Forcing a smile on his face, Kurogami disappeared into one of the shadows on the stage. It was like his body turned into liquid as he melded with the shadows.
At this point, Satoshi also felt confident since Kurogami didn't dare approach him. He knew that Kurogami was not well-versed in close combat and that's the reason why he didn't dare get close to Satoshi.
As soon as the match started, he defaulted into kiting Satoshi by attacking him with long-range attacks, all the while keeping his distance from him.
Once Kurogami reappeared on the other side of the stage, he started shooting a volley of shadow balls at Satoshi.
With a somersault and a backward step, Satoshi dodged the shadow balls, and he attempted to close in on Kurogami by sprinting toward him.
Seeing that Satoshi was still a couple of meters away from him, Kurogami shot a shadow beam at him, and then he disappeared once again.
Right now, he was reluctant to use his newfound skill of shadow clone since it drains a lot of energy.
After all, when it came down to it, he planned to outlast Satoshi by draining his energy. Once he was exhausted, he'd be a sitting duck.
As usual, Kurogami's attack missed, and he had to disappear into one of the shadows once again and he came out of a different spot. The process continued until the audience was bored to death.
Unbeknownst to them, Satoshi had been gradually slowing down while he tried to catch up to Kurogami. This was one of the tactics he came up with during his fights back when he was still powerless.
If they can't catch up to them, he'd give them a false sense of security that he was slowing down. This would give them a false sense of his speed and he'd be able to catch them off-guard.
Thinking about the past made Satoshi smile a little. Even though he was fighting a disadvantageous battle, he felt a modicum of nostalgia hitting him.
Back then, he was training day and night, trying to mold his body into the peak human so he'd be able to defeat those with superpowers. He would frequent dojos, training facilities, and no-superpower martial arts tournaments. He would even go as far as to challenge masters of different martial arts styles just to get better.
All he wanted back then was to make his parents proud. Even though he didn't have any powers, he wanted to at least show them that he could handle himself. He was the son of the top two superheroes of Japan, the Midoriyama Duo, the least he could do was put in the effort.
Kurogami fired off a couple more shadow balls. He was getting rather tired himself but he could also tell that Satoshi was out of breath.
His sprints were more limp than normal, and he was panting. Not only that, he seemed to have a hard time dodging the shadow balls and shadow beams.
He was on the edge, and Kurogami was ready to take advantage of it.
Little by little, Kurogami's time out of his shadow grew longer, and Satoshi took a mental note of it. Meanwhile, Satoshi continued to slow down until, but not too much. He still needed some speed so his acceleration would be easier.
Kurogami was smiling at this point, and he could tell that it would be his win.
As for the audience, they held their breaths while they watch Satoshi struggle. He had won the first and second matches. There was no way he could win this third one.
If he did, then he'd probably be the best superhero there is in terms of physical raw power and hand-to-hand technique.
One way or another, the spectators could tell that history was about to be written in front of them. Even Knighthawk couldn't help but gulp as Satoshi continued to struggle.
There was no way he could win, but at the back of everyone's mind, they thought the polar opposite.
"You should give up now, Satoshi," Kurogami reappeared on another side of the stage once again, and this time, his shadow balls hit Satoshi on the shoulder, Satoshi struggled forward and he fell.
He took three more steps before his body fell forward.
Watching Satoshi's helplessness, Kurogami decided to fire even more shadow balls so he could put him down for good. He couldn't believe that his plan worked, and now he would be reaping the seeds of victory.
Just when Satoshi was about to hit the ground, he gave one mighty push with his right ankle, propelling himself forward.
The shadow balls hit just as he did so, and it exploded, giving him a smokescreen.
Satoshi actually sacrificed his arm, blocking the three shadow balls just so Kurogami won't see him accelerate forward. And before the smoke cleared up, Satoshi was already at his top speed.
While Kurogami was celebrating, Satoshi appeared in front of him.
Gasp!
Since Satoshi's center of gravity was too low, his punches wouldn't be as effective even with his acceleration. In the heat of the moment, he decided to put his center of gravity a tad bit lower, and he used his arm as support just when he tipped forward.
Before Kurogami could do anything, Satoshi twisted his core and delivered a powerful side kick.
Thanks to his momentum, the side kick was so fast that Kurogami didn't see it. It also packed a good punch, sending Kurogami flying before he could disappear into his shadow.
"Kaghk~!" Everyone could've sworn they heard the air escape out of Kurogami's lungs. He was sent skittering sideways, hitting the ground and rolling out of bounds.
"..."
"..."
The entire crowd went wild with their cheers as they saw the sudden upset of the match. Ninety-nine percent of the time, Kurogami was winning, and yet Satoshi risked everything in one shot, even sacrificing his right arm just to deliver that one blow.
Everything that he did led up to that point, and it was all worth it. He had won his third match.
Then again, he was more injured than Kurogami, so it was more in the sense of winning the battle and losing the war.
"Satoshi wins!" Knighthawk announced. He almost choked on his words.
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