Test of Strength 1

When the arena bell rang, neither men made any move. They were both checking each other out. A minute passed just like that, Anston gave out a cough. "Erm, guys, any time now…"

Leraje, hearing the admonitory from the young master, made a move towards his opponent who still maintained his horse stance with both fists clenched loosely in front of him. Leraje's move was extremely fast that you could hear the whishing whoosh sound of his fist.

Just as his fist was about to hit the young man's face, Nazreen took a step back while turning anti-clockwise and his leg kicking backwards. All it took was a moment for this to happen and for Leraje to fall flat on his stomach due to the loss of momentum.

That, however, was only the beginning. Leraje quickly pushed himself off the mat and attacked the young man. This time, instead of attacking directly with full force, he only used half of his strength. 20% more force than his initial attack.

Even he himself was curious as to Nazreen's capability. Leraje started off with straight jabs. Nazreen had tactfully avoided each hit with just turning and bending his shoulder and waist while keeping his two feet rooted to the ground.

Slowly, Leraje increased the strength and speed of his jabs. Gaging the tempo to off Nazreen's balance. All this whilst, Nazreen was on defence. No matter what the older man did, he kept his stance at neutral.

Seeing that the young man has no intention to attack, Leraje took half a step forward and bent his knees to attempt for an uppercut. But since he was taller than the younger man, he had to bend lower and this affected the speed of bouncing back up.

Seeing the opportunity to counter, Nazreen bent his body slightly towards the rear and punched Leraje's right shoulder with a straight left and positioned his right elbow closer to his gut so that it could act as a shield if Leraje's uppercut connects.

Before Nazreen's straight could connect, Leraje had already rolled his shoulder away, feinting the uppercut with a left hook. Unfortunately, as the hook came from a blind spot, Nazreen was not able to avoid the hit when it connected on his left face slightly above the cheekbone. The high impact caused his sight to be blurred and distorted. Unknowingly, he fell on his knees.

With that, the first round had ended with Leraje's win. And that didn't even take a full five minutes.

"Yes! Woohoo!" you could hear Anston cheering from his seat, "Shūshu, I told you Leraje will win the first round! I can't wait to eat your cooking for dinner tonight!" with both fist up high in the air and laughter, Anston celebrated his winning bet.

Kamari could only shake his head in disappointment. Loh Liwei had an indifferent face looking at both men in the arena. He nodded his head when he saw Leraje bowing to him from inside the cage.

They waited for ten minutes for Nazreen to wake from the stupor before starting round two.

"Are you still going to bet on Nazreen's win for the next round?" Anston teased his uncle.

"Of course! I will believe in my son-in-law!" Kamari replied with conviction. Who else should he support if not his son-in-law? He knows that Nazreen is a good fighter. The young man just needed time to adjust before he retaliates. Plus, Leraje was already informed not to use his full strength as this was just a test for Nazreen. Honestly, he knew that the first two rounds will be a loss for Nazreen.

The second round started with Nazreen on the offence. This time, Leraje stood his ground on defence.

Nazreen threw a right jab which was guarded by Leraje's left forearm. He then tried to hit Leraje's pectoralis with his left palm. Success! The hit held quite a pack, causing Leraje to backstep so that he could balance himself. However, it was just a split second before Leraje returned with a right cross.

Nazreen counters the right cross by throwing a left hook on his cheek and pivoted himself away so that Leraje's cross missed his face. He then followed the attack with a turning kick on Leraje's upper abdomen.

Leraje got thrown off his feet by the kick and fell on his posterior. However, before he could stand back up, Loh Liwei had signalled for the rest of the men to break the two up.

"Leraje, good job. You can stop for now."

"Yes, sir!" Leraje bowed to the man and made his way out of the cage and down the arena.

"Hellhound, get in the ring. It's your turn." Kamari interjected.

"Wha… Why???" Anston was shocked by his uncle's order. It was definitely not in the plan!

"Get in," Loh Liwei added before Anston could protest further. By the two short rounds, he already knew that Nazreen was not Leraje's opponent. He could be on par with Anston. Hence, Kamari's decision to have Anston fight instead was a good move.

Anston quickly walked down the aisle and climbed the stairs to the cage. After handing his blue Yojiro Turkish Vintage blazer to his man standing below the arena, he unbuttoned his sleeves and folded them up. "Why do I have to fight now when I am wearing my new outfit!" he grumbled.

"Do you think your enemy will wait for you to change attire or wait till you are appropriately dressed before they attack you?" Loh Liwei sounded him out in Chinese when he heard Anston's fussing.

All the men in the room laughed at Loh Liwei's remarks. Even Nazreen laughed at his cousin-in-law's plight 😂. He could only tap Anston's shoulder to show his support.