But he hit nothing.
In a fraction of a second, Maya had pivoted on the ball of her lead foot. It was a movement so slight, so incredibly fast, that it barely registered to the naked eye. As Marcus committed his momentum forward, Maya simply stepped off the center line. She reached out, placing one hand lightly on the back of his thick neck and the other on his tricep.
She didn't use strength to stop him. She used his own brute force against him.
With a gentle, steering motion, she guided his diving form downward while simultaneously sweeping her foot across his ankle.
Smack.
The gym echoed with the sound of a heavy body hitting the mat. Marcus had slammed face-first into the vinyl, completely missing his target.
For a second, the gym went dead silent. Only the humming of the overhead lights could be heard. Leo's jaw dropped. Jax blinked, rubbing his eyes as if he had just hallucinated.
Marcus scrambled to his knees, his face flushed red with instant embarrassment and rage. "Lucky slip," he growled.
He lunged again, this time reaching out to grab her gi collar, intending to muscle her to the ground with a heavy snap-down. He managed to secure a grip on her lapel. He yanked backward with all his might.
Any normal person of Maya's size would have been pulled off their feet, sent flying forward into Marcus's guard. Instead, Maya instantly dropped her base. Her hips sank, her spine remained perfectly aligned, and she rooted herself to the floor. The kinetic energy of Marcus's pull hit a brick wall. The heavy purple belt stumbled backward from his own unreciprocated force.
Before Marcus could regain his balance, Maya moved.
She stepped in closely, breaking the distance in an instant. Her right hand shot up, gripping his lapel near the collarbone. Her left hand secured his sleeve.
Coach Silva, watching from the sidelines, took a sharp breath. He recognized the grip. He recognized the posture. It was textbook Judo. Flawless, Olympic-level Kodokan Judo.
"Oh no," Silva whispered to himself, a massive grin spreading across his face.
Marcus, frustrated and confused by his inability to move her, tried to push her away to reset. That was his fatal mistake.
As he pushed, Maya yielded. She rotated her hips, stepping deep between his legs. She pulled his sleeve tight across her chest, loading his massive frame onto her back and hips. For a brief, defying moment of physics, the two-hundred-pound man was suspended in the air, balancing on the back of the hundred-and-twenty-pound woman.
And then, she executed a perfect Seoi Nage—a shoulder throw.
With a crisp, explosive snap of her hips, she launched Marcus over her shoulder. The big man flew through the air, his legs kicking wildly, before crashing onto the mat with a thunderous BOOM that shook the mirrors on the walls.
The wind was completely knocked out of Marcus. He lay flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling lights, his brain struggling to process how he had suddenly taken flight.
"What... what just happened?" Jax stammered, terrified.