Second Round K.O. [Claudia, Isamu]

"Mr. Hagane,

You are cordially invited to participate in an exhibition match hosted by Trestrellas, Ltda. in three days' time. Coordinates have been provided for your use. Please arrive punctually at 10:00pm. Medical services will be provided as courtesy for your participation. Payment for participation will total $100,000 per bout fought.

If you are uninterested, simply ignore this invitation.

Best regards,
The Arena Board of Directors"

It was all too easy to entice potential contractors to a test. Simply dangle money in front of them, and they came like urchins to a feast. Claudia smiled to herself as she stood in the VIP box of the underground combat arena that had been built here in Brazil, finally finished but still yet untested. Well, that was why she'd decided to do this little exam. Of course, there would be no other invitees at this time, because this was hardly a real invitation. Walking down to the arena floor, Claudia smiled as she waited for the mercenary to arrive, checking her watch to see if he did indeed come right on time.

This would be a good opportunity to get some of her worse tendencies aired out, on top of making an important business connection. A win-win all around, really.

When it came to business regarding his livelihood, Isamu always made it a habit to arrive in an orderly fashion. In the world of hitmen and assassins, if you weren't as quick and precise in this world as you were on your mission, you probably aren't cut out for the business at all. After all, opportunities could vanish as quickly as they appeared in this race, and he certainly wasn't going to leave a bad impression on a possible business partner and be left in the dust. Until that stuff with China wasn't sorted out, he had to find other ways of putting food on his table.

Besides, 100,000$ per bout was far too enticing to pass up. He would've been a fool to turn that money down. Of course, he was also wise enough to acknowledge none of that money would be earned easily. For a woman of Francesca's standing, he didn't imagine she was signing your average goon off the street. Due diligence, something he was entirely capable of, was advised here.

Dressed in an outfit he found most ideal for combat while appearing relatively casual still, he followed directions until he arrived at the arena floor, glancing at the woman with sun-kissed skin and a lovely face. She was nice on the eyes, no doubt, but he wasn't here to ogle or make a pass at her. His onyx gaze was laser-focused, yet his tone maintained that air of playfulness that was central to his demeanor.

"Evening, Miss Cambronne. Pleasure to meet ya face to face. Schedule's all cleared for today on my end, so feel free to throw whoever or whatever ya desire in this exhibition match. Mighty curious to see what the lovely CEO of Trestrellas has in mind for opponents."

"A pleasure as well, Mr. Hagane. We at the board will be eagerly looking forward to your showing."

Of course, none of the rest of the Arena's board was actually present tonight, nor did it matter if they were. Claudia had more or less final say in this particular matter, regardless. She crossed her arms and spoke in a cool, confident tone, authority seeming to emanate from her even in such a relaxed environment.

"I assure you, I've brought only the best to allow your skills to shine in this bout. I will even allow you to choose your first opponent in a little game of sorts."

Her smile grew more sly, finding an undeniable amusement in the matter as she posited the question to Isamu.

"Small, medium, or large?"

"Of course, of course. I didn't intend on coming here without displaying my absolute best. One of my finest joy's in life is makin' a good impression on future business partners."

Isamu was quite prideful in his abilities, of course. He was under no illusion that he was some world ender, let alone one who could be called the strongest in history, but he was resourceful and efficient. He knew his strengths and weaknesses more than anyone. He would treat this battle as he did all of his fights. He'd study, he'd adapt, and he'd hopefully handle the threat regardless of any inherent difficulty.

As such, a leisurely smile played across his face as he stroked his chin. He had a choice in this, huh? Well, he supposed he would go what sounded good to him at the moment. What did large even mean in this context? It sounded almost like he was given the choice to describe his fast food order or something. At any rate, he knew his answer and voiced it without any hesitation or trepidation in his tone.

"Large."

"Oh, I see. A hungry man then, hm? Very well. I'll be watching from the box, so please give us the best show you can."

With a smile and a playful wave, Claudia walked off to the interior of the arena, leaving Isamu to wait for his opponent to arrive. Backstage, she tied a gag around her mouth and a blindfold around her eyes, before cuffing herself to a pipe in one of the back rooms. She imagined, as always, that the young lady would probably be profoundly upset when she returned, but that was perfectly fine. Her spirit moved into one of the three bodies she'd brought with her, the largest model of the Mass Production Elianes. Rolling her neck and flexing a bit to ensure she was suitably acquainted with the body, she walked back into the arena, now in a wholly different form.


"Hey there. Name's Laetitia. Let's get to it, huh?"

In contrast to the body of Francesca, Laetitia was a radically larger figure, a towering figure with an exceptionally well-muscled figure. She was undoubtedly a physical specimen beyond what a normal human could possibly achieve, and her stance made it clear that she was no amateur when it came to combat.

"Well, welll...."

Voicing an appreciative whistle at the entrance of his first opponent, Isamu took a moment to look beyond the good looks and appraise her stance and posture. Judging from her physique, she hardly struck him as some novice opponent. That imposing physique seemed to speak to a form of experience he couldn't pinpoint, and he immediately began wondering about her flaws.

Even for her size, he didn't doubt she could likely move around and operate as well as a smaller fighter. As such, his intention was ever to seize an advantage wherever it presented itself. The time for battle was near. Drawing his blade from his sheath, his mind contemplating several strategies, he beckoned the woman forward. He wasn't the type to rush in recklessly without a gameplan, and he was a gentlemen at heart. It was better to let the lady lead first, then account for something. The bold, but diligent approach.

"First move is yours, Laetitia. Let's dance."

"What a gentleman. Don't think that'll get you any mercy, though."

In nearly the blink of an eye, Claudia's whole body seemed to tense up, and then she shot toward Isamu, a fist barreling toward his midsection at speeds that were certainly not human. Of course, even if that strike didn't hit, she was perfectly glad to simply be up close and personal with her opponent.

Even if she missed entirely, her form was impressive to say the least, and left little in the way of openings. The blow had been calculated, tight in its form. There were certainly holes in her defense, but it would have taken someone far above the norm to find it.

"Mercy? Of course not. An aggressive woman is right up my alley for stuff like this."

Onyx eyes read every movement, from the moment she spoke until the next instant when her muscles flexed and she set into action. For a woman of such prominent musculature, he assumed there were several possibilities concerning her fighting capabilities. Fast and strong? Did she strike recklessly or did her blows carry with them a focus force that went beyond physical damage?

Assuming that any of these predictions were correct, he already knew his next plan of action. He would take the strike head-on. Exhaling softly, spiritual energy coalescing within his body, muscles tensed, he shot forward to meet her directly as that fist barreled straight into his midsection.

A fierce blow, to be sure, one that would have spelled defeat even for the average superhuman. But Isamu was not so inexperienced. His body was built for combat and each corded muscle on his frame felt more akin to hardened steel than mere skin and sinew.

His body resisting the impact of her fist, his hand latched onto her arm, while the other quickly revealed a knife sweeping through the air in a bid to slit her throat, its sharp edge refined to its extreme through a combination of his mediumship and control over his reiryoku. Since it was an instantaneous use of his ability compared to true refinement, he didn't assume it would kill her instantaneously, if at all, but that was fine. He wanted to test how durable her body was.

If she attempted to shift her head and body backward, he would simply throw that refined knife straight into her eyes. After all, if this was a display of how he might fare working under her, he thought it genuine to show Miss Cambronne and her board the full extent of his ruthlessness as a combatant. There was no honor in his work as an assassin. Only a number and dollar signs.

The impact of her fist against Isamu's frame told Claudia a good deal about what she was dealing with here. She could tell that his body wasn't one that could handle constant impacts from a frame as overwhelmingly built for strength as the Laetitia model, but for now he had the upper hand simply by way of confidence. She'd come to find that sort of confidence endearing, if only because it was like aging a fine wine.

Unfortunately, the Laetitia frame was one that focused in on strength at the expense of its other capabilities. Certainly, it was more impressive than a normal human, but so was the man Claudia was currently facing. Isamu's knife cutting through the air was impressive, and Claudia wasn't quite willing to simply give up this first bout so quickly. She moved her form only enough to keep the blade from totally cutting through her flesh, though the hurried sharpening Isamu had applied to it left the cut relatively minor, blood pouring out but not a lethal blow.

That was good. Better still that he had kept himself so close by holding onto her arm. Every muscle in Claudia's body tensed up once more as she wrenched it upward, intent to either force Isamu to let go, or to simply swing him overhead into the floor on her opposite side.

"Phew. Someone packs a pretty hefty punch. Guess all that muscle is the genuine article, and the force behind it too."

She was pretty evasive too. Most with muscular and tightly corded frames like this tended to be unwieldy, but Laetia was nothing of the sort. Far from it, in fact. Thus, the counter employed worked in her favor as Isamu felt his body leave the ground as her body carried his own along for a temporary ride. Where he once stood in one place, he found himself tossed overhead toward the floor for another.

He extended his palms outward to spring off of the ground, preventing himself from crashing headfirst, shifting his body around immediately to pull his first weapon from his arsenal. His assassin's blade - Koketsu[虎穴, Jaws of Death] - a weapon familiar with the taste of crimson. It was a sharp katana by nature, but his mediumship allowed him to double that to such a degree that with enough refinement and manipulation, this blade was easily capable of carving out large chunks of flesh in a single uninterrupted strike.

He wasn't quite keen on the overall scope of her durability, but he wasn't going to take any chances, either. The first strike to his gut was one thing, but continued damage was an entirely different story. After all, fucking around and finding out was hardly a mainstay in his playbook. Like a bullet loosed from a gun's chamber, he shot off of his front foot with resounding force, his body blasting forward like a shooting star.

At the zenith of his burst, the sharpness of his blade refined, he executed a vertical strike against her chest and midsection. Again, he wasn't going to expect this one to take her out, and if she evaded that one, reiryoku would gather around his blade in preparation for a crescent slash forged from his spirit energy. That was the core of his offense, after all. Strategize. Adapt. Improvise. If one move fails, transition into the next without missing a beat.