Chapter 16: Sido

Arnik watched with keen attention as the man now known to him as Sido got into a fighting stance, with his right leg in front of his left and both hands raised high, he almost looked like a professional boxer. He was very calm and still exuded the aura that Arnik had now somewhat gotten used to.

Across the ring, Small Pi also got into a fighting stance, spreading both legs while crouching a little, his elbows rested on both legs and he was completely focused on the man in the ring with him.

A silent hush fell around the cage as both men in the ring stared each other down until,

"DING DING DING", a bell rang signaling the start of the match.

Small Pi immediately went on the offensive, sending both fists into the ground repeatedly. The results were several earth pillars shooting out from underneath where Sido was standing.

Sido in return simply moved with intricate footwork around the pillars coming out from the ground, one could almost mistake it for a dance.

Small Pi seeing that his initial attack had no effect on the other man, quickly changed tactics. He stomped one foot on the ground which sent several pieces of heavy chunks of earth into the air, as they began descending back to the ground, he punched them sending several pieces in Sido's direction.

Sido seeing the rocks coming at him didn't flinch, rather than dodge, he began punching and kicking the rocks being sent at him. He broke through some and deflected some sending them towards the cage, upon impact the cage glowed, stopping the rocks from injuring the crowd watching from outside.

Arnik watched as Sido managed to either destroy or deflect every attack sent at him with pinpoint precision." Just how strong is he, he hasn't even used his elemental affinity yet" he thought to himself.

The attacks that had been destroyed by Sido had created a lot of dust and as a result, visibility was hard. All of a sudden, Small Pi appeared through the dust in the air slamming into Sido creating a huge amount of dust in the ring. When it cleared, Small Pi was pushing down on Sido whose hands were crossed to defend against the attack.

"He's trying to overpower him with brute force," Arnik thought to himself as he watched the humongous man pressing down on his opponent,

"How's he going to get out of this"

Suddenly Sido looked up and smiled at the Small Pi who had a confused look on his face. In one swift movement, he uncrossed both arms generating a small force that was enough to send Small Pi stumbling back some steps.

The bigger man didn't hesitate though, using the earth beneath him to propel him back in Sido's direction. He moved towards Sido at incredible speed and began sending a volley of attacks at his opponent, however the latter simply dodged these attacks easily.

Blow after blow came, with Small Pi attacking with all his might but he could never touch Sido who simply danced through these attacks.

Small Pi became irritated after several missed attacks,

"Stay still damnit " he yelled at Sido who simply ignored him and kept avoiding the attacks.

Pi sent a fist in Sido's direction which the latter easily dodged, however, the fist was sent into the earth which allowed a pillar to shoot up behind Pi. This pillar surprised Sido and impeded his footwork and dance movement causing him to be vulnerable for a second.

Pi immediately took the chance, Sido had raised a leg which planned to use to kick the pillar thereby destroying it, but Pi had anticipated this. With his other hand, he quickly spun, hitting Sido's other leg still on the ground.

This made Sido fall on his back and Pi quickly pounced on him, sending several fists toward his opponent. Sido however quickly raised both hands, using them to block Pi's punches. They were very vicious and held terrible power but he held on.

Pi, seeing that his punches were being blocked, grabbed Sido's leg and sent him flying, he then slammed both hands into the ground erecting a wall behind Sido which he crashed into coughing up some blood in the process, his head was down and he wasn't moving.

Two more walls quickly rose on both his left and right blocking both sides and boxing him in.

"No more running" Small Pi yelled as he smiled menacingly. Once again the ground shifted beneath him and a pile of earth sent him flying in Sido's direction at Incredible speed, both his arms were outstretched in front of him as he planned to crash into Sido," No more running ".

Just at Small Pi was about to crash into Sido, the latter raised his head, there was a smile on his face and his eyes shone a bright orange. Before Pi could react Sido was in front of him, he grabbed his hand and redirected Pi sending him crashing into the wall.

Arnik was completely stunned, even though he was completely focused on the fight, the speed at which Sido had executed that move was so incredible that he had almost missed it.

To the onlookers outside the ring, it looked like Sido had disappeared, and then Pi had crashed into the wall. Most of them were regular people with no magic at all and couldn't comprehend what had happened due to how fast it had occurred.

Pi crashed into the wall and even before he could recover Sido was in front of him, a series of punches and kicks hit the bigger man before he could even attempt to dodge.

Sido looked like he was dancing again only this time, he wasn't defending, he was in full attack mode. He unleashed his attack on his opponent's body, alternating between Pi's head and body and encountering little to no resistance whatsoever. Whenever the latter tried to protect his head, Sido would attack his body and whenever he defended his body he would go for his head.

"I can't keep this up for much longer, " Pi thought to himself, most of his face was covered in blood and he had lost a few teeth, his body was also bruised and battered in different places." I need to create some distance and regroup " and that's what he did or at least tried to do.

After a quick combination of punches by Sido, Pi suddenly pushed forward. This surprised the audience, some considered it a desperate attack from a losing opponent while others attributed it to his determination and doggedness but Sido remained unfazed. He already anticipated his opponent would try something like this and quickly reacted by sending a powerful flying kick that sent Pi flying backward, rather than crash into the wall behind him though, the wall simply moved when he crashed into it cushioning his impact.

This crafty move had created some distance between Pi and Sido, but the power of the kick was still strong and sent Pi falling on his back. Pi had expected this and simply transitioned his fall into a back roll, however just as he raised his head to look at his opponent he was surprised to find Sido right in front of him

Sido wasted no time in turning mid-air and landing a swift powerful kick straight at Pi's face, such a kick was so strong that it was sure to send the bigger man flying away however, Sido adjusted his foot while still on Pi's face sending the bigger man crashing head first into the ground.

The whole room went quiet as everyone was still trying to understand what had happened, after all the whole thing had happened so fast. The silence only lasted a moment though before the entire room exploded into cheers.

Sido silently removed his feet and began walking toward the cage's exit while Pi remained on the ground unmoving. The last attack had shattered his nose and caused his entire face to cave in, he had fallen unconscious on the spot.

Sido exited the cage and was met with several cheers and applauds from the crowd, a few even moved close to him and tapped him on the back. He smiled at all of them, he looked like a completely different person from the fighter that was just in the ring a few moments ago. He kept smiling as he made his way through the crowd in the direction where Arnik and Olea were still standing however his face changed into one of terror when his eyes fell on Olea.

He considered running away, but he knew that she had already seen him and running away would cause more trouble for him. He hesitantly moved towards Olea who spoke to him when he finally git close to where she was standing.

"Sido," she said firmly staring at the bare-chested man standing in front of her, he responded by nervously scratching his long hair, " Hey sis," he said.