Chapter 46 A Loss

A flash of light almost blinded Satoshi, making him stumble backward. Being the calm fighter he was, he immediately summoned his Windfan to blow him away from the stage. In a split second, countless metallic feathers stuck on the arena. If he hadn't listened to his instincts, he would've suffered critical injuries that would leave him out of commission for a few weeks. That's how it is when it comes to fights in the Concrete Arena. Even though this was just the casual division, there's still a huge chance for someone to get horribly injured, rendering them useless for who knows how long.

Satoshi dodged Plume's attack by a hair's breadth but he wasn't out of danger yet. The rules of the Concrete Arena states that once you're out of bounds, you'll be the loser of the match. That's why a smile formed on Plume's lips as he saw Satoshi falling down slowly to his inevitable loss. Although she felt sad that she wouldn't be able to beat him up, the feeling of victory was more than enough for her to appease her rage.

But then, Satoshi summoned yet another familiar— his Nailgun— and he rode on it, catching his balance at the last moment before shooting upward towards the ceiling of the arena. He then started shooting nails at a fast rate, catching Plume off-guard and wounding her with it. Of course, she was able to react quickly and shield herself from the nails that rained down on her, but Satoshi was smarter than her, tactics-wise. He immediately targeted a large space, forcing Plume to spread out her defense since she could tell that every nail could be controlled. This allowed Yuuta to target the gaps between her wings, wounding Plume as the nails hit her.

'There was no doubt about it, he has the power to control anything metallic, just like that legendary superhero in the movies.' Plume thought to herself in frustration. The inflicted slashes from the nails caused her to flinch every time but she endured it. So far, Satoshi didn't have any openings, and adding to that, he's got the higher ground. She's totally at a disadvantage here.

She's got two choices. One, she can defend as long as she could and that would make the fight drag on until everyone from the audience gets tired of it. Or two, she'll suffer severe wounds after beckoning her feathers back so she could fly up and engage Satoshi in combat mid-air. If she were to do the former, the most likely scenario would be her losing all her fans after such a loss... or optimistically speaking, they'd just leave the arena and watch her next fight. Or seconds, she could sacrifice her fair skin and let Satoshi attack her with nails as she drops her defenses and goes on the offensive. There's a small chance that he could pull it off, but somehow she denied it. She couldn't help but have mixed feelings about her next actions, which forced her to stay where she was while Satoshi continued his onslaught.

"I can do this all day, Plume." Satoshi taunted her from above, prompting her to attack instead of hiding behind her shell like a cowardly turtle. Just this comment alone really hit Plume's nerves but she didn't drop her defense. Instead, she closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the Nailgun. She knew that the moment the nailgun stopped firing, that would be her chance to move since it would be reloading. If she misses her chance right now, she'd best just forfeit the match since there's no chance that she'd be able to win.

With a grin, she continued her desperate attempt to get out of the sticky situation.

Click. Click. Click.

The nailgun seemed to fire even more rapidly than its first wave but once the break was detected, well, it would be an understatement to say that Plume took a break and she managed to regain her position and mercilessly attack Satoshi. From the looks of it, he was fighting much better than normal but then again, he was moving too much so it won't be too long now before he tires himself out.

"White Lion, I need some help," Satoshi called for his White Lion this time. As much as he hated to take him out, he was well aware that he was running out of gas. With their minds connected once again, all that Satoshi had to do was tell her how to dodge every Plume's attack while he catch his breath. It's like resting and fighting at the same time on autopilot and Satoshi couldn't get used to the weird feeling.

"Get down here, Satoshi!" Plume screamed, losing her patience. She'd seen Satoshi fight before during the broadcasted Slime Alien match but now that she's seeing it right in front of her, she couldn't believe that such an unknown student would hold so much talent. And not only that, he could use every summoned being as if it was his dominant hand. There was little to no chance that Satoshi will win— but some people from the audience believed that they'd be able to witness something extraordinary today; that they'll be able to see Satoshi win against the undefeated champion.

Plume could sense how the spectators were acting and so, she didn't have any choice but to impress them. If she loses their interest now, then her pay would actually be cut short.

Then something suddenly transpired. While Satoshi was trying to gain space from Plume, she was already charging right at her like a maniac. Her eyes were bloodshot and she was extending her hands as if she was going to strangle him to death. She was also accelerating towards Satoshi at a fast rate.

"Dangerous, very dangerous," Satoshi muttered to himself, summoning yet another familiar from his storage, Orb Oboros. "Go Lighter! You can do it!" He cheered as if he was in a pokemon battle.

Lighter once again formed two orbs of flames and shot them with incredible energy towards Plume. Little did Yuuta know that Lighter could actually burn Plume's feathers and she had already lost a couple of them before Satoshi could stop.

"AARGHH!!!" As Plume felt the burn on her wings, she collapsed to the ground and winced in pain. Her feathers were supposed to be indestructible and yet a simple orb of fire managed to burn her aforementioned wings. She knew that it would recover since she had damaged one before and it returned back to normal after a few days,

"But... I still have a fight tomorrow." Plume's first thought landed on her schedule tomorrow— a schedule that she won't be able to do since her wings are critically injured— a taste of her own medicine after bringing most of her opponents to the Nurse due to her insane capability of injuring someone.

Satoshi didn't know what to do so he stopped his attack altogether and went down the arena. In his haste, he got down out of the arena and rushed towards Plume. He knows how competitive she could get when it comes to superhero fights but he knows deep inside that she's just a girl three or so years older than her. He would've been able to defeat her had he continued his attack and since he has more weapons in his arsenal, it would be a cheat to overwhelm her when all she could do was focus on attack or defense one at a time whereas Satoshi could do both and more simultaneously. It was just a bad matchup and Satoshi felt really bad that he had to do something so unsightly as a superhero.

"Winner— Plume!" The automated voice announced once again as soon as Satoshi's foot touched the outside part of the arena. Silence so awkwardly befell the entire stadium as the event sunk in into their minds like a huge tragedy. They were so sure that Satoshi would win... and yet, he relinquished all that glory just because Plume's wings got a little bit damaged.

"Eh? What is he doing? He should've won that fight!" Hiroshi clicked his tongue as if he was staring at some disgraceful thing. If he were outside, he would've probably spat on the sidewalk to further accentuate his disappointment.

"My disappointment is— "

"I'll stop you right there, sirs," Midori said, covering Hiroshi's mouth before he could finish a famous tagline. He then cleared his throat and stood in front of everyone. "Class 3-1, we all know that what Satoshi did might have been disappointing since he was clearly the winner but! Put yourselves in his shoes, suckers. He had defeated the undefeated Plume but even then, he didn't look down on her as if she was just her enemy. Frankly, if I were him I'd have done the same too. If you see a maiden get hurt and you can do something to ease her pain even just a little bit, wouldn't you take action? Think about it."

Having said his part, he heaved a sigh as he returned to his seat and stared at everyone who was on the verge of leaving. They too got back to their seats since their minds took a one-eighty after hearing Midori. Instead of expressing their disappointment, they clapped their hands as Satoshi and other medics rushed in towards Plume's aid.