Chapter 480: Striking Later, Arriving First! Reverse-Light Blade!
"Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh!!!!"
As the announcement of the mustached man's advancement concluded, the audience erupted in a fervent, bloodthirsty cheer!
Only Terry, who had been declared successfully advanced, wore an incredibly conflicted expression.
Even winning brought him no joy; rather, he felt incredibly stifled.
But the problem was, even without this sudden special event, Terry was already in a very difficult dilemma.
If he continued to fight Geese, who was in a state of spitting blood after being provoked by Cheng Tian, even winning would feel like an unfair victory.
However, if he completely relinquished the fight, he would be extremely unwilling; having his enemy so close yet unable to act was truly an unpleasant feeling.
Yet, these thoughts churned in his mind, eventually bringing forth the face of his adopted son, Little Rock.
If he, as Rock's adoptive father, were to personally kill Rock's biological father in front of the entire world, would this leave an indelible psychological trauma on Little Rock?
As soon as this possibility came to mind, Terry, whose maternal instincts had taken over due to his gender-bend, suddenly lost the motivation for revenge.
Whatever happened in private was fine, but at least he couldn't act in front of the child.
Once this thought emerged, it refused to dissipate. After taking one last look at Geese's charging back, Terry jumped off the stage, leaving it to this bloody special exhibition match.
Geese's arrogant boast clearly enraged the female members of Team Olililili. The way Geese spoke, as if killing them was as easy as slicing melons and dicing vegetables, was truly unbearable.
Moreover, since Geese had withdrawn from the competition and was no longer an official participant, Team Olililili no longer needed to adhere to the challenge rule of "Cheng Tian first."
She felt she could slice melons and dice vegetables, but her side insisted on a one-on-one fight, to let Geese know that true women were not to be trifled with!
However, from a purely combat style perspective, Bazett, who primarily used striking techniques, was actually weaker than Geese, who specialized in Aikido, excelling in counter-attacks and throws.
Of course, "weaker" only referred to technique. There's a saying, "one force can overcome ten skills." When the power disparity reaches a certain level, technique alone struggles to bridge the gap between opponents.
Currently, Bazett held the advantage in both speed and strength.
Such speed! Such heavy punches!
This was Geese's first impression of Bazett after their initial exchange, directly facing her. With a fighter's mindset, he immediately retracted his previous "slicing melons and dicing vegetables" thought.
This was a formidable opponent!
From Geese's experience, he could naturally see that Bazett's combat techniques were basically common boxing and Sanda routines. However, she had thoroughly mastered them through extensive practical combat, almost instinctively attacking without conscious thought, and every move was lethal!
She was a female fighter who, with guidance from a master, clearly had the potential to advance further.
These moves might not even be enough against ordinary fighters, let alone against himself... Although he wanted to say that, the flaws in these techniques were completely masked by this woman's extraordinary speed and strength.
And not just strength; her physical durability was equally superior.
Bazett, who only had a theoretical understanding of Aikido and had never truly practiced it, immediately suffered a disadvantage from a counter-attack. Her straightforward punch was parried, and then she was sent spinning through the air, before being slammed hard onto the ground—
Mid-level Counter Throw!
This wasn't the end. Under the rule of no follow-up attacks when an opponent is down, Geese, having completed the counter throw, seized Bazett from the ground, flipped her over, and violently slammed her to the other side, accompanied by the roar of thunder—
Thunderous Grand Slam!
A powerful throw that would surely leave many strong individuals winded and temporarily paralyzed, yet she merely executed a flexible roll and sprang back up from the ground, without even a change in her expression!
This made the crater created by the throw on the ground seem almost illusory.
Not only that, Geese also saw that this ape-like woman somehow produced a spherical object, which, after she released it, didn't fall to the ground but floated beside her shoulder.
Instinct told Geese this was a dangerous item, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly where the danger lay.
As for Cheng, who was supposed to continue commentating... he was forcibly muted by Kagura Chizuru, who appeared with her injuries. Now, two band-aids formed an 'X' over his mouth.
From a viewership perspective, Cheng Tian's insults did indeed bring excellent market feedback, but they also garnered significant dissatisfaction from the participants.
Previously, his 'unboxing' and insulting people, leading to a drop in morale, was one thing; it was purely the participants' psychological weakness if they couldn't automatically filter out trash talk, and they deserved the 'talk therapy.'
But Geese spitting blood and withdrawing on the spot truly shocked some people.
In summary, the general opinion of the complainants was, "Aoko, can you please sew that mouth of yours shut!?"
Sewing it shut was impossible. How could mere complaints compare to the tangible increase in viewership?
However, to slightly appease their complaints, Cheng Tian could only be forcibly muted for a while. He readily agreed anyway, as it wasn't an official match and had no commentary significance.
He wouldn't 'unbox' his own teammates just for a moment of gratification.
Of course, Cheng Tian's professionalism was actually decent. Although he had a habit of 'unboxing' before and after matches, at least during the match, he didn't show too obvious a bias (except for Shiranui Mai), nor would he prematurely reveal a player's move effects, thus not providing extra information to the opponent.
Upon seeing Bazett unleash the Reverse-Light Blade, Cheng Tian knew that this woman had decided to kill.
Bazett, who usually only killed demons and targets requiring specific sealing, was actually very lenient towards humans. For her to harbor killing intent, it indicated that some of Geese's actions had similarly crossed Bazett's bottom line.
What? Cheng Tian did that to Geese too?
Cheng merely recounted what Geese had done, perhaps with a little artistic embellishment... Back to the arena.
A layer of energy ripples suddenly enveloped Geese. This was the common 'max power' state for King of Fighters participants, and this state meant that her next special move during the 'max power' duration would be upgraded to a super special move.
And this timing was precisely when she lured Bazett into jumping, at a point where she couldn't freely change direction in mid-air.
She placed her hands together and slammed them fiercely onto the floor directly beneath her, channeling all her fighting spirit into it.
The next second, a total of eight towering energy geysers erupted from the ground around her, simultaneously assailing the airborne Bazett—
MAX Reppuken!
Almost at the same instant, the spherical object at Bazett's shoulder transformed into a magnificent short sword—
Reverse-Light Blade! Activated!
Whoosh!
The short sword shot out, bypassing the encirclement of the energy storm. In a flash, it easily pierced through Geese's bulging left chest!