"Of course," you reply.
"Thank you." Kasumi smiles, nods to everyone, and then moves away at a quick walk. You lose track of her right after she passes into the deep shadows at the back of the waiting area; for a moment, you thought you saw a sudden profusion of flower petals floating about.
"Alright, folks," the Announcer says. "Since we had a double ring-out in the first round, Ayane automatically advances to the third round, which means our next match will be between Alexander Harris and Amae!"
Damn, no time left to discuss your strategy for this round. Well, you already had a plan; here's hoping it works.
You advance and enter the ring. Up close, it's impossible to miss Amae's non-human traits: she is simply too slender for her height, despite appearing perfectly healthy; her facial features are like no ethnic group you've ever seen, be it in person, in books, or on TV; her eyes almost seem to glow; and then there are her ears, the long, tapering points artfully hidden beneath the crown of braids she has bound her hair up in for the tournament.
HONORABLE DROW MAIDEN: AMAE
"Ready," the Announcer says. "FIGHT!"
Amae charges. You call up your magic, creating two masses of light in your hands, which you then bring together by the simple method of clapping your hands, creating a flare of light and sound that is directed away from you and straight at your oncoming opponent. The method is a bit more dramatic and mana-hungry than it strictly needed to be, but better to show off and burn a little extra juice to make it clear that you created the mystical flash-bang on the spot, as opposed to just setting it off and risking accusations of bringing a small explosive into the tournament.
As it happens, your choice of opening move is a good one; Amae gasps and turns her head sharply to one side, eyes squeezed firmly shut and hands going reflexively to cover her ears before she catches herself and forces her hands back into a guard position. She's stopped about a foot outside of striking distance and takes a few seconds to blink her now-teary eyes and shake her head, throwing off the aftereffects of your noisy flare. That gives you all the time in the world to weave your second spell, cloaking yourself in a full-body field of elemental force. While it would at best soften the impact of most weapons, the armor spell should be more than sufficient to stop the blows of a slightly-built creature like Amae from reaching your skin, which seemed to be a significant part of her fighting style.
Shields raised, you go on the offensive. Amae senses you coming and tries to dodge, but only manages to reduce your first attack from a direct hit to a glancing blow. Considering that it was a knifehand strike aimed for her temple, this is a good thing for her - though combined with the aftereffects of your first spell, the blow still leaves her a bit dazed. You follow up at once, and quickly learn that Amae has been trained well enough to be able to defend herself even when her sight and hearing are impaired. She can't match your strength, however, and has to roughly block the next few hits, which force her back several steps, before she recovers enough to successfully use the circular deflections you saw in her previous bout. Shortly thereafter, she manages to slip a strike through your offensive maneuvers, aiming for a point on your arm that you know would sting like hell if it was hit just so.
The blow is deflected away, generating ripples of translucent force that briefly spread out from the point of impact before dying down.
Amae scowls at you and, in a voice that would be rather lovely if it weren't so angry, hisses, "Sorcerer!"
"And I cast FIST!" you retort, unloading a backfist punch to your opponent's face that sends the slightly-built female spinning. Even as the blow connects, you feel a curious swell of disappointment, as if the move were somehow... incomplete.
Gained Special Technique (?) Fist F-
Despite your puzzling feelings, the attack is remarkably successful. Amae reels from the blow, staggering several paces back and off to one side before she's able to recover. As you close in on her again, you have time enough to reflect that your single strike probably shouldn't have been powerful enough to cause that; yes, you're larger and stronger than the girl, but she looked like she was airborne for the first few fractions of a second after impact, before her natural agility kicked in and she got her feet under her, shaky though they were.
Is it possible that calling your attack, like one of the many superheroes and supervillains found in animated works native to both sides of the Pacific, somehow enhanced the potency of your attack? You might have to keep that in mind... if only to make sure you never do something that embarrassing ever again.
Gained Special Technique Words of Power F
Amae is now visibly pressed by your attack. You think it's possible that you could end this with your next move. Taking in your surroundings, you're within range to throw an opponent of this size out of the ring, though it might be a little close if she knows anything about mid-air maneuvers - or can just flat-out cheat, like Kahlua. Alternately, you could go for a pin; you've got all the advantages there. Or you could go for the knockout.
Magic aside, you've been attacking with your arms for this entire match. Perhaps this has misled your opponent, or perhaps your assault on her senses and then her head has left her thinking a bit fuzzy; either way, you're able to sweep her feet out from under her with a kick. You follow that up by falling on Amae like a collapsing wall, bringing as much of your mass to bear as you can while you attempt to pin her.
As it turns out, the young dark elf does know a few things about grappling. For the next few seconds, you get the distinct impression that someone has switched out the willowy girl you were just fighting for a snarling wildcat. Her frenzy gives her strength enough that you actually feel her striking you through your armor spell, but that same explosive rage also hinders her aim enough that any pressure-point strikes she attempts fail to impart more than the sting of a normal blow. It reminds you a bit of your chokehold on Ranma the previous day, though Amae is quite a bit smaller than the braid-wearing boy, and doesn't hit as hard even in her fury. With your weight immobilizing her legs, she's unable to get away as you set to work neutralizing her arms.
"Get off of me, sorcerer!" Amae snarls.
"Stop squirming for ten seconds and I will!" you snap back.
"I would sooner have my eyes put out with acid than submit to some demon's lackey!" comes the spitting reply.
"...what are you talking about?" you say, after a moment in which you nearly release your hold from pure confusion about what she's saying.
"Don't play innocent," Amae hisses. "This close, I can practically smell the corruption on you! And at your age - what did you do, sacrifice a younger sibling? Murder your parents in their sleep?"
There appears to be a serious misunderstanding here. You really don't care for the accusations of fratricide and patricide, but you're a bit unsure how to respond to them.
"Oh, come on," you growl - at Amae, at the universe in general, at any divine power that happens to be listening. "Bad enough I have to live on a Hellmouth, are you telling me I have demon cooties because of it?"
Amae makes a sound that is part confusion, part struggle.
"And for the record," you add, glaring at her, "I did not sacrifice anyone or anything to gain my magic. I was born with it because of a particularly unpleasant ancestor, and I've developed it without help from any demons."
"A likely story," she replies with a snort.
"You don't believe me?"
"As if I would!"
"Er," the Announcer's voice cuts in, "are you two alright, there?"
You and Amae look up at the man, who has somehow contrived to get right next to the two of you without making his presence known prior to this.
"Do you mind, sir?" you ask politely.
"We're talking," Amae says, also calmly and respectfully.
"Ah, okay. Just checking!" He turns away, then pauses and looks back, covering the microphone. "But, uh, try to hurry it up, will you?"
You turn your full attention back to the fight, and find that Amae is slightly ahead of you. Her eyelids are half-lowered, not quite sufficient to hide the faint rubescent light that now radiates from the irises, and certainly doing nothing at all to conceal the trance-like mask that has overtaken her features. You can suddenly sense the shadows you previously glimpsed in Amae's aura - without aura sight or the correct divination spell up, it's very faint, but the presence is there - and with that vaguely silky sensation of deepening darkness, you can also dimly detect the presence of magic.
Quite suddenly, there is a strong, steady force pushing Amae up from the ring - and it's taking you with her!
Before Ayane can strike, you lock your hands behind her back, lean back slightly, and squeeze. The girl lets out a choked gasp as she is abruptly hauled several inches into the air and crushed against your chest, what little room she had to maneuver a moment earlier lost, to say nothing of the pressure you're now applying on her. Ayane struggles to escape, but you have both her arms firmly trapped, and while she starts kicking you repeatedly, you're so close that she's having trouble building up enough force for it to really hurt.
"Do you give?" you grunt at her.
"In your dreams," Ayane growls back, before trying to use her altered elevation to headbutt you. It's a glancing blow, suggesting she doesn't have a lot of practice with the technique. You glare at her for a moment before responding in kind, channeling the spirit of the Rampaging Boar to show her how it's done.
Gained Headbutt F++
Ayane's head reels back from the impact. "Ow, ow, ow..."
Thanks to ki reinforcement - and perhaps a naturally thick skull - you definitely won that exchange. "Do you give now?" you ask the kunoichi as she hisses in pain.
"Not... on your life!"
Stubborn girl. And she's still kicking and kneeing you. It's starting to ache.
Right, enough is enough. Time to finish this.
"You asked for it," you say, readying your spirit and focusing your ki. Then, while Ayane is still frowning at the words, you tighten the lock of your arms and begin a truly devastating combo.
"WISDOM!"
Headbutt.
"OF THE!"
Headbutt.
"RAGING!"
Headbutt.
"BOAR!"
And suplex.
Gained Headbutt F+++
Gained Totem of the Raging Boar F
Gained Wisdom of the Raging Boar F
Gained Words of Power F+
"What a ferocious attack!" the Announcer cries out. "Alexander really uses his head, and leaves Ayane seeing stars! Folks, I don't care what country you're from, something like that has got to hurt! And yet the boy doesn't look dazed at all!" he continues, as you release your grip on the girl and roll to your feet. "What is his skull made of?"
Heh. Actually, ki reinforcement or not, you are feeling sore after that. Seems there's a limit to how much of a pounding even your head can take, at least in a fixed period of time. You're far better off than Ayane, however, who seems to be having some trouble coordinating her movements - or hell, even thinking - after being squeezed, smashed in the head, and slammed down on the cold, uncaring surface of the ring like that. Although you've planned to boost your enhancement, the sight of the girl lying in a groaning heap seriously tempts you to conserve energy and make do with your natural strength. Then you consider how she suckered you the last time, and raise your ki.
It turns out to be an unnecessary precaution. Ayane does take a swing at you when you grab her, but it's a blow running on pure reflex, with no control or strength behind it. With no trouble, you roll her onto her stomach, lever one of her arms behind her, and pin her. The Announcer wastes no time to begin the count, and though Ayane struggles a bit - more fiercely as the numbers add up - within ten seconds, it's over.
"Winner, Alexander!"
You release Ayane and stand up. "You okay?" you inquire.
"I have a headache," comes the slightly muffled reply.