Sero was speechless even as Liam pushed the axe off and delivered a series of hard hitting blows to his body. Sero rocketed through the air, slamming into the other end of the arena hard. He was stunned for a moment, barely able to catch his breath as he struggled to stand. As he finally managed to stand, Liam was already at his side, his hands glowing with dark red energy.

"Oh fu-"

Sero couldn't finish his swear as Liam delivered a wicked right hook to his jaw, sending him flying once more. Before he could land, Liam had caught up to him, grabbing him by the ankle mid-air. He swung Sero up and slammed him down onto the dirt floor so hard, the impact sent a shockwave through the arena. Sero spat out blood as he coughed violently, barely able to see through the stars swimming before his eyes. He looked up in time to see Liam raise his hands again, this time aiming the bottom of his Order staff at his head.

He couldn't do this. Why did he think he could beat Liam? Even with all of the plans he thought of, the countless hours he'd spend lying awake thinking of ways to beat him, why did Sero even have the notion that he could beat someone so ridiculously strong as Liam? He had barely won against Elena, and that was when he had to push himself to the limits.

Time seemed to move slowly as Sero watched Liam's staff fall towards him. He knew that if this didn't kill him, it would leave him crippled for a long time. But he couldn't move. Sero tried, for the first time in a while, to change his life, to really push himself to do better than he did in the past few years. In front of the audience, in front of all his new friends, he was going to fail.

But did it matter? He was told he didn't need to win. Heck, he already got this far already, securing his new place and a steady income. His strength was already somewhat decent, and his mastery of his skills was proficient enough. He could just take this attack and be done with all the work and all the stress. Sero could finally live the comfortable and lazy life he dreamed of. At least he knew his father would be proud of him regardless.

At the thought of his father, Sero's eyes suddenly widened, his vision sharpening. What was he thinking?

With a defiant cry, Sero slammed his fist down, casting a small Force Field around him. Although Liam's staff easily broke through, it gave Sero enough time to roll out of the way as it struck the ground where his head had been moments ago. The resulting impact sent a rippling force that blew Sero away from Liam.

Sero gritted his teeth, shifting into darkness and reforming just as Liam caught up to him, swinging his staff around. His Perfect Analysis was at the peak of its power, quickly surmising that the Demonic Enforcer was already several stages ahead in power due to Provoke.

Casting Fairness, Sero summoned his dragons and Sting once again to balance out the absurd surge of power flowing through him. Moss and Lime yelped painfully at the immense strength, but shook it off as they supported Sting while she clashed against Liam. Sero took a moment to summon his four Queens to buff and restore his strength, keeping tabs on his rapidly dwindling mana.

Swallowing his fear, Sero joined Sting in fighting against Liam, casting Undying Spirit only when he was sure his blade would hit Liam or his weapon. He focused on attacking Liam, hoping to divert the attacks from Sting as she held back the staff. It was a risky move, but Sero knew that Liam was stronger in close combat, while he had the advantage in ranged.

With the addition of Lime siphoning the strength from Liam to add to Sero and his familiar cards' aid and Moss's absorption of the Demonic Enforcer's stray aura, Liam was slowly being pushed back. Despite knowing it wouldn't be enough or how long it would last, Sero had to push on. His father was watching this match, believing that he would win, or at least, do the best he could.

For some reason, Liam's strength continued to grow even as it was being taken away by Sero's Undying Spirit and Lime's debuffs. In the back of his mind, Sero wondered if it was because of Provoke, but even with the damage conversion bonus, it shouldn't be possible for Liam to exponentially increase his strength, especially since Sero casted Fairness.

With a ferocious roar, Liam sent a storm of lightning towards the Queens who had been providing supporting fire, easily blowing them to green ashes as he turned his attention to the dragons.

"No!" Sero yelled out, trying to recall them, but it was too late.

With a pulse of dark red mana, Liam blasted Sero and Sting away, dashing towards the pups and swinging his staff, brutally cleaving through them in one go. The dragons yelped and whimpered pitifully before they too, were dusted.

"Motherfucker!" Sero felt his anger bursting as he dashed back towards Liam, swinging his sword in a blind rage. He casted Provoke as his Fairness wore off, not caring about the consequences of his actions. Sting joined him in their attack, both of them unleashing a torrent of attacks on the Demonic Enforcer. Liam, however, seemed to be enjoying himself, easily dodging their assaults with fluid motions.

"Using my skills without knowing how is a death wish," Liam snarled, batting Sting back into Sero. "My Harmony passive keeps their drawbacks in check as any negative effects on me are dispelled or changed."

Sero roared, realizing that that was the reason why Liam's strength continued to grow. Harmony probably worked the same way Enzo's Relentless did, though it seemed as if it had a more conversion-like aspect to it. Any debuffs Liam took were converted to buffs, and it probably converted other things to his benefit as well.

But Sero didn't care about that, letting his fury loose as he stacked Undying Spirit on top of Provoke. His body screamed in protest, but he ignored the agony, sending the excess strength towards Sting.

Red and green mana crackled through the air as Sero and Sting exchanged blows with Liam, their weapons creating sparks and gashes on the ground. It was clear that Liam was beginning to overpower them, infuriating Sero. Was this all he could do?

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Liam got the upper hand as he caught Sting off guard, delivering a lethal strike straight through her abdomen. The Joker gasped in surprise as she dissolved into green dust, leaving Sero alone.

Sero clenched his jaw, angered at Sting's dismissal but used the opportunity to land a well-timed Revenge-laced mana nuke, hitting Liam directly.

The attack detonated with a green flash, pushing the Demonic Enforcer back a few steps before the returned damage activated. Liam snarled with pain, but otherwise withstood the attack, giving Sero a death glare.

"No fucking way," Sero thought to himself. He had put all of his strength into that blast, and all it did was move Liam a couple of steps away?

Grimacing with pain, Sero felt his body beginning to give out as the buffs were taking its toll on his body. Though he had ran Recovery a while ago, the damage and reaching his limits were draining him faster than it could restore it. His blitzing approach had failed.

Liam smiled coldly, stalking towards Sero at a leisurely pace. There was no doubt in Sero's mind that S-rank knew he was at his limits.

"Fuck it," Sero muttered, releasing his blade. He raised his fists, checking his active skills. His efficiencies were burning out, Inspiration and Undying Spirit were sapping the last of his mana reserves, and his Iron Skin had worn off. Provoke was still active as well, though it was wreaking havoc on his body faster than his Recovery could keep up.

"Still determined?" Liam sighed, casting away his staff and mirroring Sero's stance. "You're stubborn, I'll give you that."

Sero refused to reply as he threw the first punch, hitting nothing as Liam easily evaded it and countered with a punch of his own. He grunted with pain but endured the hit, throwing another punch at Liam's side that connected.

"You're not as strong as you think," Liam growled, pushing back with a hard shove to Sero's chest. The Scholar stumbled but maintained his footing, meeting Liam's next strike with a well-timed block. They exchanged blows for a few seconds, neither gaining the upper hand.

Slowly, but surely, Liam's attacks wore Sero down. Despite the mana gained back from Undying Spirit, Sero's stamina was exhausted, and his body was reacting slower than he wanted it to. Each and every one of Liam’s punches were heavy and hard, further weakening Sero. These were the same, if not stronger, blows that Raul had taken, causing Sero to wonder how he himself could ever hope to turn this around.

Finally, Liam sent a Sero back with a hard kick to his chest, sending him skidding across the ground. Sero struggled to push himself back up and found his body unwilling to respond. In the distance, he could hear Liam walk towards him, taking his time. He knew that the only reason Liam hadn’t ended the match by now was because he was making good on his promise of making Sero suffer as much and as slowly as possible.

Taking inventory of his body, he found that the only thing active was his Recovery, which was beginning to slow down and wear off too. On the bright side, his mana reserves were completely full, so he began to pump more into keeping his Recovery up and strong.

With a groan, Sero rolled over, trying to push himself off the ground. His arms trembled with effort, his vision blurring from exertion. Obviously getting up again was a bad idea, especially since it’d give Liam another chance to beat him back down brutally, but there was a part of Sero that refused to give up. Frankly at this point, he was certain he was going to lose, but that didn’t mean he was going to make it as difficult as possible for Liam to do so.

Shakily standing back up, he saw Liam approach him with a cold, emotionless smile. His Provoke was still active, causing his strength to appear endless. Sero was faintly aware of the blood pouring down his face as well as his cuts and bruises everywhere on his body. He was fairly sure there were some broken bones too.

"I was hoping you’d get back up," The Demonic Enforcer quietly sneered. "You still need more punishment."

Sero threw out a weak punch, missing completely as Liam savagely kicked him back again. Another spray of blood escaped his lips as he tumbled across the ground. Still, he picked himself back up, enduring the agony. His breathing was ragged and labored, and he wasn’t able to properly see Liam’s next attack.

Slam.

Sero’s face burned as it scraped across the ground. His hands moved on their own accord, pushing up once again.

Slam.

The crowd was silent as they watched Liam beat Sero around in the arena. Even the announcer had stopped commenting on the fight, so the only sounds were of Liam’s hits raining down on Sero. The referees were ready to blow the whistle as soon as they felt like Sero couldn’t get back up again.

Slam.

Why was he so weak? Why couldn’t he have put in more effort to better himself? Granted, with the passing of his mother, Sero was allowed some time to grieve, but he had lost himself in his depression and refused to do anything about it. He even pushed away his father when he needed him the most.

Slam.

Why couldn’t he be someone else? Someone strong, like Enzo? His Scholar class seemed pathetic now, even with his roster of copied skills.

Slam.

If only he had Enzo’s Relentless. Just that one passive alone would help even the odds. Heck, he’d go for anything else other than the seemingly useless Influence passive that he couldn’t figure out how to use.

As Sero struggled to stand, he tried to imagine Enzo’s Relentless passive. The way it’d feel to have his strength consistent, never wavering. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the Demonic Judge and his training, Sero wouldn’t have gotten this far.

"Thanks for getting me here, I guess," Sero mumbled to himself. "Sorry I couldn’t pull through."

Through his blurred vision, he saw Liam pulling back to throw another punch. With a feeling of resignation, Sero mimicked him, deciding he’d at least go down fighting. As he threw the punch, Sero attempted to emulate the Relentless passive, imagining that his strength was constantly at its peak.

Because of the damage he took, Sero didn’t notice it at first. When his fist connected with Liam’s the resulting impact caused a booming rift to thunder from their clash. Sero could feel his strength returning, albeit his body was still in shambles.

Liam staggered back, a look of utter shock on his face. Instinctively, Sero knew that his Influence was replaced by Relentless as his strength peaked and remained that way. His Recovery was now in full swing, quickly healing his injuries.

"What… what the fuck did you do?" Liam quietly asked in disbelief.

"Nothing yet," Sero replied, spitting out a glob of blood and raising his fists. His mana pool was healthy, and his strength was consistent, but his stamina and body were running on fumes. This second wind was all he was going to get.

A small smile formed on Sero’s face as his vision began to clear.

"Let me return the favor."