The sky just became dark and the waxing moon glistens the night sky. The climate changed from a blazing hot to a calm cool temperature and the city lights started to illuminate throughout Vincilos. If anyone were to sightseeing, they would look from the sky and see how the city looks beautiful at night.

However, this isn't the time for sightseeing.

Clugil, Touya, and Raiji, escorted by Lince and Pugar, arrived at some sort of a warehouse. What both Lince and Pugar had escorted Clugil and his teammates to is the docks, where items such as food, materials, and clothes are stored in this location. Not only that, but there are also boats that are stored in here as well for shipping purposes. Right now, no one is riding one in the middle of the night.

"You will have to come with me. Pugar, escort his team elsewhere."

"Ya don't get t' tell me what to do, Lince! C'mon boys, we got enough time t' kill."

While Pugar escorts Touya and Raiji to someplace else, Lince—opens the iron doors of the warehouse in front of them and Clugil enters with him. As they enter the warehouse, they go through a dark corridor and beyond it, there is a light on the other side of the corridor. They entered through the light and as they entered, members of the Blue Sharks gathered in the warehouse, cheering and yelling.

It turns out that there are two muscular beast men fighting in the center of the warehouse; shirtless, shoeless, and they have to fight using their fists. One is a dog man with gold fur and a scar on the bridges of his nose and the other is a cat man with brown spots and a tail missing from his tailbone, only leaving a small stump of what it remains. Around the two fighters are iron cages surrounding them so that they can't escape from the fight.

While the two fighters are fighting, Clugil, being led by Lince, heads towards large iron crates. The crates were used to carry items that are very unique items or items that cannot be touched by water, unlike wooden crates. Now they're stacked to look like the shape of a pyramid.

Both Clugil and Lince climb from crate-to-crate to get to the top of the pyramid of crates. Then they see someone, a giant man, is sitting on the top with his fist pressing against his cheek.

"Sir Vikov, I have summoned him here."

"..."

Vikov, leader of the Blue Sharks, ignores Lince as he continues to watch the fight that is going on. He is a large white-furred tiger with black stripes. He wears a long sleeveless black coat with silver fur around it. As Lince would've liked to get Vikov his attention, he is too busy watching the fight going on, so he waits until the fight is finished.

The two beast men are heavily wounded, badly bruised, blood dripping out from their noses and mouths, cuts all over their body, and even the stage is stained with blood, vomit, and urine from the grotesque fight that has been going on here, in this very place. How many people fought here? How many people won and lost here?

This is a nonstop bloodshed, yet people are seeing this as entertainment. Clugil, being a member of the Blue Sharks, felt disgusted by what was going on here.

As the fight continues, the dog man gives a hard uppercut to the cat man to break his guard and then he does a spinning kick at him in the solar plexus and crashes him into the wall of the iron cage. The dog man leaps in front of him as he is going for a flying punch, but before he can, the cat man quickly dodges the punch, hitting the cage instead. The cat man hugs him from behind and then does a suplex.

Both of them slowly get off from the stained floor and breathe heavily as they're exhausted from fighting this long. The dog man and the cat man charge in at the same time as they trade one last hit to each other. The dog man punches the cat man in the face, at the same time, the cat man punches the dog man in the gut. The cat man stumbles backwards to align himself, however, the dog man is on his knees and starts to regurgitate from his mouth.

While he is on the floor, the cat man picks him up and wraps around the dog man's neck with his arm, putting him in a chokehold. The dog man tries to break free, scratching the skin with his sharp claws, but the cat man wouldn't let him as he holds him tightly around the neck. The dog man taps on the cat man's arm, as he is giving up and begins to tap out from the fight, but the cat man doesn't seem to let go.

Clugil notices this from a distance and tells Vikov to stop the fight.

"Hey, he's tapping out! You can tell him to let go!"

"..."

"H-Hey, aren't you listening to me?! The fight's over, you can tell him to let him go!"

"..."

Clugil tries to tell Vikov to end the fight immediately, but from the looks of it, he has no intentions of stopping it.

"Sir Vikov isn't going to listen to a peon like you. So know your place and silence until after the fight is finished."

"I wasn't talking to you, and you can't tell me what to do! What if that guy kills him?"

"It is for Sir Vikov to make that call. Keep in mind that I'm second-in-command, I'm ranked higher than anyone of you in this organization. So if you want to value your life, then it's best that you hold your tongue, or else."

"..."

Clugil clicks his tongue as he has no choice but to watch until the fight ends. Lince is Vikov's right hand man and Vikov's most trustworthy henchman in the Blue Sharks. He's the one that commands the entire members of the Blue Sharks whatever Vikov orders. What Vikov tells Lince to do what he says, he follows and orders other members to do what he was given.

The cat man continues to squeeze the dog man with his arm tighter and tighter. He tries desperately to break free from the chokehold by scratching and biting the cat man's arm, but he couldn't, and then, he is immediately knocked out. His arms dangle in the air, as if there's no sign of life. The crowd began to cheer for the result of the outcome.

The cat man releases the dog man only for him to collapse onto the floor. His body twitches and his mouth starts to foam, and to add an insult to injury, the cat man steps on him and poses on top of him and cries out his victory. Even though the cat man ended in victory, Clugil felt disgusted by the outcome.

After the fight between the two beastmen in the cage, Lince turns his eyes on Vikov and finally speaks to him.

"How was your enjoyment, sir?"

"Disappointing. This fight has no entertainment value that it bores me."

"I see. Anyhow, I have this peon here as you requested."

"Ah, right. Thank you, Lince."

Lince places his hand on his chest and bows to his leader after Vikov had thanked him. Vikov looks at Clugil with his sharp red cat-like eyes.

"Clugil. Do you know why I summoned you here?"

"Is it about the rumors about us?"

"Exactly."

"Look, if you give me enough time to explain—"

Before Clugil can say more, he pauses as he sees Vikov raising his hand in front of him.

"You had fought against someone and lost. This leaves a scar in the organization. All I can say is that I'm disappointed in you and your crew."

The white tiger's voice is not a sound of frustrated or loud anger, but a calm yet monotone voice. Given the status that Vikov has, it's clear that he is responsible for sending his own men to do stuff that he ordered to do. Whether his men succeed or fail, he gives judgement for those who can satisfy him.

"But please, boss! It's not my fault that my team and I lost to that bastard! He came to us and wrecked our shit! Please, you gotta give us another chance!"

"Are you a fool? After your past failures that you've done to you and your team, do you really think that Vikov will give you another—"

"Halt, Lince."

"But sir!"

Vikov raises his hand to silence Lince from talking any further. Lince wants to object to the idea of giving Clugil another chance, but he restrains himself and mutters "Yes sir" as he backs off from the conversation.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"I will give you one more chance, but it will be your last chance."

"T-Thank you, boss! I can assure you that I will never—"

"However..."

Clugil was interrupted by his boss as he got up and approached Clugil. Vikov is the largest—of not, the largest—member of the Blue Sharks ranging over nine feet tall. Compared to both Clugil and Vikov side-by-side, Vikov is like the size of a giant.

"B-Boss, what are you— Ack!"

Vikov uses his gigantic hand to lift Clugil by the head and then tosses him into the arena where the two fighters had fought. Clugil rolls over and slams back first into the cage.

"This will be a test for you. A fight to the death. In order to gain your chance, you need to survive. If you win, you'll get another chance. But if you don't, you'll die."

"Is this some kind of a joke?! If it is, then, you got me! Hahaha!"

As Clugil laughs sarcastically, pretending as if it is meant to be a joke, Vikov—and everyone in the warehouse—isn't laughing. Instead, he sees him and everyone around him giving Cligil a cold, blank stare.

"You can't be serious, right? I'll be killed if I fight you!"

"Oh no, I won't be fighting you. Instead, you will be fighting against Darmac."

"D-D-Darmac?!"

Everyone in the warehouse cheered when Vikov called out the name. Clugil, however, doesn't sound too pleased with it. But then, everyone went silent when a loud howl can be heard from inside the warehouse. Someone jumps from behind the crowd, hops on the railings of the cage with his feet, and lands into the arena on all-fours.

"Those who call my name enter the world of Payne. Can I get an awooo?"

"AWOOO!!"

"That's right. I, Darmac Payne, have entered the stage!"

He says it as the crowd cheers and howls loudly as the muscular wolf-man—also known as Darmac—jabs his finger into the air.

His body was covered in cyan-blue fur all over his body. He clad in silver leather pants with blue highlights and gold fur on his waist to combine with his loud personality. In fact, he's was in the same race as Gin.

Clugil couldn't help but find it not only obnoxious, but also afraid of him as he wasn't prepared to face anyone.

After Darmac made his grand entrance, he looks at Clugil and jabs his finger in front of him.

"Hey, you! You're that Clugil guy, right? Well, I got news for you buddy: nobody has beaten me in a fight once. So if you think you have a chance of beating me, don't. Because you are already dead before we get to reach the second round. So it's best that you make a will and savor this moment, because it'll be your last!"

He says it as he fists two of his silver gauntlets into each other and takes up his battle-ready position. The gauntlets that he wears are iron-plated that protect his arms all the way up to the elbow. They look similar to what the soldiers wore along with their armor, however, they are modified to have blue tips on the blades of the arms and holes that let his fingers go through.

"This is ridiculous! C'mon boss, isn't there another way to—"

"Grit your teeth, 'cause here I come!"

Before Clugil can even finish, Darmac quickly charges in headfirst by leaping towards him and makes a heavy but fast punch. But Clugil quickly dodges the punch, making Darmac hitting the cage instead. The attack is so strong that he makes a fist-size hole in the steel cage. Instead of retracting his own arm carefully, he uses it to tear the cage apart, leaving a huge hole in the center of it.

"Hey! Don't ever think about running, we're just getting started."

"You have got to be kidding me!"

Darmac continues to attack Clugil as he sends multiple fast strikes to him; punch, kick, jab, sweep, he even uses his tail to attack him. But every time he attempts to hit him, Clugil dodges, and sometimes blocks, each and every strike. He hasn't gotten a chance to attack him.

"Is this the only thing he can do?"

"Man, the rumors are true. He sucks!"

"We wanna see a fight, not a rat dance!"

"Tear him apart! Give us bloodshed!"

While the two of them are fighting, other members of the Blue Sharks send boos and jeers at the performance of the fight. Meanwhile, Vikov, along with his assistant Lince, watches the fight from the sidelines.

"Well, this is a different reaction from what we had expected. What do you want me to do, sir?"

Vikov ponders a bit of what is going to do about the situation the fighters are in. Then he came up with the idea.

"Bring them into the field, too."

"Ah, yes, I understand. As you wish, sir. I'll get right on it."

As soon he gets what Vikov is saying, Lince jumps down crate-by-crate to command two of his subordinates to bring "them" into the arena. While that is going on, Clugil keeps on dodging Darmac's attacks.

"C'mon now, is that all you can do, run? You're letting the audience down."

"I'm not running, dumbass! I'm protecting myself!"

He says it as he keeps on dodging and blocking Darmac's attacks. The attacks that he deals out are unpredictable, so there's no way to figure out where to hit him. Clugil starts to slow down as his body starts to give in from all the dodging. However, this gives Darmac the advantage.

"You're slowing down. Good. Then I hope you can actually take a hit. Hyah!"

"Gah!"

Clugil tries to defend Darmac's attack, but his guard breaks when Darmac uppercuts Cligil's defense, leaving him wide open. Then, he sends a hard punch to Clugil in the solar plexus. As he gets hit by that punch, Clugil coughs out blood and Darmac sends him flying to the other side of the arena. The impact of the punch was so hard that it felt like he was hit by a boulder.

"Now this is what we wanted to see!"

"The fight is finally on!"

"Darmac is the true badass of the Blue Sharks!"

The warehouse echoes when members of the Blue Sharks send loud cheers when Darmac landed a blow on Clugil.

"I didn't want to disappoint you all with this inexperienced fighter dragging out the game of chicken, so I'd 'thought why not toy with him until he gives out'. You all want to see me beat him more?"

"Yeah, kick his ass! I want to see him bleed!"

"Now this is a fight worth watching."

"Hell Yeah! Screw that pussy rat, keep doing like you always do!"

"Keep on punching him until he dies!"

Based on the crowd's reaction to Darmac's question, it looks like they do want to make Clugil suffer. If this surely keeps up, then Clugil might not be able to survive. Lince, who is behind the cage, tells Darmac the news.

"Payne. Sir Vikov is sending you two more challengers to fight."

"Oho? More fresh meat? Lucky me! I love a good challenge. Send them in!"

While Darmac, intrigued that he'll gain some challenge of himself, Lince commands his subordinates, while they are carrying two beastmen with them; both blindfolded, gagged, and their hands tied behind their back, to be thrown into the arena.

"What the—?!"

Clugil couldn't believe his eyes. The two beastmen that the thugs brought were both Touya and Raiji. However, they were both badly bruised and covered in cuts all around their body. Clugil quickly approaches them and unties their hands.

"The hell happened to you boys?"

"I'm sorry, sir. They fought us, but we were outmatched."

"It's that...damn one-arm bastard! They set us all up!"

"Wait, a setup?!"

"Boss gave the order to these guys. They wanted us dead."

"—!"

Realizing that this whole plan was a setup, he turned his attention towards Vikov, who was sitting on top of a stack of crates.

The fact that both Touya and Raiji were covered in bruises was because they were with Pugar when they were separated from Clugil. This was their chance and attacked them without giving any warnings. It was a plan—given the order from their boss, Vikov—from the start.

"W-Why boss?"

"..."

"We did everything you told us. We did everything where we needed to go. We did everything to make you satisfied! Weren't we good enough?!"

"..."

"Answer me!"

As Clugil tries to get answers from the leader himself, Vikov remains silent as if he didn't care to answer his question, he only wants to see both Clugil and Darmac fight. However, he took a deep breath and he gave his answer to Clugil.

"...You are weak."

"Huh?"

"You are weak to defend yourself. You are weak to fight against someone. You are weak to complete a task that I set out. You are an embarrassment to the Blue Sharks' name. I would never let someone this weak to be in the Blue Sharks, let alone leading a team that is pathetic as you are. This organization has no room for failures. Weakness is a sin; the strong survive and the weak die. That is what you are, and that is your punishment. Execution."

That's what it is. The reason why Vikov threw Clugil, and the rest of his team, was sent into the arena in the first place. It was meant for their punishment; punished for failing, punished for embarrassing the Blue Sharks' name simply because he was weak.

Clugil has no idea how to take it all in. Meanwhile, Darmac, who is standing on the other end of the arena, was quietly patient as Vikov's speech went on. Then, he finally voiced out towards Clugil after Vikov was done with his speech.

"Are we gonna fight or not? I don't really give a shit what's going on, but my fists are aching for a fight that I can't wait any longer! So c'mon!"

"You shut up!"

"Oh?"

"'The strong survive and the weak die' my ass! We're here because we survived in our own volition. Just because you act all high and mighty, do you have to control and walk over us? I know we're a criminal organization, but all of us take up petty crimes like stealing and breaking stuff, not resorting by killing someone! This is too far! It is not what the Blue Sharks are supposed to be! This is against what the boss had intended."

"Well, you shouldn't have taken the job in the first place. We're not some goodie two-shoes like you, your team, or that old timer who calls himself your 'boss'. If you don't like it, too bad, you're stuck with it. You can't back out of it now. If you do, well, you'll die, obviously. Besides, we like the new ways, ain't that right, fellas?"

"You da man, Darmac!"

"Yeah! Screw that old turd!"

"With Vikov as leader, we can do whatever we want!"

"Hell yeah! The old Blue Sharks sucks!"

Even what Clugil had said was somewhat justifiable, Darmac—and other members of the Blue Sharks—says otherwise. It seems like they've forgotten the old ways of the Blue Sharks used to be. Now it has become a criminal organization that wants nothing but money and bloodlust, and with Vikov leading the Blue Sharks, no one is going to defy him, otherwise, they'll share the same fate: death.

"C'mon Darmac, kill this weakling!"

"Yeah, there's no reason to have them in here!"

"Just start the fight and kill them!"

"Do it!"

Everyone in the warehouse chants Darmac's name and demands him to kill Clugil on stage. Darmac couldn't help but give a big smile to his face as he listened to the crowd chanting and demanding.

"Hear that? That's the voice of people wanting what they want, and I'm gonna give it to them. Now fight."

"Damn it..."

Clugil didn't want to fight him, he never wanted to fight him to begin with. He has no magic, no armor, or anything to defend himself. But he had no other choice. He has to fight to survive. But he is not the only one that is standing with him, there was also Touya and Raiji.

"If you think you're gonna beat us, think again!"

"Yeah, so what if we're weak? Even if Clugil—I mean sir, can be mean at times, we're still by his side."

"You guys..."

After showing some courageous banter from his teammates, Clugil decides to stand along with them and fight with them. Touya raises his fists, Raiji takes out his twin short swords, and Clugil equips himself with a dagger in hand.

"Alright! Let's show them who's boss! If we make it out alive, we'll reach to the top and return Blue Sharks to the way it was!"

As Clugil claims himself, both Touya and Raiji responded with a loud "yeah!" as they're getting ready for the big combat that is about to happen.

"Listen here you meat-headed asshole! I've already learned by fighting your kind, so don't think I'll make the same mistake twice."

"Splendid! Now how long can you last?"

Darmac gave himself a wide grin as he was getting ready to face off against Clugil's team in a deadly no holds barred.