Chapter 73

Author note: Erlig's theme song is Mind Shelter - B612 Zardonic Remix.

Mara held her hands low. Her palms were open and facing the opponent. Her long legs were far apart from each other as she slid across the ring.

Her opponent stood in an orthodox boxing stance. He was already swinging his upper body like a pendulum. He as well started shuffling, trying not to stand in one place for too long.

The moment the announcer said something about Mara's performance, she slid forward.

Raising up her hands slightly, she narrowed the distance. Twisting her body to the left, she raised her leg, and the moment her side was facing the front of her opponent, she struck with a rapid side kick.

The guy in front managed to jump back, mitigating the damage slightly, but Mara didn't stop here.

Still standing sideways, she moved her feet rapidly. Sliding forward once more, she lifted her right leg and adjusted her upper body, moving it down. She raised her knee and aligned it with her chest. Moving only her calf, it looked as if she was fencing with her right leg.

Using her left leg to balance herself, she jumped around ever so slightly, going after her opponent, who tried to evade or block every strike.

After yet another leg movement of her's, he ducked successfully and grabbed her right leg. Swatting it away, he walked into her range as his leg went after her balance point, her left leg.

As he tried to sweep her leg, to make her fall, he didn't take her arms into consideration. With her ponytail dancing wildly in the air, her body leaned forward. Her arms made a flurry of palm strikes. The base of her palms mercilessly rained at the most vulnerable parts.

He still held her, but as he saw her fingers darting towards his eyes, he let her go immediately. As both of them made some distance, Mara was obviously the one who needed more time to regain her balance.

Her opponent tried to make a chopping, wide calf kick but missed as Mara gracefully slid away. As the distance between them increased, she jumped twice, alternating her stance every time her feet touched the canvas.

Finally deciding on her stance with a wide jump, she crossed the distance and made a huge roundhouse kick. Missing her target with her leg still in the air, she moved it backward, spinning in the process and attempting another strike. Changing her foothold in the process, with her back facing him, she launched a back kick.

This time it connected, sending her opponent to the ropes from the sheer force it possessed.

However, he didn't try to stop himself. Instead, using the ropes as a rebound, he quickly flew back at Mara. Sending a few swings that missed as he ran at her, he started lashing light jab-like punches with the back of his hands.

Mara was evading every punch, every strike he threw at her. Not a single one actually reached her. The last two strikes she managed to block with her forearms.

While they were doing all of this, Mara was now standing against the ropes. With nowhere to run, she needed to block every attack or bear the brunt of it.

The last combination of two quick jabs missed but seeing Mara being open, her opponent made a quick, middle kick to her side. Yet even this was seen by her. She raised her long left leg to block it with her shin.

In the process, the distance between them increased once again. Mara took this into consideration. Instead of backing down, her already raised thigh was moved even closer to her body. Her calf moving up. After doing a vertical split, her heel made a small circular motion and struck the shoulder of the guy who stood across her.

I heard a low grunt escaping his lips when he once again dived forward to catch her. He already grabbed her tight, fit waist when she suddenly slithered like a snake. Using the remaining inertia from his dash, she turned around and squeezed herself upward, shaking him from herself. He desperately tried to hold at least onto her ankle, but she managed to yank it away.

Their position was changed yet again. Somewhere in the middle was Mara and her opponent already getting up on the side. Taking a few large steps forward, Mara launched a front kick, pushing her opponent away.

Spreading her arms, she made some derpy-looking footwork. It looked like she started dancing for a few seconds. After this bizarre scene ended, she got back into action. Throwing a front kick that was followed by a sidekick.

Her opponent clearly felt all those strikes and kicks, but he was still far from going down. He was still focused and recovered quickly after every strike.

As they closed the distance for the nth time again, I saw Mara's hip mowing wildly. Faking a kick once, she moved her hands around. Faking a kick twice, she dodged a few swift jabs of her opponent.

A third time she finally decided to strike. Lifting her thigh as if she was aiming for the gut, her calf suddenly drew a different trajectory. As she did it, I saw each and every muscle on her trained legs. As they tightened, a clear separation of her leg muscles was shown to all the spectators. She shook her calf, and it moved upwards while her body leaned sideways. It all led to her toes grazing the chin of her opponent.

"HUP!" Her shout resounded. It was a beautiful question mark kick. From my point of view, she executed it perfectly.

There was no loud sound when she succeeded with her kick. In fact, it looked as if she didn't hit him in the first place. But as soon as she took a step back, her opponent fell as if he was a tree chopped by an axe.

Her ponytail finally stopped flailing wildly.

"How was it?" She returned back to the balcony after some time, she put her dress back on. Her makeup wasn't smeared in any way, her face adorned with a wide grin.

"Beautiful." I decided to answer honestly. Her figure, dancing wildly there, throwing picture-perfect kicks that could've been put into the manuals. Especially the last one, the question mark kick.

"Hoh, and now I get your honest praise? So, should I show more of my fights to get more compliments?" I was already sitting in the armchair when she returned, so she sat in her own seat.

I shook my head and finally took my eyes away from her legs. "If I'm not mistaken, you aren't a professional MMA fighter, right?"

"So what?" Her head tilted sideways in a cute gesture. "Is there a reason why you want to watch an MMA fight?" The corner of her lips curled upwards as she looked me in the eyes.

"No, I don't think so."

"Then what about my proposal?" She made an overly exaggerated leg movement. Throwing one leg on top of the other, she started shaking her calf lightly.

"No need." I hid my eyes behind my palm and saw an unfinished wine glass of white wine. It was disgusting, but I still downed the glass to divert my attention.

"Heeheehee." I was abstaining from looking at her, yet her laugh affirmed that she was pleased with her own actions.

"You know, it's your fight soon?"

"How soon are we talking about?" I stood up and took my bag to check the contents.

"I think it will happen right now." She stretched lazily, as if she was a cat, and went after her glass and the bottle of wine.

I heard a soft knock on the door the moment the wineglass touched Mara's lips.

"Mister Grimes, it's time."

"Coming." I hoisted up my bag onto my shoulder and went away.

"Don't get hurt too much, pretty please?" She purred these words with her raspy voice.

I didn't know how to react to this, so I waved at her as I went away, "We will talk after I win."

"This way." Another valet with a red jacket, this time a female one, led me.

It wasn't long before I was taken into a vast room that had a shower, a washbasin, chairs, benches, lockers, and so on. There was even a massage chair.

"You can change here, but please don't do it for too long, sir." I saw the female giving me a polite smile.

"Erm, I can't tape anything, right?"

"Yes, your current fight would be a no-rules contest. The appropriate clothes will be simple shorts or trunks if you don't have the appropriate clothes…"

"No-no, I have everything with me." I took my bag into my hand and shook it.

"Then, if you excuse me, I have one last request."

"A request?"

"We would like to know if there is a specific song that you would like to use when you go out?" She maintained her smile.

"Huh? I need to choose a song?"

"You don't need to, but if there is a personal preference, we will find a song and play it."

A song? I wasn't ready for this. I knew that famous fighters would have their own themes. They would choose a song that would be played when they go towards the cage or a ring. Even Mara. Not so long ago, she clearly used something that wasn't a generic copyright-free song. However, being a 'famous fighter', 'famous' enough to choose such things, it never occurred to me that I would have such dilemmas.

Will this happen in my official fights as well? With all the things happening to me, I forgot this. Right now, I'm stalling for time, but inevitably fame will fall upon me. Fighters are the biggest superstar in this world. It can be said that fighters are the idols here. Does it make me an idol in training?

"If you don't have anything…"

"No, I think I have one thing," I quickly took my phone and scrolled the music folder, "Here," Finally getting the song, I showed it to the valet, "If you can't find this one, just put something generic."

"We will do our best," She bowed and left.

I changed my clothes in a jiffy. Now jumping up and down, I was trying to warm my muscles up. The door in this room wasn't as soundproof, and I heard announcers shouting and the music playing.

"Mister Grimes, it's your turn." The music ended, and I heard the voice of the same female valet. Walking from the room, I heard the song I asked for actually being played.

My head started slowly bumping, following the rhythm of the song.

I was led to a familiar door. Walking through the short corridor, I saw the stage lights shining all over the ring. The music resounded loudly across the whole building.

Previously, I tried to empty my mind, but now I had a goal in my life. And I wanted to achieve it no matter what.

I am afraid, I am indecisive, but I need to force through this.

The cages rattled as I slowly made my way to the ring under the buzzing of the crowd. Looking from below at my opponent, I stopped in my tracks, hearing the lyrics of the song.

Standing still, my hand was suddenly caught by someone from behind the steel fence. It came as a surprise to me as I yanked my hand from a random guy, who was shouting something at me. I wasn't able to hear what he was talking about and shook off the stupor as I quickly ran to the ring and Jumped over the top rope.

Facing the turnbuckle after my jump, I slapped it and turned around with a jump. Jumping up and down, I was scanning my current foe.

He was huge, twice the size of myself. His muscles were bulging and, honestly, looked revolting. He probably used some illegal medicine to achieve such size.

As he was standing on the opposite side of me, he was playing around with his muscles, his face long ago turned bright red. His long face wasn't that remarkable if not for his haircut. A short braid on top of his head with a few colorful strings tied to it was all the hair he got. Unlike me, he was playing with the crowd, not sparing me, his opponent, a single glance.

It irked me. Was I the only one feeling nervous? Or was I not threatening enough? Whatever was the reason behind this, in the end, it didn't matter.

All I needed to do was win.