"It's a good thing you're not going up against him right now." Lilee lets out a loud and exaggerated sigh. "If only we saw his first couple of fights so we had more time to figure out a game plan."
"Drop it." Dimas points at the screen. "I pretty much doubt Sebastian is going to tell us so we should ask that guy." The display shows Ruben trudging his way back to his portal with his head low.
"Do you think he'll be willing to tell us?"
"Yeah, I bet he's fuming. Nothing will make him happier than seeing Sebastian go down."
"Sebastian, great as always, we might just be watching the rise of a real legend! Allow me to be clear, as a judge I am impartial. However, if I was a betting man…" The moustached man doesn't finish his sentence instead letting out a small laugh. "Our next, and final, match of the day will be Dimas from Team Corvus vs Scott from 'Rookies'. Fighters, please make your way to the arena."
"Good luck!" Lilee pats Dimas on the back. "Do your best!"
"Yup." Dimas replies.
Dimas steps through the portal that materializes in the room and out onto the arena. Scott steps out opposite of him, a large grin of excitement on Scott's face. The crowd cheers for Scott, while the few boo's are aimed at Dimas.
[Looks like everybody wants me to lose… I should have Lilee bet on me, we would win big with these odds.]
The judge holds up a Crild.
"You can choose." Scott says politely.
Dimas nods. "Tails."
The judge flips the coin and everyone watches as the giant displays around the arena shows the result: Heads.
[Dammit.]
"Tough luck but don't worry, I won't call for support. I want to do this fair and square. Just me and you." Scott hops up and down limbering up for the match.
"Whatever. That's your mistake." Dimas cracks his knuckles.
The bell rings once and both fighters charge towards each other and meet in the center. Dimas acts first and swings a kick while spinning on the heel of his foot. Scott slides underneath it while swiping at Dimas's foot that has all his weight on it causing Dimas to fall. Dimas is able to avoid falling on his face by performing a handspring.
Lilee cheers from the locker room. "Whoo! You got this, Dimas!"
Scott laughs. "Oh man! I knew this was gonna be fun. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying everyone else was boring. They just relied on their Brío Arts a little too much."
[I know exactly what he means. At the beginning of practically every other match in this stupid tournament, I was on the defensive but once I was able to get my hands on the other fighter, they crumpled like tissue paper.]
"I can't really blame them though. I'm just lucky my Brío Arts is more of a support type than an offensive one." Scott says.
"What do you mean?" Dimas has been trying to figure out Sott's Brío Arts. He had a feeling Scott had been using one, and Scott himself probably just confirmed it, but Dimas can't figure out what it could be. Maybe Scott would be willing to share.
"What's the fun in telling you? Take this opportunity to flex those brain muscles of yours and figure it out." Maybe not.
Dimas dusts his hands off before charging at Scott once again. This time he plans to feint a punch but he'll really go for a low kick. It worked on a lot of people back on Earth, why not here?
Dimas cocks back his arm mid-stride, a misleading telegraph for Scott to pick up. Scott tilts his head and smiles. However, it's not the kind of smile Dimas was expecting. He was expecting a sort of smug smile, the kind that says 'He's going for a punch, I can counter this easily' but instead Dimas got the feeling that Scott's expression almost seemed to say 'I know this is a fake out'.
Once Dimas is within range, he drops low and swings a kick but Scott jumps over the attack.
[How did he-]
He doesn't get a chance to finish his thought before Scott returns the attack. Scott throws a kick at Dimas's head but Dimas is able to block the attack with both of his forearms while also rolling with the attack to get some distance between himself and Scott.
Did Scott figure it out? It seems like it but Dimas can't shake the gnawing feeling that that isn't the case. The entire exchange didn't feel like a counter reaction on Scott's part, it felt more like a planned reaction. Why else would Scott smile like he knew Dimas's true attack before Dimas even moved in for the kick if Scott didn't already see it coming?
Dimas begins to tap the area above his upper lip.
[Is he psychic? That would explain how he figured out the feint. Can he see the outcome of the entire match? The tournament? Is that why he seems so confident cuz he knows he's already going to win? No, that's not it. He only smiled once I began my attack which might mean he saw it coming as I was going through with it. Is that it?]
Dimas stands up and casually walks over to Scott. Scott, curious of Dimas's next move, stands there. Both fighters stand in front of one another, Dimas is staring Scott down, Scott almost looks like he's looking for something on Dimas's person that'll tell him what's going to happen next.
Without any warning, Dimas's fist flies through the air at Scott's face. Scott flinches, his left eye closing slightly, a small flinch but Dimas noticed it. Dimas stops his fist just short of impact.
Scott, realizing what had just happened, laughs. "You figured it out, didn't you?"
"Sort of. Your Brío Arts is somewhat of a psychic type. At first, I thought you could predict moves but you flinched just now. Which means you can only predict attacks."
Scott grins. "Pretty good! My Brío Arts lets me see when someone is trying to hurt me. I can see the punch or kick a few seconds in advance. It doesn't work with feints though. I noticed that you were going for a punch the first time but my Brío Arts showed me you were going for a kick. Then with your punch just now, I didn't see it coming at all." Scott gently pushes away Dimas's fist which was still a few centimeters away from his face. "Now that you know that I can see everything you're going to throw at me, what are you gonna do?"
"I'm going to show you defeat." Dimas smirks.
"We'll see about that." Scott replies.