"Damn fool, you'll kill me with a scare!" Devon muttered, having seen how Dash almost lost the fight against that opponent. When Dash won the match, he had directed his gaze towards Devon and smiled visibly while holding the ice on his shoulder.
"He should be disqualified, damn cheater!" Devon's father, who had little idea of what he had just seen, argued with a Chinese man next to him who said that Dash had gotten overconfident, and that's why he had lost a point for the first time in the competition.
In contrast to what he had seen, Devon had clearly observed how Dash had hit Dong and how he hadn't been hurt. It's worth mentioning that Dash's punches weren't weak at all; she knew it very well since she had personally faced simulation fights and felt her friend's contained blows.
"With this, he's in the quarterfinals. I hope the blows to his right shoulder aren't too severe, and he can continue fighting." Zoe knew her daughter's friend, so it was better for him not to be injured and to fight than to decide to continue even with his injuries.
Devon agreed with her mother's words. She had been with Dash since the beginning of his training and knew perfectly well that he wouldn't give up until he couldn't continue.
"He won't stop until he can't stand up or loses the fight..." Devon smiled slightly due to nervousness. She hadn't lost a single fight at the hands of anyone other than Dash, so she couldn't imagine seeing him lose. But no one is invincible in this world, so at least she had been mentally preparing to face defeat in the best way and hope for the best.
As for Dash, who had never before tasted defeat, he believed that this might hit him a bit hard, and if you ask her, she didn't want to see him lose since it wasn't clear how he would react to it.
...
"I'm fine, just that his kicks were hard even after blocking them..." Dash reassured Mr. Kim, who was concerned about bruises on his left shoulder.
"Then, how's your right leg?"
"A little hurt, but it's not something I should pay much attention to..." Dash didn't want to make a fuss about these injuries that were normal.
Having come out victorious is what really matters since if everything had been easy, he wouldn't have felt this victory as a great achievement in this tournament.
Watching the next fights, Zhuang and Wu Ping, who were on the same bracket as Dash, didn't encounter any problems to advance to the quarterfinals.
Dash's next opponent was already decided, and it was Zhuang, who should be concerned if he wanted to face Wu Ping later, who was his next opponent to beat before reaching the final and finding out if it would be Cheng or Dre he would face.
In contrast to Cheng and Dre's boring fights, who swept through, Dash and Wu Ping became the big stars for their great and long battles that had been demonstrated in the arena.
Cheng's overwhelming victories were nice to watch, but many wished that he would have at least a bit of rivalry as he advanced in the ranking, something that hadn't happened.
"I'm afraid the quarterfinals won't be so good for Dre..." Mr. Kim analyzed Dre's next opponent and frowned slightly, knowing that he possibly wouldn't reach the final.
The next opponent belonged to The Fighting Dragons Studio, and their students didn't enjoy a good reputation due to how ruthless they were in each of their fights.
"Well, he'll manage..." Dash murmured as he caught his breath and mentally prepared for the next fight.
For Dash, this question arose when he lost a point: "Is this how it feels to be on the verge of losing?"
He hadn't experienced many things before dying; he wanted to know what it felt like to be hit, to breathe abundantly, and to laugh until he fell to the ground uncontrollably.
He had been experiencing all these sensations since he arrived in this world, and he didn't know how long it would last, but while it happened, he wanted to at least do the best he could to be a better person.
He had seen many people die without living life correctly, unlike others who had the opportunity to do so. At night, he cried for not being like everyone else and felt resentful towards the adults who didn't take advantage of the well-being of their bodies.
As society advances, they always worry about being attractive, about their physique, or if they'll have a beautiful partner someday in their lives. But the truth is that the most special gift in the world is to be well; good health is better than anything else in the world.
When one learns this, they know perfectly well the value of life, and that's when they truly begin to live. Dash would continue fighting until he believed it was enough, and he hadn't reached that point in his life.
In that case, he wouldn't give up even though the pain was intense in his body now, and he would do everything possible to be a winner in life. He wanted to show everyone that he was a winner; he had to prove to the past Dash that he is now a winner.
He couldn't just sit around doing nothing, not now and maybe not in the future.