As she walked towards the arena's stage, Susana couldn't help but feel flustered. Looking around at the thousands of people in the stands, and feeling their attention directed towards her gave rise to a feeling that she had never experienced before. This was her first-time preforming on such a big stage and she was determined to leave a lasting impression.
As she stepped onto the stage, she calmed her mind and prepared for the start of the match. Since she found out that the first round was a battle royal, she had been adjusting her strategy. She recalled one of Victor's old lectures about group fights.
"Hmm, what did he say again? Oh, I remember!" Said Susanna to herself.
The key points of Victor's lecture were;
1. Don't get surrounded and never let someone get behind you.
2. Spend as little time as possible to deal with each opponent (around three seconds is recommended).
3. Arm yourself (a weapon is always better than no weapon).
4. Before all else think of escape.
"Hmm, point four is out. I can use weapons but so can the others… this is tricky. Huh, wait a minute who says I can escape as long as I don't leave the stage I'm not disqualified." Said Susanna to herself.
"But they aren't going to make it easy for me." She continued as she noticed the other disciples looking her way.
Susanna could only sigh to herself. "One of the perks of being talented I guess."
At this moment the referee finished explaining the rules.
"…That being said this is full contact battle situation so injuries are inevitable, if any of you wish to leave this is your last chance." Finished the referee.
Susanna and the other disciples looked around at each other, waiting to see if anyone would leave. After a couple minutes it became clear that none would leave so the referee continued.
"May the first match of the Rising Stars Tournament begin!" The ref loudly declared as he left the stage.
***
After the ref declared the start of the battle, no one moved for a while. Susanna and the rest of the disciples in her group were sizing each other up, none willing to make the first move. As the seconds ticked by the disciples began to grow impatient. Finally, someone made a move, the disciple that struck first was a 15-year-old boy who had an average appearance.
He lunged forward unleashing his strongest attack at Susanna. His rational was simple; it was unlikely that he'd make it past this round, but if his actions eliminated the round's forerunner then maybe he'd make a name for himself.
Unluckily for him, Susanna was faster. Ducking under his punch, Susanna gathered her aura and countered his move with an earth-shattering punch to the liver.
"Titanic Impact!" This move was a staple of the sect's Iron Kickboxing (a set of techniques that are taught to all disciples within the sect). By gathering their aura, the moves user can boost their impact force by up to ten times.
Upon receiving Susanna's counter, the boy was set hurtling through the air. He was out cold before he hit the ground.
"…" The audience was in shock, no one expected this small girl to pact such a big punch.
After the first punch was thrown the stage erupted into chaos. Many decided to aim for Susanna, but they couldn't harm her. She was moving around the stage like a blur only striking when necessary and keeping all confrontations as short as possible. She even led attacking disciples into situations where they were forced to fight one another, not even giving them the chance to fight her.
After about ten minutes of combat the number of disciples had significantly thinned out. leaving only five disciples still on stage, all others had been eliminated. At this point Susanna stopped for a second to evaluate the remaining opponents. Only two stood out as the elites of their class, the other two were average combatants with good luck.
"Hmm, who should I aim for?" Pondered Susanna.
However, before she could come to a decision one of the elite disciples, charged at her while the other took on the two lucky disciples in a two vs. one.
The attacking disciple unleashed a rapid stream of jabs towards Susanna's face. This was the Endless Storm of the Iron Kickboxing.
Under the unrelenting flurry of attacks Susanna was forced on the back foot. As she devoted more effort toward defending her face, she left her body exposed and she suffered for it.
Seeing an opening the disciple struck with a powerful turning kick to Susanna's midriff, winding her and knocking her off balance. Stumbling slightly, Susanna was able to correct herself as she created some distance between her and her opponent.
"Che" the attacking disciple was upset with himself as he was unable to gather aura fast enough to deliver a finishing blow.
Seeing an opening Susanna charged her opponent, striking with a one two combo using titanic impact to give her attacks a 2x boost. To block this attack her opponent used Iron Wall, a blocking technique that boosted defense.
"Wrong choice." Declared Susanna as she preformed a leg sweep, knocking the disciple off balance. Which she followed up with a full force10x boosted axe kick slamming her opponent into the ground.
"BOOOM!"
The impact from her attack shattered the stage's tiling. Unsurprisingly didn't make it through this unscathed. One of his arms was broken and the other didn't look much better. However, he was still conscious and seemingly determined to continue fighting.
Seeing his refusal to quit, Susanna couldn't help but nod in admiration.
"Are you sure you want to continue in your state, you should know that I won't go easy on you?" She asked.
"It's not over until I'm knocked out or thrown out." Responded the boy.
"Alright then, have it your way." Said Susanna as she prepared to reengage.
Her opponent decided to adopted a no guard stance, while gathering his aura. It seemed that he was betting this match on the next move.
Susanna charged forward like a blur, while winding up for a haymaker. Seeing this her opponent decided to counter with a straight punch, hoping to connect first. However, this is what Susanna was waiting for. The haymaker was a feint.
Suddenly she released a lightning fast uppercut that caught her opponent completely off guard. This was her real attack.
Her strike folded her opponent as he collapsed to the ground completely out cold.
When this unexpected strike connected, the crowd erupted in cheers.
"Woah! Did you see that folks, that's why we call her the princess of destruction." Yelled the MC. Even he was getting caught up in the excitement.
"Wow, that final strike was amazing!" Said an audience member in excitement.
"Did you see that axe kick that broke the boy's arm though, that was killer." Added another audience member.
Even the four kings were impressed by her attacks. Albeit for different reasons.
"So young but she already mastered the use of feints." Remarked Peter.
"Impressive." Said Ira.
"I've read reports about her, but she way more impressive in person. Her speed in gathering aura is top tier in her age group." Commented Charlotte.
Zander was simply beaming with pride.
It was said that laymen watch for fun while experts watch to see technique. In this case it couldn't be anymore true. The top tier experts in attendance, were able to see that Susanna won due to her faster aura gathering speed and use of feints. If the boy was able to gather aura faster, then he might have won the fight with his first kick.
It was at this moment that the other elite disciple finished his battle with the other two disciples. He finished the battle in perfect condition while his two opponents lay sprawled on the ground below the stage unable to stand up.
Seeing that the first match was over the MC declared Susanna and the boy's victory.
"Ladies and gentlemen, your victors for the first match of round one in this historic Rising Stars Tournament, Susana and Gibson. Please join me in giving them a round of applause for their amazing fighting." Declared the MC.
"Clap! Clap! Clap!" The entire arena erupted in applause as the audience cheered for the matches victors.
Susanna broke out in a toothy grin as she took in the applause.