Back Mile

Eo walked back to the arena. He was basically fully healed from the constant use of essence circulation. He still had two hundred more matches to fight (since he lost the one against Reya), and Eo was determined.

Knowing the exact masses and percentages of all the sub-essences such as the Globules or Elemental Essences allowed him to get a much, much more accurate insight as to how to control his essence. He could probably do essence-powered jumps without even needing to hold back in fear.

Eo entered the arena, much more confident than ever.

"Is that sPIkY Eo bOi?" Eo's opponent said.

Eo looked up. What appeared to be a gangster in ripped clothing stood menacingly in front of him.

"Oh, don't worry, sPiKEo. I don't hurt."

Eo laughed nervously. Not because his opponent was scary or anything, but because his opponent was suddenly offering him freshly baked cookies.

"Wait what-"

"Here, take. I baked them myself!"

Eo nervously got one and sniffed it. They smelled good. He saw the gangster munch on the cookies himself. Eo cautiously ate them.

"I love giving cookies to my opponents!"

"Erm, thanks?"

"You're welcome! My name is Back Mile, by the way, and my favorite thing to do in the summer is- "

"FIGHT!" The announcer interjected. "I WANT BLOOD NOT FRIENDSHIP! FRIENDSHIP ISN'T MAGIC!"

Back Mile seemed to frown.

"I am sorry my friend, but I must defeat you now."

"Uh me too!"

Eo decided there was really no use holding back his "trade secret" from being visible. He needed to put his newfound knowledge into practice, and there was no better method of doing that than utilizing everything he had to his maximum.

Of course, this would have consequences. His ratings would shoot up, and he'd be forced to fight harder opponents. Eo was fine with that, because he didn't want to get bored/feel guilty.

Eo synthesized his dagger-chains and launched them towards Back Mile. He was thankful the only other time he used it visibly was when fighting Reya, and even then he had lost, so it had mostly gone unnoticed.

Back Mile seemed extremely confused about the chains.

"Wow, they're moving on their own!"

Eo didn't have the heart to stab him and win (he was in range to) so he morphed one of the daggers into a pan and smacked it down on his head.

Back Mile didn't move.

Eo wondered if he hit him too hard, but then Back Mile just laughed.

"You need a stronger weapon to make Back Mile sleep! HAHAHA!"

Eo changed all of his knives into a giant block of metal.

"Sorry," Eo muttered as the block of metal hit his body.

Back Mile collapsed. Eo winced as the hollow ringing of the impact resonated around the arena.

Eo made a mental note to give Back Mile a cookie if they met again.

☆

Every arena fight was like that. Except for them being nice and giving cookies. Or Eo feeling sorry for them afterwards.

A better comparison would be the one where he fought Kaldai: the crazy, aggressive, and overconfident fighter.

It was like that for 118 more games, at least. Then the rosters got updated.