Jonas attacked so suddenly and swiftly, it was as if his fists were like two fighting cobras. Ahmed’s eyes sharpened and he was forced to use every vestige of his power to concentrate on parrying this attack that was much more powerful than any attack Jonas had made in the past.

Ahmed’s arm rose swiftly, and he performed an incredible counterattack, slapping the punch away with his left hand and using his right hand to send a swift jab headed towards Jonas’ sternum.

It almost connected, but Jonas foresaw that his opponent would counter with a straight jab as this was his usual method, because it was useful to make an opponent move from their spot and completely derail their footing.

Jonas was no exception as he used his palm to cushion the blow, and he jumped backward, allowing the impact from the attack to help push him. As he landed a foot or two from his original spot, Jonas felt like his left hand might have shattered.

“Good punch,” he said as he shook his hand, trying to regain some feeling in it, ‘Now I need you to force me to use my left hand again. I’ll pretend I’m cushioning the blow, but instead I’ll grab his wrist and see if I can’t throw his ass out.’

But before Jonas could attack, Ahmed made his move and he swiftly stepped through the sand like he was running on water, and leaped into the air, his foot was cocked like a crossbow bolt, which he then violently released towards Jonas’ skull. ‘Fuck!’ thought Jonas as he ducked his head wildly, ‘Since when does he start fights off with flying kicks.’

Jonas dove under his leg and rolled to the side, and as he came upright, his eyes quickly searched for his opponent and bulged when they saw a gigantic fist about to take them on a date.

Jonas threw all of his weight backward, bounced off his back, and managed to narrowly dodge the new attack, but he made the mistake of using his momentum to flip back onto his feet, for just as he stood upright, a blast of sand hit him in the eyes, and he was temporarily blinded.

“He’s done for,” said Brow grumpily as he watched Jonas’ eyes clenched shut, and Ahmed went for his finishing move. Simon on the other hand, was completely shocked because he had never known Ahmed to cheat or use cheap tricks to win a spar, then again, Simon was never good enough of a sparring partner to provoke such a reaction.

Jonas didn’t panic, as time slowed down just enough for him to make his next move. ‘You got me,’ he thought as he decided what to do next. He couldn’t be sure of where Ahmed would attack now that he had been blinded, but he was able to narrow his options down to two.

Jonas’ sore left hand shot downwards powerfully to slap down any punches or kicks sent towards his lower body, while his right forearm was raised just at nose level and horizontally spread so that it would protect his eyes, chin, and nose.

His prediction paid off, and he felt his numb left hand grow even more numb as it painfully deflected a kick that had been sent towards his stomach. Knowing that the right-handed Ahmed had just used his right leg to kick, Jonas was able to quickly jump back and immediately used his fingers to try and wipe the sand out of his eyes, but he didn’t have much time as Ahmed had already made another attack and this one wasn’t blocked.

Jonas felt a crushing blow hit his chin, and it was enough to cause his entire head to spin around as he was thrown off balance and went crashing into the sand, ‘Won’t let me use my eyes, you little fuck,’ Jonas was extremely irritated as once again threw his momentum backward and rolled onto his feet. His instincts told him that Ahmed had probably already sent an attack but instead of countering, Jonas decided to send his own blinded attack, but this was very difficult as he was only generally aware of which direction he had been punched in.

There was only one attack that Jonas could consider with those circumstances available to him. His arms swung out, he spun on the spot and performed a double spinning back fist. Like a powerful helicopter blade, his fists spun around ready to destroy whatever entered their area, and fortunately for Jonas, the thing that entered his area was Ahmed who was forced to parry one of the fists, ‘He’s growing impatient,’ Jonas thought as he used that new information to discern where his opponent was, ‘I can’t get this sand out of my eyes yet because that’s what he’s waiting for, but he won’t expect me to try fighting him blinded.’

Jonas made an extremely gambling move that involved sliding forward towards his opponent's general area and sending out a powerful roundhouse kick that collided with an extremely solid frame, not powerful enough to uproot it from its spot, but just enough to feel the fracturing of two ribs underneath his toes.

Jonas heard Ahmed gasp in pain as he involuntarily jumped backward and held his ribs. For a moment, he looked dumbfounded at his opponent as a bit of fear swept over his body and he considered what kind of courage was needed to try and blindly fight an opponent who outclassed you without panicking. In the brief moment that Ahmed was in shock, Jonas quickly backstepped and at the same time, used his finger and thumb to wipe the sand out of his eyes. When he tried to open them he couldn’t see clearly, but it was at least enough to see the blurry outline of Ahmed who had begun his next phase of attacks.

Jonas watched as a blurry right fist aimed for his left cheek, and instead of dodging it, he let it crash against his face, but he was careful enough to tighten his jaw, allowing him to remain conscious, but it felt like it might have dislocated.

The punch sent his body flying, and he rolled discreetly a bit farther than he should have gone. Standing on one knee, Jonas turned his head to look for his opponent who had charged toward him, prepared to make a final attack. Ahmed was desperate for a knockout, and Jonas realized this as the old goat herder attacked his chin once more.

Jonas watched as the punch came flying towards his chin, but instead of taking it while kneeling, he lifted his foot slightly and brought himself into an awkward crouching position that looked like he was trying to squat with his feet spread slightly too wide.

Jonas knew this was the moment he had been waiting for. He didn’t think about how to do it, he just did it instinctively because he was confident in his ability to do so. His Sin Scars glowed splendidly as he prepared to survive a punch that would surely put any normal person in a coma.

The fist crashed into Jonas’ chin and the young man felt like his brain had been sent into a new dimension as he barely retained hold of his consciousness, and his vision went completely dark as stars appeared on the back of his eyelids.

The only two people in that entire sparring room that could have stayed conscious after taking two full-force punches from Ahmed right to the unprotected chin would probably be Garth and Wolf, but those in that room watched as a third man showed his valor against the odds.

Jonas was not knocked unconscious, and he wasn’t even sent flying as his lowered center of gravity allowed him to control his movements throughout the entire attack. Instead, he put all his strength into his ligaments, his legs tightened, his feet dug tightly into the ground, and his two hands shut forwards.

One hand grabbed Ahmed’s left bicep, his other hand clasped around Ahmed’s thigh, and he hooked his elbow around the leg, and with all the possible strength he could muster, Jonas picked Ahmed off the ground and chucked his opponent right behind himself. Jonas felt his back crash into the sand and he immediately opened his eyes and flipped around to see what had happened.

Seldom did the fight pits remain quiet during the day, but at that moment there was not a single person making a sound. Jonas was on his stomach, his swollen eyes stared at his opponent and then a smile crossed his face. He had done it, he had thrown Ahmed out of the pit.

“He fucking did it,” Brow looked like Christmas had come early, “The crazy fuck tossed Ahmed out of the pit in a single week.”

Jonas slowly pushed himself up to his feet and his vision finally came back to him. He was standing at the inner edge of the fight pit, this he already knew because when Ahmed had punched him, he had deliberately rolled towards the edge, hoping that his opponent would think it accidental because of his temporary blindness.

Ahmed, on the other hand, was still laying spread eagle, there was a bit of blood on his head which Jonas could tell meant he had hit the stone floor extremely hard. He looked around at his fellows and noticed a myriad of expressions, but instead, he focused on Garth who looked half dumbfounded and half venomous.

Jonas didn’t say any provoking words, but he let his eyes do the talking and a small snarl appeared on Garth’s face that let Jonas know the big man had understood his meaning, ‘You're next.’

“Jonas!” Simon said excitedly, “How’re your eyes?”

“Not bad,” he said and although they felt swollen and burnt, he could still see the joy on the extremely starved face of his friend. Jonas looked over towards Ahmed, but he still hadn’t gotten up from his spot and he could tell that he wasn’t unconscious, just humiliated.

Jonas climbed out of the sandy fight pit and strode over to the beaten goat herder, and instead of kicking his opponent when he was down, Jonas stuck out a hand.

For a moment, Ahmed just stared up at him, there was a bitterness in his eyes that could only reflect the passing of his pride. However, Ahmed’s Cardinal Sin had always been Wrath, and since he had lost the bet; the only thing he could do was rely on his thousand years of experience to help him through that humiliation.

“Good throw,” he mumbled as he gripped hands with Jonas and allowed himself to be pulled up to his feet, “You got me with that exaggerated roll to the edge.”

“You didn’t suspect anything?” Jonas asked curiously.

“I had a feeling,” began Ahmed, “But I couldn’t help but feel both arrogant and humiliated, enough where I didn’t care about subtle tricks.

“Humiliated?”

“I resorted to a cheap trick to finish the fight quickly,” said Ahmed as he harshly blinked his eyes, like he was trying to squeeze out the dishonor from his body, “As soon as I got your eyes with the sand, I thought I had won the battle, but when I failed to put you down, my body became panicky and I lost all control over the momentum of the fight. I tried to finish you off, but I didn’t dare think that you would attack me when you were blinded, that screwed everything up for me.”

“It was a clean move,” said Jonas who wasn’t holding a grudge, “People do whatever it takes to win the fight.”

“Not really,” Ahmed looked even more humiliated because his opponent was praising his cheap tactic instead of reprimanding it, “I just didn’t want to admit my inferiority.”

“You’re not inferior,” said Jonas, “You’d still destroy me in a real fight. This was merely a contest that was in my favor,” but everyone who heard this knew that losing a hand and having to win against a prized cage fighter was anything but in Jonas’ favor.

“Once I got to the edge,” said Jonas, “I just hoped that you would approach close enough that I could get a hold of you,” and Ahmed nearly felt his face go red as he knew that he had done exactly as his opponent had wished.

“I lost control of my Sin,” Ahmed sighed, “I shouldn’t have gone against my nature. Thank you for reminding me of this valuable lesson.”