“?” Nykholm frowned, as he didn’t expect Ambrose to have enough strength to dodge. “You again surprised me.”
‘What the hell was that?’ Ambrose felt like someone touched him, but he couldn’t see anyone around him.
At that moment, he saw a face appear in front of him—it was a perfect replica of his own face—it was his soul.
‘H-how can you appear in here?’ Ambrose asked in shock.
‘Your soul ability connects us in a deeper way than before..’ The soul answered, ‘I think I can open the second gate right now.’
‘Y-you can?’ Ambrose’s eyes shook.
‘I feel like I can do it, but I need you to push.’ The soul said, ‘Stand up and fight. I’ll break the chains and open the door.’
‘All right…’ Ambrose stood up and opened his eyes wide. He then saw Nykholm’s foot approaching his face, which would cause his head to pop like a balloon.
At this moment, he didn’t know where he got the stamina to move, but he moved like a puppet moved by a puppet master and rolled out of the way.
As Nykholm again missed the target, his face turned red in anger.
“Fine, I’ll crush you with my fists!” Nykholm lunged after Ambrose, his fists tightening in preparation for the attack.
At that moment, Ambrose put his hands down on the ground and flipped himself up. He landed perfectly on the ground and moved seamlessly down the ground, dodging Nykholm’s fists, which wasn’t possible before.
It looked like he was much faster and more effective with the way he was moving.
His feet didn’t even leave the ground, but it looked like he was sliding across the ground, and it looked beautiful, with many crowd members exclaiming.
Adam slowly uncrossed his arms, his eyes shaking as if he were seeing something unbelievable.
‘He is completely natural with the way he is moving, as if he were bending the world to his way of moving. This can only happen when he is about to open gates…
‘He is only in his early twenties, and he is about to open his second gate!’
Adam’s eyes shrunk.
‘S-so, this is Reinhardt’s disciple?’
Nykholm screamed and threw powerful punches, but each missed Ambrose just by an inch. He felt like he could easily hit him, but at the last moment, Ambrose moved out of the way like a slippery eel.
At that moment, Ambrose threw several sloppy jabs that looked like they would never hurt someone like Nykholm.
However, when those jabs landed on Nykholm’s chest, a powerful smacking sound echoed throughout the room as if someone were smashing a hammer down at someone’s skull.
“Aaaargh!” Nykholm crashed on the cage’s wall and looked at his body, which had three large bruises on his chest. He couldn’t remember the last time he had bruises.
‘Are you close?’ Ambrose asked while breathing heavily. He didn’t feel like he had any strength to lift his foot from the ground.
‘Soon!’ The soul answered.
He had a feeling that it would be all right even if he didn’t, so he instead used the ground as a skating ring.
He moved quickly and seamlessly across the cage and smashed his fist at Nykholm’s face—this time it sounded like his skull had been crushed.
Nykholm coughed blood and quickly threw a sloppy punch, which Ambrose effortlessly dodged by twisting his body to the side.
He then started delivering quick and accurate jabs, which rocked Nykholm’s body and left him helpless like a baby rabbit in front of murderous wolf.
At the moment another Ambrose’s fist landed on Nykholm’s body, the announcer’s voice sounded.
“The battle is over!
“Nykholm is unconscious!
“The winner is Ambroseeeee!”
The crowd erupted in cheers and chanted Ambrose’s name as he stood victorious in the ring. They screamed loudly and clapped loudly, which sounded like a loud thunderclap.
After Ambrose stopped punching, Nykholm’s lifeless body fell to the ground.
He noticed that Nykholm was dead after receiving XP from his death.
‘I didn’t expect my punches to be that effective. I wonder how it would’ve been if I used my swords…’ Ambrose looked away from Nykholm’s corpse and asked. ‘Well, did it work?’
‘No, he was too weak.’ The soul said, ‘You need to fight someone stronger, and I might be able to finish it.’
‘All right. There are still two rounds left in the tournament.’ Ambrose nodded and left the cage while being showered with cheers and compliments.
In the office, Norman stood with baffled expression on his face. ‘Adam, just who the hell did you bring?’
After he returned to the changing room, there weren’t as many fighters anymore. Instead, only five fighters were waiting for their quarterfinal match.
When Ambrose arrived at the changing room, many glanced at him with a different look this time. One was shocked that he could still stand with half of his face disfigured and pieces of his skull showing.
But there were also looks of respect as he managed to defeat one of the strongest fighters in the history of underground tournaments, and no matter how many times he was beaten down, he continued to stand up.
Ambrose went to his locker, took out Restoration Gel from his inventory, and then spread it across the other half of his face.
After a short while, his flesh returned, and it soon looked perfectly new, his skin looking even fairer than before.
He then sat back down and started eating to fill his health.
He felt extremely restless, as his body still wanted to move even though he was feeling extremely sluggish and exhausted.
‘I want to fight…
‘I want to fight…
‘I want to fight.’
At that moment, Ambrose smiled and turned to the rest of the locker room. The five of them were preparing and waiting for their fight to start.
…
After a short while, Nykholm’s corpse and the blood were cleaned off the cage.
“Time for the second round of the quarterfinals!” The announcer shouted in excitement, still feeling giddy about the previous fight.
The two cage doors opened.
“In the white corner, we have martial arts that hail from the land of the Descending Sun. He used martial arts that solely focused on finger jabs and eye pokes. He is known for being a ruthless and annoying opponent to fight against.
“His record is 19 victories and 5 losses!
“Here comes Ryu Zi!”
The crowd cheered loudly as the light from the ceiling focused on the white corner.
However, after a few moments, no one came from there.
The crowd looked confused and slightly awkward, wondering whether the announcer missed the timing of the announcement.
“Hmm?” The announcer turned to the door and frowned. He then looked at the crowd and awkwardly chuckled. “Excuse us, folks, Ryu Zi is a little late!”
He then stomped out of the cage and approached the changing room with a twitching eyebrow.
‘You better be fucking ready or I’ll crush your skull.’ The announcer said and slammed the changing room’s door open. “Ryu Zi, your fight is…”
What he saw in the changing room left him speechless.
“W-w-what the hell…”
Five bloodied and lifeless bodies were strewn about in the changing room.
At that moment, he saw the black-haired young man washing his hands on the sink with a look of satisfaction on his face.
“A-Ambrose?”