“No weapons. No Chakra. Hand-to-hand combat only. I’m taking part in the Tournament too. I’d rather not give a potential opponent any more information about my abilities than I have to, and I’m sure the same goes for you.”
“Agreed,” Vir said. “I intend to fight with my wolf friend, here. Will he be tested as well?”
Tara shrugged. “Depends on how you do. This is more of a formality, anyway. The Ravager’s never once recommended anyone who didn’t make the cut. You must be some hot stuff,” she said, licking her lips.
Whether it was Vir’s imagination, or a Naga habit, Vir found the gesture incredibly intimidating.
“I see…” Vir replied cautiously. “I’ll take my armor off, then.”
“Good call,” Tara replied, jumping up onto the stage with limber ease.
Vir took a minute to remove his brigandine cuirass and left his chakram and katar in Cirayus’ care before hopping onto the stage himself.
He took a moment to appraise his opponent. Tara was extremely toned and well-muscled, though they were the subtle muscles honed through combat, rather than anything for show.
Not to mention her tattoos. She wouldn’t be using them in this bout, but Vir took notice, in case he faced her in the actual Tournament. Vir had made it a point to memorize them all.
That said, based on the number of silver tattoos alone, Vir concluded Tara possessed all three Panav Regular Bloodline Arts—Yuma’s Touch, which slowly healed wounds, Purge, which removed toxins from the body, and Corruption. The same ability Balagra possessed.
That wasn’t all. Snaking from her neck to each arm, and Vir suspected—each leg as well—was another silver tattoo.
Vir had never seen it before, but its size alone told him all he needed to know.
“You have Yuma’s Embrace?” he asked, caught off guard.
It was one of the two Panav Ultimate Bloodline Arts—analogous to Balancer of Scales.
Tara grinned. “Don’t worry. I won’t be relying on my arts for this fight.”
It was a good thing, too. Yuma’s Embrace, like Yuma’s Touch, healed physical wounds. It was, however, in another realm in capability. Vir heard it could heal any and all physical wounds—and that once the wielder had mastered the art, the healing was rapid. Sometimes near-instantaneous.
Its only weakness, like all the other Ultimate Arts, was its prana consumption.
“Good to know,” Vir replied. Whoever Tara was, she was clearly an important figure in Panav society for her to have been given such a tattoo.
“Well?” she asked. “You ready to fight? Or would you like to dawdle some more?”
Vir grinned despite himself. “Let’s do this.”
81
QUALIFICATION DUEL (PART TWO)
Vir faced off against Tara at a distance of ten paces. They were both unarmed and unarmored.
“Alright, so the rules are pretty simple,” Tara said, cracking her neck. “First to yield, be pushed out of the ring or knocked out, loses. No Chakras. No tattoos allowed. This is pure, basic, physical combat. Anything goes, so long as it’s not lethal. Any questions?”
Vir shook his head. “None.”
There was just one tattoo he needed to keep active, whether Tara minded or not. His concealment art had to be active at all times, given the number of Iksana in the area.
Luckily, Tara lacked Sight, which meant she wouldn’t notice the tattoo. Which meant she wouldn’t notice even if he activated Prana Current and used his movement arts, but Vir immediately dismissed that idea.
Not only was it cheating, it ultimately failed to benefit him. If he couldn’t defeat Tara without the use of his pranic abilities, Vir doubted he had much hope of defeating the others in the tournament. Let alone Cirayus.
If his skills and his prana-saturated body didn’t give him enough of an advantage, he’d be better off leaving and returning for the next tournament.
“Begin!” the Bairan registrar shouted from the sidelines.
Tara crouched and exploded toward Vir, running as fast as she could. With her speed, there was little she could do other than barrel right into him.
Despite this knowledge, and despite prana arts being barred, he refused to underestimate his opponent.
Vir jumped well out of the way of the charging demon.
A good thing, too. Tara pivoted and spun into the air, sending a flying, spinning kick that came so close to Vir’s face that the wind ruffled his hair.
Fast and agile, Vir noted, stepping in.
Large, flashy attacks such as these could be devastating, but left the combatant exposed and vulnerable if they missed.
Vir struck the moment Tara’s feet touched the stage… Only to have his punch connect with nothing but air.
Instead of stopping her momentum, Tara had allowed herself to fall, seamlessly transitioning into a roll that took her safely out of Vir’s reach.
She popped up and started bouncing on the balls of her feet. A toothy grin was plastered on her face.
“Not bad,” she said. “This might actually make for a good practice bout.”
“Right back at you,” Vir replied. “It’s been a long time since I’ve fought anyone as agile as you.”
“Surprised you’ve fought anyone as fast as me. That’s kind of my thing, you know? Who is this person? I want to fight them.”
Vir grinned, thinking of Tia. “Believe me, you’re realms apart from—!”
Tara bolted from her position while Vir had been mid-sentence.
Smart.
She’d kept him talking, all to stage her next move, interrupting him mid-speech to throw him off. This Naga was crafty.
Against a lesser opponent, it might actually have worked. Against someone like Vir, though, it did her little good.
This time, she dove into a roll before lunging upward at Vir, hoping to smash his chin.
It was Tara’s turn to hit air.
Expecting such a tactic, Vir had dropped low, driving a punch into her abdomen as she fired her uppercut—which missed.
While Vir’s full power was restricted without Prana Current and Empower, his physical muscles had been toned and built through combat in the Ash. They were also gorged with prana.
Vir did not strike lightly.
It was a testament that Tara didn’t double over coughing. Instead, Vir’s fist felt like it had connected with steel. Seeing the incoming attack, Tara wrenched her body, dissipating some of the energy as she fell into a somersault that took her a safe distance away.
Vir’s attack hadn’t all been for naught, though. The Naga clutched her sides when she stood back up.
“Nice punch,” she said, though her face betrayed none of the pain she must’ve felt. “Now, how about we get this on for real?”
Vir lunged mid-sentence. If Tara could use that tactic, so could he. Rather than charging into her with speed, Vir let loose a low kick.
Tara moved back to avoid it, but it was only a distraction. Vir slammed her with a series of punches. He rained jabs, hooks, and uppercuts upon her, forcing her to guard with her arms.
Her guard protected her upper body, but it also left her blind to his next moves. Vir slammed a brutal kick into her stomach.
This time, Tara did double over. Instead of allowing her to recover, Vir circled around to her back, wrapped his arm around her neck and fell onto his back, bringing her down with him.
His legs curled around her waist, and he hung from her like a monkey.
It was a powerful grappling move, and gave him a position from which he could attack, but couldn’t be attacked by her.
It’d been awhile since Vir had to exercise his Kalari arts, but the months of training in Riyan’s dome with Maiya came back to him in an instant, and he tightened his grip, locking Tara into place. She struggled helplessly, arms flailing, trying to grab onto Vir, who remained straddled behind her.