PAIR 34 (TIERNAN / JIN) vs PAIR 2 (BARRACKS 6)Dayo was smaller in person than he’d looked on Park’s footage, yet he exuded an air of confidence that laid everything bare. He rolled his shoulders as he walked through the gate, each movement unhurried, his breathing steady and even. His partner Rachel settled into her Rotation Three shell the moment the horn sounded — high guard, elbows locked, exactly the fortress stance Park had shown us on the datapad less than an hour ago. But where the clip had made her look mechanical, in person, she carried a sharpness in her eyes that the footage hadn’t captured.We moved across the arena together. I took the vanguard position, hoping to draw in the opponents. The plan of attack: don’t go anywhere near Rachel, defang the beast, then deal with the other later, via grappling.Dayo came forward, meeting us in the centre. Lead foot planted, hips already beginning the rotation that would drive his first combination. I recognised the opening from Park’s clip — shoulders committing before hips, the weight transferring to the lead foot a half-beat before the strikes launched. I had the counter mapped and started my lateral step the moment his shoulders moved.His combination arrived and passed through the air I’d just been standing in. My lateral step carried me left, angling around the arc of his hooks where the follow-through would leave his ribs exposed. My guard was set, my weight transferred, the angle clean.His weight returned to the centre before I arrived. His hips snapped back faster than anything I’d seen in the exhibition, the committed extension collapsing into a reset that left no gap between the end of (...)