Gilded Underground fights: Underdog

Leaving his room, he left the building.

Before he knew it, he had left this street and was entering the next.

After taking a few turns here and there, he arrived at a building called, 'Gilded fitness'

CLINK…

The swinging door that notified the entry of a customer alerted the bartender behind a counter.

"Oh, Vahn" the man behind greeted with a smile and waved his arm at him telling him to come in.

"Marco…" Vahn smiled a little and moved closer to the counter.

Marco was a D-rank ability user, however due to his weak ability he gave up on it and set up a fitness center and maybe because they were similar in a way, they became friends.

"Hey, I thought you were preparing for the alliance." Marco asked as he remembered was within the age set for it.

"Yeah, it's just, I want to try again."

"Again?" Marco looked at Vahn with a wide eye and continued, "You know, you can wait to use the 'Artificial PDM', right?" 

"I know, I just want to try myself." Vahn shrugged as if he hadn't given up.

After looking at him for a while, Marco sighed and said, "Fine, just don't come crying to me when it doesn't work."

"When have I ever cried?"

"Don't let me recite your history for you."

With that short conversation, they moved from the bar to another room.

FLICK…

Turning on the lights, it led to an underground stairs.

Without hesitation, they reached the ground of the stairs and a large metal door was before them which had a section for inputting codes on it.

PI...PI…PI…PI

After Marco entering the code, the large door shook and opened to the sides. But the sound of the door was drowned out by the sound they were hearing,

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Loud cheers and chants could be heard beyond the door, it was still just a corridor and they could hear it.

"Let's go." Marco led Vahn through the corridor.

Along the way, Marco greeted a lot of people. It was bound to happen, after all, Marco was among the organizers of what they were going.

Among the several doors they passed by, they entered on towards the end of the corridor.

"So, get ready here, I'll go pitch you in." Marco left him with those words and left.

Looking around, Vahn couldn't help but admire the room. This wasn't the first time he had seen it. This was Marco's room as an organizer of this underground establishment. And as an organizer, it was more fancy than any apartment he had seen, well, not like he had seen a lot of fancy apartments.

After appreciating the apartment, he got ready. He was already in his tracks, all that remained was his mask.

Pulling a drawer, he saw a mask in the shape of a dog.

This mask was his identity in this establishment. Well, it wasn't that it was necessary thing, it was just that, his facial characteristics was 'One of a kind'.

Having the characteristics of a mysterious family wasn't necessarily always a good thing and because of that, Marco made a mask out of a 20 mark beast and gave him to hide his identity.

His uniqueness in his choice then gave him a name in this establishment, called 'Gilded Underground Fights'

As one would have guessed from the secrecy and the shouts when the large doors where opened, this was an underground fighting establishment.

It was a place where ability users fight against each other and make money. However, due its nature, it was mostly attended by Non-ability, E and D-rank ability users who either, wanted the chance to awaken, have been stuck in the same position for so long and wanted to advance, or wanted to make more money.

The world of ability was one where the same way one could awaken their ability anytime, was the same they could progress through the ranks, so if one could awaken or progress through the ranks and still get money after that, there was only a win-win situation, and no loss.

And with this establishment having had several records of fighters advancing through their ranks in the past, their reputation was at its peak.

Vahn also planned to work here after his two years in the alliance, however he had to survive those two years before he started working here.

KNOCK…KNOCK…

After the knock, a voice was heard behind the door.

"Underdog, you're up."

That was him.

'I hope it works today.' With a thought, he left the room.

Following the staff that called out to him, he reached the entrance to the ring, which was the loudest,

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

-HELLO GILDEDS, ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEXT FIGHT.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

-I FEEL YOU TOO, GIVE IT UP FOR OUR RISING 'UNDERDOGGGGGG'

"UNDERDOG"

"WINNNN"

"I BET ON YOU TODAY, PLEASE WIN"

Vahn walked by a walkway with spectators shouting and screaming from both sides. Looking forward, he could see the large ring staged at the center of the arena.

With a deep breath, he took determined steps to the ring. And when he entered, the announcer came again,

-NOW, FOR HIS OPPONENT, E-RANK MELEE COMBATANT, PUNCHERRRR.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

A middle-aged man wearing the outfit of a mechanic entered the arena. His own uniqueness were in his outfit of a mechanic and the pair of gauntlets on his hands.

The arena had the reputation of people increasing in ranks during fights and how that was done was, they pitched someone from a lower rank who either wanted to awaken or increase their ranks against a higher rank person who just wanted quick money from the wins.

They really found a way to please and satisfy both parties.

Soon, both fighters were facing each-other.

-READYYYYY, GOOOOO

The announcer shouted for them to start and ran off the ring. However the fighters hadn't moved an inch.

After what felt like an eternity, Puncher moved.

WHOOSH

Before one knew it, he was before Vahn' face and throwing out a punch, and with a thought, Vahn dodged to the side.

BANG…

True to his name and ability, when the punch passed him, a loud sound echoed behind him.

TWACK…

Without looking at the effect of the sound, Vahn jabbed the ribs of puncher, however true to being an ability user, he only winced a little.

'I expected that,' Without waiting, he squatted and kicked the back of puncher's knees.

"Urgh…" Puncher grunted as he was forced to a kneeling position. As Puncher was trying to get up Vahn had already gotten behind him and kicked the back of his knee again.

TWACK…TWACK…TWACK

Then he began mercilessly hitting puncher's back continuously, until,

THUD…

Puncher collapsed on the ground.

-W-WHAT A MATCH.

The announcer was very flustered at the results, however he regained his bearing quickly and continued,

-AS EXPECTED FROM OUR UNDERDOGGGG, BREAKING HIS OWN RECORD IN FINISHING A FIGHT AS A NO-ABILITY USER.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The crowd cheered again after snapping of their dazes.

Luckily they couldn't see his expression underneath his mask. With a deep sigh, he looked to the ceiling,

'Haa…I guess it didn't happen again.'

…

In a separate part of the arena reserved for VIP,

'A non-ability defeating an E-rank in seconds, now that's interesting,' a woman also wearing a mask smirked.

"Hey, underdog, is it…"

The masked woman immediately snapped her head sideways when someone called out the name of the person she had already set her eyes on.

She wore a red dress and red make-up that accented her beauty to a different level.

Sensing the look, the woman on red glanced at the masked woman and smiled, "Looks like we have a competitor."