Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Jack stretched his limbs as he entered the ring, as the crowd was getting louder. He had his eyes on Magnus, who was looking back at him, standing in the middle of the ring. He entered the ring and stood in front of his opponent.
"Oh wow, well, I wasn't expecting a rematch of last year's finals in the early matches," Maya said, getting a nod from Caroline.
"Indeed, after Minogashita victory over Santiago, this match could decide who will Minogashita face at the semi-finals or finals."
"And who do you think will be the winner in this rematch? My money would be on Sharp."
"Reasonable pick, both of them are nearly tied for not only the student of year but also for the title for best athlete of their promotion," she said, humming slightly. "But Ozzein still has the upper hand in combat. So, I'm not sure who will win, this might as be a replay of last year."
"I really wish you eliminate him, Jack," Maya thought. She had a feeling if Magnus would enter the ring with Ben, it would be a pretty brutal fight.
"Are both participants ready?" Simon questioned.
Magnus cracked his knuckles, already in his stance. "I'm ready."
"Ready," Jack replied as his gloves and boots started glowing a bright blue. He stayed in a relaxed stance, making Magnus smirk.
"Then let the third match begin!"
With the signal in a blink of an eye, Jack closed the distance between the two and threw a punch at Magnus, who barely countered with a punch of his own causing a small shock-wave at the impact as Jack glared at Magnus, who return with a smug smirk.
"Someone has gotten faster," Magnus commented as he pulled back first and went for a right hook, but Jack dodged and delivered a hook that made Magnus stumble back.
Taking his chance, Jack threw another strike at his opponent, sending Magnus further back. Jack moved in a blur as he unloaded various strikes on Magnus, each being faster and stronger than the last, giving little room for Magnus to counter as Jack was in a full offensive onslaught.
Magnus tried to dodge another strike, only for another punch to hit him on the cheek, dazing him slightly. Backing his fist, as his glove glowed a brighter blue with a blue-ish aura covering it., Jack threw the strike, causing blue ripples and a small burst of energy when it collided with Magnus's face, sending him a few feet back.
"Got him at least with that," Jack thought, clenching and unclenching his fists. "Damn it, they are harder than last time," he thought, trying to get rid of the stinging on his knuckles.
"Damn man, isn't that what you tried last year?"
"Oh great, it didn't do nothing," Jack thought, focusing again on Magnus, who was on his way getting up.
"It really stings, slightly better than last year though," Magnus said while rubbing his jaw and spitting some blood on the ground. "How about you show me what you really got Jackie?"
Jack grumbled as he raised his fists. "With pleasure," and with that, he dashed once again at Magnus with another charged strike.
This time, Magnus blocked the attack with his forearm, causing him to grunt, as another burst went off, sending him skidding back, but he was quick to recover. "Is that all you got?!"
Jack rolled his eyes as his gloves and boots once again started glowing brighter. He closed the distance with Magnus and threw another charged hook.
Magnus tried to block the attack, but Jack was quick to change his target, hitting Magnus in the gut instead, making the teen gasp and hunch slightly.
"Hell," he thought as he tried to recover, but an energy-charged uppercut canceled those and send him flying.
Jack dashed closing the distance and with the added momentum delivered a strong enough punch, causing audible crunch and crack, when it collided with Magnus's face, sending the teen hitting his back on the landing near the edge of the arena.
"Hell," Jack thought, looking at his right hand. He moved his fingers, flinching in slight pain. "Probably should change tactics," he thought as he noticed Magnus getting up. He gritted his teeth and closed his fists. "What happened to the smug smile?" he questioned, with eyes narrowed and locked on Magnus.
Magnus was silent as he rubbed his nose slightly and snapped it back in place. "It's still here," he said. "And how is your hand? That was a pretty nasty crack, I heard," he said, raising his fists. "Wanna continue?"
"I could say the same to you. How's your nose?" Jack said, narrowing his eyes at him. "You are making it sound like I lost an arm," Jack said. "It's nothing but a minor inconvenience."
Magnus smirked slightly. "I can change that," he dashed at Jack, not as fast as the other, but still fast enough to surprise Jack. Magnus had his fist backed, aiming at Jack's chest.
Even with his added speed, Magnus failed his attack as Jack dodged it and countered with a kick to the back of the head accompanied with a blast of energy, sending Magnus stumbling forward while Jack grunted slightly as he could feel a strong sting on his leg.
"I have to finish this before he makes them even denser," he thought, brushing off the pain as his gloves started glowing a brighter blue and it was increasing by the moment.
Magnus regained his footing and spun around, only to get a powerful blast of energy, making his vision blurry. 'Damn it, I really hate those range attacks.'
Once charged to his liking, Jack went on aiming the charged strike at Magnus's face, causing a larger ripple and explosion of blue energy, causing a thick dust cloud that covered the arena participants limiting the vision of everyone watching.
"Fuck!" Jack thought as he could feel his entire hand throbbing and stinging to the point just moving a finger, sending pain through him.
"I gotta say that was an impressive attack, you did," Jack heard, making him glance at his opponent as the dust cleared to see Magnus still standing and looking at Jack with amused eyes. "But it did little," he said, grabbing Jack's wrist and applying pressure, making the other teen grunt.
Magnus pulled the fist away from his face to show that his nose was once again broken and some blood was coming from his nostrils. "Just breaking my nose?" he applied more and more, making Jack flinch with a grunt as he tried to increase his aura to counter the pressure.
"You disappoint me, Jack, and once I thought of you as a rival," he said, as his nose snapped back in place. "This is better, don't you agree?" he questioned clenching his free hand and delivering a punch forcing through the protective aura to collide with Jack's face causing a loud crunch on contact.
Jack shot backward but Magnus pulled him back for another punch this time, in his gut, making the teen gasp and hunch over. Magnus twisted Jack's arm and, with no hesitation, punched his opponent's elbow joint, causing a loud crack as horrible pain shot through Jack's entire body.
He had to grit his teeth to avoid screaming in pain, while his opponent was smirking down at him. Magnus, not being done, sent a kick to Jack's knee, sending the teen to the ground. He finally let go of Jack's wrist and stomp on the boy's back.
"Still can't handle a few hits, can you?" he questioned. "No improvement from last year, still thinking that your speed and energy are enough to beat me?"
"Fuck off," Jack grunted, making Magnus sigh slightly and shake his head.
"This is pathetic Jackie, especially for someone of your status," he said, about to stomp on Jack's back once again, but the teen rolled out at the last moment, making Magnus stomp cause slight cracks on the floor when connected. "Damn it!"
Jack used this chance to deliver a powerful kick on Magnus's knee, causing another burst of energy, sending Magnus stumbling to the side, giving both enough space to recover.
Jack grunted as he slowly forced himself into a sitting position. He huffed as he snapped his nose back into place, letting him breathe better. "I'm at a disadvantage. I didn't think. His bone could get that hard," he thought as his aura gotten brighter.
He gritted his teeth, as he made the energy into an aura encasing his body and helped snap back the broken bones back into their place, but the throbbing pain was still there, making him sigh. "Better keep with range attacks, until I tire him out," he muttered slowly, getting up but with some difficulties.
Magnus grunted loudly as his leg snapped back into place. "That aura is a bigger issue than last time," he thought, grunting as he stood up. "So, what is he going to do now?" Magnus thought as Jack raised both his hands, making the other sigh.
"Really? range attacks?" he thought, as he walked towards Jack while the energy user started firing energy blasts continuously, only making Magnus stumble slightly for a short time, but he kept walking.
"It's not working," he thought, grunting slightly as he started charging in his next attack while Magnus kept on a steady pace, not even bothered to keep his hands up.
"Wow, this is pretty sad," Magnus commented as Jack kept charging and moving backward. "I thought these blasts would be stronger. If this is your best, I can tank them all."
Jack grunted as his right glove was glowing like a beacon. "If that's the case, then tank this!" he shouted dashing forward and delivering the punch on his gut causing a large shock wave cracking the floor of the arena and a burst of blue energy followed up with an explosion sending both participants flying into different directions.
Both landed on the ground, one harder than the other. Jack grunted as he glanced at his right arm. His glove was nearly gone, torn and burned. His arm wasn't in any better condition, twisted at an odd angle, with burn marks all around it. Just to move it even barely was a herculean feat at this moment.
Magnus, meanwhile, was coughing loudly and trying to keep the dinner from the night before in. He landed far harder than Jack, as his entire back was in massive pain as some shards stabbed his back when he landed. "Hell, that was far stronger than what I expected," he thought grunting as he turned himself on his stomach only to flinch as the pain in his stomach made him tighten his fists.
Jack grunted as he used his good arm to get himself into a sitting position while Magnus got on his knees.
"Had enough?" Jack questioned as he gritted his teeth and, with the aid of his energy, got to his feet, but stumbling slightly.
Magnus forced a chuckle as he got up. "That was probably your strongest attack, and look at you, barely able to keep yourself up," he taunted. "You have nothing that can keep me down Jackie!"
Jack grunted as focused his aura on his boots and dashed at him as his boots kept glowing. Magnus went to meet him halfway as Jack was about to propel himself into a dropkick. His knee acted up, making him stumble, and that was all Magnus needed.
Seeing this, Magnus delivered a stomp kick on Jack's knee making the teen yell in pain, taking his chance, Magnus was quick to grab Jack from behind and suplex him into the ground with enough force to dig a few rocks in his back causing the yell to get louder.
Let go of him. Magnus got on top of Jack, smiling wickedly. "Told you," he said as he grabbed Jack by the hair and punched him hard in the face, breaking his nose once again. "No one in this damn school can beat me!" he yelled, punching Jack once again, leaving a bruise on the teen's face.
Magnus kept punching, leaving bruises on Jack's face, while the teen kept himself awake as, after each punch, his vision got blurrier and darker.
Magnus grabbed him once again. "Come on, say, say that you give up!" he yelled, while Jack only grunted and spat some blood at Magnus's face.
"Fuck off," Jack said, as he took a deep breath, while Magnus cleaned the blood off his face.
"Still rebellious, aren't you?" he questioned, backing his fist. "I'll visit you at the nurse's office, with my…" he was cut off by an energy blast coming from Jack's mouth hitting his face, and making his vision foggy, long enough for Jack to deliver a hook with his good arm and pushed Magnus off of him.
Jack panted heavily, grunting as he rolled near the edge to give some distance between the two. He pushed himself to get on his stomach. "Glad I learned how to do that," he thought as his eyes were getting heavy. He tried to force himself to stay awake as Magnus got up.
"What was that, anyway? You are going to lose either way," he said, looking at his opponent, annoyed, while Jack struggled to just get to his knee, but he pushed himself to his feet, stumbling as he did. "What? Do you think you can still win against me?"
"No, but I prefer at least not giving you the satisfaction of knocking me out, and besides, Ben is going to be the one beating you," Jack grunted, jumping backward out of the arena causing sirens to go off.
"Winner by ring out, Magnus Ozzein!" he announced, only getting mixed reactions from the ground while Magnus glared at Jack, who fell to a knee.
"It seems I was right with this being a replay of last year's finals," Caroline said. "Sharp was for sure an impressive opponent, especially against Ozzein, mainly because of his speed and diversity, but Ozzein was stronger and way more resilient than him."
"Yeah, Sharp gave his all but I guess Ozzein just really wanted the win."
"That's an understatement, by beating Sharp. Ozzein made sure he will win the best athletic student of his promotion," Caroline said, sighing slightly. "Not to offend the others participants but without Santiago or Sharp, Ozzein's chance to win the tournament and title skyrocketed."
Maya frowned slightly. "Really? Don't you think there's still a participant who could win?"
"Honestly, possibly Minogashita has a shot, but even so. Ozzein just beat the person many thoughts could win," Caroline frowned, also looking at the mic. "It's most likely that Ozzein will win this year too, and become WHS fifth student of the year," she said, turning off the mic and rubbing her forehead.
Maya turned off her own and groaned. "You don't think Ben can win?" she asked. "You've been there while he trained, don't you think he has a chance?"
Caroline sighed once again. "I really wish, I could say with 100% certainty, that Ben will win, but you saw yourself what happened. Magnus also has been training to get this title and with his personal history with Ben…." She leaned on her chair. "Now, I'm worried."
"You aren't the only one," Maya said. "I'm more worried that Ben might go too far for this," she sighed. "All because of those two elitist pricks, he calls parents."
"How far do you think he'll go? At least for this of the tournament?"
She took a few minutes to think properly but then shook her head. "I'm not sure. That's what worries me more. I don't know how far he will go."
Caroline sighed once again but then smile slightly. "Let's just hope for the better. Who knows, maybe we are both are worrying about nothing and he will win with style."
"That's what I've been telling him and myself, that we are worrying for nothing."
"Aww, such a cute thing to do," Caroline teased, causing Maya to tsk.
"Shut up!" that only made Caroline chuckle slightly.
Magnus kicked the door open with a smile, scarring some participants. "For those who value their ability to live a normal life and don't have the guts. Please, I opened the door for you to leave," he said in a sickly sweet voice.
The room was silent for a few minutes, and a few participants considered the offer that was until someone broke the silence. "You know what? Fuck this, I don't need to do this to graduate," someone said, getting up and walking past Magnus, soon followed by three others, only leaving three participants in the room.
"You sure you want to fight? You'll either lose against me at the semi-finals or at the finals. And trust me, I'm extra brutal in the finals," Magnus antagonized the remaining two, that being Ben and a student from another course.
The other participant looked over at Ben, who looked to be unphased by Magnus's comments. "Dude, you aren't even from the hero course. You'll just get whipped by me or Minogafreak over there, at least keep some dignity like the other shrimps and leave." Magnus said, making the teen stand up and rush out of the room, leaving the two alone.
"The door is still open, Minogafreak. Do you really want me to send you to the infirmary?" Magnus asked as Ben stood up. "Oh, gonna leave or try to shut me up?"
Ben stretched slightly as he pulled two earplugs and looked at Magnus. "Did you say something?"
He stood there for a bit and then glared at him, approached Ben, and grabbed him by the shirt. "Don't you try to act smart, you fuck!" he yelled as Ben returned the glare.
As Ben was about to reply, they heard the speakers come to live. "Because of 5 participants quitting the tournament, the finals will be the next match. Between Ben Minogashita and Magnus, Ozzein will take place after an hour interval," Simon announced as Ben used this chance to escape Magnus's grip.
"Get the fuck back here, you freak!" Magnus yelled while Ben only walked out of the room, closing the door leaving Magnus alone.
"That worked better than I expected," he thought as he grunted, quickly grabbing on a seat to keep himself steady. "That fight took too much out of me," he thought slowly sitting down as he could feel his entire body in pain both to Jack's attacks and his contestant alteration of the density of his bone. "I'm probably hollow," he thought, moving his arm slowly, and it was extremely light, making him sigh. "Where are those two idiots?"
He waited for a few minutes and then the door opened as two teens walked in with a bag filled with soda cans. "Sorry for the wait. We had to go out of the arena to find this," said one of them.
He was nearly the same height as Magnus, and had a similar built. He had short-messy, bright blond hair with black tips on the ends, lime green eyes behind a pair of square glasses. His attire was a blue and white hoodie with black slacks and matching sneakers.
The other was of similar build and height to Ken. He had long black hair tied up in a ponytail, dark tanned skin tone, light hazel eyes. His attire was of a black shirt with Overdone written in red on the middle, matching pants, and white and red sneakers.
"Your odds were trash, Ken," Magnus said to the blond who put the bag of cans next to him.
"You asked the odds for the entire tournament, not each individual fights," he replied, sitting down on a free seat looking at his friend. "Be specific about those."
"What were his odds, again?" asked the dark hair teen sitting next to Ken.
"If I would fight Jack on the first match, it would be 45%, If it was Martin it was 60%, and anyone else it would be 90%," Magnus said grabbing one of the cans, it had a white background and "Milko-Cola," written in a chocolate brown, he opened it and started gulping it.
"So, what and now what are his odds?" he asked once again.
Ken hummed slightly as his green eyes changed into a light blue hue. "Well Fred, taking in count what I could watch, he is 48% certain to win," he said, making him Magnus do a spit take.
"What the fuck!? How did it go from 90 to 48!?" he stood up while Ken looked at him unphased by the reaction.
"You asked me before Minogashita's fight. The odds for him to win were 20% but when he started fighting seriously, it increased to 48% mainly because he probably was holding back, and I'm sure he will not do the same against you," Ken explained.
Magnus grunted, tightening his grip on the can. "Bullshit, that still doesn't explain how it dropped so much."
Ken sighed heavily. "Well, you empty your calcium reserves that you've been storing up for two days just to beat Jack, who's a specialist in speed and long-range. You only have one hour to recover at best 5% of it to fight someone who also wants to win and is willing to break his friend's bones to reach it. Do I have to explain it even further?" Ken asked, leaning his head to the side, avoiding the can of cola Magnus threw.
"Fuck you, and fuck those odds. I'm going to beat that god damn freak!" Magnus yelled as the two sighed slightly.
"Dude, chill the hell out or you'll get a headache from getting too pissed, that you won't be able to think straight," Fred told him, only getting another curse word from Magnus.
"This was their fucking plan. Those fucks planned this," Magnus said, getting two confused looks.
"Ah, what?" Ken asked.
"They Jack, Martin, and the freak. They fucking planned this. Jack burned out my calcium reserves so Minogafreak could beat me, the fucker even told me. Ben is going to beat me."
"Okay, Magnus, calm the fuck down. He was probably using mind games to get you all pissed and unfocused on the fight ahead."
Magnus thought slightly about that. He inhaled and exhaled. "Okay, you might have a point. But I tell me if the odds change."
"Ahh…. hm," Ken hummed, making Magnus glared at him.
"What?" he questioned, with a sickly sweet tone.
"Well, because of your outburst and spending time here arguing instead of recovering your calcium reserves and not getting healed up. Your odds just went to 47% while Minogashita went to 50%"
Magnus took many deep breaths and nodded slightly. "I see, well then. I should probably get drinking," he said, grabbing another can and starting drinking, as the two sighed in relief.
Ben walked out of the stadium infirmary. He looked at his arm and leg, finally free from any burns got during his fight with Martin. "What should I do know, since I still have 40 minutes," he thought humming slightly, visiting either Martin or Jack wouldn't work as both at the moment were sleeping because of the tiredness from their matches and having their injuries healed. "Well, maybe I should stop by the announcer's booth."
"My fight is next Just great," Ben thought and exhaled. "And I'll be probably fighting against an extremely pissed-off Magnus. What was I thinking of punching him?" he questioned himself. "If it wasn't for his arrogance, he would've left Jack in worse conditions… And me, he'll probably try to kill me just because I went against him," he thought and went on and on thinking of many situations and scenarios caused by his actions.
After a few minutes of anxiety-fueled brainstorming, he bumped into the door of the announcement booth, getting the attention of both girls.
"Open the door first, Ben," Maya said, getting a confused look from Caroline.
"And how do you know it's him?"
"He's does that sometimes. He thinks too many scenarios that he goes on autopilot," she answered as the door opened.
"Sorry, I was distracting thinking about something," Ben said, entering the booth. "I thought you hated giving comments to tournaments like this?" he questioned, making Maya sigh.
"I do, but Caroline her bribed me with a good seat. So, I thought, sure why not." She answered, making the other girl smile.
"Yeah, and she's been an amazing co-announcer. I should get her to do this more."
"No, freaking way! I'm only doing this to watch the tournament!" she shouted, making Caroline chuckle loudly.
"Ah, yes, because your boyfriend is taking part," she said, making both Ben and Maya blush.
"We are not dating!" they both shouted at the same time Caroline roll her eyes.
"Yeah, keep saying that. I know the truth between you two," she said, making the two groan at that.
"Why are you biased on this topic?" Ben asked, making Caroline shrug.
"Because you two just make the perfect couple. Being childhood friends and neighbors who don't care about the social norm, keeping beside one another through thick and thin. That idea just sounds so romantic," Caroline said with a dreamy, faraway look. "It's perfect for a dream couple."
"Oh God, please give me a bucket. I need to throw up or something to hit this wacky… ah… what was the word?" She questioned.
"What word?"
"You know that word, for those girls obsessed with a celebrity or a paring," she said, trying to think of the word. "It's only coming to me in Portuguese."
"I think you mean fangirl?" Caroline answered, making Maya nod and snap her finger.
"Exactly, give me something to hit this wacky fangirl!" she yelled, and instead Ben moved the mic stand away from her.
"I prefer not aiding you in hurting the only person who can convince our teachers to have a day off," Ben said, making Caroline smile.
"Aww, thank you, Ben. Guess I'm that valuable."
Maya grumbled slightly. "Traitor."
"She just has a worthwhile ability, nothing more, nothing less," Ben said with his best monotone voice, only making the three laugh at it.
"Well, I needed that. So how are you feeling?" Maya asked after calming down from the laughter. "Besides the usual anxiety."
Ben sighed, letting his shoulder slump. "Well, maybe excitement, but not entirely sure. I haven't felt it in a while now."
Maya rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a downer. You are going to do great. We should probably start planning where we are going to celebrate."
"Oh, I pick Jerry's Pizza Bar!" Caroline shouted, making Ben sigh once again.
"I appreciate what you two are doing, but it's only making me feel worse if I lose," he said, making Maya stand up.
"Come on, Ben, I know you are going to kick ass. You just have to show that prick why he should think twice before messing with you again," she said, placing her hands on his shoulder. "Just go forward and break that boney puta,"
"Aww, nice pep talk Maya," Caroline said, taking her phone out and aiming at the two. "Now Ben, put your…"
"Shut it!" Maya snapped, making Caroline grumble and put her phone down. "Damn fangirl," she muttered and looked back at Ben. "Got it?"
"Yeah, but you still haven't told me what to do If I lose?"
"Well, winning or not, it will not be the end of the world, Ben. You've reached this far even if you lose those pricks should be proud of you."
"I really wish you would stop calling them that."
"You know I won't, because they are that. Elitist pricks, and until they prove me wrong, that's their names," she said, making a sigh once again. "Hey how about we go for a walk, to clear your mind?"
"Sure, it would be better than me overthinking things," Ben answered with a shrug as Maya removed her hands from his shoulder.
"Can I join, or is this something just between you two?" Caroline interjected, making Maya take a deep breath.
"I'm going to crush you, with one of my force fields one of this day," she muttered under her breath. "You can join us, as long you stop with the paring shit."
"I'll do my best," she said, getting up from her seat. "So where to?"
"Maybe to a vending machine. I'm feeling kinda hungry," Ben suggested, opening the door as they walked out.
"Fair enough. I think in the hallway to the stands there's one," Maya said, leading the way towards the machine.
"Don't you think you should take it easy?" Ken asked Magnus, who was downing pills from a green tube.
After swallowing the last pill, Magnus dropped the tube next to a few others. "Don't even try it. I only have 15 minutes before the match begins and I don't feel like I recovered even 4%" Magnus said.
"I know, but swallowing supplements like that will probably do more harm than good."
"Fuck off, if it's going to help me recover before the match with the freak is worth it."
"I understand, but downing supplements like an addict won't suddenly restore everything," Fred said, making Magnus stand up.
"I know that. I'm planning on having them settle in during the match, so when I use my current reserves, they eventually fill back up. Just gotta change tactics."
"Oh, so no letting your opponent get free hits?" Ken asked, getting a nod from Magnus.
"But won't that look like you take Minogashita as a bigger threat than Jack?" Fred asked, making Magnus groan.
"Fuck it! I don't care. I want to win. If that means I have to fight Minogafreak as my life depends on it, then I will."
Fred raised his hand defensively. "Hey, no need to get all pissy, about it."
"Also, shouldn't you head to the infirmary to get fixed up before it starts? You have like 12 minutes for it," Ken suggested.
"Yeah, and also how much did you two get from my fight with Sharp?" Magnus asked as Ken raised his phone to show the results on the school's app.
"It was a tough one, but we won about 1200 bucks each. A lot were hoping for Jack to win," he said and swiped the screen to the next fight, where there was a bar under his picture and one under Ben's. Currently, his poll was far ahead of Ben's, nearly 80 points ahead of his opponent.
"Pretty much everyone in the school is playing it safe and just throwing their money on you while there's a few putting their money on Ben to win," Ken explained, getting a nod from Magnus.
"Well, after this, let's go celebrate. I'll be paying," Magnus said, leaving the room as the two looked at one another.
"Okay, just one more fight and it's over," Ben thought to himself as he walked through the hallway alone as Maya and Caroline had to return to the announcement booth. "Just keep focus and let out all the anger and you'll win this," he thought. "But what if I don't?" he stopped walking.
"What if this is as far as I'll go and just lose in front of everyone again," he thought, sighing and shaking his head. "I can't think like that. Think positively, Ben. You can do this," he thought to himself as he started walking, but those thoughts were going away. With each step he took, it became worse.
"Just give up. You will never earn their respect. Heck, even if you die, they'll probably forget about you in the first year," was one of the many self-loathing comments going through his head. "Just give up and spare another humiliation. You'll never be something more than a waste of genes."
Ben stopped walking once again. As the thoughts were getting too much to him to the point, his stomach started grumbling, and he ran to the nearest trash bin and expelled the contents of his stomach in it.
"Great, now my mouth tastes like vomit," he thought after regaining his composure after a few minutes. He breathed heavily, backing away and accidentally bumping into Simon.
"The usual anxiety-fueled thoughts or something more?" the man asked, making Ben sigh and look at him.
"Anxiety and a good amount of self-loathing added to the mix," he muttered the answer, but the man heard it making him cross his arms.
"Let me guess, your thoughts are telling you to quit and avoid possibly losing?" he asked, getting a slight nod from Ben. "I'm sure that if you give your best you'll win for sure."
"I did that last year and lost in 3 minutes."
"And so, what? this year, you are at the finals and you are also so close to get a rare title that even your sister didn't get," he said, placing a hand on Ben's shoulder and giving him a gentle smile. "You should stop selling yourself short and keep moving forward. You are about to cross the finish line, can't stop now," he said.
"And what if I fail?" Ben asked, looking down. "I really appreciate all you've done for me, but that voice is always telling me to give up and just accept where I am."
"Then proved that voice wrong, as you did before when you thought. You couldn't be the best in your class."
Ben sighed heavily and nodded. "I'll try my best and also thanks."
"Any time kid, and also better get ready, there are only a few minutes before the match," Simon said, getting another nod from Ben as he walked past him towards the ring.
Ben took one final deep breath and focused the best he could on his goal. There was only one more barrier in front of him and he just had to punch through it.
He was snapped out of it when he heard the speakers come to live, calling for him and Magnus. "Well, it's now or never," he thought, walking towards the arena.
"The finals are about to start, between the two-time winner Magnus Ozzein against this year's finalist and front runner for the Student of the year, Ben Minogashita. This for sure is going to be an interesting match," Caroline said, looking over at Maya, who was biting her nail as she had her eyes fixed on the arena.
"Madeline, what do you think of this match-up? I know you are rooting for Minogashita, but anything else you wish to add?"
Maya stopped her nail-biting and cleared her throat. "Well, we know Ozzein is a tough opponent to beat, but I'm sure Minogashita will come up with a way to win," she said. "Or at least come out with the least number of wounds," she muttered.
"I couldn't agree more, but according to my data. This fight will be as hard to predict as the one with Sharp, but according to most they probably believe that Ozzein is the favorite to win once again."
"That's true, but all we can do now is just watch and see the eventual results. I wish the best of luck for both participants," Maya said, turning off her mic and also did Caroline.
"I really hope he can win."
"He will. I'm just worried how many injuries he will get just for the win," she said, leaning on her seat.
"Kick his ass, Ben!" Martin shouted from the participant's stands, getting a groan from Jack, who was sitting next to him.
"Stop it, he can't hear you," Jack said, returning his gaze to the arena that was still broken from his match with Magnus. They were mostly healed thanks to the paramedics, but Jack had his right arm in a cast.
"And? He knows I would probably say something like this?" he questioned. "You should do it too."
"No thank you, I prefer not ruining my voice. I'll just congratulate him when he wins," Jack stated.
"You actually think that Minogashita is gonna win?" Ken asked, glancing over at the two. "You realize that the chance of him winning isn't that great, right?"
"And? So what? I was favored to win my fight and I end up losing. The odds won't determine the winner of the tournament," Jack replied.
"They don't but, they are a good indicator of who might win."
"Can we just watch the match and leave the talking for some time else?" Martin asked, getting a collective nod from the other three.
"Are both participants ready?" Simon asked as both looked at each other.
Magnus got in his stance with his fists raised and eyes narrowed on Ben, this time without a smirk or grin. "I'm ready."
Ben did the same, getting into his stance while keeping his locked-on Magnus. "I'm ready."
"Then let the last match begin!" He shouted, giving the signal to start.