Michael's action right now could be called impulsive, could be called not knowing his own strength, could also be seen as stupid. But it cannot be said that he was wrong. Given Leo's enormous 'merit', not hitting him would be the wrong thing to do.
Leo wiggled his fingers, his mouth clearly smirking, not taking Michael's attack seriously at all. Looking at each step, each clumsy movement made it clear Michael hadn't even learned martial arts, let alone actual combat.
Michael wasn't thinking too much. He just thought if he ran really fast then Leo wouldn't be able to dodge, so he just ran straight ahead like a moth flying into the flame.
Coincidentally, the ground under his foot was slightly raised at that moment, causing his foot to bump into it. High speed plus losing his balance inevitably led to him tripping. His face slammed hard into the ground, lucky there were no sharp objects there so he only got minor scrapes.
He immediately stood up, his face red as a tomato from embarrassment but his mouth remained tough.
"I was just testing whether the ground was hard or not. The ground is too soft, I can't fight comfortably."
Leo's cheeks puffed up from holding back laughter. A ridiculous reason like that, don't mention him, even a child wouldn't believe it. Who uses their own face to check if the ground is hard or soft?
Leo's expression right now made Michael's face grow redder and redder, his nosebleed had started flowing at some point without him knowing. He absentmindedly wiped his nose with his hand and felt some strange liquid sticking to it.
"Huh... blood?"
Seeing the red color on the back of his hand, Michael was stunned for a second. But when he realized it was a nosebleed, he didn't care anymore. A big rock hitting his head didn't kill him, could he die from a few drops of this blood?
He sniffed, wiped the blood clean with his hand, then stared straight at Leo as an action to show his toughness and also to salvage the face he lost earlier.
"Do you know what you look like right now?"
Leo suddenly spoke, making Michael frown in confusion. He had a feeling the next words wouldn't be anything nice.
"Look like what?"
"Like a kid who hasn't cleaned his snot properly trying to save face even though he doesn't have any. Ha ha ha..." Leo burst out laughing, completely unconcerned that Michael would be even angrier with him.
Veins on Michael's forehead twitched, his whole body's muscles trembled. He had held back enough! If he didn't make Leo eat a bitter fruit now, he couldn't swallow this lump of anger.
"Hmph, circumstances change, rise and fall are unpredictable, don't look down on a poor youth! Right now I'm worse than you but thirty years from now... no, sixty years from now who knows who's better." He raised his chubby index finger and pointed it straight at Leo's face.
Leo made a dumbfounded face at Michael's eloquent words. Clearly they were about to fight, so why start lecturing about life now?
"Wait, are you planning to postpone until sixty years later to continue fighting me?"
Leo's eye twitched. All this effort and in the end he still couldn't test Michael's actual combat ability and fighting talent at all.
Hearing the contemptuous meaning in the words, Michael's face became distorted. Being looked down on by others could be overlooked, but he absolutely could not be despised by this damn brat.
"Take this!"
He charged again, this time his eyes not only looked at Leo but also at the ground. He could be knocked down, but he absolutely could not trip over the ground and fall.
When Michael was almost within attack range, suddenly Leo's expression became horrified as if seeing a ghost in broad daylight.
"Behind you!"
An unclear statement from Leo made Michael turn his head to look and he saw... nothing at all!
It was as if this whole world had turned its back on Michael. The spot where Leo stood was slightly uneven, so once again it caught the tip of his foot. Michael tripped and fell once more, this time not slamming his face into the ground but it still hurt his head terribly.
"Ah, damn it!"
Michael swore loudly. It wasn't clear whether he was cursing the ground, cursing Leo, cursing this world, or cursing himself for his stupidity.
Losing face, he felt extremely humiliated. Tripping and falling twice was already utterly disgraceful, and on top of that he was tricked by a single sentence from a 'three-year-old child'.
He opened his mouth saying he wanted Leo to pay, but from start to finish he hadn't even touched the corner of the other's clothes. Meanwhile, the other side didn't even need to throw a punch to knock him down twice.
"Ha ha, you're not very focused, huh. In combat, if you lose focus you'll die." Leo laughed but his tone didn't sound like he was joking at all.
He originally just wanted to test a little whether Michael was focused or not but didn't expect Michael to turn his head back without any caution.
"Hmph, you still dare to say that?"
"You're not the enemy, so why wouldn't I believe what you said?"
Michael retorted boldly, his reasoning extremely righteous. Of course deep down he also clearly knew that he had been really dumb earlier but couldn't admit it himself.
Leo opened his mouth, wanting to reply but couldn't think of any suitable words.
"You say... that's not wrong either. Consider this my advice to you. In the future, don't let your guard down..."
He himself couldn't deny Michael's words either. The trust between comrades is exactly like that, absolute belief even if the words are as absurd as can be.
"At least pay attention to your own feet so you don't keep tripping and falling like that."
Pausing for a beat, Leo then continued to poke at Michael's sore spot.
"You bastard, if you're so good then stand still for me."
Michael glared and shouted loudly, giving others the feeling that Leo had only been running away and dodging all this time. But the reality was completely opposite, from start to finish Leo hadn't moved even a single step.
"I've been standing still the whole time, huh. It's you who fell by yourself, yet you blame me?" Leo shrugged. Using words to attack the last bit of Michael's remaining pride.
"Take this!"
Michael yelled then threw a handful of dirt and sand toward Leo before charging forward. Though it was a bit cowardly, he could only blame Leo first. If Leo weren't so detestable, he wouldn't use this despicable little trick.
"Hmph, childish trick. Useless." Leo lightly jumped to one side, completely evading this cunning attack.