“On one hand we have representative Arjun Erigaisi and his Adamant Boulder style representing the Hrava branch! He’s touted as the Adamant Boulder in the Martial Community for his impregnable defense! Join me in welcoming him!” The commentator declared.
The crowd burst into cheers and an applause.
Arjun Erigaisi entered the arena, immediately drawing all attention to him. His stature and physique were enormous, he was nearly seven-feet tall. He had the presence of a looming mountain towering over everybody that laid eyes on him!
“On the other hand, we have representative Servil Bisha and her Flickering Core style representing the Gragol branch. Known as the Flickering Ghoul in the Martial Community, none of you will want to miss out on this fight!”
Servil looked like she hadn’t slept in a while. She had bags under her eyes. Yet she exuded an aura of peril. Primordial Sense did not even want to touch her.
She was one of the few Martial Artists that none of his friends new much about.
“Take your stances.” The referee instructed.
Arjun adopted an incredibly defensive stance, as Rui expected. He divided his legs, stabilizing his balance and planting himself in one place firmly. His arms were in front of him, guarding him. It was a stance that was at the epitome of defense.
Servil instead adopted a rather neutral stance. Yet Primordial Sense still indicated to him that something was wrong. Her stance was quite tame, yet the danger she exuded was most certainly not.
“Begin!” The referee commenced the match.
Servil dashed towards Arjun as he remained stationary. She launched powerful several attacks at him.
POW POW POW
All of them bounced of his guard seemingly harmlessly. He didn’t even seem to use any techniques.
“Conditioning?” Rui wondered.
“Not just any conditioning.” Kyrie said. “He’s conditioned the toughness of his body on every level. Skin, flesh, muscles and bones. He’s tough inside-out.”
Rui raised an eye, he had to admit that it was truly impressive. His defense put even Dalen to shame. At the rate the current battle was going on, he would win quite dominantly.
Yet Rui had learned to trust his instincts. He didn’t think Servil was weak.
Soon, a changed occurred.
BAM!
Arjun’s eyes flew open as he felt an immense amount of pain from that blow, he staggered back.
Rui’s eyes narrowed. “What was that?”
BAM BAM BAM
Arjun threw together a guard as her blows began hurting more! He began backing down more and more as each blow was staggering him!
“Ah.” Squire Dylon realized. “I see. Most interesting.”
“What is it, instructor Dylon?” Rui asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Vibration.” Dylon replied. “She’s managing to penetrate the impact beyond his enteriors to do damage to vital interiors. It’s novel form of damage infliction that permeates impacts using vibrations. Thus, she’s able inflict greater damage with each blow. It’s a powerful offensive field, very difficult to master, of course.”
Rui’s eyes widened as he glanced back at her. He used Seismic Mapping as he tried focusing on the seismic radiation.
(‘He’s right.’) Rui realized. (‘Her entire body is vibrating.’)
Vibrations were commonly used in technology in for penetrative and permeating effects. They were used in drills to for greater penetrative effect, they were even used in medical technology for treatment of kidney stones where vibrations were used to break kidney stones done from the outside without the need of an invasive procedure.
Servil was using those very principles to inflict far greater damage on Arjun Erigaisi than she normally would!
BAM BAM BAM
She was relentless in her pressurizing.
Yet, she had underestimated Arjun’s fortitude and endurance.
He weathered her every attack once he realized she could hurt him. He turtled up, going into full defensive and damage mitigation mode. This made Servil’s task harder and harder.
Rui got the feeling that she wasn’t accustomed to someone withstanding her blows for as long as Arjun was. It was her misfortune that Arjun’s body was conditioned so extensively and deeply, that even the permeation of her impacts deeper into his body were not enough to take him down in a short amount of time.
That didn’t mean Arjun was doing fine and dandy. He felt pain in places deep within his body. His internal organs were sore, and there was a limit to how much he could toughen the vulnerable core of the human body, her powerful Apprentice-level power impacting him inside out was truly testing his defense and endurance unlike anything he had been subjected to asides from the torturous conditioning training regimes.
(‘Let’s see what is greater, your power, or my constitution!’) He took it up as a challenge. As a competitive man who took immense pride in his durability, he felt the need to prove himself in this tribulation.
This fight was special in that regard.
If he won this fight, he would be reaffirming his Martial Path, diverging it from external influences and traversing deeper down his own Martial Path.
Perhaps this fight would be the most important for him in the entire Martial Contest!
He grew more and more driven and fanatic about winning.
And yet…
WHAM!
A powerful jab crashed onto his throat. The throat was one of the most vulnerable areas of the human body, even with Arjun’s powerful conditioning, it was not as incredibly tough as the rest of his body.
Yet.
He persevered.
The pain was incredible, but he refused to fall.
BAM
A second strike slipped past an opening in his guard, slamming against his head. The permeative nature of Servil’s strike rattled his brain, crossing a line.
The brain could not be conditioned, any attempt to do so would be met with permanent brain damage.
THUD
He collapsed to the ground as the shaking had caused blunt force brain trauma, causing his conscious mind to shut down.
For a moment, everyone was silent.
“Aaaand we have a winner folks!” The commentator immediately resumed. “Servil Bisha has passed the first round, breaking through Arjun Erigaisi’s incredible defense!”