"I told you not to call me sir, you shitty brat," the man freaked out again. "Sorry, I'm a person who believes in signs, and all my fighters, I do this ritual. Please cooperate, I can clean up any trace of alcohol later with magic," the blonde explained his point of view. Kayden found it acceptable, and since it could be cleaned up later, he picked up one of the glasses.
Turning the glass down his throat, Kayden felt his body start to catch fire, the liquid went down, setting every inch on fire. After a few seconds of pain, Kayden recovered, he didn't feel the effect of the alcohol.
"Now I'm going to remove the effect of..." Shang noticed the boy's lucidity. "What the fuck? Are you an old drinker in disguise?" Even the blonde, who drank 24 hours a day, showed some signs of drunkenness after that drink.
"I'm fine, we can continue, Shang." Unbeknownst to man, Kayden's heart was practically a poison bomb, his metabolism was insanely accelerated.
"Demons... okay, let's go," the man took out a booklet from his robe. "First you should know that you were referred by one of my informants, but you don't need to sign a contract with me..." Kayden interrupted him.
"What would this contract be? And what would a patron be?"
"I had forgotten that you are a newbie," Shang collected his thoughts for a moment and continued. "A patron is the one who organizes the fights for the fighters, he is also responsible for managing the money."
In short, the patron was the fighter's resource manager.
"Usually fighters are over 18, you're a special case," the man muttered. "Shang, I can't jump many levels to fight," Kayden was being honest, at most he could face a 6th rank with low skill.
"Don't worry too much about it, you will fight in a special category. We only have low-talent fighters or crippled people. This category only goes up to the ninth rank, but we will be fighting the lowest in the rankings for now." Kayden finally understood, that his category was probably just for entertainment. The public wasn't expecting anything spectacular, probably just raw carnage.
Corrected text:
"His fights aren't to the death either. If you sign a contract with me, our division will be 40% to me and 60% to you, and I will be responsible for helping you with your combat training." The man tore out a page from his little book and handed it to Kayden. The boy read.
The terms of this contract were quite simple, actually:
1)Division of 40% and 60%.
2)Shang should not accept life-or-death fights without the fighter's authorization.
3)Shang should provide combat tips when asked.
4)Shang should find the right fights, with a similar level to the fighter.
5) The fighter must not miss fights for trivial reasons.
6) The fighter cannot fake fights if he bets on his opponent.
"The terms are quite simple, as you can see. What's up, kid?" Shang asked with a smile on his face.
"Before I sign the contract, I want to ask you a question." One thing didn't add up for Kayden in this whole story.
"Sure, go ahead." The man pulled a bottle of liquor out of nowhere and started drinking straight from the bottle.
"Why did you choose me? There must be several better 18-year-olds." Kayden hadn't revealed anything spectacular so far.
"Potential." Shang's eyes lit up. "We've been watching you since your fight against Elisabeth." That was a long time ago. "There are better options, but I saw his struggle to make the elite team. His fighting style is designed to finish the opponent quickly and lethally. Not only that, but I see that you have the will to fight that can only be gained with experience."
Kayden was startled by how long he had been watched. He never even realized that.
"Very well, I accept," Kayden said and signed the contract. Shang reached out to Kayden with a smile.
"I hope we have a good partnership, Kayden. Come with me, I have already booked your first fight."
The man got up and headed towards a trap door. Kayden noticed that there were several of them on the floor spread out in different places. Shang noticed the boy's curiosity and explained while opening the trapdoor.
"Everyone should leave this way. This is done to maintain the anonymity of fighters and spectators. Through this trapdoor, you can either leave or enter the ring." The blonde finished lifting the wooden sign and revealed a staircase leading to another corridor.
The two went down and came across two doors, one on the right and one on the left. They were identical to those in the hotel. Shang took out a small compass from his pocket and turned to the right.
"All club members receive this compass. The competitors' area leads to the area below the arena, while the spectators' area leads to one of the club's exits." Kayden was curious about the exits. He expressed his doubt to Shang.
"No, we have dozens of points. After you finish your fight, I will give you a list of them all. The one at the hotel is only used by the administration." The man explained all the details about the club.
After a few doors, the two found themselves facing a completely white door, it seemed to be made of marble. The man knocked twice on the door and waited. A voice can be heard from inside:
"Who?" It was identical to the voice of the figure who brought Kayden to the club.
"Shang, I fight in 15 minutes." As soon as the blonde gave his information, the door was opened, revealing a square room with several masks on the walls.
"You must choose a mask to hide your identity. And don't worry, they are made using matrices that don't get in the way of the fight." Shang began presenting the models to Kayden.
Kayden chose one that referenced a very popular anime from his past life. The mask was white with cat ears, on the side it had three stripes looking like mustaches and the eyes were black with a red rim.
(AN: I hope you know where this comes from lol )
As soon as the boy put it on, he felt... nothing. It looked like he wasn't even wearing a mask. There was no heaviness or limitation of his peripheral vision. His only feeling was when he touched her with his hands.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Shang expressed in words what the boy was feeling. "Now let's mask your sword." Then the man went to a small altar in the middle of the room. It was made entirely of stone, completely smooth, without any details, it almost seemed natural.
"Here you place your weapon and the altar will put a small filter on it." Kayden did as the man said and saw his sword transform into an entire golden blade, the handle turning blue.
"The colors were horrible..." Kayden commented. The blade was beautiful, but the handle was simply deplorable.
"The altar is random." Shang led the boy to a door on the other side of the room. It was the same white door, only this time it led to a room full of different clothes.