Tilting the right side of his body back, Lucas evaded a punch and immediately countered with a left jab to his opponents face. Veins pulsed furiously as the muscles on his arm bulged with exertion.
The fight had been going on for 10 minutes already.
Sweat coated his face and continued on down to stain his sleeveless black tee.
Lucas had realised long ago that his opponent was no fresh meat.
Before the fights had even begun, Lucas had went ahead and checked the odds for his fight and saw a surprising win ratio of 3:1 against his favour.
Now this may not seem like much, but factoring in his 4 streak win with no losses, his opponent would have to be truly remarkable to make the audience have so little faith in him.
This was the 2nd underground fighting tournament that he had ever participated in.
Lucas as always made sure that he didn't leave his name or any trace of him to stay untraceable.
Prior to fighting in tournaments, he would occasionally join random brawls between opposing gangs or take on targets with low probability of completion to assassinate.
Odds.
Tell him the odds and he'll go gamble.
Tonight his opponent was no. 333 aka Snake.
Known for his slippery footwork and his fast and powerful kicks, the audience was quick to name him after his 5th fight.
Last tournament he was actually ranked 11th which is remains as a testament of his strength as the number of participants are usually around 2000.
Each contestant is made to fight twice each time with fights occurring all over the city.
The only reason his fight was at such well known area was due to his opponent as he had no prior track record known.
Back to the fight…
Unfortunately, his jab was dodged with a quick backward roll by Snake. In a flash, he was back on his feet a few feet away from him.
This was Lucas's current conundrum. Both of their fighting styles were really slippery and heavily reliant on the slip-ups of his opponent.
Still the adrenaline rushing through his veins and the excitement in his determined eyes showed that he was having fun.
Before the fight had begun, with a flick of his hand a ragged pouch appeared in the centre of his palm.
The pouch if opened would show 25 gold coins, though ones with a peculiar seal imprinted on them.
"I bet on my victory.", he murmured with a smile.
The power Lucas carries may not seem like much and may seem even harder to train but the power it can exhibit in the right hands is nothing short of astonishing.
The way to cultivate luck according to his understanding is through making it.
Luck is mostly a product of someone's hardwork that shows fruition against unfavourable odds.
Even luck that is the most random is the work of karma.
Though there are a few rare cases of dead rats falling before blind cats, which are an exception.
Each coin holds a fraction of his luck power and by betting against the odds and winning he can be said to have been lucky.
And so the amount of coins he earns back is much more.
Peculiar powers require peculiar training methods.
All of a sudden, Snake threw a sudden sharp sidekick to his chest while he was distracted prompting him to cross his arms in defence. With a BANG, the kick landed knocked the air out his lungs, leaving him with only regret to breathe on.
"Ughh! Guess I was cocky." Lucas realised in dismay as that kick could've been easily evaded if he wasn't so distracted.
Before each fight he was always forced to seal his powers, cause fighting a Normie with an Awakener's power leaves no room for luck.
Whilst Lucas stumbled back from the kick, Snake immediately not willing to let go of his advantage, followed up with a vicious kick aimed at his shin.
Noticing this, Lucas lifted his right leg in the air, successfully dodging the blow. He immediately pushed off with his left leg upon noticing the opening, throwing a high kick that came crashing down upon Snake's face whilst tilting his body back. For a split second, Lucas remained in the air lying horizontally with one of legs outstretched with which he delivered the scissor kick.
With a crash both Snake and Lucas fell to the ground. Snake was sent a few feet up in air while Lucas fell on his back, sending a jolt throughout his body. Both got up immediately; Snake with a backwards roll and Lucas in a Chinese get-up.
Blood dripped down the corner of Snake's mouth. Pursing his mouth, Snake seemed to swish something between the two sides of his mouth and with a "PTTOO" he spit out two teeth.
The teeth rolled along the floor till it reached Lucas's feet. Mouth guards were forbidden during these matches as that would decrease the amount of blood spilled. After all, most of the people in the crowd were a twisted bunch, especially the VIPs who funded these matches, who especially enjoyed the sight of blood being spilt.
"You're good. How long have you been fighting?", Snake asked as he eyed Lucas in vigilance. Snake too had made many rookie mistakes due to being a bit too overconfident.
"All my life."
Was all that Lucas responded with. Right now Lucas wasn't in the mood to chitchat. The fight had gone on for too long. Once the timer hit 15:00 the match would be over resulting in a blasted tie!
"Hmph!"
Snake scoffed at his blunt reply. To be honest, Snake respected his opponent a great deal. His slippery footwork was as nimble and evasive as his own! But respect had nothing to do with winning. Even a dirty win was a win at the end of the day. Trying to engage him in conversation had obviously failed so all he could do now was play even dirtier.
Rushing towards him, Snake seemed to slither across the stage moving in a weird fluid zigzag pattern. Snake then proceeded to jump into a flying sidekick carrying all the momentum he had built up in his run along with him!
Lucas immediately prepared to dodge and counter.
But suddenly, just as Lucas was about to dodge, Snake with utmost precision and skill that showed this wasn't the first and probably not the last time, spat at his dumbfounded eyes!
Feeling disgusted and appalled, Lucas hesitated in reflex due to disgust.
And that was all Snake needed.
With a BAM, he landed his kick on his chest, fortunately missing Lucas's head due to his instincts kicking in, making him lean back and brace himself.
Immediately Lucas was sent flying back a few feet.
The distinct sound of ribs cracking could be heard throughout the hall sending the audience into a frenzy!
The audience didn't disdain Snake's dirty move but rather applauded such skill.
Anything was fine in these matches.
Even death.
The audience noticed something off about contestant no. 696 when they saw him slowly pull himself up.
Snake had already followed up with his best move: "Viper Bite". His right leg seemed to have embodied the grace and poise of a viper as it traveled through the air. The kick was even accompanied by the sound of a snake his hissing caused due to the weird way in which his leg cut the air.
The audience looked on in suprise as Lucas ignored the kick aimed at his head and retaliated with a swift chop of his right hand. His arm seemed to dislocate as his arm travelled lightning quick.
Snake at the moment was struck with a bizarre need to dodge. He suddenly felt as though he were standing in front of a primordial ocean beast and the instincts that he diligently honed through numerous fights warned him to abandon his attack.
But he hesitated.
And by then it was all too late to chicken out. Snake thoughts flashed by in an instant. He knew that all he had to do was knock this fool out with his kick and they were done. Gritting his teeth, he decided to put his faith in his attack.
With a BAM his foot stuck his opponent's head and sent him flying like a rag doll towards the net surrounding them.
But just before he was sent flying, he too was able to land his chop!
With a loud crack that everyone including those in the rowdy crowd could hear, Snake's right side of his collar bone broke!
Though the crowd didn't hear it, didn't mean Snake didn't. He even had to feel two of his top most right ribs crack!
"AAAAAHHHHHHrrrghhhh!"
The sound of Snake's scream echoed throughout the hall. Everybody was instantly left speechless.
The hall was left so silent that even a librarian would've given his/her nod of approval at the level of quiet that they displayed
To say that the crowd was shocked would be the biggest understatement of the century!
But what they didn't know was that, that wouldn't be the last shock of the day.
With a cough that sent blood splattering all over the stage, contestant no. 696 stumbled up, clutching onto the net in support.
The crowd watched on in absolute shock at the turn of events as he let the hand clutching on to the net fall.
He stood there quietly, with his eyes partially obscured by his blood-soaked bangs with his mask too left blood red.
The look in his eyes left the crowd cowering and shivering in fear.
The eyes of a beast glared down upon them, staring at them through his blood red bangs.
Snake on the other hand only managed to catch a glimpse of his opponent standing proudly before he collapsed from the pain and dizziness that overwhelmed his body. He knew that he would be staying in the ER for a LOT longer than usual.
The referee snapped out of his daze upon noticing that contestant no. 696 was now glaring as him.
The referee cleared his throat in attempts to dispel his nervousness.
"Ehhm….THE WINNER OF MATCH NO. 86 ISSSSSS….CONTESTANT NO. 696!"