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\'I guess mourning is not his thing.\'

We were at a staredown where he was wearing a serious expression while I was faintly smiling. Excitement filled my body as my blood traveled through my veins at a quickened pace, causing my breathing to get faster and faster and my smile to get wider and wider. In turn, it made Artem let out a faint smile before everyone else rushed to the gym to get front row seats.

After a short while, Artem and I changed into open-finger gloves and gym shorts, displaying our own works of art.

I was extremely proud of what I accomplished and Artem should be proud of himself as well. Our bodies were well-toned and well-proportioned but there was a difference between a body that came from a strict training regiment and a body that was hardened through battle and war.

It was the second time I saw his body in full display and his scars would always tell what he put his body through.

I have a few of my own but most of what I have was in my head. However, we weren\'t trying to know who has more scars but who would be the last one standing. Let\'s be honest here, no one came for a 3-minute spar.

For this match, Mikhail was our referee. I wasn\'t fucking sure how Bing managed to talk him into putting on a costume but the motherfucker succeeded. It didn\'t take long before he gave us a brief introduction and then he raised his arm, looking at the two of us.

"Fighter ready?"

"Da."

"Fighter ready?"

"Yeah."

Mikhail let out a smirk before he shouted at the top of his lungs, "FIGHT!!!"

Artem took the first step as he lunged but I let out a deep breath. He was already halfway through the mat but my body flickered forward to aggressively receive him. The motherfucker didn\'t even blink when I easily bridged the distance and he threw a right hook aiming for my temple. However, I caught it with my hook from my left, purposefully tangling my arm with him so the flight path would be redirected.

He missed my head by only a few centimeters but a hidden smirk formed on his lips.

Our arms were still tangled with each other and I felt him pulling back before his left foot lifted off from the mat. I thought his body would be rigid like most of them but he easily threw a high kick from a difficult position. It dangerously tore through the air and it could definitely knock any normal person with a clean hit.

I only had a moment to dodge a kick aiming for my other temple so I just stopped resisting with my left arm.

It would sound complicated but one of the reasons that he could throw a kick like that was he was also using me as support. He was doing that by purposely tangling with my arm, pulling on it so he could have better balance whilst throwing the kick in question.

It\'s just that by giving up any resistance, I could also do the same thing he was doing.

Using his own force, I just lifted off from the mat, performing a doumawashi with a reverse spin, sending a downward kick with the full weight of my body.

Everything happened in an instant but I also missed his head by a few centimeters. He saw it coming and managed to react in time by simply tilting his head sideways and taking the whole brunt with his shoulder. I felt some good resistance but hitting a non-vital part wouldn\'t be enough to knock someone sturdy like Artem.

He just cracked his neck and spun his shoulder as I quickly recovered but as soon as I did, he immediately closed the distance before trying to grab the back of my head.

\'This motherfucker...\'

A knee was already coming for my chin even before he managed to hold me down so I went a step faster as I sent an upward kick in the tightest space available. I made it happen by driving my knee up while it was still folded, only extending it fully when I brought it as far up as I could. It all happened in one swift motion and I finally connected with a counter.

Artem\'s head blew backward as he took a step back but he forced his attack by doing the same thing I did. He extended his knee at the last second, sending a nasty frontal kick straight at my abdomen. We were both hit almost simultaneously and the crowd just drew their first breath.

I stepped back a fraction of a second after him but neither of us took a short breather.

We stepped forward at the same time and we both threw right hooks also at the same fucking time. Both punches connected but I actually received his punch by throwing my head in the direction it would eventually fly to. It still fucking hurt since I missed the timing by a fraction of a fraction of a second because his fist flew at a different speed compared to his opening hook.

\'So that\'s how it is… different kind of dirty-- no, it\'s fucking genius!\'

A smirk formed on the side of my lips before he sent a left elbow horizontally, and it nicked my cheek even if I tilted my head back. It actually made a small cut and it drew blood, making a few drops stain the mat. I was lucky he didn\'t nick my eye because losing half of my vision in a close-quarters fight was dangerous.

Feeling the sting on the side of my cheek, my head kicked up a gear.

I let out another exhale before I jumped back and Artem followed after me. He started throwing me a barrage of punches, specifically aiming for my head, but I caught each one and redirected them with an open palm. My eyes were seeing each path his fists would fly to, and catching them with my hands was definitely much better, and much safer, than catching them with my face.

There was a difference between a hard puncher and a solid puncher but Artem was both. Furthermore, his battle sense was on a different level than most people I\'ve sparred with.

My hands were moving nonstop as I kept him at bay but it didn\'t take long before Artem did the same thing differently.

He pushed on with the same pattern of his barrage but something was fucking amiss. I was steadily holding down the fort but my rhythm was slowly falling apart.

I started to miss the timing for a few punches, making me dodge at the last second maybe because he was also kicking it up a notch. However, as soon as I started to get used to the same rhythm, he\'d change it up again not only by going faster but by also going slower. Each difference in speed was only in different fractions of a second but it would be hard to rely on eyesight alone.

As it got more random and random, I also had to rely on my instinct.

If only it was that easy.

I was great at thinking of solutions to problems but it never occurred to me I had to do it while avoiding punches that could knock me out in one hit. I was slowly getting overwhelmed as I kept stepping back and it was all I could do while thinking hard at the same time. I was getting backed into a corner and it was not looking good. I was still on the defensive and one misstep would cause me the match.

A lot of things went through my head and I just noticed Artem hadn\'t let up in close to three minutes.

Some people could hold their breath for longer but not when doing something strenuous. However, I still don\'t know Artem\'s limit but if he could last for more than three minutes while doing something that required extreme exertion, I had to find other ways to turn it around. Tatiana and the rest always said that Ilya was their best fighter but I was starting to doubt their words.

My first thought was to wait him out until he catches his breath and start my counter but I was running out of space. I could hold on for 30 more seconds but I wasn\'t sure I would be able to hold on for long. I would start taking hits in the process and banking it on a single moment wasn\'t ideal.

The second one was to start a fucking mud fight and do it as he did with Morales but I would definitely be in the losing end. Artem was a weight class above me and I had to lean on using speed and technique compared to using raw power. I\'ve won against people bigger than me but my opponent right now was like a boss I was scripted to lose to.

The last thought I had was to find weakness from his strength.

\'What if he\'s-- Oh. He\'s just--\'

I almost let out a chuckle as his fist brushed against my face but I jumped back, using the wall behind me as a vertical springboard before I spun and sent a kick that sliced through the air. Kicking against the wall added with my full weight would be enough force to knock a normal person but it would be difficult for a person who knew how to take a hit.

Artem already had strong defensive capabilities but imagine what he could do if he knew a few tricks to keep himself unscathed even more.

I had my ways to do it but he definitely had some ways to do it too.

With that said, I found out about one of them.

I was still in mid-air as my kick whizzed past his head but that was on purpose. He was confused for a short moment because he knew it was already too late to dodge and he was just about to receive it but he was too late for what was about to come after seeing a violent kick miss him.

The \'receiving\' moment had passed and his body subconsciously relaxed.

\'Gotcha.\'