With a scream, flames shot out through the cracks made on the ground and a huge inferno-like aura shot up until it hit the transparent barrier that Zhongli set up. The temperature rose rapidly and Keqing had to shield her eyes for a moment as Bennet was finishing his power up. Even those sitting far away were blinded.
The roars died down and flames started to calm down. Bennet stood in the middle of a crater and a fire-like aura surrounded him.
-OST STARTS PLAYING-
"This time, I will give it my all."
Keqing removed the arm that covered her eyes, and even though she didn't want to admit it, she was rather shocked at Bennet's transformation, 'He seems different now. I never knew he was holding something back. Is this really the same Bennet?'
Kitayuu leaned forward admiring this new transformation with awe, everyone could feel the raw power from their seats. Even Hu Tao was impressed, but her smile was soon replaced with slight concern, "So that's what he is doing huh?"
Keqing regained her composure and clenched a fist getting ready for the second phase of this fight, "I'll have to end this quick before it gets bad"
Keqing dashed in hoping to catch Bennet off guard with her speed. However, to her surprise, Bennet also dashed in toward her at the same time with both meeting up at a point in the middle. Bennet went for the first punch, and Keqing managed to sway out of the way just in time, "He's much faster as well. Reading his attacks are much harder than before. Since the beginning of this battle, my speed has also decreased a bit."
The fist that Bennet used to attack Keqing suddenly started heating up, before releasing an inferno around it. Keqing dashed back, but Bennet emerged straight after her out of the flames and landed consecutive punches. Keqing speared through him after taking a few hits before getting used to it, but Bennet did not stagger much from it. He turned around landing a devastating blow on her face and followed through by opening his hand and blasting her with flames at point blank range.
The two came running out the smoke together side by side at incredible speed and clashed whilst bouncing off arena walls. Both eventually had a clash midair with Keqing managing to gain the upper hand for a moment by continuously dashing through Bennet. She landed a combo by slamming his neck on the side with her arm and then pushing her body up with the momentum before landing a kick on his face.
Bennet let flames expand from his body, forcing Keqing to back off and unleash a wave of lightning to block it, generating an overload reaction causing explosions around the arena. Bennet immediately felt himself get speared through the front again as Keqing launched herself from the side of the area wall, but luckily managed to turn around and blocked the next dash attack by putting his arms in an X shape. Bennet broke the formation with his arms by pushing them out whilst releasing a pyro attack that sent Keqing back onto the ground and slamming on the hard surface.
Bennet descended back to the ground, but also created a bit of distance between himself and the spot where Keqing landed. He took the moment to regain his breath and control his current state.
Kitayuu squinted his eyes to take a closer look and turned to Hu Tao, "What is happening, his power has increased to the point that puts him on par with Keqing, but I see his skin is turning red extremely fast with steam pouring out of it."
Hu Tao nodded, "Yes, I noticed that too. He is using a technique not commonly used by us pyro vision wielders."
Kitayuu turned to face her and leaned away from his seat to get a look at her face, "Wait, what is this? Please tell me more."
