Leo lowered himself into a crouch so low it looked inhuman, his palms hovering inches from the cracked concrete, his hazel eyes gleaming through the settling dust like an animal that had finally grown bored of stalking and decided to pounce. His grin stretched wider, blood still dripping lazily from his impaled palm, leaving a dark trail along his knuckles as his fingers flexed.
Then he moved.
The sound of his feet on the ground was barely there—a blur of motion more than a charge. Tobi barely had time to react, his instincts jerking his fist forward, but Leo met the punch like water meeting a rock. He shifted his weight sideways, his forearm slapping Tobi's away with a snap, redirecting the strike so cleanly it felt like the punch never existed.
Amelia came in a split second later, using Tobi's attack as her opening. She pivoted off her back foot, her leg snapping forward in a sharp side kick aimed at Leo's ribs. But he didn't even step back. He weaved under it—no clean martial form, no rigid guard, just a loose, almost lazy sway that flowed like someone dancing more than fighting.
And then he used it.
Leo's body spun with her kick, snatching her ankle midair and twisting it just enough to turn her strike into a weapon against Tobi. His heel whipped out behind him in the same motion, a back kick with brutal precision. Tobi had no time to brace, and the heel slammed into his gut, knocking the air out of him and sending him stumbling backward.
"Shit—!" he coughed out, clutching his stomach, barely staying upright.
Leo released Amelia's leg and ducked low again. His movements were unnerving—too fast, too loose, like he didn't care about balance because he didn't need it. Amelia tried to press the advantage. She rolled and grabbed her knife off the floor. Then she lunged at Leo, swinging her knife in a tight arc, but he dodged it just outside her reach, leaning his entire torso back in a ridiculous bend that should have thrown him off balance. It didn't.
Tobi rushed in from the side, shaking off the blow, throwing a straight punch at Leo's head. Leo slipped to the side, twisted his wrist around Tobi's arm like a serpent, and drove his elbow into Tobi's sternum without even looking at him.
Amelia lunged again, slashing with her knife in a horizontal sweep. Leo ducked under it, dragging the back of his fingers across the floor as he twisted past her like smoke slipping between fingers. His knee came up like a piston, aiming for her ribs. She blocked with her forearm but still stumbled, the shock of it rattling through her bones.
He laughed—not loud, not maniacal, just a soft, wheezy laugh that came from somewhere deep in his chest. It was the sound of someone enjoying himself.
Tobi roared and charged again, throwing a combination—one, two, three punches. Amelia followed, stabbing in tight bursts. But each attack was met with nothing but deflection and movement. Leo didn't fight like Ryosuke or Bobo or Mikey or anyone they had ever seen before. There was no discipline in him. His body moved too fluidly, too unpredictably, like he didn't care where his feet landed so long as his body followed the rhythm. Every attack from them met nothing but air, or a parry so clean it stole their balance.
Leo danced between them.
Amelia's blade sliced the space where his throat had been a half second ago. Tobi's knuckles grazed nothing but wind. He slipped behind Amelia and kicked the back of her leg, making her stumble forward into Tobi. They collided chest to shoulder, stumbling over each other in a mess of limbs. Leo tilted his head and cracked his neck, amused.
"Come on, puppy eyes. I can tell you're holding back," he teased, his voice breathy and sharp at the edges.
Tobi gulped and lunged again, swinging a wild hook. Leo stepped into it, twisting his body sideways, letting the fist slide past him like it belonged somewhere else entirely. He brought his knee up again and planted it deep into Tobi's side. The impact echoed, a wet thud that made Tobi's breath seize up. Before he could even react, Leo spun, the momentum carrying through to a rising kick that connected flush with Tobi's jaw.
The world tilted.
Tobi felt his feet leave the ground as if gravity had momentarily forgotten him. Then the pain bloomed hot across his face and chest, and his back slammed into cold concrete. He tumbled down the stands row by row, rolling and crashing through seats, his body leaving a trail of splintered wood and cracked stone.
"Tobs!" Amelia shouted, reaching out for him, but Leo was already turning his attention to her again, dust swirling around his ankles like a storm gathering at his feet.
Leo tilted his head at her, his grin still carved across his face. "Hey beautiful," he whispered, crouching low once more, ready to pounce again. His grin was earned, since the beginning of their encounter he had not been hit once.
Tobi and Amelia were separated, leaving her alone with the monster that is Leo.