Chapter 85: She’s an irritating one, but she’s definitely strong

(She’s an irritating one, but she’s definitely strong.)

While being overwhelmed by Monica, Kazui continued in his heart.

(But I’m hitting back more than before.)

At best he landed one strike in the gaps between Monica’s ten.

But before he had barely been able to hit back at all and had just been beaten one-sidedly, so compared to that he was fighting much better.

(I’m taking fewer attacks than before too, and I haven’t taken as much damage as last time.)

Not only had his level gone up and Aura Mail’s defense risen. His ability to parry enemy strikes and let them flow off had risen considerably as well.

Because of that, compared to the previous exhibition match with Monica, he was taking fewer hits and getting by without as much damage. He was aware of that.

(I am getting stronger.)

Kazui noticed that he was getting stronger.

And he was not the only one who noticed.

Monica, who was fighting him, had also noticed that this time’s Kazui was considerably stronger than last time.

In previous exhibition matches, once they entered a close-range exchange she had immediately beaten him down and dropped him.

But this time Monica had not dropped him yet. She had not even dealt decisive damage.

Monica understood even better than Kazui that he was clearly stronger than before.

She was overwhelming him.

But she felt impatient that she could not finish off an opponent she had completely looked down on the same way as always.

That impatience made her throw a large, swinging attack.

She had started wanting to finish Kazui off quickly with one powerful blow.

But a large, swinging attack thrown in impatience, even if powerful, was easy for Kazui to deal with.

He jumped back and avoided the roundhouse kick thrown with Monica’s long right leg.

He activated Aura Shot, made his whole body glow for an instant, then gathered that light in his right palm.

In that state he pointed the glowing right palm at her face as if aiming to shoot it.

With a glowing palm pointed at her face, Monica reflexively guarded her face with both arms.

As a result her attention gathered on Kazui’s Aura Shot and guarding her face.

(She took the bait!)

Kazui did not fire Aura Shot. He kicked off the floor, dashed forward, and closed the distance with Monica.

Dropping his stance, he aimed at her feet and threw a sharp foot sweep.

With her focus on guarding her face and the Aura Shot, Monica’s response to the foot sweep was a little late.

Even so she kicked off the floor, leaped, and escaped into the air.

Using Aura Speeder, she jumped up to a height of about five meters in one go.

She could jump higher, but because her response was late her legs did not have enough power, so she only managed about five meters.

(Just as planned!)

Kazui pumped a fist in his heart.

Using Aura Shot at her face as a feint, he had aimed at her feet.

Monica, reacting in a hurry, had easily escaped into the air.

She had moved exactly as Kazui wanted.

He had fully read that she would use Aura Speeder and escape to a height his own jumping power could not reach.

That was why he still had not fired the Aura Shot he could not rapid-fire in his current state.

Pointing his right palm at Monica in the air, he fired the Aura Shot he had kept ready.

A torrent of white light jetted from his right palm and struck Monica as she floated.

It had been fired at a closer range than the earlier Aura Shot, so of course the power was higher.

Even so, against Monica protecting herself with Aura Mail stronger than his, he could deal almost no real damage.

But he could break her posture in the air and make her feel a certain amount of pain.

Taking the torrent of Aura, Monica felt pain, lost her posture in the air, and fell to a height Kazui looked like he could kick.

Like a cat leaping at prey, he kicked off the floor and jumped.

Spinning his body to the right, he extended his right leg and kicked the falling Monica away.

Because her aerial posture was broken, Monica could not parry Kazui’s whirlwind kick well or guard against it.

She took his fierce whirlwind kick around her right side.

Letting out a pained groan, she was blown away and crashed onto the first dojo’s floor.

She failed to break her fall, but to avoid being treated as down she immediately got up, recovered her stance, turned toward Kazui, and took a stance.

Almost at the same time, Kazui also turned toward Monica and took a stance.

After landing the whirlwind kick he had landed in a clean form while spinning, and because the spin had made him lose sight of her, he immediately searched for Monica and took his stance.

Monica’s expression mixed surprise and anger.

It had been at a level Aura Mail could prevent damage from, but she had definitely taken a heavy blow from Kazui.

Taking a painful hit from an opponent she had completely looked down on made her feel surprise and anger.

(I thought I landed it nicely, but it doesn’t seem to have done much.)

Seeing Monica take a stance in an instant, that was how Kazui judged it.

The attacking method he had learned from Rolo, arranged for an opponent who could use Aura Speeder, had let him land one blow on Monica, but it had not gone as far as dropping her.

"For a Kazu, you sure did something!"

Saying it with a stronger tone, Monica dashed toward Kazui and closed the distance in an instant.

Then she launched another fierce rush of punches and kicks.

(She’s fast and she has a lot of strikes, but if I focus on defense I can manage!)

He focused on defense, parrying most of the punches and kicks that came one after another or blocking them with his arms and legs so they would not hit vital areas.

But he still took several hits, Aura Mail’s defense was shaved down, and he was wracked with intense pain.

(If I can find an opening and counter... eh?)

Kazui was surprised and let out a voice of panic in his heart.

Suddenly his limbs, which had been moving as he wanted until now, started slowing as if weights had been attached to his whole body.

(My body... won’t move right!)

His plan had been to focus on receiving so he would not take enough damage to be dropped, then somehow find an opening in Monica and counter.

But that plan collapsed easily.

Because his movements had dulled, he could not parry or defend against Monica’s punches and kicks and took them as she pleased.

Standing there like a stick, he was beaten down as if he had become Monica’s punching bag.

(What’s going on? Did she use some kind of skill?)

He had not taken enough damage for his body to stop moving.

And yet his movements had suddenly dulled, so he guessed Monica had used some kind of skill.

(It’s probably a skill that dulls body movement, but how do I break it?)

He desperately ran through his thoughts.

But in a state where he did not even know what skill had been used, when, or how, there was no way he would know how to break it.

While being hit repeatedly by Monica, he desperately endured the intense pain.

But he could do nothing about a situation where his body would not move freely and Aura Mail’s defense kept being shaved away by strikes.

As a result his Aura Mail reached its limit and its defensive ability ran out.

A body blow from Monica hit Kazui after he had lost Aura Mail’s defense.

Feeling intense pain bad enough to make him nauseous, he groaned in agony.

But his body did not take damage from Monica’s attack.

Right after her body blow hit, Kazui’s body was wrapped in white light.

His body had received an attack that would have dealt major damage, so Sals Fabrica had activated.

"That’s enough!"

The referee, who had been keeping a certain distance so as not to get in the way of Kazui and Monica’s fight, raised a sharp voice.

He had seen Sals Fabrica activate and judged that the outcome was decided.

Monica immediately stopped her attacking hands.

Not wanting to receive a penalty, she obediently stopped attacking.

Bringing her face close to Kazui, she whispered in a mocking tone.

"You’re as weak as ever. All that confidence is only in your mouth."

"Both of you, take your positions!"

The referee gave Monica and Kazui instructions in a sharp voice.

"I wanted to hurt you a little more, but too bad."

Saying that, she started walking cheerfully toward the circle she had stood in at the start of the match, just as the referee instructed.

The "position" the referee meant was that circle.

"You hurry up and take your position too!"

The referee raised a sharp voice at Kazui.

"If you were stunned, Sals Fabrica has been released, so you should be able to move now."

"Stunned?"

Kazui raised a surprised voice.

"I... was stunned?"

"Mildly. So you didn’t notice after all."

The referee added, sounding a little exasperated.

"Anyway, first take your position. I’ll tell you what happened to you in the critique."

"Yes."

Kazui answered and walked quickly into the circle.

Then he ended up facing Monica, who had a triumphant look.

At this stage both sides who had fought had to release all skills.

"Winner, number 24!"

After announcing the winner, the referee continued.

"Bow!"

Kazui and Monica each bowed to the other.

After an exhibition match, bowing to each other was the rule.

"Now we will move to the critique. First, number 10."

After an exhibition match, the referee gave a critique.

Usually it started with the loser, who had more problems, so this time the critique began with Kazui.

"I have seen your exhibition matches many times before, and you have improved considerably. Considering your career and level, up through landing the whirlwind kick on number 24, I can call it a good performance."

Being evaluated as better than before made Kazui happy.

"The problem is after the whirlwind kick. You were too focused on landing and took your eyes off number 24, didn’t you?"

Kazui had an idea what the referee meant.

To keep from failing the landing of the whirlwind kick, he had ended up looking at the floor.

In other words, he realized that at that moment he had taken his eyes off Monica.