Chapter 16:

  Eight candidates, and no one cared about six of them. The black-haired champion was the winner of every event, and Shogai was the new one. Everyone else already had a scar or two from a past failure. Shogai stepped onto the arena to face his first opponent. He was a relatively skinny man with a smirk on his face. He looked like a weasel.

  "Turn away, kid," he said. "I've fought in this ring a dozen times."

  Laughter came from the crowd, and someone yelled out, "And cried all twelve of those times!"

  The weasel growled and attacked Shogai. He held his palms out, and Shogai braced for whatever he was about to do.

  Water came from his hands and splashed onto Shogai. With some training, it could have been threatening. In reality, it was barely a shower. The crowd laughed again, and the man went red.

  Shogai clenched his fist, and it glowed red. He punched Weasel Man in the stomach, and he hit the outer wall of the ring. There were two ways to win. Knock the opponent out, or make them surrender. Shogai didn't believe in surrender - it was a dirty trick that he couldn't trust.

  He'd learned since he was young that mercy doesn't work on his enemies. They'd take advantage of it to snap at you like a crocodile. Granted, this was referring to Aberrants, but there was no difference in this ring. An enemy was an enemy.

  Weasel Man was dazed and was slowly raising an arm. It could have been a surrender, but it also could have been another attack. The risk was not worth it. Shogai punched him again, this time in the head, and the man was knocked out cold. He wasn't dead - Shogai was at least that merciful - but he wasn't getting the chance to act, or even cry.

  The crowd was quiet, and their applause muffled. A single thought resonated amongst them. Who had they let in?

  Shogai settled down in a waiting room as Weasel Man was let out on a stretcher. The waiting room was quite nice, and all the other fighters were there. Everyone was staying away from the champion, as he sat relaxed on one side of the room. When Shogai sat down, they backed away from him as well. They were scared.

  Stages two and three were uneventful - Shogai didn't even watch them. Neither did the champion. But the latter did strike up a conversation with Shogai.

  "No mercy?"

  "Mercy gets you killed."

  "Spoken like a true cage fighter. But when someone is so obviously inferior to you, why go all out?"

  "Because what if they're not? I can't afford to underestimate my enemies in combat, no matter how much weaker they may be. I won't be showing you any mercy, either."

  The champion thought on this for a moment, but a bell rang, signalling his turn to fight.

  "Watch."

  He and a large man stepped onto the ring. The large man fiddled with his jacket nervously, but he was way bigger than the champion. The announcer read out their names.

  "And here we have Dennis, returning from the finals last year! And he's rematching our eight-year returning champion, Devil Djinn!"

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Shogai's attention peaked at that. He hadn't asked for the champion's name, but the announcer had given him a title. Djinn. Devil Djinn.

  Dennis cracked his knuckles, and his body glowed. Shogai could sense that he was stronger than most. But Djinn had beaten him before. How had he done it?

  Dennis launched a punch at Djinn, and Djinn ducked. His reaction times were superhuman, but only barely. Djinn grabbed Dennis by the outstretched arm and threw him behind himself with a flip. Dennis stood up quickly. His durability was incredible. And Djinn's power was incredibly... mediocre.

  As the fight continued, that statement became more and more true. Djinn was faster than a normal person, but not by much. He was more durable than a normal person, but not by much. He hit harder than a normal person, but not by much. With such a small increase in his physical stats, one would think he could never have been a champion.

  But his skill was otherworldly. Far beyond what Mira had shown him.

  Despite being physically weaker, Djinn brought Dennis to the ground in mere moments. He had the opportunity to finish him off, to knock him out with a kick to the face, but he waited, and Dennis noticed.

  "Fine. I surrender."

  Djinn smiled and helped Dennis up. Sportsmanlike. Dennis left with minimal injuries, and Djinn returned to the waiting room.

  "If you can beat them, why should you torture them?"

  "You're not much of a-"

  "Not much of a what? A devil?"

  "..."

  Round two. The semi-finals. Shogai was entering the ring with a young woman, maybe twenty-one, who looked innocent but had brought down a grown man the round before. Shogai wished he’d watched that round. Now he didn't know for sure that he could beat her. So he wasn't risking it.

  Shogai went on the offensive, and the girl's hair floated, lifting her off the ground. Flight. That was beatable, but who knew what else she had up her sleeves?

  Shogai jumped into the air, grabbing the girl by the ankle and slamming her onto the ground. Dust was thrown up, and the girl had somewhat softened her fall with her flight, so she managed to get back to her feet. It didn't last long, however, as she fell back down immediately afterwards. Unconscious. There was no applause.

  Shogai did not mean to be that brutal and was already feeling bad for her. He could almost feel Jade and Mira’s disappointment. They wouldn’t respect the way he fought. Was this really worth it?

  It didn't matter anymore. He'd gotten this far. He was going to keep going.

  Djinn's turn was immediately afterwards, and his enemy was a short man without much muscle on his bones. The short man had a similar power to Djinn, a basic physical enhancement, but had no skill to use it.

  Djinn let the man attack him, hands behind his back, and he dodged and weaved past every hit. He then jumped over the man with incredible agility and used his momentum to hit the man on the head. Except he stopped right at the end. His fist didn't connect. The man took the hint and sighed.

  "I give up."

  The crowd was cheering, and Shogai was starting to understand what Djinn meant. But none of that mattered now. They had a few minutes before the finals. Djinn and Shogai were alone in the waiting room now.

  "They're your enemies, Djinn. In the real world, you can't afford to hold back like that."

  "This isn't the real world. I've never needed to fight someone to the death before. I've never needed to be merciless."

  Shogai just didn't relate to him, but he could see why. Shogai had been taught to never hold back. Djinn had been taught the opposite. That's what made them different.

  And Djinn was his enemy.

  The bell went off, and Shogai stepped into the ring alongside Djinn. There was a scary aura in the crowd, as if they weren't sure who they wanted the winner to be. Both were strong. And both were scary.

  "These two need no further introduction! Will Devil Djinn be dethroned? Begin!"

  Shogai didn't attack. Neither did Djinn. They were waiting for each other to make the first move. Shogai needed to be cautious.

  A sound came from above ground. It sounded like... screaming? Djinn looked up as well, and the two watched as the ceiling caved in.

  An army of Aberrants fell from the sky.