Despite Auren's terrifying attack, Vanessa's outstretched fist tears apart Auren's beam, splitting it in half, but her Aura grows weaker and weaker every split-second, while Auren's beam remains slightly weaker than her initial fist, but more or less constant.
About to be hit, Auren feels his senses tingle as he actually feels challenged to his limits, as he screams one more time and unleashes even more Aura. "Haaaaa!!!!!"
As Vanessa's fist is about to hit Auren, Auren's additional burst of Aura finally stops her advance, causing the gathered Aura on her fist to disappear entirely, thus allowing his beam to fully hit her, pushing her back with intense force.
Auren immediately stops his attack, not wanting to cause unnecessary damage or risk killing her.
He sees her barely manage to activate Ken before she crashes into the halfway destroyed wall of the Arena, far off the stage, her body partially embedded in the wall.
Amidst the chaos, the moderator dutifully resumes her narration of the fight.
"I... I am utterly unable to describe what just happened," the moderator admits as she talks excitedly. "Floor Master Vanessa has destroyed the stage, but somehow the Champion has avoided any damage and a direct hit. Revealing a new technique, Vanessa gambled everything on one powerful fist attack with such force I have never seen before, but the Champion had somehow used a technique to counter her attack and blast her away in the process with an invisible beam!"
The terrified crowd, despite their fear, cheers crazily, staring at Auren and Vanessa intensely.
Thousands of people are yelling over each other, having never even dreamed of seeing something this insane in their entire lives.
"This... is beyond a doubt the peak of martial arts. These techniques have never been witnessed before in other stages. Two absolute martial arts masters have gathered here... both still young! However, it looks like Floor Master Vanessa has lost and can't continue."
Upon hearing those words, Vanessa suddenly pushes herself out of the wall and rushes back at Auren, carefully avoiding the numerous holes in the ground before stepping back onto the partially destroyed stage. As she runs at him, Auren sees that her suit is partially destroyed, and her face is roughed up, her lips and nose bleeding.
Upon reaching him, she immediately engages him in melee combat, unleashing a clean combination of mostly punches, supported by an occasional kick, focusing entirely on speed, to shake Auren's defense.
Auren takes her head-on and manages to evade her attacks.
Covering his hands in a lot of Aura, he strikes at her, only for her to block with her bracers and gauntlets.
For the first time, Auren feels the rebound of his own Regalias. With each strike, his fists hurt as the incredibly sharp grooves, despite his superior Aura, cut open his knuckles, making him almost flinch in pain. More importantly, Vanessa, despite getting pushed back, is not taking any real damage.
Interesting.
"These... are incredible!" Vanessa yells, breathing heavily, her body in rough shape. Despite that, she is full of energy and motivation as she confidently attacks him again.
When facing another powerful punch, Auren raises his leg and blocks with his tall boots, using his fully covered shin to stop it.
This time, both Regalia cancel each other out, and Vanessa is pushed back, as her Aura is noticeably weaker.
Getting serious, Auren bombards Vanessa with water bullets he spits out of his mouth, causing her to desperately block them with her arms. Part of them still make it past her defense and crash into her body, Ken not being enough to fully protect her. Her Suit is torn apart, and a lot of wounds appear on her body, none of them fatal, however.
Stopping his ranged assault and speeding up more and more, Auren unleashes combination after combination, intentionally hitting her body and legs, avoiding her arms entirely.
As her reactions slow down and her body tenses up, only able to barely guard against his attacks, Auren hesitates for a second.
This is enough; I'll end it. Despite her aggressive behavior and desire to fight me, punching her like that makes me feel sick. This is the worst. Maybe I'm softer than I thought....
However, as Auren hesitates, Vanessa's eyes light up as she unleashes a quick combination, striking Auren in the face twice. Twisting his face away in an effort to dodge, he still gets hit and takes some damage before getting blown back a little.
Spitting up a mouthful of blood, Auren glares at Vanessa, who is smiling, deeply satisfied with herself.
Lesson learned... I guess.
Unleashing his full Aura, Auren uses Rhythm Echo, creating dozens of copies of himself and completely surrounding Vanessa with them, who is utterly unable to keep up and detect his real body.
He suddenly appears at her side, sweeps her legs, then kicks her back, stomps her onto the ground, only to grab her arm and put her into a vicious armlock.
"Do you give up?" Auren asks loudly, pulling hard and causing Vanessa to grit her teeth.
"Never!" she yells desperately, only for Auren to pull even harder.
"Are you stupid? This is over," Auren says. "Although... after all that shit you've pulled off during my absence, you deserve a little punishment... let's take our sweet time."
"Aaah... you... evil..." Vanessa complains, struggling, only for Auren to keep up the pressure, making her sigh loudly despite her position.
"Okay, I give up... I give up..." she relents, realizing her situation and Auren's patience thinning out.
"Couldn't quite hear you," Auren says, smirking, not stopping fully.
However, the referee, walking past the holes, approaches and looks at him. "Uhm, Champion Auren. Please stop."
"Fine," Auren says, stopping, only for Vanessa to stand up pretending to collapse onto him, but then revealing a smirk, as she's trying to headbutt him. Auren, however, instantly realizes her move and simply trips her, causing her to fall headfirst towards the ground.
Before she crashes onto the ground face-first, he sighs as he grabs her hand and pulls her back up and close to him.
"You fought well... and you've grown strong," Auren praises her. "Though I still can't comprehend what you wanted to accomplish here."
If you'd just use your brain a little more....
"... I wanted to win... and show off..." she says, puffing her cheeks and then hugging Auren in frustration, as her body loses most of its strength.
"I also wanted you to be impressed... and praise me..." she admits quietly, a few tears rolling down her cheeks.
"..."
She is crying now?!
How childish... though she is cute, that much is certain.
Unable to hold himself back, he headpats her and hugs her softly, as she tightly grabs him and lets out more tears in frustration.
She really planned to win this.... how stupid. Though I have to admit, she is crazy strong.
"Uhm? I guess the fight is over?!" the moderator announces. "Champion Auren has defended his title!"
The audience roars in excitement, though a few of them are more than just a little confused by the unexpected ending.
"No interview today," Auren announces and grabs the exhausted Vanessa in a princess carry, causing her to blush a little, her tears finally stopping.
Carrying her off the stage, Auren jumps toward the upper part of the Arena until he makes his way back to Benjamin's private box at the top, which he promptly enters, leaving behind a fully destroyed Arena that looks like it was bombed for hours.
The Prince, a few female attendants massaging his shoulders, looks visibly entertained, holding a glass of wine in one hand while sitting on the comfortable couch.
"Welcome back," he says with a grin.
"Took a little longer than expected," Auren comments before looking at the still-blushing Vanessa.
"Can you hold out until later?" Auren whispers to her, a hint of concern on his face.
"Huh... I... Yes... of course," she replies, trying to sound casual, unable to hide her embarrassment. "I don't need your help... I'm just fine!" she adds, punching her own chest, only to wince in pain.
"..."
"Looks like you tamed the beast," Benjamin comments, quite amused by the scene. "Reminds me of when I'm playing with my lions. You are both equally inhuman. This monster in your arms has the destructive power of the Big Bertha, the famous bombing airship used in the Azian War 30 years ago. I saw it during a ceremony a decade ago, and it's not superior to her Hatsu at all."
"Heh, of course. I am awesome," Vanessa replies, though even talking is visibly exhausting her.
Suddenly, someone knocks on the door, and a second later, Eren enters.
Smiling at Auren, he shakes his hand and gives him a small hug.
"Welcome back. You really went all out. That fight was incredible," he says softly, staring at Vanessa in his arms, unable to hold back a soft smile.
Just a few seconds later, his phone vibrates again and again, obviously more of his friends and acquaintances sending their regards.
"I've asked for a pickup; it should be there," Auren notes. "Prince... it's been a pleasure. If you need something, give me a call."
"Yeah, yeah," Benjamin says. "If I need something small, I'll ask that assistant of yours, Ura, right? She's quite capable. I'll only call you in case of a real emergency."
"Right," Auren says, exiting the box with Vanessa in his arms, followed by Eren.
Together, they make it to the airport within half an hour, avoiding being seen, the insane crowds making it almost impossible to recognize him within the mass of people.
At the airport, Auren immediately recognizes his own airship and is welcomed by Jolt and Marsha, who came to pick him up, both looking more than happy to see him.
Marsha immediately hugs him and softly caresses Vanessa, who has her eyes closed by now. "Poor girl, why did she have to go all out?" She mutters to herself.
After greeting them and talking to them for a few minutes, he carries Vanessa to an empty cabin and removes her ruined armor.
He sees that she is already fully asleep, her body extremely exhausted, most of her Aura used up as well.
"I guess you earned yourself a rest," Auren mutters, causing her to unconsciously smile widely in satisfaction.
Stripping off her gauntlets and bracers and wearing them again, Auren raises his hands, covering them in an intense azure Aura that dyes the whole cabin in an equally intense light.
Let's get to it. I have a lot of things to do. I'm back, huh?
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