Brianna stood with Trinity, watching the fight with rapt attention. Her eyes were narrowed when she saw Sasha slam her fist so hard into his face that he was launched into the air and struck the ground. The crowd chanted her name and Viktor continued with his commentary as Anthony stood to his feet, wiping the blood off his lips.
“He’s enjoying himself,” Trinity said.
Brianna nodded. “He only smiles like this when our sparring matches really push him.”
“Do you think he’s being pushed to his limit?” asked Svetlana.
Brianna started. She hadn’t even heard the woman come up to them. However, she looked at the young queen who posed the question so innocently that Brianna might have thought she knew nothing of battle. Except she knew better. This woman might not be as imposing as her husband, but Svetlana was an incredibly dangerous woman.
“No,” she said at last. “He’s not being pushed to his absolute limit right now.”
“Does he think my daughter is so easy to beat that he can’t afford to go all out?” asked Svetlana with a dangerous smile. There was an edge to her voice that made it sound like Brianna’s next words would be her last if she answered wrong.
Brianna was undaunted. “No offense to your daughter, but Anthony is far stronger than she is. However, if he used some of his more powerful abilities, she would die without question, and killing her isn’t his goal.”
Svetlana did not say anything for the longest time. She turned back to the battle, which had begun in earnest.
“It looks like they are finished warming up,” she said after a moment.
“It looks like they are beating the snot out of each other,” Trinity said.
That was indeed what it looked like. Anthony and Sasha had gotten in close and were just… punching each other. There was no finesse to their movements anymore. Anthony slammed a fist into Sasha’s face hard enough that blood flew from her mouth. In return, Sasha buried her fist into Anthony’s gut. The man doubled over, but he also reached up to grab Sasha’s head, then slammed his own head upward, straight into her chin. The woman staggered back like she was drunk. Her eyes were dazed as the attack rattled her brain.
Anthony wasn’t one to miss an opportunity and darted forward to press his advantage, but Sasha proved that she was not the type of woman to let such a thing happened. She recovered far quicker than he must have expected. Brianna almost winced when her man practically ran into Sasha’s foot. He twisted his body at the last second, but she still clipped his side and sent him into a tailspin.
He slapped a hand against the ground to arrest his torque and draw power into his body for a kick. Sasha was too close and already committed to an attack. This would hit--or so Brianna thought. However, Sasha, like a cat, reacted with reflexes that stunned her. She twisted her body aside far faster than Anthony had done, avoiding the attack entirely. This wasn’t the end though. She avoided the kick, but Anthony had managed to hook his foot behind the woman, and he yanked her off her feet. As the woman began to fall, his other foot found her face, and the young woman was launched clear through the air.
Secilia whistled. “Damn, look at those two go. This is one messy fight. It reminds me of those bar room brawls you see occasionally in holodramas.”
“It is pretty sloppy,” Marianne agreed.
“I bet you anything sex between these two would be just as violent as this battle,” Secilia said and sounded quite serious.
“Secilia!” Marianne sounded scandalized.
“What?” The woman shrugged. “You can’t tell me you weren’t thinking it too.”
Marianne’s deep red blush let everyone know the thought had crossed her mind. Trinity laughed as she came over and slapped the younger woman in the back.
“You have a dirty mind despite your appearance. I approve.”
Brianna sighed. “I can’t believe the leader of my organization is such a pervert.”
“And I can’t believe my protege is such a prude despite how many times you’ve fucked Anthony,” Trinity shot back.
“You know something? I think I’m beginning to like you,” Secilia said.
Trinity raised an eyebrow. “You mean you didn’t already?”
Secilia waffled her hand back and forth. “I never hated you. I just didn’t care one way or the other.”
While Anthony’s woman chattered, Ivan looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel thanks to their conversation. His face was red and there was a massive vain popping on his forehead. It pulsed angrily.
Svetlana saw this, smiled complacently, and walked over to place a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t make that face, dear. You knew this day would come eventually. You knew you’d have to give her away.”
“That remains to be seen,” Ivan grunted. “He still has to best me in combat.”
Svetlana gave her husband a long-suffering smile, but she didn’t say anything as she sat in the seat beside him. Brianna watched them for a moment. However, her attention was taken away from them when Anthony began to use his magic more liberally.
He was starting to get serious.
***
Black holes formed around Sasha, attempting to hem her in. She punched several of them out of existence. He almost laughed at the absurdity of someone punching apart a black hole. Then again, these ones were weaker than his more destructive techniques.
She came at him with her ridiculously enhanced body, but Anthony was ready to meet her. He was making great use of foresight to predict where she would be .05 seconds into the future. It was kind of like watching a being played twice on the same screen with a very slight delay between one and the other. An overlapping layer of her moved slightly out of sync.
He ducked underneath her incoming punch--only to run into her knee. He had been focused so heavily on her fist that he had neglected to look at her legs. The smooth knee was coming straight for his face, and he knew it would hurt if it hit.
If it hit.
Her knee stopped barely an inch from his face. There was a tiny layer of space between them that she just could not penetrate. Then he widened the space, and it stretched, putting more distance between him and her leg. Oddly, it was just her knee that had space between them. The rest of her body was still right beside him. Sasha looked disoriented by the weird shift in her space, and he used that to his advantage. He slammed his hand into her abdomen and shouted.
“ALMIGHTY PUSH!”
A ball of pure spatial distortion was ejected from his palm and slammed into Sasha, who was launched clear into the air. Of course, there was a cage above them, so she didn’t get far. She struck the cage with a vengeance.
Anthony leapt after her. He flipped around and extended his foot, embedding it into her back. An anguished scream echoed from Sasha’s throat as his attack did serious damage. He didn’t think he’d broken anything, but her spine had definitely done some shifting around.
Even though she was obviously hurting, Sasha still managed to throw him off her. She grabbed the cage bars, planted her feet on them, and jumped toward him as he fell. Her fist was reared back. She was clearing going to smash his face in.
Only Anthony was no longer there.
Marianne had given him power over space, which was an incredibly versatile ability. With it, he could lengthen or shorten the space between him and something, lock something in space, attack with spatial blades and black holes, and he could even teleport. It was not something he did often because of the mana requirements. However, if he timed his technique just right, it would give him a serious edge in any battle.
Anthony appeared behind Sasha, who had been so focused on him that she almost didn’t realize it when he vanished. She gawked. He used her surprise to wrap her in a hug, only this hug was like a vice grip that she would not be able to get out of. She did try. Anthony grunted as her elbows slammed into face, but he didn’t let go, and instead began spinning through the air. The moment before they were about to go splat against the ground, Anthony turned them around so she was facing the ground, and then he kicked off her. As he soared into the air, she struck the ground with enough force to rattle the cage.
Anthony landed back on the ground and walked over to Sasha, who had basically just performed the equivalent to a belly flop while traveling at mach speeds. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but she had been moving very fast.
Sasha was on the ground, not moving. He wasn’t worried that she was dead. Anthony had gotten her measure and knew that she was a tough cookie. Something trivial like a several meter drop at the speed of sound wasn’t going to bring her down.
“You doing okay?” he asked, kneeling down and poking the woman’s thigh.
“Uggh… did you get the licence plate of the bus that hit me?” she asked.
He chuckled. “If you can crack jokes, then you’re fine.”
“I’m fine, but I can’t move,” she grumbled.
“Well, I did just drop you flat on your chest. Your chest, stomach, and ribs took a lot of damage,” he said.
Sasha said nothing for a moment, then groaned as she flopped over onto her back. “I can already tell two of my ribs are cracked.” She paused again, then flinched. “You also bruised my lungs.”
“A drop like that would indeed squish your lungs pretty good.” He paused, then smiled. “Well, you might be injured, but you had fun, right?”
Sasha grinned fiercely. “It was a blast.”
The arena had gone silent shortly after he slammed Sasha into the arena, so their voices carried quite well. No one said a single word. Even Viktor found himself completely silent. He was so shocked that he dropped his mic, though the sound created a static burst of noise that caused him and everyone else to kickstart.
“I, uh, I think Sasha lost…” Viktor said uncertainly. He was staring at her and Anthony.
Anthony quirked an eyebrow. “She can’t even move. Of course she lost.”
“Wow. Blunt,” Sasha grumbled.
“Do you want me to sugarcoat it for you?”
“Nah. I don’t mind losing.”
“Anyway, there you have it. You should announce my victory now,” Anthony said to Viktor.
“R-right.” Vikotor coughed into his hand, and then shouted into the mic. “Ladies and gentleman! In an incredible upset, our princess has finally met her match! Anthony Amasius is the victor! Give a cheer for Anthony!”
It didn’t seem like anyone knew what to do at first. The people looked around at each other, as though asking if it was okay for them to cheer for the man who had beaten up their princess. However, clapping soon erupted from the VIP booth and everyone turned their heads to find Ivan and Svetlana clapping in honor of the winner. Starting small and growing louder, more clapping emerged, and soon enough, people were cheering his name.
Anthony acknowledged their words with a wave, but he was more focused on Sasha, who he picked up like a princess and carried off the arena stage.
“Hmmm,” Sasha hummed.
“What is it?” he asked as he stepped off the arena.
“This is the first time someone has carried me like this,” she confessed.
“And how do you feel about being treated like a princess?” asked Anthony.
Sasha shifted a little as though getting comfortable. “I don’t want to get used to it… but it’s not bad.”
“Right? Not bad at all,” Anthony agreed.
He had defeated Sasha, which was the first step in making her his. Now all he had to do was defeat Ivan, the single strongest beastkin in the entire world.
No pressure.