“Who do you think will win?” A reporter asked another. They were pointing their highly advanced video recorders to the arenas, while chatting. Each Tv Station had at least ten of them ready to capture all matches, in case some black horse appeared. To their surprise, two appeared in this one. Cody and the snake guy beat their opponents without showing too much skill.
“Of course it will be the Marooner!” A female reporter said. She was charmed by Marooner ever since he stopped the terrorists blowing up the hospital. As a reporter, she was first to arrive at the scene and knew a lot more than regular folk. She, later at the auction, recorded Marooner once again when he taught a thing or two to the leader of the Holmes family without even being there. How cool was that? And his strength and mystery… She could hardly stop herself from jumping onto the stage.
“Well, I agree that Marooner is too strong, but that black horse Zeric is not easy to beat. His speed is not bad and his poison ability is the best I have ever seen among his peers. I doubt Marooner will be able to pass through that thick poisonous cloud.” The previous one said once again.
As they were talking and waiting for the duo to appear in the arena, a ‘colleague’ of theirs decided to speak, “If you think Marooner will advance another step, you fools should quit this job lest not to disgrace our reputation as reporters.” Rinus spoke haughtily and grinned hideously.
He made his debut when Marooner stopped the terrorists blowing up the hospital by showing him in bad lights. He defamed Marooner and even coined the name but Tv Stations used the same name to emblazon the mysterious vigilante. Although it didn’t affect his fame that much, he still wasn't able to do as he pleased because no Tv Stations or News agencies accepted his service because of the unprofessional misconduct he performed at the time.
His followers were unfollowing him daily, and he couldn’t make more videos. It was as if his luck ran out. When Marooner decided to auction dual elemental orb, he was happier than Marooner himself. All he wanted to do was go there and rub that fact in Marooner’s face. He prepared tons of things to use against the man, but he wasn’t even able to enter the building. The Shin family accepted all reporters, except him. They stopped him and said, ‘He wasn’t a real reporter.’
How could he accept it? He swallowed his pride and recorded it through the giant virtual screen placed in front of the auction house. He set his camera and made his speech, “Dear watchers, I am Rinus Bolt and I am in front of Shin Warehouse, recording this outside because my entry was blocked by the Shin family for reasons I am not aware of. Obviously, they cannot take the truth, and reporters talking against their wills are being shut down.
But I will not yield to injustice. I will stand in front of the building and record from here because I have things to say. Marooner? The Hero? The public may think he is one, but is he really a hero? If he is, why is he selling the orb that can help humanity but not donating it?” The speech was similar to Leader of the Holmes family, and it drew millions of viewers in no time.
Common people were like a herd of sheep, they couldn’t think for themselves, and would follow the ideas presented to them. When it was put like that, they all thought Rinus had a point, and forgot the fact, Marooner never claimed to be a hero.
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“As you can see, Leader of the Holmes family Nicholas Holmes shares the same concerns with me.”
“Oh, the man himself appeared, let’s see what he has to say for himself.”
After Marooner’s speech and Nicholas’s silence, Rinus was struck by lightning and didn’t know what to say. He looked at the camera and faltered.
“Very good, Marooner! Very good indeed! I accept it. I will donate everything I owe, so you donate the orb as well.” In despair, he shouted these words. But as soon as they left his mouth, he realized how stupid he was. Even people around looked at him as if looking at a moron.
After that, even his followers mocked him and started to unfollow him. Unitube still earned him a small amount, thanks to his video being watched a couple of hundred times monthly, but he lost all his fame.
This time, in Grader Preliminaries, he was going to get his fame back. He heard the Marooner had appeared in a forest nearby, so he knew he would be in one of the three strongholds. By using his last few contacts and a lot of money, he came to this arena so he would be the first to record Marooner. Luckily, it all went well and Marooner did more than he hoped.
The Marooner killed a human in front of so many news stations. He would be deemed a traitor now! If it was before, he would keep his silence and would never dare to mock Marooner because of his dwindling fame, but now Marooner killed a fellow human, he ran his mouth as he wished.
The reporters ignored the fool and looked at the arena. Zeric and Marooner appeared and were ready to fight.
“Mr. Marooner, we meet again,” Zeric said with his eyes shining. “How is the orb? Are you satisfied with it?”
“Saved my life once. Thanks.” Miles answered tersely.
“I know your poison is strong but I am faster than you. Please quit while you can, lest I hurt you.” Miles said. He didn’t want to hurt this person despite the eerie vibe he was getting from him.
“Okay,” Zeric said nothing else and took his fighting posture. He stretched his neck like a snake, brought his arm over his chest, and green gas started to form in his arms.
While readying his feet to evade at the first sign of attack. Looked like a serpent ready to jump on its target as soon as the prey was inside the ambush.
“I have an armor too, Mr. Marooner. It is not worse than yours.” With it, a green armor covered his body.
‘Let’s see how strong I really am.’ Miles charged his arm with lightning, and a purple spark danced on his body all the way to his toes. He vanished from where he was standing, and people there could hardly follow his movements.
When he appeared again, he was behind Zeric, far from the gas moving in front of the man. His arm was stretched all the way back and was falling from the air. The momentum on his arm was so great, the air was crying with the pressure.
The fist loaded with Miles’s all muscle power and lightning supplied by the armor, arrived at the back of Zeric. The thick armor stood straight, but the fist still created an impact beyond belief. The sheer power of the fist tore through the armor and arrived at the flesh on Zeric's back.
The wind bellowed and the barrier cried in agony ready to break down. Luckily it was made of an ancient race with mystic arts and technology, so it was strong enough to hold the residue power of the fist back.
Zeric stood on his ground and didn’t move at all. He didn’t cry in pain, nor did he move a single hair. If there wasn’t a gap on his armor and a fist-shaped dent on his flesh, no one could guess he was punched.
He stood like this for a long time and people thought Miles's unbelievable strength was helpless against the guy. Even Miles thought so. When he was about to use one of his trump cards, the teen fell to the ground, passed out cold.
Miles approached him to check if he was okay, but the barrier that appeared out of nowhere stopped him. It must have been placed to prevent people from killing their opponents after they forfeited or passed out. Miles shook his head and left the arena, while the audience froze on their feet.