Beast Driven

Getting Closer

'This guy is a lot tougher than I thought he'd be!' his opponent thought, curling his fists. With his ability, he could control the earth, making it crumble under his opponent.

"Boulder class... I never liked this class," Kayden thought, quickly moving to the sides, trying to avoid the unstable parts of the ring.

"Still, it seems like all he can do is make the ground crumble. I haven't seen him move rocks around. So if I'm right, this is all his ability can do. As long as I don't loose my balance, then I should be fine. Plus, I don't know the depth of the arena his ability affects."

He lept into the air, stretching his body wide while barring his claws. If this worked, then he could quickly finish off his opponent, while covering the distance without having to deal with most of the area affected by the ability.  

As soon as he was close enough, he swiped his claw. However, his opponent seemed ready for this, as he managed to grab the claw mid-swing. Kayden's elongated claws were mere inches from his face, yet his opponent managed to stop them.

Swinging his legs forward, he delivered two powerful kicks to the chin, sending his opponent's head flying back. The force of the kicks was powerful, drawing blood, however, his opponent wouldn't let go of his wrist.

"Let go!" Kayden growled, slashing with his other hand.

'Shit! This guy's tough! But I think I know what to do!' his opponent thought, focusing his ability.

He channelled his Mana, concentrating his ability on the area where he and Kayden stood. Quickly, the ground beneath them began to crumble faster than before. Before Kayden could react on time, he and his opponent had already fallen into a deep hole.

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Earlier today, Kayden had decided that he would head back down to the underground fighting club tonight to earn more money. Meanwhile, during the day, he would spend his time watching TV and studying.

Kayden was currently studying Economics, however, he was finding it hard to concentrate.

"Wait, how do you calculate mean deviation again?" he quickly realized that he had spent over two hours reading without remembering a thing. In the middle of cracking his brain, he had received a call from a friend.

"Hello, Kayden? How've you been? Me and the gang haven't been seeing you at school. Everything okay?" a male voice said.

Kayden was thinking of how he would respond.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I've just been sick lately. Don't worry. You'll see me maybe around Thursday," he eventually said.

"Cool, see you then," his friend replied, before ending the call.

"Sigh... just one more day and this'll all be over..." he thought to himself.

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"You piece of shit!" Kayden growled.

He didn't know how deep he was underground, but there was one thing he DID know. He wasn't gonna let this guy ruin everything he's been doing.

He didn't care how much Mana it would take, as long as he gets this guy's arm off his wrist. Although he had a boulder class ability, his physical strength was nothing to laugh at, as his hand was still clasped tightly against Kayden's wrist.

It was hard for him to see anything since the air was filled with heavy dust and debris, but he assumed it was the same for his opponent.

He slashed his opponent on e again, drawing out more blood. At this point, he didn't even care whether or not his opponent would survive the onslaught.

Kicking, and even biting. The audience could hear the screams of a man in pain, however, they couldn't see anything so no one could tell who it was that was yelling. With persistence, his opponent eventually lost consiousness, though it cost Kayden a larger amount of Mana to win the fight.

At the same time, he was quite deep underground, meaning that he would have to claw his way back up. After a while, the winner had emerged, gaining an additional ten thousand dollars. This was his second match of the night, and Kayden was already gaining quite a fan base. 

Many were intrigued by his ability, as they didn't know many who had something similar. Plus, everyone in the world who has a mystery class ability comes from a wealthy family and wouldn't normally take part in underground fighting, so they were more interested in Kayden as a result.

Kayden already had over forty thousand, so all it would take is one more match to reach his goal.

"I wonder how much more Mana I have left?" he thought.

[Host has only 1000 Mana Points left]

Ever since last night, Kayden had formed the habit of taking the place of other fighters. Although the person he had attacked yesterday had reported him, Kayden had received no punishment.

This was thanks to the fact that he had put on a far better night than the bruiser ever could. So, instead of dealing with Kayden, they simply paid Bruiser the money he would have made from the fight, since there was so much of it after both of Kayden's fights.

They even went as far as allowing him to fight for other contestants since that was what he wished to do. At the end of the day, not all the money made would go to his account, out the agreed amount would be paid, while everything else would be shared amongst gamblers and the owners of the club. So no one else really complained about what Kayden was doing.

Kayden had decided to have a third fight for the night. As long as he was careful, then he really wouldn't have anything to worry about. After every fight, a group of paramedics would step into the ring to retrieve the bodies of fighters who had been knocked out and severely injured in their fights. 

His opponent had been retrieved from the hole and taken away to receive medical treatment. Then there were those who were supposed to repair the arena using their ability. Once everything was ready, the announcer did his own part as well.

"Next, we have our undefeated champion, who will be going up against the Viper!" the announcer declared.

"The Viper, huh? Let's see what they can do," he said.

As soon as the name was called, the crowd erupted in loud cheers. It seemed like the Viper was quite a beloved competitor. Kayden was already in the ring, and not long after, a man with curly blonde hair stepped into the ring. 

"From his name, I think he has a serpent class ability. This might not be as easy as I hoped."

The Viper had made it into the ring, and the referee then announced the start of the match. Kayden transformed right off the bat. He didn't know how long his Mana would last. Plus, he didn't have a very good Mana regeneration rate.

His opponent's eyes began to glow green as his pupils narrow. Then, he began to shoot a liquid substance from the palm of his hands. As the substance touched the ground, a sizzling sound could be heard, and the rock began to melt. This was the ability of the Viper.

"Acid?" Kayden's body began to shake. "I just fought two guys who can breath fire and shatter Earth, now I have to deal with this?" he couldn't help but feel bad about his situation.

Although he remembered why he was doing all this in the first place There was no took for doubt as it would lead to errors. And errors could lead to the death of his cousin.

'I just need to avoid the poison, then land a decisive blow before my Mana runs out!' he yelled internally.

With his quick speed, he managed to avoid most of the acid attacks. However, some drops would land on his fur from time to time. The acid was highly concentrated, quickly burning away at his fur and skin. The process was extremely painful, and there were times when Kayden didn't know if he could deal with the pain.

"Awwwwoooooo!" he howled.

Once he was close, he swiped both his claws at the same time, but the Viper quickly jumed back before the strikes could hit him.

'Just stay put!' he yelled in his mind.

The Viper hadn't been in a fight tonight, so he had a lot of energy to waste. He wasn't going to made this easy for Silver Fang. Throwing out more acid from his palms, Kayden made sure to dodge those as well. However, without a way to grab a hold of his opponent, all he was doing was basically pointless.

He couldn't win by merely dodging, plus he would soon run out of Mana. Eventually, Kayden's movements were getting sluggish. His features were beginning to revert, and he could feel the red energy in his body diminishing. These were all signs of one thing.

"It seems like you have finally run out of Mana. I was starting to wonder when you'd finally loose a match, but I guess I can stop wondering now," the Viper said, gathering the acid in his palms.

Twisting his knee, he made a sprint towards his opponent. In the middle of reverting back, he delivered a punch to the gut, while grabbing his face with his other hand. The force of the attack, together with the intensity of the acid, was too much for Kayden to bare. He screamed in pain, but it wasn't long until he lost consiousness.

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