"Begin!"
Dalt opened up the fight with a straight forward charge with the same incredible speed Ryder had witnessed when he first came to Mageia. Closing the distance between them in an instant, Dalt hurled a quick jab to his opponent's face. Dodging the attack barely, Ryder lost balance and landed on his butt.
That was not all he had to offer however as Dalt soon continued the assault on Ryder. Receiving countless blows from his opponent, Ryder managed to push him back with his hand. To his greatest surprise this was done with ease and resulted in Dalt falling to the ground. In what seemed like an instant, the pain from all those attacks vanished from Ryder's body.
Making use of his current situation, he rolled up on his back and stood to his feet. Dalt who was still on the floor gave a bewildered look trying to understand what had just happened.
To Dalt this was the first time he had ever been overpowered so easily. The fact that he was overwhelmed was not what shocked his though, it was the person who did it. Refusing to be distracted he got up to his feet, standing in an offensive position once again.
Brenna who was with the audience could not quite understand what her master was doing. She believed he could end this battle with a single spell but for some reason chose to get his hands dirty.
Dalt rose both his hands to his face before charging to deliver a upper cut from below. Though he was perplexed once again when he saw Ryder's reacting time. It was almost as if he knew he was coming.
Ryder had long discovered that the body he was in was very quick and agile. It even seemed to possess some sort of sixth sense that enabled him to move before things happened. He had come to realize this at the beginning of the match when Dalt had assaulted him.
He had also come to understand something within this period of time. Something that he didn't expect to come across in this world.
'Is that boxing? The way he fights, it's just like a boxer!'
The movement patterns of Dalt's hands, body and feet, they were all similar to that of a boxer. He knew this because when he was on Earth, he took interest in various kinds of sports. Boxing included.
Dalt looking annoyed at this point rose his hands to his face once again, dashing towards Ryder with an intimidating outburst of speed. Throwing jabs here and there, Dalt threw him off with a upper cut to the jaw.
While it was true that this fighting style was similar to boxing, Ryder did not really have any fighting experience to defend himself. Though lucky for him, his lack of experience in fighting was being covered by his photographic memory. Each step, every move, each attack, he was learning them all. The thing he had to sacrifice to do this was his body.
'Good, good, go on I am almost there!', Ryder thought to himself.
The audience watching were in awe as they witnessed Ryder battle physically. This was something that they had never seen before, heck they didn't even know how to feel about it. They couldn't really be blamed for this as they were witnessing someone who they considered invincible receive continuous blows from a low breed.
Dalt on the other hand could not understand why his opponent did not go down after he had unleashed massive amount of attacks on him. All of which connected accordingly.
'What is with this guy!? It's like nothing I do to him fazes him!'
Deciding to do something about what he felt, Dalt astonished Ryder with a round house kick to the back of his neck causing him to land face first on the ground.
' What!? But that wasn't boxing!'
Just then, he had come to the realization that Dalt's fighting style actually was a combination of boxing and a certain kicking style unknown to him.
'I can't keep on going like this. I have to finish this somehow', Ryder thought to himself.
With a new threat added to the boxing he witnessed in Dalt, he didn't know if such a thing was even possible anymore. His only option now was to catch Dalt off with something he didn't see coming. Luckily, he had just the right thing.
Getting up on his feet and rising his hands to his face, Ryder stood in a defensive position awaiting Dalt's next move. His opponent widened his eyes in shock as he was surprised to see what was right in front of him.
'This stance...did he learn my fighting style in the short time we fought.'
Dalt was already sweating like hell, though he could feel new ones being formed when he felt a little bit cornered. Not wanting to seem intimidated, Dalt rushed forward continuing his onslaught of jabs.
Blocking each of them with his hands, Ryder broke out of the fighting position grabbing Dalt's hand and swinging him as hard as he could. This resulted in a powerful slam to the ground that resulted in a massive dent in the ground.
Not wanting to waste his hand work, Ryder rushed to his face hurling a powerful blow that stopped right in Dalt's face. This was Ryder's killing blow. The referee acknowledging this announced that the match had come to an end with Ryder being the winner.
A monstrous roar of cheers erupted from the audience indicating that they were happy about his victory.
'Holy shit! Did I kill him', Ryder panicked within himself.
He was relieved of this stress though when he realized that he was still breathing. Ryder sat on his butt breathing like he had just finished running a marathon. Though it didn't take long for his breath to agree with his body once again.
Looking into the audience, he could see a smiling Brenna staring at him. He could tell right away that this victory did not come as a surprise to her. The shock most have probably been in the way he did it.
"I can't believe it", Dalt spoke as he laid on the ground.
This caught Ryder's attention ultimately, causing him to go towards the man laying on the floor.
"I didn't see any of it coming. I was a fool."
At this point, Ryder couldn't understand a hint of what he was saying, however he came to a realization shortly afterwards.
"I apologized to you. I even tried to be a worthy opponent but yet... I had told you we should battle without holding anything back but yet you disgraced me. You wanted to show me I was nothing to you so you decided that you wouldn't use a single spell on me, right? You wanted to show me I had no talent, no skill. You wanted to prove to me that I was worthless, so you defeated me with your hands. Beating me at what I did best, right? It was clever by the way tricking me with my own style of fighting... I never saw it coming."
Ryder had a massive amount of guilty squeezing his heart from the inside but refused to express it outwardly.
"I don't blame you though, it is because I am of a lower breed. That is why you needed to defeat me in the most embarrassing way possible. To show... We low breeds are still nothing.. Well no one will take me seriously now", Dalt expressed what he felt with tears flowing out of his eyes.
He stood up from the ground afterwards heading towards his father and sensei. Making an attempt to make him understand, Ryder took a step forward only to be stopped by a massive amount of intimidating pressure.
'Is this from the audience!?'
Ryder could tell straight away that there were powerful people in the audience who wanted things to remain this way. Out of fear Ryder did nothing as Dalt walked away.
Upon reaching his father, he could see Lynn tell his son something before staring at Ryder with intense hate in his eyes. They walked away leaving him with the guilty he felt in his heart.
Looking into the audience, Ryder could see multiple low breeds who felt terrible about what had happened. It was now Ryder finally understood what he had done.
'What have I done!? Is this what I am now!? It's like I am not myself anymore! Is this how it is going to be from now on for the rest of my life?', Ryder couldn't help but question himself.
His eyes turned to Brenna full of pain and guilt. It didn't take her too long though to understand how he felt.
"Master Ryder...?"