Nel swerved out of a palm attack, as he launched wild haymaker at Fae. She grimaced, proceeding to launch a flurry of attacks.
Out of three, only one found its mark.
Although Nel didn't have the effective feints of the Phantom Step technique, he did have his immense speed and agility. He was much faster than Fae without a doubt.
Suddenly Fae managed to land three hits square.
"She sacrificed power for speed." Rui nodded, having expected this. This was a common tactic she employed against slippery opponents. She'd used it against himself and Kane as well.
Powerful weighted attacks usually needed greater distance to be accelerated over, they were more obvious and were easier to detect and predict, all of these factors made them easier to avoid. Speedy jabs however usually travelled a much shorter distance, they were much harder to detect and predict.
"Why isn't she using that lethal attack she used against you and Hever?" Dalen frowned.
"Probably because she can't really land it." Rui replied. "That attack isn't easy to land and is easy to detect because how much she needs to twist and curl her arm. It also takes longer to land than her other palm attacks. Although she is able to land these speedy jabs, that doesn't mean she can land her Whirlpool palm."
He paused, turning to face the fight, before continuing. "Though if she does land it...."
She would gain a very decisive advantage. The lethality of that attack far surpassed the lethality of Nel's offense. This was the downside of his Martial Path, he couldn't use any techniques that would increase the lethality of his attacks beyond what his body could normally offer.
The question was how was she going to accomplish this?
The situation was quite similar to Rui's fight with Nel. He needed to land the Stinger as well. Eventually, he managed to land it cleanly with a long and elaborate strategy as well as several techniques, the VOID algorithm and most significantly; some psychological tricks.
Fae would likely be unable to replicate Rui's methods.
She lacked far too many things. She lacked the techniques he needed for the strategy to succeed; The Phantom Step technique and the Blink. She certainly lacked the VOID algorithm.
And sacrificing false modesty, Rui knew she lacked his cognitive capabilities by virtue of not having a double-reincarnated mind.
Nel cleanly avoided a palm thrust, smoothly throwing three jabs at her. He had begun to get the hang of using his evasiveness against her. This was not something he was accustomed to, in the entire preliminary contest, Fae was the only one who had forced him to back down and fight evasively pretty much entirely.
Even Rui only managed that by spamming the Stinger, which would have been foolish and reckless if not for his resourceful tactic.
He launched a weighted strike at her.
To his surprise, she didn't defend against it.
A powerful weighted blow landed on him, pushing him back.
She abandoned her defense, ignoring the damage he caused in exchange for landing an even stronger attack on him.
"That's a good strategy." Rui nodded in approval. "Frankly, she's not getting anywhere even with her speedy jabs. She decided to gamble and go all-in. She tossed aside her defense and dedicated everything to offense."
"Would that really help all that much?" Kane wondered.
"It certainly would." Dalen nodded. "Defense takes physical and mental capital. It restricts your movements, consumes your attention and energy. If you forget about it, you've removed yourself of a lot of shackles."
Rui nodded. "The downside is that you're going to be punished with damage."
Her conditioned had worsened already, each attack from Nel left a bruise on her fair skin, inflicting pain and damage on her unguarded abdomen.
Nel avoided a strike, landing haymaker on her.
He ducked sharply as a palm attack almost crashed into him. Ever since she abandoned her defense and went all-out, dodging attacks had become much harder. He was only able to dodge half of them as the other half landed square on him.
He leapt back after Fae smacked him twice, chasing after him immediately.
He spun about a palm attack from her, infiltrating her stance.
However, Fae was prepared. Her right arm twisted and curled as she launched a Whirlpool attack straight at him.
Rui was impressed. She had waited for a moment when he was super close to her to launch her Whirlpool attack. It was only at this range could she possibly have had chance at landing her Whirlpool at him.
Her palm spun as it shot forward.
Not before Nel's foot crashed into her jaw.
Having abandoned defense for the most part, the unadultered power of Nel rocked her head, disorienting her.
Nel didn't let the go of the opening!
He threw a flurry of weighted strikes against her.
A wild haymaker crashed into her head.
The damage done in her already disoriented state was too much.
"Winner: Apprentice Nel!" The supervisor declared, after verifying she was knocked out.
Rui shook his head melancholically. The fight truly could have gone either way. If Nel had gone for that kick just a moment later, or for another attack Fae would have successfully landed the Whirlpool attack in all likelihood.
Once she landed the attack, the match would have been over, Nel's condition would have deteriorated quickly, like Rui's had back then and within five minutes, his condition would have been too desolate to possibly defeat Fae.
Fae would have continued landing strikes, at an even greater rate than she had before thanks to his plummeting condition and eventually she would have pressed for a win and gone onto knock him out either by a palm strike or had him bleeding until he was unconscious.
There were no second chances.