No one with enough knowledge was spectating to appreciate the beauty of the moment, but An's striking form was perfect—too perfect, in fact, as though it belonged to a time and technique that humanity had yet to invent.
An landed a clean elbow strike to Shreya's jaw. The impact should've resulted in an immediate technical knock-out, the kind that would dislocate a jaw with a single blow.
But instead of buckling or showing any sign of pain, Shreya's jaw tingled with a faint warmth, almost as though she were confused by the sensation but otherwise completely unharmed. She didn't budge an inch. Instead, she simply looked down at An, her lips curling into a smile as she calmly licked the spot where the hit had landed.
"Stat difference..." An muttered to himself, speaking in Vietnamese.
"Stat difference..." Shreya chuckled, her voice rich with amusement as she responded in Hindi.
"I WANT YOU," Shreya exclaimed, her voice suddenly switching to broken English, her accent reminiscent of a Microsoft technical support call.
Tam, watching in terror from the sidelines, barely found the courage to speak.
"You speak English?" he asked, his voice trembling slightly.
Shreya gave him a small smile, her accent a little more refined, like that of a high school student. "Yes, a rittle pit," she replied, the words almost too cute for someone so terrifying.
"He didn't mean to hurt Mountain!" Tam blurted out, desperate to explain.
Shreya gave him only a fleeting glance before dismissing him entirely, her attention turning back to An. With a sudden, decisive movement, she reached forward and grabbed him by the shirt collar.
But before her hand could fully close around him, An delivered a quick, reflexive punch to her jaw. Though it wasn't enough to cause any real damage, the action was driven by respect for another warrior. Shreya, ever the fighter, turned her head to reduce the blow's impact.
"It does not matter now," Shreya said, her tone darkening as she spoke in Hindi. "He harmed a Silver Eye, and I'll break his ass bone."
Tam flinched at her words, likely misinterpreting her intentions, but Shreya continued, undeterred. She kicked sideways, aiming to catch An off-guard.
But An was quicker, leaping into the air to avoid the kick. He spun in midair, using the momentum to land a powerful kick aimed at Shreya's head. Shreya took it without flinching, unfazed by the blow.
Taking advantage of An's midair position and the lack of control over his body, Shreya launched a vicious uppercut aimed at his center mass.
"Elephant Fist!" she called, her words full of deadly certainty.
"NO!" Tam screamed, his voice full of panic. He knew there was no human way a person could dodge that attack.
In fact, he braced himself for An to pull some insane move—maybe he'd stomp on her hand to misdirect it again? Or perhaps he'd manipulate the gravitational pull on himself, falling backward to evade the shockwave before it hit?
But this time, An did nothing. He simply fell. Nothing happened. Tam's confusion mirrored Shreya's, both of them frozen in disbelief as her skill failed to land its mark.
"You..." Shreya muttered under her breath, the shock in her voice clear. (Hindi)
"If you're below level 25, you only have enough MP to use Elephant Fist three times in five minutes. And it's only been two minutes since you first wasted it on that wolf," An explained, speaking in Vietnamese as though casually stating the facts to no one in particular.
The horror in Shreya's eyes was evident, her gaze reflecting a mix of frustration and disbelief. It was then that Tam realized—this man, the one standing in front of him, was an insane, fucking menace to society.
As An descended back toward the ground, he fell straight onto Shreya's arm, the same one that had been attempting to deliver the Elephant Fist. Shreya had expected the impact to send him flying upward or to simply absorb the blow, but instead, she felt the unexpected weight of An's body on her two shoulders.
Before she could react, An used the power of his legs, pressing them down onto her shoulders while grabbing hold of her arm with both hands. With the added force of his own body weight plus gravity, An pulled Shreya's arm down toward the ground, leveraging every ounce of strength.
The result was a flying armbar, executed with deadly precision.
Now, it was a fight to see which would break first—Shreya's will to escape, or the bones and muscles in her arm.