Chapter 11
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The next day, in the Bindan Arena.
Two shirtless men were standing across from each other in the big platformed arena, each in a fighting stance. A huge jeering audience surrounded them from all sides, leaning in and interacting, creating an exciting atmosphere.
“Fight! Fight!”
“Knock ‘em out!”
One of the men was a young, large man with, bulging, menacing-looking muscles. The other, standing about twenty meters away, was an older, skinnier man with a wiry but stable-looking frame. They both glared at each other.
“Give me your best shot!” The larger and more muscular man suddenly screamed, pointing toward the older, skinnier man. As he did, he pounded his fist in his hand in a threatening gesture.
“Yea, yea!” The crowd instantly responded, immediately inciting him further. “Get ‘em, get ‘em!”
“Hehe… Alright, don’t regret it!” The older and skinnier man sneered back, unfazed. Standing slightly shorter than the younger muscular man, he sported menacing tattoos on his shoulders. “Don’t you know who you’re dealing with? I’m the Crane Toppler!”
“Wooo!” In response, the crowd surrounding them instantly had a bigger reaction, promptly buzzing excitedly. Many men began to stand taller and chant, with others joining in along the way. Soon enough, a large amount of buzz had gathered. “Crane Toppler! Crane Toppler! Knock him out with your famous technique!”
“...!” Standing opposite from Crane Toppler and hearing these deafening chants, the younger muscular man suddenly seemed to lose some of his confidence, beginning to stand more warily, his stance lower.
It seemed the skinnier man had a reputation. The chants alone gave the man a terrifying presence.
“Hehehe…” Grinning from the stage, Crane Toppler gave a slight bow to the audience, and flashily flexed his bicep. “Alright! I’ll show you something good!”
“Hah!” Crane Toppler yelped, and then suddenly turned and burst forward with incredible speed.
Boom! Within just a few short seconds, he had already closed the nearly twenty yard gap between him and the younger muscular man.
“...!” Although a bit startled, the younger muscular man steeled himself, and with a grunt, threw out a forward punch, hoping to meet the approaching Crane Toppler. “Hah! Don’t underestimate me!”
Crane Toppler grinned, carefully eyeing the trajectory of the punch.
Whoosh! Slipping to his opponent’s side, he easily avoided the blow. Then, with a grunt, he immediately whipped out his hand in a sweeping blow. “Hah!”
Bang! His hand hit the muscular man directly in the side!
“Gah!” The muscular man let out a yelp. ‘Damn…”
However, after being momentarily stunned, he regained his bearings and quickly jumped away.
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However, Crane Toppler wasn’t going to just let him go! Immediately pouncing on his retreating opponent, the older fighter dashed forward and uppercutted with his left fist.
BANG! The fist hit its mark, bashing the muscular man directly in the chin, knocking his head up to face the sky. “Ahh…”
A moment later, the younger man collapsed onto the ground.
This entire exchange was quick, happening in less than a few seconds.
“Crane Toppler! Crane Toppler!” Excited cheers immediately rang out from the crowd.
“Wooo! That technique sure is powerful!”
“He’s unstoppable!”
“Hehe…” Crane Toppler glanced around at the crowd and smiled. “I told him to be careful, but he didn’t listen. So I had to teach him a lesson. Don’t blame me.”
“Crane Toppler! Crane Toppler!” The crowd immediately screamed out again, invigorated.
The fight had been decided in just a few short seconds! This man was truly vicious!
Tap, tap. Moments later, a robe-clad referee ran over from the side of the arena to check the younger fighter’s face-down body. Reaching the body and inspecting it for a few seconds, he nodded a few times and then looked up. “Winner: Crane Toppler!”
Just as his voice rang out, following the referee, several uniformed men ran onto the stage and approached the fallen muscular man, carrying him up and rushing him off the field. As he was getting dragged off, he mumbled a few indistinguishable things unconsciously. “...strong…”
More cheers and applause once again rang out in the air.
“Crane Toppler! Crane Toppler!”
“Crane Toppler wins again! He sure is powerful!”
“Yeah, maybe he can win five in a row!”
Many in the crowd rushed to a few robed people holding sacks and clipboards within the crowd. Collecting various coins from these robed people, they were clearly winners who had bet on Crane Toppler and were now receiving their earnings.
“Hehe…” Crane Toppler grinned again as he looked around at the ecstatic crowd, and promptly rolled up his sleeve to flex his bicep once again. “People of Bindan Village. Who am I?!”
“Crane Toppler!” The crowd immediately rabidly responded.
“Who’s the strongest?!” Crane Toppler bellowed out once more.
“Crane Toppler!”
“Who’s gonna beat everyone in this arena?!”
“CRANE TOPPLER!!” The crowd screamed back. At this point, everyone was on their toes, engaged in the fight. Clearly, Crane Toppler was a good entertainer as well as fighter.
“You’re damn right! Haha!” Crane Toppler laughed, clutching his stomach and shouting out into the sky.
“Crane Toppler! Crane Toppler!” More cheers followed this proclamation. Crane Toppler’s show of strength had riled up the crowd.
“Hahaha…” Crane Toppler continued to laugh a few times, clearly enjoying himself, and then turned to face the referee: “Alright ref, I’ll continue on fighting consecutively once again. This will be my third round. Who is my next fearless challenger? I’m going to beat this guy and go undefeated! Hahaha!”
Also affected by Crane Toppler’s cocky show of strength, the referee quickly nodded his head with a laugh and then gestured with his hand for the next contestant to enter the arena.
“Next up… is a new fighter named Black Cloak! Although this is his first time fighting in our arena, he definitely can't be underestimated! Will he be able to stop Crane Toppler’s streak?”
As he spoke, the referee used a strong, emphasizing voice and made big flourishes with his arms to give the new challenger a more dramatic entrance, hyping up the next fight.
“Hm?” Hearing this introduction, the crowd buzzed a bit. A new fighter? It had been a while since someone new had stepped on stage.
Many rubbed their chins. This new fighter was named Black Cloak? Why was that the case? What would this new fighter be like?
Everyone turned toward the back of the arena, their eyes glazing with curiosity.
Shff… shff…
From the back of the stage appeared a small shadowy figure, slowly approaching the stage. As the figure climbed the steps, people could see them more clearly - it was a tiny, black-cloaked little person, perhaps three and a half feet in height, their face and all other body features well-concealed.
Striding in gracefully and calmly, the figure walked toward the side of the stage, before finally stopping where the previous challenger had stood.
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