His decision had been the right one. Even moving without delay, even managing to catch Galina off-guard, forcing her down to the ground as he fell upon her to finish the job, she survived. His hand closed around her neck, and her own pushed up against his, the Russian spy struggling to fend him off, to keep him from gaining the freedom he would need to bring her skull down upon the nearby stone. She wanted to live, to throw him off, to get away.

Souma couldn't afford that.

Her escape, her victory, might as well spell a death sentence for himself. Her body was the only thing he could bring to grant words any meaning, when it came time to tell Raigo what had happened. Maybe, maybe, he could salvage things otherwise, but it would not go well. Mercy was too much of a risk... and in the end, she had brought this down upon herself-

A sudden flash caught Souma's eye as they struggled, the gleam of a slender blade seen just long enough to react. He relented his own grip slightly, strength surging through his left hand as it struck out in a vicious blow, aimed to catch her knife-hand on the inside of her wrist and slam it down to the ground. This was his fight, a brutal brawl to the end, but even still Galina fought on. As he drove her right hand down, sudden pressure struck his chest, her legs pressing him up and pushing him away with tremendous force.

A double-attack, he hadn't prepared for it, and Souma found himself forced to relinquish his grasp, sent stumbling back along the ground as Galina scrambled across herself.

Fine then.

The knife fell into his waiting right hand as he stumbled, and the Japanese spy turned to hurl it with a keen eye towards his adversary's center of mass. Blade or hilt, it didn't really matter which struck home, only that it did indeed strike. He moved quickly in the wake of it's path, left hand dragging along the ground as he moved, gathering loose earth to then send arcing up towards Galina's eyes as he charged forwards once more...

Then shifted to the side, coming in at an angle behind blade and earth, feet landing in a solid stance as he aimed to drive another heavy blow into the soft target of Galina's belly.