They arrived a little later than they expected. Their instructor hurried them up.
"Move it. Your names are being called. "
Danny looked at Wilson. "You hear anything?"
"I can't even feel my head anymore. All I know is that it's still there." Wilson responded. He had hit his head too many times while Dash held his knife and threatened to mistakenly stab every three to five seconds.
"Just hurry up!" Charlie shouted at them as he shoved Dash into a sprint.
As they neared the crowd of spectators out in the open, surrounding the ring, they heard the announcer speaking.
"...if they do not available in the next ten seconds, the devourers will automatically qualify for the semifinals." The announcer said.
"...Ten.."
"Wilson!" Charlie called. Wilson did not need to be told. He bent his knees and accelerated down a narrow passage between the murmuring spectators.
The countdown had reached one by the time Wilson jumped from the floor into the ring.
He landed with both feet at the same time.
*Boom*
He looked straight at the announcer and declared.
"We are here!"
The crowd cheered. That entrance was so cool. Danny grunted in dissatisfaction. He should have gone instead. He even fantasized a little about bathing in the adoring looks of the pretty ladies he already sighted in the crowd. Fawn was quick to bring him back to earth.
"You couldn't have created that kind of effect even if you tried."
Back in the ring, the announcer had left the ring, instantly replaced by Wilson's opponent and the referee standing between them.
His opponent was a lady and was quite the looker. Danny grunted in displeasure again.
"He even gets to fight the pretty chick too?"
"Don't get your hopes up." Fawn said. "If there's anything we've learnt about Wilson, he might as well be looking at a metal-faced sparring robot with a sword. He will probably beat her and any male the same way."
Dash shook his head and said. "Wilson is gonna punch her till she's unrecognizable."
Danny frowned and defended Wilson.
"No, he's not. He's not that brutal."
Charlie who had been eavesdropping laughed hard.
"You know nothing, Danny. Right now, he's looking at his worst enemy. From the moment the referee starts the match till the time the ref stops the match, Wilson will do everything possible to hurt her as badly as possible."
As the conversation went on in their side of the competitor stands, Wilson quietly stared at his opponent while the referee restates the rules.
"....no forms of disrespect whatsoever will be tolerated as long as I'm the ref, you will stop fighting as soon as I say so. Remember, the aim is to beat your opponent till he or she can't go on and surrenders or falls unconscious. In the case of either, you are to stop hitting your opponent. Do you understand?"
Wilson and his opponent nodded.
"On my mark!"
Wilson's face became the embodiment of seriousness. The cheering of his teammates and spectators including the squealing Sofia, slowly faded out. In his eyes, there was just him and his his female opponent wielding a sword. He was reminded of the time when he has faced off against another sword-wielding lady. She had pink hair and he had done his best to beat her out then, even though he was severely injured. It still infuriated him whenever he thought about how his uncle had died and his life became ruined. Well, maybe not completely ruined.
'I mean I survived, didn't I? Now, I'm about to get my second chance at becoming pro and I am not ruining this one.'
"Fight!" The ref yelled, pulling Wilson out of his thought.
The girl quickly closed in. She looked fifteen but was supposedly seventeen. Wilson stood still with his spiked gauntlets on. He clenched his fist.
The girl stabbed at Wilson. Wilson watched the sword come closer and suddenly stop and disappear. Wilson wasn't stumped. He already knew where the real sword was. He raised his fists and stepped forward. He grabbed the girl's sword wrist with one hand and punched her face twice with the other. The punches knocked her down but not out.
Wilson coldly walked forward and raised his right foot over her head. His intentions were obvious to everyone who was watching. He wanted to smash her face underfoot.
"Wait!" The girl screamed. "I give up. Don't step on my face."
Wilson dropped his foot beside her head and sneered.
The ref quickly announced him winner and sent him out of the fight ring.
'These girls care too much about their faces. Good thing Fawn is not like that.' Wilson thought to himself as he walked down to join his teammates who looked at him like a monster.
"That was brutal, bro." Danny said with a grown on his face. "Why would attack her pretty face like that?"
"Because it was open." Wilson responded and sat down. Dash shook his head and walked up to the ring. It was his turn and he was facing off against two at once. It was under his request. Their team of four was facing off against a team of five and with him being the weakest link of the team, he thought it appropriate to let the others rest while he handled a pair of weaklings this time. Obviously the next opponents will be tougher and more than five in the team. Dash wasn't confident in beating them so he wanted to make sure the rest of the team will be in optimum condition.
The fight ended quickly. Wilson threw a knife way up into the sky and haphazardly threw knifes of different sizes and weights at both his opponents. Taking advantage of his speed ability, he threw them increasingly faster.
The opponents dodged and blocked with their swords but could not keep up. Some knives would slip through and cut and stab them. Then, two seconds later, they were gone.
Dash had recalled them and thrown them again. It was a neverending barrage of flying knifes.
They tried to close in on Dash but not only was Dash too fast for them to catch up to, the knives hit them with higher frequency the closer they got.
They taunted and insulted him in every possible way.
"Your looks disgust me. I've seen horse shit with better looks."
"Your mom must have been a whore to give birth to someone like you."
"Your knives don't hurt shit! You throw like a six month old."
"What the hell are you wearing? It looks like vomit."
They all rolled off Dash's back. In his mind, he was scorning them for putting up such weak insults. Their words couldn't hurt the delicate emotions of a fly.
Finally, after doing everything they could without result and almost bleeding out from all the cuts and stabs, they gave up, yelling curses and insults at Dash for being shameless and cowardly and whatnot.
"Pssh! You guys are the ones too weak to endure." Dash said as he walked away. Wilson laughed out loud. He totally agreed. Giving up after a few cuts. They were too weak indeed.
Danny hi-fived Dash as the latter passed by the former and sat down beside Wilson.
"Who goes next? Me or you?" Danny asked Fawn.
"Doesn't matter." Fawn's response showed her nonchalance. It didn't matter who went. In her book, there was no way they were going to lose. They already beat three out of five anyway. She made herself clear that they could just forfeit the next two matches and still win.
"There's no fun in forfeiting." Danny said, to which Wilson spoke out loud in agreement.
"Right. Think of it as training and a means to get used to fighting in front of a crowd." Dash chipped in as well.
Fawn scoffed. Boys will be boys. They are all the same. She stepped up to the ring only for the referee to send her back down with an announcement.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. The devourers have forfeited the competition..."
"Oh, come on!" Danny yelled. "Why now?"
"The Trainwrecks have qualified for the next round,which will be begin after a brief moment of relief."
Wilson perked up. "We still fighting?"
"Seems like it."