vs. Aijuka

I had to get my head back in the game, so I didn't pay any attention to the next fight. Beatrice is far in the future. For now I have to concentrate on my actual opponent.

The fight of Beatrice vs Gigantes took less then two minutes. The second bout got very close to the 10 minute limit mark before a victor was decided. Good. That was just what I needed to calm myself down.

“The Winner is Mueller of the Iron Shield!”

The moment Ben cried out the victors name I was winked over to the teleporter room by security.

I stepped into the small slightly claustrophobic cabin that would transport me directly into the middle of the arena. The term lightning round was quite fitting, barely a minute passed between the end of a fight and the start of the next.

The door closed and I felt the tingly sensation of my body being ripped apart and rearranged, before looking around and taking in the sight of the huge Colosseum.

Suffice to say, it was quite the different experience from being a spectator

Standing in the middle, the audience's cheers where almost deafening. Of course I had to deal with this pressure in the qualifiers, only this was about ten times worse. Trying my best to not let it distract me, I readied my dirks.

My opponent yawned rather impudently before her blue eyes fixated on me. Then she gave me a cocky grin. If she was rattled by the huge audience she showed not a single hint of it. On the contrary, this was someone who lived for the thrill of the hunt.

Ben gave me a wink(which I did NOT need) and announced us.

“The amber assassin Mari Beta against the Ferocious Aijuka Zoroi!”

“Fight!”

I immediately rushed her. Cats tend to not do too well in the morning, so I was hoping to catch my opponent off guard with a quick attack.

“Meow!”

Fast!

I retreated just before my opponent was able to sink her claws into me. Catching her sleeping was clearly wishful thinking. This did trigger her hunter instincts though and Aijuka lounged at me. That was just as well. With my surprise attack failed I would fall back to my initial plan.

My tactic was fairly simple. She rivaled me in speed and was stronger, so I had to bet on my skill and stamina. If I could get her to exert herself, she should eventually slow down, providing me an opening. Of course with a time limit of 10 Minutes that would be quite tricky to pull off.

We danced around like this for a couple minutes. Her aggressive pushing forward, me retreating.

“Hey, why no fighting?”, she tried to taunt me. “Human boy scared?”

The catgirl really was kinda cute. The type you kinda want to pet or do other things with. Not that you should attempt that with a feral Nekotamata. These claws could rip my throat open in a single swing.

She didn't aim for the throat though. I could tell that she didn't try to kill but incapacitate me. That was almost scarier.

Time moved on, we passed the 8 minute mark. The opening I hoped for had yet to come. If I didn't want this to end in a draw, I had to take a chance.