'Is this what boxers feel when they get punched in the face?' Leo wondered as he couldn't feel his feet beneath him.
As a kid, he had often watched boxers fight on the old TV in the corner of the room and remembered how their legs would sometimes wobble and betray them after a particularly fierce blow to the head.
It was as if their bodies were momentarily disconnected from their minds and their muscles refused to obey even the simplest commands.
Leo had seen it in slow motion, the way a boxer's eyes would glaze over, their stance faltering as their legs turned to jelly.
The commentators would call it being "on wobbly legs," a state where the brain struggled to send clear signals to the rest of the body.
While he had never understood it fully back then, but now, with his own head throbbing and his vision swimming, he could feel that same disconnect firsthand.
His legs felt like they were no longer part of him, an alien sensation that made taking every step an effort of sheer will.
The ground beneath him seemed to sway, each footfall uncertain as if he were walking on a ship's deck in a storm, making him stumble forwards as his muscles felt sluggish and unresponsive and his mind seemed to be fighting to reassert control over his rebellious limbs.
'Come on now…. Victory is just a little bit away…. The Boss can't wobbled now' Leo thought as he banged his fists against his legs, trying to check if he could still feel them, but unfortunately, despite how strongly he was hitting his thigh muscles, the sensation he felt was pretty mild.
Shaking his head, Leo tried to clear the fog clouding his brain, but doing so only made the disorientation worsen.
In his current state, every movement was a struggle, a battle to reclaim his coordination in what felt like a cruel irony as while his mind was sharp and filled with the urgency of the fight, his body lagged behind, sluggish and uncooperative.
'So this is what it feels like,' he thought, gritting his teeth against the frustration.
'This is what elite fighters go through in those moments when strength and skill mean nothing because the body just won't listen.' He concluded, as for the first time in his life he realized the danger of taking serious hits to one's head and the consequences such hits brought.
Terra Nova Online was an ultra-realistic game, with the gaming experience being exactly in-line with the real world.
While any full dive VR game made on earth would never have distinction when receiving damage in terms of whether the hit was on the foot or on the head, Terra Nova Online was different.
Here, if you were hit on the foot, then moving that specific part of the body would feel painful, while being hit on the head would make moving in general harder just like how it would be in real life.
*Shua*
*Shua*
Down on one knee and unable to move properly, Leo knew that he wasn't in the best shape to perform his usual close-range high speed attacks and hence chose to use both his Explosive Daggers on Luke instead.
*KABOOM*
*KABOOM*
Left with no shield and no way to defend himself, Luke was helpless against the explosive daggers as they exploded right in front of his feet and sent him flying backwards, as he hit his back hard on the arena ground.
-70.
*BOOO*
Boo's rained down on Leo, for using a cowardly accessory instead of actually fighting Luke like a man when he challenged him, as Leo slowly struggled back to his feet.
*SHUA*
*SHUA*
*SHUA*
-50
-80
-40
"AGHHHH"
Luke screamed in pain, as Leo pierced his body with daggers from range, as he planted three daggers in his left leg, completely incapacitating his ability to get back up, as Leo ensured that Luke stayed down this time for good.
"Surrender…. Br—SkyLion…. You fought well, but this is my victory…. Don't make me plant this next dagger in your neck" Leo threatened as he slowly walked towards Luke, pointing his daggers towards him.
"Surrender? Never…. Kill me instead" Luke said, as the audience burst into a road of approval over his comments.
While everyone knew that throwing your life away over a lost cause was extremely dumb, however, they couldn't help but appreciate the bravado nonetheless.
-40
-60
-80
"GAHHHHHHH"
Planting three daggers in his right leg as well, Leo converted Luke into a paralyzed donut as any hopes that he had to limp away from an approaching Leo, or standing up on one foot were thrashed when both his legs were lost.
"You will die …. It's not too late to quit, still" Leo said, in an almost begging voice as despite his pitiful state, Luke shook his head from side to side and defiantly yelled "NO!"
As the crowd burst into cheers once more.
As Leo looked at Luke's pitiful 6% HP bar, he knew that he needed to end this fight now or his brother would suffer a public death, as while he knew that death was not really permanent for a player, he still did not wish for Luke to die in front of such a large crowd, for the sake of his own pride.
"Very well then…" Leo said, gritting his teeth as he slowly but surely felt strength returning to his legs as he began jogging towards Luke.
"Don't blame me for this-" he said, as he jumped over his nearly incapacitated brother and began punching him in the face trying to knock him out cold.
Putting his hands up in a guard, Luke tried to block Leo's punches, however, by the third punch, Leo's superior strength blew his guard open and by the fifth, Luke blacked out completely as the match referee stepped in to stop the fight before Leo actually killed him.
"That's it…. He's out… he's out- you win" the referee said, as he pulled Leo away from Luke and the team of medics rushed into the arena to save SkyLion's life.