The stare-down lasted a bit longer than Vadim wanted, but he didn't really mind the slight inconvenience. He hated making the first move in the match, so he waited for his opponent to make his move. With impressive speed, Vadim's foe dashed across the battle arena and started his delivery of a quick series of blows on Vadim. Vadim matched his speed, however, without matching his intensity. Each punch was parried, each kick was blocked, and to the naked eye a normal person would have believed the man's attacks to be too quick for a normal person to block.

Any person who thought that would have been right.

Vadim hadn't even broken a sweat by the time his opponent had leaped away from him, panting. [i]I swear the competition gets less and less impressive every year,[/i] Vadim found himself thinking, and for a brief moment, he considered the notion that he may need to end the fight early. [i]Guy probably can't even project energy.[/i]

Just as this thought came to his mind, however, he felt the man's power level quickly shoot up. Blue energy was forming in his palm, which was tucked in close to his chest. [i]I wasn't asking for it! The guy might hurt people in the audience! He barely looks like he can control such a blast![/i] The thought that the guy was playing off of a hope that Vadim would selflessly try to protect the people ran trough his mind for a brief moment, but Vadim decided that he would protect them regardless of what his opponent was hoping.

"AHHHHHHHH!" the man screamed as he shot the energy blast at Vadim, most likely expending the greater portion of his remaining energy. Vadim had a brief moment during the time the blast was in the air to analyze its strength, and decided to stand his ground the blast impacted Vadim and exploded, kicking up a large smoke cloud in the process.

After a few moments, the smoke dissipated and revealed Vadim still standing in place, palms thrusted outward, and covered in dust. He then assumed a normal standing position for a short moment and took a deep breath before walking over to his foe, casually but blatantly angry.

"How did you-" he began.

"How dare you endanger the lives of innocent people for the sake of a little game? You don't deserve to progress in this tournament." Vadim stated angrily before thrusting his palm out into the man's chest, sending him flying off of the combat arena and winning the match.

Vadim silently walked out of the ring and back to the locker rooms.
[hr]

Lucas Farley turned his head at the sound of the explosion. "Man, Vadim's got guts." He said before turning to his opponent- who took advantage of the moment and punched him in the face before backing off. He rubbed his cheek and looked at the guy. "Alright, pal. Time to get wrecked." Farley threw his arms in the air and stood with his legs shoulder-width apart. "Shadecast!"

Just then, the entire ring became dark. From the outside it looked as though a black dome had enveloped the ring, but on the inside it was completely dark. It was impossible to see as no light was capable of entering the dome. His opponent was now bumbling around the ring out of shock and blindness, and before Lucas could do it himself, the man must have lost his footing and fallen out of the ring, as he had heard a loud thump just outside of its confines. Upon allowing the done to dissipate, he came to find that it was true.

Lucas bowed then waved to the applauding audience before hopping off the stage. He decided to go to th locker rooms and check them out for a few- something he had failed to do sooner due to his late arrival. It was pretty bland, but it was clean and it had all the necessities, including room. What was less bland, however, was the pink person- could you call it a person?- who was in the locker room with him. It was humanoid, but obviously not human. And Farley had seen aliens before, but none like this one.

"Hey there. You make it past the first round?" he asked, deciding to keep the attempt at conversation simple.