The young man recoils back and stumbles, barely staying on his feet. Straf repeats his Newtonian attack with similar effect. He stops for a second.
「I'm not going to lose! However!」
The boy jumps back, holding his sword out in with amateur's stance. He pants heavily and stares at Straf with fear in his eyes.
「I think this world needs more sick little sisters, not less! I have a solution that might save her, while allowing me to break the shit out of this whole tourney…」
「…What?」
Straf sheathes his sword and hooks his thumbs on the sheath's belt. He points at the puzzled boy with a smug grin.
「Ladies and gentlemen, what is going on!? Contestant Straf sheathed his blade! Is he surrendering, or…?」
「You are going to throw the match, and like magic, you'll find 3 silver coins in your pocket. But you're going to play along, and pretend I beat you the fuck up. How about that?」
「…How can I trust you? How do I know you're not trying to lie to me to win?」
「Seriously? Did you at any point think that you can win this? If I went any easier on you, I'd have to let you stab me.」
Straf spreads his arms, with a mix of disdainful amusement and disbelief on his face.
「If anything, it's more likely you're going to scam me out of 3 silvers. But I can't help it, the sickly little sister is a great trope.」
He shrugs, and puts his hands on his hips.
「…Fair enough. What do I do?」
「I'll pretend to punch you, and you exaggerate reactions to it. I'm going to end it with a big one, so jump backwards and pretend it really hurt.」
Straf grins again and takes a boxing stance.
「Alright… You're not going to actually punch me, are you?」
「Nah, that would kill you. Get ready.」
Louche gulps with nervous eyes.
「Ladies and gentlemen! It looks like combatant Straf is having such an easy time, that he deems his weapon unnecessary! Will this confidence prove to be a fatal mistake for him!?」
The announcer points at Straf, who's now taking quick, short hops in random directions on his feet.
《…Is he going easy on him? I see. Straf doesn't want to hurt him, he's truly so nice to everyone.》
Cycelia thinks as she smiling gently, fingering at her medallion.
《I guess I shouldn't overdo it. 120% should be enough to make it flashy.》
Straf thinks for a second, then activates his [Contextual Time Perception]. Time slows significantly, and he jumps in towards Louche.
《I guess I should enable air resistance from [Freedom of Movement] to give him some feedback? If people figure out the fight was rigged, I might get kicked out.》
Straf toggles his ability by focusing on it. He feels a weird sensation envelop his entire body.
《Ugh. Fucking gross, what the shit? It feels like I'm stuck in a tub of jelly, or some sort of slime…》
Straf's clothes, his hair and everything else generates air drag with each little movement he makes.
《I'll just get over this quick… But first I need to make it look like I'm destroying the kid.》
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Straf throws a few quick punches at his opponent's face, stopping them just short of connecting. The boy's head bounces left and right as he pulls his hands back.
《Huh. He's actually reacting in time, good.》
Straf takes a small step back, then pretends to roundhouse kick his enemy. His boot flashes just in front of his nose without striking him. The boy's recoils back as he clenches his teeth with an expression of pain on his face.
《He's not bad at acting, too. But it feels weird and too gross, like there's worms crawling all over me. It's time to end this.》
Straf jabs the air in front of the Louche's chest rapidly, throwing one straight after another.
「Ooo… Raaa… Ooo… Raaa…」
Straf stretches his syllables very, very slowly as he throws his punches. After a few of them, he winds his arm back.
「Dii… Iiii… Eeee! Lll… Ooo… Uuu…」
He freezes in place as he says his opponent's name… Then throws a quick straight in the center of his chest, stopping his fist just short of impact.
「…Eee!」
Straf screams in his best impression of a slow motion voice. Louche flies backwards just after Straf's fist stops.
《Heh. How's that for a reference? Damn, this kid should become an actor. I guess his sister is real after all, if he cares this much about rigging the match.》
Straf smirks as the young boy keeps flying, and flying, and flying…
《Hold on, how is he still flying- Hm?》
Straf squints and furrows his brow as he notices droplets of blood fly through the air, bouncing off his hand.
《Wait, don't tell me…》
Time returns to normal. The boy falls on his back and digs a channel with his body as he slides on the ground with force, kicking up dust.
《Huh!?》
Cycelia covers her mouth with eyes wide-open.
「Ladies and gentle… Men…」
The announcer is about to say something again, but his arms droop as he sees Louche on the floor, not moving.
「…Do we perhaps have our first fatality-」
The announcer pauses as he sees Straf's opponent cough up blood, and shakily lifts his head to look at Straf. Straf walks up to Louche as he's lying there, and sucks air in through his teeth.
「You said… You wouldn't… Hit me…」
Louche struggles to speak, spitting out blood through his reddened teeth.
「Yeah, that's the thing… I didn't.」
Gonnnnnnnnnnngggg…
「Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! Contestant Louche Redlight can no longer continue fighting! Straf Katastrof Vindict is the winner of this bout!」
The announcer declares Straf as the winner, the audience goes wild with cheers and clapping, and some jeers mixed in from the losers of the bets. Straf activates [Contextual Time Perception] again, and time appears to freeze to a halt.
《Okay, I guess I should keep my part of the bargain regardless. I'll just- Oh shit.》
Straf's lips tighten and his eyes widen as he pats his pockets.
《I just realized I spent so much fucking money I don't have silvers on me left. Fuck.》
He looks down at the battered young boy. His face is already swelling, tears are frozen in time on his cheeks and his teeth are entirely red with his blood. Straf clicks his tongue.
《I really need to remember to break the fucking coins next time…》
Straf slowly moves closer to the boy, and carefully slips a coin in his pants' pocket. He re-assumes his previous posture, and time resumes to normal.
「Check your pocket if you don't die, kid. And when you're perching on high-up places like an asshole, covering your eye with your hand and telling people to kill themselves… Remember me.」
Straf lazily waves him off as a team of healers rushes past him towards his former opponent. His fingers pat his pants' pockets, and he feels a single coin.
「That… Bastard… He lied… To me? Hrk!」
He spits out blood with a cough, as the healers surround him in a flood of green light…