Some Of The Best Fighters Are Found Underground

After declaring his intention to join the tournament, Zaqiel self-trained ahead of given day. He jogged every single morning, became a gym-rat and he would test his other enhanced abilities every now and then in the usual hideout. When the time came, he went to the place where the event was held. The ticket indicated where it was located which it was underground and hidden from any view to the public. He went inside and headed to the entrance.

"Ticket?" the guard asked.

Zaqiel gave him the ticket. The guard stared and inspected Zaqiel first before saying another word.

"You look younger than what is expected"

"I get that a lot" Zaqiel replied sarcastically.

The guard let Zaqiel in. Upon entering inside, he was astonished by the huge crowd that was watching in the arena. The atmosphere was nuts. Everyone was shouting and rooting for the one that they've placed their bets upon. The fighters were fighting in a close cage with a single referee handling the fight. The referee looked like he could land a punch or two as well.

Zaqiel headed to the backstage since he was a fighter as well. He gave his ticket and made his registration in the committee's table and was given the name "Warhammer". This was the alias used by the guy which he beaten and took the ticket from. It was also convenient for him since he doesn't want to reveal his true name and identity.

Zaqiel sat down in the locker room where fighters stay while waiting for their match.

"Warhammer's the name of the guy the other day huh? What an idiot. He probably browsed the dictionary, saw the word and thought it was cool. He should've named himself wardumbass." he thought while containing his laughter.

Zaqiel's match was already next. While the other fighters in the room were preparing for their matches physically, Zaqiel was having an internal monologue in his head.

"It's been months now since the accident. I assume I got my powers around that same time. I probably received it from Payne through the blood transfusion. Since it's safe to conclude that I have the Wolfgang genes with me now, how come I never turn into a werewolf like Payne does? Was it because I wasn't supposed to have it in the first place, that's why? Either way, I need to watch myself later"

His internal monologue was interrupted when a man wearing a glasses came to the locker room.

"Action Johnson and Warhammer, both of you are next" the man said.

On stage, they were introduced by the arena announcer respectively. Zaqiel met some negative reception from the crowd and was booed merciless. On the other hand, Action Johnson was a crowd favorite and was favored to win the matchup.

"I signed up here to beat strong men not to beat some scrawny kids entering their puberty" Action Johnson taunts Zaqiel.

He was quite a big fella. Action Johnson stands around 6 foot plus tall and weighted around 250lbs. He had a huge body covered in fats and muscles. On the other hand, Zaqiel was only around 5 foot something and his weight is only around 170+ lbs. It was a complete mismatch yet Zaqiel was pretty confident himself.

"This scrawny teen gon beat your ass" Zaqiel taunted back.

Zaqiel wasted no time and went quick for a direct punch at Action Johnson's stomach. It was ineffective however, much to his surprise. He retreated and attempted to do it again. There's still no effect to his opponent. He tried targeting the head instead but ultimately failed as Action Johnson was able to counter it by grabbing Zaqiel's hand.

"My turn" Action Johnson said.

He went for a headbutt to Zaqiel. The impact was so loud that it left Zaqiel dizzy momentarily before snapping out of it just in time to avoid another counter by his opponent. He tried going for the blind side of Action Johnson. It was still ineffective that it heavily irritated him. He kept targeting it again and again yet he still fail all of those. Action Johnson was able to grab another counter and he threw Zaqiel to the wall cage. Zaqiel hit his back against the wall which was painful even for someone like him who had enchanced durability. Cornered and still feeling a bit dizzy from the headbutt, he began devising a strategy.

"None of my attacks are hitting him. What a tough nut to crack"

Action Johnson gave him not that much amount of time to think and went for a body slam to the resting Zaqiel. Zaqiel evaded and jumped to the opposite cage wall. He was hanging there in order to continue planning his strategy.

"Come down here you pussy" Action Johnson taunted.

"Shut up meathead, I'm trying to think here" Zaqiel responded.

While he was thinking, Zaqiel noticed something and he began thinking.

"Those legs are tiny compared to the rest of the body. He must've been skipping leg day.. Wait a minute, that's it!" he thought.

He got an idea all of a sudden and decided to go for it. He went back to the stage floor.

"That's more like it, face me like a man" Action Johnson said.

Action Johnson went for a charge again in which Zaqiel dodged it again by jumping. After that, he executed the strategy he came up. He sweeps the leg, causing for his opponent to fall. Zaqiel wasted no time and climbed back to the opposite of the cage wall. Just as Action Johnson was about to stand up, Zaqiel drops kick him from above. The momentum was great causing the impact of the kick that went directly to the face to be hard. It knocked Action Johnson down.

The crowd was shocked of what just happened. After a moment, the boos from a while ago turned into cheers. Zaqiel was declared as the winner by the announcer.

"I guess your tiny johnson was no match for raw action huh" he joked to his opponent.

Zaqiel used the same fighting technique in his next fights until he reached the semis. There, he would face off a fighter named Jimseung.

"I wonder how he's going to fight" Zaqiel thought.

He would then attempt to go for the legs like what he did to his last fights. It was unsuccessful, Jimseung jumped so high that the sweep didn't land.

"I'm honored to face a strong fighter like you, Warhammer" Jimseung said with a calm face.

"Yah, the feeling is mutual" Zaqiel replied.

They would continue to trade attacks in which both of them are able to evade it. Thus, no one has really managed to land a blow to the other. Zaqiel was trying to find a hole in his opponent's defense. He's having a hard time figuring out how to launch a direct punch without being countered or evaded. He attempted to do another sweep to which was evaded again. After he did that, something came to Zaqiel's mind.

"I got it!" Zaqiel said out loud.

Again and again, he attempted to do a sweep to Jimseung. He keeps failing and failing yet he's determined to do it. Jimseung noticed this.

"I appreciate the determination but I'm sorry to say what you are doing is a waste of time. I'll keep evading your attacks" Jimseung said.

With the final sweep, Zaqiel launched an attack directly using his enhanced speed while Jimseung was in mid-air.

"That's the point" Zaqiel replied.

He noticed everytime his opponent evade his sweep, he's not fully guarded in mid-air. Zaqiel used this to his advantage to land a blow. He punched Jimseung directly to the face, causing for the opponent to be knocked down. Zaqiel won the match thus he's heading to the finals.

Zaqiel headed back to the locker room, sweating and a bit tired. The continuous matches finally took toll to his not so normal body. He drank a liter of water in order to regain some energy he needed to proceed. There's only one match left before he wins it all. Knowing that he's only one win away from attaining the grand prize and he was already satisfied by the assessment of his own powers, he was determined to go all out and end it all. He went back to the arena with a killer face look.

His final opponent was a fighter named "Man the Power". The fight was heavily anticipated by the crowd as both fighters were a league on their own compared to the others. They were expecting a great duel. Zaqiel had some other things in his mind though.

"I'm gonna end this all" Zaqiel thought.

As soon as the bell rang, he went for a quick step in order to launch a punch. It landed on his opponent's face point black. The punch was so strong that Man the Power flew to the cage wall and knocked him down indefinitely. With an unexpected ending, Zaqiel was declared as the champion of the underground tournament.

The crowd's reception to the ending of the match was mixed. It didn't matter to Zaqiel though as he's only focused on getting the reward money which he's in dire need.

After the match, he went back to the committee's table in order to get his championship prize. Upon receiving it, one of the guards approached him.

"The Don wants to see you" the guard said.

Zaqiel was confused.

"The Don?" Zaqiel asked.