Nothing But a Loser

Death match.

That means it was a life-and-death battle that would remove the prohibition on killing. The warriors must fought with full risk of dying and it's not against the rules.

This was the first time a participant issued a death match challenge on the opponent. No matter what, the tournament was held for the sake of entertainment, similar to sports, how could it became a killing ground?

Furthermore, the other side was clearly not an ordinary person, he was a member of a royalty! This was insane! Just by issuing the challenge it was already the same as the act of treason, worthy of being executed. And yet Haruto didn't care about that.

Still, the problem was with the crown prince himself. Even if Haruto was basically doing unlawful act, as long as Erick accepted his challenge, he wouldn't be branded as a criminal no matter what the outcome as that was the responsibility of the prince for accepting the risk. Well, at the very least he wouldn't become a criminal publicly.

The people were looking on the two people confronting each other below. They were extremely tense right now as their heart was pounding furiously in the silent atmosphere.

The beast king sitting on the VVIP room was frowning as he didn't expect something like this. Why would the warrior sent by Zelrigth issued a death match to his son? What is happening?

Erick himself was gritting his teeth tightly out of anger. He was being made to drop on his knees and displayed such disgraceful thing in front of the public. But the other side still not satisfied and actually challenged him to a death match and looked at him with that kind of eyes as if he was looking at pebble...

How dare he!!

As his fighting spirit skyrocketed from his fury, he let out his energy and resisted the pressure and bloodlust from his opponent. Finally, he stood back on his feet and glared with ferocious eyes on Haruto.

"Good. Very good! A mongrel like you has the gals to threaten me.... Since it was your wish to die unsightly then I shall gladly grant your wish! I ACCEPT YOUR SO CALLED CHALLENGE!!" He roared loudly to the entire place.

*WAAAAHH*

His declaration caused an uproar to every people in the arena. The tournament management side was taken aback since they didn't hope for Erick to accept the challenge. Now they had to hold a short meeting whether to allow this kind of thing or not.

On the other side, the beast king was slamming his fist on the table as he looked furious. The table was crumbled to dust from the force of his blow.

"That damn kid! Why is he always making me so hard!? To be provoked that easily, just for what reason I tried to educate him all this time!? Fool!!"

He was very angry because thanks to Erick the situation had become a lot more complicated while his only son now had to risk his own life, didn't he think about the country at all? What if he fell in this battle, what then?

But what's already said couldn't be taken back. He knew that not even he could stop what's happening on the stage anymore otherwise he would tarnished his own country's name more. How could he ever expected that a simple rivalry between him and the human emperor would lead to this?

Because the audiences were demanding the match to be accepted, the tournament staffs couldn't do anything other than allowing the death match to happen despite the pressure from the beast king. Their purpose after all was giving out the best they could for the public as a neutral party.

Lumina alone in her seat was tapping her finger looking like being deep in thought. She decided to go where the other girls were based on their energy signatures and asked for what happened from them directly.

[A-As the request from contestant Haruto had been accepted, a special match would now be commenced. The prohibition on killing was revoked for this match only. Also, there won't be a lose by ring-out.]

The announcer described the decision from the management staff. The audiences cheered loudly looking very excited. They didn't care about the matter of royalty or not, what they care was only interesting match.

[T-Then, the semi-finals first match, contestant Haruto vs contestant Erick....BEGIN!!!]

*WOOAAHHH!!!*

The signalled was given and yet the teo participants below was stood unmoving. Erick clicked his tongue and snorted,

"Although this is a death match but it's still depends on the contenders whether to take the other's life or not. I'll give you a chance that if you kowtow before me and licked my boots now, I may consider letting you live after that." He said with arrogant tone and demeanor.

"....Is your mouth could only bark like a dog? If you're afraid to fight you should just said so." Haruto said with cold voice as he looked as emotionless as ever.

"....Good. You really are the most presumptuous person I ever met other than Princess Luminette. Why don't I show you the difference between us?"

Erick strode forward as he gathered his Ki and strength on his fist. His hands were swelling with muscles and let out brilliant yellow light. Without faltering a single bit, he launched the energy punch against his enemy vigorously.

*BANG!*

A figure could be seen blown away like missile after a ripple of wave shook the surrounding air. The figure being launched was a beastman with golden hair, he was Erick that was easily defeated on his attack by a single casual uppercut to the chest from Haruto.

The beastman crashed against the barrier loudly. He was spitting out air from his lung, feeling a hot and painful sensation from his chest. He dropped to the ground on all fours, grasping his chest while panting heavily. Little did he know the blow from his opponent could be this heavy.

A shadow emerged from above and he raised his head to see Haruto looking down on him with cold and empty expression. The pupilless green eyes of his opponent made it look more scary and intimidating combined with the stagnant expression he made.

"Get up, dog."

He said.

"What did----Gfuh!?"

Erick was triggered on how Haruto called him. But his mouth was shut by a white boots striking his face. He was knocked upwards and dropped again to the ground on his back.

"So? What can you bark again now?" Haruto said.

"...You son of a bitch.....I WILL KILL YOU!!"

*WHOOSH*

An explosion of light shone brightly from Erick's figure. His appearance was changing drastically into one closer to a full lion beast. His golden hair was now longer like a lion's mane with glittering golden particles. His nails turned into a beast claw with dark gold fur around his skin.

"Hahaha! You're the second person to make me use this venerable form! The proof of my superiority unlike you useless trashes!! The Beast Lord Awakening!!" He laughed loudly.

The Beast Lord Awakening was different than the usual Beast Awakening. It was a more superior ability exclusive for the beastman royalty, a member of the lion king race. Not every royalties could awaken to this ability as it's considered very rare, not even the current beast king. This was also why the beast king was regarding his son highly despite his own misgivings, his expectations of the son was too high.

The power gained from this form was double than ordinary Beast Awakening. As soon as Erick entered this state, his aura was flaring tremendously, even surpassing Haruto's own power. So far, he only showed this form in the fight against Lotus although he still easily defeated by her for the reason unknown. And yet, for the opponent this time, Erick thought it was more than enough, after all he only saw a puny little man in front of his eyes.

"HIAAHH!!!"

*BAM*

The large furry hand hit against Haruto's cheek, sending him a few meters away. Erick lashed forward and delivered a knee strike on Haruto's gut. The Saiyan's body stumbled forward but Erick proceeded to deliver a flurry of strikes violently without giving him any chance to retaliate.

Haruto was turned like a punching bag as Erick's fists landed on his face and body repeatedly. Each strikes was powerful that produced energy sparks everytime they hit. All this time Haruto just silently received the blows without doing anything. He still didn't show any kind of reaction on his face.

The audiences were gasping from the huge difference in power, they never thought Haruto wouldn't able to counterattack even once, it was a complete bullying!

"GRAHH!"

*BAM*

The barrage of punches was ended with a strong left hook on Haruto's right cheek. He was being made to move backwards a few steps with blood trickling from the edge of his lip.

"...."

Sticking out his thumb, Haruto wiped out the blood on his mouth. While looking on the thumb stained red from his blood, he opened his mouth,

"As I expected."

"What?"

"Your attacks, they were disappointing." Haruto glanced back at his opponent.

"...Disappointing you say? THEN WHY DON'T I SHOW YOU MORE!"

Erick gave a furious roar and leaped swiftly in the air. He once again launched his fist against the enemy, intending to mess him up far more violently than before. The swelling arm of him was piercing through the air with buzzing sound, the force contained on his attack was a lot more powerful compared to his strikes before this.

*Dodge*

Tilting his head slightly, Haruto easily evaded the attack. This action caused a shock on Erick's face and he proceeded to deliver more attacks, thinking it was a coincidence. Alas, his attacks were all avoided by the opponent effortlessly, they were all hitting nothing but air.

"Looks like he noticed." Lotus who was sitting on her seat was smiling slightly. She wasn't surprised of the outcome happening right now.

"You bastard.....What the hell did you do!?"

Erick was cursing madly he didn't understand why he couldn't land a single hit on his opponent, it was as if he's fighting an air.

"Nothing. This is all happened because of yourself."

"What was that!?"

"I'm telling you that you brought this on yourself, not because of me."

"...You!"

In fit of fury, Erick stuck out his arm but it was caught firmly by Haruto using his palm, he smacked the beastman right on his face with a solid hook. But it didn't seem to deal much damage other than making him stumbling for a bit.

"I admit your current prowess is above mine as of right now. But even so you won't be able to defeat me with your lame movements."

"Bastard... You called my move lame!?"

"It's lame. Fitting for a dog like you, you moved worse than a dog."

"BASTARD!!!"

No matter how angry Erick was, he's unable to reach his attack even after using his best speed and strength. This was without doubt extremely frustrating, he couldn't accept what was happening in front of him. His mind was full of confusion and disbelief and kept asking "Why?" "Why?" inside his heart as he kept striking on Haruto from various directions.

"All this time you're just doing nothing worthwhile. You're talented but your arrogance was what led you in this situation." Haruto said while dodging.

"You think of yourself as the chosen one, superior to every people. That is why you looked down on them and the praises people gave you had blinded your eyes. Because you're gifted with a great talent, you never experiences what a "hardship" was. You can easily excelled every opponents you face below you that is why you don't even bother to train. You're choosing an easy life, never knowing how hard it was to put on efforts and sweats. A useless, spoiled young master." He added with disdainful eyes.

The reason why Haruto could dodge all of Erick's attacks was because they were all too easy to read. The person wasn't even train himself a single bit, solely depending on his talent, how could such person develop a solid fighting skills forged by vicious battles and constant practices? The reason he could defeat his opponents so far was because he's capable of overwhelming them using his power alone. That's also why he's always easily defeated by Lotus, a woman above him both in talents and skills. And yet, the prideful brain of Erick couldn't realize and accepted this fact. There's only few people above him he had met so far to make him realize of that.

"....Shut up..!!" Erick gnashed his teeth.

"There's anything but special about you, the scum of life that's only good at toying with other people's life, one who couldn't even land a single hit on a puny man like me."

"I SAID SHUT UP!!"

"You're nothing but a loser."

"...."

That words landed a blow on his heart far more than any of Haruto's attacks so far. The words were repeating on his mind endlessly like a curse mantra that made his body stiff. Not even Lumina's Hakai could dealt such a heavy wound on his mind and pride, it was extremely painful like his limbs were being torn apart piece by piece.

'I'm a loser?'

'I'm useless?'

'There's nothing special about me?'

"....NO!! I WON'T ACCEPT THAT!!!!"

*VWOOO----*

A massive amount of energy exploded from Erick like a typhoon. His mind was muddy from the unwillingness on his heart. This berserk state cause him to let out power far more than his usual condition, it was the resistance came from his severely injured pride in order to safe guard its tiny life from Haruto's merciless blow. If it couldn't defeat Haruto, his entire existence would surely crumble away, the existence consisted of arrogance and pride. If the core itself was crushed into pieces what would remain of him? Nothing.

This was also Haruto's aim, to destroy his pride without trace. Ever since he learnt of what he and his comrades did, Haruto swore to let him face as much despair as he could. He wouldn't let him off easily, he had to suffer what those tortured girls felt ten times worse and what he did now was only the tip of the iceberg. If he truly wanted to, he could easily overpower his opponent at his own game and yet he chose to humiliate him by having him unable to hit him even once.

The ocean of energy waves was swirling above his head, he was focusing everything he had on this attack. He thought that if the enemy could avoid his close distance attacks then he just needed to use a large scale mighty move so he wouldn't be able to dodge!

The shining light from the beastman prince's energy was taking a shape of a colossal lion head dozens of times bigger than an elephant. It was descending on Haruto like a mountain trying to crush an insect. The audiences were shivering from how powerful this attack was. There's no need to be said that if they were the one facing the attack, there wouldn't nothing left of them at all.

"...."

Facing against such a fearsome attack, Haruto kept his calm and serenity. What in front of him was exactly the personification of Erick's pride itself that's why he would destroy it mercilessly without traces. He had to show him how low and worthless he was.

*Spark* *Spark*

The golden aura on Haruto's body was flaring more violently, it was producing arcs of blue electricity as his golden hair turned more rigid and spikier than before. Despite how badly he was seeing his opponent, Haruto knew he couldn't underestimate the manifestation of Erick's existence at all, worse if he tried to crush it without traces that's why he raised his power to the next level. He was clenching his right fist on his side as Erick finally fired off his attack on him.

"I've been wanting to try this move at least once..... Killer move, Serious Series."

His waist was bent low while the clenched fist was swelling with muscles and energy. By adjusting his center of gravity, he twisted his body and strongly thrust his fist forward against the blinding light right above him.

"Serious Punch."

*BOOM!!!!!*

The light was immediately dispersed into nothingness, only leaving a giant hole of void formed by the immense shockwave caused by the extremely powerful punch released by Haruto up above the sky. The clouds were parted as the atmosphere itself was split apart without any resistance. The shockwave even reached outside the ozon for a bit before finally fading out.

The prince in the middle of the air was receiving a fatal injury as both of his hands and legs were completely blown away along with a huge windhole opening up on his stomach up to his chest. The beastly eyes that was radiating fiercely before was now lost all of their light, turning completely white and lifeless.