Everyone made their way downstairs to the Pit.
The crowd saw the leader and the captains coming and went quiet imdiately. They parted to make way, and the two fighters in the ring took one look at who was coming and scrambled out without being told.
Grant stepped over the ropes into the ring.
Felix followed a mont later, handing his jacket to Freya without looking at her.
Solomon stood at the edge of the ring and raised one hand.
A translucent barrier shimred into place around the ring, sealing it off from the rest of the Pit.
"What’s your level?" Grant asked, sizing him up once more.
Yet, he couldn’t get an accurate read on his realm.
"Body Reformation Early Stage." Felix said, cracking his neck as his eyes narrowed at his opponent.
A few captains around the ring exchanged looks. Troy let out a laugh from the side. "Early Stage? This is going to be over in ten seconds."
Grant was a Peak Stage Body Reformation awakener on the verge of reaching Circuit Expansion. But his raw physical strength already matched that of a Circuit Expansion Early Stage.
Grant didn’t react to any of it. He just stared at Felix for a long mont, then nodded once.
"I’ll match it."
"There he goes with his obsession again." Claire shook her head.
"I will never understand why anyone would limit their strength to match their opponent. There’s no fun in that at all."
"Especially when you can just tear them apart." She added with a grin.
"Speak for yourself, you bloodthirsty woman." Leon said with a charming smile.
"Shut up, pretty boy."
"What did you just call ?" Leon said with his head down.
"Pretty boy. What, you want to have a go?" Claire asked with an excited smile.
"No, please say it again." Leon said, flicking his hair and striking a pose.
"....."
***
"Pure combat and strength. No techniques or weapons. It ends when one of us concedes." Grant stood in the center of the ring, facing Felix.
Up close, the size difference was almost comical. He had at least half a head on Felix and twice the width. "That work for you?"
"And if you go above Early Stage?" Felix asked, staring straight into his eyes without flinching.
Grant paused.
"...Then I lose."
A few seconds later, the two of them stood facing each other from opposite ends of the ring.
Grant made the first move. He closed the distance in two steps and threw a straight right at Felix’s chest.
Felix blocked it but the impact sent him sliding back three full steps, his shoes scraping against the ring floor.
Grant followed up imdiately with a left hook that Felix barely ducked under, then drove a knee into his forearm as he tried to guard. The force sent Felix skidding sideways and the crowd around the ring started murmuring.
Troy crossed his arms with a satisfied grin. "This is still gonna end quickly."
Grant kept pressing forward, throwing combinations that were simple but brutally heavy. A straight, a hook, an uppercut.
Nothing fancy because it was simply unnecessary.
Felix blocked the first one and slipped the second, but the third caught him clean on the shoulder and spun him sideways.
He stumbled and barely kept his footing.
A few of the lower-ranked guys in the crowd started laughing. Leon raised an eyebrow while Claire watched the whole thing without blinking once.
Grant ca in again with a right straight aid at Felix’s face. Felix got his guard up but the punch still drove him back until his spine hit the barrier. The whole thing rippled on impact.
Grant pulled back and gave him so ti to concede.
Felix stayed there with his guard still up, back against the barrier, a thin line of blood running from a cut on his lip.
Then he pushed himself off the barrier and rolled his shoulders.
’Is he done studying him?’ Dante grinned behind his mask. He had asked both Felix and Freya to tell him about their fighting styles after he politely ’recruited’ them.
Unlike the Two Punch Man persona he gave him, Felix wasn’t the type to brute force his way through a fight.
He used his Mountain Titan bloodline and endurance to absorb hits while studying his opponent. He would download everything about his opponent. Only after that did the real fight start.
"Excuse , Jester." A flat voice ca from beside him.
Dante turned and found Nora standing there with her hands stuffed in her lab coat pockets.
She was still looking at the ring, watching the fight with that sa calm expression.
"It doesn’t look great for your bro." She said. "It hasn’t even been a minute and he’s already bleeding."
"You think so?" Dante said.
"I know so." Nora tilted her head, her eyes still on the ring. "But I can ask our leader to call it off before your dear brother gets hurt."
She paused for a second, letting him consider the offer.
"All you have to do is lend those mana weapons for a bit. I just want to take a ’peek’ at them." She turned to face him and for the first ti, those eyes of hers actually had so spark behind them. "Your bro’s safety for a quick look. That’s fair, right?"
Dante stared at her for a mont.
Then he started laughing. Not a courtesy laugh or a fake one.
He actually laughed, loud enough that a few heads around the ring turned to look at them.
"Is that what you think is happening in there?" He said, still grinning as he looked back at the ring.
Nora blinked, a mix of confusion and embarrassnt rising on her face.
"Keep watching."
***
Grant stared at Felix with a hard look in his eyes. He had been throwing punches at full force this entire ti, but Felix didn’t even seem tired.
He wasn’t even breathing hard.
More importantly, he hadn’t taken the initiative to attack. Not even once.
’This bastard...!’ Grant clenched his teeth as the realization hit him. ’He’s been taking those hits on purpose.’
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