CHAPTER 47: Matches

A man charged at Adam. His body moved expertly, shifting so as not to give away his intentions. Decades of training showed as he approached and swung his hand, held flat like a knife, for Adam’s throat. Even as Adam swayed backwards, feeling the breeze from the swing without allowing it to make contact, a kick was brought to his ankle. Adam lifted his foot, then pivoted it backwards to bring it out of reach of the kick. The kick turned into the man planting his foot, while an elbow was next to come at Adam, aimed at his upper abs. Adam stepped backwards to avoid it, then stepped forward into reach of the man’s attacks.

A few inches of height, more muscle, and a superhumanly lithe control of his body showed the man as significantly superior to Adam in technique and experience. The man was an expert in Brazilian Jui-jitsu, while including elements of Capoeira and Muay-Thai. The Capoeira seemed more to create showy moves, since they wouldn’t work against real fighters. The man started including those dance like moves after Adam had dodged for a few minutes, realizing that he wasn’t going to score a real hit.

Even with amazing stamina, which Adam had tons of respect for, the man’s attacks weakened and slowed. Adam had been enjoying dancing with him, trying to find ways to dodge the attacks that incorporated his own movement instead of just his higher stats. Eventually though, Adam realized the fight was about to finish. He was getting nothing more from the man as he became winded.

Grabbing the man’s shirt with one hand and under his arm with another, Adam performed a terrible over the shoulder throw that relied entirely on Adam’s strength and agility. The man spun through the air and then landed precisely on his butt on a large trampoline, bouncing onto an ambulance gurney. The man shook his head glumly while an ironic smile appeared on his face.

The paramedics standing nearby laughed. Earlier they had been making bets about how the fighters would land after Adam threw them, but the fun had ended after every single fighter had rebounded from the trampoline and landed on the gurney, ready for the post-match inspection. Not a single fighter had been hurt, all just fatigued and needing a drink. Water for hydration and something alcoholic after having their spirits crushed from the ease at which they lost.

The park Adam was standing in had become quite a show. There were tables, trucks, and stands set up everywhere, with a local bar even setting a stand up next to the ambulances. The business was making quite a lot from the contestants who hopped off the gurney and walked right up to get their drink. Kegs and bottles of liquor were available. The police were nearby, many partaking of the unexpected festivities, ignoring that no liquor licenses had been issues for the event.

Adam had been brought to the park in the morning by Ron. He had expected a few matches, but nothing like this. It was now 3pm, and he had been fighting people for four hours. Well, fighting was a bit strong. For every opponent he would dodge for around five minutes, or until the other person got tired of throwing punches, and then Adam would toss the person onto the trampoline to soften their landing.

What had been expected to be just a few competitors had ended up being over a thousand. After the TV news report from two days ago had been played constantly, people had traveled from all over the country to try their hand at the World’s Strongest Human, as Tom had put it. No one had known how to challenge him, so the police had set it up. Ron had notified the reporter who Tom had interviewed with, Angeline Victoria, and that station had quickly arranged a few fight commentators to watch. They had a boxing expert, a former MMA fighter, and even an underground fight club announcer who refused to verify his profession or employer.

The reporter’s station had started by just filming the fights to air highlights later, but once other networks started sending cameramen, each network became a live stream of the event. Businesses found out and started sending employees to set up sales tables and advertising. People were leaving work and schools to come watch. There were thousands of people milling around the impromptu festival. Many of the county’s police officers, including the local Captain, had come just to experience it or because they had heard about the raid and wanted to see “The General” in action.

Adam actually felt like he was letting everyone down. He was facing experts, people who trained their whole lives at fighting. There were boxers, karate experts, MMA masters, street fighters, and all of them lost as if children fighting an adult. Adam knew his movements were bad, but his strength and speed allowed him to shame these men and women challenging him.

He felt so bad, and had so much respect for these fighters and their skills, that he was putting aside his usual ambivalence and trying to learn from their movements. While there was improvement, a person can only improve so much in a few hours, especially with all the different styles he was seeing up close. Of course, he felt less bad for the everyday Joes who challenged him just to say they had. Those people he didn’t bother dodging and would throw as soon as he could.

Adam’s wasn’t the only fight going on either. The police had cordoned off about 15 areas for other people to fight in. With so many wanting to challenge him, it wasn’t possible for everyone to get the chance. In sports fighting, people rarely fought more than one match, and Adam had been going for four hours straight, having about 34 matches in that time. The only breaks he took were to eat, with a rookie policeman assigned to get him food every half an hour. His assistant was having an easier time of it now that there were food and sandwich trucks all over.

A lottery had been set up among the organizers to select the fighters. Before a match began, they would call out a number for the following match, checking to make sure Adam was still able to continue. No one had expected it to go this long, further helping with the idea he was the world’s strongest. The lottery allowed the matches to go quickly. Still, there were so many people who wouldn’t get the chance, so the other fields had been set up for the challengers to spar or show off their moves.

In the end almost everyone was having a fun time with things, though Adam was still a bit bored. No one had come at him with killing intent yet. He wasn’t a show fighter or a sportsman. Adam was a slayer aimed at the invaders. Something no one really knew the severity of, even if most people had watched his videos.

“Ready for the next match?” asked an organizer. Adam nodded at him, mouth full of pulled pork. He would continue to shovel it in until the other competitor was ready.

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“Most fighters would vomit if eating right before a fight. What if he takes a punch to the gut?” said the boxing commentator.

“What punch?” responded the MMA guy antagonistically. “He hasn’t gotten hit once. I’d be more concerned about the digestion slowing down his body.”

“Slowing it down? No matter what, he’s always just fast enough to dodge, no matter how fast or slow his opponent. The General never looks like he's exerting himself. There's not a drop of sweat on his tank top. That shouldn’t be possible for a human, no matter the shape they are in,” the unaffiliated announcer said.

Adam nodded in his head. He hadn’t been required to use his abilities even once. No pulses of heat, no soul blasts, not even his danger sense had been needed. The challengers just felt slow enough that he could choose what to do after watching them start to move.

“Alright!” the announcer cried through a poorly set up microphone and speaker. “Next we have a sword master named, er, Sword?”

A young man in his mid-twenties stood there wielding a longsword. At his belt he had two other swords sheathed. One was a katana, and the other a short sword. He wore a simple shirt and pants, medieval style, covered by a sleeveless tabard that came down to his knees. His sword belt was fastened around his waist and his boots looks leather without hardened soles. This was the first weapon brought out throughout all the fights, though the man holding it didn’t look any more impressive than Adam.

“A sword, huh? Finally, a weapon,” Adam said to the man.

“You don’t mind me using the sword?” the man asked surprised. “I thought I’d get kicked out.”

“Let me see it,” said Adam. The man brought it over to him from across the short field.

“I needed a name and didn’t think I’d get a chance to fight. Really, I thought I’d get kicked out for wanting to use weapons.”

“Bah. I’m not the world’s strongest sportsman. I’m the world’s strongest fighter. As in, for my life. Did no one understand the videos of me fighting? No one has tried to kill me even once today,” Adam said with disgust.

Receiving the sword, Adam looked at the edges. They were dulled. The shape was still there, but it wouldn’t cut through anything. Sword jumped backwards when Adam started sawing the edge against his arm.

“This isn’t even sharp! What’re you, some cosplayer?” Adam accused.

“No, a LARPer,” Sword responded with pride.

“What’s a LARPer?” asked the police assistant, holding Adam’s plate while he inspected the sword.

“A cosplayer playing make believe with other cosplayers,” answered Adam.

“Well, not exactly,” said Sword, crestfallen. “Anyway, I’m not just a LARPer. I’m actually a regional sword master. I’ve been entering competitions since I was a kid. I earn a solid living through it and making appearances at event. I’m well known in the right circles.”

“And what is the highest achievement for that?” asked Adam, slightly curious.

Sword got quiet and looked at his feet. “The highest achievement is being hired to choreograph lightsaber fights for the movies.”

That earned a chuckle from Adam.

“Well, the sword is dull. Got a sharp one?”

“My katana is sharper. I’m not as trained in it, but it is quicker when slashing. Also, if you want for difficulty, I had a small group that can fight against you. Shield and caster.”

“Using a group is fine. Bring on the challenge,” Adam said, arm in the air. The crowd roared its approval, then most went back to drinking.

Sword called two other people over. A “Protector [0]” and a “Mage [0]”. A traditional setup, though no real threat to Adam. He began wondering if he was getting too cocky, then decided it didn’t matter. Today was all just a game.

Continuing the LARPing theme, the protector, Shield, was in full plate armor while the mage was a girl in video game like caster robes. A lot of calls and laughs came from the audience watching them. The commentators began discussing how different fighting would be against a group.

Sword pulled out his katana and took a different stance than before. Shield walked to the front side of him, with the mage in the back. Adam decided to make a bit of a show of this. Thoughts of using his sledgehammer were quickly discarded, since one of his thrusts or swings could crush the guy in the armor easily.

Adam looked at the three and then strode forward, his legs taking big but slow steps. Shield got prepared, and Sword raised his sword in what looked like it’d be a thrust. A [Mana Dart] was shot out from the mage’s hand when Adam was two steps from the group. He simply snatched the mana projectile with his hand, causing it to pop, surprising the mage.

A shield was suddenly jerked towards Adam, as the protector used a [Shield Bash], much different than the skill that Brittney had received. However, the shield didn’t move as Adam put his palm against it. The force of the bash was redirected back at the defender. The man in armor jerked backwards a few inches and then shook like a bell hit by a hammer.

As expected, the katana was thrust at Adam. He kicked off the ground, placing his hand on the shaking protector’s shoulder and did a single armed handstand on top of the man. The thrust clearly missed, and then Adam dropped behind the protector, as the man started to collapse from the extra weight of Adam’s body on him, with Adam landing on his feet.

Grabbing the mage’s hand before she could shoot another [Mana Dart], he dropped low and spun, kicking one leg out to sweep the feet of all three opponents at once from under them. Before the three even hit the ground, Adam had taken the sword out of the falling man’s hand.

“Hmm…definitely not my style,” Adam said as he swung the Katana, cutting straight through the shield that was still facing him as if the metal was paper. The side of the shield was shorn off, and then Adam threw the Katana into the ground where the force drove it to the hilt into the dirt and grass.

The three stared at him, scared to stand, while he stood between them all.

“I know the katana is sharp, but I didn’t think it was capable of cutting through that shield,” said Sword, clearly confused.

“That only depends on how much force a person can use,” responded Adam as he turned and walked away.

“Next is…” started the announcer before Adam snatched the microphone from him.

Adam then looked at the closest news camera facing him and spoke both to it and through the microphone he was holding.

“I’m bored of these play matches. Sparring and attack patterns. No weapons or threat. This is the last match. For the next 15 minutes anyone can participate. If I throw you out of the fighting area, then you're done. Otherwise, as many people as can fit inside may attack me. Anyone who can draw my blood will get $10,000. Anyone who hurts another challenger will pay their medical bills. Enter at your own risk.”

“Adam, I don’t think this is a good idea,” said his police assistance. Adam just shrugged at him.

“We begin in ten minutes. Prepare yourselves,” Adam continued.

“Adam, I think this is about to turn very not legal. We can’t do this.”

“Brett,” Adam started while continuing to look into the camera. “When the invaders attack in a few days, laws won’t matter. It’ll be a fight for survival. Hopefully people support each other and work together, but ultimately we will need to fight. Let this show what that’ll be like.”

Adam handed the mic back to the announcer and then walked onto the fighting field with a hoagie. He stood there eating and looked unconcerned as hundreds of fighters were pushing their way onto the field. People scrambled from all the other fighting areas to take part. Chewing slowly, Adam counted the time. Just as the 10 minutes ended, Adam swallow his last bite. Steam began rising from his skin, which was quickly turning reddish. The air around him waved as if he was surrounded by a mirage.

“Bring it!” he said using his roar, causing everyone to freeze. Bodies began flying out of the marked area.

Then all hell broke loose.