The two adversaries fought, exchanging punches and slashes at rapid speed.
For The Brass, he has been in lots of fights so it wasn't hard to get used to the fast exchange.
But Femi, this was his second real fight, and his first one versus one fight. His swordsmanship wasn't meant for fighting a single person, he was the one who tweaked it to be fit for fighting a single person and it was far from perfected.
As he fought, he truly realized how hard it was for him to transition his technique from fighting multiple opponents to fighting a single opponent.i
Against a single opponent, he couldn't make good use of his surroundings, and due to the fact his opponent has all his concentration, he couldn't get enough space to build his momentum.
The fact that he also doesn't have multiple opponents to make his attack less predictable was a problem for Femi who wasn't really good at feints.
Checking the enemies open vital points in the midst of their unwavering exchange, watching his enemy's and his own foot placement while also trying to predict the opponents future movements was difficult.
Femi slowly adapted to the fight though, his thinking speed and prediction rate slowly increasing, and his physics strength - like when he sparred with Eina - was also gradually increasing as he unknowingly used the nature of the natural tether energy flowing in his body.
After entering and leaving the [Lagged Planes] for the third time to calm his mental state, Femi felt his body waver as it was about to give in.
That was when The Brass said, "You're an interesting fighter. Let's go again another day. My suit couldn't keep up with those precise attacks of yours."
And so, The Brass collapsed, face flat on the ground.
Now that Femi had stopped fighting, he felt the weight of pushing his body to the limits.
He struggled to stand still but he still did, looking over The Brass's body.
The dust around him, which was caused by their movements, slowly settled.
Few seconds after their fight was concluded and the crowd could finally behind the dust, through the speakers, the Announcer yelled in an amazed tone:
"Ladies and Gentlefolks, Scarlet won! His first fight in this arena, against a top participant, he won it!"
The spectator had been quiet throughout the fight, they all tried peering into the dust stage to watch the battle closely so they wouldn't miss a second.
Most people are experienced individuals who know what a true battle is. They all knew this fight had to be the most heated in this arena after a very long while.
Assimilating the results of the battles, both those who supported The Brass and Scarlet, cheered.
An impressive battle that kept one biting their nails.
The fight didn't last up to 3 minutes but it was enough to keep them all hyped throughout the night.
The Announcer spoke again, "Our media have edited the video and reduced the dust a bit to be less obstructive. You may all rewatch the fight!"
On the screens of the Arena, the fight was displayed.
The replay neared its end, making the announcer comment, "Folks! Do you see what I see? Do you see how Scarlet won?"
The spectators who noticed began murmuring amongst themselves. Those who were yet to see how Scarlet won waited for the Announcer to explain.
"Against an experienced fighter. 70% of Scarlet's hits were on different vital spots, draining the battery's energy faster. What precision! What skills!"
The bodysuit has an extra absorption rate at vital spots. Absorbing damage on vital points was more tasful compared to the non-lethal parts.
Against The Brass who dealt high damage, using the remnant damage to try and knock out someone, Femi who ignored all pain didn't lose consciousness and defeated him by paying attention on hitting his vital spots to exhaust The Brass's tether battery faster.
Also, Femi defeated The Brass with 20% tether energy left in his battery.
Once more, the crowd went wild.
Femi felt pain as he tried to move his body. He raised his sword, sheathed it and fixed it to his pants. He looked up at the crowd, sensing their turmoil of emotions.
After a bit, he felt a person touch him.
"Sir Scarlet, do you require medical treatment?" A woman dressed in the casino's uniform with a masked face asked.
Femi kept looking between the people who carried The Brass and the woman beside him.
Not feeling any danger from going with her, he replied weakly, "Yes.... Please..."
Femi lost consciousness, leaving the woman to instruct other Arena workers to carry him out for treatment.
The crowd watched the exit of Scarlet.
Although it was interesting to see, no one cared about the result, the fight itself was interesting to watch, his technique and prowess were truly impressive for someone obviously new to using Tether.
All of them were people with high social standings and financial stability.
The black clad novice they just watched, Scarlet, was so impressive that people lost their usual nobility and shouted more than they usually did.
That was to show how deep of an impression he left in them.
*****
Femi opened his eyes, with a ceiling occupying his view.
He looked around and saw himself in a bedroom.
It was big but close to empty, furniture wise. There was a big bed where he currently laid, a rug in the center of the room, and a table and chair.
On the table Femi could see his clothes, sword and the little gadget he usually had on him.
Standing up from the bed, he walked to the mirror in the room.
Feeling the slight aches, he remembered what had happened before he lost consciousness.
He looked in the mirror and saw he was only wearing his bodysuit and he was also still masked.
He took a minute to adjust his dreads, then checked all around his body to see if the remnant damages had left any evident injury.
Confirming there was no dire injury, he walked to the table and wore his clothes.
He finished that and sat on the chair, facing the only door in the room. He knew someone would walk in soon.
A few moments later, the woman that wore the casino's uniform walked in.
She saw Femi who sat, watching her with his red eyes.
"Sir Scarlet, you're awake. That's good." She said.
"I'm feeling better too. Where am I?" Femi ignored every gesture and went straight to the point.
"You're at our VIP room. We've given you top medical treatment. Ah, you don't have to worry, I promise your identity was not checked, we're strict with rules here." She explained as she entered the room with her assistant behind her.
She gestured to the assistant to give Femi something.
The assistant gave Femi a tablet which he quickly scanned through.
Femi wasn't dumb. He saw the figures and realized it was his earnings.
The woman explained more, "Like the contract says all services we offer you will be deducted from your pay. Your treatment for example. Since you didn't use any equipment from us though, our share isn't much, it's mainly the participation fee and the fee for breaking the rules that you're charged for."
Femi saw the amount he had earned and immediately thought of different things he could buy. Due to his emotional issues, he didn't know what exactly was fun to him, so with this acquired money, he could experiment on a lot of things. Asides from journeying to feel emotions, Femi's other goal was to have fun, like all the kids he watched growing up.
'Coming here was really fruitful. Another win for the hunch,' he thought.
"How do I get the money," Femi inquired.
The woman smiled, "If you don't have an anonymous account we should pay to, we'll give you in cash."
The assistant behind her raised a briefcase, opening it to reveal the money bills.
The woman also added, "Our company, Amma's Enterprises, also has a range of goods and services we offer. You can directly patronize us. With this amount you've earned, if you continue to participate and patronize us, we'll make you a VIP which comes with special treatments."
Femi felt like his hunch had led him to a big mine this time.
He had learned more faults in his swordsmanship and his strength. His first 'one versus one' fight was a very interestingly fruitful one. Now, he had a ton of money for himself.
This was why he'd never let his hunch go.
Femi replied to the woman, "Let's deal then."