Kapitel 133: The Preliminaries
"Devon Lee vs Ana Smith!"
Devon adjusted her black headband to fix her hair and walked towards the blue mat just a few meters away.
Mr. Kim approached Devon and nodded at her. "Be careful not to overextend your kicks, keep the distance, and you know how to handle the rest."
"Understood, Mr. Kim!" Devon nodded with a serious look as she walked towards the mat.
The referee looked at the two female competitors and said, "You know how this goes, three points to win, ready? Attention, Bow, face each other, Bow!"
"Fight!"
Devon looked at her opponent, a rather thin girl, but she never let her guard down and, as soon as the fight began, took the initiative with long-distance kicks.
"Now!"
Just as Ana's voice faded, she stepped forward to close the distance between her and Devon, but the sudden kicks made her step back.
Taking charge of overwhelming her opponent, Devon maneuvered her advance with great ease, and after a few more kicks, she managed to land one on Ana's head, causing her to retreat.
"Point!"
After scoring her point, Devon stepped back, looked at Ana on the ground, and said, "If you're going to cry over such a soft hit, get out of my sight!"
Ana looked up, evidently angry. She knew the girl in front of her had a good attitude, but Devon completely changed after the match started, which puzzled her.
"Are you okay?" The referee looked at Ana, who had stood up, and asked her to show her face to continue the match.
"I'm fine..." Ana said, looking at Devon even more seriously. She felt angry and wanted to continue the fight to redeem herself.
"Ready? Fight!"
When the referee's words faded, Devon's advance suddenly changed. She stepped forward, putting aside her powerful kicks. Seeing a punch coming towards her face, she shifted her stance, raised her defense, and after gaining control at close range, closed the fingers of her fist and hit Ana's stomach.
"Hoo..."
Spitting out a strong breath, Ana knew that this hit was the end of everything she had entered this tournament for. She hated losing in this way, but she was facing the defensive champion of this year.
"Point!"
Devon, who saw this, sighed. There were indeed good fighters, but in this tournament, she always found it challenging to encounter women who had trained since childhood and had good combat experience.
The only times she had lost were in championships in China, which was entirely different from the fights taking place here.
"Let's finish this quickly..." Devon thought as she adjusted her position once again in her corner.
Ana, who didn't want to give up, could only attack aggressively without considering anything else.
"Ready? Fight!"
Devon expelled air from her lungs, and after taking a breath again, she ran towards Ana with a straight kick that, as expected, failed. She moved her left hand to prevent Ana from attacking her side, and both engaged in a slightly more exciting fight for a few moments.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
With a serene expression on her face, Devon's hands dodged Ana's punches, and this lasted for a few minutes before Ana began to show signs of wanting to stop.
When Devon knew she was being too demanding, she tried to calm down and appreciate her opponents' work more to participate in this tournament. At least she wanted to give them the opportunity to feel a fight, so hopefully, next year they could come back to challenge her again but stronger.
But knowing that she was making the fight longer, Devon threw a punch at first sight, and just when Ana raised her guard to defend herself, she saw how Devon stopped her kick and instead launched a kick.
"Now!"
"Point, Devon Lee wins!"
After landing the final blow, Devon did not immediately return to her corner but walked towards Ana and extended her hand to help her up. "Surely, you'll do better next year; I'll be waiting."
Ana had no words to say; she simply watched Devon's back. Due to the sensation this fight left her with, she clenched her fists, smiled through tears, and muttered, "I'll see you next year..."
As she stepped down from the mat, Devon looked at Samantha, who had been watching her match, and she smiled slightly.
Samantha, from afar, averted her gaze. She knew Devon had hinted that she had always been waiting for her but never showed up. After her first and only tournament, Samantha did not return to karate, but the same did not happen with Devon, who had won three championships in the last five years.
"Well done, Devon. Do you want a drink?" Mr. Kim congratulated Devon and asked as she approached.
Devon shook her head and instead asked, "How are things in the men's division?"
"We're winning; many have won their first match, but others have lost..." Mr. Kim expected this; it was normal in competitions. As their master, his only job is to make them feel good.
Devon didn't say anything else; she sat down and began to watch the matches before she continued fighting. Due to the two divisions, the preliminary fights meant nothing, as the real tournament started in the quarterfinals.
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Kapitel 134: The Quarterfinals
"Point, winner Lucía from Sakura Bushido!"
"Point, winner Miguel Díaz from Cobra Kai!"
"Point, Sophia Gonzales from Sakura Bushido!"
"Point, Robby Keene unaffiliated!"
...
The fights progressed one by one without stopping for some time.
"It's not going as well as we expected..." Devon Lee was looking at the results of the latest Sakura Bushido roster and felt a bit disappointed to learn that many hadn't been able to pass the preliminaries.
Sophia walked towards her friend and said, "Well, I thought the fights would be much more exciting, but so far, I haven't had any problems."
"But the expected results are varying a lot in the men's competition..." Devon thought this was due to Dash's absence, who was one of the figures that inspired many just with his presence.
After Devon's next preliminaries fights, the tournament continued. The sixteen finalists, half men and half women, were all quite skilled among the new fighters from the dojos that had been participating in this tournament for many years.
Most had received positive feedback, which caught the interest of the audience. Furthermore, their backgrounds were quite diverse, so the crowd occasionally didn't pay much attention.
In a few more minutes, the last five rounds of the preliminaries concluded. As expected, four of the male finalists were from Sakura Bushido, two from Topanga Karate, two from Cobra Kai, and one unaffiliated.
On the other hand, the female division of Sakura Bushido had only three finalists out of the eight women in total, most of whom were from other more varied dojos.
As the finalists were announced, the atmosphere of the crowd lit up. Everyone knew that the next fights were the true highlights of the competition.
After the draw, all competitors were placed on the leaderboard for the quarterfinals, and everyone waited in silence for the venue to be cleared for the featured matches.
This time, Devon's opponent was a girl named Emma Miller from Topanga Karate. According to Mr. Kim's instructions, she knew perfectly well that Emma handled kicks excellently, just like her, and she couldn't wait to face her.
The two proceeded to fight after taking their positions, and in the end, the result was quite surprising.
Emma's kicks couldn't withstand Devon's brutal kicks, which ended up injuring her, but surprisingly, didn't break any bones. Because of this, Devon easily became one of the first semifinalists. As for the other Sakura Bushido girls, only Sophia advanced to the semifinal, and her opponent was a girl named Aisha from Cobra Kai.
As for the boys, only Liam James from Sakura Bushido managed to reach the semifinal. The others belonged to different affiliations, except for Robby, who had no affiliation.
Nothing special happened during the duels; Eli, known as Hawk, had a good fight but ultimately lost to Xander Stone, who came on strong this year.
The next match was of interest to the entire audience; even Devon was interested because it featured the only boy from Sakura Bushido, Liam James, facing Miguel Díaz from Cobra Kai. The two in this tournament were considered the best fighters due to their impressive fights so far.
Nevertheless, now the two were about to face each other in the semifinals to secure a spot in the final.
"May the best win, Cobra boy!" Liam smiled weakly as he saw Miguel step onto the mat.
Miguel didn't respond; his attitude was a bit frowned upon by James, but as he understood, there were all kinds of fighters in the tournaments, so he speculated that Miguel was the bad guy he would try to beat.
"Ready? Ready, Bow, look at each other, Bow!"
"Fight!"
Just as Miguel finished hearing the referee's announcement, he quickly started the fight, demonstrating his great speed.
"Be careful, Liam!" Devon encouraged the only boy, who, though not very outstanding in combat, was very calculated, and this had brought him to the semifinals.
As Miguel advanced, Liam's expression became serious, and he let out a fierce scream not in line with his calm exterior.
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