Cultivator in a World of Angels, Demons, and Super Heroes

Kotone cannot help but gape at the exchange of strikes between Fumio and Blade Tornado.

The two have been exchanging attacks for a few minutes now. The two however have not landed good hits on each other aside from grazes and shallow contacts.

"I didn't know Fumio-san is this strong." She utters.

"Uhuh. Red simply nods.

"I thought Blade-san was about to kill me??? Turns out he was holding back all along." Kotone comments, looking at the movements of Blade Tornado and Fumio that she cannot even imagine to match.

"How do you feel? Got used to the pain already?" Red, seeing that Fumio and Blade Tornado are at a standstill between attacking and defending, asks Kotone with his eyes still on the two fighters.

"I feel fine??? But???" Kotone shakes her head. "I felt like I could have done better." She sighs.

"You were simply in panic. You still did well." Red consoles.

"Maybe next time, you'll do better?" He asks.

"Heh." Kotone mirthlessly chuckles. "I'd hate a next time, but I have to. Being this strong is a waste if I don't use it."

"Good." Red nods.

"Oh. Watch this." He then spots something and tells Kotone to watch.

Blade Tornado is starting to lose his patience. No matter what attacks he threw, Fumio will always find a way to defend, either by dodging, blocking, parrying, or intercepting. Not only that, he notices that Fumio is starting to get comfortable in the fight.

'I have to do something'. He then throws a right hook and a left low kick combo.

*whoosh**whoosh* After the missed attacks, *thump* he then receives a counter high kick to the face. He is rocked but absorbs the hit well, feeling fortunate that Fumio did not follow the kick with another attack.

He then switches his stance to neutral, seeing that Fumio is not only as strong as him, but also faster because of Fumio's smaller size.

Fumio meanwhile, seeing that his attack took effect, he executes Hasegawa Footwork 3 and gets in Blade Tornado's range.

Blade Tornado, not expecting that Fumio would simply zoom to his range at incredible speed, freezes for a moment, not knowing what to do.

Fumio then throws a straight to Blade Tornado's face, and Blade Tornado, not having enough distance to dodge, raises his hand to block.

Unfortunately for him, the straight punch to the face was fake.

Fumio takes Blade Tornado being tricked, as a chance to execute three basic consecutive karate straight punches to Blade Tornado's midsection.

*thu-thu-THUMP!* three punches lands at the same exact spot on Blade tornado's diaphragm, and the combined force of the three quick punches pushes him back a few steps.

"*ACK*" He feels his organs rock at the attack and he struggles to stay standing. He then guards his body, dropping his arms to his torso and raising his left knee up.

Fumio meanwhile, freezes in his steps.

He cannot believe that the same man he can only envy and admire eight months ago, the man who is currently in the top seats of the Named Warriors' Row in the underground fighting ring, and the man who he thought was a beast, is the same man who he is fighting at a standstill, and even managed to dominate for a split moment.

Fumio not continuing his offense allows Blade Tornado to take a breather.

"Hohoho??? This bro..." He calls out to Fumio, who he thinks is older than him because of Fumio's disguise. "You're not to bad."

"You're not so bad yourself." Fumio nods, humbled by Blade Tornado's words.

The two exchange nods before going back to the center of the room.

Fumio this time, gets more careful. He notices that Blade Tornado has become more passive. Instead of Blade Tornado's powerful attacks earlier, the man has switched to less powerful and more conservative ones.

This troubles Fumio as he now finds it more difficult to find holes he can exploit, and he also has to worry about counter attacks.

Blade Tornado meanwhile, sighs a bit in relief as he manages to take control back in the rhythm of the battle.

Fumio thinks for a moment and he reduces his attacks and retreats. To his relief, Blade Tornado, while more careful than before, still pursues. This makes Fumio think that he still has a chance to take control of the fight as long as Blade Tornado is initiating the offense and as long as he can read that offense.

Blade Tornado suddenly spots a hole in Fumio's defense and he goes in. Fumio on the other hand, almost smirks that his trap lured Blade Tornado in. While Blade Tornado is much careful than before, Fumio still finds that the man, in his desperation to attack, becomes a bit reckless and this bit is enough for Fumio to exploit.

Right after narrowly dodging Blade Tornado's high kick, Fumio returns a high kick of his own he had prepared.

Blade Tornado sees the kick coming, but his posture at the moment makes him realize that he cannot defend, so he can only brace himself.

*Wham* The kick lands squarely to his temple, and he stumbles to the side.

Fumio, unlike his pause after landing his first hits in earlier in the fight, does not want to allow Blade Tornado to take a breather, so he takes this momentary drop in Blade Tornado's defenses and prepares for a combo.

One, two consecutive karate punches to Blade Tornado's diaphragm once again, Two more consecutive punches to the man's chest, and one last straight punch to the forehead.

Five punches and it is enough to drop Blade Tornado to his knees.

Fumio can barely contain his excitement putting Blade Tornado down.

However, realization catches up to him. While fighting the superioris has not been easy from the start, he becomes cautious and suspicious.

His suspicions are warranted as, "Hey kid. Stop messing around. This isn't your style.", he hears Red call out to Blade Tornado.

He then sees Blade Tornado take a deep breath after shrugging off the damage he received.

"Haaaa. You're right old man. That doesn't mean I can't practice?" Blade Tornado stands up, his words confusing Kotone and Fumio.

"Let's continue, shall we?" He then looks at Fumio.

Fumio this time, almost steps back from the excited grin on Blade Tornado's face. He does not know what changed, but he feels that Blade Tornado suddenly exudes the aura of the beast that he always saw the man wear while fighting in the ring.

Blade Tornado drops all carefulness and dashes to Fumio. Fumio gets his bearings immediately and prepares. Soon, he immediately feels the changes.

After evading a few punches and kicks from Blade Tornado, Blade Tornado manages to gets too close to him.

'T-that's right??? He never used his elbows???' He winces as he ducks an elbow.

He cannot relax as a knee zoom to his face as soon as he ducks.

'And his knees???' He then tilts his body to the side, narrowly avoiding the knee, and he dives for a shoulder roll on the ground, drawing distance immediately.

Blade Tornado is not done however and jumps to the air to give the Fumio, who has his back on him, a flying knee.

While Fumio cannot see anything behind him, he feels danger coming so he does another shoulder roll to his left, luckily dodging Blade Tornado's flying knee.

He then quickly stands up and turns to Blade Tornado's direction to prevent any more sneak attacks.

Fumio this time hesitates to fight Tornado in a head-on battle. He has no time to hesitate however as Blade Tornado dashes towards him once again.

An exchange of moves starts once again.

A few minutes later.

*smack* *thunk* *smack* Fumio is overwhelmed by Blade's masterful use of his eight weapons; fists, legs, elbows and knees. While he, can only use four.

Every once in a while, despite his best effort in defending, an elbow or a knee would land anywhere throughout his body and face. He is still feeling hopeful however. Even though he has been hit a lot, and he is now feeling as if he is starting to be killed by a thousand cuts, none of the hits from Blade Tornado rocked him or has struck deeply.

At the same time, he himself has given some damages against Blade Tornado by striking the same spots he already struck earlier. He also realized something about Blade Tornado.

Blade Tornado, with his current fighting style, will not last long. While Blade Tornado's Muay Thai is overwhelming, it is starting to tire him out. That is especially the case after Fumio's wonderful defense that is currently frustrating Blade Tornado.

"Huuu???" After a three hit combo that did no significant damage, Blade Tornado disengages and hops a few feet away from his opponent.

'Thankfully, Boss' breathing technique is giving me inhuman stamina. I'll just have to outlast him.' Fumio gets an idea immediately and simply assumes a defensive stance.

Blade Tornado however, does not approach and simply stands to take a rest a bit.

Fumio scratches his tactic of letting Blade Tornado tire himself out and he decides to initiate the attack this time to keep Blade Tornado moving.

Fumio briskly walks to his opponent, every step he takes, is taken in caution. His caution however is unneeded as Blade Tornado this time, assumes a defensive position.

Fumio then starts with the humble front kick. Blade Tornado then tries to clip Fumio's leg under his arms. Fumio's choice of a front kick however was to scout Blade's reactions, and that reaction satisfies Fumio. He then pulls his leg back before Blade Tornado can even catch it and follows a middle kick with his other leg.

Blade Tornado is taken aback by a flashy technique which he figured Fumio does not use based on Fumio's fighting style, and is too late to dodge Fumio's fast but wide kick. He then raises his right leg and successfully blocks Fumi's middle kick, but Fumio's kick this time is the strongest yet, so he is caught off guard and gets pushed back.

He is also a bit tired so he loses his balance.

Fumio seeing Blade Tornado stumble, goes in for the kill. He was too hasty however as Blade Tornado suddenly gets him in a clinch; a position he always avoided. That starts a rain of elbows and knees.

Fumio tries to slip away, or push Blade Tornado away, but he simply is too inexperienced fighting in a clinching range.

"Ugh???" Fumio's insides get rocked as one of Blade Tornado's knee attacks gets through his defense.

He tries to get away, but Blade Tornado is not letting up his hold. Fumio panicking allows Blade Tornado to once again get a knee in and it hits Fumio in the face.

"Ooff.." Stars flash in Fumio's vision as he starts to feel dizzy.

Out of desperation, he instead tackles Blade Tornado instead of trying to get away.

Blade Tornado, not expecting Fumio resorting to such tactic, failed to defend and he is lifted off the ground. As the two fall, Fumio leans in his shoulder to Blade Tornado's chest.

*Thump* As they land, air is knocked out of Blade Tornado's lungs and he "Guhhh.." coughs.

Fumio while still dizzy, uses his instincts and keeps his weight on Blade Tornado's body. Blade Tornado meanwhile, gets an idea and tries to clip Fumio's head under his arms for a guillotine.

Fumio however feels that Blade Tornado is not skilled in it, so he easily slips his head out. He then feels that Blade Tornado's left side is vulnerable so he transitions easily to that side. During the transition Fumio realizes that Blade Tornado he is much more experienced in grappling so he easily traps the man's head, neck and right arm, using his legs, for a side triangle choke.

Blade Tornado, not knowing what to do, tries to pry Fumio off using his remaining arm, but to no avail. He tries then tries to draw his blades out, but it is too late. He is already slipping in and out of consciousness and so the mental concentration he needs for his blades is not enough even draw one out.

A few seconds later, Fumio sees Blade Tornado's eyes roll back to their sockets so he lets go of his choke immediately.

This also allows blood to fill Blade Tornado's head once again, and he is saved from fainting.

Fumio then disengages and sighs in relief.

Blade Tornado on the other hand simply stays down and he looks at the ceiling in exhaustion. He spent too much energy in his attempts to resist the choke, and adding the lightheadedness from almost fainting, he is momentarily unable to fight.

The two men then exchange glances and nod at each other with a smiles.

The sparring is over.