7 My First Bout

In front of me was a bald young adult with a dark complexion skin in a stance preparing for battle. He stood in front of me with only an oversized white pants that was tightened with a belt and no shirt. For me, I was barefooted with only a black shirt and shorts.

In SFA you are allowed to wear any kind of outfit and armour from leather to metal. But, these armours can cost a fortune, and I couldn't afford to buy any of the equipment.

We stood on a flat rectangular dirt ground surrounded by a lot of people with their cameras. It makes sense that they were more attracted to the new fire rookie due to the hype that he made surrounding the fact that he was related to the undefeated national champion. A lot of people have a high expectations of him.

"On the west side, we have a new fighter who can tame a raging fire, Rama The Fire Arrow!" the sound of the announcer echoed throughout the venue. He stood in the middle of the arena.

Rama stretched his left hand forwards and tucked in his right hand near his chest. a spiral of fire can be seen coiling his left arm.

The audience cheered loudly, followed by a thunderous clap.

"On the east side, Also a new rookie who can move without moving, Mika The Space Bender!" the announcer continued.

A few cheers and claps can be heard from the audience.

"And..., without delaying any further, LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!" the announcer lifted both of his arms in the air creating an atmosphere of loud cheer of excitement that filled the entire stadium.

|Are You Ready to Battle?|

|HP 100| |HP 100|

The prompt has appeared. I immediately lifted both of my arms until it covered my chin to guard against any incoming attack.

I could hear some of the audience start to whisper to one another.

"Is that a boxing stance?"

"That won't be good for this kind of fight right?"

"Yeah, as long as Rama can keep his distance, I'm pretty sure that he can win this fight easily."

"Man..., I thought that this fight will be exciting."

"What do you expect? This is a low division fight."

"Yeah. By the way, what is the other guy ability anyway?"

"I think it's teleportation."

"What?! How are you supposed to fight with that?! Is he desperate or something?!"

"You know, I think he can win this one." a man suddenly interrupted the conversation of these two strangers.

|FIGHT! FIGHT!! FIGHT!!!|

|HP 100| |HP 100|

I started to run to approach him.

The fire that once coiled to his arm suddenly launched like an arrow. The speed is similar to a speeding car.

Since we were far away from one another, I can easily react and predict the direction of his fire arrow. It was aiming for my head.

I can effortlessly dodge it with my teleportation. I continue to run towards him. He smiled at me.

Suddenly, a blast of fire hit my back and I fell.

|HP 100| |HP 93|

I was careless to the point that I forgot that he still can guide the fire wherever he pleases.

|HP 100| |HP 91|

I rolled my body to put out the fire on my back, and I got up with an aching pain on my back.

|HP 100| |HP 89|

The burn scar on my back still hurt. I kept running to get close to him.

I managed to get close to him. He suddenly put up a big wall of fire.

Thankfully, he was within the range of my teleportation. I managed to teleport him to the front of his fire shield.

He was shocked. I managed to use this opening to land a left hook onto his jaw.

|HP 96| |HP 89|

He immediately made an explosion right in front of me. The blast managed to launch me a couple of meters back.

|HP 96| |HP 81|

I was too careless. I never thought that he could create an explosion like that.

I rolled my body on the ground to stop the fire.

"Man, this is just sad. That guy is clearly too weak for SFA," said one of the reporters out of pity and disappointment.

"I mean, he managed to at least land a hit," replied another reporter.

"Yeah, but... Whoa! Look!" the reporter's face suddenly turned to shock. He immediately pointed his finger towards the arena.

"What, the, hell is happening?!" said the other reporter in confusion.

In front of these experienced middle-aged reporters was the scenery of dozens of fire arrows and massive fireballs jittering back and forth around me.

Besides training in the boxing gym, I've also been experimenting with my ability. Until that point, I've found three things about my ability. First, other than teleporting myself, I can also teleport other people or objects as long as they are within my range diameter or my teleportation distance. Second, the speed of teleporting is instant. There is no delay in my casting, I can rapidly cast my magic over and over again. Lastly, I can teleport multiple objects at once as long as I am aware of them.

I felt like I've managed to grasp Rama's overall ability. It was my mistake that I underestimate his ability. From the start of the match, by looking at his stance, I thought that he knows nothing about martial arts. Though even if that is correct, his ability is very powerful and he has good control of it.

I managed to take him by surprise. I immediately used this opening to ran into him.

When I got near him, he started to panic a bit. he started to throw his fire arrow randomly at me. Luckily, I can teleport all of his attacks behind me so that they won't get in the way. I can also stop all of his attacks before it hits me.

I managed to get close and I threw a lot of punches at him. He also managed to wrap his arm with fire and was able to land some of his hit to my body. Thankfully, I can still dodge a lot of his attacks by teleporting to his blindspot. I was able to keep a close distance from him throughout the fight.

|FIGHT ENDED!|

|HP 0| |HP 79|

I won.

|Congratulations!|

|Your teleportation distance has increased|

|30 cm >> 1 m|

The audiences were in silence due to shock. They didn't expect this kind of outcome to happen.

After the announcer announced my win, I immediately went to the medic room to heal my wound.

While I was there, someone knocked on the door. It was Rama. He came to me and we talked.

From his defeat, I thought that he would be a little bit sad, but he was quite cheerful.

"You seem to be a little cheerful from losing a fight. Are you okay?" I asked in confusion.

"Bwa ha ha ha ha!" He burst out laughing while holding his stomach. "Yeah, I'm good" he continued.

"Eh?"

"With me losing the match, I can finally get rid of those pesky annoying journalists," he said in satisfaction." I don't want to live behind the brother shadow. I want to rise on my own, with my name, not his name," he said with a big smile on his face.

"Well, that's good."

"Yeah!" He left the room, and at the door, he said "Oh yeah, I also wanted to say that you're my rival now!" he waved his hand at me.

"Eh?"

Inside the changing room, I also saw Julius's fight

He won easily without even taking a hit. He got promoted into the global division

I called him and congratulated him through phone call.

"Hey! Congrats!" I spoke cheerfully.

"Thanks! How was your fight?"

"I won!"

"Whoa, congrats! I knew you can do it!"

"Thanks!"

"So, what's your plan for the next step?"

"Right now, I'm thinking of going to the national A division and staying there since the pay is good enough for covering both the hospital bills and other necessities."

"Heeh..., I was hoping that you would aim for the global division," he said in disappointment. He then continued with excitement, "Hey, would you fight me if I told you that I am the reason why your parents are in hospital?"

"You're joking, right?" I smiled uncomfortably.

"Why would I lie to you? If fight me in the global division then I will tell you how to cure your parent."

"No way! Even an experienced doctor didn't know what happened to my parents. How the hell can you know the cure to my parents' illness? This isn't a funny joke okay."

"Of course I can. I'm the one who caused this thing to happen to your parents, and let me tell you a little secret okay. I'm actually the creator of the system and I am the one who caused people to awakened their power, to begin with!" he whispered to me with a smile on his face.