“So in the end he still won, eh?” Cale sighed to himself, reviewing the entire process of battle in his mind and identifying all the moves and abilities that were put on display on that stage.Every punch thrown, every slash evaded, every twist and reversal from both parties, Cale went through everything in his mind, inserting himself on the stage facing both opponents and trying to predict how he would react to each of their attacks.The more Cale did this, the more he marveled at how complicated combat could be. Facing an opponent you knew nothing about, it was difficult to anticipate what they were going to do next, meaning that one had to remain cautious at all times to react in an instant to any attack that may come from the opponent.But even when you knew the opponent’s moves beforehand, it didn’t necessarily mean you could perfectly counter them and win the battle with ease. Conservatively, victory simply boiled down to a few key points: strategy, foresight, and reaction.Of t

“Yes, we can, master…” the guard replied to Cale. “I’m confident that if all of us take action, we can definitely win against the boss and all his people…” Hesitating for a moment, the guard finally added, “…but I advise against taking this course of action, master. Like I said before, we cannot do it quietly without raising a lot of commotion. In doing so, we are about to alert Hive about our movements.” “We still don’t know if the boss is in cahoots with them, but regardless of if they are or not, once we take them down like this and Hive figures out what we are up to, even if they didn’t warn their people before, they definitely will now, and doing this again would be much harder than before.” Annoyed by everything the guard was saying, Cale complained with vexation. “We can’t do this, we shouldn’t do that… that’s all you’ve been saying so far, but not one thing you’ve said suggests how we can achieve the goal. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you were a traitor that’

At the back of the audience, hidden away from sight, Cale and his guard watched the announcer’s actions on stage, listening to everything he had to say. When Cale understood what was going on, he blinked rapidly in surprise, a strange feeling coming over him.“Is this destiny?”Many times Cale found himself asking that very question over and over again with no one in sight to answer him. And yet, even now, that question involuntarily arose in his mind due to the situation before him.The offer from the announcer came at just the moment Cale had decided on a course of action that would get him an audience with the fight club’s boss, presenting the perfect avenue for him to execute his plan.To get to the boss, Cale resolved to fight in the ring, but to do that wasn’t as straightforward as it sounded.To become a fighter, one had to naturally register with the fight club and secure a bracket for him to do battle with another fighter where his strength and receptability would be tested b

Once again, the club fell into a heavy silence, but this time it was filled with a chilling intent that seemed to freeze the souls of the spectators, causing them not to dare speak out of turn lest the next one drowning in their own blood be them.The announcer looked at Cale seriously and warily took a few steps away from him. Not to brag, but he was fairly powerful himself—at least compared to the ordinary awakened—but even he, despite standing so close to Cale, had not noticed how he had managed to attack that man from all the way over here.There was at least over twenty meters of distance between Cale and his victim, but it was like the distance didn’t even exist at all as soon as Cale made his move.The other person that was looking at Cale differently was the burly man who, with his thick eyebrows, regarded Cale much more seriously this time around.Not treating Cale with the total disregard that he had shown before, the burly fighter lifted himself off the wall he was leaning

The battle resumed…Seeing Cale charge at him, enraged, the burly fighter also launched himself explosively at Cale, shooting off like a rocket until he was in front of him in an instant. Without hesitation, he performed a powerful downward swing at Cale, hoping to cleave him directly in two.As it cut through the air, the mechanical sword let out a loud groan, the result of large airwaves hitting its sides as it sliced through powerful air resistance at Cale—who simply dodged to the side, easily evading the burly fighter’s attack.Flipping in the air, Cale circled around him until he was facing his back and immediately dove for an attack. But midway through his dive, Cale stopped and spun to the side as he evaded yet another strike from his opponent, who swung his sword in a wide arc behind him to deter Cale from approaching.Unbothered by the failed attempt, Cale maneuvered once again around the burly fighter, who followed the momentum of his swing to make a 180-degree turn to face