I could feel the heat from Owino's punches from across the ring. Every time he swung, the air rippled and warped. The guy was like a walking solar flare. And his partner Amina wasn't exactly subtle either. She moved her hands in slow, graceful circles but each motion distorted gravity itself. I could literally see the space bending like chunks of the floor sinking and floating debris.
And there was Radellei. The woman was dancing in sand, barefoot. The sand she controlled swirled around her like sentient ribbons, deflecting blows, absorbing shockwaves and even slicing at the air when it got too close.
"Lone Nomad, time for your first lesson!"
I dodged a flaming punch that nearly melted my sleeve off.
"You seriously going to give me a lecture now?"
"Of course. What better time to learn than during battle?"
We both leapt back as Amina's gravity field slammed into the ground, distorting it like molten clay. The impact sent a shockwave through my spine. I landed hard, sliding backward. Radellei's sand twisted midair into a wall, absorbing Owino's next punch before crumbling into grains again. She glanced my way and began.
"The void element is not fire or lightning or some brute energy you push. It's tangible when you need it to be and intangible when you don't. That's the definition of void. It's form and formlessness. It's the absence that defines presence."
Owino ducked under her sand whip, grinning. He shouted, slamming his fists together, generating enough solar heat to make the sand start to glow.
"Are you seriously talking right now This is a fight, not a philosophy class!"
Radellei didn't even flinch. "Then pay attention."
Her sand solidified into crystal for a split second, blocking his next hit and sending dust flying into his face.
"Use your Roborare. You've got more Xana than any average Fluxer so you can sustain void for longer. Use it how I use my sand. Let it shape itself."
Amina's voice echoed across the ring,
"You're too distracted, desert princess!"
A new wave of gravity hit us hard. The floor cracked and my knees nearly buckled.
Radellei grinned. "Switch partners."
I didn't even question her. We sprinted past each other, trading targets in midair. Her sand caught Amina's gravitational pull. I ended up face-to-face with Owino. And damn, he was fast.
He swung and I swear I could feel the punch before it even hit me. I crossed my arms, reinforcing them with Roborare, but the impact still sent me flying. My lungs screamed and I hit the arena floor, sliding until I felt my spine vibrate. The moment I stopped, he was already coming at me again with his fists blazing like twin suns.
I rolled under one, sidestepped another and let instinct take over. My right leg shot upward into a kick that would have knocked the head off any normal man. It connected with Owino's jaw, but it was like kicking a concrete wall. His grin didn't even fade.
"That all you got, masked man?"
"Not even close."
Black mist bled from my leg. It slithered up his neck. His grin faltered. I twisted my hips and brought my leg down hard. The void matter dragged him down, slamming his face into the ground with a crack that echoed across the arena. The crowd gasped.
I barely had time to enjoy it.
Amina's gravity field locked around my leg, twisting my balance. My knee almost shattered under the pressure. Pain shot through my nerves. Before I could scream, a giant sand fist appeared from nowhere and decked Amina square on her side. She flew backward, slamming into the floor.
Radellei dusted her hands like she had just finished a tiresome errand.
"You're welcome."
I took a shaky breath. "Appreciate it."
Owino was already up again, brushing blood from his lip. He cracked his knuckles.
"You're skilled. Martial arts, huh?"
"Yeah."
"Good. I'm not holding back now."
Neither was I.
He lunged faster. Every step he took sent shockwaves through the ring. Roborare moved around me but it wasn't enough. His next punch grazed my shoulder then the one after that hit me square in the chest.
It was like getting hit by a grenade. The shock threw me across the ring again. I rolled until my palms dug into the ground. My chest was smoking and my body trembling. If I hadn't used Roborare with the void element to absorb the blast, I'd be a crater right now.
I could taste blood behind the mask. This was getting serious.
Owino's Xana blazed brighter than before. Amina recovered beside him. The two of them looked like twin forces of destruction. Radellei's sand spiraled behind me like a living cloak, her tone still maddeningly calm.
"Now you understand. The void isn't for fighting back. It's for surviving. Everything else comes after."
Yeah, I understood alright.
"Don't attack anymore."
"Wait, what?"
"Dodge. From now on, you dodge. Don't retaliate until I say so."
The logic part of my brain screamed at me to fight but the instinct part, the part that knew when to shut up and trust someone stronger, went quiet. So I did what she said. Owino and Amina exchanged a glance and came at us together.
The ring shook.
Owino's fists literally burned bright. Every punch detonated in midair like small bombs, scattering chunks of the floor and leaving molten streaks where the flux exploded. The guy was like a one-man apocalypse and Amina made sure we felt every second of it.
The gravity got heavier. I could feel it pressing on my bones and crushing against my lungs. My knees trembled under the weight. Even moving a finger took effort, like I was swimming through molten iron.
Owino grinned. "Let's see you dodge this!"
He fired off a barrage of Sun Blasts flying at me like artillery shells. Each blast tore through where I was, not where I am. My body flickered, splitting into streaks of afterimages that shimmered like mist trails in the air. The explosions followed my shadow, painting the ring in fire. My mask cracked slightly at the edge and I could feel the searing heat brushing against my real face underneath.
"Keep moving!" Radellei shouted from somewhere behind me.
"Wasn't planning to stop!" I yelled back, barely dodging another blast that would have caved my spine in.
Radellei wasn't moving at all. She stood in the middle of the chaos, her arms outstretched with the sand swirling around her like a storm. A dome of fine particles had formed around her, catching the shockwaves and dispersing the gravity fields. I tried stepping closer, thinking maybe she needed backup, but my instincts—those same instincts that saved my life before—flared red in my head.
'Don't go near her.'
Whatever she was doing in there wasn't meant to be interrupted.
Owino and Amina must have noticed her stillness too because they doubled down. The blasts intensified and gravity intensified. The ground itself was starting to crater beneath our feet. I was panting, the void around me flickering like dying embers. Every dodge was closer than the last.
Then, for some reason, my brain flashed back to the dunes. It was that stupid training Master put me through weeks ago. Compared to that misery, this was nothing. The weight, the gravity, the explosion, all this was a playground in comparison.
I stopped running.
The next blast came straight for my chest. I twisted my body, letting the void slip around me . The explosion missed by a hair, grazing past as I zipped sideways in a blur. My body was weightless now. The void was no longer resisting me. Each step I took left faint ripples of black matter, like footprints on the surface of a mirror. Radellei's voice sliced through the chaos.
"Now!"
I didn't even think. My body moved. One second, I was dodging another solar explosion and the next, I was in front of Owino. He barely saw me coming. I spun in midair, void lacing my leg and brought my heel down with everything I had. The kick connected with his chest hard.
The impact sent a shockwave through the arena. It was so massive the crowd had to shield their faces. The sound was deafening. Owino was flung back, slamming into the ground hard enough to crack the reinforced ring. Before he could even react, Radellei's sand rose from the floor in a whirling cyclone that swallowed all four of us.
Sand twisted upward like a tornado, pulling us into the air. The whole arena gasped as we were lifted high up. Amina screamed something in Swahili and instantly increased the gravity, trying to drag the cyclone back down. The force was unbelievable. My stomach lurched as the air thickened and we started plummeting.
But that was exactly what Radellei wanted. I caught her eye for a split second through the chaos. She nodded once. I extended my arm, letting the void spill out from my han. The black matter spread, forming ribbons that wrapped around Owino and Amina's bodies, binding their limbs tight.
"Thanks for the boost Amina!"
I yanked my arm down.
The void ribbons tightened, dragging both of them down like falling stars. The sound they made when they hit the ring was like a meteor striking concrete. The impact shook the entire ring. To finish it all, Radellei's cyclone condensed into a single, monstrous sand fist.
It descended from above, shaped perfectly like her hand. It struck the downed pair with the force of a hammer. The ring dented inward, sand exploded outward and the barrier around the arena flickered violently from the overload.
The crowd went completely silent for a few seconds before they cheered. Radellei exhaled softly, lowering her arm.
"That is a perfect coordination."
I stood there, void still buzzing around my limbs like static.
"Yeah," I breathed, trying not to sound like I was dying. "You could have warned me about the gravity free fall though."
She looked at me with that little smirk of hers. "And ruin the surprise?"
I laughed, even though my ribs felt like gravel. "You're insane."
"Maybe but we won, didn't we?"
The announcer's voice echoed through the arena, which was barely audible over the crowd.
"The winners are The Neon Nomads, with one win and zero losses!"
Radellei raised her hand lazily, soaking in the energy. I just leaned on my knee, trying not to fall over. That's when I realized. She wasn't even out of breath.
"Remind me never to piss you off."
"Oh, Lone Nomad. You would never piss me off. You're too kind for that."
[Christmas and New Year Hiatus everyone. See you next year on January 5th! Time for me to enjoy the holidays!]