The ring was ready, the match was about to begin and I still couldn't calm down, it wasn't a good sign.
I looked at the opponent in front of me, he had a few scars on his face, a sunken face, sideburns and gray and messy hair, and a bloodthirsty smile on his face.
My opponent was a veteran of this tier, which was perhaps a positive thing that, after all, he had never been able to move on to the next tier.
At the moment though, he was in his best win streak, 4 streaks, and had 72 points, winning this would finally take him to the next tier.
"Hey baby, are you ready to be sliced? hihaha "
* Gulp
I looked at the stands, where Ri was sitting, she was looking at me with a face as if to say," Don't worry, you can do it ", which reassured me a little.
I took deep breaths and put myself in a position to use my ability, I no longer focused on what I saw with my eyes, but on what I saw with my "conscience".
My hands stopped shaking.
* Diiing
"Hello everyone, my name is Bip, and today I will lead this match ... on your right… we have Vier! A veteran of the Acacia tier!"
At his name, the few in the audience cheered and cheered fiercely.
"On my left, we have a new one from here, Zeto!"
My name was instead accompanied by a few applause and a few whistles.
"Well, are you ready ?! Let's start!"
* Diing
The match officially began.
My opponent immediately sprinted forward, unsurprisingly.
My ability was activated.
'I see'
Vier threw a hook with his right arm, pulling his hidden blade out of there. But I had already seen it all.
I dodged him by lowering myself, now we were almost attached and I prepared an uppercut aiming at his chin. However, I "saw" that my opponent would move his hidden blade from his arm, pulling it out of his chest, hitting me full in the head.
For this using the push of my left leg I moved towards his side, now preparing a hook with my right hand.
Vier looked surprised but still managed to move his head back. I hit him anyway, but only with a smear.
Vier jumped away from me, Ri's plan had failed.
The audience after a short silent stretch made a roar, they probably did not expect a meeting so equal.
Some began to scream in chorus.
"Vier! Vier! Vier! "
Others simply yelled "Souè!"
And slowly some began to cheer for me too.
"Zeto! Zeto! "
My blood was boiling, I was really happy to fight, excited; at that moment I couldn't see my face but I was probably smiling.
Vier smiled.
"I have to pay you my compliments, you proved stronger than I thought, hihaha"
Again that crazy giggle.
"Well, thank you."
We walked around in circles for a while, studying each other.
Now that the first plan hadn't worked, I decided to switch to mine, stay on the defensive waiting for him to open.
Vier returned to the attack.
He pulled a jab with his right hand, letting his blade come out of the knuckles, unfortunately, I "saw" him too late and dodged him at the last minute, leaving an opening which Vier promptly took advantage of by hitting me with a hook in my right side, luckily without using his blade.
I stepped back.
"Agh!"
It really hurt, the pain here was certainly different from that of the virtual room, more intense, more unbearable; even if during the games it was impossible to die, the pain was still real.
'I need to refocus.'
I did not have time to get back into the defensive position when Vier threw a side kick making his blade come out of the sole of the foot. This time I didn't "see" it in advance, but I managed to parry it at the last moment using my left arm.
The blade pierced my forearm and came to a stop short of my chest.
I pulled my arm out and jumped backward.
From here on began a one-way carnage, sometimes he hurt me with the blade, and sometimes with his punches and kicks, slowly I lost more and more the rhythm of the match.
'I need something…'
There I came up with an idea so crazy it could seem stupid, my idea was to leave an opening on my left, given how the match was going, Vier would probably have thought of that as an opportunity to victory, in doing so, perhaps, would then have decided to strike with everything he had in that point, perhaps leaving an opening on his left, that is, his weakest side, where at first I had almost hit him cleanly.
In this plan there were many "maybe", but if I had continued to play passive I would have surely lost, this was my last hope.
The only problem: this whole plan, to succeed in full, was based on my power, however, it had been a while since I could no longer activate it.
I had to refocus, rediscover the feeling of the start of the match, forget the audience, simplify reality only with me and my opponent, expand my senses, and therefore also my conscience.
In that instant I "saw" everything, I "saw" how Vier would have exploited my fake opening, how he would have left an opening on his left and how I would have hit him with a hook on the temple with my knuckles, making him lose his balance, how he would fall backward and how I would give him the final kick aiming for the same spot, and how I would win the game.
My body moved like an automaton, however, it wasn't instinct that commanded my body, it was awareness, I knew I had to move like this, my body knew it.
Everything went as I had "seen".
Now Vier was on the ground, unconscious, and was immediately teleported to the nursing room.
I had won.
The audience was left speechless, no one expected what had happened, maybe not even me until a few minutes ago.
I was hit all over, blood was running on my clothes, but I felt no pain, I was kind of happy, I looked up, the conductor yelled my name, I closed my eyes and lost consciousness while standing.
…
Meanwhile, in the stands, a girl was leaving with a smirk on her face.
"Really not bad"