04- Kops & Combatants II.

Kabal and I watched as various other fighters fought each other in the pits of Hornbuckle's Arena.

Firstly, I had noticed the man with concrete fists, uncreatively named Stone, he didn't seem to have any geokinetic abilities… instead using pure brute force to win his matches.

Then there was the cocky swordsman, whose name turned out to be Sylver, he was rather efficient when it came to dispatching of his opponents, severing their limbs with a single swing of his blades.

Kobra had shown off his sheer ferocity and ruthlessness when he fought a trio of men in the pits, and savagely broke them apart limb by limb, it was rather disturbing to be honest.

On the other side, Kira was 'playing it safe' so to speak, and had only fought a few more times, only showing off her skill with her daggers, though I was pretty sure that she had something else up her sleeve.

There were also a couple of interesting ones that I hadn't noticed earlier, or they arrived after I did… like a man named Lio Beh who literally boiled his opponent alive with a simple touch, before just… leaving with his winnings, not wanting to continue in the 'tournament', or Ballis, who wielded a spiked ball on a chain and utterly decimated his foes in the pit.

But while I was watching the latest fight, with Ballis fighting Kira, ending with Kira swiftly copying my own strategy and choking the man out with his own chain, but instead of allowing him to leave alive… she continued choking him, putting more force into it, until his head literally popped off in a shower of blood and gore.

During this, I watched in horror, desperately wanting to vomit or something… and yet my body was desensitized to such violence, and so… nothing happened. I then heard that 'Labak' was up, and decided to watch my friend and partner in his fight, even while I was dealing with the shock of what had happened.

Hopefully all would go well for him… but then again, from Stryker's memories, Kabal was a badass and wouldn't be killed so easily… hopefully.

And so, I watched as Kabal and his opponent climbed down into the pit, before the ladder was pulled out, and the bookie started announcing the match.

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Kabal/"Labak" POV:

"In the left corner, we have The Masked Labak!" The announcer announced, causing the sound of uproarious cheers to sound out, along with jeers and boos.

I looked at my opponent, he was a large man, nearly twice the height and weight of myself, he had no clothes save for a pair of torn beige pants, revealing his forest of a chest that was juxtaposed by his completely bald face and head. The most noticeable part of his appearance though, was his concrete-like fists… as if he had dipped his hands into wet cement and waited for it to harden.

"And in the right corner! We have The Man of Concrete himself! Stone!" The announcer shouted out, causing a similar reaction to before.

He looked at me for a few moments, before sneering dismissively. I noticed that his hands hadn't moved at all while he was waiting… there wasn't even a minute twitch to them.

"Is this what I'm fighting? A skinny little twig like you?" The man, Stone said with a derisive snort, before laughing at his own laughable attempt at a joke.

While he was distracted, I ran towards him with my left arm outstretched, before clotheslining the large man, sending him hurtling towards the floor of the pit.

Absently, I noticed Stryker cheering me on… he had grown quite a bit more expressive ever since he took his week long leave. I have no idea what actually happened to him during that… but it seems to have done wonders for his serious attitude.

I kind of like it, to be honest. Makes it easier to be the 'straight man' of our duo.

"I'll fuckin' kill you!" Stone shouted with gritted teeth, his face covered in dirt as he stood up, before raising his fists for combat.

It was insultingly easy to dodge each blow that he made towards me, he may have been decently strong and durable… but he was so slow.

Another fist whizzed past my head, causing me to duck under it, grabbing a clump of dirt from the floor of the pit, before I decided that I had enough of all of… this, and struck towards his gut, causing Stone to let out a pained grunt.

I then began my assault, jumping up in the air and kicking him in the face, before flipping off of his body and throwing some dirt into his eyes.

"Urgh! You motherfucker!" Stone shouted out, as he tried to rub the dirt out of his eyes, only to scratch them on his concrete fists, "GAH! FUCKING BASTARD!"

"Why blame me? You're the one who rubbed his eyes" I said snarkily, before sweeping his leg out from under him, causing the man to tumble towards the floor.

Even blinded though, he tried to grab my leg, causing me to slam my foot down on his fist, utterly destroying the concrete that covered his right fist.

Stone screamed out in pain, before I continued my assault, literally kicking the man while he was down.

I started to feel a thrill that I hadn't felt since I was a member of the Black Dragon Clan, utterly decimating this helpless man, one broken limb at a time…

But then I looked upwards, and saw the disturbed look on Stryker's face, and stopped as soon as I started.

I shouldn't go back to what I was… that Kabal is dead and gone, buried in the earth after the betrayal of Kano and the rest of the Black Dragon Clan… instead, Kabal the friendly police officer and partner of Stryker was here, and… he wouldn't do this. He wouldn't do any of this…

After a few moments, my victory was announced and the ladder was lowered, allowing me to leave the pit, the bloodied and broken Stone having to be evacuated by several of the grunts working in Hornbuckle's Arena.

I looked over to Stryker, and saw the slight smile on his face, knowing that I'd made the right decision.

___

Back to Stryker's POV:

Fucking hell, Kabal was ruthless… that was fucking awesome.

I honestly thought he was going to rip the guy's arm off for a moment there, but Kabal wouldn't do that… Stryker's memories of Kabal told me that he was a good man, even if he had been raised on a so-called 'dark path'.

"Labak Wins, everybody!" The bookie shouted out, causing the uproarious sound of cheers and jeers in equal measure.

Also, Labak was such a good fucking codename… I should have never went with Rekyrts. That was so fucking stupid.

Should've gone with something better like… Magnum, or something simple like Mike or Tyson… having such a weird name was bound to draw attention. Stryker knew that, but I… ignored that in favor of being… funny?

I'm such a fucking idiot.

"Rekyrts! Come on up, it's time for your fight!" The bookie shouted out, causing me to stand up from my seat and crack my neck slightly.

Well, at least I can work out my frustrations with myself on an innocent bystander.

"Sylver, you're up too!" The bookie announced, causing the silver haired cocky swordsman to hop into the pit, before giving me an insufferable smirk.

Oh fuck the hell yes… I'm not even going to feel guilty about bitch slapping that smug look off of his face.

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And that's the chapter, hope you guys enjoyed it.