Auroth Vs Dante

[Odin Reeves]

...

[Dante Williams]

Dante sat in down on his bed, though he was fully dressed, and most definitely fully awake. Dante was wearing a tight white t-shirt and his old sweatpants. The only thing that was really different was that he found his old black biker gloves, so he wore them for better grip.

Dante sighed as his hand ran through his dirty hair. He hadn't bothered to wash it in a couple of days. He was happy that he won his previous match, it was a close fight with Felix, that guy was pretty slippery, but at least they got out okay without any major injuries. But it was his next fight that Dante worried about. He got some information beforehand from the guy with the clipboard, he really would have to get that guy's name...

Apparently his next opponent was a guy named Auroth. And while Dante shouldn't really have been worried about that because he never actually KNEW Auroth, it was the next peice of information that worried him...

He had beaten Sedrix.

The same Sedrix who was the first one to ever actually talk to Dante. The same Sedrix who was big enough to rip Dante in half like a phone book... The same Sedrix who's Rebecca's brother... Dante thought as he looked down.

For one of the first times in his life, Dante was actually scared to go to a fight. He exhaled loudly, and looked up. He couldn't be scared just because this guy beat Sedrix. It was probably just because of luck anyway... that made sense...

He shook all the negative thoughts out of his head. For this first time in the whole tournament, he would face this fight calmly and somewhat optimistically.

He arrived at the building, the scrawny guy with the clipboard there too, Dante smiled as the guy said, "G-good job, sir! You're actually here first!"

Dante chuckled, much to the man's surprise, Dante has been treating this guy like shit since they first met, and now he was laughing? Dante slowly took off his shoes, and instead of asking the man to hold them, he simply put them against the wall and asked the man to keep a watch them.

As he nodded, Dante asked, "So, what's your name?"

"H-hank, sir!" The man stuttered back, becoming a little more confident, "Hank Matthews! Here's my card..." He handed Dante a buisiness card, that Dante then put in his pocket. "Thank you Hank," Dante said as he walked into the ring, hearing the roar of the crowd surround him.

"...and, call me Dante" He finished as he went inside the ring and then started doing some stretches.

[Auroth]

His match with Vince ended, with Vince forfeiting the match to Auroth. It was not a satisfactory win, but it was still a win no less.... Making him one more step closer to Tournament champion. In truth though, the title of Champion was something he did not desire. Rather, he was going there to face off against Odin in the winner's circle.... Hoping to defeat the man and realize his own strength. That was perhaps his only motivation in the tournament, all the fights he were in are all just an added bonus to facing off against Odin at the end.

Now Odin, there was a worthy foe. The entire tournament was just a obstacle to overcome to get to his friend and rival. Whether or not the Boxer knows it, Auroth considers the boxer a rival.... As the only one who has defeated, not so much defeated as made Auroth realized the difference in power, as of yet. Hell, since that day in the arena, the man has been training like hell to get stronger and stronger, so that one day he can face off and win against Odin. Though it may seem like it, Auroth is NOT obsessed with Odin. He seems the man as a milestone in his road of Martial Arts, not something to be watched over and adored.

Besides that though, there was another reason for Auroth to join the tournament beyond just mere violence and to surpass his rival. He joined because he wanted to better himself. He wants to get harder, better, faster, stronger, and all other wonderful things like that. Even at his currently powerful state; he did defeat a huge hulk of a man and a clever street fighter, he was still not satisfied with his power. Perfection, after all, is a road and not a destination. There was still much for the Martial Artist to do and much for him to learn to become even more skillful.

This fight, though, did excite the man. After wading through two fights, Auroth is now near the tip of the fighting tournament apex. That means his next opponent, this Dante, would surely be skillful and powerful, a foe worthy of his time. The thought sent shivers of anticipation down the man's spine, getting him ready for the brawl. The previous round's thoughts of insecurity and weakness were washed away in a wave of anticipation over the fight to come.... drowned in the desire for destruction and bloodshed. At this level of the Tournament, this Dante fellow had better be good.... If not, then it would sorely disappoint the blond...

And one doesn't want to disappoint Auroth now....

Leaving from the locker room, Auroth slowly approached the arena. He was late, as Dante seems to have already entered the arena and was doing some stretches. Slowly, the man nodded a calm, serene nod to Sean as he lifted the ropes and entered the arena, his cold blue eyes staring only at Dante. On his lips, a wicked smile appeared for a brief moment, only to fall underneath the apathy of his frame. In the rather well-lit ring the man waited.... waited for Dante to finish his routines. It would be rude to attack him now as Dante was getting ready after all. So instead, all Auroth did was turn his left side toward Dante, separate his legs shoulder width apart, lifted his arms up to his chin and just kept looking at Dante with his cold, azure pupils..... Prepared to respond and/or strike at any given notice.

"Are you ready to fight Dante?" The man called out in a rather neutral voice.

[Dante Williams]

"Are you ready to fight Dante?"

Dante had already seen the man enter the ring, but didn't say anything. He got up slowly and looked his opponent over. Well, he looks... interesting..., Dante mused. His opponent was about as tall has his earlier adversary, Felix. He had pure blonde hair, so blonde that it was basically bright yellow. He had a somewhat average build.

Not something that I would expect to beat Sedrix... Dante finished thinking, then he smiled, "Sure I am," He got into a fighting stance, facing Auroth, and he was hopping lightly and quickly from foot to foot, having both hands in the air in front of him, his right hand, which was in front of the left, was in a tight fist while the left hand was in an open palm.

"...are you?" Dante grinned, "I'll give you the first strike, eh... Auroth?" He said, giving a slight emphasis on his enemy's name.

He really wanted to fight this guy, he must be a really skilled fighter. Now to see how good the man who beat Sedrix was... Dante thought, giving a slightly malicious smirk, forgetting his earlier, ignorant thought of it just being 'pure luck' that Auroth beat Sedrix.

[Auroth]

"Huh? The first strike?" Auroth said, a bit out of it. "Thank you I guess..."

Now, Auroth here gave this druggie response to Dante, as his eyes seemed to have flickered to half awake and half dreaming. His body seemed loose, too loose, and it looked as though he could've fallen down and asleep at a moment's notice. In truth though, all the blond was doing was honing his mind for battle. Though he might have looked as though he were in a stupor, in truth he was honing in on Dante and his body. In the eyes of Auroth, everything seemed to have slowed down for just a moment. The quick hop that Dante did went at a snail's pace in Auroth's mind.... moving at the speed a turtle walks down a winding road. Yet while everything was slow, Auroth could still see things the same way. All the nuances of Dante's style Auroth could observe now, as everything went at a snail's pace in Auroth's head.

His mind was ready now, his body prepared and his spirit willing to do battle...

Slowly his feet moved inches closer to Dante, as if preparing to lash out, while the man's breathing seemed to have slowed for a brief moment.... relaxing his lungs as the cold, blue eyes kept staring forward at Dante. The pupils of the blond kept just watching Dante.... observing how he moved in beat, where he had his body positioned, and all other things of that nature... Knowing one's enemy is the quickest way to victory after all....

Then, in an instant, the blond struck out in a sudden and explosive charge forward. His feet barely graced the ground as he gained significant distance on his opponent. His hair blew back, the wind from his charge pushing against his face as he got closer and closer to Dante. His speed was phenomenal, singular, and awesome... Speed that could only be matched by something akin to a Professional Runner. A wicked smile, the same one from his other fights, forced its way onto the man's once serene face.... tainting it with a look of sadism and blood lust.

Quickly the blond curled his hands into fists, his skin finely stretched over the large and sturdy knuckles of his hands. Then, in a flash of pure speed, Auroth released the punch against Dante's face. Aside from the fact that his punch was fast, it served a second purpose than merely hitting Dante. What Auroth desired was that Dante would break rhythm of his hops to respond to Dante, or that his punch would throw off the opponent. Breaking rhythm was a essential aspect of the fight, disorienting a untrained opponent and hopefully giving Auroth an upper hand against Dante in the long battle to come.

And thus, battle has been joined.

[Dante Williams]

Dante looked confusedly at Auroth for a second, keeping his pose, along with his rythym. His opponent looked the slightest bit strange, like he was sick or something. He seemed as if he was in a dreamlike state, probably getting ready for his next move...

That probably means that his next attack is going to be a good one... Dante thought cautiously as he got ready for Auroth's move as well. He took in a deep breath, taking in the stink that filled the air. He tasted sweat, anger, fear, and bloodlust. Both from the roaring crowd at the edges of the ring and his opponent. The deep breath, other than disgusting Dante the slightest bit, calmed him down a bit, and gave him a slight burst of energy. Dante quickly made quicker hops and made his arm in a loose pose, though ready to firm up at any moment to block or attack.

He exhaled loudly as he thought, Inhale through nose, exhale through mouth, THAT'S the way to get the most energy... And he calmed down some more, putting his body into a completely nonchalant demeanor, he would be ready for anything. He slightly slowed down his hops for two reasons: To keep a steady, firm rhythm that would be less easily broken, and to constrict his energy. Hopefully his enemy might run out of it quicker than most...

Then, without warning, his enemy dashed forward with awe-inspiring speed. Dante could barely even see the wind blow against Auroth's face and bring his long, blonde hair behind him. Dante was amazed at this man's speed. It would be very hard to catch up to him, but Dante smiled mentally, All but possible though...

Then, just before his opponent striked, he saw a strange expression on his opponents face. The face that Dante thought could be the quintessence of insanity. The essence of evil, of bloodlust. A mental shiver put his body into overload as he saw the fist coming towards him.

With the greatest reflex that Dante could muster, he made a fluid move to catch Auroth's right fist with his open-palm left arm, and made his left arm fluid as he caught the fist. The move did make him stop jumping, and also slightly break rythym, but Dante had ruined Auroth's balance and he kept his momentum that would've been made by jumping by not hesitating a bit for his next move.

He kept as tight a grip he could on his opponent's fist, andwithout the slightest of hesitation, he lifted it up and slightly tugged at it to pull Auroth forward and make him lose his balance, and at the same time, he attempted to slam his right fist into Auroth's stomach.

By catching Auroth's fist, he would have made him lose a little balance, and when he tugged on Auroth's arm, that would have made him lose even more balance, so that would give Dante a great chance of success of hitting hitting his opponent without getting blocked, due to the obvious fact that it was extremely difficult for one to block an attack when he was off balance and one of his arms was taken captive. And he would keep his iron grip, so Auroth couldn't block.

OOC: I'll just assume that you tried to hit me with your right fist, and if not, just make me catch your left one.

[Auroth]

The speed he moved at and the speed of his attack was quite amazing to Auroth; in his previous two matches he moved no where near as fast as this one. The wicked smile continued to remain firmly sketched across his pale, sending messages of blood lust and sadism.

As Auroth can closer toward Dante, he noticed the slight look of disgust or fear in his opponent's eyes. It wasn't anything too major, but it seemed as though Dante had noticed the dark in his body. Perfect really. Now that his opponent knew what he was really going up against, Auroth wouldn't feel as bad if the martial artist had blind sided him with some sadistic moves.

Dante knows what he's getting into.

However, it was with much chagrin that the blond felt his fist caught in the hand of his opponent, stopping the blow in its entirety. It had been only a few moments since Dante caught Auroth now, as the man thought at the speed of light in his mind. Hopefully the palms of his opponent would be harmed, as a minor compensation for getting blocked. However though, Auroth could tell that Dante would probably try two things; continue to fuck with Auroth and throw him off or try to grapple with the Martial Artist. Hopefully it would be the second option; as Auroth was a good grappler. Adverting his eyes down, he saw as Dante curled his other hand into a fist.

Instantly he collected his strength and pulled his hand free from Dante. It had only been a few moments since Auroth's opponent caught his fist, so hopefully a firm grip would not be etched onto his hand and thus allow the Martial artist to regain control of his hand. At the same time though, it was then that Dante released his right hand and send it soaring toward the blond's stomach. His eyes frantically looked around as he assessed his situation, aiming to find someway out of it.

However, that Auroth found as his next course of action was only somewhat satisfying. The blond could not move, as there was no way he could avoid that blow at such a close angle. On the other hand, neither could he parry it due to the fact that it's so close to his body and his hands are all ready too far away from his stomach to block. Instead though, Auroth would trade off. Instead of blocking or dodging, the blond would curled his hand into a fist and launch it right at Dante's head. It was a good trade for Auroth; he would get hit in the stomach while Dante would get a head shot to the brain. While it may hurt for Auroth; he knew that Dante would be on the worst side of things in this little trade off.

Tightening his left hand, the blond sent his fist soaring in the air toward the Dante's head on the right side, aiming to hit the temple. With his the blond's foe preoccupied with the body shot, he would leave himself open and probably unaware to the extremely speedy punch coming to his right side. The wicked strike would then hopefully cause Dante to lose focus for just a moment, or at least leave something like a ringing sensation in his head for the rest of the fight.

Painfully Auroth felt the fist collide with his stomach, a wave of pain on his face. However, all that really did was just cause his dark smile to expand. Battle was joined now, after all, and what's more fun than exchanging blows and strikes between one another?

Absolutely nothing.

[Dante Williams]

OOC: Again, I'm going to assume that you're aiming for my temples, please correct me if I'm wrong...

IC:
Dante was mentally dissapointed as he saw how easily his opponent had simply slipped out of Dante's grip. Dante was hoping that his grip would stay at least long enough for Dante to follow through with his next attack. His hand slightly stung from the impact that Auroth's fist and Dante's open hand made. Dante's eyes quickly darted down to his glove-covered hands, and what little he could see of his palm because of the gloves, were red. Never mind, Dante thought quickly enough so that he could still to put his attack into action, then he mentally smiled maliciously. It could've almost sickened him, his bloodlust was slightly shocking, though in Dante's mind it couldn't be compared to what he previously saw on his enemy's countenance, It's still too late for him to do anything.

But then something happened that Dante didn't expect after Dante started to carry out his attack. As his fist was quickly closing in to Auroth's stomach, out of the very corner of Dante's eyes, he saw his opponent's left fist rocket quickly towards Dante's right temples. This isn't good, Dante thought, taking this next blow very seriously, though still thinking as quickly and frantically as he could, Even if I do hit this guy, the blow he'll get me with will give me a lot more damage, though he doesn't have enough momentum or charge to make it strong enough to knock me out, it will be a major disadvantage for me if it connects...

Right then, the split-second he was done thinking, which was a nanosecond after he first saw Auroth's fist, Dante had an idea, ss speedily as he could, and it was a lot easier since Dante kept his momentum, he slightly bent his right knee as he crouched froward the slightest bit under his enemy's fist.

He could pull it off due to all of his momentum, which greatly increased his speed of going forward and bending, and it was only growing because he was punching forward, and eariler, Dante gave his opponent's arm a tug, which brought him forward earlier, and not to mention the released weight off of Dante since he no longer had his adversary's arm in his hands. Plus, Dante kept all of the momentum from earlier by not hesitating to move.

As his fist sank slowly into Auroth's stomach, Dante gave a look that took about a nanosecond at his opponent's facial demeanour. Dante was disgusted, his opponent had a dark, evil, possibly insane grin about his face. He should've been in pain! This slightly annoyed Dante as he felt his opponent's fist fly gracefully over Dante's head, it was so close that Dante could hear a slight whistling sound and feel a breeze slightly blow his hair...

Then, without any hesitation, Dante planted his left foot, which was behind the right, meanwhile pulling his left arm back and placing it below him in a straight position, and hardening and firming it's position as much as possible to block against oncoming knee attacks, though due to Auroth's break of rythym and recent punch to the stomach, any knee attacks would be pretty ineffective. Then with his more-forward right foot, Dante slid to the right as little and quickly as possible, then Dante looked up as he brought his right fist up as hard, as strong, and as fast as possible in a quick uppercut towards Auroth's chin.

The attack would be pretty strong considering Dante's great amount of charge, and if Dante was extremely lucky, his opponent might be knocked out if it connected. And it would be near impossible for his opponent to dodge it, since his arm was already outstretched, and the fact that he was just punched in the stomach, it would basically make the whole idea basically impossible. And it would be unlikely that his opponent would block either, since one of his arms was outstretched from the punch, and his other arm was already pulled back from being grabbed, and he didn't do anything with it since then. And he couldn't knee him, for reasons already explained.

Dante smirked slightly, this next move could possibly win him the fight...

[Auroth]

There is something one needs to know about Auroth, especially with this fight going on. Despite his Traditional Martial Art roots, Auroth is actually by no means subscribing to their philosophies, at least not 100%. He uses techniques he learn from each art as he sees fit, but he does not follow what they preach. Instead, he follows the philosophies of Jeet Kune Do. He follows the ideas that mixing up is good, adapting to the situation with different moves is good, and that, now this is a big one, that breaking rhythm is good as well. To break rhythm means one is more or less able to respond to anything. Rhythm limits one's ability to respond, to react, and to attack. Unlike the traditional fighter, the blond could easily break out of the chains that binded him and his art, and take it to new levels.

He was like water now.... flowing with the current. Whatever life threw at him, he could easily react to it and move along with it like a stream moving over a rock.

Now, as Auroth's fist missed, one would expect for a expression of dismay, chagrin, and things of that jazz. Yet all that there was upon the blond's face was a look of excitement. To Auroth, there was no miss. All it meant was that Dante was a worthy fighter, and what Auroth's time here would be well fun and good. All there is for Auroth is to live in the moment now.... To go with the flow of battle and eventually destroy Dante.

Now Dante pulled off some crazy shit. Dodging a punch at that distance? Not even Odin did something like that, and he's a boxer that trains daily on how to bob and weave. Regardless though, what's done is done, and there is no use on crying over spilled milk.... No matter no good that milk was. All Auroth really needed to do now, however, is merely flow with the battle. Dante may think he has the upper hand at the moment, but such a thing is truly a transient thought; grounded more on fantasy than reality. In truth, the blond had a contingency plan in case his fist missed.

From the look of the way that Dante crouched, the positioning of his feet, the curling of his feet and other subtle notes, it was apparent that Dante was preparing for a uppercut. It was quite obvious really, even a half blind monkey could tell what he was doing. However, given the situation, Auroth didn't want to dodge an uppercut, which was actually something easy to do if timed right, but rather wanted to retaliate. There is simply no fun in constantly dodging now.... It all lies in exchanging blows.

Auroth received a blow, now it's Dante's turn to get fucked up.

Despite his off foot-ness, Auroth could still launch a knee strike. Dante doesn't know Auroth, not at all. The broken rhythm attack would be a surprise for Dante, as he'll probably have no idea it's coming.... Scratch that, he'll probably expect something, but given the previous responses the man will be expecting a rhythmical response and not this broken, unexpected attack. Furthermore, while he couldn't block with his hands.... There was another purpose they could easily, easily serve in the attack.

As the blond's right fist soared through the air, it suddenly descended down onto Dante's head. It wasn't a strike, but rather it was holding tightly to the back of Dante's neck. At the same time, his other hand would do the same thing, holding Dante tight and firm. In doing so, the uppercut was countered as Dante can't lift off the ground. Suddenly the man's leg firmed up, tightening in anticipation. A expression of delight flew across the blond's face, a smile of sadism on his pale skin. Then, in a blink of an eye...

Boom....

The blond launched forward with a powerful flying knee kick to Dante's held head. The attack would be devastating. Even if the man parried with his hands, it would be undoubted that a degree of damage would occur to his arm(s). And even so, Dante's arm still wouldn't able to entirely contain a flippin' flying knee strike, so probably the knee would force the blocking arm(s) to collide with the head, as oppose to just the knee alone. All the while, a wicked smile on Auroth's face remained strong as ever..... stretching from ear to ear as the man's cerulean eyes stared compassionlessly at Dante. The knee would be extremely painful, probably resulting in something getting broken or bloody.

And what now, was the moral of this attack? A Broken Rhythm is still a way of fighting.

[Dante Williams]

A smirk still on his face, Dante carried through with his attack, hoping to land a hit on his opponent. The amount of Dante's want to hurt his enemy so bad was shocking, even in Dante's current state, but he didn't care, he just wanted to beat the crap out of this guy and move on to the finals. For him, and for Sedrix. But at least Dante could see why Auroth had defeated one of Dante's best freinds. His adversary was an amazing opponent, he was very skilled, very fast, and strong as hell from what Dante could tell from his pulsating, red hand. But the fact that he went so far into this fight without being beaten into a bloody pulp taught him one thing...

I've improved.

His enemy had beaten Sedrix, who basically beat the crap out of Dante on his first day of Varron Academy. He'd beaten the Sedrix who was basically as tall as Dante when he first arrived. And there was no doubt that since they last met, that Sedrix had been practicing and had gotten better too. So, Dante thought quickly, because he was still attacking, I have really gotten better since I first came here. I mean look at me, I'm already in the semifinals, and if I beat this guy, then I can already go to the finals and possibly win this whole damned thing! There won't be a person in the city who won't know the name of Dante Williams...

He was broken out of his daydream as he felt a slight breeze on the back of his neck and saw both of Auroth's hands closing in on his neck. There was nothing he could do to stop them, they quickly clamped onto his neck, preventing Dante from following through with his uppercut, and Dante knew that it was useless to even try to finish his earlier attack, so he fluidly moved his right arm down into the same position as his left arm below him to block the oncoming attack, he knew what was going to be coming. The only action left for Auroth to do was to was knee him, though Dante was surprised, he was off balance, and off rythym, so he shouldn't have been able to have done it.

Right after he planted his feet to be straight-forward, straightening his right foot, he saw Auroth's right knee come towards his face. Fast. Suddenely Dante had an idea to minimalize damage, though there really wasn't a way to dodge the attack completely. The knee attack looked pretty strong, which was surprising to Dante, because it didn't matter if Auroth decided not to keep his earlier rythym or something, it was that it would take almost inhuman reflexes to make an attack that quickly right after so many actions, along with the fact that he was extremely off balace would make him have to be somewhat of a superhuman to make his attack this strong.

No matter., Dante thought as he came up with his plan. The attack was strong, and Dante couldn't prevent it, but he could prevent it from hitting his face. With his planted feet, he pushed forward on them. Even though Auroth was grabbing onto him, Dante could move slightly forward, which would make Auroth's attack move lower to his body, then Dante moved his both his arms and slightly pushed on Auroths' knee lower to Dante's body because, other than the fact that it would weaken the attack, would also redirect Auroth's knee to Dante's chest. The flaw in this plan however, was that Dante didn't have anything to block his chest.

The attack his his chest pretty hard, but luckily, it didn't make as big an impact, or it didn't hit his head, which would really be more damage than Dante would ever want. Dante felt the wind pour out of his mouth, without hesitating, he gulped the air back in and grabbed each of his opponent's arm's with his own. His opponent would have a weaker grip now, and Dante pryed Auroth's hands off of his neck and tried to pull them down and towards him, and at the same time, he slammed forward into an attempt at slamming his head into Auroth's gut.

Now Auroth couldn't block or dodge, because Dante obviously had his hands, and Auroth had just finished his knee attack, and it would take Superman to do another knee attack immediately after. And if Dante hit, right after he would let go of Auroth's hands and jump back out of range from Auroth... Hope this time my attack works... Dante thought as he carried out his plan.

[Auroth]

There was a mixed sense of satisfaction in Auroth's mind. On one hand, he had hit Dante.... on the other, he had missed the head shot. Well, it was no matter. The chest was just as good an area to hit as well. So long as Auroth walked out of an exchange on the better end, he didn't care where his attacks landed. So, despite missing, the wicked smile of his face remained.... Looking down with blood thirsty eyes onto Dante. Dante had proved to be a fun opponent. After all, you have to be skilled to get to this level correct? Dante was actually the most awesome fight so far in the tournament. The blond's matches against Vince and Sedrix were far too short, and no where fun as they have ought to have been.

That was when he noticed his arms, slowly but surely, being pulled away from the neck of Dante. It happened so quickly and he was still somewhat lost in his daydream that the arms quickly came off. Then, with defiant and equally blood thirsty eyes in Dante, the boy launched right into the belly of the beast so to speak.... Colliding right with his head to the blond hair warrior's gut....

Auroth wasn't about to move anywhere either, the head butt had hit him straight on.... Yet, it didn't really hurt at all. The answer to this lies within physics of course. Now, force is equal to mass times acceleration squared. What this means is that if you double the mass, you double the force. But if you double the speed, you quadruple the force. Now, if there is one thing to remember, it is that running at such a small distance to try and slam one's head into Auroth's body is not going to hurt. The head might weigh more, but it lacked the speed a punch has, and Auroth knows that Dante couldn't have ran, not ducked or weaved but ran, as fast as a punch. Only only that, the thing that makes a attack hurt is the time spent in contact. The reason why people "Roll" with a punch is to increase the time of being in contact with the first and thus lower force. Being realistic, the only thing the head butt will do is merely push Auroth back by hitting into Auroth's gut and staying there; not snapping back. Zidane's head butt was an ideal head butt; fast and crisp, yet this charge forward with the head is more like a grapple attempt than a strike. But hell, give enough room and time a charging head butt can be extremely painful. However, that's the thing about Dante's head butt. He had very little space to build up speed, and because of that his attack would not be the pain monster that a well made head butt would be. The head would slam yes, but it wouldn't be anything as powerful as a quick and crisp punch or kick, and while it would still hurt it would feel like a mosquito bite.

Slowly, but surely, the blond let out a gentle laugh. Despite it being "Gentle" however, it sounded like something out of a slasher movie. It was low and deep, with tones of madness stringing out over his voice. Every nuance of his laugh had some sort of deeper, dark melody that seemed to to just vibrate out of his throat. The laugh was quiet, that's for sure, but still.... The madness and insanity in his voice was all too readily apparent now to Dante... To Dante, he'd probably hear the laughter as a mocking his his head butt...

When he reality, Auroth was laughing for no reason.

As he laughed and smiled, Auroth quickly used this time to reestablish his hold. His left arm forced its way out of Dante's hold and onto his neck, trying to keep his head firmly on his stomach. Then, with his right arm, instead of moving up the arm all it did was merely play around with Dante's hand. In the next instance though, his hand would try to grasp around for Dante's fingers and pull them back in the wrong direction as hard as Auroth could muster strength for. The idea was to basically send in shock waves of pain throughout the boy's body... Then, with his laugh now turning into a louder chuckle, his knee shot up into the air. Now though, the target would be the stomach. Auroth was sure that getting the air knocked out of one's self twice can't be a good thing.

"This is simply so entertaining!"

[Dante Williams]

Dante smiled as he felt his head sink into opponent's stomach. Though he was disappointed that it didn't make as much of an impact as he hoped, he was happy to make slight contact with his enemy. It might've at least knocked the air out of Auroth at least? Anyway, no matter... Dante thought, now thinking more clearly as the oxygen he previously just swallowed was rushing to his brain, I couldn't think of anything to do. I was in a trapped position, and I couldn't think of what to do, due to my lack of oxygen...

In truth, Dante was happy to be fighting this opponent. In all honesty, Dante could say that this was the hardest fight he'd ever fought. All of his other fights that he had lost or had tied in, even the fights with Sedrix or Tiao, mostly Tiao, was simply Dante getting beaten up and Dante not being able to do anything about it. But this, this was a challenge. Dante was skilled now, he could do more things than he could have even dreamed of last year, and now it was a truly awesome fight. It wasn't simply Dante getting beaten up, or Dante beating someone up, it was an even match.

But when he heard his opponent's laughter, his insane laughter, evil and bloodthirsty, slightly mocking laughter. It filled Dante with two emotions. Annoyance, that his attack didn't seem to even affect Auroth enough for him to publicly show it, and fear, that his opponent seemed insane... This guy really needs help or something, Dante thought lightheartedly, but was somewhat serious in his commentary.

When he felt Auroth’s left hand slip out of Dante’s right one, Dante knew what he was going to do. He was probably going to attempt to grab Dante’s neck and knee him again. But strangely, Auroth’s right hand wasn’t escaping, it was simply kneading Dante’s left hand. Either Auroth was swinging a way that Dante didn’t, or he was planning something that would be dangerous for Dante. Neither idea seemed mildly appealing to Dante, he’d rather not have either.

He suddenly felt his enemy’s hand attempt to bend Dante’s fingers backwards. Luckily, Dante had played the game ‘Mercy’ before with what little friends he had way back when, and knew how the game was played. To give himself an advantage, he pulled back Auroth’s arm towards Dante while pushing back his hand, mostly to not have his hand hurt than try to bend back Auroth’s, and stayed vigilant for his enemy’s knee attacks. The good thing was that Dante was right and Auroth was trying to knee Dante, the bad thing was that Dante was right and Auroth was trying to knee Dante. But Dante was prepared this time, before Auroth could lift his knee up to get enough charge to have enough strength, Dante used his right hand, his good hand, to push down on his opponent’s kneecaps to keep his opponents knee down.

All the meanwhile, he shuffled his legs a tad towards Auroth to get them closer to his enemy. Then, he sneaked his left leg forward, though keeping it very close to the ground, and pushing forward with all of the strength he could muster with his right leg, and got his right leg right next to Auroth’s left foot. Right then, Dante pulled a trick he hasn’t used since the third grade: He tried to stomp as hard as he could on Auroth’s right foot. He couldn’t do anything to stop it with his right foot, since his left was trying to go up in a knee. And if he did stomp on his enemy’s right foot, it would weaken his grip on Dante’s arm and neck, and his strength of his knee, and would be slightly disoriented. And if so, then Dante wouldn’t hesitate and come up quickly to a standing stance, put his left leg down and then he would attempt to slam his right elbow into Auroth’s chest.

It would be hard for Auroth to do anything about it. Not only because of the fact that he would be disoriented, but also because he would have both of his arms down, one from previously gripping his hand, and the other from previously gripping his neck, and he couldn’t dodge or use his legs RIGHT then, because he just put his knee down from having tried to make a knee attack with one leg, and have the other one just stomped on.

This might actually give the help this sick bastard needs. Dante thought sardonically.

[Auroth]

What fun, what enjoyment! What entertainment this fight has brought onto the blond. The thrill of bloodshed, the ecstasy of pain, the rush of adrenaline. This was what battles were about. His foe, Dante, was a worthy opponent. His previous two fighters could not stand up to the power and skill that this Dante fellow possesses. What Auroth assumed was going to be a easy win turned to be a engrossing and enjoyable battle. Point for point, Dante matched him, keeping up withe the blond. Now Auroth couldn't tell exactly which style, but it seems as though he has had martial training in the past, and backs up that training with a plethora of experience to draw upon. In all, Dante was definitely a worthy opponent with years of martial training, something different in this school of worthless, punk ass, street fighters.

It made his grin extend just a little bit.

Was Auroth crazy? Was he insane and demented? Only God knows. In truth though, did crazy people see themselves as crazy? Of course not! To Auroth, this battle was a rare and enjoyable experience for him. A game where people throw their entire beings into the match. So what if you get hurt while fighting? So what if you can die? Was it that all human experience regard fighting as bad merely because you get hurt a little? Because people, for the most part, died? Hell no! To Auroth, it was like playing American football. Of course you're gonna get hurt for playing it, but damn the game is fun and the adrenaline and rush is well worth the blood loss. And if someone dies? Pfft, it was just another small casualty in the great game of Combat.

Now, Dante's little trick had spared him from the pain of getting another knee into his face or chest. However, despite irritating the man, all it did was make him more excited. So what if he defied physics and biology by stopping a leg with his arms alone, when it is generally known that legs are much, much more powerful than arms? So what if those said arms are keeping down his impressively muscled legs. It mattered not. What mattered was that Auroth continue into his next move, least he stop and get the crap kicked out of him. Now, for his first action, Auroth had to deal with the finger lock situation. Now, Dante assumed that he and him were interlocking their fingers; however that was not the idea. When Auroth went for Dante, he grabbed the fingers with his palm, not locking up with them. So, in response to his mercy-grapple, all Auroth did was merely pull when he felt Dante trying to pull back; increasing the strain of pressure against the man's fingers.

Now, as for Dante's stomp, Auroth could find multiple ways of avoiding it. His left leg was already pushed down, so all Auroth needed to really do is stop trying to force his way and instead just move the hell out of the way with his right leg. Or maybe Auroth could respond to him lifting his leg by doing a flying knee kick to Dante's face? Or maybe he could avoid the stomp by pushing Dante a bit and throwing off the landing of the foot? Not only that, Dante must have strained his arm muscles in trying to keep a leg down and in doing so weaken them for the rest of his fight; if Dante was a normal human fighter that is. In short, this fight has never once left the Control of Auroth. While it may appear that Dante may have gained control here and there, it has all been countered by the blond and swiftly returned to his palm, elegant hands.

So now, it was time for the response.

As the foot came down toward Auroths' right foot, the man suddenly mustered his strength and basically took his left grip around Dante's neck and tried to take him down to the ground by sweeping him off his feet via slamming Dante's neck down. He dropped onto his right knee at the same moment, using it as a sturdy and strong axis, and in a swift motion dropped Dante on his back to the mat of the Arena. Then, with equal swiftness, he would tighten his grip over Dante's neck in a attempt to knock the poor bastard out via suffocation. His right hand, in the confusion of the take down, would let go of Dante's hand and be free... Auroth would therefore be perpendicular to Dante at the moment, with his chest over Dante's chest....

And all that was left was for the poor bastard to black out.

[Dante Williams]

As Dante was about to try to pull off the attack, he was slightly annoyed at the ever-growing grin on his opponent's face that was virtually going from one ear to his other. He was glad he could block this knee or he'd be a dead man by now. One of the many reasons he could do this was because Auroth didn't really even get the chance to pull off his knee attack, currently he just had in it's knee position when Dante stopped in it's place, so Auroth didn't have any strength, momentum, or charge to back up his attack, and even though the leg muscles were generally stronger than the arms, Dante wasn't holding this attack back eternally, just for enough time to get his attack through to Auroth...

This fight had been pretty even in Dante's eyes. If one made an attack, it would have an equally well thought out dodge and possible counter and each blow would be exchanged with an equally clever one. His opponent was extremely strong and to Dante, one of the toughest people he had met. Up there with Maverik, Taiku, and Odin. He would have thought of Tiao, but he had never seen or heard of him fighting untill after his fight with him, and back then it was Tiao beating the crap of Dante and Dante sucking. This could be described as a battle of Dante's life perhaps, and he wasn't going to go out. At least, not without the biggest bang that anyone has ever seen...

As his foot slammed down, he felt himelf miss as the grip around his neck tightned and Dante could easily see that Dante was trying to push Dante down while getting in a lower position. As soon as Dante saw this, he swiftly leg go of Auroth's leg and slid his own leg back to himself. He would definetely need that for later.

It looked as if his enemy was trying to slam him down on his back. Dante knew that would take some time because Dante's stomach was facing the floor. As he was being pulled down, and before Auroth could switch Dante's position to have his back face the floor, Dane quickly grabbed Auroths' kneecaps again, but this time it was his opponent's right kneecaps, the ones that he was was keeping up for an axis. He grabbed them and kept his right arm as straight as he could. Then, he felt Auroth try to move his hand on the back of Dante's neck over to the front of his neck, probably to choke him.

Dante found this an extremely foolish move, as his grip would be weakened greatly during the switch of sides of his neck, another foolish move was to let go of Dante's hand, which was now free. Now before Auroth could complete the switch, Dante quickly grabbed Auroth's hand on Dante's neck and tried to pry it from him. This would be fairly easy as his hand was previously on the back of his neck, going to the front, and then Dante also hand other hand on Auroth's kneecaps, which was a great source of leverage for Dante as he pushed himself up and to the right with his hand on Auroths' knee and both of his now free legs.

If he was successfull in getting free, which he really most likely would, then he would completely release his grip on Auroth's knee and hand then roll to the left, as that was the way he was pushing, and go to Auroth's left side. Then, Dante would push himself forward the slightest bit to go to the back of Auroth and try again to slam his left elbow into Auroths' back, as his left side was facing Auroth.

Now it would be impossible for Auroth to catch Dante while he was rolling, or going to Auroth's back, because his opponent was already in a fixed position, and Auroth made sure of that, so he couldn't move in time to block, dodge or counterstrike unless he had the abilities of a superhero. And definitely couldn't turn around to do anything.

Now I'm getting slightly annoyed with this guy... Dante thought, his mental tone in a mixture between annoyance and lightheartedness.

[Auroth]

Now, Dante was very skilled in dodging his slam down. Using his knee to grapple on and swing around? That took some sort of bullshitting to accomplish now. Sure, let's ignore the rules of time in relation to the time it takes to fall down to the time it takes to pry off someone's hand. That didn't matter though, what mattered was that Auroth continue the match in his favor. For a while now, the match was in his control and his alone. For moments, Dante may break free.... but he ultimately moved according to what Auroth had predicted for his foe. Right now though, this was so far the most ambitious attempt to not get drawn into Auroth's web of moves. However though, Auroth had a remedy for the situation. It would be uncalled for and probably unpredictable, but that was the trick; to be unpredictable. One needs to be fluid, flexible, every changing. Stagnation results in destruction. It was either adapt or die in a fight really...

Be fluid like water.

While Dante's avoidance was amazing, Auroth knew the shit was gonna hit the fan as soon as Dante pried off Auroth's hand mid air fall. Instead of going down though, he decided to remain on his knees. The force he previously used to try and topple Dante was stabilized by his right leg and the sturdy support it gave the rest of his body. Now, for the actual counter, Dante would be wise to remember that as Auroth went down, his leg would be clamping together. As Dante seemed to relinquish his grip over Auroth's knee, the blond responded by violently and suddenly clamping together his legs, and in doing so clamp together Dante's right hand between his leg muscles. So as Dante tried to roll away, he'd feel a painful and violent tug against his arm with the blond hair warrior's vice-like grip over his limb.

The trap had been performed... The fight was back in the control of Auroth... At least for now.

On his base like this, Auroth was sturdy and supported. He wouldn't merely fall over due to a gust of wind and could probably stay in control of his body during an earthquake. This balance would then allow the blond to follow up the clamp. With the balance of his form, the man would now be able to easily rain in powerful and supported punchs onto Dante. With his hand clamped between Auroth's legs, it wasn't about to go anywhere; making him practically sitting duck. Now, with his fists raining in punches, it'd all be concentrated to Dante's head. Also do keep in mind the fact that now Dante only has one hand to defend him... And as we all know, two is more than one, which means that due to his inadequate defense most of Auroth's attacks should rain in true... It's mathematics and probability after all.

"End game" He though, as the blond's wicked grin smiled from above onto Dante's eyes... as if calling him to fight back.

[Kyukaku]

Wow Dante, I'm really impressed with how you've progressed in this tournament. Whatever you're doing, its working. However, Auroth was the more dominant competitor, so he moves on to the finals. Still, this was maybe my favorite match yet.