"If I am strong, then I can do whatever I want!" Yuna declared, throwing her fists into the air as Matty Joel yawned beside her and Braka rolled over, mumbling about his hometown sushi. It was at the end of a long day of journeying, and they slept underneath the summer stars with the earth as their mattress and night as their blanket. "Aight, boss." Matty said, rolling flat on his back and watching the stars above. "Aren't you suppose to warn me about not becoming a tyrant or something?" Yuna asked, sounding disappointed by the lack of response from Matty. "I know you, Yuna." Matty said, chuckling, "The way you do whatever you want, and the way the immortal general Khan did whatever he wanted is very different." "But still!" "You just want to travel the world, eat all the food, and just have a grand ol' time, right?" Matty said, sitting up and locking his eyes onto the athletic figures of Yuna as she took off her shirt and only kept her undergarments on, facing away "That's the adventure that I signed up for." "And getting strong." Yuna added, "Because you can't have fun without being strong." "Aye captain." Matty said, lying back, "Getting strong can wait until tomorrow...that roast duck was too good..." "That's why I am going to train now!" Yuna said, reaching a hand to Matty, "Come spar with me!" Instead, Matty nodded his head to the side and fell asleep beside Braka. Or at least, he's pretending to fall asleep. Yuna smiled and shook her head before she tossed out all of her clothes and went through her entire Surging Tiger routine as the twin moons overhead watched alongside the countless stars in the galaxy. As Yuna's sharp breathes and hisses cut through the night, Matty smiled, knowing that he had made the right choice back on his little island. Just like before, as Matty and Braka watched Yuna on from the distance, she alone represents the culmination of all of their dreams. Yuna's dreams of adventuring and traveling the world, Matty's dream of fighting lots of strong people and getting stronger, and Braka's dream of being free and making a name for himself... All of their dreams are within Yuna's body, burning away brightly like the fuel of a young sun. So when the looming shadows of Fatera hovered overhead, Yuna's light shined through, like Matty and Braka believed it would. "COME!" Yuna said, a big smile on her face before the blasts of air from the two of them powering up at the same time clashed, shattering the stone columns underneath their feet. "KICKY KICK!" Fatera called, her foot winding around, generating a massive whooshing tornado by her side before it was launched towards Yuna. The Surging Tiger-style user launched herself forward, a trail of her aura left behind in the drafts before she rammed herself straight through the tornado. She felt her body being ripped apart by the air, and with a low hissing hum, Yuna echoed the power of the Wave within her further before kicking in the opposite direction as Fatera, untangling the tornado and letting the swirling dust and dirt shower over the battlefield. Fatera's eyes widened, and an excited smile also appeared. Yuna could have easily avoided the slower-moving tornado, but instead, she decided to face it head-on and confront it. That may be a silly decision tactically, but it was to make a stand. A line in the sand where Yuna will not back away from Fatera's challenges. It was to show the entire world that no matter how dominant Fatera looked, Yuna Hu, the daughter of the Surging Tiger style, is not afraid. "I like ya!" Fatera declared, reaching her hands out to the side before even more of her dominant aura expanded out from her body, "Let's get serious!" "Fuck yeah," Yuna said, dropping into a low crouching stance before sharply opening her eyes, now glowing bright white as the Wave around her body slowly shifted and formed the shape of a tiger. Her hands were coated by the semi-transparent tiger's claw condensed from the Wave, and her teeth had extensions of Fangs of the same make. Fatera felt her entire body tightening up, as the shape of Yuna's Wave aura looked exactly like the aura of the Dominance mode Channelers. "Surging Tiger: King of the Jungle!" Yuna said, noticing the slight shift in Fatera's muscle tension, "Getting scared?" "Never." Fatera responded, "Hard mode: Punchy Punch!" Cocking a fist back, streaks of light then swirled around Fatera's fist before she dashed forward, slamming straight down onto the ground where Yuna stood and disintegrating all of the rock columns nearby upon impact. From the cloud of smoke, Yuna's figure appeared, a roar of the tiger accompanying her rapid movements as she pounced across the ground twice, rocketing forward and tackling Fatera down with a blinding speed that even made Fatera hesitate. In that moment, Yuna had gotten the upper hand. However, as she pinned her legs around Fatera's body, arms outstretched and ready to slash her apart, Fatera gripped her fingers around Yuna's body and tossed her behind like a ball. A loud sharp whistle came through as Yuna's Wave claws dashed through the air, and she reoriented her body in midair, landing softly on the ground in a low stance with her hands hovering in front of her, flowing from one position to the next seamlessly. "If this is the dominance mode, then I am disappointed," Fatera said, pointing a finger forward. "That's what I was saying!" Yuna said, standing up and putting both claws around her hip, her fangs dangling out from the mouth in a comical way, "But dad keep saying how the style is copy of the Dominance state, but weaker." "COUGH COUGH!" Yuna's old man back at the Kingdom of Basha on the Western continent coughed, nearly choking on the tea after hearing what she said about the Surging Tiger style as Xin, her old master, tended to him, "THAT INSOLENT BRAT!" "You know how she is..." Xin sighed, already giving up changing Yuna from who she is. But despite her foul mouth, uncaring attitude, she still shared one thing with her old man. And that's how she hates to lose. No matter what she may say all those times before, she had always fought with the Surging Tiger style, and that would be the style that will bring her victory on the biggest stage in the world. "Right..." Fatera said, scratching her chin. Then, she charged forward as Yuna matched her aggression. Now in her further enhanced state, Yuna's able to take advantage of the aggressive style of combat of the Surging Tiger style even better. Her fist spun out in a flurry, hitting and slashing Fatera all over as she seemed to struggle when her opponents are quite a bit faster than her. Fatera was able to avoid and knock aside two blows out of every three, but soon, she started taking on more and more damage to her body. Fortunately, she also had superior durability after training to get slashed by the Sky Splitting Sword and bombarded by the One Shotter on almost a daily basis in the past month. That was not really the issue though. The real issue is now that Yuna's far faster than before, Fatera's struggling to land even a hit on her. Her Punchy Punch and Kicky Kick in hard mode are simply more hard-hitting, with more of the Wave concentrated at the point of attack, but it's not necessarily faster. If she can't land a hit, it won't matter how hard those hits are going to be. If she tries to freehand hit those attacks, Yuna will just nimbly leap out of the way. Fatera's physicality and stamina are indeed incredible, but it's not like it's an infinite resource. If she is to win, she needs to be smart. She needs to catch Yuna off-guard and land a single hit that will finish her off. That's exactly why she's been allowing herself to continuously take hits, damages, and punishments from Yuna. "Heheheh...at this rate...victory is mine!" Yuna muttered quietly, her attacks stringing together faster and faster as Fatera's body became slowly ripped apart, blood streaming down her body through the dozens of cuts all over her arms and legs. Then, as Fatera stumbled back and Yuna lunged forward with a massive winding horizontal slash, Fatera turned her wrist and grasped onto her hand. Yuna's momentum carried the attack into Fatera's body, but it was premature, and the impact was far less than ideal. Worst yet, Fatera's fingers had broke through the tiger's claw as they wrapped firmly around Yuna's wrist, holding her in place. "Ya mine." Fatera said, sending her fist forward as a massive detonation of the Wave was held up within her knuckle, "PUNCHY PUNCH!" There was the sound of a loud pop and a crunch, and as Fatera's punch rammed through the air, compressing and pressurizing each and every of the air particles that failed to move out of the way, Yuna forcibly dislocated her own shoulder before she flipped over Fatera's head, her hand dangling softly within Fatera's hands like a long pillow. Fatera's punched hit empty, and a release of Wave rocked the entire mountain and sent cracks forming all over John King's structure Cast. At the exact same moment, Yuna pointed her feet forward, her entire body drawing a circular arc before she nailed a kick right in the back of Fatera's head, tearing through the layers of her Wave armor and sending her flying forward before Yuna's dislocated arm was released. "WHAT...WHAT WAS THAT?!" Xin shot up on his feet as Yuna's father let out a light chuckle. "That's the flexible combat style of the Slithering Snake..." The grandmaster said, shaking her head, "I can't believe she actually learned it during her stupid travels..." "But...I thought the opposing styles cannot be mixed together with good results..." "Unless you are a genius like her." The Grandmaster said, leaning back in her chair as Yuna watched the smoke slowly settle around her before popping her arm back in place, "Perhaps my daughter will become the greatest fighter of us all..." If she can defeat the monster that is Fatera, however. With her face buried firmly in the ground and her body carving out a small tunnel thanks to Yuna's kick, Fatera had the wind knocked out of her for a little while. However, fueled by rage and an unrelenting desire to win, Fatera pressed herself up while forcing the air in as the red Wave aura around her body now started to darkened as strands of black started to mix in within. Letting out a continuous low growl, Fatera dropped down into a low squat with her finger tips scraping the ground. The crimson glow in her eyes blackening too as she muttered a phrase repeatedly. "I am the one who wins...I am the one who wins...I am the one who wins...I am the one who wins..." "Just...go down already!" Yuna shouted, leaning forward once more and ignoring the searing pain coming from her shoulders. With all of her Wave concentrated in her claws, she launched a massive slash that tore straight through the top half of the structure Cast and split the ground underneath! Though as the attack propagated outward, she looked into the black eyes of Fatera. And suddenly, a chill was sent through her spine. The next thing she knew, a massive black blast sent her body flying through countless columns before Fatera and her black aura came chasing. If Yuna was a tiger that ruled over the jungle, then Fatera had just opened the gates to hell and let the demon in.