"Are you sure you want to go through with this, Fátima?" Selene asked, remaining steadfast in her defensive stance. Her eyes drifted towards the bandage wrapped around the kendoka's shoulder. "I don't want to hear about you saying that I didn't really win because of that injury."

"You've got a lot of confidence in you. I can respect that." Even though her bokken was pointing directly at her, Selene could still make out a short grin on her face. "But you should have taken that offer to head back without a fight. Remember?” Fátima said curtly. “That match back at Belanger's dojo wasn't even close. I had to keep the rules in mind. Safety measures too. Stuff that hindered me from doing what I'm really capable of."

Selene's legs trembled a bit. She then clutched the handle of her tonfas tighter. "Same here," she replied, disguising the uncertainty in her voice.

"Uh-huh.” There was a short silence as the two combatants stared at one another. “I can tell you're scared,” the kendoka continued. “Don't worry, I'll make the fight quick." Fátima thrusted her sword forward, pushing the tip of the bokken towards Selene's front. Selene formed an "X" with her tonfas, deflecting the trajectory of the bokken upwards. The wood of the two weapons clacked against each other. Fátima then drew her weapon back, returning to her offensive stance. "One last chance, Selene," Fátima said. "I like you. I really do. I don't want to embarrass you again if I don't have to."

"I can keep going," Selene said as she kept her legs moving by bouncing up and down in place.

Fátima shook her head, giving Selene a look of disappointment. She then raised the bokken upwards, just above Selene's height. The weapon was then quickly brought down in short yet fierce slash. Selene took the tonfa in her right hand and swatted the attack away using the shaft of her weapon. The bokken went to the side, giving Selene an opportunity to advance forward with a single step.

Selene was within attacking range. She took the tonfa in her left hand, spun the handle so that the length of the weapon was pointed forward and brought it upwards. She landed a glancing strike on Fátima's arm, hurting her just enough to make her wince. Fátima jumped back, creating more space between her and Selene.

"That was sloppy of you," Selene said. She bent her knees and angled her body forward to reduce the size of her of hittable area. "Didn't expect you to let me get the first hit like that."

"It's been a long day. I've gone up against a lot of different weapons. Sometimes you're bound to make mistakes." After Fátima finished her statement, she positioned her weapon for a mid-horizontal swing. "But it shouldn't take me long to get back into the groove of things." The kendoka followed through with her attack, swinging wide at Selene's side.

A swift swerve of her arms allowed Selene to block the swing with both of her tonfas. The weapons clashed; the sound of colliding wood echoed throughout the night. Selene winced as her entire body was pushed back from the blow. As she recovered from the impact, she watched Fátima dash forward at her. The woman thrusted her weapon towards Selene's arm. A twist of her body mitigated the impact of the stab. Even though the weapon only glanced, Selene still staggered back from the hit.

"Ack..." Selene closed her eyes and kept grunt low, but it was still loud enough to have been heard by her opponent. Despite the pain, Selene didn't break her gaze from Fátima's bokken. She continued her onslaught with a vertical slash coming towards her chest. Selene crossed her tonfas and formed an "X" shape with them. The sword was intercepted and became wedged in between the pair of tonfas.

"Nice... defense..." Fátima muttered as she tried to pry her weapon out of Selene's grip. Selene's legs shook as she kept her weapons crossed, fighting against the kendoka's pull. With a low grunt, Selene kept the weapons locked and began to lower both hers and the bokken to the ground. As the height of the weapons diminished, Selene took a step forward, putting herself within striking distance.

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The tonfa in Selene's left hand spun around to extend its length and flashed towards Fátima. The side of the weapon hit the kendoka across the arm bluntly. Selene could feel the resistance from the bokken disappear as Fátima reeled back from the hit. With her guard down, Selene stepped forward once more and used the tip of short end of her right tonfa as a driving force of her next attack. A straight jab connected into Fátima's gut.

"Uhnn..." Fátima backed away as she held onto her stomach with one hand while her bokken dragged across the ground. She had one eye closed, keeping the other open and staring back into Selene's fierce eyes. "Where was this Selene back at Belanger's dojo?"

"Maybe nerves got to me," Selene said bluntly. "Or maybe you're not what everyone talks you up as. You're going for three losses? Going to let Quang get a win in, too?"

Fátima didn't reply. She shrugged her injured arm, the same one that had been cut, before putting both of her hands on the handle of her bokken. All emotion left her face. The kendoka's legs spread apart and the bokken angled towards Selene again. She went in for an overhead strike, forcing Selene to block again. Fátima continued to attack with a series of short yet swift strikes from a multitude of angles. Each strike was effectively defended by quick and precise adjustments of Selene's tonfas. The rhythmic clashing of the weapons continued, with the time between each hit decreasing as the battle continued and Fátima's onslaught became fiercer.

With all her higher attacks having been deflected, Fátima mixed up her approach with low sweep of her sword. The edge of her bokken dug into Selene’s ankles. The pain shot up straight up Selene’s leg, making her topple onto one knee as she let out an anguished wail.

Selene's heart raced and her ankle throbbed, but her nerves remained calm. She followed the movement of the bokken, making sure that she never lost sight of the weapon. Proper positioning of her arms allowed her to deflect the blows to the side rather than take the brunt of the force head on. Having grown frustrated at the lack of progress in breaking through her opponent's defense, Fátima lifted her bokken high above her head while holding it with both hands.

As the kendoka raised her bokken, Selene brought her right arm back. With all her might, she hurled her tonfa across the narrow area that separated her from Fátima. The soaring weapon stopped when it smacked the kendoka on the side of her head. Fátima let out a sharp grunt. The tonfa bounced off her cheek as Fátima dropped her weapon out of her hands. She began to topple backwards, while Selene gritted through the pain in her ankle to dash towards her. Selene tack;ed the falling woman, bringing both of them to the ground.

The kendoka didn't resist the attack, falling to the dit in a limp heap. Selene remained on top, raising her left fist back and ready to strike her downed opponent with a jab. Her anger subsided when she saw Fátima slowly look up to face her with one eye closed and a long bruise that went across her cheek.. They both stared at each other; on Fátima's face was an expression of both rage and fear as her lips quivered and her eyes narrowed. The open eye was red and watery but Selene still felt a sense of fear as their eyes locked.

"F-Fátima?" Spencer stammered as he and the other two looked at the scene. All of their mouths were agape, staring at Fátima with trembling posture. Both combatants turned towards Fátima's underlings.

"If you don't kill me now..." Fátima muttered. Selene looked at her opponent again. The shred of sorrow that was on her face before gave way to anger. "You'll regret it."

With a huff, Selene shook her head. "Good night, Fátima." Still keeping the kendoka pinned to the ground with her weight, Selene lifted her left tonfa again. Fátima closed both eyes and angled her head away.

Then there was a soft thump.

All three of Fátima's pupils winced and turned their head away. Selene staggered off her downed opponent, reaching over to pick up the dropped tonfa in the process. She slowly walked towards the fight between her friends and the Union leader. Spencer, Jake and Kiki all ran past her to tend to their defeated teacher.

"Try not to move her too much!" Selene called out to the former Dragon's Bite teachers as she held onto one arm with her other hand. She panted and took in another deep breath. "You can't just... go shaking unconscious people..." Selene then dropped to her knees, letting go of her tonfas as she held onto the areas where the kendoka's bokken had struck.