CHAPTER 155

As the audience watched the fight unfold, surely getting their money's worth from the highly entertaining clash, the Miyagi-Dos were watching in horror. Daniel and Robby stood side by side at the front of the group, shaking their heads as they watched Cobra Kai's champion descend into an aggressive mania before their very eyes.

"What the hell is this? What is he doing? This isn't right." Daniel murmured, not only horrified at the scene that was unfolding, but also deep down terrified of the prospect of this borderline psychopath facing one of the 3 Miyagi-Do students in the semi finals, provided he didn't get disqualified first.

Robby was equally shocked by the showing that he was seeing from Marcos. His head scanned back and forth through the arena, before his eyes eventually locked onto a sight at the far corner of the mat.

"Look at Silver." Robby murmured quietly to his sensei. It took Daniel a few moments to realize what Robby was referring to, but when he did and saw Silver smirking widely as he watched on, it made everything so obviously clear for Daniel. Of course. Silver had managed to slip into the mind of another innocent teenager, in the exact same way he had in 1985. Presented with a threat bigger than ever before, Marcos had probably turned to Silver, who had given him advice and then managed to weasel his way in, until he had rebuilt Marcos into a human cannon and then directed him in the direction of his nearest enemy.

Meanwhile, the fight on the mat continued between Marcos and Diego, the score now 3-2 to Marcos, and the momentum had definitely shifted away from the Cobra by now. After the controversy that had occurred after last point and the ensuing deduction that Marcos had received, Marcos' mind was not in the right place as the fight resumed, and that was obvious as Diego was able to pretty easily get onto the front foot.

However, once again, that wasn't without its controversy. Just like last time, Diego was the first to strike, doing so in the form of an excellently executed takedown that rendered Marcos a pile of limbs on the ground. With the Cobra down, Diego didn't hesitate to score a clear point in the form of an grounded axe kick to the stomach.

Marcos 3 - 3 Diego

This was where the controversy lay. It was after the point was scored once again. The ref called for the fight to stop due to the point being scored, gesturing to the two competitors to rise to their feet so they could resume. But as Diego did that, getting up first, he couldn't resist laying one last blow on his opponent. He tried to do so in a more discreet way than Marcos had, but it was still blatantly obvious to everyone in the arena. As Diego rose to his feet, he "accidentally" ended up "tripping" and in the process stepping right on Marcos' neck as the Cobra lay on the ground.

In an instant, Marcos was back on his feet, shoving the Argentinian backwards with all of his might, the crowd all egging him on, hoping that he'd turn the already iconic fight into an all-out brawl. However, he wasn't given the chance to do that as the ref pulled him back, before facing Diego and shaking his head.

"Warning Rodriguez for striking after the fight was over!" The referee stated.

"Seriously?! A warning?! Are you kidding me?! He stepped on my fucking neck! I was given a deduction for less than that shit!" Marcos spat at the ref.

"Mr. Oliveira. Back to your corner right now before you get disqualified!" The referee snapped, leaving Marcos with no choice but to storm back over to his side, still feeling the full effects of having his neck stepped on as he approached his senseis and girlfriend.

"Are you okay?" Sarah asked, concerned.

"Can't… breathe…" Marcos murmured, clutching his neck where he'd been stepped on.

Sarah quickly gave him a bottle of water that he accepted gratefully, wincing as the cold liquid went down his severely sore throat.

"This ref is an absolute joke!" Marcos snapped, throwing the bottle aside, feeling much better. "Steps on my fucking neck and gives him a warning. I complain about one shitty call that was his fault to begin with, and he gives me a whole point deduction!"

"Forget about all of that right now. You're drawing with him. It's 3-3. You still have 5 points you need to score if you want to win this." Kreese stated.

"Not necessarily." Silver shook his head. "You actually only need one."

"Yeah, and how's that? I know this ref's an imbecile, but I think even he'd notice if I scored 4 points rather than 8."

"You don't need to score more than 1 point more. In fact, you don't need to score any more points. All that needs to happen is for you to land one killer shot, and I guarantee you that he crumbles." Silver stated. "After all, if a man can't stand… he can't fight."

"You want me to knock him out?" Marcos asked, slightly unsure. Silver nodded, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

"Come on. I know what's inside you. You're more than just an MMA fighter. You're a killer. You're a warrior. You've had the entire world thrown at you, and the only way you've managed to survive is by fighting your way out." Silver said. "Channel all of those feelings inside you. Picture what they all did to you last night. The way they laughed at you. Kicked the shit out of you. When you fight him, pretend you're fighting all of them. Picture everyone who has hurt you, both during this tournament in the past too. Picture your opponents. Keene. Moskowitz. Diaz. Picture all of Miyagi-Do. Picture your father. Let it all out. For anger is actually our greatest tool. It's what pushes us past our limits and beyond."

Anger is actually our greatest tool. It's what pushes us past our limits and beyond.

Where had Marcos heard that one before? If he had been in a calmer situation, maybe he would've recalled that those were the exact words Sensei Kim had told him when she had found out about the abuse his father was inflicting on him and was encouraging him not to go to the police. Maybe remembering this, Marcos could've been tipped off to the fact that Kim and Silver were clearly exchanging messages, quite possibly allies of some kind.

But in the middle of the fight, Marcos didn't think about any of that. He did exactly what Silver had suggested and pictured every single person in his entire life who had screwed him over. Every single person who had physically or emotionally damaged him his entire life. He was now fighting against all of them, desperate to get even with all of them. All he knew that in a few minutes, there was going to be a hole in the ground where Diego now stood.

The fight eventually recommenced with the scores level, but this time it was a different Marcos who was taking to the mat. He looked like an absolute state, blood dripping from almost every inch of his body. It was a combination of his opponent's blood that had gotten all over him throughout the fight, as well as his own - both caused by the opening of stitches from the night before, as well as a few new gashes that Diego had opened up that night as well. But despite all of that, Marcos was not at all deterred. He was not at all hesitant to go lunging in, preparing to end the fight once and for all.

And quite quickly, he actually got an opportunity to do just that. Somehow, Marcos managed to find himself directly behind his opponent. He wasn't sure how it happened. It was a combination of the nature of his spinning kick and the way that Diego had blocked it. But in that position, Diego made a fatal mistake. Knowing that Marcos wasn't allowed to hit him to the back, Diego took a split second too long to turn around. He was right… Marcos wasn't allowed to strike Diego from behind, whether that be to the head or to the back itself. However, there was nothing in the rulebook against committing a takedown on an opponent from behind. Before he could react, Diego felt Marcos' arms wrapping around his abdomen, lifting him into the air before sending him crashing onto the ground onto his back.

It was the type of MMA move that Marcos so rarely got the opportunity to use in a Karate fight, but it worked brutally well as Diego hit the ground with a thud that rippled through the entire arena. He was left severely dazed, lying flat on his back, Marcos standing over him and preparing to land that finishing blow.

At that moment, desperation flared for Diego. He knew that Marcos scoring was inevitable, but he was determined to not allow that to happen at all costs. This meant that as Marcos stood over him and prepared to drop down with a strike, at the very last moment, Diego kicked upwards, landing right between Marcos' legs and causing the boy to fall to the ground in a heap…

It was a hit that was felt by every single male in the entire arena. Marcos couldn't even muster the strength to let out a gasp of pain as he sunk to the ground. The fight was stopped with the ref immediately running over to make sure Marcos was okay, but it took the Cobra nearly an entire minute to get back up to his feet and be in a good enough physical state for the fight to be able to continue, through Marcos was still wincing heavily from the pain he was feeling in his groin.

"No point. Score's still 3-3!" The ref stated.

As the pain slowly subsided and Marcos' brain managed to return to the fight, he realized something pretty quickly…

"Hey, ref! Where's the deduction for that shit! He just kicked me in the fucking balls!" Marcos exclaimed. The referee shook his head.

"The kick was clearly accidental. You moved at the same time he did. It was a misunderstanding, as there was no intent to it. Therefore no penalty." The referee stated.

Marcos had had it at this point with the shitty ref and his ridiculous calls. He was tempted to unleash every insult born on this planet. He was ready to curse out the referee, the referee's family. He was ready to vow to the ref that by the end of his time in Japan, he'd have seduced and slept with the referee's wife, and would record a video of it all and send it to the ref himself.

Marcos was ready to say all of that and more, but it was only when he caught a glimpse of the expression on Diego's face that he stopped. Diego was grinning wildly at him. There was obviously no accident with the placement of Diego's kick. The Argentinian was loving the physical effect that the kick had on his opponent, and the mental effect that the referee's idiotic calls had too. Upon staring at his opponent's cocky grin, the Cobra made a decision. This was it. He was going to end the fight right here, right now. He was done playing games. Done yelling at the ref. A deathly calm had spread over Marcos' entire body, as he had only one goal in mind: knock out Diego Rodriguez.

The fight continued and astoundingly, it was still only 3-3. The fights had both scored less than half of the necessary points required to win the fight. But that total was seeming less and less relevant by the minute. It seemed that the winner of the fight would be the only guy left standing by the end of it, whether it be the Brazilian or the Argentine.

"Finish him!" Marcos heard Silver shout from the corner.

That was exactly what Marcos was about to do. But to do so, he allowed Diego to go on offense for a moment, thinking back to his short trip to Okinawa and using the foundational skills he had picked up at Miyagi-Do to block all of his opponent's strikes. He was trying to make Diego think that he was getting ahead, lull him into a false sense of security. That plan was so basic that it probably wouldn't work if it was the opening round of the fight. However, with the way that the fight had played out, both boys were so physically and mentally drained that it just might. And sure enough…

CRACK!

There it was. The finishing move. The killer blow. A block, shove, followed by a merciless left hook to Diego's undefended jaw sent the boy crashing to the mat in a heap, lying there completely still.

"Point Oliveira! Score's now 4-3 Oliveira!" The referee stated, before seeing that Diego hadn't gotten up yet and realizing that something was wrong. "Medic!"

As the medics raced onto the mat at the request of the referee, Marcos could only stand over them and watch on. Diego was alive. That was the main thing. However, he had been knocked out COLD. It took several minutes after Marcos had landed the sickeningly powerful shot for the boy to finally rise from his unconsciousness, but even then, it was clear that there was no chance he was going to be able to continue fighting after this one. His dojo had little choice but to throw in the towel on behalf of their fighter.

For this reason, Marcos felt himself being dragged into the center of the mat by the referee, and with every eye in the entire arena on him, Marcos felt his arm being yanked into the air in triumph.

"Winner by forfeit! Marcos Oliveira!"

Silence. Complete and utter silence. That's what Marcos heard from the moment his knockout punch had landed, until even after he had been officially declared the winner and confirmed to be advancing to the semi finals. The crowd were in shock, unable to put together a reaction to everything that they had just seen.

When they did though, it was impossible to ignore them. Cheering so loud that the 15,000 capacity arena sounded like 1 million. Stomping hard enough to cause a magnitude 10 earthquake. The audience had come to see a fight, and by God had they gotten their money's worth. The two boys had put on easily the best, most intense fight in Taikai history to date. It had most definitely lived up to the impossibly high expectations that had begun from the moment the press conference had erupted into chaos that morning.

"O-LI-VEIRA! O-LI-VEIRA! O-LI-VEIRA!" A rhythmic chant of Marcos' name echoed through the entire arena, the audience thrilled with the ruthless performance the challenger had produced against the champion. David had beaten Goliath, weird as it was to call Marcos, dangerous as he was, the David of the matchup. That night, every single one of them had fallen in love with the Brazilian competitor, already looking forward to his semi final fight in 24 hours.

However, Marcos did not bask in any of the glory of the toughest triumph of his life. As soon as the fight ended, Marcos turned towards his corner and saw it. He saw his girlfriend watching the events of the fight unfolded. He expected to see concern on her face. He expected to see anger. But what he saw was something he never could've possibly imagined he'd be seeing on Sarah's face… he saw fear. She was scared. Of him.

The mere thought of that was enough to kill all of the adrenaline that was pumping through him and drag his mind back to reality. He was able to put the aggressive monster inside him back in shackles, at least for the time being. And as he looked down and saw how bloodied his opponent was, damage done by nobody else but him, Marcos couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't stay on the mat for a second longer. Turning on his heel, he rushed off the mat, away from the eyes of the audience…