I was escorted to a ring on the outskirts of the building, there were only a few judges sitting down on tables right outside and a couple off spectators sitting on bleachers, I was surprised to see Ben standing outside of one of the corners with the world TRAINER marked in big ol' letters on the back of his shirt.
I ran up and approached him. "Fuck're you doing here?" I asked.
"I said I was your cornerman, they let me in here." He said.
"Shit, nice, what's a cornerman?" I said.
"I shout at you while you fight." He explained.
I nodded and entered the ring, waiting for my opponent who came not so long after me. He was some italian looking guy with a cigar in his mouth, big gut and spiky boxing gloves, I had no fucking clue how any of it was sanctioned but the guy didn't look imposing.
"Bring the fight to me, you'll hear me better." I nodded and held my hands up, a bell rang and the guy was rushing forward. I reciprocated with my own charge, and managed to get to him first by pushing with all I had and activating Sprint. When I got close to him I deactivated that and instead activated Flurry of Blows, showering with hits mostly across the head. I was trying to circle around him and use my fancy footwork to evade his slow but definitely devastating strikes.
Whenever he threw his big telegraphed strikes I managed to use his weight against him with my counters, trying to hit as hard as I could while doing so, amplifying my attacks with Strong Punch. This strategy managed to get rid of him by the second round, he only clipped me with two strikes and Jesus Christ did they hurt, but I managed to bear through the pain and knock his ass out.
Boxing (8/150)
+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means
I sat back down in my corner and rested up.
"Good fight, the other matches just need to finish up and they'll get to ya soon, rest up good." I took a small sip of water.
"I got this, trust me." He bumped fists with mine and I waited and waited for the next match, anticipation and anxiousness built up, if someone faster than him came and clipped me with a few good shots, I would be done, even with my increased HP as well as the +10 buff to headgear totalling to 150.
"Alright, next fight, I need you to put the pressure on, those hits could've put you out if commision if they landed well, you need to make sure they won't have an opportunity to hit you, use that stamina of yours and keep punching til they're down."
"I got it." I said affirmingly.
The next match came and this time I was fighting a rather tall and lanky guy, I'd say he was around 6'2 and he had some decent muscle on him, that's for sure.
I was intimidated because of his height and stature, but then I remembered one of my teachers, Mike Tyson. He was a very small guy but he was able to take out guys as big and even bigger than him, I needed to stay low and keep bobbing and weaving as well as sending in as many Strong Punches I could reasonably do without passing out.
I entered the ring yet again and shook up my arms and legs, making sure my muscles knew they were back in action again and that they shouldn't go cold.
My heart started pumping, the bell rang and we were off.
I was the smaller fighter so I needed to go in and I needed to do it quick, I activated Sprint like I did before and rushed in, this guy was much quicker than the other and threw a few quick jabs to keep me off his trail but training my head movement really paid off, I bobbed and weaved and got to a close range before finally slamming my fist deep into his gut with a Strong Punch and a regular hook across the face, not to say it didn't have any power behind it though, I just didn't activate Strong Punch, I didn't feel it was worth it yet.
I deactivated Sprint as that was wasting stamina I was now using to pummel this guys ribs and gut into oblivion and use my head movement to evade any strikes, I did get grazed a few times but they didn't hurt like the guy with the spiked gloves, those ones slashed.
This guy was more fragile than the other but it took longer since he had a long range and managed to create distance at times, it seemed he had a similar build as me, that being: Beat the piss out of them with volume, not strength. But I had an ace up my sleeve, I could do both by using Flurry of Blows and Strong Punch
Flurry of Blows (4/25)
+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means
Damn, these fights were going quick, I only have the semifinals left, I think I'll be able to go through this tournament easily, I know I improved a lot but I didn't know it was by this much.
As I had done before, I was now waiting for my penultimate opponent to show up, I wasn't really as anxious as I was before, I had pretty good momentum and I wasn't gonna slow down, my opponent entered the ring, he was a man of similar size to me, but he was very thin and sinewy, I think I could take this guy out in one good shot, how did he get to here?
And then I saw why.
As the round started, the guy immediately rushed up to me and came into range, throwing three right hooks to the body that I could barely react to, I tried sending a right hand to his face to rock the sickly lookin' guy but he simply slipped and sent an uppercut to my jaw, it didn't do much damage but he was overwhelming me with the sheer volume of strikes.
-10 HP
-12 HP
-7 HP
-20 HP
"Defence, block em and use your footwork, wait for him to tire out."
I took his advice and started blocking his attacks, creating distance by stepping in and around with short bursts of Sprint and anticipating when and where he'd strike, he opened up with repeated strikes to the body so I assumed he would try and target that place when he thought I was focusing only on keeping my head alive and I managed to lower my arm down and protect that side of me with my arm, taking no damage.
I managed to land my first hit, it was a swift jab enhanced by Flurry of Blows, it knocked him a foot back and I tried to capitalise on it, raining blows down on him but he effortlessly dodged and weaved all my attacks.
"T'fuck're you doing!? Keep blocking, he's not tired yet." Ben said as I put my guard up, immediately being hit with some muffled blows to the face.
We continued this song and dance for a few rounds, defending so heavily did tire me out but I recovered more than he did in between rounds, I was able to put in my deep breaths to regain stamina on top of my regeneration that happened every minute which also helped to regain my stamina.
By the fourth round, he was exhausted.
"Get his ass, he won't be able to dodge everything, hit 'em with all you've got!" Ben said.
I activated Flurry of Blows and threw dozens of punches over the span of a few seconds, he was dodging and weaving some of them, some clipped him and the others hit square on, but by the time I had used up all my stamina in that short burst, he was splayed out on the canvas, and the referee decided he was out before he even started the 8 count.
Flurry of Blows (5/25)
+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means
Boxing (8/150)
+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means
Through training or extensive use, you have increased your Agility score by 1
+500 EXP for increasing a stat via natural means
You have levelled up
You have 3 stat points to allocate
God, the end of that fight tired me out, I was surprised the damage he was dealing didn't wear me down by the end of the fight, some of the punches that landed on my gloves or arms dealt 1-2 damage which did build up a lot over time considering the sheer volume of strikes he put out.
Now, for my stat points, I'm thinking of putting 'em all into strength, stacking that on with Strong Punch and Flurry of Blows is sure to make whatever I throw out devastating.
That put my strength at 13, now I just needed to wait for the finals to come in, I hope to god that this final guy isn't as fast as the other, if he has the strength to match, I'm fucked.
A man entered the building, he was tall, bald, buff and wore a tiny set of sunglasses. He escorted me out of the room and into a massive arena, standing at the epicentre of the stadium, people cheered as I arrived, but I wasn't known to anyone outside of Boxer Ben and a few other people from the gym, so they must've just thought I was a lamb to the slaughter for whoever was up next.
"IN THE RED CORNER IS… IVAR D. BLACKSTONE!"
The emcee announced as I made my way inside the ring, the nerves were getting to me, I'll admit, but the motivation to fix up that gym and put it in working order overpowered that.
The other man started walking in, massive cheers were heard throughout the stadium, this guy must've been known by the others even as an amateur, that definitely said something about him.
"AND IN THE BLUE CORNER IS… LAO TZEI!"
A very short and foxy looking man of what seemed to be oriental descent entered the ring, he looked very relaxed and composed, which could be an act, and it very well could not, that was what was unsettling.
That bald guy who escorted us seemed to be talking to Ben, it went something along the lines of.
"Take this water, another fighter suspected you of cheating and we want to get rid of any suspicion that you may be cheating at all." Ben just nodded and took the water, throwing out his own.
"Alright, I suspect this guy might be fast like the last dude, test him out in the first few seconds and I'll say what to do next once we figure it out." He planted a heavy hand on my back. "They all must be tired by now, you recover quick, make good use of the fact they've been going through a bunch of opponents."
I nodded and the bell rang out.
And the guy was just in a defensive stance.
"Rush in, mix up your targets, make sure he always has to think!" Ben shouted out, I charged towards him and started with a jab to the body followed by a cross to the nose and a hook to the ribs. I faked a jab to his face and followed up with another hook to the ribs, but he managed to block and move away with his footwork from everything, he was almost fighting like me, but without the pressure.
We kept doing this song and dance of me throwing what seemed to be varied combos but he just kept blocking and evading everything until the round finally ended.
I snatched the water bottle from Ben's hand and took in a big gulp of water.
[#WARNING#]
[#FOREIGN SUBSTANCE HAS ENTERED BODY#]
[#ALL PHYSICAL STATS HALVED#]