Mankind had always been an innovative race, and with the discovery of abilities, many things had changed. Abilities made one capable of doing things once thought off as impossible. Some referred to it as magic. Others saw it as a curse and sought to eradicate it.
Abilities not only granted one superpowers, but also improved one's physical prowess. Meaning, a person with an ability was naturally stronger than someone without one.
However, neither contestants were powerless. While one was doing everything he could to win, the other was thinking of trying something else.
Kayden was completely surrounded. He couldn't focus his attention in one direction. He would be leaving his backside exposed to attacks which would make it harder for him to deal with the actual target.
"Hope I don't get dizzy!" he said as he began to spin his body. With his Werewolf speed and stamina, he was able to slash at the attacks coming towards him. Although he knew he couldn't keep this up forever, neither could his opponent.
Not long after, and the barrage of attacks had stopped. It didn't take long for Kayden to slash away at the remaining attacks.
'Shit! I'm all out of Mana!" the Galaxy began to panic.
"Ha! Looks like you're done!" Kayden said, as he began to sprint towards his opponent. He raised his right claw in the air, ready to slash away, until an image of a teenage girl clouded his mind.
"Stacy?" he said softly.
"Help! Kayden, help me! They're gonna-" in his vision, a hand had covered her month. She shook her head violently. However, a knife was placed against her throat, slicing deeply into it, causing her to loose consciousness.
In the midst of his thoughts, it appeared to everyone that he was about to miss his target.
"Stacy!!!" he yelled in his werewolf form, which ended up coming out more like a howl than a name.
"I... I couldn't save you..." he trailed off.
Seeing that the Silver Fang seemed lost, the Galaxy thought that he could capitalize at the current situation. Gathering whatever bit of Mana he had recovered, he produced an attack and sent it towards his opponent's chest.
Meanwhile, Stacy's head laid limp, barely attached to her head as the blade had been pushed further deep, nearly decapitating her.
"Aaaaaaaa!!!" Kayden growled.
Before the attack could hit him, he quickly slash at them, quickly destroying them. Now, there was nothing between he and his opponent. Grasping him by the throat, he delivered a punch to the gut. The force of the attack had knocked the wind out of him, even causing him to spew out blood from his guts.
That punch alone was enough to knock him out. Letting go, his body hit the rocky ground, unmoving. The crowd remained in silence for a few moments. From what they had seen just moments before the match ended, it was clear that there was something wrong with the Silver Fang.
However, once the first person started to clap, the others followed suit and the crowd soon erupted in cheers. Even though the results of the match were somewhat to be expected.
'I'll make sure they don't lay a finger on you!' he yelled internally.
After his second match that night, he ended up making a sum of eight thousand. Although it was a lot, it still wasn't enough to pay for ransom. He needed to participate in more fights, however, he feared that he was running low on Mana himself.
That was why he asked for a few more days. In the meantime, he decided to head back home instead. Kayden lived in an apartment building with his uncle and cousin. However, ever since her kidnapping a few days ago, the family had never been the same.
His uncle had had nothing but sleepless nights ever since finding out that his daughter was kidnapped. He had tried everything he could to find her. He filed a missing person report to the authorities, but till this day, they claim to have no leads as to who her abductors may be.
Even after they interrogated a bunch of witnesses who were around her closely before her kidnapping, they had managed to find no useful leads. So far, there was nothing the authorities could do.
But, the same couldn't be said for Kayden. After receiving an anonymous email a day after her kidnapping, he had been looking for ways to quickly gain enough money to pay off her kidnappers.
He contemplated stealing the money, but later decided against it. He needed the money urgently, so it was either that or something like this. Although he had joined underground fighting before she was kyidnapped, he hadn't fought officially before today, while debuting his ability for everyone present to see.
It was a Saturday, meaning there was no school that day. Ever since that day, Kayden had avoided going to school. His uncle didn't force him to go, knowing how hurt he must be knowing that his cousin's life was in danger.
His school had sent him emails asking him to start coming back to school, although he never replied to any of them.
The next night, Kayden went back down to the fighting club. To pay off his cousin's kidnappers, he needed to pay them a sun of fifty thousand dollars. So far, he had fifteen thousand. Pretty much still had a long way to go.
Thanks to his ability, he was one of the strongest fighters at the club. Plus, due to his consistent wins, he was quickly gaining the attention of influencial people.
If they saw him as someone who had potential, they would seek him out to recruit him to work for them. Tonight, he had participated in three fights, winning them all. He also made sure he didn't fully exhaust his Mana.
He had made a total of twenty-three thousand. Adding it up with what he made yesterday, he now had thirty-eight thousand dollars to his name.
'Hopefully all I need now is one more night to make the remaining sum.'
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In an abandoned building somewhere on the ragged side of the city, a group of men wearing black clothing with masks over their nose and mouth were gathered.
In the middle of the gathering, was a man with curly brown hair holding a cigarette in-between his fingers. He sat comfortably cross-legged on a large chair, taking in a puff of smoke.
"Better hope your brother brings in that money soon enough," he said, puffing out the smoke.
___________
The next day, Kayden woke up from a nightmare. In it, he and his cousin were walking back home from school, where a group of men in black jumped them. Kayden did his best to figure them off, but they ended up taking Stacy away.
"I need to get that money quickly!"
He had no intentions of going to school today. However, it seemed like his school had other thoughts in mind.
Standing outside his house was one of his teachers. She had been sent to the k up on Kayden since he hadn't been attending school for a couple days now. They thought maybe he was sick and wanted to see how he was doing, not knowing what had happened to his cousin.
"Is anyone in?" the teacher asked, knocking on the door. Not long after, someone came and opened the door for her. His face withered by unending worry, and large, semi-circular discs under his eyes, Kayden's uncle got the door.
"Good morning, sir," she greeted him politely. "Please, are Kayden and Stacy around. I'm sorry to say this, but they haven't been present at school since Wednesday last week. I hope they're alright."
Jake looked quite lost for a second before turning to face the woman.
"I'm sorry they haven't been present at school, but you see..." he trailed off. "My niece... she was kidnapped... and my nephew... well, he hasn't been himself since the incident."
The teacher's eyes went wide in shock after hearing what Jake had to say.
"W-what?" she was too stunned to speak.
"We've done everything we could to get her back. We filed a missing persons case but the authorities haven't gotten back to us since then. I... I don't know what else I can do..." Jake said.
The teacher didn't know how to react after hearing the truth.
"Y-you know what? How about I head back to the school and tell the principal about this? Perhaps he can help you out in some way," she offered to help.
Jake struggled to hold back the tears threatening to break loose as he forced himself to look away.
"I'd really appreciate that..." he said before closing the door.
Turning away, his gaze met with Kayden.
"Your teacher came by to ask about you and Stacy," he said before walking off.
'All of this is really eating at him. Seriously, when was the last time he even ate? He looks skinnier than usual,' he thought to himself.
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