Sakura did not despair in the face of the woman before her. She could see the desperation of the female as she wielded greater power with no regard for the wound she had and she wouldn't flee. Not when she had allies laid around the arena nor did she want to even if the two others weren't there.
'' You need to be given a beating that you won't ever forget. ''
The young female had nothing left to say to Nyoko at this point, nor did Nyoko have any words to give that she didn't already say earlier. The two charged at one another once more, each strike that was exchanged had the weight of both of their wills stacked upon it. Nyoko's desire to grow strong enough to find her son and Sakura's desire to make Nyoko pay for her actions with the countless abductions. Nyoko was confused as to why Sakura was keeping up with her, she believed she should be the stronger of the two females but Sakura was not showing any signs of slowing down.
Sakura was chuckling underneath her breath as she could see it in the eyes of the female, the expression of a person in disbelief. Sakura's performance earlier was but a product of continuous exhaustion decaying her overall efficiency in combat but the moment of rest she had was sufficient enough for her to fight in a better state than before which didn't even count the true reason why she was keeping up with Nyoko.
'' She doesn't know how hard I trained ever since that day. The day where I felt so useless. So many hours spent being forced to push my limits by Sensei. Even when he told me to rest, I told him I wanted to keep going. I couldn't stop until I knew I was strong, I couldn't stop until there was truly nothing left for him to teach me.''
Sakura remembered a previous conversation she had with her teacher. She was the first to know of their teacher's intention to send them off as she was being taught by him techniques that he didn't teach the other two simply because she blitzed through the entirety of the skills that he had to offer. In the end he had told her something that he hadn't told the others.
'' You are strong Sakura, you surprise me with your potential for growth and your stamina puts the other two to shame. I shouldn't have tried to tell you to slow down during your training because you showed me that you can handle whatever is thrown at you. I have no hesitation in saying that you are within the top three students I've ever taught. I just hope you don't wind up like my first student but you remind me a lot of my second best student Ran. ''
Sakura remembered when their teacher mentioned that name to her in private. The very fact that her older brother had been here had made her curious as to his whereabouts and it gave her the fuel to continue pursuing this journey alongside Seiya and Hakai. She knew she couldn't lose this battle against Nyoko, she had to find him and learn the reason why she was left alone.
Sakura was deflecting the blackened threaded fists that outnumbered her two fists but this didn't stop her from holding her ground. After a few seconds of continued exchanges had passed, Sakura waited for all of the fists to come to strike her, only to deflect them all rapidly before charging in and uppercutting her with as much strength as she can handle. The resulting attack caused the ground underneath them to quake and explode as Sakura's fist sent the Commander flying skyward before crashing down again.
'' I promised to myself I'll become as strong as the others if not stronger and after spending so many days breaking my own limits, I won't let someone like you best me ! ''
Sakura had been breathing slightly heavily as she saw Nyoko fall onto the ground, once more defeated. She didn't budge and so Sakura had turned around to go pick Hakai up but the sound of rumbling had occurred behind her which forced her to turn back around.
Nyoko was hovering in the air, having wrapped both Seiya and Hakai up in binded threads to keep them within her grasp. She had a bruised chin but she still desired to end this battle with her as the victor.
'' You pack a punch but I still have the upper hand in spirit, body and will. I will siphon your friends' strength and make it my own and there is nothing you can do about it. ''
Sakura had looked at her friends, they were being suspended upwards by the female Commander. She would try to free them but she observed the constantly growing quantity of thread tendrils that stood between her and her friends. How would she get to them without being overwhelmed? She could try using her Nature fear but she was uncertain how it fared against Nyoko's mastery of her threads. She needed to do something and to do it quickly. Time was not on her side.