13. Bryon Cartt Part 2

"Oh! My! Goodness!" Machita yelled into the microphone. 

"That was one of the greatest rounds I've ever seen!" Cheryl said. 

"I can count on one hand how many times an opponent has made it to the second round!" Ahim said. 

The second round started out slowly, with Ivy and Byron both pacing themselves, testing the other's reactions through feints and quick attacks. 

Initially, Ivy would throw several feints to draw out an attack from Byron, but he wasn't falling for it, waiting for the perfect moment. 

As Ivy attacked once more, he countered, throwing a jab that caught her in the mouth and sent her stumbling back several feet. 

"There's about thirty seconds left in the round," Cheryl said, "If Ivy survives the rest of this, she will be one out of three people who have made it to the third round fighting Byron Cartt!" 

Hearing Cheryl over the roars of the crowd, Byron gritted his teeth, "Like that'll ever happen." Surprising Ivy as he charged forward, slamming her in the face with his shoulder. 

"Oh! My goodness…Byron just-" Machita started to say.

"Ah!" Ivy fell to the ground. 

"Ivy is in some real trouble here!" Cheryl exclaimed. 

Byron hopped on top of her and began pummeling her with quick, short punches. 

"Looks like Byron is attempting to finish this fight right here, right now!" Ahim yelled. 

Hauling back his fist with great might, he slammed it into Ivy's face. 

Tobi squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth, cringing. Not wanting to, but knowing he had to, he looked up at the ring again, scared of what he might see. 

He saw that Ivy had grabbed on to Byron's arm, crossing her legs over it, putting him in an arm-bar technique. If strong enough, she could hyperextend it, shattering every bone in his forearm. 

Before anything could happen, the bell rang, and the referee jumped in, untangling the two fighters from each other. 

Getting up and brushing herself off, Ivy happily strolled back to her side. 

"A good round from both fighters," Ahim said, watching them both walk back. 

"Byron almost looks a little frustrated as he walks back to his corner," Cheryl noticed. 

"I'm very surprised by Ivy's speed this round."

"Usually, Byron wins by knockout by now, but he's almost forced to mix up his strategies here—utilizing more kicks and grabs than I've ever seen him use."

"Round three is about to start right now. The second to last round."

Machita smirked, looking at his phone, "I just wanna tell everyone, that I just did the math, and Ivy wins…'das twenty million to me."

Cheryl rolled her eyes, "Oh, give me a break, Machita."

"Fight!" The referee yelled. 

The third round started hot. Ivy moved forward, jabbing Byron in the face to block his vision. 

Sensing another hit coming, Byron attempted to parry, but Ivy predicted that, feinting the hit to bait the parry, and as he brought his hands up, she went low with a right hook to his body. Then, seeing an opening, she landed a left hook on his head. With her same left arm, she pulled his hands away from his face, landing a massive uppercut. 

Byron lost his balance and stumbled back, seeing stars fill his vision. 

He looked back at his coach, trying to understand what he was yelling over the crowd. 

Byron thought as he glanced at the clock, seeing half the round was already gone, 'Am I losing? Lemme think…she has connected more hits, controlled the fight, and has been more active than me in all three rounds. But I've definitely done more damage though…No! Dammit! It's not enough!' Glancing at his coach once more, he focused, reading his lips, hearing him say: Get your head in the game! Come on Cartt!  His face was red, and spit flew from his mouth. Do you wanna see your 68th victory? Do what you were put on this earth to do and knock her the fuck out!

Byron ripped his eyes away from his coach, staring wide-eyed at Ivy, which caused her to pause—she recognized that look in his eye. 

Tobi watched carefully from the sidelines. Even from as far away as he was, he could see into Byron's eyes, seeing a look that was all too familiar. Desperation. Hunger. 

Byron closed his eyes, feeling the rhythmic beat of his heart, the consistent patterned roar of the crowd around them, 'This is the first time I've ever used energy in an NFC fight before…I never thought in a million years this girl would be this much of an issue,' a smile played across his lips as he opened his eyes. 

"Wow," all three commentators said in unison, their eyes full, watching the fiery red aura that surrounded Byron wave and crackle in the air. 

"This is getting real serious now!" Ahim said. 

Stepping forward, Byron towered over Ivy, and she stared back, the look of determination never leaving her eyes. 

'It's like she has no reaction to my energy. Can she even sense its power?'

Ivy hauled back, her fist hitting Byron square in his stomach. He didn't budge--not even a flinch. Ivy looked up, her determination turned to a brief look of shock, seeing his grin. 

Byron landed three consecutive punches in a row, with Ivy blocking the last one with her forearms. 

In one swift motion, Byron squatted down, digging his fingers into the floor, prying one of the massive concrete tiles that were almost as big as Ivy from the arena floor, spinning attempting to slam it into Ivy. 

Ivy was able to dodge the first spin, but on the second spin, the tile exploded on impact with her, creating a massive dust cloud. 

Byron stood outside the cloud, waiting. 

For many seconds, nothing happened. 

The referee began to walk forward, seeing if Ivy even survived the collision. 

No one noticed that Ivy just escaped the dust and was right outside Byron's peripheral vision. She pivoted and rushed towards him and hit him with a flying knee to the side of his ribs, causing him to collapse to his hands and knees. The energy aura around him dissipated as he sat there, sweat dripping from his face down to the ground. His mind was racing. 'How is this possible? There is no way in hell that this bitch is stronger than me!' He looked up to see her standing a few feet away staring at him hunched over. 'Well, of course! I'm just inexperienced…of course it would make sense that energy would only give me a small boost. What I need is an ability!'

Byron started laughing to himself, as he shakily got to his feet. He knew exactly what he needed to do. 

If he hit her hard enough, then it would all be over. She would either be dead, knocked out, or sent flying out of the ring, and each of those options sounded good to him. A big grin plastered across his face when he felt his muscles expand and get larger everywhere on his body. They increased in mass so much that he added an extra 250 lbs of muscle on to himself. The aura of energy that surrounded him reappeared as he started to slowly move toward Ivy. 

"What in the world…" Tobi looked on, mouth agape. 

"I've never seen anything like this, folks!" Cheryl said, almost at a loss for words. 

Tears were streaming down Ahim's face, as he cried out, "This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!"

Byron knew that he didn't have enough energy reserves to create this ability exactly how he wanted, so he had to add the condition that for every ten seconds this ability is active, it will take one week off his overall life span. 

With a roar, Byron jumped forward, the tiles under him exploding from the force, angling himself in the air to try and land directly on Ivy. 

Ivy flipped out of the way, avoiding the human-shaped missile that crashed several feet in front of her. 

He dashed forward, throwing a flurry of punches, which Ivy easily dodged. 

Byron knew that he was slower, but it didn't matter; he knew all he needed to do was hit her once. He chased her around the ring as she was ducking and dodging all his strikes. 

Ivy noticed that he was breathing hard and was slowing down. It was only a matter of time before he noticed that, too. He lunged at her and proceeded to throw a volley of kicks and punches. Ivy connected a few punches of her own which Byron didn't even register as he was too focused on attacking. 

A horn blared as the clock hit zero, and the referee tentatively walked in between them, separating the two. 

As Byron turned to walk towards his corner, Ivy asked the ref, "Hey, can we just start the fourth round now? Can we just cancel the break in the round?"

The referee thought for a moment, "If you both agree to it, I don't see why not."

Ivy looked at Byron. 

Bryon turned, a big grin began stretching across his face, 'I like her.' He walked back to the middle of the ring, ignoring his coach, who was screaming at him to take a break. "Okay, I agree."