Amelia had taken a hold of the leg Shuka used to land on the ground with after she had finished her kick. Before Shuka could understand anything, Amelia heaved lifted her body from the ground, and jumped ahead, making her fall on her back with a loud bam.
Before anyone could understand what happened, Amelia loosened her grip, climbed over Shuka’s body, and trapped her in a reverse armlock. Her size was small, but she was an expert in exerting her strength at weak points. Amelia was holding the joints with a strong grip.
Jenkins gulped and said, “Why did these two girls have such a good mastery of mixed martial art grapple locks?”
Shi Lang smiled and said, “Because, they lack physical strength like us. The body of a female is more flexible than a male and thus they can master the grappling techniques better than us.”
Darcx nodded and asked, “I agree Captain, who will go next?”
Jenkins said, “I will go.” confidently.
Shi Lang shrugged his shoulders and he said, “I have no problem going last.”
Amelia finished the game even faster than Quinn, making the other people surprised. Ameris asked, “What is this technique? I can see that it is somewhat related to grappling, but the effect is higher than common grappling.”
Rosa replied, “We call it mixed martial arts. This form of combat is derived from mixing up many fighting styles in the existence of Terran history. They are effective, because of their swiftness. This swiftness is what we need to deal with an assailant quickly.” her pace was calm and steady.
Ameris nodded and said, “Next match.”
Jenkins walked over in front of the opponent called Lyrina. He clasped his fist and bowed his head, however, he did not take his eyes off the lady. This gesture of his seemed to be a provocation to the Neomonion palace guard.
How dare this male lock eyes with her? Ameris smirked and said, “Begin.”
Both the people shot forward, Lyrina has watched two matches by now and she was aware of the lethality of the grappling techniques. However, Jenkins was not Quinn or Amelia, he liked to clash head-on, and exchange blows with people. The frontal force he joined was filled with people who loved to brawl.
Shi Lang was watching the two approach each other and said, “Ten minutes, hard brawl.”
Darcx said, “Five thousand credits.”
Quinn and Amelia exchanged a glance and said, “We want in too.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “Ten thousand credits, Jenkins will take a hit on his ribs.”
Amelia said, “Ten thousand, his jaw will break.”
Quinn said, “Hmmm since you all are betting on him getting injured, I will bet on him winning.”
Darcx raised his eyebrow and said, “Oh, such confidence in Jenkins. You are on, but who will be keeping the tabs?”
They all turned their heads to look at Rosa Blues. The instructor sensed it and said, “Ten percent of the pool is my commission.”
The people unanimously said, “Agreed.”
That said, they transferred the credits to Rosa. Jenkins and Lyrian were going hard at it. They both were exchanging punches for punches. The fists did not land on their bodies, but they were being blocked by blows. However, Jenkins was not only using his fists but his whole body. He was an elite in combat, and he was aware of where the opponent could attack him.
Jenkins was weaving his head side by side like a pendulum to confuse the lady. But the opponent was not a rookie either, Lyrina suddenly ducked and dashed forward, she has gotten used to Jenkins’s style of fighting, and then her fist connected on the left side of Jenkins’s Ribs.
Shi Lang clapped his hand and asked, “Double or nothing?”
Darcx sighed and asked, “Nothing. You were aware that the weakness of this boxing lies in close range. But how did you predict the timing?”
Shi Lang just smirked. Amelia said, “The opponents are not familiar with our techniques, but they can adapt. Remember they are all soldiers.”
Quinn and Darcx nodded. On the sparring spot, Jenkins took the hit and reeled back from the pain. Lyrina said, “Know your place.”
Jenkins raised his head to match his gaze with her and said, “Yeah, my place is still higher than you, Ma’am.”
His words were outright rude, and they successfully pissed off the lady, as she charged ahead. Jenkins took the passive stance, he began to parry her attacks and would deliver jabs when he found a good chance. After two minutes, Lyrina slowed down a lot.
Jenkins said, “Are you trying to figure out why you are slow? Ever since I was a child my father had me train in fighting. The brawl earlier was to figure out your muscle movements. Just now I jabbed at your muscles, to make them rupture from the weak points.” calmly.
The next moment, Jenkins unleashed a barrage of attacks. His punches were fast and but the force behind them was light. He was moving fast enough to sneak hits from the gaps in Lyrina’s defense. Five minutes later, the duel came to an end. Jenkins offered his hand to the opponent and said, “Yes, I am a man, but I do not look down on you. Doing my best to fight you is a way I acknowledge your strength, but if you are going to insult me, I will do the same. My attitude depends on how you are to me.”
Lyrina did not take his hand, Jenkins shrugged his shoulders and then walked back to his team, where Shi Lang was taking back credits from Rosa. The next match was between Api and Darcx. The two people were anything but normal. Shi Lang even felt that they were cloned from the same material.
They were both apt at using their own techniques. The match was a tie. Darcx was a person who would never act with his all until he has no other options left. That said, the sparring came to an end, and Ameris said, “Shusha Ace, are you ready?”
Shi Lang nodded and walked forward, after flexing his body. Racile was a lady with a cold aura surrounding her. The two stood against each other, but Shi Lang greeted her and on Ameris’s word, the match began.
Racile shot forward, but she did not attack the boy directly, she moved around him. Shi Lang did not react, he just stood there with a calm face. Suddenly, he turned to his right and used his hand to make a grasping gesture. He caught hold of Racile’s wrist. He did not give her a chance, pulled her forward, turned his body, and gave her an overhead drop.
However, he did not let go of her hand. He pinned down the girl under his knee and shot a punch at her face. However, when everyone thought he would be brutal, the punch came to a stop a few inches from Racile’s face.
Ameris asked, “How could he catch her fist? She is a speed specialist.”
Amelia replied, “Ace trained his senses with a special method, he can perceive danger.”
The neomonian captain asked, “What is that method, can you tell us?”
Amelia said, “High-velocity projectiles shooting at him from random directions and angles. As the training progresses, the size, the speed, and the lethality of the projectiles change as well. The last stage was almost like him standing in front of bullets.”
Ameris was shocked to hear this. She could not help but ask, “Why would he go this far?”
Jenkins chuckled and said, “What else, he is an adrenaline junkie. Just because he wanted to find out what it was like to be crushed, he entered an artificial gravity field and suffered from ten times the gravity.”
This was to cover up. Amelia said, “This drive is the reason he could compete against others, dare you bad mouth him.”
Jenkins made a zipped gesture and stood back with Quinn and Darcx. Shi Lang walked over and asked, “I would like to say something, Captain Ameris, with your permission.”
Ameris nodded and Shi Lang faced the five beaten soldiers and said, “The reason you lost is not that were had the element of surprise, as a soldier you should not be so vulnerable to that, but because you did not have an ounce of respect towards your enemy. You all think using your full strength to fight is humility, however, if I did not use my full power, that would mean I do not respect you. It would be a testimony that I do not think of you as someone equal.”
He paused and said, “Only when you respect your enemy, will you be able to preserve and improve. Learn from your enemy, rectify your weakness, and slowly you will become strong.”
Ameris nodded and asked after a few seconds, “Shusha Ace, how about a match with me?”
Shi Lang turned his head and said, “Do you dislike me so much?”