CHAPTER 16

"Sir Connor."

"Sir Connor."

Mr Bushman sounded as he hurriedly followed Sir Connor from behind. He was happy when Tate made the deal, but now, he wondered if they made the right choice.

They could have just forced Tate to abide by their rules. There were several ways to do that, why did Sir Connor have to agree to Tate's offer.

"Sir Connor."

Mr Bushman sounded again as he blocked Sir Connor's front view.

"What is it? Bushman."

Sir Conner finally stopped to give Mr Bushman his attention. He folded his hand across his chest as he looked at Mr Bushman.

Mr Bushman calmed his heavy breathing, he had basically been running after Sir Connor. When he was done relaxing his breathing, he raised the two envelopes he was holding.

"I don't understand why we had to agree to that loser words. We could have forced him to abide by our own rules."

He handed the two envelopes to Sir Connor.

"These are the reports from the arena. The numbers increased by over fifty percent, and over 90 percent bet that Tate would win the final!"

Sir Connor accepted the two envelopes while Mr Bushman continued talking.

"If Tate loses we could make a fortune from it. It wouldn't recover everything but it would go a long way."

Mr Bushman looked at Sir Connor's face.

"We should ask Tate to lose in the ninth round. This way, more people would be confident that he would win so the bets would go higher on his favor!"

Mr Bushman's lips formed a half smile.

"What do you say, Sir Connor. I know several ways we could hook him down. Just give me the order and I will make it work!"

Sir Connor finished reading the statistics then.

"Don't do anything stupid."

He responded as he handed Mr Bushman the papers back.

Mr Bushman was surprised by this, was Sir Connor afraid of Tate now. just because of those little stunts Tate pulled.

That was definitely a once in a lifetime show! The bumpkin boy was just lucky!

"Sir Connor..... let's do this. Let's take advantage of this bet. You can't possibly be afraid of that little boy!"

Mr Bushman said as he tried to stop Sir Connor from walking away.

Sir Connor stopped then. He remembered how Tate smashed Ryker to the wall. That wasn't an ordinary punch. It was an attack that only a true martial artist would be able to perform.

People like Mr Bushman that had never left Apex Grove would never understand the meaning to the glowing fist.

He had no idea how Tate was able to master such an attack, but that didn't mean he was afraid of Tate. Mr Bushman was simply just too dumb to realize the bigger picture here.

Sir Connor stopped to face him.

"If Tate loses the final. He wouldn't be able to go to the state tournament, that means the deal is over. He would have to work for me until he dies!"

Mr Bushman was still confused by Sir Connor's words. Of course he knew that, but they don't have to bend to Tate's deal.

They own Tate!

Mr Bushman wanted to say something when Sir Connor placed both of his hands on Mr Bushman's shoulders, and looked straight into Mr Bushman's eyes.

"You know what to do. Tate must lose without any hindrance from us."

Mr Bushman's heart vibrated, and a little smile was creeping into his face. He finally got an idea of what Sir Connor was talking about.

Sir Connor was simply a genius!

"You have a few hours before the match starts. Go get it done."

Sir Connor said as he let go of Mr Bushman. He walked away and Mr Bushman raised his voice.

"Yes Sir!"

**

"Yum!"

"Yum!"

"Yum!"

Tate finished the bowl of noodles in a hurry. He carried the bowl next and drank the spicy water in one go.

"Mmmmmm!!"

Tate wiped his mouth when he was done emptying the bowl.

The meal was an expensive one, but that wasn't the reason that made he cleaned the bowl. 

Not that he was hungry either.

He just didn't want to stress the person that would be washing the plate. It was basically clean now, so no stress!

Tate stood up when he was done. He handed the five bowl over to the madam and dropped a few cash on the table.

Without waiting for the woman to count the money, he strolled out like a boss.

All eyes were on him when he ordered five blows of noodles. They sure didn't look at him anymore when they saw how cleaned he was making each plate look like.

They probably thought he was some hot shot, well, he would be one day.

[One Hour Jackpot winning numbers has been released]

Tate's excitement skyrocketed but it went down when the next message showed up.

[Unfortunately. Host ticket didn't match the winning numbers.

Note; The higher the tickets the greater the chances of winning!]

Tate sighed, he wasn't expecting anything from the one hour jackpot since he already won a while ago, but at least, the system should've surprised him.

He hoped to see something but not getting anything wasn't bad either. His main focus was on the six hours jackpot and the one day jackpot.

He would surely get something from those, and he couldn't wait to see what it would be.

Tate wiped the messages away and looked at his right hand side. On his right hand side was Apex Grove arena. The biggest arena in Apex Grove, but not the best arena in Apex Grove.

He thought this place would be filled with experienced fighters, but all he got for the past three years were crooks, criminals and even regular people that didn't even have any passion for the sport.

The most funny thing was that those people had won the Apex Grove tournament countless times, why him, the best fighters in the arena, get to be shit on all the time!

Gets to be knocked down all the time! Gets to be criticized by these clowns that know nothing about the sport.

Tate squeezed his fist hard.

Today, he would make sure he wins what he truly deserves for the past three years now. He would carry home the champion medal, and it would be just the beginning.

Tate casually walked to the arena. He planned to go early so he could warm up before the fight began.

Tate arrived and went to his locker room.

Mr Bushman was waiting for him inside. Tate kept a straight face as he entered the room.

"You better win today, Tate. I don't know why Sir Connor even chose to listen to your garbages, well, if you don't win today, then consider yourself a full time member of this arena!"

Without waiting for Tate's response, Mr Bushman walked away with a big smile on his face.

Tate's forehead folded a little. He knew they would surely be up to something, but he wasn't the same fighter from last week. 

He would prove them wrong and win this final.

Tate sat down and waited for the time to elapse.

He didn't come early to practice any moves or walk around the arena. He came early to feel his locker room one more time. Cause this would be his last time here!

The stopwatch sounded and Tate stood up from the stool he was sitting on, it was time to get things rolling.