Chapter 7

Upon arriving a few meters away from one another, Senro intended to swiftly swing his dagger at the opponent right away, but was suddenly cut short by a fast punch hurtling its way dangerously towards his face. Though flustered, Senro managed to swerve away from the oncoming danger, with the punch narrowly missing its target. Then, he quickly took a couple of steps backwards to create a little distance away from the opponent, providing enough room for Sasha to unleash a barrage of combinations of vicious kicks and hard punches. But, they were all swiftly and easily avoided and dealt with by the opponent.

"Hmm, I guess I was wrong about her strategy." Senro silently whispered to himself, as he quickly into an adequate position to follow up on his sister's onslaughts.

The fast punch thrown at Senro by the opponent surprised and almost caught him off guard, as he thought and was used to the opponent still focusing on defense. This made him believe that his hunch from earlier about the opponent's strategy being to bide her time, duck and block his and Sasha's attacks till they both tire out and then finish them off easily, wasn't correct. Little did he realize that he was actually right all along. It was the opponent's strategy, but she just now adopted a new tactic.

The fight progressed intensely for more than twenty minutes, with the trio dancing in a rhythmic and systematic pace. Though Senro and Sasha's breathing were huffed and heavy compared to the opponent's slightly light tone and they were beginning to sweat profusely, no one for a while was yet to break the deadlock.

The sequence of the fight proceeded mostly like this; Sasha would hurl a dangerous kick or punch, the opponent would evade, then parry a dagger attack from Senro, which would immediately come right after before hurtling a punch or kick of her own at Senro, who would evade and create a little distance away for Sasha to unleash a barrage of combos, but the opponent would deftly evade all of them and counter with her own dangerous moves, which Sasha would swiftly evade, while Senro would intervene with a series of dagger attacks, which the opponent would evade. They went on and on like this with each keeping a safe distance from each other after each of their attacks and no one risking any dangerous moves or going all in. But as most things in this life isn't static and constant, the deadlock was suddenly broken.

The opponent was avoiding the onslaught of combinations thrown at her by Sasha, when she caught Senro from the corner of her eye, dashing from her side and swinging his dagger, which swished ferociously towards her face. She deftly took a quick stride backwards and arched her face to dodge the attack, thereby causing the gleaming dagger to fly right past her face. It missed her by just a few inches. Then, a grin which should only be found on the hideousness of a demon from hell, suddenly emerged on the opponent's face. All of a sudden, she grabbed Senro's hand which was clutching unto the dagger and unhesitatingly tugged him closer to her.

Senro couldn't help himself from being pulled closer to her, as his body was slightly unbalanced due to his failed attempted attack. Goosebumps immediately broke out all over his body. Just from the opponent's malicious grin alone, he already had a strong premonition that something dreadful and terrible was about to befall him. There was no doubt about it.

Just as Senro was inches away from the opponent, the opponent drew her head backwards and with a velocity that would be hard to explain by physics, her head travelled at the speed of light and pin-pointedly bashed squarely into Senro's nose with a bang.

GBA!!!!

CRACK!!!

"AHHHH!!!!"

Senro exclaimed in agony as he unconsciously tottered backwards while clutching desperately onto his nose, which was now broken, with both his hands. His dagger, his very trusted companion throughout the duration of the fight, escaped from his hand right at the moment the head-butt impacted on his nose and clattered nosily on the floor, before it slid away, abandoning him to suffer alone in anguish from the pain he was feeling.

The opponent was about to follow up her head-butt assault on Senro with a series of malicious attacks but was timely interrupted by Sasha, who got her preoccupied with a barrage of onslaughts of combinations, as she, Sasha, struggled within herself to pay no mind to Senro's predicament.

"Fuck, my fucking nose!"

Senro groaned in pain, as he gently nursed his nose in an attempt to alleviate the pain. Blood streamed uncontrollably from it and it dripped down to the floor, staining the cream marble in his vicinity red. Now, Senro was one who had been trained and had the ability to withstand certain amounts of pain and hardships, than the average person could, and still manage to focus on the task at hand. But, that wasn't the case this time around, as the pain he felt this time around was just too severe to be left ignored. He felt like a mountain had suddenly risen out of nowhere and bashed into his nose with all its might and vigor. It was really excruciating.

"URGGHH!!!"

His sister's painful moan drew his attention from the pain he was feeling. Just the few seconds in which he wasn't involved in the fight, the opponent had already gained the upper hand and was dealing heavy blows after heavy blows onto Sasha. Sasha desperately tried to block and dodge the opponent's barrage of combinations, but it proved too tall a task for her alone to handle, as the opponent was just too quick. Hits upon hits kept landing viciously on her nonstop and she was entirely at the mercy of the opponent, who wasn't showing any signs of letting up.

"GOD DAMN IT!!!"

Senro exclaimed, as wiped the blood off his nose, managed to put the pain he was feeling past him and accelerated at full speed to the area of battle, without thinking things through, in order to come to Sasha's rescue. Upon arriving, since he didn't have his dagger with him, he attempted, in a flurry, a haphazard kick to the opponent's rib, but the opponent had already anticipated his arrival.

SLIP!!!

All of a sudden, Senro was tripped and found himself falling backwards to the floor. The opponent had slightly kicked his left back heel, which was still stationed on the floor, when he flew in with the kick, causing him to lose his balance and slip, producing a 'squeak' sound on the marble floor which echoed through the hall, as he fell unceremoniously.

As Senro began his descent, the opponent's malicious grin grew a whole lot wider, threatening to tear her lips apart, as she hurled down a vicious punch with all of her might, which hurtled its way, as it tore through the air, descending towards Senro's face.

As Senro caught a glimpse of the punch, he knew without a doubt in his mind that he was so fucked and nothing in this world was going to save him from his fate. So, he closed his eyes and braced himself for it. He braced himself for a trip to oblivion.

KKKPPPPAAA!!!!

The punch landed squarely and violently on Senro's face, just when he was halfway to reaching the floor, knocking him out instantly, as the speed of his decent increased exponentially

BOOOOOOMMM!!!

He bounced off the floor, like a rubber ball, before landing normally a second time around. He lay ungracefully sprawled on the floor, with no intention or an ounce of consciousness whatsoever to pick himself up from the floor. He was completely and totally blacked out.