Chapter 419 Undefended
The match announcement was all too sudden— a literal surprise for the other competitor. Satoshi had little to no preparation. The only preparation he had for the match was the time interval going to the center of the coliseum.
Cold sweat ran through Satoshi's hands, and the frigid coldness of the halls leading to the outside arena gave him shivers. He subconsciously rubbed his shoulders, trying to calm himself down for the inevitable match that was staring him in the face. Satoshi was well aware of just how strong the principal was, not to mention that he was one of the few superheroes who were actually estimated more formidable than his parents. There was more than meets the eye behind that bald head and the normal appearance of the principal, and Satoshi knew it too well.
Like any other licensed superhero, Satoshi had his own fair share of combat experience. Nevertheless, his circumstance was nothing compared to the principal. For the first time, Satoshi felt the most nervous at that moment.
"Who am I going to use? Should I rely on speed? Which familiar should I integrate with? Should I integrate now?" Satoshi asked himself. Despite his nervousness, he was still level-headed. He calmly assessed the situation, all the while screaming in his mind.
Once he got to the end of the hallway, a blast of warm air hit him directly in the face. The arena stared at him as if it was the abyss, gazing up at an unsuspecting entity peering down at it. Satoshi took in a huge breath, making his lungs puff out until it was on the verge of popping (or so that's what he'd imagined).
"All right. I'm just going to wing it. If I want a fighting chance at victory, then I shouldn't expend too much of my energy at the commencement of the match. I should just counteract everything he threw at me... and then wait for an opening, so I could counterattack. You can do this, Satoshi. You can do this."
After the much-needed pep talk, Satoshi gave himself a pat on the back as he stepped into the arena. Right there was the school's head director/principal, Sai Tama, smiling as he clapped his hands in tune with the audience.
At that point, Satoshi felt like he was facing the final boss himself. He couldn't even defeat his dad in a no-holds-barred fight. And now, he was going to face off against someone who was on the level of his dad, if not higher.
"Whatever, let's do this." Satoshi said to himself, integrating with Ghast (dimensional portal familiar) and Sera (buffs and debuffs familiar) as soon he stepped into the 'ring' himself. Just in case, he also kept the Kraken Queen and the Ice Empress at the forefront of his mind. Who knows when he'd need it?
"I hope you're ready, Satoshi." Sai Tama said, cracking his head before he slowly walked toward Satoshi. His level of intimidation was not in the least laughable— or at least, that's how Satoshi perceived it.
"Please go easy on me, sir." Satoshi forced a smile on his face as he lifted his hands up with uncertainty.
"BEGIN!" Plume's voice echoed in the background as she gave the signal to start the fight. She couldn't help but look away from the arena, though, since she didn't want to see Satoshi getting one-sidedly beaten up.
Once the match commenced, Satoshi jumped up. He didn't want to get caught off-guard at the very beginning. Simultaneously, he manifested dimensional portals all around him. All of the portals led to different portions of the arena, giving him an escape route just in case Sai Tama took the jump on him.
His intuition was on point. The moment the signal was given, Sai Tama jumped forward, his fists locked and loaded. No sooner had he jumped did Satoshi appear right behind him. The two of them were reading too much into each other psyche's that they were already thinking three or so moves ahead of time.
Of course, Sai Tama was half-expecting Satoshi to do something so unorthodox such as flanking. Twisting his core, Sai Tama used his momentum to his advantage and swerved a one-eighty. Before Satoshi could reach him, he was already facing Satoshi.
Krzzrrtt~!
Sai Tama unleashed another punch, creating a crazy disturbance in the air enough to summon a wind vortex. In response, Satothi closed his eyes and shielded himself from the wind vortex. Nevertheless, he was also expecting Sai Tama to counter, that's why he set his backup plan in motion.
The moment he came out of the dimensional portal, Satoshi summoned the White Lion right where he previously was. He made sure that whatever happened, he would be able to blindside Sai Tama.
A successful counter. The moment Sai Tama turned around, White Lion let out a roar, and a bolt of blue lightning appeared from the sky, hitting Sai Tama directly on his bald head. It was a clean hit, and Satoshi inwardly celebrated since he assumed he had done decent damage at Sai Tama.
The blue bolt of lightning did more than damage Saitama, though. In fact, the force was enough to slam his face onto the ground, leaving a crater where his head was partially buried. Smoke rose from his head, and a burn mark could be seen right where the lightning hit him.
It was at that moment Satoshi decided to overextend. Since Sai Tama was down on the ground, he figured that now was the best chance to attack him. There was no way he would give him the slimmest of chances to counterattack. With that in mind, Satoshi teleported right on top of Sai Tama, summoning his Nailgun. A barrage of nails hit Sai Tama point blank.
To some, it may seem like a cruel thing to do, attacking someone while he couldn't defend himself. In hindsight, it was Sai Tama on the receiving end, so this mindset shouldn't even apply to him. That's why the people didn't even flinch when they saw Satoshi's low blow.
Ting. Ting. Ting!
What happened next was enough to drain the colors out of Satoshi's face. As the nails rained down on Sai Tama's skin in full force, they just bounced against his skin. It's as if his skin was made of a substance stronger than metal. "How on earth?!" Satoshi exclaimed before Sai Tama turned around and grabbed him by the neck.