[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/c7wpmDk.png[/img]
Location: Midnight Tournament
[@Crowvette][/center]

Michael looked down at his wrists and forearms, trying to determine more efficient shapes for his Symbolism. Michael was trying to use the Midnight Tournament for training rather than actually winning it. For now, he was determined to use only his Symbolism, and only to give his body a physical boost. He wanted to know how far he could go by relying on hand-to-hand combat.

Michael got lucky with his first opponent, who had the ability to enlarge his muscles and increase his strength. Michael painted symbols all over his body, increasing the resistance of his upper body while also increasing the speed of his lower body. He also painted symbols around his eyes to aid their ability to observe his opponent's movements. He believed these enhancements would be enough to serve his purposes. After all, Michael's opponent was strong and tough, but slow. Michael spent the majority of the fight dodging and deflecting blows. Michael did face some attacks he could not evade a couple times when his opponent stomped on the ground and released a shockwave that knocked him down and disoriented him. However, Michael managed to roll away to recover before any real damage could be done. 

Eventually, his opponent began to show signs of exhaustion, prompting Michael to begin his counterattack. The muscleman tried to defend himself, but Michael was just a bit faster, slipping past his defenses and hammering away at him. Michael did not give him a chance to use big moves, and the small ones were easily countered. Any of his opponent's attempts to strike back were met with a deflection using one arm and a solid strike using the other. 

Finally, Michael's moves took its toll on his opponent, and the muscleman fell to the ground, battered and defeated. The spectators cheered as he went down, and Michael placed his hands on his knees, taking deep breaths to recharge his body's energy. It was only the first round, after all. He still had a few more to take on, and he wanted to be ready for them.

[hr]
The next fight ended much quicker. Sometimes, people just wanted to watch a quick beatdown, and that was what Andras provided. There was an exchange of grandeur and posturing, and then the match was over with a simple beam attack. Michael never did understand the desire to display so much bravado and, quite frankly, found it ridiculous. Still, at this point it was basically a ceremony to perform in each battle, so Michael did not dwell on it too long. As the match ended, Michael provided a simple clapping as a gesture of congratulations to Andras. 

"[color=7ea7d8]That was a powerful blow, Alexandria, but was the one-liner really necessary?[/color]" Michael asked, his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.