The sun has just set in the sky freeing the moons to glow brightly in the night sky. Below the night sky, a small ground was lit with fire torches all around. The ground was filled with cheering fans. All the seating arrangements inside the ground were filled leaving many to stand and watch. All of them gathered to watch a small time armed combat tournament for the orphans. Orphans not by birth, they were still not part of any combat family hence they were called orphans.

“Welcome to the Sedow Ground, our home of the Guerilla Combat Tournament!”

The crowd cheered as the announcer started with his introductions.

“This evening, we will start off our show with a good old fashioned battle royal!!!!”

The crowd cheered some more.

“The winner will receive a purse of 5000 Rais, while the last eliminated competitor will receive 2500 Rais. So good people of Raison… let's… get… ready… tooooo… RUMBLE!!!!!”

After the announcement, ten chosen competitors walked in the combat square one by one. Each and every one of them had no weapons other than their own two fists, the only weapons allowed.

Four officials stood just outside the combat circle to mark in case of elimination. Another official walked inside the combat circle and stood in the middle. The announcer quickly made his way and stood beside the official, holding an announce tube to the official's face.

“The rules are simple. If you step your feet outside the circle you’ll be marked as eliminated and yes even one foot outside will count as eliminated. After those that have been eliminated cannot step into the square again. Once you’re out then you are out. No arguing with the officials and yes, you will be eliminated if the officials deem you to be unprofessional. Last one to stand will be announced the winner. Best of luck to all of you.”

After stating the rules, both the official and the announcer left the circle. The battle royal started with the ringing of the bell.

Just as the bell rung, a poor bastard got sucker punched and got knocked the fuck out. His limp body fell out of the circle thus being the first to be eliminated. This started a frantic paced melee among the legal competitors much to the crowd’s liking. The crowd started to cheer loudly as they saw pure chaos in front of them. They had come and paid to see some violence and were getting exactly what was promised to them.

Within minutes, a fighter was picked up by another participant and held him over his head, showing off his freakish strength. He threw the man out of the circle with minimum effort. The man collapsed like a sack of potatoes in front of an official and had to be carried out of the field in a stretcher, much to the crowd's delight.

Amidst the melee, one fighter seemed to sort of going through a plan of his own. He had a medium build, nothing impressive, just an average frame. He had minimal upper body protection while only a knee pad over his knees counted as his only protection on his lower body. He had a leather cap over his head, which covered most of his vulnerable parts of his face, like his ears, temple, cheeks which was attached to his face by a strap covering his jaws. His hands were wrapped up in cloth as well as his feet, covering his ankle.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

The man suddenly crouched and waited, while his eyes were watching everything that was going on around him.

He slowly made his way to a pair who were engaged in a slug fest. They were having a showdown without paying attention to their environment just at the edge of the circle. Those two were punching each other like there was a prize for the most punches thrown. In the midst of their slugging they failed to see the man crouching just behind one of them.

He stood up and front kicked the closest of the two on the back. The duo was in such a frenzy that they didn't have any body control left to stop their fall. Both of them tumbled out of the circle and laid on the ground.

On the other side of the circle, two fighters had formed a loose alliance and both of them threw another fighter out of the bounds. This left only three people still standing in the battle royal. Wary of the situation, he took stock of the situation.

"And there you have it, good people, only three fighters remaining in the circle. It seems we have got ourselves in a precarious situation.

One one side, standing in an impromptu alliance, Unnown and Jabronos and on the other side, we have a young man who calls himself Hemon. Who will win today?" The announcer addressed the crowd who were cheering with tremendous noise.

Hemon recognised the situation he was in and slowly backed himself close to the boundary. His opponents advanced towards him after sharing a silent look in between them, surely smelling victory.

Upon their advance, Hemon fell into an attack stance. One wrong move from him and it will be the end for his goal of winning. Keeping his mind open and breathing steady, he waited for them to close the gap in between them.

Of the two, Unnown stepped closer to his striking range and threw a punch towards him. The punch forced Hemon to duck the first punch and immediately moved closer to the second fighter, Jabronos who was advancing slightly behind and connected his face with a stinging cross. Immediately after delivering the cross, he elbowed the Unnown in the face who stood behind him and finished the sequence with another front jab to Jabronos.

Both of his opponents felt the sting of the attacks and stood still. They looked like they were stunned for a second. Precious time which he used to turn around and grab the collar of Jabronos's protective leather armour who stood behind him. He executed a high knee kick onto his opponent's chin hard rattling his brain. Without missing a single moment, Hemon executed a roundhouse kick which connected on Unnown's jaw.

Hemon pressed on with his attack and reached around Unnown. He clasped both of his hands around Unnown's waist and repositioned himself so that his back was facing Jabronos who was wobbling at the end of the boundary. Hemon got his hips down and heaved Unnown over his head while releasing his grip at the very top, suplexing Unnown onto Jabronos taking both of them out of bounds and eliminating both at the same time.

The crowd erupted after the quick flurry of events. Some of them had their hands over their heads in disbelief.

"It's over!! Oh my!!! We have a winner!!

Hemon has done it and earned his winner's purse. Well done kid… well done!" The announcer roared into his hollow tube.

Inside the administrative building, Hemon received his winner's purse. He made sure to count every sine Rais before placing it within his bag and was about to leave when he was stopped by an official.

"Hey! We had a fighter who didn't show up so we're short of a participant for the tournament. Do you want the spot?" The official asked him.

Hemon paused to think for a moment. Did he want to enter a tournament after the battle royal? Was he carrying any kind of injury which might hamper his chances of progression in the tournament? All these questions were popping up within his mind when the official said.

"There is a match fee of 200 Rias. Every round you advance, the match fee increases by 100 Rias. Prize fee if you're in the last four is 5000 Rias on top of the match fee, Prize fee for the runner's up is 7,000 Rias while the Winner of the tournament has a winner's purse of 10,000 Rias.

As I was saying, Do you want the spot or not?"

"Fuck yes! I mean yes.. Yes I want it." Hemon's greed for Rias was apparent on his face and he answered without wasting any more time.

"Good, this is a 16 fighter tournament, standard knockout rules. Come with me, I'll take you to your restroom. The original match was supposed to be the fourth match so you have until then to prepare yourself. Good Luck.”