Sethrol the Calm
Arena 1
"I know but..."
An arm was raised to block her first strike, but the blow landed to his upper thigh without the arm getting even close to blocking it. The pettles floating around them in a cyclone scattered to the edge of the ring, unable to take the shockwave erupting from Mira's blows. It wasn't that he was too slow to block her, she had spared with him enough times to catch onto that. No, he simply did not have the will to block her strikes. No, that wasn't it either. The old man's arms were limp at his side, his chest puffed out ready to take any blows she threw at him, any feelings she had for him.
Thats why he took them, all of her fury. Sethrol's body twitched with each strike. With each memory, a new memory flooded into his mind. He remembered the first time he witnessed her win a fight, the first time he offered her money for food, all those days she spent in his dojo working out and practicing her form. Yes, the form that she was using to pummel him, it was honed in their time together. All these memories but... not a single tear.
"I was always watching you," he said, in between strikes.
His head was smacked again, knocked to the left. "I could never offer you a home, because I live without one. I could never offer you my love because I detached myself from such things...."
Knocked to the right this time, an image of Vanilla flashed into his mind. This was bad. He needed chi. The body could only take so much punishment without going unconscious, without chi he would surely lose.
Lose what? The match, his status, the tournament?
A punch landed squarely in his jaw. Her fist pushed upward, threatening to send him flying into the air. "Banilla...." he said, his voice muffled by the fist under his jaw. Sethrol sat down into a horse stance as he was punched, keeping him grounded, keeping his eyes leveled with hers. The coat he had worn into the ring had exploded, and the bare chest underneath was littered with holes. A fire lit in his belly, sharpening his glare enough to slice through even the hardest souls. It wasn't one of anger or outward hostility, but raw self determination. "That woman entered your heart through selfishness, then allow me to do the same."
There was no point in blocking. The old man unleashed a flurry of punches, all aimed at every inch of her body. "Thats right... I'm not your parent. I'm your teacher. But I..."
The flurry got faster and faster. Machine gun like punches were an understatement. These fists flew like rockets and impacted like supernovas. "I... I WANT TO BE YOUR FATHER!"
"MIRA! SHOW ME THOSE TEARS YOU'VE BEEN HIDING!"
MiraArena 1Even a fighter as experienced as Mira couldn't help but let her guard down, just a little bit, when her opponent allowed her to strike them over and over again with no opposition. Under different circumstances she might have questioned it more, but...
His eyes conveyed the first counter-attack, forcing Mira to hesitate. Then the first hit came. A second, a third, until she was the one off balance, being pushed back with every attack that crushed through her guard like a bulldozer. '
But how?'
Neither of them were using chi. The difference in their technique was not so great that she shouldn't be able to duck, put her arms in the way, something. But no, Sethrol tore through everything with a fury.
'There's no way he cares so much about this.'A blow to the stomach made spittle fly out of her mouth, and pushed her further back until she was up against one of the many cherry trees surrounding their false arena. The bark exploded off the tree with the force of her impact.
"... my father..."
Ah. There it was - the hint of wetness at the corner of her eyes. And yet, her hands returned to fists. Her feet dug into the rooted earth, her shoes cracking apart from the friction their fight imposed on them.
"... left us behind!"As the next strike reached her, she struck out suddenly with one of her own, a mirror image cross counter. One leg came up so the sole of her foot pressed against the tree behind her, and she pushed off it to propel herself and her opponent back toward the center of the arena!
"While my mother fought with every breath she had just to carry me to the finish line!"Beneath the weight of her pain, there was no hope for Sethrol
not to end up on the ground under her when the momentum died down. Mira's fists rained down like a meteor shower. Her tears began to fall in time with their descent.
"
She fought to her last one for that! But you think you can just come along and take their place?!
