***
What seemed like centuries passed by in the matter of seconds. Seeing his opponent's leg in the air about to land directly on his head made Niko uncomfortable, and made him remember a previous moment where he was hit in the head by a similar flying kick that caused him to become unconscious for a few moments. During one of his training sessions when he was a child, his father once told him that "Getting knocked unconscious was the next worst thing to being dead, because you are completely defenseless from your opponent's attacks." This stuck with him throughout all of his matches to make sure he avoided being knocked out again.
Knowing that being kicked on the top of his head with a strong attack was not an option, all of the possible remaining options flew through Niko's mind that hopefully resulted in the outcome of his survival. Moving his hands from his chest to above his head was not an option, as the attack was extremely strong and would easily injure both of his arms, along with his head, even with the addition of the protective sparring padding. Parrying wasn't an option, because he would still need to move his arms above his head, but the time needed to do so was greater than the time needed to complete the attack. Moving out of the way wasn't an option, as he needed to first get stable footing to move away, then stable footing to keep standing, and that would open him up to a direct attack once Tsuyoki landed. The only option left was the best one, but it would take a bit of skill and luck to pull off. However, it's the only one that he could do with the matter of seconds left before Tsuyoki completed his attack, but what other choice did he have?
Tsuyoki's leg came crashing down in one of the most powerful flying kicks in martial arts. Hitting the ground, it left him a bit unstable as he regained his balance. Realizing that his powerful kick missed, his only assumption is that Niko somehow moved, but a cursory glance around showed that Niko was not around. What the-?
Tsuyoki's thought process was cut short by a blow to the back of the head. The power in the blow caused him to cough out his mouth guard in addition to stumbling forward, almost falling to his knees.
"BREAK! Judges: score!" The center judge called out. Two white flags fly up, each judge holds up two fingers. The center judge extends his left hand in the air with two fingers outwards.
The audience cheers loudly, making the echoing in the convention center almost deafening.
Reaching down to grab his mouth guard, Tsuyoki turned around to see what just happened. He didn't expect to see the underside of Niko's foot in the air, right where his head just was moments ago.
Niko slowly retracted his foot and placed it on the floor. Tsuyoki returned to his spot on the other side of the ring, as did Niko.
"2 points to Sakuna!" The center judge called out.
The large overhead display updates the score. A large digital "2" appears next to Tsuyoki's picture, and the "1" next to Niko's picture fades into a "3".
"Just like old times, huh?" Tsuyoki says.
Taking his mouth guard out to speak more clearly, Niko responds with "You haven't changed a bit. You're still underestimating me."
"How'd you avoid my kick?" Tsuyoki asked, not really expecting a straight-forward answer.
"Simple: I lowered my head and rolled under you. I could easily stand up and return a kick to your head just as you landed." Niko said with a smile.
"Smart, but let's see who can finish this." Tsuyoki said as he put his mouth guard back in his mouth.
"Agreed. This will be a close match." Niko smirks as he also puts in his mouth guard.
The center judge lowered his hand and repeated his starting sequence again. "FIGHT!"