Dalen threw a flurry of jabs at Milliana, which she simply blocked by putting together guard.
She dodged an incoming kick, before once again blocking a few more jabs.
She didn't attack much, a decision Rui approved.
Dalen's defensive prowess was in the top three within the Academy.
With a six-foot tall gargantuan frame, with heavy bones and muscles, along with eight defense-oriented techniques, he was a sheer tank. Hurting him was an incredibly difficult task. As far as purely the ability to withstand offense went, only Fae and maybe a few others could inflict meaningful damage on him head-on via ordinary attacks.
Someone like Milliana whose offensive measures weren't particularly impressive, would not be able to inflict so much as a scratch on him unless she somehow managed to land her strongest attack on his eyes or another spot that was equally vulnerable.
She had a much higher chance of winning if she simply chose to wait for him to burn himself out.
What Rui found interesting was the manner in which she handled his attacks. Each defense she chose was the most apt as far as efficiency went.
She blocked quick swift jabs because their speed and number made them harder to dodge, she would need to expend more energy. Furthermore, jabs lacked power in exchange for their swiftness.
She dodged more powerful strikes like kicks and heavy swings. These usually required a higher timeframe to land compared to speedy jabs.
This was because they usually were thrown from a greater distance away in order to build up momentum and torque.
She had to find the right balance between what amount of damage was worth spending the energy to dodge instead of block.
She needed to find the exact threshold in order to maximize efficiency to last as long as possible. He wasn't sure if she was entirely accurate, but she seemed to be doing a good job for the most part. It was an ambitious goal, after all. Being one hundred-percent accurate was a tall order and one that Rui was certain he wouldn't be able to fulfill.
Dalen lunged for takedown which Milliana chose to avoid.
This was another decision that Rui approved from both of them. As a male and particularly big and strong one, Dalen had a significant physicality advantage against Milliana. Physicality mattered much more in grappling than it did in striking.
Furthermore, grappling was extremely energy intensive. It depleted stamina much more quickly than striking did and was aligned against Milliana's Martial Art of stamina conservation.
If she did choose to grapple, there was no doubt she would be severely disadvantaged.
Furthermore, Dalen's grappling defense was no doubt going to be impressive. Milliana's chances of being able to grapple a victory was just extremely low. She would probably lose every quickly if the battle went to the ground and turned into a grappling contest
Which is why it was a good deal for Dalen to try and grapple.
He tried for another takedown, which Milliana avoided yet again.
Kane frowned. "Why is he trying so hard when she's clearly too careful?"
"A grapple is his best way to win." Rui replied.
"Only if it lands, right?" Kane asked.
"Yes, but it also forces Milliana to expend serious energy to avoid him." Rui explained. "She knows the fight will end if the battle turns into a grapple. She needs to avoid it at all costs, but one of those costs is being more energy intensive."
Kane nodded as he observed her evasion technique. As an evasive maneuverer specialist, he could see that she was expending a lot of energy as she avoided the shoots from Dalen. "Her evasion definitely is energy intensive. I can tell she doesn't have much experience in high-energy evasion at all. She also hasn't mastered any Apprentice-level techniques specialized in that regard."
"Makes sense." Rui nodded. Kane's insight in regards to the analysis of her evasion was definitely helpful as an expert in that regard. "What do you think she could be doing better?"
"She's moving too early, her timing is off." Kane explained. "That doesn't help, because if you move too early, then your opponent would just delay the attack, that's why I always move at the earliest moment when it's too late for my opponent to cancel the attack. Still, her timing is honestly awful."
"She's paranoid." Rui explained, observing her with Primordial Instinct. "She's overcompensating, but that isn't the worst part."
"Then what is?" Kane raised an eye.
"At this rate, she'll end up burning more energy than Dalen is." Rui answered.
"Hmmm.." Kane narrowed his eyes as he observed their movements. "You would think she would have a countermeasure for grappling."
"Evasion is her countermeasure." Rui noted. "Problem is, Dalen has a huge wingspan because of how big he is. He doesn't need to expend much energy to reach her, but she does need to expend energy to avoid it. Her paranoia plus Dalen's huge reach are what's screwing over her game plan."
They both continued observing the fight.
Dalen had also realized that his only way to win was through grappling. Milliana began sweating more and more. Dalen needed only to employ his size and wingspan to threaten cornering and grappling her, whereas she needed to spend energy retreating and circling away from him.
Although she had many stamina-oriented techniques, they were meant for different situations. A good portion of her stamina-oriented techniques were for offense, another good chunk were for parrying, one of them was for a different environment and that left only a few for maneuvering. Meaning a lot of her techniques weren't doing her much help in this particular regard.
They were both burning a lot of energy, but eventually, she made a mistake.
Dalen managed to get just the slightest grip on her, and that was enough.
They wrangled on the ground, while Dalen exploited his physicality advantage to the maximum while also employing his grappling defense techniques to counter locks and holds.
And within five minutes, she tapped.
Rui had already expected this result, and was only waited for the inevitable to occur.
"Good fight." Rui nodded.