Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Mauro's first Hail Mary Punch actually almost hit me square in the head but the second one almost did the same thing—but with more accuracy. I momentarily thought that Mauro might be hiding a twin somewhere, dictating my location, but that was just too much of a coincidence to happen.

If anything, he might just have something that I also have.

'One way to know…'

The moment I dodged his second punch from the skin of my teeth, I backed away and moved to his blindspot before I kicked my right shoe off, toward the same spot I kicked him.

*WHOOOOOSH*

Like clockwork, even in a different orientation, the path that Mauro's punch took would've hit me square in the head—instantly knocking me out. But this time, I sent him my version of the substitution jutsu to discover one of his hidden talents, which was something I was also in control of.

Spatial awareness.

Just from judging from where he got hit and combining it with how tall I was, he easily figured out the location of where my body—my head would be. Some factors might be from how my body would be posed after performing such a move—from watching me multiple times, and it was a deadly technique to have if used correctly.

'Or I could just be overthinking—'

I was still in the middle of my thoughts when Mauro came in for another rush, and he was hiding a smirk as he threw his first punch.

Each of his punches didn't contain an ounce of holding back because each of them carried a gust of wind that could blow a person's skirt off. However, all it did was cool me down because I kept dodging him at angles his huge body cannot just as easily send a punch to.

'Is he aware he has excellent spatial awareness though?'

He had great constitution and strength with his size but there were also disadvantages that came with it.

With that said, my first priority was to kick my other shoe off to balance my footing but Mauro's rush was coming close to a minute. It sounded short but even 30 seconds of sending full power shots to thin air could exhaust someone. Moreso, if they had been on a brutal part of a battle royal.

Despite that, Mauro didn't even look tired but he grimaced when I timed my right elbow with his right hook.

My counter definitely stopped him in his tracks because not only he got hurt from hitting something harder than his knuckles, I aimed for his little—well, big pinky and made it bend horribly.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER—"

Mauro was still in mid-cursing when I finally managed to loosen the shoelace from my left shoe and kicked it straight to his face.

"I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!!!"

I watched as Mauro's face got redder and redder and the motherfucker actually lifted up in the air and sent me a jumping spinning kick of his own. It definitely wasn't graceful but if it hits, I'm gonna be roommates with the psycho I fucked up.

With that said, I also jumped in the air and nestled my hands on his right leg but the force behind it just made me tumble and roll a few times on the ground as I flew.

Mauro landed safely—but with a dust cloud—and he didn't even try to catch his breath as he came for me again.

"BREATHE, YOU MEATHEAD! DO YOU HAVE FOUR SETS OF LUNGS?!"

"FUCK YOU! YOU'RE THE MOST ANNOYING FUCKING SHIT I'VE FOUGHT!"

"WHY, THANK YOU!"

"THAT'S NOT A FUCKING COMPLIMENT! JUST GET HIT!"

"NOPE!"

At this point, not only was Mauro at the disadvantage because of his eye, but also because of his nose because it was now bleeding from the small surprise it got. Bleeding through your nose could actually affect someone's breathing and if you're a huge guy who was exerting himself nonstop, it would prove difficult to continue such a rush.

I can actually see Mauro have a hard time breathing but if I didn't see his finishing punch from the big screen, I would've opted for a big move already.

Because from the very start of our fight, I was partially monitoring the cadence of his attacks and it was all partly similar. I couldn't figure out his actual cadence unless I was his sparring partner for a time, and one replay—while actually dodging lethal attacks head-on—would make analyzing and processing his movements difficult.

However, the only thing I noticed was that his rush was getting slower and slower and the power behind them was getting weaker and weaker.

I wasn't exactly sure if he was feigning weakness but the one thing I was 100% sure of was that I was tiring him out.

My provocations and my slimy and slick dodges were slowly whittling him away and to everyone's fucking surprise, he actually stopped before shouting at the top of his lungs.

"RAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! FUCK THIS SHIT!!! I'M FUCKING TIRED! I'M OUT!"

"Really?"

"SHUT UP! YOU'RE NOT FIGHTING ME SO I'M FUCKING OUT! HAVE FUN WITH WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU'RE DOING!"

"I could let you hit me once?"

"YOU LITTLE— Really?"

"Nope."

"..."

"Hmm?"

"I'M— I'm so fucking done with you…"

With a last act of defiance, Mauro actually picked up my boots—and when I thought he was gonna hand them to me—he spun them around and threw them in different directions like the certain balls that would fly off after the wishes were granted. In turn, he got the last laugh while I was stunned in place.

"My… My boots…"

"HAHAHAHAHA! LOOK FOR THEM FOR ALL I CARE! ANYONE WHO FINDS THEM AND HIDES THEM WILL GET A REWARD FROM ME!"

"W-WHAT?! THAT'S NOT—"

"SHADDAP! PLAYING WITH ME ON MY WEDDING DAY—"

"Actually, that was yesterday—"

"I SAID, SHADDAP! YOU FUCKING SMART-ASS, THIS ISN'T OVER! WE WILL FIGHT AGAIN FAIR AND SQUARE, NO FUCKING TRICKS! YOUR TEAMMATE HAD THE GREAT IDEA! WE SHOULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"

"Again, no. That just favors you…"

"WHAT?!"

Eventually, Mauro just left the play area with his underlings and I turned to what was happening between Mr. Alvarez and Nikolas.