*Boom*
The first person who moved was Black Saga. Once Steel Fist's seal of approval had been stamped, he leaped straight into action. He charged straight towards Lam with his large rod in hand. Like a man emboldened by the power of his god, he lashed out at Lam. Spinning his rod with incredible speed, so much so that the audience couldn't even see the weapon clearly and could only see blurry images of the mighty weapon, he struck the rod towards his opponent. In all of this Lam was still, not yet making a move.
"What is he doing?" Vital Orange furrowed his brows in worry. He didn't understand why Lam allowed Black Saga to get so close. To him, Lam had made two grave mistakes. One, he allowed his opponent to strike first, losing the momentum right at the start of the match. Two, he hadn't made any attempt to rectify the first mistake, and chose to stay still, almost as if he was terrified by Black Saga.
"He is waiting to counter," Mane smiled and said. Lam didn't have much fighting experience, so making the first move could be costly. If he made the first move and he was the slightest bit sloppy, Black Saga would be able to make out his lack of experience, and that would embolden the large Tiger to be more assertive and reckless with his attacks. So what Lam chose to do was to allow his opponent to make the first move. That way he would be able to counter and wouldn't give his inexperience away. Of course it was much easier said than done. The reason why many strived to make the first move was because of how difficult it was to take control of a match when a person loses that vital first move. But that didn't apply to Lam. For Lam, Mane thought this was the wisest option.
"I know what you want to say. But that doesn't apply to Lam. Just watch" Mane smiled and said. Hildegarde who was seated on his shoulder nodded her head as if to say that she agreed with Mane. Of course Vital Orange couldn't see it.
A smile made its way to Black Saga's face seeing that Lam was still standing still. With a furious bellow he swung his rod powerfully towards Lam's head. He was going straight for the kill with the first move! But his smile didn't last long. It was when Black Saga had finally struck so close to Lam that he moved. He sorted out his feet quickly, pulling his right leg behind him and pushing his left leg slightly ahead. He bent slightly and shifted his trunk forwards, making it fall in line with his left leg. His arms were held behind him and his sword hummed slightly in anticipation of what was to come.
"Prideful Sword: Guard of the Half-Moon" Lam mumbled under his breath and swung his sword. A total mismatch it was. A slender sword against a large rod. Yet the result of the clash was very different from what the audience thought that they would see.
*Bang*
Black Saga's eyes widened in shock. His hands that held his rod shook slightly from the strong force that pushed it back. When had his strength ever been challenged so? He roared furiously and fixed his eyes onto the white masked man wielding a sword beneath him. It was that slender blade that had stopped his charge, and his pride refused to accept that. He pushed down strongly, trying to sink Lam further into the ground. Yet all he heard was a soft whisper, and he was flung away. He couldn't make out the words, but the feeling of being thrown away was surreal to the large man.
"Prideful Sword: Counter of the Half-Moon" That was what Lam had uttered. Those soft words that Black Saga couldn't make out formed the name of the technique Lam was using. It was a technique that Mane wasn't fond of using, but Lam loved to call upon. It was one of the techniques of the Prideful Sword, and one of the three skills of the Prideful Sword that Lam had picked up in the past one month of training with Mane. Dance of the Half-Moon, Guard of the Half-Moon, and Counter of the Half-Moon were the three skills he had picked up so far. And although his level of mastery with the former two weren't nearly as good as half of Mane's mastery level, his advancement in Counter of the Half-Moon was beyond that of Mane's. And the reason behind that was simple.
Although Mane knew how to execute Counter of the Half-Moon, or Half-Moon Counter as he preferred to call it, he rarely ever used it. His proficiency with the skill was at the bare minimum, and he had no plans to change that. That was because of the kind of skill it was. It was a skill that borrowed the force of the opponent to summon a counterattack. For instance; with Black Saga's attack Lam had protected himself with Guard of the Half-Moon and then countered with Half-Moon Counter. What he did was to borrow the momentum that Black Saga had picked up and unleash it when he was ready. In effect, Black Saga had faced his own strength, and that was why he was sent flying back so comically. And it was because of this that Mane didn't like this skill. He hated having to be on the receiving end, and giving up the initiative to his opponent. For Mane, he would rather prefer to be the one dishing the damage than receiving it.
*Bang*
Black Saga struck the barricade and lost his senses for a bit. The falling raindrops helped to restore his vision and wipe away his dizziness, and the loud rumbling thunder shook his ears awake. He slowly got up and looked at his opponent again. But this time he did so with a lot more seriousness.
"Black Saga is shaken! Who would have thought that we would see something like this folks?!" Peter exclaimed in shock, expressing just what the crowd was feeling. None of them thought they would see the day that Black Saga would lose out in terms of pure strength!
"White Mask is so confident that he is waiting for Black Saga to regain his senses!" Peter continued, but Maggie narrowed her eyes. She didn't think that was the reason why Lam didn't go on the offensive. No one would be stupid enough to give an opponent the chance to reset.
"You're strong," Black Saga confessed once he was finally up. The section of the barricade that he had struck just now had a giant sized dent in it. He picked up his rod and stared at Lam with a steely gaze. As the rain drenched him in its embrace, his excitement from before was completely washed away. He slowly walked towards Lam and asked a question.
"But why did you not follow up with an attack. In such a state I was vulnerable, and if you had struck you would have won."
"I don't want to win that way," Lam shook his head and said. Mane smiled hearing his response. "That was an intelligent response," Hildegarde grinned and said. Both of them knew that there was no way that Lam was this kind towards someone who obviously wanted to kill him. But the others didn't know that, and many gained newfound admiration for this gentleman in the white mask.
"I see," Black Saga nodded his head, buying Lam's excuse. "But you would regret that," he added before morphing into full sprint. But this time Lam didn't wait for him. He charged ahead as well. And he did so with a skill that Mane was very proficient with.
"Star Flicker" Lam's figure disappeared, and he reappeared right in front of the charging Black Saga, stunning the large man who had only just lifted his rod. Lam couldn't use Dance of the Moon Butterfly yet. The skill was so difficult to master that all his attempts had ended in failure. But he was able to understand a bit of Star Flicker, and had entered the first proficiency level of this technique. Unfortunately for Black Saga, he was going to be the first apart from Mane to experience this technique.
"Dance of the Half-Moon" Lam said to himself and swung his blade towards Black Saga's shoulder. Although Black Saga was aiming to kill, Lam had no such intentions. He hadn't killed before, and he wasn't going to start here.
Black Saga's reactions were impressive. He hastily shifted his rod to his side, and just in time as well. For the sword had already reached its target.
*Puchi*
*Bang*
Black Saga was flung back for the second time already. But this time he didn't travel as far. Since this time Lam struck him with his actual power, it didn't compare to the might of Half-Moon's Counter. But he still managed to do some damage.
Black Saga gritted his teeth and endured the pain. Although he had managed to block the attack, the sword still sunk a couple of inches into his arm before his rod was able to get there.
"If he had aimed for my chest, I would have been done for!" Black Saga felt his body temperature dive down. And it wasn't because of the rain and the cold that it brought, but from the realization that his opponent was much better than he was.
"Black Saga is out of his game today. White Mask is clearly the stronger warrior!" Peter exclaimed. "Wait a minute folks. Black Saga seems to be taking some medication. Is it to stop the bleeding?"
"Not necessarily," Maggie answered. "That's a Healing Enhanced Potion."