NOVPUBAfter a couple of seconds, even though Rain focused solely on dodging, his body was already covered in wounds, and he was bleeding through many parts of his body. It was basically impossible to tell with precision the reach of Kei's attacks thanks to the condensed energy…
"In any other situation, this would be the moment that I would save my ass with magic or with some kind of trick, but I can't do that here," Rain thought.
The jokester path wasn't banished according to the rules, but it was hard to imagine that Kei would fall for it. She was in that wild state, and she had a non-nonsense attitude to begin with.
Rain was starting to sweat a lot, things would only get harder from that point onward, so he couldn't waste any more time. When Sealyn charged again, he suddenly raised his arms and made his hands curve a bit.
"Ah, that little…" Seara got up and then said.
Rain heard Seara's voice amidst the total silence of the arena… still, he didn't pay her any mind. This outstanding modern problem requires an illegal solution beyond science… Before Kei could reach him, Rain trusted his hands forward… he was out of his range, so Kei ignored that, but soon she felt some impacts on her shoulders and a stinging pain.
Before long, she slashed her hands at Rain, but Rain jumped away and dodged the attacks… with quite ease this time.
Rain's attacks slowed down Kei, and soon she confirmed small wounds in her shoulders… it looked like she had been hit by the tip of a small spear. While not on the same level as Seara, Rain could do something like that.
"She will get so mad over this…" Rain thought. "My only solution to calm her anger is to give her a massage, but she will only be mad since my massages always had second intentions. I am scaroused."
Kei tightened her stance a bit in order to block those attacks… her technique was weaker against middle-range attacks, so she didn't have many options. When she charged again, her technique blocked Rain's attacks, and this time, he didn't escape her.
When Rain jumped away, she stepped in faster and then swung her right arm… Rain clenched his teeth as he didn't have any other option… the energy claws ripped apart some lines of flesh from his shoulder to his elbow, but Kei paid the price as well.
While enduring the pain, Rain joined his hands together and pushed them forward like a spear toward Kei's arm. She jumped away to avoid the direct hit, but the technique still reached her with the blast of wind.
Kei felt another stinging pain on her shoulder, and it began to throb… it reached her muscle, most likely. Even that small amount of damage would slow her down with her dominant arm…
Still, she knew that she could finish things off with her other arm and legs; she just needed a few more attacks, and Rain would be forced to give up thanks to the wounds, or the judges would be forced to end the match because the one who was more skilled and stronger would be obvious.
"Now that we have a firm grasp of the obvious… I really have to do something about this," Rain thought.
Rain could tell that her energy claws and talons were decreasing in size a bit. Still, it would take at least half an hour for them to completely disappear… before that happened, Rain would probably be skinned alive. Still, it was very likely that the match would be stopped by Esmeralda and Branden.
Rain considered using the blood mage skills to enhance the durability of one of his arms and block the next attack and counter, but that felt cheap… it was something he just learned and didn't share with the others… even though everyone had some techniques that they didn't share with anyone.
Unfortunately, Rain didn't have time to think of anything else since Kei charged once more. Out of instinct, Rain charged as well, and when Kei swung down her hand, he swung up his closed fist like a closed hammer. Rain hissed as the pain passed through his body and as his skin began to burn… but at least he stopped the attack.
"Huh?" Rain thought and then kicked Kei with a leg sweep.
Rain didn't know why Kei stopped completely. However, Rain still had the chance to follow up and then kick her wounded heel…her face distorted in slight pain as the damage increased to the bone. Still, then Kei swung down her other arm and then pushed him away.
It seemed that Kei possessed incredible speed in her attacks, and that made it difficult for Rain to discern that she could only focus on one attack at a time. While the speed may have deceived Rain, the downside to this ability became apparent when an attack was successfully stopped.
In such cases, Kei would lose her rhythm, suggesting that her attacks are dependent on maintaining a continuous flow.
Additionally, despite the appearance of increased strength, Rain came to realize that Kei's attacks aren't actually getting stronger. Instead, the energy claws she showed contribute a new power effect to her strikes, giving the illusion of enhanced strength.
This means that the real challenge lies in disrupting Kei's rhythm and countering her attacks effectively rather than dealing with a continuous increase in brute force. Understanding these details became crucial for Rain in devising a strategy to counter Kei's unique fighting style.
"This won't be easy, but I am on the right path," Rain said while looking at Kei's stance.
Rain's first kick already helped, but the second kick helped even more… that became obvious when Kei changed her posture and then charged while using only her left leg to propel herself toward him.
Rain didn't let that faze him, and he charged as well… sometimes, the safest place to be is in the eye of the storm…
