A fight between S ranks is essentially a fight between gods among men, none but their ilk can hope to even dream of coming close.
And Rick had the determination to make that dream come true and became their ilk.
Oh man, this series has been surpassing all my expectations so far.
I'm kind of a junkie for these hand-to-hand battle mangas... Negima has some seriously awesome fights, and I'm starting to rank this one up there as well...