“It’s time for another fight!” The announcer shouted. “In the white corner, it’s a veteran of the underground tournament, and this is his 33rd fight in total.
“His record is 29 victories and 3 losses!
“Ravenhood!”
Cheer—the crowd exploded in loud applause.
The cage’s door opened, and a scar-faced man with raven-black hair trotted inside. He wore white shorts, and his body looked lean and battle-hardened, as if his previous 33 fights had left their mark on him.
The crowd then turned to the other door, remembered the fight of Ravenhood’s opponent, and thought that this could be a very even fight.
However, the announcer then shouted.
“A slight change in the matchup has occurred.
“The fighter—Ramon—has been replaced by a new fighter!”
The crowd groaned as this wasn’t the first time it had happened, but then, they wondered whether the replacement was better or worse fighter.
“On the black corner, this is his first time fighting in the underground tournament!”
“Record of 0 wins and 0 losses!
“Ambrose!
Creak—the cage’s door creaked loudly open, and Ambrose stepped onto the stage under a lukewarm response from the crowd.
The crowd at least expected the replacement to have fought before. However, the replacement was a complete newbie and also looked rather young. The only impressive part was his body frame.
The announcer then left the cage and stood outside of it in safety. It then shouted.
“Fighters, ready?”
Ravenhood put his fists up as an affirmation.
Ambrose nodded and moved his fists into a boxing stance.
“3… 2… 1… start!
Swoosh—Ravenhood pounced forward like a wild animal. He was clearly planning to end this fight as soon as possible.
As he threw a powerful straight punch, Ambrose put his arms in front of him as a block and blocked the attack rather effortlessly.
However, Ravenhood then used his leg like a whip and kicked into Ambrose’s thigh, causing a powerful smack sound that caused shivers to run down the crowd’s spine.
At this moment, Ravenhood had grown used to his opponents crying in pain after getting a taste of his kicks, but Ambrose didn’t even flinch.
Ambrose smashed his foot down on Ravenhood’s foot, stopping him from backing away, and then smashed his fist into Ravenhood’s face.
Smack!
“Cough!” Ravenhood coughed some blood and quickly escaped with a long back jump. His nose was bleeding, and it looked slightly bent as if it were broken.
‘His punches hit like a fucking cannon.’ He thought and spat out blood.
The crowd exclaimed, and some clapped loudly.
In the office, Adam and Norman watched the fight through a wide window.
“He is more durable than I thought.” Norman said. “I haven’t seen many stay standing after getting kicked by Ravenhood.”
Adam narrowed his gaze at the fight.
‘Reinhardt didn’t teach you bare-knuckle fighting, didn’t he? Well, let’s see how good you are without him.’
In the cage, Ravenhood used footwork that resembled drunken dancing and then sent several high kicks that were timely blocked by Ambrose.
However, Ravenhood’s unpredictability proved to be a challenge for Ambrose.
‘I can’t tell where he is attacking from.’ Ambrose thought and quickly circled around Ravenhood before throwing a liver punch, but it was quickly evaded by Ravenhood, who moved around the cage and countered with a powerful kick.
Ambrose put his arms in front of his body and tanked the kick, but his feet slid backwards a half-meter.
At that moment, his back crashed into the cage, and Ravenhood immediately shot forward like a bloodthirsty wolf.
‘Shit!’ Ambrose had no place to escape anymore, as he had forgotten about the threat of the close spaces.
He hadn’t been used to fighting in the cage, while Ravenhood had 33 fights under his belt and looked like he was at home inside the cage. There was a huge difference in experience!
Ravenhood shot his hand forward, grabbed Ambrose by his arm, and tried to throw him to the ground to change the fighting to the ground.
Ambrose’s feet lifted off the ground, and he fell back-first to the ground.
Ravenhood immediately mounted him and began throwing elbow strikes with deadly intentions.
As Ambrose desperately tried to defend against the elbows, it looked like the fight was heavily favoring Ravenhood, and the crowd started chanting his name as the victory seemed near.
In the office, Norman’s face slightly paled. “Adam, if he loses…”
“Yeah, yeah.” Adam laughed. “I think he is just having some fun.”
“Having fun?” Norman’s eye twitched. “He is getting beaten up!”
“Is that how it looks?” Adam smirked.
In the cage, Ravenhood’s grin grew as he felt like Ambrose’s movements had become more sluggish and his arms, which were trying to block his elbows, were bleeding.
“Now… how did they do this…” Ambrose whispered while feeling the elbows strike down on his arms.
Boxing wasn’t the only thing that he had tried to learn. He was also watching many grappling videos, but he wasn’t sure how good he was at it as there hadn’t been a proper place to test.
‘Let’s try this…’ Ambrose suddenly lifted his hips, like he was thrusting his hips into the air.
However, that caused Ravenhood to get tossed out of the mounted position and fall to the ground.
Ambrose quickly jumped back to his feet.
“Argh, the hell…” Ravenhood stood up and turned back to Ambrose with a deep frown.
“Time to end this…” Ambrose whispered and raised a single arm.
“End this?” Ravenhood scoffed loudly and lunged forward like a shooting star. “You weaklin—”
Smack!
At the moment of his lunge, Ambrose threw a punch that was so fast that no one in the crowd saw it. It landed on the side of Ravenhood’s head, causing his brains to shake inside his skull, making him dazed.
Ravenhood stumbled to his side and collapsed to the ground.
The crowd turned silent, as this was not the kind of outcome they expected.
Ambrose jumped slightly and smashed his leg across Ravenhood’s face, sending him sprawling across the ground. The sound of his body hitting the ground echoed through the air.
At that moment, Ravenhood stopped moving, drool dripping from his mouth.
The announcer raised his arms in the air.
“The fight is over!
“The winner—Ambrose!”
After a momentary shock, the crowd excitedly started cheering.
“…” Ambrose looked at his bloodied knuckles and then left the cage while being shown with the cheers.
He walked away with a sense of satisfaction and pride, but he also felt like he was missing something crucial about his fighting style but couldn’t put his finger around what it was.
After he returned to the changing room, the next fight started almost immediately.
This time, the looks weren’t as hostile in the changing room as before, as he had cleared some of the doubt. It was clear that he knew how to fight because he defeated veteran Ravenhood.
However, he needed to prove himself in the next round if he also wanted to earn their respect.
At this moment, they heard loud cheers from the direction of the cage.
‘What happened?’ Ambrose frowned.
At the same moment, the door opened, and a muscular man trotted inside the changing room. However, he was one of the fighters after Ambrose’s fight.
But it looked like the fight was already over!
The muscular man carefreely sat down, his hands still stained with blood, but it wasn’t his but his opponent’s, who seemed to have suffered an early loss.
Ambrose looked at the muscular man with a frown.
‘He is called Nykholm, if I remember correctly, and he is my next round opponent…’