It seemed now that the competitors had changed their opponents through the fight, Slingshot Blake was to come up against the Devil. They too had faced each other a few times before and both were happy to do it again. Blake tried hard to clear his mind and had been successful with all but one thing-Agito. It was indeed a deep wound that he had sustained from Mantis and he hoped they could finish the fight in time to get him some help. He looked over to see him now fighting against Mantis, Mantis must have wanted to fight him because he appeared smaller and wounded but was much more vicious than he was and if anyone could still win-it was the Fang King. Blake wished he didn't have to fight so he could watch him first hand and his fang regalia. Unfortunately now he did have to concentrate and there was no way he could lose to the Devil.
He looked over at him and he was firing himself up and looked very happy at Blake's placidness. He put his head up and sniffed a few times at the air, obviously getting something with his very good sense of smell. He looked back down at Blake very surprised, "So it isn't just an act you put on to be calm, you actually are not scared or psyched up. You are not even angry-you cannot win if you have no passion, no emotion and it is because you do not even want to fly, you just want to play basketball and ride for the sake of your friends. If you don't wish to fly high in AT than you are weak-too weak to face me."
"You have never bested me." The Devil didn't like this and he prepared himself to attack while Blake waited.
Soon enough the Devil charged in, wanting close combat with him. He slashed and mauled violently but couldn't get a shot on Blake. He was also able to counter his shots a few times connecting around the head and torso region. Blake just needed to wait for his opponent to get impatient and make a move before countering back with a shot. If things continued like this there was no possible way Blake could be defeated by such a simple attack plan-unfortunately though it seemed the Devil had done some studying of his own on the Slingshot and his reflexes.
The Devil swung a shot at Blake's head while also keeping a guard to make sure he couldn't be countered. The only action left was for Blake to move his head out of the way. The Devil used this opportunity to direct his attention at Blake's lower half, not fully getting him but managing to scrape Blake's leg. It hurt like hell, going through most of his pants and cutting some of the skin off and the Devil knew he was onto something, "Your reflexes may be a little tricky, but they make every movement you make predictable." They continued fighting and once again the Devil swung but this time purposely left himself open. Blake's natural instinct reflex made him use a snap action with his arm at a lightning speed thinking he was gaining the upper hand. However as he was doing this he saw that the Devil was waiting for his arm and was going to bite clean though his flesh. At the last second, Blake managed to open his hand spreading his fingers wide and clamming around the Devil's mouth like a muzzle leaving him unable to bite.
He couldn't hold onto this long as the Devil in a fury swiped at Blake, which made him backtrack and rethink how he was going to continue fighting. The Devil actually looked rather calm for the first time in this fight. "I have worked it out-the invincible Slingshot and his reflexes are finally working against you. The body has its own natural reflexes and not only have you got naturally good reflexes-which consists of having the brain sharp enough to perceive stimuli quick enough and also having the body to cope with the pure speed you put it through but you have also trained hard to be able to react in any given situation whether it is offensive or defensive. This makes you tough to beat, but it seems you have unintentionally made yourself more prone to very sensitive reflexes and this means that I know where you are going to be and when if I think one step ahead of you. Now how calm are you going to be?"
"So you worked out my reflexes, big deal. You got to still be able to stop me-I don't care if you worked out my attack and defence because everyone has worked out yours-not that it is too hard to work out anyway."
This got a reaction from the Devil and he charged in again. He kept using his tricks to put Blake into very hard situations that he was struggling with. His reflexes were getting him into trouble rather than getting himself out of it. He needed to find a way to use his skill to his advantage otherwise he would lose himself to the Devil.
Pretty soon the Devil became sloppier in his attacks while Blake remained the same. The longer they fought, the Devil wasn't able to continue working out how Blake was going to attack and reverted back to his undisciplined style of fighting. This only worked in favour of Blake who was able to get in more and more shots. When they had broken a part from another bout, the Devil looked at him, "How can you continue to fight? You are not even tired-where does your energy come from?"
"Just because I am composed doesn't mean this match means any less to me than it does for you, so you think you can fight forever on passion and emotion, I have all those things, but harnessing it and controlling it means that I can fight longer and not burn out like you have. You have been a part of Ikki's plan this entire time."
"What about the Devil? He can be quite troublesome," said Blake as they were all strategising the night before the match. "He uses his anger in ways to unlock power and speed that he has."
"That may be true and using that allows him to unlock more power than maybe any of us. This is because emotion is a powerful thing and he can create adrenaline to be used throughout his entire body-including his energy system and muscles. But the disadvantage of this is that he cannot continue to use it. Using it at his tempo will burn his whole body out which is why he needs to finish the fight quickly. So what we need is to put him up against someone that will ensure he has to use everything he has got and then somebody who is best to take advantage of it," said Ikki.
"You say that because I am calm it means nothing to me, but being composed doesn't mean it means any less to me than it does to you. You also said that I am weak because I don't fight for my own goals-but it is because I fight for my friends that I am truly stronger than you. You cannot match up against me who can block out my body's fatigue and remain calm in any situation. Right now, you will not be able to fight me anymore and have lost this fight." Blake closed his eyes in concentration and Devil didn't know what he was up to, but knew he needed to finish it now before he did lose the fight. If Slingshot was going to close his eyes, he would make sure he paid the price and went head on at him. He wondered why he wasn't opening his eyes as if he was in a trance and when he almost was on him he noticed Blake opened his eyes.
Ikki glanced over to see this and was glad he didn't miss it as it was one of the greatest things he had ever seen in his life. The Devil was about to be beaten and some words ran through his head, 'If the devil grabs you, even by a single hair-you are lost forever, BUT, when the angel arrives-the devil leaves.'
The Devil had bought himself into Blake's range as he relied on close combat. But going close quarters with the Slingshot was not recommended, not for anybody. Slingshot 30 Strike, Blake began punching so quickly that nobody could see his arms clearly. It looked like a human centipede with arms coming from everywhere and Blake got in so many shots that the Devil was gone by about the 13th hit. Blake didn't let up though until he had finished all 30, which knocked the Devil off the platform ending his time in the match.
Such a technique was indeed great, which uses his mind to be able to free his body of all fatigue and soreness to concentrate the muscles to extreme reactivity and flexibility. The joints needed to be warm and ready it was them which copped most of the damage while dealing the attack. It allowed the body use maximum reaction time in a continued combination of punches that didn't need power as they were so quick and sharp each one did its own individual damage and together was an attack strong enough to wipe anybody out. Unfortunately the toll it took on the body was indeed a big one and left Blake exhausted after such a gruelling technique. He could no longer move but it didn't matter, his part in this fight was over and he could only wait for the River to temporarily leave Malin to finish him off and knock him clear off the platform.