The Martial Unity

WHOOSH

Ferlicia leaped away as Mia launched a sound bullet in her direction. But the attack forced her put some distance between her and Mia, much to her chagrin.

She summersaulted away as sound bullets struck the ground where she was just a moment prior. The battle had gotten stuck in a deadlock, having been prolonged for some time by then.

POW!

Ferlicia grimaced as she got hit by a sound bullet. But it happened, and sooner than Rui had predicted. Ana was able to dodge Mia's attacks for as long as she did because she had three dimensions worth of maneuvering and was not restricted to terrain, but Ferlicia did not have that advantage.

She had managed to last a while because she was quick herself, as a consequence of developing a style meant to outmaneuver her opponents who try to maintain distance from her. But in the end it wasn't nearly good enough.

Mia's eyes narrowed as she launched several more sound bullets in her direction.

It should have been game over, yet suddenly;

WHOOSH!

A wall of flames erupted from her mouth, intercepting the bullets. Even though flames weren't solid and couldn't impede the path of the sound bullets, somehow the sound projectiles were largely dispelled by her flames.

Rui watched the sight with great intrigue. Her flames had raised the temperature of the air as a medium, disrupting the sound wave largely. He hadn't been sure whether Ferlicia's flames would be capable of feat prior, but it seemed like her flames were indeed potent enough. Even if sound was particularly vulnerable to disruptions of its medium, he was quite impressed by her feat.

She rushed in having finally found a way to break through, and was quite close.

She released another wall of flames when Mia tried to spam more sound bullets at her in attempt to prevent Ferlicia from enclosing in.

Yet it was in vain, Ferlicia emerged from her flames after they dispersed the sound bullets. She bullrushed towards Mia, charging for a takedown.

To her surprise, Mia didn't try to evade or escape, she instead rushed in herself throwing a haymaker at Ferlicia, seemingly hoping knock her out.

WHOOSH

Ferlicia calmly shifted her head, avoiding the blow. Just as she reached her;

BANG!

A loud sound echoed through the colosseum, hurting everyone's ears.

Down at the arena, Ferlicia was frozen, inches away from Mia.

Mia's right hand was besides Ferlicia's ear. Her fingers in a snapping position.

THUD

Ferlicia fell to the ground as right ear began bleeding.

Rui's eyes widened, having witnessed exactly what happened.

After Ferlicia evaded the strike, Mia unballed her fists and snapped her finger right next to Ferlicia's ear. Rui guessed she must have used a technique generate an extraordinary amount of sound with a snap.

The sound burst Ferlicia's eardrum and had also subsequently caused blunt force trauma, knocking her out.

THUD

Mia fell to her knees as her arms cupped her ears.

('It seems it's a technique she's not entirely immune to, either.') He noted as he saw blood dripping from her ears. Regardless, it won her the match, and the fact that she would be healed fully was more than enough justification for her choice.

It was a strategy he approved of. He would need to be very careful fighting her, she had proven herself to be clever.

"Aaaand we have a winner folks!" The commentator announced after the referee declared Mia the winner. "Representative Mia Marnt has earned her spot in the third round after a smashing victory against Representative Ferlicia Ernand!"

Rui had already updated her Mia's profile with the information he had obtained from this fight. He would create an adapted style later when he had more time. Besides, he wasn't sure he would even fight her even if he won his next match. She still had to fight the winner of the next match.

('That's not going to be easy to do.') Rui mused.

"Aaaand for the next match we representative Kaerts Omegde and his Soul Reader Style versus representative Fiona Roschem!"

Rui raised an eyebrow at that announcement, once more reminded that Fiona's Martial Art didn't even possess enough individuality to have a name. Which he still found incredibly surprising.

"Take your stances." The referee instructed.

Kaerts took a neutral stance, while Fiona didn't bother taking a stance at all, once again. Yet Rui could feel that she wasn't putting on airs, nor was she being condescending.

"Begin!" The referee commenced the fight.

WHOOSH

Fiona dashed at Kaerts with fearsome speed, launching an incredibly powerful attack. Yet the fight didn't go as smoothly as it did last time.

Kaerts dodged her blow cleanly, much to everyone's surprise.

Not to Rui's, of course. He had already identified Kaerts' predictive prowess from the very start. It was quite compatible against Fiona's speed.

He even launched a speedy jab, but she calmly evaded the attack and began her own offense.

Kaerts responded with a desperate combination of evasion and defense. He used his insight to react to her attacks as early as possible, beginning the evasion maneuver even as she began her movements to get out of the trajectory of her attacks. But his physical ability was lacking. It seems his incredible predictive prowess that even Rui found respectable had carried him thus far.

The match did not end immediately, but it did not prolong for too long either.

BANG!

A powerful blow crashed into his solar plexus. The sheer impact sent him fling even as he coughed out blood.

He crashed into the arena walls, before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.

Rui shook his head, sighing. The sheer amount of force she was outputting could frankly give even Fae a good run for her money. Rui had understood what Kane and Hever had said back then about Fae maybe not being the strongest striker in their generation. He had ran into not just Fiona, but also Ian, who was a contender for that position.