The instructor's signal was still echoing through the arena walls when Vitel launched herself at Nuke. Unlike Fitty, she didn't want to give her opponent any chance or opening to strike first. Especially without her needles to fire between her fingers, she had to rely purely on her body's responsiveness to close the distance quickly.
"Wake up already, Nathalia!" Vitel shouted, throwing a spinning kick aimed at Nuke's temple. Since Nuke was slightly taller, Vitel had to strike upward.
Nuke, on the other hand, seemed to float in a near-unconscious state, like someone drifting through their own thoughts without awareness. Her eyes were half-closed, her stance barely existent. Even if there was some kind of guard, it looked like she had never fought before, despite the three straight days of training. At the last second, she tilted her head back. Vitel's foot passed within millimeters of her face, slicing through the air. Nuke didn't counterattack. She just lazily stepped back, yawning as she struggled to wake up, dust from Vitel's attack settling onto her mid-calf boots.
"…It's really noisy here…" Nuke muttered, her voice slow and dragging, like someone fighting to wake up. "Vitelina… you move too much… it's tiring just watching… and I'm still waking up…"
"Yeah, Vitel. And if you haven't noticed, I'm taking this seriously. I don't know about you, but I came here so I wouldn't have to keep living like livestock out there." Vitel didn't stop. Using the momentum from her kick, she spun and, as soon as her foot found the ground, unleashed a rapid series of punches aimed at Nuke's joints.
Her final punch landed clean on Nuke's nose, sending her to the ground bleeding.
"Alright… looks like I can win. I picked her because she seemed like easy prey and didn't stand out much during training. I've got a good chance here," Vitel thought.
But as Vitel watched Nuke lying still, wondering if the fight was already over, Nuke's eyes snapped wide open. Gone was the drowsiness. Now they shined with excitement as she stared at the scarred sky above. Then, with a smile, she shot up at an alarming speed, her gaze locked onto Vitel as she wiped the blood from her nose.
"But… what is this?" Vitel muttered, instinctively stepping back.
"Now that's better… Nuke's awake… and she wants to go kaboom!" Nuke said clearly and confidently, slamming her fist into her palm.
In the blink of an eye, Nuke was on top of Vitel, clenching her fists so tightly the bones showed through her skin. Vitel barely managed to dodge, the punch whistling past her ear, the air itself seeming to ripple from the force.
Nuke kept advancing relentlessly, throwing an overwhelming barrage of punches. Vitel dodged by the smallest margins, and whenever she tried to counter, Nuke would catch her strikes in a way that made it seem like she absorbed the impact, minimizing the damage. It was then Vitel realized the mistake she had made thinking this would be easy.
When she glanced behind her, she saw it, she was cornered, her back nearly kissing the arena wall. When she turned forward again, it was too late. The punch was already coming, too fast to dodge or block.
"A-a-a-a-and… BOOOM!" Nuke shouted as her fist sank into Vitel's stomach.
The impact was deafening, as if every organ inside Vitel had exploded from that single blow.
"What kind of strength… what kind of weight is this… she never showed anything like this in training… if my stomach had bones, they'd definitely be broken now," Vitel thought.
The shock spread through her entire body, as if she were exploding from the inside. Blood burst from her mouth. Seeing another barrage coming, she forced herself to move, rolling away and using the arena wall for support as Nuke's fists slammed into it in pursuit.
When Vitel finally created some distance, both stood apart again. Nuke's hands dripped with blood, yet she showed no sign of pain.
Vitel struggled to breathe, hunched over, still feeling the impact in her stomach, swallowing her own blood as she realized she might have made the worst possible choice in picking this opponent.
"Why… were you running?… weren't you the one who told Nuke to wake up and blow everything up?" Nuke asked.
"Damn it… I didn't expect this kind of strength… I won't survive another hit like that… I need an advantage… if I had my needles…" Vitel thought.
"Also… Nuke thought you were so light… if I hit you harder, would you fly?" Nuke added.
"Think… think… for now I need to keep some distance."
Nuke rushed her again. Even trying to retreat, Vitel couldn't escape. Slowed by the previous hit, she had only seconds to react. The punch was about to land, no time to dodge. Acting on instinct, Vitel placed one hand on Nuke's fist and the other on her forearm, vaulting over her like a gymnast, using Nuke's arm as a springboard.
"She's so strong she held my entire weight on her arm," Vitel thought.
Still midair, she tucked her legs and then extended them, delivering a double kick to the back of Nuke's head. Nuke defended, raising her arm in a triceps stretch-like position to shield herself.
The impact sent Vitel flying forward like a missile. Her hands hit the ground first, then she rolled, finally catching herself on her feet, sliding slightly while crouched on all fours.
She barely had time to breathe before Nuke was on her again, now with a murderous look, a kick ready to turn her head into a soccer ball.
Vitel reacted just in time, raising both forearms as shields. The kick slammed into them at point-blank range, sending her rolling again until she crashed into the wall.
Even after taking heavy hits, she hadn't even stood up before bracing for another attack. But it didn't come.
Looking up, she saw Nuke still standing where she had struck, holding the arm she used to block the kick.
"…Huh?… I can't feel the pain from her kick anymore, but I still feel the punch in my stomach… how?" Vitel muttered as she tried to stand. "She must have more brute strength in her arms than her legs… and she's still feeling that arm… if I can make her rely more on kicks, I might have a better chance… but how… I'm tired… I shouldn't have focused so much on throwing and so little on conditioning…"
As she leaned against the wall, thinking, she suddenly turned her head.
"What's this? Cracks? She cracked the wall with her fists? If I can grab some pieces, I might gain a small advantage. Back to the basics of my training… at least it's something."
Seven years earlier, in a forest, Vitel trained with swords alongside her uncle.