“Winner, Yustin!” announced the referee.
After a big huff, Yustin steadied his breathing.
“Guess I lost-lene! How are you so strong-lene?”
“Sorry, sorry, you caught me off guard since I didn’t think I’d start suffocating. You okay?”
“I’m an invertebrate-lene, so I’m fine! Just gotta pull myself together-lene!”
Slilene’s top half lost its shape, bounced back towards the lower half, and joined up with it again. How convenient...
“Didn’t think I’d get pressed hard enough to tear in half-lene. You’re amazing-lene!”
“You were amazing too. Never thought someone could deflect attacks with such insane flexibility.”
The two wrestlers left the ring after praising each other’s performances. Okay, things got scary for a moment, but that’s a win for us!
Yustin came back to our seats.
“Well done, Yustin. We’re off to a good start,” I said.
“Thanks. But I must say, Demonic Sumo is scary. Who could’ve thought they could make you choke...?”
“You’ve got that right. Their special abilities are a pain to deal with.”
Phalaris got up.
“Come on, man, why are you having so much trouble with a slime?!”
“Look at the mouth on this dragon!” replied Yustin.
“I’m gonna go teach that flower woman not to mess with me, hah hah hah!”
“You’re acting like some kind of villain, Phalaris,” I told him.
“O-Oh...”
Perhaps it really could end up being an easy win for him, given he had brought down Arima. On second thought... He couldn’t let his guard down. There is no such thing as an “easy win” in sumo. One has to make full use of one’s body and mind in order not to score an unexpected loss.
“Good luck, Phalaris.”
“I’ve got this, Richie!” he replied with a smile and climbed the dohyō.
To my surprise, his opponent, Uta, had gotten better at walking. Her gait wasn’t unsteady anymore. Though it had only been a short time, maybe she had fixed that weakness of hers.
“Oh?” For some reason, her eyes took on the shape of hearts upon seeing Phalaris. “You’re a handsome one. ♪”
“Huh? So what if I am?”
“It’s great! Do you fancy an older lady taking you somewhere?”
“Screw that.”
“Oh, come on, don’t be so cold.”
For some reason, Uta was twisting herself up into knots.
“Ahem. Cease your whispering, wrestler Uta,” chided the referee.
“’Kay!”
Though she stopped talking, the passionate look she directed at Phalaris didn’t go away. Maybe she was a woman of many romances, due to being a flower monster.
“You’re just like those bitches from my school,” spoke Phalaris.
“Oh, you go to school? And there are girls like me?”
“Yeah, one of them kept pestering me, so I yelled at her and she freaking cried.”
“Phalaris, she...”
“Why can’t she leave me alone if she hates me so much? I don’t get why she’s gotta bother me over every little thing.”
“You’re such a dork!”
“What did you just say?!”
“Ahem. Face each other, you two.” Even the gray referee had grown weary of their lack of restraint.
Phalaris and Uta took positions behind the lines in the ground and faced each other.
“This older lady will thoroughly teach you not to make enemies out of women.”
“Yeah, good luck with that.”
Despite the unfriendly exchange, the two managed to synchronize their breathing, touched the ground with their fists, and got up. Uta rushed ahead and launched purple pollen from the flowers all over her body at Phalaris.
“Get this shit outta my face!” he shouted. He grew wings from his back, then rapidly flapped them to blow the pollen away.
Using that window of opportunity, Uta closed the distance on him and grabbed his mawashi. She really had gotten better at moving around. Phalaris quickly grabbed the left side of her mawashi, and the two became locked up.
Phalaris pressed his head against Uta’s shoulder.
“Ggghh!!!”
He rapidly flapped his wings and his muscles swelled up as he pushed, but he couldn’t make Uta budge an inch.
“To love, my little dragon...” began Uta, as ivy appeared out of her back and wrapped itself around Phalaris, “...is to want to tie your loved one to yourself!”
“Kgh!!!” He couldn’t seem to get out of the tight ivy. “Damn it!”
“You can’t move, can you? An accomplished woman will push her loved one into a hopeless situation and do as she pleases with him!”
I don’t know about that, Uta...
With the two still firmly connected, Uta swept the dragon’s pivot foot and began falling forwards. She was going to make Phalaris land on the ground first!
“You’re finished!”
It was a simple but effective binding skill.
Phalaris took flight and began recovering his balance. I had almost forgotten he could fly with those wings. Uta was pulled into the air alongside him, earth falling from her roots after they left the ground.
“You better be ready to come falling down!” exclaimed Phalaris.
“Damn it, I didn’t plan for this!”
It didn’t look like sumo at all at this point...
“Meteoric...”
“‘Meteoric’...?”
“...Backward Force Down!!!”
He was going for such a bold move at such a low altitude?! Poor Uta would turn into a pancake.
Phalaris’s sumo spirit began rotating at a high speed, activating gravity-boosting magic. A Meteoric Backward Force Down was a bold move that involved using your mass as a gravity-propelled bullet, shooting vertically into the ground three times.
“Ahh!”
Uta untied her ivy out of fear and fled to the left. Phalaris, in the meantime, turned himself into a bullet boosted by gravity magic.
Ka-boom! Ka-boom! Ka-boom!!!
Leaving behind Uta, who had skirted out of the way, Phalaris became a gravity-propelled bullet that smashed into the ground three times. All by himself.
“Winner, Uta!”
“Yay! Pure maidens win!”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!!!” yelled Phalaris, standing in the human-shaped hole he had made in the ring. He had brought this on himself.
“Nice one, Uta! That was a huge win!” exclaimed the Demon Lord.
“I did it, sir! We’re one to one now!”
Phalaris returned to our seats, shoulders slumped.
“Fucking great! Man, who the hell would dodge that?!”
“I told you to be careful!”
“But Yustin!”
“Relax, don’t be so angry. It’s like isamiashi. This way of losing is just like you.” Isamiashi is losing by dragging your opponent to the edge of the ring, but accidentally stepping outside of it first.
“Damn it—lemme at that woman again!!!”
“A loss is a loss. Have some pride.”
“Fuck, man!”
Phalaris’s wild nature led him to occasionally lose through isamiashi. He was still a child.
The score was now one to one.
“Why did you try to use such a daring move?” I asked.
“I still remember how you beat me with it and it pisses me off, so I wanted to use it on that bitch.”
He really was still a child. A Meteoric Backward Force Down required altitude, otherwise this would be the result.
“Remain diligent in your pursuit of sumo.”
“O-Okay, I’ll try it from a higher altitude next time.”
That wasn’t the problem here... Oh well. We get stronger by trying lots of things and losing over and over, and not just in sumo.
“Don’t let it get to you, Phalaris.”
“You watch out too, Richie. That red guy is a real menace.”
“I can tell. He had a good bout with Floortje.”
“For real? I can’t believe it. And the Demon Lord is so strong too... Guess the world is a huge place, huh.”
“It is. And I want to fight those using Demonic Sumo again.”
“I’m definitely gonna win next time!”
Competitiveness is a sign of a good sumo wrestler. Do your best, Phalaris.
“On the east, Clifton, Clifton... On the west, Kukuri, Kukuri...”
“All right!”
Clifton got up, a brooding look in his eyes.
“Relax, Clifton,” I told him.
“Oh? Oh, yeah, you’re right...”
“Just relax and think of it as practice as usual with Kukuri. You won’t be able to wield your full strength otherwise.”
“Yeah, you’re right. It’s as you say. Thanks, Floortje.”