As time passed, the matches became increasingly brutal due to the presence of more skilled fighters, making it challenging for even the most experienced contestants.
Dash had been dominating one-on-one battles, just like Dre, who, after overcoming initial difficulties, started winning with much more ease.
But this time, Dash would face a boy named Liang before advancing to the main matches, and upon seeing Liang's uniform, Dash recognized which school he belonged to.
"A student of Master Li..." Dash recalled this boy, knowing that he was the one who had intentionally injured Dre in the match before facing Cheng. Although he had hurt Dre on orders, there was no doubt that letting his guard down against Liang posed a danger.
"It will be a pleasure to face you..." Smiling secretly as he looked at the ferocious-looking young man, Dash felt excited.
"Greetings! Ready? Fight!"
After hearing the start of the match, Dash kept his eyes on Liang, who raised his guard toward him.
"He must be very fast, so I need to maintain my distance..."
Liang was known for having no mercy, according to Kung Fu understanding, which was similar to the Cobra Kai that Daniel LaRusso had defeated with his two victories over that Dojo.
"Now!"
In an instant, Liang wouldn't allow Dash to assess him for too long, being the first to initiate the fight. Therefore, just as Dash evaluated his opponent, Liang slid toward him.
Apparently in front of him, Liang attacked with a punch aimed at Dash's ribs while simultaneously sliding his right leg to trip him.
"Up and feint..." Watching Liang's rapid attack, Dash concentrated, raising his guard to defend against the strikes and pushing Liang back, who had started very aggressively.
Shortly after, a series of punches and defenses echoed throughout the mat.
Pum! Pum! Pum!
"Sakura Bushido against The Fighting Dragons Studio?" As the only match that hadn't concluded, many people in the crowd were astonished as they watched Dash face off at the same level as Liang.
Not that it was a great fight, but many didn't expect a foreigner to go head-to-head with a student from The Fighting Dragons Studio, who were, theoretically, the organizers of this tournament.
"Sakura Bushido?" Master Li glanced at Dash's Kung Fu school logo and, after seeing Master Han's logo, concluded that both came from the same school.
"Do you know him?" Master Li looked at Cheng, who watched the fight with a serious expression, and shook his head.
"He has never been with that kid from the beginning..." Cheng hadn't seen Dash anywhere other than in this tournament.
"The Dojo is from abroad, although it's useless for them to wear their emblem; they will lose just the same..."
Pum!
Under the gaze of the crowd, Dash and Liang exchanged their fastest blows, causing everyone to focus on each of their combinations.
But at that moment, when Dash had stabilized his posture, a straight kick was launched from the front by his opponent. However, the result that the crowd expected did not happen because when Liang launched the kick, it was met with a fierce counterattack that left him on the ground.
Pum!
With a punch planted in Liang's shoulder, Dash, who had started to sweat, looked at this result with a smile. It's not that he couldn't have finished the fight earlier, but what he was doing was assessing Liang's Kung Fu since there were rivals like Cheng who should have the same style, being all apprentices of Master Li.
"Point!"
"Ah..." Liang held his shoulder and looked at Dash with absolute fury, feeling the shame of losing a point.
"That was truly a great counterattack!"
While Devon in the crowd watched Dash, who had delivered a kick counter to Liang, a look of happiness blossomed on her face as she and her father couldn't stop shouting messages of support.
Within the Kung Fu school, Liang is known to be one of the top three fighters, but seeing how he had been controlled all this time, many looked at Dash in amazement.
"Let's finish this!" Dash extended his fist while opening and closing his fingers in Liang's direction.
Although he had no issues with these Kung Fu students, they had spent some time bothering Dre just for a silly whim, so now Dash would repay them a bit for everything they did to his friend.
Facing Liang, Dash's eyes were firmly fixed on his movements, and as the fight began again, he ran towards him without stopping.
Since he couldn't reveal his entire fighting style, what Dash was about to do was end the fight as quickly as he could now that he had learned what he wanted.
The moment he ran towards Liang, he desperately tried to maintain control of the fight, but in a brief instant, everything had spiraled out of control when Dash's blows became faster.
Pum! Pum! Pum!
In an instant, Dash had broken through his opponent's defenses and struck his right hand into Liang's stomach.
"Ah!"
Liang, who wanted to counterattack when feeling the pain of the blow, recoiled, and before he could recover, a double kick hit his leg and shoulder.
Pum! Pum!
"Point!" The referee shouted, stopping the fight.
When Dash, breathing quickly, saw Liang on the ground, he smiled a bit and bowed respectfully.
"Winner!"