"A body blow!!! What do we have here?! Chase is down on his knees, could it be the end of hi- I mean this match?"
The cheers of the crowd, he had gotten used to it, he could barely hear the commentary anymore, all he could see was blood on the ground that he had just puked. He was starting to lose consciousness, he knew that he was gonna regret this later, he didn't have the strength to lift a finger, he just wanted it to be over, but he couldn't afford a loss, he had to win no matter what, he mustered up all his strength and tried to stand up, but he couldn't. It was as if his head was against a wall, no matter how hard he tried, the wall was not going to budge.
He felt his hair being pulled, so he tried to open his eyes, he saw something coming towards him-
Boom!
He had little to no idea as to what had just happened, all he could feel was immense pain, and he could tell that his nose broke.
"A knee right in his face! There is no way he is getting up after that, he is bleeding like crazy!"
The cheers of the crowd got even louder.
As his consciousness was fading away, he remembered why he had been fighting in the first place,
"My body, it won't move, god fucking dammit my nose hurts! If I lose here the ones who bet on me are gonna kill me for sure, if only normal jobs paid this much, then I wouldn't have to resort to this shit. Anyway-"
Thwaattt!
He felt another blow to his face, which snapped him back to reality.
"At least let me get my thoughts together, shitface," said Chase as he wiped the blood off his face.
"This won't do, if I fail here, my promise to Alice, I won't be able to keep it, I need to somehow survive till round 12."
Back in the time when Chase mentioned his dream to Alice,
"I won't ask what your dream is but I know for a fact that you of all people will not have a meaningless dream of becoming the best underground fighter, whatever your dream is, you need to be alive to make it a reality, it didn't take long for the rumor to reach me, imagine the bureau getting the smallest of the clue, they will hunt you down and kill you, Chase, you are still too young to realize the power they hold, any amount of money isn't worth your own life," said Alice.
Chase knew what he was getting into before agreeing to step in the ring, the fighters in these clubs faced death penalties, and many were even tortured to death, the moment one enters the ring he must prepare for the possibility of death, through the hands of the opponent or the bureau.
"One last fight," said Chase.
"One last fight and I'll make sure for it to be the biggest payout, I promise I will never fight again, just this once forgive my selfishness, after this, I'll get back to my job as a delivery boy or even enroll in the army." he pleaded.
Alice unsure of her feelings decided to grant the boy's wish, she had a discussion with Greg and made him promise as well.
The only thing to do now was to organize the biggest fight the underground had ever seen, two of the strongest fighters against each other. Weeks went into making this happen, both the fighters had a lot to lose and unlike Chase, the other fighter wasn't so keen to lose the legacy he'd built over the course of his lifetime, and that too to a 14-year-old, but money does talk, it speaks every language in this world, loud and clear. It was the fight of the strongest, who wouldn't want to make their bets, who would want to witness history being made? The fights were like a drug and the audience were addicts, no addict would ever refuse a dose so strong. Finally, it happened, both the parties had agreed, the dates were announced and all they had to do now, was wait.
There was however, a twist, since both the fighters were known to end fights in the earlier rounds, the organizers decided that they would use their Shaktis after the 12th round, which gave them 3 rounds to end the fight with their Shaktis.
What Chase didn't expect then was the unfathomable advantage his opponent had over him in raw strength, he was faster, stronger, and better than him in every aspect of fighting, every move he made and every breath he took were completely in sync, there was no way to beat him without pure Urja, and that too he had just 3 chances.
Making it to the 13th round without losing consciousness was probably the hardest task, but Chase somehow held on, the pressure on his back was huge, his everything was wagering on this match, if he lost here his dream of becoming the strongest would stay a dream forever, he had no intention of going back on his word, this would be his last underground fight, there was no "next time".
Then came the 13th round, the round everyone was waiting for, the people who came there to witness Chase finally let out a sigh of relief, his performance in the previous rounds had them worried that he'd never make it to the final rounds.
At the same time, among the crowd,
A group of men in cloaks was bickering over something.
"Sir, I think that this is the right time to intervene and ambush these sons of bitches." said one of them, pointing towards the ring.
The rest nodded in the man's favor, yet one of them was hesitant, it seemed that he wanted to witness the final rounds of the match, "We're busy throughout the year searching for these fuckers, day and night. The country is about to go to war so this will be my final raid, after this, I'm not going to get time to spend with you lot, I think we should have them entertain us for a change, one of them getting knocked out will make our job easier as well, don't you think Gabriel." he said looking towards the man who had made the first suggestion.
"You're the one in charge Sir Vulcan, we'll proceed according to your orders," he replied.
"Oh please don't need to be so stiff, call me Lucas, and like I said let's enjoy the fight in front of us, also, can one of you get me some food and refreshments? I plan to fully immerse myself in what these peasants find so addicting."
Beast-Limb Gary, that's what they called Chase's opponent, his Shakti allowed him to transform any one of his limbs into that of a beast, after years of honing his Shakti, he could switch limbs effortlessly, making both his offense and defense pretty strong but all Chase needed now was to make contact, one good punch or kick and this would all be over, if only it was as easy as he thought, when switching the beast limb with his leg, Gary displayed inhumane speed, Chase couldn't keep up, he knew he couldn't waste a single strike, accelerating his calculations to a mile a second, he had to think of a way to defeat him, fast. Gary was also measuring up Chase, for now, he only used his speed with the leg and attacked Chase with his bare hands, but upon measuring his full speed and dodging traits, it didn't take Gary long to realize that he could switch his beast limb faster than Chase's reactions and then began a brutal onslaught.
He'd speed up with his beast leg, switching it quickly with his arm, against the barrage of attacks Chase was completely helpless, the blood loss didn't help either. There was only one way he could completely turn this over and it was a gamble that would leave him completely helpless if it failed but left with no other choice he decided to act on it.
Every attack he took wasn't meaningless, he had registered Gary's speed, muscle movement, his body angles, theoretically everything, now the only thing left to do was to shut him down.
The next move that Chase would make would be his last one, switching up to a different stance, to match up with his speed, Chase transferred a huge amount of Urja in his leg, launching him off towards Gary who couldn't see the attack coming but switched to an evasive stance on instinct, evading him neatly, he could now see Chase's bare neck wide open and swung at it, making that his biggest mistake of his life.
In an instant, Chase transferred Urja to his other leg, rotating his body, and readied his fist for an impact with Gary's.
Chase's fist cloaked in Shakti would sever Gary's beast limb and half of his torso and end his final match.
"To think I'd find the perfect child in this back-alley filthy fight club, brings tears to my eyes," said Lucas, the man in the robe.
"Oh my goodness! What a fitting end to Chase's final match! The earlier rounds were completely dominated by Gary, with Chase not even being able to graze him! BUT in the end, our wonder kid, boasting the name of "One Shot" managed to pull it around, again ending it in one shot, proving himself to be a MAN amongst men!"
The commentators were shocked and the crowd went wild, even those who weren't here for Chase were now cheering for him, for some the fact that this would be his last match was hard to digest. The boy who had conquered the underground fighting scene in just a year and at the age of 14.
"Uhh… sorry to spoil your celebrations and victory cries…"
The voice could be heard throughout the arena, the voice that would turn Chase's life around.
"Sorry to inform you gutter rats, but you're now surrounded by the Empirical Crime Bureau. I don't know if you've heard about me, but my name is Lucas Vulcan the "to be assigned" battalion commander of the 45th regiment and the leader of this subjugation party. So, there's no use trying to escape, kneel down and accept your fate."