Jay didn’t even have time to raise his arms before the hammer slammed into his torso. He knew his ribs had cracked before the pain even reached his brain.

It was all he could do not to drop to the floor after Zara shunted him sideways. Jay's legs seemed to tangle themselves into knots, the sudden impact scrambling every message Jay sent to his body.

By the time he’d regained control, ink splashed into his chest. The black stain signalling the end of the fight.

“Nice! You finally broke through it.” Zara’s encouragement ignored everything after he’d resisted the domain attack. Conveniently brushing past the three, or was it four, broken ribs she’d just given him.

It still felt good.

“Sorry about the last hit, it’s really hard to hold back on reserve attacks.”

Jay grimaced and tried to smile and let her know he was okay. Getting hurt was a part of fighting, and Jay could already feel his body stitching itself together.

Damn, Vega wasn’t lying about the healing factor.

When he’d recovered enough to start speaking, Jay asked Zara about her last attack.

“What’s up with the shield and hammer? Is that something you’ve seen Davad do, or did you just want to fuck me up a bit.”

“Bit of both.” Zara laughed. She wiped her forearm across her brow. Jay noticed it looked thinner and more shrivelled than before. He’d been paying attention to her hands all fight, he needed to know when she fired, and they’d looked fine until now. “Every long-range fighter has something in reserve for if their opponent gets too close. Some have a secondary weapon, some reformat their existing one. Davad probably doesn’t do that, but he’ll definitely have something. Watch out for it after you close the gap.”

Backups were always a good idea. Last fight, he’d ignored Lyra’s advice to get one, before being saved by the one she gave him.

Jay waved Vega up from the sidelines, he needed to take some time to recover his ribs.

Zara tensed up as Vega got up and sauntered over. She relaxed after a second, and a cold focus washed over her.

I guess everyone’s scared of the best.

“You guys finally done?”

“Yep.” Jay replied. Vega sounded like a spoiled kid who’d been forced to wait in line at the playground.

“Think you can beat Davad now?”

“I thought I could beat him before. I know I can beat him now. I’m a matchup nightmare for him.”

“Matchup nightmare?”

“Akira ever told you about a guy called Muhammad Ali? Or the phrase styles make fights?”

“Neither.”

Jay took a deep breath. He smiled to himself, happy to share at least a bit of his boxing knowledge.

“You would’ve loved Ali. He used to say: “I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was.” That one line pretty much sums him up, he called himself the greatest until everyone else did too. Ali was a fast, long-range fighter who used his speed to poke out his opponents before they could even touch him. He was the strongest boxer on the planet, and he’d won thirty-one fights in a row before he fought a guy named Smokin’ Joe Frazier.

“Frazier fought completely different to Ali, but he was undefeated too. Twenty-six straight wins. Frazier’s whole gameplan revolved around getting beyond the jab and punishing his opponents from close range. Frazier and Ali used to be friends, but their relationship soured when they signed up to fight with each other. They called it “the Fight of the Century” and I could talk about it all day, but I’ll keep it short. Frazier completely nullified Ali. He’d slip past the jab and destroy Ali inside. Just like he did to the twenty-six guys before him.”

Jay was pleased to see not only Vega, but Zara too, listening to his story. Interested to see where it would go.

“Two years later, another guy comes in. George Foreman. He doesn’t get a cool nickname, people just called him Big George. Big George had the best record of all three. Thirty-seven wins, no losses. This guy was a fucking animal. He didn’t skirt round the outside like Ali. He didn’t duck inside and battle at close range like Frazier. He didn’t need to. He was so strong that he only needed one good hit and he’d win.

“Frazier fought Ali for an hour before he beat him; he couldn’t last five minutes with Big George. All because he kept coming inside. That was exactly what Foreman wanted. He had Frazier in punching range the whole time.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Another two years go by, fights on Earth weren’t to the death remember. Muhammad Ali comes back, and he wants to fight Foreman. “The Rumble in the Jungle” they called it. Even though Foreman had beaten Frazier, who had beaten Ali before, Muhammad Ali completely dominated the fight. He was simply too fast and didn’t keep his head close enough for Foreman to hit it. He tired Foreman with his pace and handed him his first ever defeat.

“Three undefeated fighters. Three losses. All to each other. That’s what “styles make fights” means. In this situation I’m Frazier, and Davad’s Ali. He wants range, I won’t let him have it. He wants space, I won’t give it to him. He wants time, he’s not gonna get it.”

By the end of his explanation, both women were nodding their heads. Even though boxing followed a completely different set of rules, fighting was fighting. These two didn’t climb the rankings by not giving a damn.

“I think I’ll take a break for a bit. Mull over the things I learned while my body heals itself up.” Jay said, leaving Zara and Vega in the ring while he walked over to the bench.

Jay’s mouth grew into a coy smile as he sat down and watched Zara explain something to Vega.

He’d conveniently left out Ali beating Frazier not once, but twice, in both their rematches in his analogy.

But they didn’t need to know that.

Jay knew his opponent wasn’t Muhammad Ali, and he wasn’t really Smokin’ Joe.

He was Lightning Leonard.

In a clash of domains, he needed to remember who he was. He needed to fight his fight.

----------------------------------------

Jay closed his eyes and gently rested his back against the ringside bench. He distanced himself from the fights surrounding him, and only focused on his own. Vega had taken him to the pits to prepare him to fight Davad.

Had she succeeded?

Jay had already conquered his opponent’s speed. He knew that before he even stepped into the ring with Zara, and he’d proved it within the first ten seconds.

He’d gotten used to the chase. Although the motions were different, the principles were the same as chasing a long-ranged fighter inside the boxing ring. Cut off their angles to escape and be ready to capitalise on a mistake. Zara might be able to evade him, but Jay's next opponent certainly wouldn’t.

Those were the two largest pieces of the puzzle. Now came the most important.

In their final spar, Jay nullified Zara’s domain attack. He’d fought back with his own will and powered through it. The question remained if he could repeat it, but he’d leave that for the next round of sparring. The next question was how well did Davad’s domain stack up to Zara’s?

It could be assumed that his was nowhere near as powerful. She was hundreds of positions above him in the rankings after all. But he was a specialist, he’d trained that technique almost exclusively since arriving at the Coliseum. Zara had even mentioned that she, and most archers, rarely used the technique. So how good could she possibly be?

Could Davad be better than her?

Was that even a question worth asking?

There was nothing Jay could do to work out the exact power of Davad’s domain. So why bother? Zara was the best resource he had available. Why bother worrying if she was good enough? Jay just needed to have faith in himself. To have faith in his strength and his fighting style.

The final puzzle piece was Davad’s last resort. Zara had all but confirmed that Davad had a similar reserve attack. But there was no way of figuring out what it was. Was it a hammer and shield? Was it an arcane wall? Was it another domain attack?

Were these questions worth asking either?

There was no way of figuring out what his reserve was, so why bother trying? Instead, the most he could do was be aware of it. In their final spar, Jay had charged headfirst into Zara and headfirst into her shield.

Her hammer then charged headfirst into his ribs.

He couldn’t make the same mistake in the coliseum.

So what could he do?

Make a plan for each reserve weapon type?

No.

Jay had seen first-hand what overreliance on a plan looked like in the Second Chance Coliseum. He wasn’t about to do it again.

The most he could do was be wary. To stay vigilant before the final blow and stay unpredictable until Davad revealed all hi-

“HHHRGK-HHHRG!”

Jay had almost finished. He only had a few minor thoughts to reflect on, when a phlegmy cough beside him wrenched him from his meditative state.

He kept his eyes closed, desperately clinging onto the last dregs of focus.

“HHHRGK-HHHRG!”

Are you serious?

A third cough let Jay know he’d have to finish his analysis another time.

Jay gradually dragged his body out of its stupor. Pumping blood into his arms and legs before rolling his neck around and twisting it side to side.

The rude bystander had suddenly recovered from whatever sickness he had, because he remained silent as Jay roused himself back to reality.

Jay’s eyes cracked open, but he refused to turn his head. Instead, he kept his eyes trained forward, staring at Zara and Vega spar in front of him. Jay had watched Vega fight inside the Celestial Swords before, but watching it live showed Jay a whole new dimension to her style. The fight against the Snarebounder showed Vega’s pure power. Her ability to stare at a beast thrice her size and beat it at its own game. That fight showcased a strong fighter, this spar showed a truly great one.

Zara had clearly shifted another gear since fighting him, fighting at least fifteen percent faster than before. It didn’t seem to matter. Vega fought slower than Jay did, yet she was catching Zara with every other shot. Everywhere she turned, Zara found either Vega or one of her fireballs.

Fireballs weren’t even the right word anymore. It looked like Vega had condensed her explosive projectiles significantly. Now it looked like she was throwing explosive marbles across the ring.

Zara fought back bravely, and Jay saw her true fighting style too.

When she fought him, some of the ink in her left arm had drained to form a bow that she held. Now the rest of the ink had drained too, creating two more bows that hovered above her shoulders. She still preferred long range encounters, but she wasn’t afraid of close range engages like Davad was. When an opportunity came, she’d charge at Vega with arrows nocked in all three bows.

When Zara charged in like that, she gave Vega no choice but to retreat.

It was an interesting push and pull. Vega was clearly getting the better of the exchanges, but the archer-

“HHHRGK-HHHRG!”

Jay finally relented and turned to face the man who kept disturbing him.

“Are you fucking serious?”