"Fucking hell that hurt."
Grey spoke as he fell out of the way of Pandro’s follow up neck strike. His back hit the ground and his feet kicked up, not to attack, but instead to hop up.
He just managed to jump out of the way of a sweeping kick, only for Pandro to spin even faster, adjust his hips, and get in place for an axe kick that slammed down with the momentum of a flailing guillotine the instant Grey’s back hit the ground again.
Grey found himself laughing.
Maybe this would be more fun than he thought, especially since the only Frame he could actively use in this place was Last Paladin...
For now.
Since they thought he had some weird mutations, there was no problem with mixing in a little Dark Solveign, now was there? So long as he focused on the light aspects.
Butterfly wings of magnetic lines burst from Grey’s back and a gust of solar wind yanked him back.
BOOM.
Pandro’s leg slammed into the ground as Grey flipped up to his feet. This time, learning his lesson, he was already ready for a follow up attack. He watched the entire sequence and saw in real time how Pandro’s weight dropped by easily 20 pounds in a blink. All that energy converted at once and he accelerated so quickly it looked like he teleported in front of Grey again, his eyes feral.
Saliva wildly flew from Pandro’s lips, his growls only drowned by the roars of his stomach itself.
"Let’s dance."
Grey locked in as he felt Pandro’s physical aspects soar beyond his own.
He blocked an oncoming punch with a forearm, taking a small step back to dull the power and then quickly pivoting to a side and whipping out a roundhouse kick.
Pandro blocked in kind, raising his elbow like he could feel it coming before Grey even launched it.
There was a flicker in Grey’s eyes. He knew an ability reminiscent of Last Paladin Spirit when he saw it. But this worked by a different mechanism, he just wasn’t sure exactly what it was just yet.
Pandro absorbed the blow with his elbow and forearm, then quickly shifted them up, letting a well-dulled shin slam into his ribs.
Grey realized what he was doing instantly, but Pandro lost another 20 pounds and his speed accelerated again. His arm slipped back down and he trapped Grey’s leg. Then, before Grey could react, he took a step forward to knock him a bit off balance then sent an oblique kick right at Grey’s kneecap.
If it landed, there was no doubt in Grey’s mind his leg would suddenly angle the wrong direction.
He felt a thrill filling his bones at that moment and a wild grin spread along his face. He suddenly wasn’t interested in using his abilities, his mechs, or even really his other Frames at this point.
It had been a very long time since he had had a spar like this one.
Without missing a beat, Grey lifted his plant foot from the ground, aiming his shin toward the oncoming heel and twisting it just the slightest bit to the outside as it was about to land.
The oblique kick was parried away to the side and Grey fell back even faster. It seemed that Pandro would have control of his leg and fall on top of him. With how much more Pandro’s physical stats were growing than his own, it seemed like a death sentence.
And yet, Grey’s parry wasn’t the last of his strike at all. His hip flexors did what they did best and flexed, his leg continuing a drive up.
As his head fell toward the ground and Pandro fell on top of him, his knee found purchase on Pandro’s chin.
Pandro realized a step late what was happening and tried to block with a palm, but Grey’s hands were completely free themselves.
Grey slapped his own palm down at Pandro’s counter, using it to gather even more momentum for his knee upward.
A sickening crack echoed as Pandro’s head rocketed back with so much force he went from falling forward to rearing up and over Grey’s head.
All the while, his grip on Grey’s leg was still tight, but Grey didn’t mind it at all as he flipped along with Pandro’s momentum. Suddenly, a position where Pandro would have been top mount became Grey in top mount instead.
BANG.
Grey’s ass landed right on Pandro’s torso and he drew an elbow around the latter’s chin.
Pandro’s head whipped to a side, half because of Grey’s strike, and half in an effort he made himself to dull the blow. Unfortunately, he wasn’t quick enough. His brain rattled around in his skull and Grey landed one blow after another.
Pandro’s hips bucked and he launched Grey over his head, losing more than 50 pounds in a single go as his power soared again.
Grey’s butterfly wings increased their span, a wide grin spreading across his face as he landed and then shot forward.
A wild exchange flurried between the two, but for every three strikes that ended in a stalemate, Grey would land a shot to the liver, a kick to the inner thigh, an elbow across the chin.
He moved with a fluid wildness, and there came a point where no matter how much weight Pandro dumped, he was being quickly overwhelmed despite his greater stats.
Grey laughed and laughed, the sheer joy booming from his chest radiating out to the point it was near infectious.
Soon, it was just a pair of seemingly normal-sized men battling it out at the center. But Pandro was chiseled beyond belief, his little muscles having little muscles of their own, a vascularity pumping and raging through his veins.
It was all worthless.
BANG.
Grey’s foot slammed against the side of his head, sending his ears ringing.
BANG.
Another kick, this time too fast, too sharp. It cut into him from the other side, a ripping echoing across his ribcage and liver.
BANG.
Pandro keeled over right into a knee that drove through his nose.
Blood spurted as Grey raised his leg into an axe kick. Flames and solar wind rolled and roared around it, accelerating it down to the point the sound barrier shattered with a resonating BOOM.
However, Grey’s strike didn’t land against anything but the ground.
Pandro lay prone in a crater, barely breathing. He hiccuped, his lungs struggling to push air to the rest of his body.
Grey stood at the edge of this crater, his leg having just created it, and his thoughts having spared Pandro from what would have otherwise been devastating.
A silence hung in the air.
"Thanks bro, that was fun."