Twenty bones? More if counting the opponents. For an ordinary human, that’s an intermediate death sentence. Both of his arms are cast with thick bandages, and he never dared remove a piece. He lost count of the number of fighters he had crossed in the arena and backstage.
Newly developing regenerative healing; his pain tolerance went up rapidly after a couple more beatings before winning. He never lost by a knockout but had a couple losses and draws due to surviving right at the end of every match. Five rounds, each lasting eight minutes.
Learning through the experience of his entire time here was that the clerks were right about coffee shops hosting underground arenas. However, the Main Street Underground Rumble Arena is at the top of the hierarchy list, and every other arena around Kriegshan is tied to Main Street. In a way, he skipped the initial building blocks which was a risky move. If it wasn’t for his abundance of qi, adaptability, and Skoltor, he would be toast from the get-go.
Daniel breathed in as he departed from the training session, sitting in the locker room. He poured an entire water bottle over him, letting it shower his face from the scalp.
“How’s your jaw?”
He feels his jawline, feeling the smooth surface of the metal. “Been better; the pain is almost gone. And the beard was able to regrow itself, hiding the new cybernetics. What about you, how’s your leg, Solomon?”
A brawny guy sat on the couch with a towel over his face, lying on the side, and lifted his right leg. He gave a couple of up-and-down movements from the knee down. “I say the same as you; it took a couple of days to heal around the knee.”
“You got it rough,” Daniel muttered.
“Nah, man. I think you got the worst out of all eight of us.”
Daniel chuckled. “Are you sure? I recovered quickly though.”
Solomon nodded, taking the towel from his face. “You took the chance to join the losing nobody team and take the beating…”
“That’s fair. At least y’all took the opportunity and grew yourselves. Crazy, that was a long time ago.”
“It has been a year, has it?”
Suddenly, the door opened, and the remaining team members came in all filled with sweat. They sat scattered within the wide locker room. All quietly relaxed, not ready to utter a word out of their mouth.
Can’t believe it has been more than a year. Daniel’s time with the entire team reminded him of the interns. It was a rare moment he would cherish for the rest of his livelihood despite the suffering he had dealt with.
The food wasn’t that great, or the living conditions. He lost an extravagant amount of weight during the first half year, almost malnourished to the bone like a large twig of a tree branch. Elizabeth had warned him of the probability, and she was right as he was nearly another statistic despite no loss by knockout. By then, he was mentally at his lowest point, almost accepting his death.
A sudden intervention by a few fighters made him realize that he really has two true personal lifelong goals, a true sense of friendship and love. The few fighters who saved him are now by his side in the locker room and part of the team.
“Are you ready for tomorrow?” Celeste asked while panting.
Daniel sighed, looking at the contented brunette. “Maybe.”
“It's either a yes or a no answer.”
“Yes…”
“Why are you down again?” Solomon asked.
Daniel was puzzled at the feeling. “Not as bad as the last couple of times, but it always comes back.”
“It's almost over. Three more battles are needed to win, and we are free. We get to go home.”
She’s so optimistic. Daniel couldn’t quite understand her lively attitude approach despite all the brutal moments she as well as everyone else in the room went through. He and Solomon stayed quiet as she and others were having their downtime.
Since it’s only three battles left if he makes it through, he needs a plan. No one knew about Skoltor or saw him using Licht; However, the group was aware of his tactical belt. For more than a year, Daniel played by the rules despite the inhumane conditions he had to endure to reach the current point where he got away from it. And the departure was a promotion.
The rule-playing was not going to last. Daniel repeatedly thought about tomorrow for the last couple of minutes and Celeste mentioned it was if he had the finger on the trigger, ready to play with the fire.
He abruptly stood up, “You know what, yes, I’m ready! Prepare for tomorrow.”
Daniel left the locker room, closing the door into the barely lit hallway. He strode away, heading to the cafeteria.
--
Daily Calories: 3200/5000
--
1800 more. Shouldn’t be that hard hopefully. Daniel was not expecting a serving of decent food to supplement at this hour despite its 24/7 service. He went into the chow hall as they called it, an open space with ragged walls. Bits tear off from the surface and brown like a wood shack.
There were potatoes, milk, and burgers served on the counter. The burgers are one of the most dangerous meals within the underground arena as Skoltor recorded highly inflated calories per serving. With a little time left of the night, Daniel took a burger with one potato and a cup of milk.
He carried it to the empty table and looked around the hall, finding no one present. Adding the ceilings for any observation magic as they were usually on during the day and behind the wielder, acted as security for the whole place in tight restrictions and mandates.
Finding the area all clear, he gave a bite of the burger.
--
Daily Calories: 3680/5000 ↑
--
His big jaw took half of the burger, already raising four hundred and eighty calories. To his surprise, the burger tasted palatable and pretty good. He took another bite, ingesting the entire burger, passing the four thousand calorie mark.
Shatter!
Daniel was provoked, being trapped in an elbow lock. Where the hell do they come from? The arm was tightly wrapped around his neck and chest. His eyes were right at its focus. Torrin, you son of a tin coward.
Behind his ear, “Go to sleep,” Torrin’s hoarse low voice whispered.
His mind was clustered and conflicted about what he should do as this wasn’t his first time getting jumped or overwhelmed. Shadows, reflected by the ceiling light, towered over the table. Daniel counted three without including the one grappling his neck.
Skoltor immediately woke up spamming pop-up screens at full bright red, demanding a course of action or Daniel would asphyxiate.
“Fuck it, I’m backing away from the rules,” Daniel grunted, launching himself into the air with Torrin hanging from behind.
He directed right at the ceiling, striking Torrin’s back towards the ragged roof. With one swirl, he rotated his body mid-air, facing up. Daniel boasted down in a descent right back to the floor.
Boom!
--
Lack of Oxygen Warning Ceased.
Mission Override Warning:
Prepare for the first final fight. → Kill Torrin and allies.
Rewards:
* Second Class slot unlock.
* Stamina ↑
* Endurance ↑, Durability ↑, and Power ↑
* General Class Meter ↑
--
Daniel rolled briskly away when Torrin lost his grip, barely missing his goon’s feet as one was standing in the direction he was rolling towards.
Bang! Bang!
The goon collapsed headfirst to the table, slowly sliding down to the floor. A red puddle slowly flooded the entire rear of his skull.
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“Oh, look at that, your buddy is dead,” Daniel taunted casually.
Torrin was still on the floor and clearly in pain, noticeably going into an adrenaline rush when he got up despite his robust physique. His serious look dropped into horror when he saw the blood and the body beside Daniel who was walking up right at him and two remaining buddies of his.
“You don’t have to do this…Look, we all wanted to get out of this place.”
Daniel stopped, seeing his reflection from the pool of blood right by his feet. A personification of a ghost hovered over his face in the shape of a skull. They’re here.
Thump!
Bang!
The second goon took the shot to the heart, startling the third and causing both to tumble down in the direction of the floor. Daniel leaped and raised his right leg for a hard thrust to the side of the second goon, mercifully killing him off. The force pressure from the kick reached the third goon. He went paralyzed from the waist down as he was visibly struggling to move other than his head and arms in a panic.
“Goodbye,” Daniel mumbled with a wave.
Splat!
Like an open bucket of paint, red blood splashed his entire feet with bits of the skull scattered across the floor. “You said ‘we all wanted to get out of this place’ as if everyone is going to. But the price is not everyone will. You taught me one hidden thing that I stubbornly took this long to realize.”
Bang! Bang!
“Ahh! God!” Torrin cried, tumbling down on his soaked sprouting knees.
A couple of empty rounds fell to the floor as the handgun’s barrel recoiled. “Winning always has consequences. Furthermore, it can melt your sanity just like a loser.”
Daniel placed the end of the barrel right at his forehead.
“What are you?”
“That’s what I wanted to know. Turns out, you are just one of the catalysts for my discovery,” Daniel muttered, pressuring the gun.
Torrin’s back slumped down, furthering Daniel’s dominance.
“What do you want?! Spare me!”
“Sure, I’ll spare you, but you must answer my questions. Are you and the other two of my opponents working for him?”
“What—”
“Answer me damn it!” Daniel yelled, pushing the hammer down with his thumb.
“Yes…yes.”
“For what purpose?”
“It’s none of your business—”
Bang!
Torrin’s body collapsed, laying flat on the side of his head. Eyes wide open like a staring contest with blood oozing out of the hollow hole caused by the bullet.
Daniel silently stood and stared at Torrin’s lifeless body as if he was in awe. “They do say Karma is always influential. Each decision influences your livelihood in the general world, but many here seem to have forgotten. It’s eternal; always waiting…”
He picked up every empty cartridge case that lay on the floor; the milk was tainted by the confrontation, leaving the potatoes spared. He shoved the bullets into his pockets. Throwing the plastic plates away in the garbage, he gave a bite to the potato and departed the chow hall where the four bodies lay in a mess.
Quickly while the hallway was still dark, he sprinted through the depths of the narrow walkway, arriving back at the front of the locker room.
He put all the remaining of the potato into his mouth while it was half-turned in both directions. Finding the area was clear, he pushed down the door handle and hurriedly entered the room. With his behind facing inward of the locker room, Daniel slowly closed the door.
Turning right into the room, he stopped. Oh, crap! He glared at the number sign on the wall, realizing he was off by one door, and instead entered a different locker room belonging to The Kneads.
--
Mission completed (1):
Kill Torrin and his allies.
Rewards:
* Second Class slot unlock.
* Stamina ↑
* Endurance ↑, Durability ↑, and Power ↑
* General Class Meter ↑
Mission added (1):
Defeat The Kneads
--
Stamina Level up: 2 → 3
Endurance Level up: 2 → 3
Durability Level up: 2 → 3
Power Level up: 2 → 3
Second Class Slot unlocked:
Please choose one:
* Blacksmith
* Librarian
* Archer
* Swordsman
--
Daniel had dealings with them too as a gathering of ten leaped up from the chairs armed with heavy vigorous hands, charging right at him.
“Grab his arms!”
All the giants closed the gaps in between, forcing him to call in Licht. His katana summoned around his waist and began to glow; he slightly pulled it from the scabbard, causing the light to leak out and engulf the entire locker room, blinding the Kneads.
Taking the opportunity, Daniel flashed a step behind the entire ten and a rough horizontal slash from left to right. Furthermore, another slash from the opposite side. He breathed and returned Licht to the scabbard, dispelling the light.
He flashed once more to the door and hurried out of the locker room. Upon closing the door, a loud bang splattered inside like a water balloon explosion. Next, it was followed by multiple sequences of thumps and thuds hitting the floor.
Daniel had the door locked from the inside as he went back out to the hallway. He temporarily leaned onto it and took a breather, accumulating all the acts he hadn’t done in years. That began to trigger something he never wanted to deal with again, flashing briefly to his eyes.
It’s coming back…
His head turned left, leaning back up from the door. He walked to the other locker room and opened its door. Thank goodness.
All were confused and startled, which is likely what they heard just a minute ago on the other side of the wall.
Celeste saw Daniel come back in, wondering what was going on. “You feel bet—”
He sat down, took a towel, and walked to the sink. “I’m sorry what?”
“Holy shit man. You got blood all over you!” Solomon was appalled by the blood stains all around him.
“Hush!” Daniel silenced the entire locker room. “Don’t make it obvious. Otherwise, everyone would hear what we say.”
Water exited the faucet, and he wiped off the blood stains from his clothes. Luckily, he wears black clothes so the water would overtake the stained clothes and let his qi do the masking process.
20.2
“You what?!” Celeste yelped.
“Shhh, careful. I did kill them all,” Daniel whispered to the entire group, and he returned to the same sitting spot. Everybody else sat on the floor, encircling in front of him like a meeting. “I was getting a late-night meal to crave off the hunger. Torrin came in from behind as I was eating the only good burger the chow hall had in a damn long time. And I snapped. Killed him and three of his goons.”
Solomon’s jaws dropped the entire time since Daniel came back. “Then what the heck was that noise over there?” He pointed to the wall that was where the Knead’s locker room was at.
“I accidentally went into the wrong room, and they responded with an attack hence I killed them too.”
Celeste's happy expression faded away to a more sorrowful look. “Torrin’s dead which means they will find out what happened, and the whole dream of getting out of here is about to be disrupted.”
Daniel sat silent as they talked and argued about what could be lying ahead. Solomon got up and went grasping his ear, angrily demanding justification. In reaction, Daniel’s face began to twitch, causing him to abruptly stand from his spot and gently palm Solomon’s chest. He flew to the couch, reacting as if disturbed.
The group separated, quickly backing away, and their body language expressed concern, thinking Solomon screwed up. Celeste attempted to ease Daniel’s emotions down. He wanted to stand after that, refusing to sit down. But he calmed down enough to regain composure.
“Never ever do that again…especially as I’m preparing to give a proper word to y’all,” Daniel warned. He half-turned to the rest of the group and moved away until he could see everyone. “Now there’s a couple things I’ve never told you. I’ll expose them right here, right now.”
They gathered right at the couch where Solomon lay, giving Daniel enough view as he returned to the same spot. He rechecked his scabbard before resuming the talk.
“I’ll be honest, I was mentally trapped ever since before I got here. After the intervention, the flashes became more frequent, and each occurrence had an important memory that I wanted to forget. The moment before I left, and after I finished dealing with the Kneads; each a flash of memory and that completed the whole line.”
“Does that justify what you did, though?” the green-haired lady asked.
“No, but yes, Sally. This place reminded me of the near poverty I was raised in during my childhood. Including the lone depression from being alone most of the day. And the other major trauma was a forced relationship during university that I would not talk about. If I hadn’t experienced those two things in life, I might have been better and never gone down here.”
They began to understand him a bit but only left with more questions than answers. Daniel opened his locker behind him, pulling out the overcoat. It was the first time he had ever worn it since he finished the first-ever battle.
“So, the rumors I heard about the overcoat are true…” Solomon muttered.
“That’s the one,” Celeste added.
Daniel put it on, letting his arms sooth through the sleeves.
“Oh, you are smiling!” Hierax noted with his buffed arm lifting his desperate finger, pointing at Daniel’s mouth.
He sat down and continued, ignoring Hierax’s attempt to compliment him. “Second, I could have gotten out by now. You can call me strange, naïve, or whatever, but I played by the rules every fighter here does rather than take the easy way out. As well, I’ve never fully optimized my powers either.”
Celeste’s curiosity took over. “When I saved you around half a year ago, could you have won that one?”
Good question. Would I have beaten him? Daniel sat quietly for a moment embracing his thoughts. He sighed, shaking his head. “No way, I wouldn’t have then, and maybe not even when I walked down here the first time.”
“Hmm, I’ll forgive you on that account.”
“But then it got me thinking; assume everything worked well. If that were the case, I would not have met you guys or had the guts to deal with a glimpse of my past. Despite any disagreements we had gone through and my selfless acts, I appreciate y’all being at each other’s side. As well as helping me recover. I’ll never forget that.”
“Dude, I’m not used to the sentimental side,” Elios stated, who sat beside Hierax.
Daniel shook his head and found that comment silly as he didn’t really care. It’s time. He stood from the seat, towering over the group.
“Y’all want to get out here as early as tomorrow morning? And I’m going to ask this question as if nothing had happened earlier, are you confident for tomorrow?”
Not even an exchange of looks or a conversation. They all nodded twice within a snap of their fingers.
“All right let’s get to work,” Daniel grinned.
--
General Class (LV.1) Meter: [99.5%]
--