(Mitras, 846)
"Nick, you know, I had always thought that you were smart, even when you were younger... but I am seriously considering retracting that statement."
"Frieda-"
"Don't Frieda me Nick!" She responded. "I mean, did you even think about what you're doing right now!" She shouted at him inside of his head.
"Yes, I do know what I'm doing." He calmly responded, walking through the barely lit streets of Mitras during the night.
"Really!" She shrieked. "Because I don't think you have, what could you possibly gain from venturing into the Underground District? An early death? A life as somebody's play thing in the Underground? Or maybe you would prefer to be kidnapped and sold to one of the sick minded people here in Mitras, because that is a giant possibility if you go down there!" She tried to warn him.
"That's not going to happen." He tried to brush it off as if it were nothing, but there was a high chance of him ending up with broken bones with what he was planning on doing down in the Underground.
"We're here." He announced to her. Standing at the entrance to the Underground District, the poorest District inside the two walls that were left standing. He shrugged off more of Frieda's protests as he began to walk down the stairs towards his destination, he had walked down the first flight of stairs and had to turn right only to run into two men who seemed to be standing guard there.
"Whatcha' want kid?" The larger of the men asked him, he was about six foot one, not in great shape either from what Nick could tell, the other one was about three inches taller than Nick at five foot ten, giving them both a height advantage over him if anything were to happen.
"I want to get through." He calmly spoke once more, noticing how the smaller of the men was looking him over as he spoke.
"Sure." The taller man spoke up. "But you have to pay the toll first." He grinned. "No one gets past without paying the toll." He tried to explain.
"Nicholas Lovof is in prison for the exact same thing you two are doing." Nick spoke up, not willing to spend any of the money he had with him on these two idiots.
"Looks like we got a smart one." The smaller man commented. "Lovof may be in prison, but that don't mean we got to stop tolling people."
"You want me." Nick pointed at himself. "To pay you two idiots." He pointed at them. "To ENTER the Underground." He pointed down the stairs that went down past the two men.
"Pretty much sums it up." The tall one commented. "But, since you're here, I know some guys down there that could take you under their protection... for a price of course." He explained.
"What do you mean by the price?" Nick asked.
"We mean that you don't die down there, and you become his personal fuck buddy." The small man explained as they both drew knives and moved towards him.
"You've got to be shitting me." Nick thought. "I'm not even down there and I'm being threatened by forced prostitution already."
"I told you it was bad down here, I suggest you cut your losses and run back up the steps and into your safe from sexual predators bedroom." Frieda recommended.
"That's what a coward would do Frieda." He protested. "I'll never be able to free us from these walls if I run from these two idiots." He muttered to himself.
"What's it gonna be kid?" The tall one asked. "Might as well accept it, there's no escape from this." Nodding towards the third man who was approaching from behind Nick.
"Well... looks like an early grave for you Nick." Frieda sighed out, effectively giving up at this point.
"Have a little faith Frieda." He said to her, dropping his sack and pulling a switchblade from the back of his pants, flipping the blade out signalling that he was ready to attack the three men.
"Looks like the pretty boy wants a fight." The third man called out from behind. "Don't kill him, he could sell for a hefty price to the right person, but beat him up a little... make him learn his place in this world."
"With pleasure." The tall man cockily spoke, swinging his arm without the blade at Nick, expecting him to be knocked out when it connected. But to the man's surprise, Nick moved his head out of the way, causing him to overextend his swing which allowed Nick to grab his arm with his left hand and deliver a vertical slice with the knife in a reverse grip to his shoulder, he followed this up with a quick kick to the gut and threw the man back towards his partner in crime.
"Argh!" The man cried out in pain. "You'll pay for that you little shit!" He roared out, charging once again, this time swinging his knife at Nick, trying to stab him. Nick instead blocked the slice with his own knife which caused him to overextend with his body this time which allowed Nick to stick his knife in the his thigh, causing him to kneel down in pain as Nick swiftly delivered a kick to the side of his skull, knocking him out instantly.
"You!" The smaller man shouted. "Are gonna pay for that!" He roared lunging at Nick with no form at all. Nick simply lefted his right leg up and bashed his head with his foot, sending him crashing to the ground with a thud, also unconscious.
"Nice fighting kiddo!" A familiar voice sounded out from behind him.
Nick looked back to see someone he didn't particularly like standing over the dead body of the third man. "Urgh, not you." He started off. "Don't you have something better to do than follow children into dark enclosed spaces... Kenny." He spat out.
"That's no way to greet your Uncle Kenny!" He exclaimed. "I know you really like me deep down in that cold heart of yours." He claimed. "What happened to you anyway, you used to be much more happy in your youth."
"You know exactly what happened." Nick muttered to him.
"Ah yes, I do believe I do, that girl you were so fond of got so brutally eaten didn't she." Kenny joked. "What was her name again, I can't even remember, must've not been important enough to store up here." He tapped his head with his index finger.
"Don't you have people to kill, lives to ruin, families to tear apart Kenny." Nick spat back. "Or is that something you started doing again after Uri died." He hissed.
"I see what you're doing Nicky boy." Kenny quiped. "That won't work on an old man like me, you see, I've killed more people to last me a hundred lifetimes... you however." He gestured to the two unconscious men. "Couldn't even kill two men who actually deserved it in my humble opinion, oh well, I'll kill them when you leave."
"That's exactly why mom stopped talking to you, you're a psycho, you enjoy killing people just for the thrill of it, you're no better than these two." Nick also gestured to the men he fought.
"But you see Nicky boy, I am better than them, I didn't get the shit kicked out of me by a kid with a sliver spoon stuck up his ass." He retorted. "I mean seriously, didn't your mother teach you how to kill people properly, not this pussy bullshit."
"Because unlike you, my mother actually has morals you crazy fuck, you know what morals are right, oh wait, you grew up in the Underground? Right? No wonder you're so fucking stupid!" Nick shouted at him.
"Wow, that hurts you know." Kenny tried to fake some sadness, however seeing Nick blankly stare at him made him stop. "Really? Not even an ounce of sympathy for your extremely sad uncle?" He asked. "No? Alright then, nice to see your emotions bursting out your body."
"Fuck you." Nick replied.
"Didn't know you were into that kinda stuff Nicky boy." Kenny commented. "Maybe I should've let these guys take you if you're interested in guys like that." He joked.
"Oh wait." Kenny spoke up once more. "Frieda, that was her name, wasn't that the girl you wanted to fuck the shit out of, a bit young for my taste though, a bit crazy too if you ask me."
"Shut up." Nick said, however even the dim lighting wasn't hiding the growing blush on his face at the lewd thoughts that Kenny had suggested to him.
"That's it isnt it, you have a thing for crazy girls don't you?" He sarcastically asked while laughing his ass off at Nick's reddening face.
"Nick, will you please hit him?" Frieda asked him.
"With pleasure." He replied back to her using his thoughts, which Frieda had been able to see while he was thinking of himself and her in some extremely "compromising positions."
"Did it get you off when she called you a sinner." He laughed more and more. "I bet it did, Frieda sure was a feisty one wasn't she-" He didn't get to finish his sentence as Nick had punched him square in the nose, hearing it crack as it did made Frieda very satisfied.
"Wow Nicky boy." Kenny started, putting his broken nose back into place as he got closer to Nick. "That actually hurt, I'm hurt that you would do that to your beloved uncle, but enough about my feelings, we're going to fight now."
"Fine by me." Nick replied. "Don't complain when you eat through a straw for the rest of your life when I'm done with you."
"I like the confidence kid." Kenny replied. "I won't beat you up too badly though, still need some entertainment by watching you stumble through the Undergro-" He didn't finish his sentence again as Nick had lready punched him in the face once again, putting Kenny's nose back out of place again.
"Now that... was dirty." Kenny jested, putting his nose back in place for a second time. Then quick as a flash he came forward at Nick who barely had time to block the punch before it most likely broke his nose, Kenny then followed up with a ruthless assault on Nick, there was no hesitation at all in his strikes despite the fact that he was fighting his own nephew, he was also having fun while constantly breaking through Nick's defense with his barrage of attacks.
"Fuck me, he's even faster than mom." Nick thought, still unable to get off of the defensive as Kenny just kept coming at him over and over again. Nick was hurting now, he would never admit it though, but Kenny was far stronger than he was at this point in time, however after one of Kenny's punches Nick went for a haymaker straight at his head. Kenny though, saw this coming a mile away and managed to tilt his head to avoid the blow completely and spun around and delivered a fierce elbow straight into Nick's nose, the crunch of the bone making him very satisfied at the damage that was done, to put the final nail in the coffin, he grabbed onto Nick and slammed him onto the ground and put his boot onto Nick's chest, leaving him groaning in pain.
"Wow! I gotta admit Nicky boy, I aint had fun like that in years." He said. "Sadly though, much like your painfully obvious love for the craziest chick on this island, all good things must come to an end, although, I do find myself wondering how she tasted, but I guess you'll never get to find out."
Nick could only groan in response to his obvious dig at him.
"What? No smart ass remark about me? No rage induced attack to defend her honour or some shit like that?" He asked. "Looks like you're finally growing up Nicky boy."
"Looks like my work is done here." Kenny spoke up once again, lifting his boot off of Nick and started to walk away.
"Aren't you going to bring me back?" Nick asked, finally being able to sit up while holding his bloody nose.
"Nah." Kenny replied. "It'll be more fun watching those MP idiots chase you around the whole district than bring you back."
"You're fucked up, you know that right." Nick responded to him.
"It's all part of the charm kid." He resppnded, walking up the stairs and out of sight from Nick.
"What a fucking asshole." Nick muttered while getting to his feet and grabbing his bag that was still lying on the floor of the dark tunnel.
"How did you even put up with him?" Nick asked, still holding onto his broken nose.
"He was mostly around my uncle Uri." Frieda replied. "And then he usually only dealt with my father, even when I was the Queen."
"Anyway, we need to keep going down the stairs to reach the Underground." He went on, continuing to walk down the staircase.
"Then you're going to see a doctor down there." Frieda commanded. "You need to get your nose set back into place so your nose doesn't end up crooked."
"I'm not going to see a doctor down there." He replied. "They'll have needles lying all over the place!"
"It's either that... or I could sing to make you feel better." She replied.
"You wouldn't."
"I would." She confirmed.
"But... you can't sing Frieda." He protested. "I'd rather listen to cats raking their claws down a chalkboard." He declared.
"Well... that's the two options you have." She replied.
"Well... doctor it is."
(25 minutes later)
"And how exactly did you break your nose young man?" The female doctor sternly asked while setting his nose back into place.
"A fight." He simply responded.
"And who were you fighting?" She asked.
"... My Uncle."
"And why were you fighting with your uncle?" She asked once again.
"Because he's an asshole, and he thought it would be entertaining."
The doctor sighed at this as she placed a bandage on his nose to cover up the bruising on his nose along with a splint to keep it in place.
"Now take your hoodie and shirt off." The doctor commanded him.
"Why?" Nick asked, not understanding why he had to do it.
"I saw you wince when you sat on the table, which indicates that you have an injury to your ribs." She explained.
"I don't have a rib injury." He protested, only to hear Frieda begin to sing to him.
Frieda then began to sing using the highest pitch voice she could muster, dragging out the last words of each line out purposely to get him to relent from being so stubborn until he finally snapped from her awful singing voice.
"Fine, I'll take the hoodie and shirt off." He relented, knowing that Frieda had beat him this time.
Once he had taken his hoodie and shirt off he was given a smack on the side of his head by the doctor. "Don't be so stubborn, I only want to help." She said while gently pressing on his ribcage where it had started to turn green and purple where Kenny had managed to get hits off on him.
"I can't feel any breaks or fractures." The doctor told him. "You're lucky they are just bruised." She said. "I'll get some Ice to keep the swelling down." She said as she left the surprisingly clean room to get sone Ice for him.
"When did you learn how to sing that song?" Nick asked once the doctor left, sitting in just his pants and shoes on the counter.
"Why? Want me to sing it again?" She teased.
"The song is good... when the person singing it can actually sing." He deadpanned.
"To answer your question, I saw it in a songbook at your house once, when I thought I could sing." She admitted.
"You know what the words mean?" He asked her.
"A little." She admitted. "It's a very hard language to learn."
"Marleyan is a hard language to learn if you don't start early on." He admitted. "But your pronunciation of the words was... adequate."
He was taken out of his thoughts by a knock at the door as it slowly opened, revealing a girl that was about his age, holding a cloth wrapped around ice in her hands.
"Mom said to give this to you." The girl said, handing him the cloth and swiftly exiting the room before he could even get a word out.
"That's cold." He muttered while holding the cloth onto his ribs that were bruised.
"She was... interesting." Frieda spoke up.
"She, said seven words before leaving Frieda, "interesting" is not the word I would use at all." He replied to her, relishing the coldness from the ice on his ribcage.
"Yeah, but she was pretty." Frieda commented. "You don't think so?" She asked.
"Whether or not I think she is pretty or not doesn't matter in the slightest Frieda, what could I possibly gain by admitting that she is pretty?" He asked.
"You could get a girlfriend, or at least a friend Nick, you've been so lonely this past year." She told him.
"I don't need friends." He replied. "It only leads to more harm than good, especially for me."
"Who were you talking to?" The doctor asked as she stepped back into the room.
"Myself." He replied.
"Right." She seemed skeptical at his answer. "But thats all I can do for you just now, you're welcome to stay here until the ice melts, but please stay out of trouble from now on." She said. "I'd rather you not be coming back here on a regular basis if you keep fighting your so called uncle, I may have some experience in the medical field, but I'm not an actual doctor." She told him.
"Actually." He spoke up. "You might be seeing a lot more of me for the next few weeks or so." He admitted.
(22 hours later)
"Are you sure this is the place?" Frieda asked him, seemingly put off by the metal door to the warehouse that he was told about earlier in the day.
"This is the place." He confirmed to her before knocking three times of the metal door.
After a few seconds, a slit in the door opened which revealed a pair of eyes looking at him.
"Whatcha' want?" The man asked him.
"I wanna make some money." Nick replied, which was the apparent code phrase to get into the club.
"Aint' you a little young to make money boy?" The man asked once again.
"Aint' you a little stupid to turn someone who would willingly come here away." Nick shot back at him.
"Fair enough." The man grunted, closing the slit and unlocking the door from the inside to let Nick inside.
"Challengers meet the boss before fighting." The man explained. "Last door on your right, only knock twice." He told him before closing the door once Nick had entered.
Once Nick reached the last door on the right, he knocked twice on the door like instructed and waited for the door to open. After about thirty seconds, the door opened, the person who opened the door happened to be a women in her mid twenties, but Nick kept his mild surprise hidden by keeping his blank look on his face.
"Hmm." The woman pondered. "Aren't you a little young to be a challenger?" She asked him like the guard at the door had done.
"Is there an actual minumum age to compete here? Or are you actually concerned for my wellbeing?" He sarcastically asked.
"Fair enough." She conceded. "Been a while since we've had some fresh meat anyway, I'm sure our champion will love you." She said, stepping past him and gestured for him to follow. As they were walking there was a thunderous cheer that went through the warehouse, signalling that the current fight had ended. "The crowd is gonna love this." The boss muttered to herself, opening a door which seemed to be a changing room of some sorts, a filthy, disease ridden changing room.
"Hey Doc!" The boss shouted. "We got one more to go!" She yelled. "Listen up kid." She redirected her attention back to Nick. "The Doc is gonna tape up your hands so that you don't break your fingers with one punch, the only rule is no killing, everyting else is permitted." She explained. "Once I announce you, go down that tunnel and when the horn goes off, don't stop till he's down." She said as she walked down the tunnel that she had mentioned beforehand.
"What are you doing here!" A familiar voice exclaimed, he turned to see what he assumed to be the daughter of the doctor that he saw yesterday standing infront of him, her eyes wide in shock.
"What is it dear?" The doctors voice came from down the tunnel as she saw Nick once again. "You aren't serious about being here are you?!" The doc exclaimed.
"I am, now please tape up my hands." He said, holding out his two hands for the doc to strap up.
"It's your funeral then." She sighed before beginning to work. "If you're really serious about this, then I'd suggest not wearing a shirt to fight him, the champion is rather... grabby." She explained as she finished his left hand.
"I know how to fight." He said. "I wasn't going to wear a shirt anyway, It gives the opponent less chance of getting a hold of you." He explained to her.
"You better hope so, the guy out there is no joke, he has a thirty five win streak." Her daughter spoke up. "He fights dirty, that's why he's never lost."
"No." Nick interrupted. "He's never lost because he's never fought me before."
He recieved another smack to the head by the doc for that statement. "Don't be so arrogant, he will break you if you're not careful out there."
"I'll be fine." He brushed their concern off like it was nothing as he removed his hoodie and shirt once the doctor had finished.
"Ladies and Pigs!" He could hear the boss shouting from the end of the tunnel once the crowd had settled down. "We have time for ONE. MORE. MATCH!" She yelled, getting a roar of approval from the crowd.
"We have another challenger for the title of champion tonight, and I gotta say, he's got a real pretty face ripe for pummeling!" She got another roar from the crowd.
"But enough of that, lets introduce the fighters!" She yelled, the crowd cheering around her. "In the champions corner, with a THIRTY FIVE win streak, I give you, Pablo Gutiérrez!" The crowd then erupted at the announcement of the current champion.
"And in the challengers corner, we have some more FRESH MEAT!" She shouted as loud as she could, which gave Nick the signal to walk out into the arena he would be fighting in.
"Fresh Meat, Fresh Meat, Fresh Meat!" The crowd continued chanting as Nick emerged from the tunnel to the sight of a six foot tall bald man infront of him, soaking up all the cheers he was getting as well as chanting fresh meat alongside the crowd.
Once he got a look at Nick he couldn't stop himself from laughing at the sight of a teenager that had come to fight him. "This is who the challenger is, seriously, the only thing going for him is that body of his." He pointed out. "Hey Kid! I know someone who could take good care of you, maybe I'll go easy on you."
The horn sounded which signalled the start of the fight to which Nick stood still in the stance that was engraved into his muscle memory after years of training with his mother.
"Guess I'll come at you then!" Pablo shouted after noticing that Nick wasn't making any movements towards him. He shot forward and swung his fist straight at Nick's bandaged nose only to see his stroke deflected upwards by Nick as he was clocked in the jaw which sent him back.
"Looks like we've got a challenge here!" The boss called out, surprised that Nick deflected the strike so easily.
"It's gonna be a challenge for him to wake up once I'm done!" Pablo roared, coming at him once again, his anger getting the best of him. He tried to hit Nick with a haymaker only for Nick to duck under it and sweep his legs out from underneath him and walk over to the champions corner, mocking Pablo as he did this.
"That all you got?" Nick taunted him.
"Looks like the challenger has the upper hand here!" The boss called out, getting a roar of approval from the crowd.
"No!" Pablo yelled out. "This is my title, not yours!" He shouted, rushing at Nick once again, only to get a shin to his thigh, causing him to stumble as Nick brought his knee up to his face which broke his nose and then threw him back towards the challengers tunnel where the doc and her daughter were watching, their eyes wide in surprise at how easily the champion was being thrown about.
"That's it!" Pablo roared, pulling a knife from his back pocket and began to run at Nick, knife in hand.
"That is not against the rules!" The boss reminded everyone.
Nick had also paid attention to the only rule that was no killing and pulled the switchblade from his pocket and brought it up to block the blow from Pablo's knife.
"You little shit." Pablo growled. "Fuck the rules, I'm going to gut you." He spat at Nick, going for a strike at Nick's exposed abdomen, only to have his arm grabbed and twisted by Nick's hand which forced him to drop the knife which was kicked away by Nick as he threw Pablo back once again and then put his own knife away.
Pablo then rushed at Nick, not having learned his lesson that Nick had superior strength and technique to his fighting style, as he easily dodged his first punch and hit Pablo in the gut. He avoided another punch and hit him in the face this time, making him stagger back, he tried to come at Nick again only to recieve an elbow before he could react and Nick finally finished him off with a roundhouse kick to his head which left Pablo on the floor and unconscious.
The whole warehouse was stunned at the manner of defeat that the champion had suffered, he had seemed unbeatable and some even thought he would keep the title for years to come, but the fresh meat that Nick had been dubbed had completely dominated the fight and had humiliated Pablo without taking the smallest his whatsoever.
"We have a NEW CHAMPIOOOON!" The boss yelled out, which was followed by the deafening roars of the crowd who had seemed to greatly approve of the way that Nick had beaten the former champion.
"Hey kid, what's your name?" The boss asked him.
"Nick." He told her.
"Last name?" She asked.
"Don't use your actual name." Frieda recommended. "That will cause problems for you.
"Frieda." He said, saying the first thing that came to his mind when it came to names, it was clearly a flase name, he could blame Frieda for that since she was talking to him right as he gave his name.
The boss gave him a look of suspicion, seemingly not believing the rather strange surname that he had given her.
"Here's your new Champion, Nick Frieda!" She yelled out once again.
"I want a rematch!" A voice yelled from down the tunnel Pablo had been dragged through. "I refuse to believe that this... this child can defeat me!" Pablo yelled, emerging from the tunnel.
"Well then." The boss spoke up. "We have another match coming right up, sound the horn!" She yelled.
The horn went off once again, Pablo coming straight at Nick once again, this time a bat in his hands.
"Not against the rules." The boss reminded.
"I can't block a metal bat with my bones, that would be stupid." Nick thought, leaning back to avoid the bat as it hit the concrete floor, giving Nick the chance to knee him in the gut which sent him back, but the bat still in his hands.
He swung the bat at Nick again but he stepped forward towards him, catching his arm inbeteen his him and arm, Nick twisted his body and brought up his knee and broke his arm at the elbow joint and swung his right elbow at his face which was swiftly followed by another roundhouse kick which sent him back down sprawling back towards the ground, unconscious again to be dragged off once again.
The boss then entered the arena and lifted Nick's hand into the air, signifying that he had indeed won his second match in a row.
"Surely it has to get tougher from here, this wasn't even a challenge, and he was the champion." Nick thought, not believing how easy it was to defeat the reigning champion.
"Seems I was right about this, that was very entertaining." Kenny thought, stepping out if the audience before Nick could catch sight of him. "It'll be even nore entertaining watching that idiot Nile try to catch him, maybe I'll watch from the shadows."
(6 days later)
"How's my favourite champion?" The boss asked as she came into the champions changing room, he still hadn't learned her name despite being the champion and having defeated nineteen people in the past five days since his arrival, but the record number of wins in a row was forty nine, but the champion at the time had mysteriously disappeared without a trace, but that had been about seventeen years ago, when the fight club was run by the father of the boss before handing the reigns over to her.
"Fine, who's the next one?" He asked, wanting to get the next fight out of the way.
"This match will be a... special match, you could say." She started off with. "Instead of fighting the usual shitheads you usually beat the shit out of, you will be facing the champion of the fight club at the other end of the Underground." She explained.
"So..." He asked, not getting how the match was considered to be special.
"It will be a fight to the death." She told him. "Losing club has to shut down, losing champion loses their life, you will be fighting with a sword and a shield each." She explained to him.
"And if I refuse?" He asked.
"I'll hand you over to the Military Police minus a few appendages, they've been snooping around the district for a teenager of your description." She said. "Must be important if Commander Dok is leading the search."
"Yeah... something like that." He said. "Fine, I'll fight the guy." He said, standing up as she handed him a standard longsword and a circular metal shield that was strapped to his left forearm.
"I assume you will win, if not for me then maybe for the child of the doc, you two seem to get along pretty well."
"She's... bearable." He replied.
"Don't dissapoint me." She coldly told him, walking off to announce the two fighters.
"Are you really going to do this?" Frieda asked him. "You could always run, I don't doubt that you could fight your way out."
"Frieda, I came here to experience the true brutality of the real world, not the perfect life that I was given to me because I was lucky enough to be born as a Noble child." He told her. "This is the real world Frieda, not that fantasy world they like to live in Mitras."
"I know that." She protested. "But killing someone, that's just ridiculous!"
"This is the world we live in Frieda!" He yelled at her. "We can't be free from these walls with Rod and his band of idiots ruling over us."
"And who would you rather have, some other stuck up Noble that only cares about themself instead of the people in the walls!" She shouted back.
"Honestly, I'd have Zackly put in charge for a while, despite his clearly obvious distaste for the Royal Government, I think he does have humanities best interests on his mind." He told her.
"What makes you think he has the capabilities to rule over humanity, even for a short amount of time?" She asked.
"He did work with the Scouts to imprison Lofov when he tried to take their funding away and put it to his own use." He pointed out
"I remember that." Frieda stated. "My father plotted several times to have Zackly removed from his position because of that, but apparently his spotless record was a problem, he needed public opinion on the Governments side, not Zackly's."
"The censorship of the media certainly helps his cause." He sarcastically replied.
Frieda was about to respond until Nick's name was announce to signal that he needes to step into the arena so that the fight between the two major fight clubs in the District could begin, and so that Nick would hopefully be able to prove himself once more.
Once he entered the arena, he could only be shocked at the champion that stood infront of him, the man was about six foot three with muscles upon muscles on his body, he also had strange markings around his body, seemingly foreign to anyone else but Nick could read them, he was fluent it reading, writing and speaking Marleyan after all. The symbols on the man's body depicted the great Titan war in words such as "Devils" and "Slave Blood" written all over his body, there was also the fact that he had "Warrior" written on his head in Marleyan.
"So you're a warrior?" Nick asked him, the only markings on his body were the bandage that was on his nose and the small amount of bruises he had gained from his previous fights.
The man eyed Nick cautiously before he spoke up. "You can read it, I'm surprised, not many can read this ancient language." He replied.
"Does he not know what language it is?" Nick asked himself.
The horn then sounded that signalled the beginning of the duel to the death between the two champions.
"Come on then!" Nick yelled. "I'll show you how a Devil fights!" He roared, charging at the man.
He charged forward to test the defence of his opponent, he swung his sword downwards at him, only to have it blocked by the shield the man was using, he then tried to slash him, only to have it blocked once again. Nick then stepped back, inviting the man to attack him so that he could gauge his skill and strength. The man swung his sword at Nick's side only to have it blocked, but he also swung his shield at his face, the sword Nick carried unable to block the power behind the swing, breaking through his defence and bashing the side of Nick's face.
Nick was sent sprawling to the ground, dropping his sword out of reach as he was only left with the shield for defence. His opponent stabbed towards his chest as Nick moved the shield to block the strike, twisting his body on the dirty floor and kicked the sword out of his hand.
The man then tried to slam his shield onto Nick's knee in hopes of breaking it to seriously limit his movement, Nick just managed to kick the shield away before it made contact, stinging his foot slightly. He then kicked the man's feet from underneath him and scrambled to his feet and rushed over to where his sword was, picking it up once again, his bare back all scratched up from moving around on the uneven concrete floor.
His opponent had also managed to get up and recover his sword in the time that Nick had been able to recover his. They both then started to circle around the arena, sizing each other up, during this, Nick took the time to read more and more of the markings on his body, realising that there were at least three different languages on him, not just Marleyan.
He was pulled from his examination as he was rushed by his opponent, raising his shield to block the sword attack, while the sword rebounded he twisted his body to avoid the blow from the shield to his right and once he had fully twisted brought his sword upwards towards the arm holding the shield and cut through to the bone where the sword got stuck. He had to quickly pull it out, grinding against the bones in his forearm as it did. Unfortunately the man was still able to hold the shield up even with his damaged arm.
The man then started spouting some words towards him in a language that he recognised but didn't have a clue to what he was saying.
"What's he saying?" Frieda asked him.
"I don't know, but he's speaking the native language of the Asian clans." Nick replied. "I wonder how he learned it, there's barely any Orientals left if the walls if any after all the persecution."
Sorry to disappoint, but I don't have a clue to what you're saying." Nick spoke up.
"Don't speak formally to me scum!" He shouted. "I'm not at some dinner party with you."
"Sorry, I talk like this so idiots like you can understand me." He retorted, seeing his eyes twitch in anger.
"Good." He thought. "Anger leads to mistakes. And his mistakes, will lead to his death."
He was rushed once again by the man, sword raised and ready to pierce his heart, Nick moved the shield to deflect the blow towards the left, using the oppurtunity to swing the sword down and straight through his wrist, severing it completely. He didn't stop however, bashing his shield against his opponent's, causing the injured arm to fully break from the impact caused from the two shields bashing into each other. He then sliced at the shield, causing further pain for the man, causing him to drop his arm while Nick sliced at it again, cutting straight through on his other arm this time.
Once the second arm and only defence left was gone for him, Nick brought his sword back and lunged forward, the sword going into his opponent's throat and coming out the back, he slowly withdrew the blade, sending the man to his knees abd quickly sliced across his neck, severing his head from his body as it rolled off to the side and then kicked the headless body onto its back.
Once the body was on the floor, Nick quickly disposed of his sword and shield and examined the markings even further to see if there was any other words he could translate.
"There's something about someone called "Helos" here." He told Frieda. "It also says that he was the one to slay the Earth Devil. Do you know anything about this?" He asked her.
"Helos was a myth created by Karl Fritz and the Tybur family to worsen the Eldian Civil War before he moved the majority of the Eldian population to Paradis." She explained. "The idea was that the Marleyans should have a hero to help them start a civil war to overthrow the Eldian Empire, but that was over a hundred years ago."
"Then how has it ended up on his body?" Nick asked.
"The only ones that knew about it was Karl Fritz and the head of the Tybur family at the time, perhaps he found the markings somewhere and became obsessed." She offered up.
"That is a possibility." He admitted. "But it's unlikely, it's also possible that he is a descendant of the Tybur family that knew and left for the walls all those years ago." He presented a theory of his own.
"We should keep the body intact so we can translate the rest of the markings." She suggested. "But we need to get to the surface for that. How will we get the body up there?" She asked.
"Don't worry about it Frieda, Kenny is in the crowd, he's an idiot if he thought I didn't notice that stupid hat he always wears, he'll probably take it to the surface when we leave." He told her. "Probably make a game out if it, sick bastard."
Hey everbody!" Someone in the crowd shouted. "We got MP's raiding the building!"
"They're here for me, I wonder who they sent?"
"Military Police!" One voice shouted. "Out of the way!" They yelled, trying to push through the angry crowd, looking for their target so they could bring him back. The first one to make it to the edge of the crowd spotted him kneeling next to the dead body and started shouting. "He's in the middle! Don't let him escape!"
"They sent the Commander after me, they didn't even bother sending the First Interior Squad, it should be easy to escape from this idiot."
Don't move." Nile yelled, jumping the barricade and rushed towards Nick, who had begun reaching for one of the weapons on the floor.
A/N - This chapter took a significantly shorter amount of time to write but I guess thats what happens when you're in the groove. I wonder who held the previous record at the club, seeing as the champion vanished before Nick was born, and right at the time where the purge of the Ackermans stopped?!?!?!?. I also have to wonder what the writings on the dead man's body say, could be nothing, could be everything, could be something. There will probably be one more chapter of the past after this, then onto the present where Nick has Annie where he wants her, in the middle of nowhere and no way to transform. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!!!