Blood dripped from his broken nose, he tried to take a breath but felt blood flooding his mouth and throat instead.

The ringing stopped and pain started to take over.

Thane never fought anyone like that, he merely sparred with his elder sister who fancied beating him.

Thane’s anger had put him into deep trouble, he learnt a lesson he could never learn in his hometown, the capital is a cruel place.

Thane threw a jab, slow and heavy. Topda ducked and slid a bit forward, he pressed his foot and swung an uppercut.

The long arm moved like a whip, Thane was hit at the chin, another clean hit.

He needed to be very clever, smarter than Topda. He sent another jab with his left, but this time he did something new.

Topda looked at his feet, Thane’s left foot was forward. The lanky fighter dodged the jab, closed the gap and went for a kill.

Thane was prepared for it, he threw a right hand.

"BHAM"

Thane was sent into the air again. The giant teen underestimated the veteran fighter, the moment he placed his left foot ahead with a left hand.

Topda knew he was baited and a big right would come. One would only move his left foot forward when he threw a big right. But, he played along.

Thane was hit on his cheekbone, another attack that felt like he was hit by a hammer. His eyes blackened and slightly swollen, he had blurry vision on that side.

But, this sacrifice was not in vain, he had seen it. The attack that had major damage, it was a very wide right straight.

"Spear!" a spectator uttered.

"Is he using the spear on that big guy, poor fellow?" the second spectator replied.

"Gentlemen, what is a spear actually?" Ildiem’s guest asked the two experienced spectators.

The first spectator explained. "Topda has a very special move, simpleton fighters don’t have blessing skills so they hone a martial skill.

Topda has a spear, he slightly extends the bone in his right hand’s middle finger.

And hits with a fully stretched powerful straight right, he rarely uses it as it is risky and slower than his flicker flash."

"Oh, I see."

Max, Hawk and John were also worried as they were watching it.

"He is not landing anything, how come Thane’s getting his ass kicked so easily?" Max panicked.

"Topda got him beat in mobility," John answered.

Thane stood up, his face was hurting as hell. He could hear the cheers for Topda.

"I feel light as a feather," Topda said to himself. "After getting rid of my excess muscles, all I lost was my muscular strength.

I lost the offensive power of the heavier weights, but that’s not a problem at all.

Now that I’ve dropped to the lowest weight possible, I can overtake my top speed from my old days with minimum effort.

If I move like I mean it, only a blessed with speed blessing could keep up with me."

"BHAM"

Just as he was thinking, Thane’s jab connected, his lower weight worked against him.

Even with his guard on, he was shoved away by Thane’s raw power.

"I can see you now," Thane said. "If you don’t have any new moves, I can hit you." Simply hinting at the fact that Topda’s patterns were now clearer.

Cheers sprouted, the show was no more a one sided massacre, Max whistled but John and Hawk were silently observing with unsettling looks on their faces.

Thane paced up, he now could avoid the jabs, not all but a few. With each dodge he got closer until Topda was within his reach.

He could see fear in Topda’s eyes. "There is no way."

Thane finally cornered Topda, behind him were spectators. Topda looked panicked and slipped. "Oh, shit. I’m dead," he said as he fell.

Thane darted towards him to grab.

"Hehe, dumbass."

"DHAM"

A kick from a laying motion hit Thane’s face as he bent to catch him, the impact forced him to rise.

Blood oozed out from his broken nose, his legs wobbled.

He looked at Topda who was still on the ground, his back rested on the marble with one leg high, the very leg that he got hit with.

Thane didn’t know one could kick from that position as well.

"The dancing art, capoeira," Hawk mumbled.

"You know what this is?" Max asked him the meaning of it.

"It is an art created by carnival dancers, a fighting style that has mixed elements of dance, acrobatics and music.

Another theory says slaves practiced it while wearing handcuffs. By pretending it was a dance, that’s why so much of it revolves around kicks.

Topda is very dangerous, we must stop Thane before it’s too late," Hawk explained.

"Then let’s stop," Max said.

"Quiet, both of you, where do you think you are? Your actions carry consequences, Thane was not a child and he chose his fight, don’t speak for him.

He can surrender when he believes he cannot win, if you want to put trust in him then trust him till last," John retorted.

Topda stood up and started dancing with hands and legs swinging, it was a capoeira stance.

He spoke. "That kick has cracked skulls in the past, you have a horrifyingly solid build.

But you are not blessed either, that kick had done some serious damage to you too.

From the feel of it, I’ll bet you can’t see from your eye anymore."

Thane’s left eye was swollen and black, he really couldn’t see clearly from it.

"It’s bad, those kicks are dangerous," Max uttered.

John added. "Yes, Topda is controlling the fight now."

"It’s been 21 years since I last saw a capoeira fighter. However, Topda’s stance is a bit strange, he is not a genuine one.

He is mimicking it," Hawk added. "Maybe he is from a different capoeira school than that man."

"Does it have any weaknesses?" John asked.

"Every martial art has weaknesses, Sir John. It’s how masterfully you hide them from your opponent.

I think Topda probably added his own spin to it, to better fuse it with his burst attacks."

Reginald also looked at Topda, he was slightly impressed, only if he was blessed.

He then turned to Thane, his condition was bad until Reginald looked at his other eye.

His eyes slightly widened. The fire in Thane’s eyes was still ablaze.