Fight

"Pick an outfit, Kayden. You will probably use it whenever you fight, almost like a brand, so choose wisely." Kayden didn't even need to think, to match he chose a completely black cloak with a hood and was once again surprised.

He wasn't able to feel the fabric weighing down his body or even obstructing his peripheral vision. Seeing that the boy finished getting ready, Shang began to explain some details as he headed towards the third white door.

"Kayden, all my fighters were kids when I picked them. I plan for the long term, so it's okay if you lose this fight or the next few hundred. I want you to learn as much as you can now, okay?" Shang said with a serious look on his face.

"Yes, Shang, leave it to me." Shang opened the door and came across a staircase. The sound of loud voices could be heard. Due to the architecture of the place, all sounds converged in the arena. Kayden's blood began to boil.

Kayden didn't have many certainties in his troubled life, but one of them was, without a doubt, his taste for fighting, for the feeling of living between life and death. As strange as it seemed, the boy felt more alive the closer he got to death.

"Your fight is until one side gives up or can no longer continue. You're just a kid, Kayden, so I'm going to ask the judge to step in as soon as I think you've reached your limit, okay?" Shang patted Kayden on the back and sent the boy forward.

Kayden was anxious, but not nervous. He already knew what he was coming here to do when he received the letter. Slowly, the light from the ceiling was revealed in his vision. In just a few steps, he was inside the arena.

It was similar to a UFC arena, the difference being that it was at least 30 meters in radius. On the other side of the arena, Kayden saw an unmasked figure. He was at least 7 feet tall and had muscles on every inch of his body. He carried a sledgehammer of at least 1.5 meters.

Kayden did not doubt that the man was a knight and not only that, he was used to fighting in the ring. A presenter was flying on a platform above the ring and began to introduce the fight:

"On one side we have the experienced fighter Marreta, a level 5 apprentice wizard. It was a nickname. Fighting the nameless newbie at the 4th rank. I hope to see a beautiful battle. Who are you going to bet on?"

With his introduction, a small bag began to pass through the groups of people. As soon as someone placed an amount of money, a note would come out with the amount and who the person bet on.

A few minutes later, the confusion ended. Everyone had placed their bets on Muppet. Who would be the crazy person who would bet on a newbie one rank lower? As soon as the betting ended, the presenter started again.

"I hope everyone bet well, let's start the fight." As soon as the man said this, a judge appeared in the middle of the arena. He wore the same mask as the administration.

"The fight is not to the death, when this coin falls from my hand you can begin." The judge threw a coin in the air. Kayden got ready, it was starting.

The coin fell to the floor. Kayden was about to use Pop Flash when his opponent said:

"Are you a dwarf by any chance? It barely reaches my shoulder." He laughed along with the crowd. The man knew how to entertain the audience, unfortunately, Kayden's only response was silence.

"Anything? Not a reaction, so let's go…" He couldn't finish his speech, as Kayden blasted a Pop Flash directly into his vision. Even blind, the man didn't lose his cool and swung his sledgehammer in an arc to keep Kayden away.

The boy shot a concentrated beam at the man and used acceleration to approach his opponent. The Muppet continued making circular movements with his weapon until his vision returned.

Unfortunately for him, Kayden wasn't someone who was intimidated by size. He got close enough to release a concentrated beam directly at the man's chest. This made it impossible for the other to continue swinging.

Kayden took this opportunity to attack the man's arm, his sword opening a deep cut. Driven by adrenaline, the knight moved away from the boy, his vision had returned to normal.

"Looks like you're not a newbie, huh?" Even with his arm bleeding, the Muppet was still calm. He shot at Kayden, even with his size he was still extremely fast.

Kayden charged head-on at him. When the knight tried to make a side swing, Kayden thought about escaping to the side with a feint. But life was not a strawberry, the sledgehammer came down with full force on his rib.

Kayden spun a few times before slamming into the arena wall. His head was ringing, his vision started to go black. He broke some ribs. The knight started to come after him, walking slowly.

The crowd started to go crazy, and shouts of "finish him" started to be heard. When he got close enough, Kayden released a Pop Flash directly into the eyes, the knight did not expect a reaction from his opponent. One of Kayden's arms was hanging down.

Kayden quickly utilized acceleration along with concentrated lightning. This time the knight couldn't even raise his weapon. Using the katana with one hand, Kayden used the giant sledgehammer to propel himself upwards.

He was practically struggling subconsciously, his vision was compromised, and his organs were in the wrong place due to the impact.

With acceleration at its maximum, Kayden brought his weapon down on his opponent's neck. Along with the blow, he also unconsciously imbued lightning into his blade. The lightning bolts were licking his opponent's jugular.

The blade entered, and blood began to flow out like a river. Kayden was scared, he thought someone was going to stop him from giving the man a fatal blow, but he heard nothing. The boy fell to the ground unbalanced and looked at the man dying next to him.

His mind had a little meltdown, had he killed someone else? For a few bucks? The boy tuned out the sounds around him, his eyes focused on his hands, had he done this?

Kayden saw the blood on his katana dripping onto the floor, the drops having a hypnotic effect on the boy. The sound of them hitting the ground began to eat away at his mind. Almost like clockwork. Tick … Tac …

" Fighter, exit the ring through the trapdoor" Kayden finally came to, the man in front of him was sitting while a medical team healed him, there was no hatred in the knight's eyes.

  "Come on, newbie, don't be surprised, death is common here, don't blame yourself so much" As an experienced fighter from the club, Muppet managed to see what was going through Kayden's mind.

  Probably all new fighters went through the same sensation at least once in their lives. Some took a long time to recover or even never returned to normal, while others simply had no reactions.

  "Sorry," Kayden said as he quickly passed his opponent, the boy ran to the trapdoor, he needed to digest everything that had happened. Before he could start going down the stairs he heard the crowd scream.

  "Grim Reaper " someone shouted the nickname and it spread like wildfire, within seconds the entire place was shaking with the voices sounding together. This lasted until the boy went down the stairs and closed the trap door.