His body was too still, no sign of movement neither any sign of heaving to show he was still breathing.
Silence.
Then subtle whispers that turned to loud sidetalks. A mental count down began, people counted the minute waiting for him to get up.
"Curt are you okay?!" Raaya queried from outside the ring, none of them could step in except they were changing position with him. If it wasn't for that, they would have rushed to the spot he was to confirm he was doing alright. They need to win this battle. But not on the cost of one of their lives. It was all or none, if one of them was to die before they all got their wish them it would totally had not been worth it.
Seated at the waiting seats, Raaya and her group looked on eagerly. Raaya couldn't wait any longer so she ordered "It's time to switch!"
Alia immediately stood up, wanting to enter the ring as planned.
"Wait!" A hand stuck out. You could imagine the shock on people's face as they saw this. Slowly the young man helped himself up from the floor. His jaw was covered in the mixture of blood and sand, even more spewing out from the corner of his lips as struggled to stand. That last move had really packed a lot of power. One that he had not expected. He could feel his internal organs churning in pain, his blood boiling in his stomach wanting to escape out of his body.
He really gave it to that man. Though he looked slender and less muscular than the rest of his comrades seated down he still managed to deliver such a deadly blow. No wonder he was called Iron fist for a reason. If that blow had been to his head, no matter how thick skinned Curtis wasz he would have been laying on the floor with a cracked skull by now.
Curtis bent over and spat another mouthful of blood. He wiped his bloody mouth and turned to look at Raaya "I'm not switching yet at least not until I complete this fight"
The determination in his eyes showed that even if she tried to argue him out of this, he would still go one with what he had planned. So she nodded understandingly and held Alia back "Finish this and let Alia take over"
Curtis nodded. A serious look took over his face as he turned to look at his opponent. He was almost at his wits end in terms of strength and stamina but he couldn't give up yet, there was still a hundred dozen men that seated on the bleachers waiting to have a go at his friends. If he gave up now then he would be adding one iron skinned b*St*rd to that list. Plus his pride was starting to kick in, he had won 32 rounds in a roll, if he had to switch out then it would be on his own accord, not because some sleazewad beat the crap out of him.
With his current strength he was not on par with this man and would just ended up being burrowed into the floor by his iron fist. To defeat him, there was only one thing he was left to do.
Reveal his inner self.
He closed his eyes and steadied his stance. The winds blew by and dust flew around him. A painful groan left his lips and his back hunched. The sound of bones cracking filled the ring and under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the boys clothes began to tears, his body widened, twisting and bending with every sound of crack. Tons and tons of hair emerged from his skin till it covered his whole body, from head to toe. His teeth broadened, grew bigger, and added two big canine teeth at the sides as his mouth also elongated to look like a beast. His hand changed to claws and his feat to hind legs.
The transformation took a few seconds but it was one no body would ever forget. By the time it was done the boy had gone missing and a place of him. A 9 feet brown furred beast stood in his place.
Right there and now, they were looking at something they never thought they would see. The secret before their eyes was mind blowing and totally unexpected. The boy was actually... actually a...
Werewolf!
A loud roar came out from his lips. Changing after a very long time felt like it was the first time. It was excruciating more than you could think of. Curtis had felt every bit of the process. He felt his bone morph, his skin stretch and even his senses heighten. As awesome as it was, the pain was numbing.
His transformation was successful so he was left to face the battle at hand. He looked at his opponent. For a thin second he could swear he had seen a slight hint of fear in the eyes of his rival. A contented chuckle left his lips but all the crowd heard was the enormous wolf hooting.
No time to waste, the two continued their battle. This time they were on par with each other. Their momentum, strength, speed and counterattacks matched, almost in sync. The pull and push held on for minutes. Deciding the winner became an impossible thing to do. The only thought on each of their minds was to take the opponent down. So every of their attacks grew heavier and messier. The floor broke with each of their punch. Dust flew to the sky when they collided with the floor. It was a thorough showdown of strength.
Curtis was done playing it safe, he took a leap backwards and roared at the man. Simultaneously, the brown furry skin took a huge change. Thick metal skin slowly covered his body, from his fingers to every part of his body. With metal armour, the werewolf form looked invisible, like nothing could penetrate that skin anymore. And nothing actually could. Even a direct blow from the iron fist man only swept a rough wind across the arena accompanied by the clashing sound of metals. Instead of pushing back his enemy. Iron fist got a backlash of his own attack. The force slapped him miles away. Before he could even hit the ground, the rabid wolf appear behind him and hit him to the sky. Like a piece of paper the man's body was catapulted into the sky. Everyone watched him shoot off like a rocket.
What goes up must surely come down, so they said. The theory of gravitation force never slacked as it pulled back the flying being with twice the force till image slammed into the ground. Buried in sand and dust, the crowd could only wait for the sandstorm to disperse before they could see the man that had apparently lost consciousness. There was no need to wait and see if he could get up. The ambulance team rushed forward to check if he was still consciousness.
"He's knocked out!" They announced. The same words that meant Curtis had won this round.
Loud sounds of shouts erupted. The crowd went crazy. The first battle had began excitingly but the 33 had ended in a mind blowing. It was hard to narrate the scene. The excitment that courses through their brains made it even harder to summon words. In shorter and simpler words. The fight was epic! Anyone who wasn't here to watch the fight had missed beyond reasonable doubts.
Curtis could finally breath a sigh or relief, he could also change to his self back. The iron skin disappeared first and then the werewolf changed back to the slim skeletal man. His body was ridden with wounds now. Every injury he had sustained in the form of that werewolf showed itself vividly on his body. Aside that, transforming had used up a lot of strength. He had even complicated things by shape shifting to that iron skinned werewolf.
Staying in the form of a werewolf was something that came natural to him because he was Part werewolf-part shape shifter, but holding a shape as a shape shifter took more than just stamina. He could only ever hold for thirty seconds and then would be used up. So he had set his mind on finishing the fight at the shortest time of thrity seconds.
What a delight that he had pulled that off and now his fight was over. With one swollen eye and his left arm wrapped around his stomach, he turned to where Raaya and the rest were seated outside the ring then showed a thumbs up and flashed them a bright childish smile.
Raaya smiled back and waved to him. The corner of her eyes brimmed in pride and happiness. She was proud of him and even more elated for the outcome of the battle. They got to defeat their opponents as well as still have all the members of their group intact.
Now it was left a few battle and they would have defeated the whole association of Jaegers.
She turned and looked at Alia. "Your turn is next. Show these hog what we were made of."
Alia nodded and walked into the ring. Once she was in, Curtis had no purpose to be standing there anymore, he led his battered self out to sit and spectate like they had done him.
Inadvertently, one member was disqualified from their group, they had left four but a ton of enemies to fight with. The question in everyone's mind remained the same.
Would they be able to defeat their opponents with their current numbers?
Seeing that the next fighter was a girl too, everyone wondered. Would she be able to deliver an epic battle like her predecessor had done?