The crowd was unaware of the exact health condition of Noah. They thought exhaustion was the cause. Some even started to cheer him up as well.

“Come on Noah. Rise up. You can do it…” shouted Melv.

“Stand up…” whispered Angelika as she gnashed her teeth.

“It had to be the juice…” recollected Noah as a burning sensation engulfed his whole body.

“Since then I have been having mild blackouts. Dammit...I should have been more careful. But what’s done is done. I need to think of a way to fight back. But how? My body is not moving on my will. It's slowing down. Is this the end? Despair. Is my life filled with only despair and loss?”

Noah was losing his consciousness.

“You are the last hope for all of us. THE LAST HOPE FOR HUMANITY.”

The voice brought Noah back to his senses.

“I cannot give up yet. I have lots of things I need to achieve. I need to win this match.”

Meanwhile, the crowd almost burst into tears at the state of Noah. Reggie had been constantly hitting him. The Professors stopped the match to check if Noah had lost consciousness, so they could conclude the match. But as they were about to decide, a muffled voice was heard.

“Wait. It’s not over yet.” Noah slowly stood up.

“Please give up. You are in no condition to fight.” Prof. Sawyer urged.

“Nope. I can’t do that.” Noah had a firm look in his eyes. He clenched his fists and hit his heart hard. It started to pump normally. Noah had somehow gained a bit of time before the light extinguished. He closed his eyes and took the deepest breath he could take.

The match was resumed by the Professors.

“Ho. So I have to finish you once and for all. That’s good as well. I can ask Ton for more tokens.”

“Thought so. It was you who poisoned me.”

“Yup. Took you some time to find out. That dumb monkey Daimonjji couldn’t finish you off, so I had to take it upon myself. I didn’t wanna take any chances, so I poisoned your drink. But you are quite resilient. Gotta give you credit for that.”

“Ton huh. That bastard put you to it?”

“Well, he offered me a lot of tokens. So how could I refuse? If everything went according to plan, you would’ve died of exhaustion. But now I gotta do it myself. Not that I wouldn’t enjoy it. Heh!”

Noah resolved his conviction. “Come at me then. Let’s decide the fight.”

Affected by the poison, Noah was not fully able to exert his speed. His body was still feeling the effects of the poison. Noah blocked an incoming Jab from Reggie. He tried to swing an Overhand Punch, but Noah evaded the blow. This one could have been fatal.

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Noah balanced his body while falling to the sides and hit the ribs of Reggie, at GB-25. This was the first blow to Reggie's HP. Taking a blow, he immediately hopped back.

Noah’s HP was down to 300. He could only take a few more blows. He picked himself up and took his stance. Reggie was not throwing jabs at Noah anymore. He figured Noah could really damage his HP if they fought head-on. But Noah was on his last breath, a few more minutes and he would collapse. So Reggie started avoiding Noah’s blows and started wasting time. Time which Noah didn’t have much to spare.

Noah tried to attack Reggie again. But this time Reggie was anticipating the move and caught Noah in his special attack, Kangaroo Choke Hold. This was Reggie’s finishing move, a flawless rear-naked choke, asphyxiating his opponent senseless.

Noah tried to break away but was unable. Reggie slowly fell to the ground to complete his Choke Hold pose. Noah was struggling. In any other situation, he might have freed himself but the poison was restricting him from using his strength or speed.

As Noah fell on the ground being choked, the crowd became totally silent. They had lost all hope. This is the best move of Reggie. Even Alpha Classes have trouble dealing with it. In the end, it was a lost cause for Noah. Even the Professors had lost all hope of a turnaround now. They were waiting to declare the end of the match.

“You can.. do it. You can.. do it.” Melv started shouting as tears came rolling down.

“You can.. do it. You can.. do it.” The rhythm started to echo.

“Even if it's worthless, let's cheer for him one last time…” decided many in the crowd.

The chant started to gather more voices.

“You can.. do it. You can.. do it.” It was as if the whole Arena came alive.

Almost everyone was chanting, even some professors. Prof. Sawyer was amazed to see the crowd come together. “You can do it, Noah. Wake Up…” she thought to herself.

“Come on Angelika. We should cheer for him as well.” James stated.

“Don’t worry. He will rise up alright. He is not going down that easy. If I know him correctly, there’s still a fight left in him.” Angelika gave a calm expression but her heart was racing like a wild stallion.

As the crowd continued chanting, Reggie was startled to see this type of reaction. He tried to apply more pressure to the choke. But he found that Noah had started to regain his senses. Noah opened his eyes as he heard the crowd rooting for him. He burned this faith shown by the crowd and converted it to the energy he needed, the energy necessary to turn the tables.

He slowly started to stand up while still being in the choke-hold. It was tough but after several tries, he persevered. Reggie was applying the most pressure he could, but he couldn’t understand how Noah was still standing. Noah bent to the front and delivered a blow to the SP-12 pressure point of Reggie. Reggie almost left the choke-hold as it was an unexpected hit.

Though he did not feel any pain because of the Battle Suit, it naturally broke his balance. Noah used this opportunity to lift him up on his shoulders and drop him sideways over his waist. The choke-hold was broken. Noah took a big gasp of air and relaxed his neck muscles. Noah looked around, the dagger had fallen somewhere long back. He could only use his fists now.

Reggie quickly tried to stand up. As he saw an approaching Noah, he fell back a few steps and crossed his hands in front to block any incoming blow. But Noah swiftly adjusted and delivered a Flying Knee Strike. The knee perfectly hit the chin of Reggie as he floated backwards. Noah gave him the taste of his own medicine, a Muay Thai deadly strike.

Reggie was reeling from the effects of the last kick. With his dwindling HP, he tried to stand up. His head was already dizzy. He saw Noah coming towards him but had no strength left to defend. Noah jumped and delivered a 360 Roundhouse Kick to Reggie. His HP was down to 0.

The kick was highlighted on the screen in slow motion. It seemed like a dramatic ending to a Blockbuster Motion picture. A perfect body swing in 360 degrees, gaining motion to land a Roundhouse Kick to the jaw. Reggie was flying to the sides, his face all distorted by the impact of the kick.

The crowd jumped from their seats in joy. It was as if they had won the fight rather than Noah.

It was a fight through adversity, with the mindset to never give up. The crowd had gained a bigger realization of life itself from the match. They started shouting and hugging each other in excitement. It was a spectacular performance. The greatest comeback in the history of RedRock academy, which will be discussed over and over.

The protective shield was taken down as the match ended in Noah’s victory.

“The winner of this match is Noah. He mo...” As the announcement was being made, blood sprouted out of Noah’s mouth and he collapsed on the ground instantaneously. The poison had taken effect fully. The exertion during the match had a catalytic effect on the poison. Noah’s heartbeat started to get even fainter.

While he regained a bit of consciousness, he saw Melv crying over him.

He passed out again.

...