Round Two: Overwhelming Skill

The two walked in a circle, keeping an eye on one another. They seem to be looking for openings, any weaknesses that can determine the flow of the fight.

"You better be prepared to lose horribly, kid. 'Cause you ain't getting it easy," the man said.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Karma replied, smiling.

"Then prepare to say your prayers," the man said, ticked at Karma's smile.

And with that, the two ran towards each other. Karma swung first, but the man dodged it and threw an uppercut. Karma felt dizzy from the impact but maintained his composure.

The man charged in to give Karma little time to strike back. Karma was caught in the man's pace and all he could do was to avoid being hit.

But then he couldn't move back anymore. Without realizing it, Karma had been pushed to the wall.

"Now you can't run away anymore," the man said, grinning. "I got you right where I want you."

Then the man started his barrage of attacks. He attacked in a way to not leave any obvious openings that might help Karma escape.

*Shit...this guy is good. How the hell am I going to get out of this?*

"Where's your punk ass attitude, huh?" the man said as he continued to beat Karma. The harder Karma tried to escape and envelop the fight in his own pace, the more the man pressured him and made it hard to get out of the situation.

Then, Karma had a plan. It was a risky plan, but if it succeeds, then Karma might have a chance of turning the tides. He lowered his guard and leaned towards the side.

Surely enough, the man, blinded by his advantage, took the bait and punched karma with a left punch to Karma's side. Karma was thrown to the side, hitting the hard concrete floor.

*Shit! He got out!* the man thought angrily and ran to Karma to get the advantage again.

Karma managed to get up just and time and moved to the side, just as the man got to where he was. Karma took this chance to kick the man in the side, which launched him away.

"Ack!"

The man was holding his side, as Karma had put all his force into kicking him.

"You little shit...!" the man said in anger. "You'll pay for that!"

"Dude...I just kicked you once," Karma said, fed up with the man's constant whining. "You hit me like a million times."

"Ugh...why the hell am I getting so worked up? He's just a kid," the man said, regaining his composure. "You won't get me like that again."

Heh," Karma chuckled, and then the two resumed their fight. The man tried his method again, but this time, Karma knew what was coming, so he kept maintaining a distance where he could move away from the man's onslaught that aimed at trapping him.

Realizing his strategy was broken into, the man stopped his barrage.

"Guess I should step it up a notch," the man said softly and took a deep breath.

Then, the room was silent.

"What's up?" Karma asked with confusion. "Why have you stopped your attacks?"

The man took another breath and then disappeared from Karma's view, only to reappear as a blur.

"What the hell?" Karma asked, startled. He had encountered the quick disappear and attack pattern, but he had never seen a method like this. The man was running with abnormal speed around him, creating blur images of him around Karma. Karma rotated himself around to not get caught off guard.

But all Karma could see was the blur of a man once in a while.

Suddenly, he felt a jolt of pain rush down his spine. The man, without any warning, kicked Karma in the neck and continued his rapid circulation around Karma. Karma held his neck in pain. His nerves felt like they were about to burst.

The man did this several times. Once to his gut and once to his head. Needless to say, Karma was being thrown around in an inescapable circular trap.

"How do you like this?" the man said with a confident tone. "That you will be beaten down and you won't know when it will come."

"That's a pretty amazing move," Karma said, genuinely amazed. "I kinda wanna try that."

"Heh," the man mocked Karma. " If you were at least a fourth as competent as me, you probably can pull it off."

This kind of pissed Karma off, but he loved a challenge.

"So if I can pull it off better than you, will you admit I'm stronger?" Karma said with a defiant smirk.

The man was ticked off and remained in silence. He continued his circular rush, getting faster and faster. Karma studied the man's movements as he gets thrashed from every corner.

*Looks like he's just running fast in a circle and moving in and out of the damage zone.* Karma thought after much speculation.

Then, Karma started to imitate the man.

"You are going to take my move?" the man said, laughing. "I'll like to see you try."

"Oh, I will try," Karma said with a smirk.

Karma's speed was not on par with the man at the start. He was making blurs of himself, but it was not enough to match that of the man, let alone surpass it.

However, the man got a bit scared.

*What's this feeling? Why do I feel he actually can pull this off?" the man thought with worry. *I better end this before he can progress.*

The man took a deep breath and raised his speed to the max. He attacked with high speed with hard impacts. Karma was being thrown from one side to the next. He could feel his bones cracking as he gets tossed around but kept at his circulation technique when he had the chance. Each time Karma gets knocked down, he gets up, more determined to show this son of a bitch who's boss.

"Why the fuck won't you stay down?" the man asked.

"Why the fuck would I stay down when my strength has been questioned?" Karma replied, smiling, even though his clothes were a mess and he had bruises on his body.

The man was taken aback. He had never seen someone so willful and determined. Usually, his opponent gives up after having been overpowered once. They lose hope in any possible potential they have of winning. Call it a tunnel vision of the weak.

But Karma sought at all possibilities, no matter how slim they may be. His sheer will is making him continue this fight even when it seems that there is no chance of winning.

The man was amazed at Karma's stubbornness but also was scared.

*If this kid gets any stronger, we will all be fucked!* the man thought worryingly.

The man stops running in circles and attempted to end his with dealing damage to Karma's brain in an attempt to cut off the circulation of Karma's blood, rendering him unconscious.

But he failed.

As soon as he stopped, Karma began running in circles around the man, each time getting faster and faster.

"What the hell?" the man said in shock. Because he had used that technique for too long, he could not perform it again. Meanwhile, Karma was just getting started.

"How do you like the taste of your own medicine?" Karma said, laughing. Then, Karma does the same thing at the man, attacking him from all corners.

Since the man exerted most of his strength in keeping his circulation at the proper speed and attacking with precision, he could not handle being smacked from one side to the other by Karma. By this point, Karma had the whole fight at his pace.

After much struggling, the man fell to the ground in exhaustion. He was breathing at an abnormal rate.

Karma stopped, seeing that the man was not able to entice him anymore.

"That was it?" Karma said with a sneer. "And here I was, mastering the move you showed me and thrashed me with."

Karma walked back to Shirohana and Frank. Shirodhara looked at Karma with a smile. Normally, Karma would keep on beating his opponent until he was satisfied. As soon as Karma turned back to his normal self, he fell, since the strain caught up to him. Frank who had been able to relax all this time, caught Karma just in time.

"Good job," Frank said. "Get some rest."

"How is he?" Shirohara said with worry.

"He's fine, M'lady," Frank said. "We'll get him nursed in no time."

Shirohana was relived. After a long flight, it was finally over. Frank laid Karma on the ground and helped Shirohana back on the wheelchair. Then, he picked up Karma and carried him on his back and the three of them exited the warehouse. They got into Frank's car and drived back to Shirohan's mansion.

After the three had left, a man strolled into the warehouse. He took one look at the two fallen men and had an angry look on his face.

"Useless. Just useless," the man said.

Then he walked out, thinking of his next plan for Karma.