Chris understood clearly as the air wave which came after the punch actually managed to cut his chick a bit.

His willpower to fight instantly vanished.

Which was understandable really. After all, it was clear that he and his brother were on, two different levels.

If what Klaus said before was true. Then that meant that Klaus was so much stronger than Chris that he could overpower him with simply his physical prowess.

Sure, Chris hadn't used his best abilities yet, but he had used at least 50%. And for his 50% to be treated like air... It only meant that his hundred will likely not be too different.

Klaus was way above him in strength. He didn't know how, but that was the truth...

"I forfeit..." Chris gave up on the battle without hesitation.

He saw no reason to waste both their time on an already lost battle. He'd just be embarrassing himself if he did that.

"As expected of my brother. You always knew when to advance and when to retreat. Something I've always struggled with. Which is why I need you in my team. As my commander, adviser, and most importantly, my brother... Someone who should have been part of me but chose to split away for some reason. Like couldn't you have left me a little patience when you did that you bastard?!" Klaus who was now standing in front of Chris spoke seriously.

Until he wasn't serious when he began to curse Chris who had almost been moved by his words.

Even worse was how Klaus then took him under his armpit and began ruffling his hair like he would do back then when he won.

He kinda missed those days when he won all the battles due to technique instead of power.

Back then, they both took karate lessons, but Klaus was an extremely slow learner. Which meant that Chris was able to pull ahead and use what he learnt to beat the stronger Klaus.

Now on the other hand, it seemed Klaus had gotten so strong that no matter how technical Chris was, he couldn't win anymore.

And honestly, they sucked. Chris hated it. But there was nothing which could be done.

"Let go you brute! I don't care if you're stronger than me now. I'm still your big brother! And what do you mean I took everything?! We clearly had things equally divided. I took the brains, you to the body. And do you think I was happy with not being able to do ten push-ups when you could do a hundred?!" Chris exploded out angrily as he tried to free himself from Klaus's grip.

The tense battle atmosphere from before was instantly disbursed.

"Haha. As expected of brothers. I wonder who will taste better... Or maybe you two will taste the same?" Suddenly a sinister voice was heard from amoung the men.

Everyone immediately cleared way and a scrawny man was exposed. He had a creepy smile on his face.

"Scrawny wtf?! Since when did you become a rainbow man?! And even if you are. Everyone here knows that I only like women. And so does my brother. So how dare you say that?! Do you want to die?!" Klaus bellowed angrily.

"Shut up you idiot. I didn't mean it like that! Such a dirty mind. Don't try to push your dirty thoughts onto me... Fuck! So disgusting. This is what I get for talking to a muscle braines fool! Why are you he leader anyway? People like you should be thugs at best. Strength doesn't define a leader after all. The brain does. And yours is clearly rotten you bastard!" The man named Scrawny replied in an even angrier tone than Klaus.

He was clearly angered greatly from the misunderstanding and all the weird looks he was getting because of it.

Now everyone thought he was some perv and fearless rainbow man who wasn't afraid to openly covet the leader and his brother.

Which wasn't true at all! He was as straight as any man present there okay!

It was Klaus who was weird!

"Oh... You didn't mean it like that?... Well, I'm sorry for misunderstanding you then. However, it's boty fault you look like the type. So tell, us, what did you mean then?" Chris asked for clarification.

"Screw you, you dumb bastard! You dare call me ugly?! You know what, whatever. It doesn't matter. What I meant is that you are all surrounded and dying soon. And I am a spy from Tactoa idiots. Now calmly accept yours deaths!" Scrawny spoke ruthlessly.