Sakura collided with her opponent, Shiumi who had shown no signs of fear or backing down.
Their exchanges were quick and rapid but it was clear that Shiumi had been capable of matching Sakura thus far and even getting in extra hits as opposed to Sakura who couldn't.
Seiya and Hakai could only watch on with concern as they noticed Shiumi's speed outclassing Sakura's own.
For every strike she sent out, Shiumi had sent out three.
Sakura had started guarding, bringing her arms up in an x-shape formation to stop the blows from connecting with the rest of her body.
'' I have to wait for the right opportunity. ''
The female thought to herself as the male continued sending an unrelenting barrage of strikes to her arms.
Sakura needed to break the consecutive stream of attacks and if she could stagger him enough to deliver a decisive blow then she would do it.
Her mind returned to the day following her and Seiya's growth into being Sprouts, Hieki was busy instructing her on particular techniques so that she could expand her range of skills.
The two were alone and Hieki had a set of scrolls on hand to help her grow.
'' You seem to have the best affinity for my skills so it only makes sense that you are the one to acquire these techniques and make the most of them. Hakai has learned several of them and it seems that Seiya has been busy self-teaching himself for the time being, I think he is trying to reteach what he learned back at his home so I won't disturb him. ''
Hieki spoke while placing the scrolls down and told her to observe him.
He was in the backyard of his home and his eyes looked over the various boulders that laid there, what Hieki had done next made Sakura sit in awe of the skill described.
She knew she wanted to learn that technique.
Sakura's mind returned to the present as she prepared to finally stop Shiumi's action by throwing her hands outward from the guard mentioned.
Shiumi's hands were flailing as a result of being pushed back, leaving him to try to jump back to get out of the way but Sakura's body was not aiming for him.
Her right palm slammed onto the ground and released intense vibrations that made Shiumi's balance unstable.
Shiumi tried to move but he froze up once he noticed a glowing light underneath him.
'' Mountain-Leveling Palm! ''
Sakura said as the ground beneath Shiumi exploded upward.
The male opponent tried to get his bearings in the air, speaking out loud as he began focusing his energy.
'' My resolve will be unwavering just like my stance . My spirit ; gather me yoki strong enough to down my foe. ''
As Shiumi had spoken with a uplifting voice to gather his strength ; a large amount of energy began suctioning towards his right fist as he grew ready to strike once more . Shiumi descended towards Sakura but before having gone close to her, he'd disappear. After some time he'd reappeared as several clones in the air around her that imitated actually attacking Sakura as feint blows.
This process would continue until ninth clone dispersed from performing the same move.
The tenth Shiumi would've appeared, attempting to strike the ground with a powerful ground pound with extra momentum channeled by his focused energy. It was clear this male was not taking it easy. He wanted to ascertain his victory.
Sakura chose to respond to the descending clones by focusing her senses and waiting for the one that felt the most authentic and she was able to tell due to the extremity of the heart beating within Shiumi's chest as the last one intended to strike the ground to create a forceful shockwave strong enough to send her off the ring.
The female ran to the location where Shiumi planned on striking the ground so she could intercept.
Sakura's hand channeled as much spirit energy into it as she could possibly put in without the attack being fatal so she could connect her palm with the male's chin as she connected with the male.
The severity of the attack had sent Shiumi flipping in the air like a lifeless doll due to Sakura's strength and it made him crash onto the ground without any good bearings on his surroundings.
Sakura's strength had definitely rattled something in Shiumi's head as he couldn't properly gauge what he was doing or where he was.
He tried to get up, making Sakura prepare another attack but the male would slip and fall backwards.
Sakura's face cooled off as she had intended on pulling a certain skill out but she wanted to keep it under wraps until she really needed to use it and she was glad that she didn't need to whip it out too soon.
She needed an ace up her sleeve to turn a situation around and luckily the strike she had performed had incapacitated him and stopped him from trying to continue this battle.
'' The winner of this match has been decided! ''
Sakura had smiled as she allowed the vine gauntlets to fade from her hands as she went to sit down.
She needed to rest a bit before her turn came back around.
The next match had been Hakai and Mimi.
Sakura had stopped the male before he had left for the ring.
'' You are going to beat her right? I better see you in the following round. ''
She asked him with a competitive undertone, Hakai could only chuckle before nodding to her.
The male needed to show to his juniors his strength.
What he demonstrated in the minor spars in Hieki's training ground paled to his applied strength.
'' The Final Match in the Preliminary Rounds will now begin! ''