Despite being astonished, Zulmy takes about five deep breaths and immediately returns to the fray, while Yasoke runs toward the girl with a broad smile plastered across his face.
"What a crazy boy... I love it!" she admits to herself.
The young woman flashes a smile and makes her chains circulate around her, advancing toward Yasoke. The two collide and strike each other in the head at the exact same time. Yet, even under the impact, both turn their faces to look at each other with a smile. They continue their frantic exchange of blows, punches, and kicks, but neither side can gain an advantage.
The sequence is interrupted when Zulmy executes a backflip and plants both hands on the arena floor, concealing new chains beneath the earth. As she stands up, she adjusts her hair coldly, as if nothing had happened, and steps back into the fight.
"I saw that bitch throwing chains into the ground, she thinks she can fool me," Yasoke notes mentally.
Focusing his attention on the trap, the youth begins to meticulously calculate every single step he takes in the arena. Zulmy, for her part, advances aggressively and, during her approach, executes a triple layout flip, closing the distance to the boy in slippers.
— Did you get scared! — she provokes, sticking out her tongue.
Right after, she lands a clean kick right in the middle of Yasoke's body, deforming his posture in the direction of the impact and throwing him backward. The youth reacts with agility and executes a backflip to reposition himself on the map. Upon restoring his balance, he glimpses the figure in the dress flashing a maniacal smile and adopting a punching pose.
"Holy shit," Yasoke alarms himself.
He jumps and manages to dodge the punch. However, upon turning back to the girl, she has a smirk on the corner of her mouth. Zulmy raises her arm toward him with an open hand.
"All right, apparently I'm screwed!" the youth anticipates.
She closes her fist. At that very instant, massive, thick chains sprout violently from the earth, shattering the entire arena structure and leaving the terrain completely irregular.
— What the hell is this! — Yuji complains, startled by the magnitude of the strike.
Right after, Henrique questions him:
— Did you do any training with Yasoke on irregular terrain? —
Yuji tries to formulate a response but is left completely blank. He adopts a hollow expression, with a thread of drool slipping from his mouth, and ponders internally: "I'm not sure about anything, but being upside down, tied up, and wet is way harder than a broken little terrain." Forcing his composure, he answers:
— I think the rope training can handle it! —
While he theorizes, more chains sprout from the ground and destroy it completely. The entire arena is obliterated, leaving only three colossal, thick chains as a base for the combatants.
— THESE CHAINS ARE BIGGER THAN TRUCKS! — a spectator yells from the crowd, amid the general uproar.
Zulmy looks at her opponent from the top of her creation and challenges him:
— So, Yasoke? Will you be euphoric fighting on a completely destroyed terrain where I command? —
— TO BE HONEST, IT'S EVEN BETTER FOR ME! WHERE I CAME FROM, FIGHTING IN UNEVEN PLACES IS A PIECE OF CAKE! — Yasoke counters at the top of his lungs.
Zulmy listens to the answer and is deeply impressed by the youth's posture; instead of showing intimidation before the apocalyptic scenario, he seems even more excited for the fight.
"So be it, then," she mentalizes.
In the stands, Yuji celebrates his pupil's confidence quietly. Henrique notices the reaction and mutters to himself: "What a bastard, but all right, then."
Yasoke begins to leap onto the main chain, where Zulmy is positioned. To confuse the girl's vision, he starts jumping alternately along the sides of the structure, moving with extreme speed.
"He thinks he's going to win at my own game," Zulmy disdains in thought.
With a mental command, she begins to move the gigantic chains beneath Yasoke's feet. The sudden movement makes the youth stumble and lose his balance. Taking advantage of the opening, a smaller chain cuts through the air like a whip and brutally strikes the back of the boy in slippers.
"It's what!" Yasoke's thought exclaims.
The violent impact instantly tears the fabric of his white tank top and cuts his skin, making him squirm in pain and lose his stability on the metallic platform even more.
— I can also use my chains as a whip! — Zulmy announces with a smirk.
She invokes another line of metal with her other arm and begins an incessant bombardment of whipping. The youth in slippers dodges the successive attacks with great difficulty, but ends up being hit by a violent strike to his foot. The impact shatters the leg of his jeans and leaves the area of the injury raw.
"Holy shit!" he rages, but understands there is no time available to complain about the pain. The whips keep coming in a frantic rhythm, demanding consecutive evasion maneuvers.
In the stands, Yuji displays nervousness and starts biting his own fingers. Henrique adopts a thoughtful posture, while Rokko remains in absolute silence. In the medical wing, Jhony stares at the transmission screen with eyes full of hope, remembering the past: "Beautiful phrase, huh, Yasoke? Fighting in the junkyard was truly complicated, but this fight is different. The woman you are facing is very good at fighting and maybe it will be hard to win, but I still trust you, friend!"
Despite the support of his allies, Yasoke finds himself at a severe disadvantage, being forced to balance on the giant chains while dodging the whip strikes.
"These chains really hurt, but how do I get close to this piece of garbage?" he questions himself.
Observing Zulmy closely, he notices that the young woman executes very wide movements to deliver the whip strikes, which leaves her completely wide open every time a strike hits the ground.
"I have two options: take the whips and endure the pain to get close; or dodge everything, wait for her to hit the ground with the whip, and only then get close," he analyzes. After pondering for a few more moments, he decides: "I'll go with the second option."
Yasoke begins to leap between the metal attacks. Demonstrating sharp reflexes, he avoids the chains hitting him and progresses steadily toward the girl. Zulmy tracks the approach and reflects: "This bastard is dodging my whip chains. How intriguing... I'll surprise him."
The youth continues evading with precision. Consciously, Zulmy begins striking the ground with the chains on purpose to bait him into a mistake. Without realizing the real intention behind the maneuver, Yasoke presses onward obstinately until he reaches the opponent's frontline.
"Caught her!" the youth's thought celebrates.
However, the girl in the dress flashes a victorious smile and manipulates the metallic bonds around her. The movement forces Yasoke to step back a bit, leaving his body totally exposed. In the exact same instant, Zulmy pulls back the chains that had struck the ground, which return with full force and brutally hit Yasoke's back.
The impact is devastating. Yasoke spits out a significant amount of blood, and the remaining fabric of his tank top is completely destroyed, exposing the open and heavily bleeding wounds underneath the torn cloth.