"Did you see that, Mr. Han? Dash destroyed that guy..." Dre was very excited, jumping from side to side, knowing that his friend had entered the tournament's semifinals.
Watching Dash descend from the platform, Mr. Han smiled. He had a favorable impression of Dash, considering him a good guy. However, in real competitions, it seemed as if Dash was filled with a deep anger, an inner fury unleashed only when he competed.
"He uses his Kung Fu in a curious way..." Mr. Han might not agree with using martial arts to unleash inner anger, but he wasn't Dash's master to teach him how to act. Moreover, he knew there was something behind Dash's actions in the tournaments.
However, before worrying about other people's Kung Fu, he followed his student, who would face a rival with even more hidden hatred.
Mr. Han turned to look at Master Li, knowing that the latter was planning something not good for the upcoming match, which concerned him a bit.
"Dash, that was brilliant!" As Dash walked back to his place, Mr. Zac congratulated him on his performance in the match.
"You did very well," Mr. Kim said with a smile, handing him a bag of ice to continue applying it to his injured shoulder.
More importantly, Dash and Dre's performances had brightened the faces of the audience, learning about this new Kung Fu school that had been dominating the tournament.
"Thanks, it wasn't that big of a deal..." Dash smiled, slightly embarrassed by all the attention he had been receiving, and bowed to the people congratulating him.
After the Zhuang duel ended, the competition continued with Liu and other competitors, but what mattered most to Dash was Dre's subsequent confrontation, which would happen before facing Liu.
All matches ended quickly. As predicted, Liu and Wu Ping were able to secure their victories thanks to their powerful combat skills. Behind them would be Dre's next match, the last of the quarterfinals, marking the beginning of the most anticipated semifinal.
"Go, Dre, I know you'll win!" Dash said, supporting his friend as he nervously climbed onto the platform.
As Dre walked, he soon saw his opponent named Chen and knew that this would be a tough rival to defeat before even thinking about facing Liu.
"Salute! Ready? Fight!"
Dre smiled as a burning fire shone in his eyes. He might not be better than many fighters in this tournament, but his skills allowed him to stay not far behind each of them. He was sure he wouldn't be less in a fight, as he had been demonstrating so far.
"Dre, focus, and don't get hurt!" Standing below the platform, Dash shouted as if fearing that history would repeat itself.
As they observed the combat stances of both, many people began cheering because this time there wasn't a clear favorite to win. But the fights were mostly very outstanding, demonstrating how hard everyone had trained to reach this point.
"Come on, kid, be careful," Mr. Han murmured a little worried.
While everyone awaited the start of the match, Liu began moving directly forward. In an instant, a devastating force surged from his muscles, attacking horizontally with his right foot.
For a moment, Dre didn't know how to evade this attack; retreating wasn't an option, so the smartest move was to change position, knowing that if he received that kick, he would get hurt even if he blocked it.
By avoiding that blow, Liu closed the gap and began trying to strike Dre in some way while learning more about the defense his opponent was using. And just when he thought he had control of the fight, with a strong palm that made Dre step back, he received a strong kick to his left leg.
But that wasn't enough for his opponent to score a point. So, taking advantage of the distance and knowing that his opponent had just attacked, Dre took a step forward and, with the help of a jump, raised his right hand, striking down on Liu's face, who hadn't expected this change in the fight.
Thud!
"Point!"
Although Dre, who had won, didn't feel entirely well when he landed back on the ground, his left leg, which had been kicked, was indeed hurt. This bothered him a bit as he didn't know how to avoid being hit like that again.
As he got back into a fighting position, Dre's nervous expression entered Liu's field of vision, and he smiled a bit.
"Fight!"
As the match restarted, Liu launched a new kick to Dre's leg, which was blocked with his forearm. However, with a quick spin, he kicked again in the same area.
Contrary to what Dash had expected in this match, what he could see was that Liu focused on hitting a single point to deal a lot of damage to Dre, who kept trying to dodge those kicks.
Evading that blow again, Dre let out a grunt as he tried to kick with his left leg, but at that moment, Liu held it and forcefully struck the same area using his right elbow.
"Ah!"
Feeling the pain like an electric shock, Dre dropped to one knee. Liu, who had struck, stepped back, refraining from continuing to hit, and looked with a slightly affected expression at the result of Master Li's request.
He didn't plan on making illegal hits, but in a way, he didn't like this because he knew he could defeat Dre without Liu doing so.
"Point!"