The brightest source of light in the Arena illuminated the center stage.
In the middle of the sandy center stage, two individuals stood, using their eyes and instincts to gauge their opponents strength.
At one side stood Femi. He was covered with a black and red mask, revealing only his red pupils and his hair was covered with a hood from his black t-shirt. His sheathed sword was attached to the left side of his black pants. He placed his left hand on his sheathed sword, Negraazul, the only thing a color that was neither red or black.
Directly opposite Femi was The Brass. He had brown hair that was well-combed, complemented by his brown eyes. He wore a blackish purple bodysuit and on top of it, he only wore shorts. Like every other bodysuit, it was fitted to his body, revealing his shredded body muscles.
The announcer already declared the beginning of the fight. The only other source of noise in the Arena were the spectators.
Most cheered for The Brass, deeming the arrogant and weak looking individual, Scarlet, an unworthy match to defeat one of their favorite participants, The Brass.
The few who supported Scarlet either liked his arrogance, courage, and cool representation of himself or they had previously bet on the person who The Brass had beaten earlier.
The Brass tried to feel Scarlet's energy, but feeling nothing special, he scoffed, "Are you joking with me? You really think you can beat me." The Brass chuckled at the thought, "Wait, wait... What Mr. Announcer said, tell me he made all that up."
Femi tilted his head. In an emotionless tone, he replied, "Well, I did come here to have fun."
The Brass began believing that Scarlet was one of those who were full of themselves. Scarlet's tone also sounded young… Too young to be this courageous. What he felt from Scarlet was that of those who were oblivious to the truth of the world.
He hissed, "You're young, you must be new here. Let me tell you, this is not a kids playground. A place where the experienced go on toe to toe, a place where a single mistake can lead to your death, that is what this Arena is for. Like the mothers always say, I'll drill a lesson about the bitterness of this place into you."
The Brass jumped with his hands cocked to the back, ready to launch a superman punch at Femi.
Femi's eyes trailed The Brass' hand and back stepped, letting The Brass to land on his previous spot.
The Brass was about to look up and commend his opponent for dodging when he saw Scarlet charging forward, his sword set for a swing.
Femi moved in an attempt to aim for the neck but his sword clashed with The Brass' forearm. He didn't stop his sprint, sliding the sword of the forearm as he ran towards the back of the still-crouching man.
He suddenly kicked off the ground with his left leg to gain momentum and with his right leg, he sent a 180 degree kick to the back of The Brass' head which eventually hit the sandy floor.
He didn't slow down any movements and momentum from the beginning until he made that hit, investing the force into the kick.
The Brass didn't expect someone like Femi to make such fast-paced movements. He swiftly rolled forward to get back on his feet and instantly turned to look at Femi.
As The Brass dusted his forehead, sand fell from it, revealing a slight bloodied mark. That was to show the weight of the kick Femi had landed on him.
The Announcer's voice echoed as he yelled, "We did not expect that! The first hit was made by Scarlet! And that's not all folks, Scarlet caused The Brass' first injury of the day! Is Scarlet really strong enough to back his words?!"
The crowd burst into different cries, shocked and impressed by the fight's sudden development.
The Brass glanced at the direction of the Arena's speakers, then back at Scarlet and said, "Heh, this is no injury. Scarlet, don't let them fool you, they all know I'm not even trying yet. I'll advise you, don't try knocking me out, instead aim for exhausting my tether battery, that'll be the better option for you to go with. Yeah, I also apologize for underestimating you. Seems like you're a burst and subconscious control type, I got the message, let's go!"
As he finished, he spread his legs and crouched a bit. The Brass slammed his fists together, the two brass knuckles he wore hit each other sending a clang sound across the Center Stage.
"Ladies and Gentlefolks! There we have it, The Brass "I'm Going All Out' Form! Things are about to become serious!" The Announcer screamed with a voice that held anticipation.
He flexed his muscles, releasing his true physical prowess.
Femi could see... and feel some changes around The Brass.
As he tried to approximate The Brass' new strength, The Brass moved and his eyes trailed to follow his movements, but it couldn't.
Before he knew it, The Brass was right in front of him. He couldn't even move on instincts to dodge, talk less of consciously changing to a defensive stance. Femi was wide open!
Femi felt a punch to his gut that sent him flying back a considerable distance, bouncing off the sandy grounds.
Feeling the Brass's overwhelming strength, he wanted to use the motion of how he was flying back to retreat.
Unfortunately for Femi, The Brass didn't hold back. He chased Femi who was still midair and gave him an uppercut, sending Femi upwards.
Femi flew up, his body moving closer to the lights hung in the center of the Arena's ceiling.
In front of such strength, Femi immediately entered the [Lagged Planes] to process his thoughts.
As he kept sparring with Eina, he entered the [Lagged Planes], which was also when Femi realized that his thoughts were becoming accelerated in the state where the world is extremely slowed down.
Femi began thinking.
'He is even stronger than Eina.'
'I'll have to push myself to the max!'
'This is it. The thrill of swordsmanship and battles. The root of my emotions!'
Femi senses extended to sense the location of The Brass and the best place to land. His tether battery was already at 75% energy. Within that short period, The Brass had dealt damage that needed 25% Tether Energy to be absorbed!
It'll only go down faster from that moment on.
Calculating and formulating the best thing to do, he exhausted the [Lagged Planes] first 5 seconds.
Femi was moving down but he was now in control. He moved his body mid air showing his excellent control. Pointing down his sword at The Brass who stood beneath, gravity played its part and Femi descended.
As he approached the sandy ground, The Brass avoided him seeing that he was up to something.
Femi landed, kicking up sand and creating a dusty environment.
The dust only increased as Femi immediately bolted at The Brass.
Over his few spars with Eina, Femi realized that his normal strength was now on the level of when he used a buff battery and if he pushed his body to the max, he was on par with Eina who didn't limit her strength in his presence.
He clashed his sword with The Brass' armed fist.
As they kept on exchanging attacks, Femi's strength gradually increased making The Brass smile deviously.
His sword clashed with the brass knuckles, each taking the slight openings to deal damage on their opponents suit.
Noticing the fight wasn't advantageous to him, Femi entered the [Lagged Planes] again and chose a new path to follow.
Using an attack, retreat and attack strategy he formed to face a single enemy which wasn't his forte, he saw a slight increase in his chance to win.
The dust around them increased, covering both of them.
The spectators couldn't see the two fighters clearly as only their two silhouettes could be seen.
Femi entered the [Lagged Planes] once more but this time it was to relax himself from the intensity as he was about to give in to the stress, it was worse than the aftereffects of the buff battery!
Eventually, the dust slowly settled revealing the winner, causing chaos amongst the spectators and the announcers.