Brutal Match

Ramero stands with the other Gladiators that are already ready for their fights.

From what Silver Fists said he was not going to get any weapon since he hasn't fought for his first weapon yet, it's too late to get one now as during the sparring tournament there would be no fight other than the official fights.

'I'm fucked, this is going to be a lot harder' Ramero thought while clenching his jaw.

But despite the impossible task laying ahead of him, the option of not winning is not something he can choose. It would be the death of Leandra, and he already indirectly promised her that he would win so he has to win.

Since he's a man of his word, he needs to win no matter what.

Where would he put his face if he lost and get back to the jail cell to see Leandra's face? It would be shameful for him, and more than that he can't imagine the feeling he would feel if he did lose and Leandra got taken away by the guard.

Just thinking about it forced him to clench both of his hands into fists.

'Please, don't be a hard one...' Ramero thought, hoping to be paired with the weaker Gladiator.

Looking around the Gladiators that are waiting patiently for the Regulator to get up in the arena and explain the rules, Ramero finds that there are more than half of the Gladiators that looked young and some are middle-aged.

Out of the two groups, he definitely wanted to be paired with the young ones.

In this era and profession, middle-aged Gladiators are definitely experienced and are all fierce fighters. Ramero doesn't want any of that, he only wanted to win even if it's against the weakest Gladiator here.

Aside from that, Ramero can see the slave marks that the other Gladiators have.

From a quick glance, he finds that there are four kinds of shapes of the slave marks which are Dog-shaped just like the one he has, wolf-shaped, and tiger-shaped. Associating with the Gladiators that have these slave marks, Ramero finds that the slave marks are also used as a hierarchy.

The Dog slave mark is the lowest while Tiger is the highest.

'Pair me with a Dog, don't pair me with any more than that' Ramero thought hopefully, just as he thought of that the corner of his eyes caught a weird sight. Most of the Gladiators here looks ready for a battle, but there's one that looks nonchalant.

Ramero saw a Gladiator on the right who is the only one leaning on the wall.

Compared to the other Gladiators, this particular Gladiator has a very well-toned body with terrifying muscle definitions. Wearing only leg armor with a bare upper body filled with scars that each has a story to tell and a helmet that covered his entire face.

With two swords in his hands and a Tiger-shaped slave mark on his shoulder, this Gladiator looks fearsome.

Ramero clearly doesn't want to fight with this one.

'Out of everyone he seems to be the one that is relaxed about the situation, is he the strongest Gladiator here? I can tell that everyone also puts some distance with him' Ramero thought, but he sure doesn't want to be paired with that Gladiator.

Shifting his eyes to other places, his eyes caught sight of a Gladiator looking at him.

Unlike the fierce Gladiator that he inspected earlier, this Gladiator who is looking at him is wearing more armor on his upper body. Aside from a leather belt wrapping his waist, this Gladiator also wears a long vambrace that covered his entire right arm and a spiky pauldron on his right shoulder.

Gazing at the eyes behind the helmet, Ramero's expression darkens realizing who it is.

It was the Gladiator that bullied him the most, the one that he hit on the nuts, Laughing Butcher. Even though he already bullied Ramero in return for what he did, it seems he still doesn't want to let up the humiliation he suffered.

Pointing at Ramero, Laughing Butcher threatens him by making a throat-slitting gesture.

Ramero wanted to avoid Laughing Butcher the most, he would be in danger fighting against a Gladiator that has bad blood with him. But just as he thought of that, the Regulator stands in the arena and announced loudly.

"Our weekly sparring tournament got pushed back a little, but now the time has come!"

The Regulator spreads his arms apart as if he was embracing all of the Gladiators that are watching him from below, he then continued, "As you may know, the sparring tournament would affect your ranking in the school and also your performance in the Deathbound Colosseum. Fight with honor and modesty, I do not want to see one of you die a meaningless death" Pausing for a bit, the Regulator then smiled and joked, "of course, breaking some bones here and there are allowed"

Upon hearing this, the Gladiators chuckled a bit as if breaking bones are nothing for them.

"Since there's one new student amongst us, I'll explain the rules" the Regulator said while staring straight at Ramero, and so does the other Gladiators that are also glanced at him as if he was food for them.

Ramero didn't mind them and kept listening attentively for the rules of the bout.

Simply put every Gladiator would only need to fight one match against a random Gladiator, winners will be announced when either of them concedes or is no longer able to continue. Anything is allowed, the only thing that is not allowed is to kill.

After the first match, the Gladiators will be given the opportunity to challenge other Gladiators.

If a Gladiator feels that he can beat someone with a higher rank than them they are given the chance to challenge the said Gladiator, the sparring tournament will end if there are no more challenges.

"But there's a special rule for our beloved new student" the Regulator suddenly said.

Upon hearing this Ramero can feel the bad omen creeping closer, he knows that whatever the Regulator is about to say it's not going to be good. "Since this is the first sparring tournament for Noble Brat, any Gladiator is allowed to challenge him. Of course, he would stop accepting challenges if he can't go on anymore"

Deg!

Ramero's heart thump powerfully when he heard that, 'This is just great...'

If he's not mistaken in deciphering what the Regulator said, after the first fight he can be challenged by Gladiators above his rank and would only stop when he's unable to continue. Basically at the end of the day, Ramero would definitely be beaten up.

As if the bullying he received is not enough, the school even gave him an ultimatum.

Frowning hard, Ramero returns the gaze of the Regulator fiercely, 'No matter, what condition I ended up in this day doesn't matter as long as I don't die. More than that, as long as I win the first match then everything else would not matter...'

With clear determination, Ramero's eyes didn't waver under the Regulator's gaze.

Smiling inwardly, the Regulator finally takes out a bell from his pocket before he raises it up to the sky, "If everyone is clear, the sparring tournament officially starts now! Give me a good watch, rewards are waiting for those that piqued my interest"

Ring!

Upon the bell ringing, the Gladiators roared excitedly and raised their arms and weapons.

Amongst the Gladiators, only a few kept their composure while the others cheered excitedly. One of them is Ramero, clenching his fists knowing that he would need to win the fight with only his bare hands.

It sounds impossible, but there's no other choice. On his shoulders is the burden of another's life.

Leandra's life.

With the sparring tournament finally starting, the Regulator called forth the first match between Baron of Pain and Silent Sword. Ramero watches as two fierce Gladiators went up to the arena and stand in front of each other confidently.

Nothing can be seen except for excitement in their eyes, both of them are young in their twenties.

Baron of Pain is a six-feet-two tall Gladiator with a big spiky mace on his shoulder, he's wearing a chest plate and leg armor that covered top to bottom but his helmet doesn't cover his mouth which exposes his maniacal smile.

On the other hand, Silent Sword has the same amount of armor layering.

Compared to Baron of Pain, Silent Sword is rather shorter and leaner with a perfect-sized sword for his body and a shield ready in his hands. Silent Sword's distinctive feature that Ramero caught was the green snake tattoo spiraling around his left arm.

"Gladiators, take your stances!" the Regulator shouted from the side.

Upon hearing the signal Baron of Pain and Silent Sword instantly went into their battle stances, the excitement in their eyes never fade showing that they have a history against each other. Ramero can feel that the fight is going to be brutal.

Looking at the two, the Regulator nodded his head and announced, "Start!"

"Hyaargh!!"

Immediately after the starting signal, Baron of Pain charged forward while raising the heavy spiky mace with his right hand to the sky. 'So fast! How can he move that fast with that heavy weapon and armor' Ramero exclaimed inside his head.

Since he would be fighting a Gladiator, he needed to learn how Gladiators fight.

Although each Gladiator probably has their own fighting style, there should always be a common line that the Gladiators followed. Ramero wanted to find that so he can exploit it, he'll be fighting bare-handed after all.

Crash!

Like the mighty Hercules, Baron of Pain swung down the spiky mace powerfully.

But with swift footwork and precise movement, Silent Sword managed to tilt his body to the side and dodge the spiky mace trajectory. The spiky mace slammed to the ground, knocking the sand and causing a small crack in the arena.

'Not only is he fast, but his attack is also deadly strong' Ramero frowned while inspecting the fight.

Without even knowing first-hand how powerful that strike was, he already feel that he won't be able to take it. Clearly from how the other Gladiators are reacting calmly, these two are not the strongest here.

Once again Ramero feels like these Gladiators' strengths are insane.

Harnessing his agile movement due to his incredible footwork and light body, Silent Sword kneed Baron of Pain after dodging that attack and sent him stumbling backward. Following that attack, Silent Sword slashed Baron of Pain's arm severely.

Slash!

Blood gushed out and stained the golden sand crimson, but the fight is not over.

Instead of stopping Baron of Pain's momentum with his injured arm, he kept going on the offensive even harder. Holding the spiky mace with both hands, his swings got even faster, stronger, and more frequent.

Silent Sword does a phenomenal job in defending, he dodged and blocked every attack beautifully.

Each time he successfully dodged or blocked an attack that requires Baron of Pain a second or two to recover, Silent Sword gave a counter-attack wherever is closer for his sword to reach. Most of them hit the chest plate Baron of Pain is wearing, but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt Baron of Pain.

Quickly the fight started to become one-sided, Silent Sword is too agile and precise to be hit.

'One is a brute that swings around his spiky mace without thinking, the other is a calculated fighter that leans to a defensive fighting style which is the absolute counter for Baron of Pain's fighting style' Ramero thought, already determining that the battle is over already.

At this point, Baron of Pain is already covered in slashes and blood.

Parts that are not protected by the armor got slashed by Silent Sword, and parts that are covered by armor are throbbing in pain due to sustaining repetitive attacks. It's not looking good for Baron of Pain at all.

But as he thought of that, Ramero realized that the other Gladiators are still watching attentively.

Not only that but Silent Sword still doesn't exclude confidence in his movement whatsoever, the fight that looks like it was about to be over for Ramero seems to not going to be over soon, Baron of Pain hasn't given up yet.

Clang!!

Ramero heard a very sharp and loud clanging sound when Silent Sword blocked an attack.

Upon hearing this Ramero saw a glimpse of Silent Sword's skin that already turned blue, and he even almost lost his grip on the shield from blocking that heavy attack, 'He's hurt! I should've known, blocking that kind of hit even with a shield should still hurt'

Realizing that Silent Sword is hurt, Baron of Pain's smile grows even more wicked.

"I got you now, little eel!" Baron of Pain shouted before he swung his spiky mace once more before Silent Sword can regain his balance, and that gives blocking the only option for Silent Sword in this situation.

CLANG!

"Graggh!" Silent Sword spat a mouthful of blood from blocking that hit.

Blood can be seen dripping down his helmet as the shield on his hand falls to the ground with a thud, and Baron of Pain follows this with a tackle and brought the fight to the ground, flinging both of their weapons to the side.

Everything went downhill from that moment for Silent Sword.

Completely overpowered on the ground with Baron of Pain mounting on him, rains of punches landed on his helmet. Even though he's punching iron, Baron of Pain didn't care and keeps punching relentlessly.

Ramero was completely stunned while watching this from the side.

It was a nightmare to fight someone like Baron of Pain that doesn't seem to fear anything, and despite the damage he sustains the wicked smile never fades. It feels like he was actually getting stronger from being attacked.

'How can I win if every fight would be like this...' Ramero thought while sucking a cold breath.