Anthony did not attack first. He wanted to see what kind of fighter Sasha was. Though he had watched her fight against the ghouls, that was not a good indication of her prowess. To be frank, those ghouls had not been a challenge. All they had going for them was their brute strength and numbers. The only thing he knew for sure was that Sasha was a fighter who relied purely on physical prowess.
The woman darted forward shortly after the battle began. She was very fast, getting in his guard within the blink of an eye. He crossed his arms to take her punch, reinforcing them with mana, and was sent skidding back for his trouble. Fortunately, she hadn’t broken his guard, but his forearms felt slightly numb.
Hmmm…
Anthony knew she could hit harder than this. He had seen her pulverize a ghoul’s head with a punch, and this was not nearly enough to do that. It seemed she was also holding back.
“I don’t suppose I could convince you to put more oomph into your punches?” he asked.
Sasha smirked as she flipped her hair behind her head. “Maybe if you actually fight me, I’ll put in more effort.”
“I’d been hoping to see what you have to offer first, but sure, I’ll put in a bit more effort.”
Anthony’s eyes began glowing as he first activated Future Sight. This was the skill he had gained from bonding with Brianna. He darted forward as though to attack her up close, and Sasha prepared herself, only for Anthony to create a small black sphere in his hand and attempt to shove it into her chest. The black hole shot forward as she dodged and attempted to eat her. However, Sasha pressed her dominant foot into the ground and thrust out her fist.
“HA!”
She punched the black hole, and Anthony watched in shock as the thing exploded. She had defeated a fucking black hole with a simple punch!
“I didn’t know you could do that,” he muttered in shock.
“Your black holes are made from magic,” Sasha said. “I simply infuse mana into my punch to negate them.”
He frowned. “They may be made from magic, but once released, they are the phenomena itself. You can’t just…” he mimed a punching motion. “Punch them apart. What you just did should not be possible.”
Sasha grinned. “Maybe you need to rethink what is and isn’t possible. Now, come! Let us battle!”
Sasha came at him again, and Anthony created several spatial blades to attack her, but the woman shattered each one with her bare fists. He wasn’t as shocked about this. His spatial blades were strong, but they weren’t black holes. At the same time, her skin didn’t even have a scratch as she came at him with several strong punches.
Her posture was very relaxed and her movements were fluid like water as she closed the distance. He threw a punch, then saw a vision of her grabbing his arm and twisting him over her shoulder. He withdrew the punch. Then saw another vision of her attacking, but before he could respond, Sasha had already attacked. Her punch split the air. He dodged to the side, but the sheer force of her punch sent him staggering.
He went low, hands on the floor, and tried to sweep her legs out from under her. She simply stepped back. Anthony went into a handstand and kicked out. Sasha attempted to dodge, but Anthony manipulated the space between them. It was less like teleportation and more like he was forcing space to compress between them. His feet connected with her chin and she was knocked clear off her feet.
The roar of the crowd grew remarkably louder when they saw this, but he ignored them and watched as Sasha flipped through the air and landed on the ground in a crouch. Some blood ran down her mouth where she had bit her lip. However, the attack hadn’t done much damage overall. She wasn’t even dazed.
“That was good kick,” Sasha complimented.
“Thank you,” Anthony said, standing back up.
“Let us continue. I wish to see how strong you really are when pushed.”
“I’m afraid you might be disappointed.”
“We shall see.”
Sasha came at him again, and Anthony began trying to pick apart her fighting style. It was very fluid and more adaptable than most of what he had seen from the PSF. She relied heavily on grapples, throws, and joint locks. It combined judo with wrestling and a few military combat systems. It wasn’t just throws though. She would occasionally throw punches and kicks, and she liked to use her knees to block his attacks and trip him up.
Anthony’s style was even less strict. It was street fighting. He had never learned a style. Growing up in the streets of the Americas, he had been forced to learn how to scrap and fight against people stronger than him, so his style focused more heavily on doing anything and everything necessary to survive and take down his opponents quickly. He had a heavy focus on attacking weakpoints.
Sadly, Sasha didn’t have any glaringly obvious weaknesses. This forced him onto the defensive.
Several exchanges after the battle had begun and Sasha finally managed to catch one of his punches. He twisted his arm, ready for her shoulder throw, but she surprised him with a powerful headbutt. Stars swam in his vision. He staggered back, but he couldn’t get far because she still had a hold of his arm. She attempted to pull him back to knee him in the gut, but he created a black hole between them. She was forced to let go.
Anthony blinked the stars out of his vision, then leapt into the air, over the black hole. Sasha raised her arms to guard against him, but he vanished. She blinked. In that time, Anthony appeared behind her and slammed his knuckles into her kidney. The woman growled in pain as she staggered and spun around to kick him in the face, but he backed away before she could. Even though he’d gotten out of range, he could still feel the sensation of displaced air.
Anthony wished he could use his nature magic. It was a newer magic and he wasn’t well-versed in its use, but it would have been great for entangling her. What he really wanted to do was find some way to constrict her movements.
Furrowing his brow, he gripped his hands like he was holding a sword, and swung, releasing a powerful blade of space that Sasha summarily punched out of existence. He sent several more blades her way. Sasha crossed her arms and barreled straight into them. Space shattered as she charged headlong through his attacks and slammed into him, knocking the air from his lungs in a woosh.
Gasping, he grabbed her sides as he skidded across the ground. Wrapping his arms around her, he did something he had seen one of Lilith’s other members do--he lifted the woman off the ground, then dropped onto his bottom, slamming her head first into the arena floor. Her legs were sticking straight into the air.
“OOooooh!” He heard Viktor shout. “That has got to hurt. I imagine Sasha might have a headache when this is all over! However, she is most certainly not done!”
Indeed, he was right. She brought her legs down, wrapped them around his neck, and rolled them over until she was on her side and slowly crushing his head between her thighs. Her thighs were strong. Much stronger than he imagined they would be. He could practically hear the creaking of his skull as it slowly compressed under her. Given time, she probably could crush his head like those women who made a living creating videos of them crushing watermelons.
Not that he would allow her to get that far.
With a grunt of exertion, Anthony stood to his feet and raced headfirst into the cage around the arena. He slammed Sasha into it. She grunted but hung on. However, he repeated the process once, twice, thrice. On the fourth attack, Sasha unwrapped her legs and leapt off him, hoping he could slam himself into the cage. Anthony was prepared and stopped himself. However, Sasha had landed behind him and tried to wrap her arms around his waist. He was almost certain her goal was to German Supplex him into the ground.
Thrusting his hands back, he created two black holes that slammed into the woman. She was sent skidding backward but the black holes did not do much damage. Instead, she gave them the old one-two and punched them both to pieces. It still amazed him that she could punch a black hole apart like that.
Anthony knew he needed to do something more if he wanted to win this battle. He couldn’t rely on conventional attacks for someone like Sasha. Her skin was tough. It was something he had realized. She not only had a sturdy body but super tough skin. His space blades couldn’t even penetrate her skin, even though they had been able to cut through everything else, including magically resistant military vehicles.
Maybe what he needed to do was sharpen his blades…?
Anthony created another spatial blade, but this time, he did not release it. Instead, he further compressed it, creating a finer blade. Then he compressed it even further. His goal was to create something so sharp that it could cut through her strong as fuck skin.
He sent a couple of his sharper blades at her, but Sasha did not even bother blocking this time. They cut into her clothes but glanced off her flesh. Anthony narrowed his eyes as he studied her skin. Sasha saw this and smirked.
“Are you taken aback by my perfect skin?” he asked.
“Mmmm. Something like that,” Anthony said. He pursed his lips. “Do you have a technique to harden your skin?”
“Mmm. No. It’s not really a technique. I just create a layer of mana over my body and then compress it until it is very dense.”
“Ah.”
So it wasn’t her skin that was durable but the mana shield she created over herself that let her block his attacks. This wasn’t a technique so much as a practical application of mana control. Most people relied on actual techniques like mana shields to block attacks. However, techniques were fairly easy to break if you knew how they were formed. Something like this would be more difficult to break through since it was reliant upon someone’s mana instead of the technique itself. What’s more, Sasha could make her barrier stronger by applying and compressing even more mana over herself.
Since Anthony needed to know where her limits were, he waded into battle and attacked Sasha with his fists. He pumped obscene amounts of mana into each attack. It was reckless. His knuckles turned red and blood began pouring out of them like mist. Anthony did not pay attention to his own self-inflicted injuries as he battled Sasha, watching. The woman met his attacks head on. She seemed eager for a straightforward battle and matched him blow for blow. However, he soon noticed cracks forming in her barrier. They were reformed quickly as she healed them over with mana, but he was pleased to see that she was reaching the limit of what she could withstand.
Unfortunately, he was too busy paying attention to her mana barrier and not enough to her. Anthony felt the blow to his face distort his cheek and rearrange his jaw. It was so powerful that he was launched clear into the air, and unlike Sasha, who was able to land on her feet, he slapped the floor hard and tumbled across it.
“Oooooh! It looks like Sasha has claimed the upperhand! That punch looked like it hurt! Can Anthony get back up and continue the fight?” Viktor shouted into his mic and the crowd began to fiercely chant Sasha’s name.