After the healers did their job on Darragh and he and Natasha went out of the ring, the announcer started presenting the next fighters.
"FOR THE NEXT FIGHT, WE ARE GOING TO SEE GWEN LINDSAY AND JACOB HUMPHREY. LET THEM FEEL YOUR PRESENCE!" the referee said.
"Good luck Gwen," Erik said.
"Yeah, good luck!" Floyd added.
Gwen nodded and then walked toward the ring with light steps. She appeared calm on the surface, but internally her mind was on hyperdrive. She recalled every time she saw Jacob fight, his moves, his power, his fighting style. Everything she deemed remotely useful to win, even his personality.
At the same time, Jacob entered the ring. The young man had a Mohican and had a lot of piercings. Erik knew that he usually dressed in jeans and metal band t-shirts, but he was in sports attire today.
He seemed to be wearing black shorts, which very well showed off his muscular legs. He had a tight shirt that hugged him nicely around the chest area and revealed some impressive pectorals as they clung tightly to it.
It was an outfit for showing off one's muscles rather than concealing any flaws or weaknesses. The young man already had several tattoos covering most parts of his arms from shoulders down. His body looked like a chiseled marble sculpture, with no visible scars on this carved physique.
His peculiar look attracted many of the people watching the fight. Some didn't like him since he appeared like a street punk, but girls mostly did.
However, when Gwen entered the ring, who didn't know her were left stunned. The woman was massive, not only because she was hella tall, she stood at an impressive height for a lady, about 1.8 meters tall, but also because of her massive body.
Gwen had a body type that many guys would covet since she was ripped and had a lot of muscle. The young woman wasn't a brute; she had beautiful brown hair that reached well beyond her shoulders and a pretty face. She was not as stunning as Amber, but she wasn't ugly by any means.
She was currently wearing a compression shirt and a pair of boxing shorts, which fell rather large on her body. The woman probably wanted to stay as comfortable as possible and didn't want her clothes getting in the way. Though, wearing tight pants wasn't her style. She didn't like showing off and revealing too much skin. Her boxer shorts weren't particularly sexy, just functional.
Most of the people already knew their powers, but those who did not know them decided to ask their friends and family. They quickly explained that despite Jacob being a great fighter, Gwen was among the strongest. They also told them who their friends were, and Erik's name came up here and there. Of course, most of the people concentrated on Amber's name.
The referee started quickly, counting the seconds before the fight started. Gwen immediately conjured a full armor on her body, hiding what little she was showing. Jacob instead conjured two clones, and the fight quickly became a 3v1.
Whoever saw Jacob's previous fights knew how hard it was to contend against him and his clones. However, Gwen's armor would give her an edge since she didn't have to avoid or parry all of his attacks.
"3...2...1...FIGHT!"
Jacob immediately started attacking, while Gwen remained composed where she stood. It was clear to the boy that the only thing he could do to win against the young woman's armor was to win by submission.
So, the first thing the young man tried to do was trying to circle around the young woman to stop her from running away. Though, she knew that would be the worst thing to happen, so she started moving around the ring without giving her opponent and his clones any opportunity to do so.
While doing that, Gwen kept throwing punches and kicks toward Jacob, who dodged each attack. This would be a fight in which if the young woman allowed Jacob to grab her just once, she would be on the losing side.
It soon turned into a battle between evasions and counterattacks, but neither of those methods worked well for either side. Every time Gwen moved, her opponents' clones tried to grab her, forcing her to shake them off. As expected, it wasn't going to be an easy fight.
One of Jacob's clones almost caught her, but she immediately grabbed him and launched him in the air. At the same time, the original and the other one tried to grab her by the waist.
However, Gwen used her position to kick the one on her left in the face. She managed to do so, and the remaining Jacob, who she wasn't sure was the original or a clone, could not grab her.
She escaped her opponent's grasp with a quick and agile movement and quickly dashed toward the clones still standing. Gwen started attacking Jacob, while the latter could do nothing but try to grab her since he would only injure himself if he used his punches.
Gwen managed to land five hits on the clone's face, sending him to the ground in pain with the last one. Her gauntlets packed quite a punch.
At the same time, the other two tried to grab her again. One of the two was actually able to do so by blocking her by the waist. Still, Gwen quickly punched with both her hands on the clone's head, making him fall unconscious.
The clone vanished in a wisp of smoke, and only two remained. One that was still trying to stand up, and the other that, instead, kicked her right leg and made her fall to the ground.
Once the other clone stood up, immediately beside him, another clone appeared.
<ITS HIM!> Gwen shouted internally; she found out who the original was. The young woman understood the trick behind Jacob's cloning brain crystal power. Essentially, every time he created the clone, he would vanish in smoke giving the illusion that the one who spawned was the clone, while, in truth, it was him.
Despite finding out who the original was, Gwen was still on the floor with the other clone on her.
The young woman used both legs to throw the clone in the air and free herself. However, the original and the other duplicate quickly rushed toward her, and Gwen had to find a way to stand up quickly.
She rotated herself by spreading her legs, like she was doing a windmill, and then stood on her legs. The two opponents, though, reached her.
She punched the clone while Jacob tried to restrain her. She quickly freed herself by hitting the original's face with the back of her head, and blood started gushing out of his nose.
The clone she previously threw to the ground quickly arrived at her, and she was forced to focus on him. She punched him many times, and since the damage her gauntlets did was much greater than her bare fists, she could knock him out too.
"She is having a hard time," Erik said.
"Yeah, Jacob is better than anticipated," Floyd said.
"We must have faith in her. She said she would win, and this is exactly what will happen!" Amber said. She had unshakable faith in her friends, and she trusted her words.
"Yeah, but fighting against three opponents with her power is not simple, Amber," Floyd said.
"I have to agree with him, I can't see how she can keep up with this rhythm for long," Erik added.
Amber turned to look at the fight, almost enraged by her friends' words.
For both contestants, keeping up with their mana expenditure was not easy. Gwen had to keep her full body armor on at all times, while Jacob had to maintain his clones.
However, creating new ones also expended mana, and since the young man had to create two new clones during the fight, he was slightly disadvantaged.
Besides this, he was currently prevailing over his opponent since fighting against three people was not easy for Gwen.
The young woman severely underestimated Jacob. She thought she would easily win against him, but his endurance and ability to tank hits were higher than expected.
Clearly, she was also lucky because Jacob couldn't use his martial arts. He couldn't punch or kick her without facing some damage since her armor was strong, which helped her a lot.
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