The French accent breaks through the speakers again. "Let's welcome back Ren Lu to the stage! The Curator who laid out the last remnants of the Dreamin' Stars!"
A unanimous roar of hatred echoes into the ring. They want to see me lose. Get knocked to the floor unconscious. They'll probably get their wish in a few seconds.
"And Ren's opponent- another Curator you all are familiar with at this point... Rosa De Leon!"
The crowd, still muddled from the impacts to my head, erupts into a volume of cheers I haven't heard before. The fight between Jessie and her must've been good if they're cheering this much for a Curator.
"Kill each other!"
"I want to see some blood!"
"Make it a double knockout!"
Never mind... They don't even care who wins. They just want to see us violently tear each other apart.
A small thump echoes from the other side of the ring, then another, then a final one, and the gate rumbles closed signaling my opponent's here.
A woman almost a foot shorter than me steps into the ring. Her black hairs are tightly snatched into a ponytail that bleeds red at the edges. Her deep tawny skin switches shade around the right side of her stomach and from her right shoulder down. The same color shift happens around her left middle finger and leg. It's ivory white and bordering on translucent, and I can see her veins winding and wrapping under the pale skin. Is it a medical condition, or maybe some kind of Antique she's using to cheat?
Either way, I'm screwed. Those defined arms and chiseled abs are what I'm up against and even if she does have some kind of illness, she laid Jessie out. They said she was the best fighter among the Curators. It's hard to imagine someone so young being the best, but I've already seen too many Curators with indescribable strength to doubt it. I'm not going to be able to win, but if I can hold my own in the ring, I might learn something. Something that will keep me from dying on another assignment from this hazardous job.
"A fight between Curators! Who's gonna win!?" Another roar for mutual destruction ignites from the crowd, and I have to take a deep breath to prepare for what comes next.
The bell rings and I stand my ground, waiting for her to come to me. And she does, except she's coming towards me so casually. Her hands are hanging down at her side, her expression unmoving kind of like Levi, head completely unguarded. I could swing right now, I might even knock her out. Miracles happen, my first match is enough evidence of that. Imagine Catherine, your husband taking down the strongest Curator in the country.
If I'm going to strike, now would be the time. She's defenseless and her face tells me she's probably not expecting anything out of me. If she's going to crush me anyway, I'll at least put in the effort to win. That way I can say I tried. It's not impossible to beat her. She's not invincible, probably. And losing without trying won't help me improve. And if I don't improve, I won't last long as a Curator.
Just know I'm doing this for you Catherine. I'll put my all into this fight for you.
I step forward to into her approach, ready my fist, and prepare to give the strongest Curator all I've got.
"Clench your jaw," is all I hear. Then the world goes black.
...Where am I?
My vision lets some smeared light break the darkness while my eyelids flutter apart. The cheers of the crowd are still roaring around me, while liquid iron is caught on my tongue. Ugh! Why is my body tangled in itself like this?
I see clearer by the second and try to sit up from the uncomfortable position I was in. Ack! Why does my cheek hurt so badly!? It feels like there's a golf ball beneath my skin!
"Baahahahahah!" Victoria's hysterical, banging her fist on the seat and not breaking for air.
"Wha- Ow!" My mouth feels weird like there's a ball of something warm attached to my cheek. And every time I go to speak the ball shoots out pain to stop me.
"Some hit you took there Ren!" Jessie remarks over me while Victoria gasps for air between chuckles. "You slept so long you missed most of the tournament. Lucky you woke up for the finals though!"
"You should've seen yourself! You got punched once and just fell over!" Victoria kicks her legs in the air as her laughter persists.
I got punched? Rosa! I don't even remember seeing her wind up for it. I was awake one second then here the next.
"Here, put this on your cheek." Jessie offers a frigid cup of soda and I accept the unorthodox treatment happily. The cool plastic stings for a moment, before numbing the warm throb that had been circling in my mouth.
"Nice, right?"
"Yeah, a little."
"Great! Now that you're feeling better, let's talk about what you did wrong out there. And I have a lot of notes."
"I just woke up. Can't this wai-"
"Where to start? You were a little flat-footed out there! And your jab needs some more oomph behind it! Some more strength training and that'll be fixed. Oh, and your reaction time was sluggish too! I have a few exercises in mind that could fix that!"
"Can- Can you just give me a moment to catch my breath." Gah, it hurts just to think. But at least I'm out now. It was quick and I can rest now. Training day is over, and I did better than I initially thought I would.
I can sit and enjoy the matches to come, without worrying about bodily harm.