After a while, there still wasn’t anyone willing to challenge Stoke. Most ascension matches like this were between two fighters of the same level. The cost of losing this battle would be steep on either side; therefore most of the same level fighters knew that Stoke wouldn’t start this match without being well prepared, which was a factor that made them hesitate to take up the challenge.
"May I try it?" Wang Tong said as he walked towards the ring.
To the audience’s surprise, the challenger wasn't a Kaedeian nor an Ivantian, he was an Earthling boy, despite this, the crowd gave him thunderous cheers and applauded for his courage.
Wang Tong's entrance was much less elegant than other competitors’, who usually would perform a stunning backflip or some sort of stunt to get onto the stage. Instead, Wang Tong climbed the stage so clumsily that it seemed as if he would fell off at any time. He looked back from time to time as if asking for the audience’s help. Nonetheless, he made it to the top of the ring.
"Einherjar Wannabe, are you sure you want to do this?" the referee asked Wang Tong. "According to your profile, this is your first fight, if you lose in an ascension fight, it might substantially impede your progress later."
"That's fine. I'll fight as long as I am allowed to." Wang Tong didn't have much time to waste and wanted to finish it as soon as possible.
"F*ck, Stock didn't hire this noob didn't he?"
"Nah, I don’t think so, I’ve heard Stock is from Capth, a second-year student actually. I’ve never heard of a Capth student that desperate."
"I guess so. They are too pretentious to cheat anyways. On the same note, the Capth students have been becoming increasingly powerful lately. Who would expect so much power from a second-year student?"
"Where did this hillbilly came from anyways? He is suicidal!"
"No kidding, Stock has hit the jackpot! Usually, the ascension matches are the toughest."
"This is his first fight? Poor kid..."
"Hey, that Wannabe dude, get off the arena! Stock doesn't need a free victory." One of Stock's rowdy classmates yelled at Wang Tong. He and the other classmates had believed that Stock would successfully level up tonight and felt that such a cheap victory would only hurt Stock’s reputation.
"Mr. Wannabe, please confirm your challenge."
Wang Tong nodded his head without any hesitation as he didn't want to be mired in the rules and conventions of the game. Those were things that he couldn't care less about compared to the thrill of a fight as they seemed superficial to the battle-hardened Wang Tong who had shed real blood and tears on Norton.
"The fight is on!" The referee announced.
"Here are the overviews of our competitors:
Stoke: Seventeen, defense-focused METAL fighter.
Equipped with the second class METAL suit of the Golden Shield -Type A, a standard military grade provision.
Score: Thirty-three wins and ten losses.
Einherjar Wannabe: Sixteen.
Equipped with... no... METAL suit."
The referee became baffled as he read Wang Tong's profile. It went without saying that all of the TPA fighters should have been equipped with at least a tier one suit, unlike Wang Tong who was currently wearing nothing.
"Mr. Wannabe, please initiate your METAL suit, the fight is about to start."
"What METAL suit? I don't have one, let's just do it, don't doddle," Wang Tong said impatiently as he did not care to use a METAL suit nor had he ever used one.
The crowd boiled over at Wang Tong's arrogance and bloated self-confidence. Even those who didn't care for the suit's amplifying effect of their offensive ability still needed it for defense, as the METAL suit was an effective, if not the only, way to defend oneself against deadly GN strikes on their mortal flesh.
Stock didn't know what to make out of his opponent, a naive noob who looked more buff than other boys his age, a sign of potential body modification, a fact that Stock was hardly concerned with. He had entertained the idea of dropping his METAL suit for the sake of fairness, but Stock decided to play safe. After all, his ascension was at stake which made this a fight that he could not lose. For the sake of the third tier METAL suit, so be it if he had to get it with a cheap win.
The referee consented to Wang Tong not wearing any METAL suit; he did it willingly so, at any rate, a referee's duty was to ensure a fair fight, but not the safety of the fighters.
"METAL, on!"
Stock roared as a piece of crystal strapped on his wrist burst out a shining beacon along which a sharp blade and a set of silver colored armor emerged to cover the vital parts of Stock's body.
Wang Tong watched with curiosity since this was the first time he had seen a METAL suit in live action and it had immediately piqued his interests.
"Hey buddy, don't expect me to go easy on you because you aren’t wearing METAL for god knows what reason. Hope we have a good fight!"
All Capth students were very polite and respectful to their opponents in the ring.
Wang Tong shrugged his shoulders and said lightly, "Same here."
Wang Tong then noticed a soft glow pouring out of Stock's body as Stock initiated the Tactics of Nirvana-X, the audience gasped when the glow reached their eyes. Unknown to Wang Tong, this glow was an indication that Stock's soul power had reached twenty "sols", in other words, Stock was worthy of the third tier METAL suit whose minimum requirement of the wearer's sol amount was twenty.
(Author's note: METAL suits of different levels have different requirements of the user's sol: tier one METAL suits required one sol, tier two required five, the third tier required twenty, and from there, the requirement grew almost exponentially. For example, in order for one to wear the fourth tier, one hundred sols was required; over two hundred for the fifth tier and the sixth tier METAL suit required five hundred sols. Thanks to this requirement, audiences could estimate accurately a fighter's combat ability based on the level of METAL suit they wore.)
"I knew this guy had reserved his strength; it looks like he has at least twenty-five sols of soul power."
"Bahk... he should have leveled up by now, he has been too modest in his ascension progress."
The outcome of the match seemed obvious.
Stock plunged towards Wang Tong, using the striking technique called "Windward Consecutive Strikes"- a standard martial arts technique that was taught at Capth.
Seemingly simple and unflattering, this technique could strike fear into an opponent’s heart when used right. After years of practice, Stock had mastered it; he delivered the impeccable three consecutive blows which formed a straight line that pointed towards Wang Tong, even the time intervals between the three quick strikes were precisely the same.
This was Stock's coup de grace, he had used it only twice out of nine matches before this one, and in both cases, he used it at the end of the match instead of at the beginning like in this match. Stock did so because he wanted to finish this accession match quickly and splendidly with a total victory.
Unfortunately for Wang Tong, he did not even have the protection of a METAL suit. This meant that once the three blows had reached him, he will have lost this game. Everyone held their breath anticipating Stock’s apparent victory.
“...Stock missed?” The audience fell into a state of disarray.
Stock’s aim was evidently true, but how come the blows had barely even grazed Wang Tong's chest?
Wang Tong didn't pay attention to the fists that had just passed his body. He stepped casually to the side and delivered a blow towards Stock. To everyone's amazement, Wang Tong's blow was aimed directly at the shield on Stock's METAL suit; everyone thought it was grimly comical that Wang Tong was going to try his human flesh against a METAL suit.
Stock thought it was a madcap move as well, but he had no intention of laughing since he was upset and surprised that his coup de grace had been evaded.
Wang Tong's strike fell silently, Stock's face was frozen as he heard two words from Wang Tong’s mouth, "Too slow." One moment Stock’s body was still upright and the next moment… "bang", his body was erect no more, and his METAL shield shattered.
Everything happened too fast! One second ago, his friends had raised their arms in excitement of the coming victory after seeing Stock had used his coupe de grace. But one second later, their arms were frozen in the air, and their mouths were wide open, but not a single syllable came out of those gaping holes.
"So quiet... what happened?"
"That shield must be a knock-off. A knock-off product in the ATP league?"
"He didn't smash that shield with his bare hand, did he?"
"Is he a real Einherjar?"
It was said that only Einherjars ignored METAL suits in battle, and they seldom used METAL suits due to their already immense destructive power.
Wang Tong shook his hand in pain and thought to himself, “s*it, it hurts, that was a sturdy mother f*cking shield.” He did not notice the audience’s stunned look as he signed off neither did he think that shattering a METAL shield was a big deal. To him, it was just a piece of cake, when compared to ripping apart Zergs alive.