She knows where we are.

The menu to accept the challenge appeared in front of him with the man’s stats on display, but the implications sent Daniel’s heart into a haunting drop. He knew their names. Apex knew that they were here, in Paris.

And the man merely grinned. He pointed down at the menu displaying his stats. “Go ahead, Chase. Accept the fight. You don’t want to lose the rank you worked so hard for, do you?”

Daniel grit his teeth. “Whatever she wants from us, she’s not getting it.”

“She?” The man chuckled, his voice dropping to a whisper. “Oh, you think we’re connected with her? No, no. My organization is simply interested in whether or not you’re strong enough to keep alive.” The man stared at the menu that had appeared in front of him, too, displaying Daniel’s stats. “Oh, my. With Broken Damage and Broken Meter gain, you might just be.”

Daniel clenched his fists, glancing at the stat chart.

[https://i.imgur.com/SIScKxd.png]

His stats looked similar to a Tank, with the high Damage and High health complimented by low Speed, but those stats could’ve also fit a Grappler — he wouldn’t know until he felt the special moves. Even worse was his ranking, displayed next to the stats. His ranking number was technically lower than Daniel’s, but he was a Diamond Class, displayed in a shimmering white banner.

The highest class below Ultimate. He didn’t have a chance. Daniel looked over his shoulder in concern, but Carmen, Raph, and Mr. Stone were nowhere to be found.

And the timer for him to accept ticked lower and lower. A few more seconds, and he’d automatically lose his rank by not accepting. Even if his Class wasn’t at risk, it was a struggle getting his ranking number this high. He couldn’t not try to defend it. The closest museum-goers admiring other statues and paintings had paused their observation, glancing back at the whispered challenge.

Daniel pressed accept.

The referee spawned in. “Serpentaire VS. Chase. Best of three! Fighters, enter your starting positions!”

Unlike the referee back home, this one was a woman. She didn’t shout, yet her tone still echoed through the entire museum wing. Blue lights traced the boundaries at the end of the hallway, with the side behind Daniel being the only one open. There, Carmen sprinted around the corner at the mention of his name.

“Daniel!”

“Stay back!” Daniel threw an open palm towards her as Mr. Stone and Raph followed behind her.

“Don’t want them to get involved? Noble.” Serpentaire laughed quietly, stepping over to his starting position. Both colored squares were on either side of the two pedestals displaying vases in the center of their wide arena. “Let’s see if your bite matches that bark.”

“Round one! Ready?”

The heat of the dojo’s remains flashed through his mind. A bead of sweat rolled down Daniel’s face, but he entered a shaky fighting stance. Whether this man was truly affiliated with Apex or not, he wouldn’t let her make him afraid. He wouldn’t.

He was better than that.

“Fight!”

Both of them froze like statues — Daniel waited for Serpentaire to make the first move, but his opponent did the same. He tensed up, waiting, watching every single movement despite Serpentaire’s lax fighting stance.

“Oh, don’t tell me you were waiting for me to make the first move, too! That’s rich. A child’s move.”

He closed the distance in one swift movement. As he weaved past the two vase pedestals, Daniel pivoted to the side. Serpentaire raised his hand, and a ghost-like transparent snake wrapped itself around his arms. Daniel thrust his arms to his side, preparing for the counter. The snake lunged forward, but it didn’t bite; it coiled around his leg and yanked him forward, tossing the world head over heels.

Serpentaire put a palm against his back and spun him. Daniel screamed and twisted in the air before landing hard on his shoulder. Outside of a fight, getting slammed that hard would’ve easily knocked him out cold, but it confirmed something important — Serpentaire was a grappler.

And his counter didn’t work against grabs.

Daniel rolled to his feet, taking in a quick breath to recenter himself. Losing a few ranked matches and fighting Apex’s thug had proven that his counter only worked on attacks, not being physically grabbed and thrown to the ground.

He pivoted forward for a high punch, but Serpentaire struck a stark pose. With a burst of speed, he grabbed Daniel’s fist and yanked him forward, thrusting him to the ground and dropping a knee into his back. Daniel let out a cry of pain — another grab! And this time, a counter!

He kicked Daniel hard in his side, sending him into a roll along the ground. Daniel reached for the top of the vase pedestal, pulling himself up despite his head spinning. At his wrist, a worrying shade of yellow filled his healthbar.

Daniel grit his teeth. Already, he was down to half health after two grabs, while Serpentaire didn’t have a scratch on his healthbar. He grabbed the vase from atop the pedestal and circled around him, tossing it hard. The vase shattered against Serpentaire’s high guard as Daniel struck him in the leg with a low punch. Hitstun froze him in place for the second higher cross in the jaw.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

As Serpentaire staggered, he waited a beat for the combo to reset before striking low. Serpentaire dropped to a crouch to block, confirming Daniel’s suspicions — whatever that counter grab was, it only worked on high attacks. If it worked on low attacks, he wouldn’t have just blocked.

He retreated a step. Serpentaire followed his retreat, lunging towards him, drawing his hand back. Daniel tried to flex into his counterpose, but it wasn’t a physical attack like he hoped. Serpentaire dug his fingers into his ribs. A breath later, the purple ghost snake faded over his hand and sank its teeth into Daniel’s side.

The pain went white-hot through his body. Serpentaire palmed him in the chest, causing him to stumble back into the wall.

“No! Come on, Daniel!” Raph called out. “Don’t let him do you like that!”

Immediately after he shouted, the eerily quiet crowd gave Raph a bunch of mean looks.

As Serpentaire stood between the two vase pedestals, grinning, Daniel leaned against the wall. He fought for every ragged breath. His vision blurred, and he could feel his health draining away in real time. The ghost snake had real ghost venom, but the light at the end of the tunnel was his Meter bar at his other wrist.

He already had an entire bar built up.

Hard Punch. I have to land it to even the odds.

Daniel took his jacket off and threw it at Serpentaire — another distraction to block his vision as he circled around. It didn’t work at all. Serpentaire sharply pivoted aside and dashed towards him, ghost snake boiling around his arm.

Daniel tensed up — was it another poison-enhanced lunge? Instead, the snake shot from his hand and wrapped around Daniel’s ankle, yanking him into the air before Serpentaire slammed him into the floor once again.

Consciousness threatened to slip away. Daniel fought past the horrible exhaustion as Serpentaire tried to attack while he was down. He rolled aside and used the empty vase pedestal as leverage to climb to a clumsy stance.

His health bar was at red, now, but the poison wasn’t blinding his vision, and he still had the one bar of Meter. The chances of landing Hard Punch against a Diamond Class were astronomically small, but he had to try something. He had to try anything, so that this round wouldn’t be a total loss.

Serpentaire thrust at the air, and his snake leaped from his arm, coiling up on the floor, glaring with eyes of pitch black. It was a distraction — Serpentaire sprinted towards him, and a second ghost snake faded over his outstretched fingers, fangs bared.

The tell was obvious, now. Daniel stuck to his guess and lunge aside, dodging the lunging, poison-enhanced strike. He put all his rage from a round of beating into a medium right hook to the chin, and uppercutted Serpentaire into the air. He leaped after him and punched him back to the floor with a single heavy, careful to not become too combo-hungry and risk paralyzation.

Daniel continued the onslaught. Serpentaire tried to block his immediate attack, but he instead grabbed the man by the shoulders and twisted, throwing him to the ground. He had a chance — he could do this!

Teeth sank into Daniel’s neck. He gasped as the world spun. The snake on the floor. He’d completely forgotten, and gave it the chance to jump at him from behind. Before he knew it, he was on the ground, and Serpentaire pinned him down harder.

“It seems you’re a failure,” he whispered. “We’ll see if your friends are strong enough next.”

Though his heart dropped, the world faded to black. Once the referee brought him back, Serpentaire was already on his feet, holding a finger over his mouth.

What plan was he being forced into? Daniel scoffed. Figuring that out came after winning. The attack from the thug flashed through his mind. Even if this man wasn’t with Apex, what would he do if Daniel told on him? How many other people in the museum would become casualties?

“Round two! Ready?”

On Daniel’s wrist, thanks to his singular combo, he now had two bars of Meter built up, factoring into a new plan. It would work.

It had to.

“Fight!”

A ghost snake coiled around Serpentaire’s forearm before he tossed it forward, but Daniel didn’t back down, this time — he punched the snake out of the air, continuing his advance. Another snake materialized around Serpentaire’s fingers, fangs-drawn. Daniel recognized the pattern, this time. As soon as his hand shot out, Daniel ducked past it and lunged forward to strike his stomach.

Down. Forward.

The idea made perfect sense. Hard Punch needed to start with Down and Forward, but did it really matter if the Down and Forward motions were also part of a combo?

Back.

Daniel retreated as Serpentaire tried to catch him with a light punishing jab.

Down. Back. Forward.

Daniel crouched before backing into the wall — and jumping off of it. He sprang forward into another light low attack. Serpentaire easily blocked it, but the law attack wasn’t the point.

Back!

He drew back, hoping, praying that he didn’t ruin the inputs. Luckily, a flood of insurmountable strength coursed around his right hand, gleaming through his veins, to Serpentaire’s visible alarm. Daniel leaped into the air. Serpentaire flinched, raising a high block.

But, thanks to the One, he had a counter for that, too.

“Burst!”

Trails of crimson light mixed with Hard Punch’s blue aura as he closed in on his opponent, ready to smash right through his guard. He enforced it with both bars of Meter, stacking everything on one attack. But, Serpentaire’s eyes flashed. He hadn’t done any visible ultimate commands, no visible movements.

But his eyes flashed with purple.

His veins lit up, too, as he easily redirected Daniel’s fist midair and thrust a palm into Daniel’s rib cage. Paralyzing pins and needles quaked through his skeleton, but in one swift movement, he continued and slammed Daniel into the ground with a hard crack.

Daniel couldn’t breathe. His lungs refused; his stomach hadn’t even shown up for the job. Serpentaire stood over him, a smug smile on his face, completely unharmed.

“I thought you would surprise me, but…maybe you aren’t strong enough to be left alive…”

A haunting fear dragged Daniel’s soul to the subway, but he couldn’t even turn his head to look for Mr. Stone, Carmen, and Raph.

And then, Serpentaire’s expression shifted. “At least, that’s what I would think if I were really a bad guy! I’m kidding, Daniel. I, Serpentaire, forfeit the match.”

The referee appeared beside Serpentaire and swiped her hand down. “Match forfeit! Chase wins!”

She reached for Daniel’s hand, and immediately, Daniel felt his wounds disappear. Confusion whirled through his mind like a storm — and it wasn’t just because he had been healed despite winning.

As the rest of the crowd quietly dispersed, Mr. Stone casually walked up and gave Serpentaire a handshake, pulling him into a hug of camaraderie. “It’s so good to see you, after so long. Students, this is Cedric, the friendly contact I was talking about.”

Cedric nodded. “I think I’m the one person in the world with fifty wins and fifty losses against your teacher. It’s nice to finally meet you all.”