FA Chapter 8 Combat (2)

Even in the middle of contemplation, his attacks didn't let up, instead continuing in intensity and speed.

'I believe I can improve further. I don't have a sword, so my fighting style needs to be changed.'

He tweaked his movements, smoothing out the energy flow and the transfer of momentum, allowing him to hit that much harder and faster.

'Wow! This is exhilarating! I never knew fighting could be this enjoyable in reality!'

A grin appeared on his face and his gaze finally met with Bora's for the first time since the start of the exchange. He was startled to find that her face too, was adorned with a faint smile and a twinkle in her eyes. 

Even in the blur of limbs that were moving at speeds that almost approached the speed of sound, something connected within their eyes, causing a certain slowing of time within his gaze. For a moment, Bosingwa almost broke concentration because of how radiant she appeared.

Just 7 seconds into the exchange, a palm broke through his attacks, with its aim, to make contact with his chest, a feat that caused a momentary panic to envelop him, before he dodged to the side and kicked out, upon which a foot rose to intercept his attack, dispersing the force in the same manner as before.

But before he could catch his breath, a kick headed his way, precisely towards his family jewels, only for him to dodge once again.

This signified that she had started attacking, though still in the same place. Bosingwa understood her reasoning right away when he looked into her eyes. He had already corrected the imperfections within his attacks, meaning that it was now feasible for her to teach him something about defense and dodging.

After the initial panic, he calmly resisted her attacks while dishing out his own, but with every second that elapsed after, her tempo and attack speed increased, to the point where he was left with no opportunity of dishing out his own, being pushed into a defensive stance.

The good thing about the situation was the fact that she hadn't yet moved or shown any intent at getting truly serious, but that was just a matter of time since the seconds were increasing in number. 

A bead of sweat had just formed on his brow when it was vaporised instantly by his intense movements. It was becoming increasingly strenous to keep up with her attacks.

Every strike of hers was firm and vigorous, not to mention powerful enough to bring him a faint pain each time he blocked or a hit was scored upon his body. 

"30 seconds!"

The moment those words made it out of her lips, Bosingwa applied a sliver of force within his feet and retreated backwards explosively.

"At first, you tried to apply sword moves to your attacks, but then you improved upon them in the last few seconds. It is a commendable achievement. But can you handle someone with an intent to Kill!"

A chill travelled down his spine, raising the hairs at the back of his neck in the process. His heart skipped a beat for a moment, and his face became a shade paler.

Thick murderous intent permeated the atmosphere, stifling his breath, like he had been covered with a blanket. The purple petalled pupils, which had been small before, enlarged within his gaze, taking over the entire place in front of him.

He knew that it was some sort of mental imagery, conjured up by his mind, but he still couldn't resist his face being etched with an expression of horror.

This murderous intent had far surpassed even that which she had released when Drekov had uttered words that should have never left his mouth.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to relax his highstrung nerves for a moment. Fear couldn't really be purged from his body, but he could at least suppress it.

"Are you ready?"

The voice alone caused the very air particles to start oscillating in very disturbing manner. 

Before he even felt any semblance of an attack, an instinctual sense of danger enveloped him, leading to his body moving beyond the realm of thought, reflexively leaping to the side. The power of the stomp was such that even the material making up the floor sunk inwards for a moment!

"Shi-!?" 

Before he could even formulate a curse within his mouth at the hasty reaction, a burst of wind appeared right behind him, and a punishment for that error of judgement was dished out in the form of something small, yet heavy impacting his back with such force that his body arched back and he was hurled forward with such tremendous velocity, everything became blurry.

He closed his lips and clenched his teeth to stop the blood that had just risen within his throat. Minute cracks had appeared on the length of his spinal bones, and some internal organs had also started bleeding out.

But in just an instant, everything was healed with just an intention of will. These injuries would have taken multiple weeks to heal because of how slow the human body reacts, but with just a small nudge by his spiritual powers and some energy, they were fixed instantaneously.

His feet left deep grooves in the ground and a massive surge of ripples as he tried to bring his body into a stop, which he barely managed after a moment, before instantly applying force to turn himself around, puzzled that his opponent hadn't capitalised on her earlier chance.

"I wanted to see whether you could heal."

From almost 200m away, the voice entered his ears. 

Another curse almost escaped his lips as another instinctual biological urge took place, causing him to only manage reacting when Bora's purple petalled pupils were just a few inches away from him. With just a small wiff, he could have inhaled her perfume, or her womanly scent.

Two palms met and separated, creating waves within the very air itself upon contact. This time, he had managed the correct response, having managed to sense the minute increase in air pressure due to the attack's speed surpassing the general velocity of her body.

She withdrew a meter away and her leg swept out horizontally, with his waist as the target, only for him to infuse some force into the soles of his feet and leap into her, where both his knees were poised into a strike to her chest.

Two palms, blocked their way, but the force of his attack pushed her away, causing her leg to simply skim just a few inches away from his legs.

When his feet made contact with the ground, he channelled another burst of energy within them to chase after her with a stomp towards her head.

But, that didn't pan out as she vanished only to reappear in midair, with an elbow poised for his ribcage.

He countered with an elbow of his own, only for a faint grimace to appear upon his facial features. The attack had been heavy, just like the one that had started this duel. His flesh and cells popped like balloons and cracks appeared within the bones bear his elbow. 

This time, even blood poured out.

"A blink can kill you...and the structure of your entire body needs to be rearranged. Though, that can wait since it recquires knowledge in material science."

Bora spoke out after retreating, withdrawing the bellowing bloodlust that had been permeating the space into herself, locking it away.

"Aren't we going to continue?" Bosingwa asked incredulously. Not even a minute had passed since the start their exchange!

"You have learned all that I intended to expound upon. Improvement now only requires information and your constant ponderance."

"Okay! The next match is between me and-"

"Drekov! You're up!"

Luna's words were interrupted by miss Bora, who, with a clap of her hands, singled out Drekov.

Bosingwa moved his gaze to the far side, where his gaze fell upon the audience, specifically Drekov. The man's face had gone pale and he was in the middle of wiping his brow with the back of his hand.

"Can't... Can't Luna be the one to handle my training?"

Bosingwa abruptly broke out into a peal of laughter at the man's fearful expression and words.

"If you are worried that I hold a grudge about earlier, then your concerns are unwarranted. I wouldn't do something so uncouth like taking out my anger on you." Miss Bora tried to sound as sincere as possible, but even the others didn't believe her.

"Okay..."

With a gait infused with fear, Drekov made for Bora while Bosingwa made for the crowd. 

Upon passing each other, Bosingwa gave the man an encouraging pat on the back. After all, because of his lose mouth, he was about to suffer immensely.