CHAPTER 154

As Marcos and Diego both made their entrances to the ring, the opinions of the audience on the two fighters was immediately made clear. Marcos made his way to the ring, and as he did, the cheering from the audience was deafening. Marcos was the challenger. The underdog. The one who had the most to prove. This had the feeling of a final, even though they were only 3 rounds into the competition. Marcos could hear his name being chanted all throughout the arena, but he didn't listen to a word of it. For him, as he stood in the ring and found himself locking eyes with his opponent before the fight, the world had never been more quiet.

Kreese gave him a pre-fight talk, but Marcos wasn't listening to a word of it. His mind was completely blank, apart from one thought, and that was attacking the boy on the other side of the mat. Well he'd have to wait a few moments longer for that. The fight hadn't yet started, and there were so many security guards standing between the two that they had basically built a wall between Marcos and Diego. That didn't matter though. They'd be gone soon enough and then they'd finally be able to get down to business.

The Miyagi-Do senseis and students and the 15,000 crazed fans who were making their presence felt in the arena, watched as Marcos and Diego were called to the middle of the mat to face the referee, the security guards stepping away slightly but remaining closeby in case they were called upon, a pretty likely circumstance at this point.

The two boys walked to the middle of the mat to meet the referee but they didn't even look the ref in the eye. Now that the two titans were within inches of each other once more, they stared down at each other, both of them emanating feelings of hatred for one another, their feud deeply personal and about to be settled by an all-out brawl. Scoring 8 points was the least of their priorities.

"Alright gentlemen." The referee said to them as the two boys scowled daggers at one another. "We've been over the rules. First to 8 points wins. First minor infraction is a warning, second is a deduction, third is a disqualification, however any major infraction can lead to immediate disqualification. Follow my instructions at all times. We're going to keep this fight clean. Bow to each other if you wish."

Not a chance. No chance either of them were going to show their opponent that kind of respect. Not with the history that these two had. They remained stick straight, facing down one another until the ref told them to go back to their corners and get ready for the fight to begin.

By now, the atmosphere was absolutely electric. Fans were jumping up and down, screaming and shouting, eager to get the party started. And sure enough, with the loud ringing of a bell, the fight began…

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Marcos was eager to get his hands on opponent right from the get-go. That much was clear. However, what was made more obvious as the fight began was that Diego, his opponent, was just as eager, if not more so. By now, the boy had had the better part of the day to come to terms with the fact that his last year's championship had been stripped from him due to what he had done to Marcos the night before. Processing that had filled the boy up with more anger than ever, if that was even possible, and it only increased his hunger and desire to obliterate Marcos on his way to winning the Sekai Taikai trophy that he believed was rightfully his and was unjustly taken away in the first place.

For this reason, even though Marcos moved forwards towards his opponent as soon as the fight began, it was Diego who threw the first punch. And what Marcos also learned pretty quick was that although Diego had resorted to hiding among his gang the night before, and although the boy had done plenty of talking throughout the Taikai, it was clear that he also very much was capable of walking the walk. It made sense; after all, he was formerly the reigning champion. The boy had already managed to win a Taikai final, and had only improved since last year.

Needless to say, he was VERY, VERY good. Definitely better than anyone Marcos had ever faced before in a point spar. Initially, it even took Marcos by surprise, and he was put on defense pretty quickly by his opponent, a defensive wall that pretty quickly showed cracks, cracks that Diego was able to capatalise on and score the first point of the fight, a vicious hook punch to the liver.

Marcos 0 - 1 Diego

First blood went to Diego. Fair play. The boy had looked superb coming out of the gate. As Marcos punched the ground in frustration at his point conceded, his eyes flickered upwards to look at his corner. As Kreese and Sarah watched on nervously, Marcos spied Silver with them, looking Marcos straight in the eye as he nodded slightly at him, perfectly relaxed.

Silver's message was clear… he knew that Marcos knew exactly what he needed to do. He knew that Marcos had what it took to do it. He just needed to simply forget his fear and channel his anger, like every Cobra Kai before him, and swing the momentum of the fight in his favor through a brutally dominant offense.

And that's exactly what Marcos did from the moment the fight restarted. He didn't even give Diego a second to catch his breath before he pounced on the teenager, lashing out with an unending, unyielding stream of lethal kicks and punches, most of them being blocked but Marcos was quietly certain that eventually, one of them would land. And when it did, it was going to knock Diego to his knees.

Sure enough, Marcos was right. Eventually, one of his blows managed to land cleanly, after he had managed to back Diego into the corner of the mat and not allowed him to escape. But that wasn't the end of it there. As the next round began, Marcos continued to push and push and push, not slowing down for even a second, adrenaline fueling a never-ending stamina inside him.

It was a brutally vicious display from the Cobra. He fought like a gladiator. He definitely wasn't trying to sting like a bee, throw minimally powerfully but accurate blows, like many of the other competitors were doing during their point spar. Instead, Marcos put every ounce of power he had into each and every punch and kick. By the end of it all, Marcos had managed to land 4 points of his own, the last one of them being a roundhouse kick that drilled so powerfully into the Argentinian's side that it was a miracle it didn't shatter a few ribs.

Marcos 4 - 1 Diego

Diego fell to the ground after Marcos' latest point - the roundhouse kick. He seemed to be struggling to get up, severely winded by the blow, but Marcos felt no sympathy for his opponent. All he could think of in that moment as he stood over the boy was how 24 hours earlier, the roles had been reversed. Marcos had been beaten to a bloody pulp on the ground, while Diego had stood over him and mercilessly dropped punch after punch, kick after kick onto Marcos' already fallen body.

"TALK NOW!" Marcos bellowed at his opponent as the boy clutched his side, stumbling to his feet. Even as the referee grabbed Marcos and hauled the Cobra back to his own side of the mat, Marcos wasn't finished trash talking his opponent. "HUH?! TALK NOW! NOT SO MUCH OF A MAN NOW WITHOUT ALL YOUR FRIENDS, ARE YOU?! FUCKING PUSSY!"

With the fight now firmly in Marcos' favor, it was up to Diego to try and change the tide. And with Marcos' incessant yelling at him as the fight continued, Diego was filled with new-found motivation and drive to get back into the fight.

This time, as the fight restarted with Marcos 3 points up, it was Diego who shot out of the blocks, attacking him with more menace than ever. Marcos did all he could - block the shots and through a few counters of his own - but it was no use. Diego had gotten into a flow and Marcos knew it. Sure enough, it wasn't long before Diego managed to slip under one of Marcos' shots and score with an uppercut to the chin.

Marcos 4 - 2 Diego

However, that was where the fight took a turn. Until now, although the boys had been fighting with a brutality not too dissimilar to vikings, there hadn't actually been too many controversial moments. Due to the sheer strength they were hitting each other with, every single blow had been clear and decisive. There was no room to argue about anything, no room to complain either. Until Diego scored that point on Marcos. Because after he scored, just as the referee was opening his mouth to call for the fight to stop, Marcos also landed with his own punch, a hook to the side of Diego's head that connected with a massive THUD!

Diego had scored before Marcos. There was no doubt about that. His punch had landed almost an entire second before Marcos'. And normally, that would've been enough for Marcos to stop fighting anyways. But not today. Not during this fight, where he was fighting against a boy he absolutely loathed. Marcos was going to keep going until the referee called for a stoppage and not a moment earlier. Given the fact that the ref hadn't officially stopped the fight yet, Marcos landed his own heavy blow to his opponent, before he felt himself being dragged away from the referee, a livid expression on the match official's face.

"Point Rodriguez! Score's 4-2 Oliveira." The ref said. "Warning to Oliveira for striking after the round was over. Back to your corners!"

"WHAT?!" Marcos yelled. He had been walking away from the ref but spun around when he heard this, storming back over to the referee. "You hadn't called the point yet!"

"I did. You struck after the point was scored and the fight was stopped. Back to your corner, Mr. Oliveira. Any more dissent to the decision and you'll get a point deduction!" The referee barked. Marcos was beside himself with disbelief, but had no other choice but to storm back to his side.

"Fucking moron. Worry about your own fucking job, and I'll worry about mine." Marcos muttered as he walked away, loud enough for the referee to hear him.

"That's it! Deduction Oliveira for dissent! Score's now 3-2!" The referee shouted.

Marcos 3 - 2 Diego

"Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" Marcos shouted, spinning around on his heel to face the ref once more, preparing to charge towards him again. However, before he could, he felt himself being pulled back by Kreese, who was still standing at the corner of the mat.

"Enough!" Kreese barked, authoritative, shutting his student up. "You see what you've done! Any more of that and you'll get yourself disqualified! What the hell are you thinking?!"

Marcos glared daggers at his sensei as he responded in a tone that sent alarm bells instantly ringing throughout Kreese's entire system.

"I'm winning my fight. So why don't you leave me alone?" Marcos growled in a quiet, menacing tone, before turning on his heel and stepping back into the center of the ring without another word…