Chapter 146:

Ace woke up at the same time as usual, and went through his morning routine. As he finished, he went downstairs, slightly early, in order to wait for the rest of his team. It was only a short wait before they were all there, and they got into the car, and were driven to the arena.

"Well, boys, ready for your holidays?", Coach asked, and they laughed, "Of course.", Igor said, "There is much to visit here. Plus, the rest of you guys should be finishing up soon, since there were fewer people in your brackets, tomorrow will be the sophomore and junior finals, and the day after, Zach's.", Igor continued, and the rest nodded, excited about what was to come.

"Oh yeah, we were also invited to a party tomorrow, you are all invited, but it is up to you to come, I have no idea how it will be, to be honest.", Ace said, and they looked at him in surprise.

"Well, you sure work quick.", Win said, laughing, "Cool, it will be a celebration for my win."

"Of course.", Ace said, smiling at his eagerness.

***

"And for the final of the first bracket, we have Aaaace vs Berthaaaa!", the announcer said, as both competitors came out to the arena.

They stood about a meter and a half or so from each other, staring into each other's eyes.

'Even her name suits her, well, I should probably end this quickly, I have no intention of getting punched, it would probably not feel great.', Ace thought, as his mind went through countless simulations of moves he could carry out and the responses, all in the goal of achieving a flawless win. He thought he had finally figured out a way, when Bertha went on the offence.

'Well that's new', Ace thought as he dodged, in all of the matches he had seen, she had never gone for the first offensive move. 'I will have to adapt, I guess.'

Bertha went for another hit, and Ace just weaved out of her range again, then went for a kick to her leg, she took the hit, and attempted to grab his foot, he did not let her, and instead, kicked her hand, hard.

He had not kicked at full strength during the tournament, but this time, he kicked at about 90% strength. He heard her grunt in pain, 'Ok, that hand is out of commission for a while now.', Ace thought, as he backed away from her reach again.

She went for the offensive once more, but he dodged, again, and circled around her, trying to catch her by surprise, he landed a good turning kick on her hip, but that was that, she went for the grab again, with reflexes that scared the spectators who saw the fight.

***

'How the hell did he even dodge that grab? Did he get faster? No, he just never showed his full speed, same with that strength, the kick to the hand must have really hurt.', this and a million more thoughts were going through Zach's head, as he attempted to figure out his own teammate, and the extent of his abilities.

***

'Ok, next time will be the good one, she should be pretty bashed in right now.', Ace thought, as he prepared to put his plan in motion.

Bertha went for the offensive, even faster, and again, Ace dodged, going for another kick. Fast as lightning, Bertha went for a grab, and that was when it happened.

Any other manoeuvre or 'cool' move that had happened in this tournament paled in comparison to this: the kick was a feint, and Ace brought the leg back faster than her hand could reach, but then sent it forward, however, instead of going for her body, it went straight for the hand that was completing its trajectory.

As the foot made contact with the hand, Ace put all his weight into it, and springboarded off the hand, displaying an agility that left others dumbfounded. As he turned in the air, he hit Bertha in the jaw with a jumping turning kick, except he was much higher in the air, and did not have to exert any strength into sending the leg upwards at all. All was spent on the foot going on a straight parabola, ending with her jaw.

The sound that came out of the impact could not be described with words, it was a hit that ended a person's dream, and materialised another's.

Bertha dropped to the floor, and the match was called, as Ace landed on the Arena softly. He immediately went to check on her, wanting to ensure he had not put too much strength in the kick out of excitement, she was fine, and as the doctor's entered the stage to take her away, Ace left.

The cheers were deafening - not that Ace could hear them, as he was still within the soundproofed stage, however, as he went forward to his team's stand, he heard it, and it put a small smile on his face.

"Holy crap! What was that?", Win shouted, "You have to show me it when we come back, that was insane!"

Ace laughed nervously, and Coach, noticing it, went to offer his hand, "Well guys, let him rest, plus, Igor is starting now.", they all turned back at the arena, where Igor was now bowing to his opponent.

His opponent was a boy that focused on speed more than anything, he mostly dodged and counterattacked. He was actually pretty impressive, not having taken a single proper hit, only grazes, an impressive stat, that made Igor quite excited for the matchup.

Igor got into a defensive stance right off the bat, and in his mind, went through the plan he had prepared for the match.

***

It ended up being a simple win, Igor just played to his strengths, and waited for his opponent to get slightly tired - which admittedly did take longer than accounted for, and then grabbed him, once that happened, it was over.

***

"Congratulations, it was a good fight.", Ace said, smiling at his friend.

"Hahahaha. Yes, but not as flashy as yours.", Igor said, as he laughed loudly.

"Well, you guys can go rest and celebrate early, our fights should be pretty simple, we should win without any issues.", Zach said, and the others nodded.

***

"Ahhh, we did it, my friend, now, we rest and enjoy ourselves, reaping the fruits of our labour. This will be quite fun.", Igor said, a wide smile on his face, and Ace nodded, "Indeed. I will probably go to the arcade today, we'll see. You? What are your plans for the day?"

Igor's smile got even wider, as he imagined his plan, "Me? Today, I will relax, spa, sauna, all of that. Tomorrow, I shall go see the city, I must buy something good for my sister, or I will get crushed once I go back.", he said it with a loud laugh, as if it was nothing.

'Who the hell is she? To be able to crush Igor, she must be some serious muscle. Although if she follows the rules Igor has set, she is probably a freak of nature.', Ace thought, "Well, you should enjoy yourself, after all, this is the best break we are going to get for a while."