Chapter 17: Round 1

Before Gary had any chance to refuse participating in the next fight, the crowd opened up a way for him and with a not so gentle push, Kai forced him to enter the arena. The highschool students were now looking at him from all over. It felt as if they were seeing right through him trying to analyse what type of person he was.

‘Was it a mistake to go to Kai?’ Gary was left wondering. As a fan of Altered fights he had naturally dreamed about being on stage himself. Who would have thought he would get a chance… only that it would be at an ‘underground’ fighting club?

The spectators did not seem to be too impressed with Gary as he was pretty average in terms of height. Today had been the first time he had ever visited a gym, so his lean figure did not have any muscles for him to show off. Compared to the last contestants, he just didn’t look as if he would last long.

[Your heart rate is increasing]

[90 BPM]

[95 BPM]

[99 BPM]

‘Goddamnit Kai, why couldn’t you have warned me at least?! Shit, I have to calm down. With so many people watching I can’t display too much power!’ Gary worried as he looked around. His fight-or-flight response kicked in, and he would definitely prefer the latter option until he got a better feel for his newfound powers. 

Unfortunately for Gary, Kai was nowhere to be seen. 

“Let’s now give a big welcome to his opponent! With fifteen fights under his belt, he has won ten of them, Biiilllllyyyy Buuuuusssstttteeeeerrrrr!” The announcer called out and the crowd erupted in cheers as a large bald headed man entered from the opposite side. Billy had his top off displaying his six pack of flabs, and aside from a normal looking pair of pants, he had a pair of thick gloves on his hands.

“Oi, you gotta be kidding me! I thought this was highschool students only?! Why the hell is my opponent a middle-aged man?!” Gary complained to the announcer, panicking far too much to realise that what he had just said could be heard by everyone including his opponent.

“... your opponent might have been held back, but he is merely nineteen years old!” The announcer explained to Gary, as well as some other newcomers.

“Thanks for not making me feel bad about giving you a beating!” Billy spoke, approaching Gary as he punched his right fist into his left open hand, a large vein sticking out from his head due to his anger.

“Looks like both of our fighters are ready, let's get this show on the road!” The announcer shouted out and Gary’s system apparently agreed with him as well. 

[New quest received]

[Win your debut fight]

[The opponent in front of you is out for blood! Use whatever means necessary to defeat him!]

[Quest reward: 50 Exp]

The Quest this time didn’t make Gary feel any better about the person he had to fight, and through the clear screen he could see Billy charging right at him, swinging his right fist. The attack seemed sloppy to him and Gary’s improved eyesight allowed him to almost see the very wrinkles on his opponent’s hand.

His natural instincts kicked in and he ducked down avoiding the attack, placing his hands over his face. Having dodged the attack, Gary didn’t use the chance to attack the other part. Instead… he started to run away from Billy. 

***

After having won his fight Innu had gone over to the bar counter and had ordered himself a beer, part of the quirks he had received for winning his match. As he had expected, several people had quickly come over, attempting to recruit him over to their teams.

 It was rare to see a ‘Loner’ who was quite talented and knew martial arts on top of that. Innu had listened to the various offers, but none of them had piqued his interest.

Kai had deliberately waited for all the hyenas to disappear, but rather than to directly approach Innu like all the others had done, he had ordered himself a fancy cocktail. Once he had received it he took a big swig and leaned against the counter from which he had simply started to watch Gary’s match for a bit.

So far Green Fang had managed to avoid the wild but powerful swings from Billy a few times, even thrown a couple of them himself, unfortunately they all had rebound off the other’s large belly.

“Do you fancy yourself a betting man, Innu?” For the first time, Kai addressed the other boy.

Innu took a second to reply, as he had started to believe that Kai might have really just come over for a drink. He had noticed that he was dressed in the same colours as the fighter in the arena.

The strange thing about that was, although Kai had the looks of a pretty boy, he nevertheless appeared to have the physique of an experienced fighter. Much more so than his buddy whose only strength appeared to be dodging and running. Even under his clothes his muscles were apparent and Innu had a feeling that the other was not only someone who would not shy away from a fight, but might actively seek it.

However, most importantly to Innu, the one trait that stood out even more than the others… was that this eccentric boy next to him smelled of money! From the hoses he wore, to the watch he was wearing on his wrist, all of it looked to be genuine brand-name items!

“If I wasn’t a betting man, then I wouldn’t be here and I bet with my life every time I fight,” Innu eventually replied. 

“Well, that makes two of us then. Thanks to your performance in the last match I’ve already earned a pretty penny~,” Kai said, as he took out a wad of cash which he then playfully tossed up. He noticed that Innu’s eyes became bigger, seemingly trying to estimate how much it was worth, putting a mild smirk on Kai’s face.

“I’ve seen that you’ve rejected the offers of the other guys, so how about a little wager to make things interesting? In a moment, I will go over to place a bet on ‘Green Fang’ winning with the money I used for my earlier bet. If I turn out to be correct, you’ll join our gang and half the payout sum will be yours. We can call it a nice ‘little’ advance payment for joining the crew. On the other hand, if he loses, all the money you see here will be yours.”

A smile appeared on Innu’s face as this was less a bet and more of a win-win scenario for him. Either way he would get a lot of cash, but it did serve its purpose to make him intrigued.

Suddenly, he started paying a lot more attention to the ongoing fight. Innu recognised that Green Fang was able to see Billy’s movements clearly, yet neither his punching nor his kicking showed any signs of being a trained fighter.

Between the two of them, there was also another clear difference. Weight class. The weight class of one was too large of a gap to overcome. From the few hits that Gary had landed on his opponent, none seemed to have had any effect so his downfall would be whenever Billy managed to catch him. 

If fights took too long, the crowd would start to close in on the fighters, forcefully shrinking down the arena size. Eventually there would not be enough room for fighters like Gary to evade, in which case Billy should win.

“Why would I say no, to free money?” Innu chuckled, holding out his hand, and Kai slapped it, confirming their deal. Although Innu believed there was a low chance of losing the bet, he also wouldn’t mind. The way Kai treated money as just something he could throw around leisurely, Innu was sure that joining him wouldn’t be entirely bad. Besides, the eyes of that fellow gave off the feeling that he knew what he was doing. 

‘Now it’s all up to you, Green Fang,’ Kai thought, as he went over to place the bet.

***

In the middle of the match, Gary made a discovery. Looking at his stats he noticed that his Energy value had dropped by two points. His System had only told him that Energy would be used to restore his HP when idle and that meat could be used to fill it up. Apart from that, he had been under the impression that it would function as a sort of a Stamina bar. 

Despite all the running and wild swinging he had been doing, he still felt like he could go on for hours, so if it was that, then he had far more stamina than a normal human. He just had to take a look at Billy for that. The fighter was no longer in the best shape of his life with sweat visibly dripping down from his face. 

‘Should I just wait for him to run out of gas?’ Gary wondered, yet at that point a buzzer-like sound could be heard. The next moment, everyone in the crowd took a single step forward. 

He didn’t know the rules of the event, but he could tell that something was about to change, and it was unlikely to be anything good. With Gary looking around in a slight confusion, Billy saw it as a chance and went in for a grab. With no path of retreat, Gary went to do the only thing he could do. 

‘It should be something like this, right?!’ Jumping off his feet towards the other guy, he shoved his right knee forward. Billy’s head had been slightly tilted, so Gary’s knee connected with the other’s face.

From the outside it looked like an exact replica of what Innu had done before. The one in question nearly choked on his beer as he watched how his move had been copied after seeing it once.

Alas, unlike Innu, Gary lacked the experience to follow up. He had clearly heard and felt Billy’s nose break and thought this would be the end of it. The reality of the matter was, that the other was able to shake the hit, and filled with rage swung his right fist, for the first time managing to hit Gary. 

He wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not, but Gary could have sworn he heard a few cracking sounds as he was sent tumbling to the ground holding his side. 

The pain was intense and with every breath he took it seemed to hurt even more. 

‘Does that blob have a sledgehammer hidden in those gloves?!’

[You have been inflicted with a grave injury]

[-17 HP]

[83/100 HP]

[Your left rib cage has been broken]

[Energy points will be used to perform emergency healing]

[-10 Energy]

[88/100 Energy]

As soon as this message appeared , Gary could feel something escape his body, while at the same time his breathing got better. A few breaths later he was certain that his broken bones had completely healed, even though his HP value said otherwise.

‘Whoa!’ Gary thought, tapping his hurt side slightly. ‘I healed, and so quickly. Is this what it means to be a werewolf?”