The jungle within the dome was in an uproar of combat.
Kruna stood on one side, panting, his twin blades at rest, and Aftor was on the opposite end, breathless.
"Come on, brother. Continue. Are you a coward or what? Haha!" Kruna jeered mockingly as he smirked.
The latter became enraged as he shouted, "I'll defecate in your mouth! I'll slice you up and make an example out of you, you overblown piece of filth!"
Kuna just smirked, "Oh dear, don't be so harsh on yourself, brother. You did quite well."
Aftor roared with laughter as he wiped the bloodstains from his lips, revealing a shredded shirt and new creases on his forearms,
"To be fair, you did well too, Kruna. Quite excellent, actually. But I'm not done playing yet. I'll crush you!"
Aftor slashed across both forearms, this time, creating a deeper opening from which blood trickled
"Poisoned Expansion!"
Vines shot forth from the cracks on the ground, coiling around the trunks of trees before slithering towards Kruna from all directions, the tips of which were dripping with purple poison, hissing as they made contact with the ground.
"Twelve," Kruna muttered.
His body quaked as twelve more Krunas appeared around him, each wielding a pair of twin blades as well.
"Twelve?!" Aftor exclaimed, "You bastard! You've been hiding this from us!"
"You never asked," Kruna remarked with a grin.
"Destroy them," Kruna ordered his doppelgängers.
They sprang into action, slicing through the first wave of vines to meet the second, more numerous wave of creepers that shot forth from the sides, but the clones just severed them before they could land a hit on Kruna.
Macker, perched on the viewing platform, gawked, "He did the same move in the Rengan fight! It's so freakin' sick!"
Nix, also on the viewing platform, laughed heartily, "Look at them move! This is my all-time favorite army!"
Ema continued filming, "How does he control all of them so precisely? This is insane!"
As Sano silently observed, he nodded, "Sick! Extremely sick. Kruna is gaslighting Aftor with an army!"
Orced, who had been remaining silent the whole time, was seemingly enjoying the fight.
Back in the dome, Aftor continued to laugh as he was pushed back by Kruna's clones, "So you're showing off now, are you? Very well! Let's see how you handle this!"
He slashed across his forearms, sending another stream of blood into the Poisoned Expansion, causing the vines to thicken, grow more spikes, and rush forth from all sides, but the Kruna clones continued to decimate the creepers.
"Enough messing around," Aftor growled as he drove his blade into his abdomen and twisted,
"Advanced Gunfire: Perfect Burst!"
From the wound, blood bullets spewed forth like the fire from a machinegun, pelting all twelve copies and forcing them to take cover as well as the real Kruna, who had to duck as well. Aftor continued to laugh, "How's that for a technique, Kruna?! Can your little army handle this?!"
__
"You're getting desperate."
__
"I'm getting results, idiot!"
Kruna raised both hands towards his temples, "Fanson Handai!"
More specters of blades, this time, shot forth from above and pierced through the remaining vines, colliding with the blood bullets, causing a shower of sparks and mist of blood to fill the dome. Aftor continued to fire from his wound and block the spectral blades with more vines, but he had to constantly retreat. "You're really something, aren't you?!" Aftor shouted with a laugh, "This is the best spar I've had in a while!"
Kruna ceased his creation of clones to focus on the Fanson Handai. As the twelves copies were wiped out, he let out another burst of blades, but this time, there were hundreds, all rushing towards Aftor, who tried to counter with blood blades and vines, but he was overwhelmed, one blade slicing his right pectoral muscle, another, his ribs, and yet another, his thigh.
Still, Aftor managed to grin, "Not bad..."
Kruna looked at him, "You're still joking? Seriously?"
"Yeah! What else am I supposed to do? Cry?!" He replied as he slashed across his stomach, trying to channel another Perfect Burst, but when he looked up, Kruna was no longer there.
"Where are you?!" He asked
"Right here. Time to finish this!" A voice replied from behind.
Kruna appeared and drove his blade across Aftor's chest before he could get a word out. Aftor ceased his resistance as the knife fell from his hand, "I let you deplete your blood, I let you show me all of your tricks, and you did absolutely as I predicted."
Aftor tried to respond, but all that came out was a laugh, "You're quite powerful, Aftor, but when you get excited, you become predictable. You lose all rational thought and just throw everything at me."
Kruna yanked out the blade.
Aftor collapsed to his knees, still smiling despite the coughing, "You... crafty bastard... good fight..."
The dome signified the end of the spar, and the people on the viewing platform went wild. Macker cheered, "Holy crap! No way that just happened!"
Nix jumped up and down, "Kruna is a monster! That last move was so personal!'
Ema stopped recording, "I don't know what to say anymore."
Sano simply said, "Clean triumph."
Orced began to clap, "Well done, both of you."
Eriky, who had been keeping watch from the side, brought over a tray of drinks, "Tea for Kruna-san," he said as he handed the hot drink to Kruna, "And coffee for Aftor-san. You both fought hard. Drink it before the stiffness sets in."
Aftor took the coffee with a nod, "Thank you, Eriky. I needed that."
Kruna took his tea, "Nice battle, wasn't it, Aftor? You pushed me more than I anticipated."
Aftor grinned from his kneeling position, "Next time I'm going to push you harder. Count on it."
Kruna took a sip, "That's what you said this time."
"And next time I'll mean it,"
"Sure you will, brother,"
The team gathered around the two men and continued to discuss the fight as the dome's healing field began to repair the wounds of the combatants. Even so, the two combatants were still in high spirits.
"This fight isn't even over yet!" Macker exclaimed, pointing at Aftor, "You just stabbed yourself in the stomach! What's wrong with you?!"
Aftor looked at him, "I had to do something! His damned clones weren't ceasing!"
Nix looked at Aftor, "You can't just stab yourself because you can't beat him!"
Aftor shrugged, "It worked, didn't it?"
Ema said, "That is not the point! The scan results are going to be hideous!"
"Then don't save them," Aftor replied.
"I already did,"
"Why?"
"For research, though."
Kruna laughed, "You could've admitted that I was stronger."
"Never in a million years,"
__
"Then keep losing, I guess."
Orced appraised both combatants and said, "Save some strength for the next match. I don't want you two to destroy the dome before dinner."
Aftor raised his cup, "Then make Kruna pay for the repairs."
Kruna stared at him, "Why me? It's your fault for stabbing yourself!"
"Because you won!'
"That makes absolutely no sense!"
"Makes perfect sense to me,"
Eriky took the empty mugs from the two men, "Please don't start another fight while you're both injured."
Aftor shrugged, "No promises."
Orced shook his head, "You two are going to be the death of me."
Kruna drank his tea, "Not before dinner. I'm hungry."
And the men continued to banter as the healing field worked its wonders on the combatants. While both combatants knew the spar was a good exercise for them, there was still the war to prepare for.