Chapter 79: First Underground Fight

Some random guy I’d never seen in my life was trying to kick me out of the bed I’d picked. What kind of insanity was that. The worst part was that the bed itself had nothing special about it. It was the same crap as every other bed around it.

Why the hell did he want mine? He was definitely just trying to assert dominance in front of everyone, which made zero sense, since we were all prisoners here and would all be fighting in a coliseum eventually...

I was already about to get up and beat the hell out of him, but someone walked into our "dormitory." A tall guy in a suit, giving off this vibe that was both elegant and deadly.

"Quiet," he said in an authoritative voice.

Everyone looked at him. Even the guy who’d wanted to fight me a second ago.

"You’re probably wondering who I am and what you’re doing here. Let me explain."

Even I paid attention, though I already had a pretty good idea of who this guy was.

"We’re inside an underground fight club where several magnates have their own... combat teams. In other words, none of you here will fight each other. You’ll be fighting the warriors of other magnates."

"I personally want everyone here to win, and I’ll give you all benefits if you do, of course."

So basically this guy thought he was a coach and all of us were the team he was sending out to fight to the death. Real exciting, obviously.

What threw me off a bit was finding out I couldn’t fight the guy who’d just talked trash to me. I already wanted to kill him. The urge was overwhelming.

"There are cameras in this room. I saw and heard everything."

The magnate said that while staring directly at the guy who’d mouthed off at me.

"I won’t tolerate you picking fights with your own teammates. If it happens again, I’ll have you executed. Stay quiet and pick another bed. They’re all the same crap."

You could tell the guy was furious, but he obeyed and walked away, moving to another free bed.

"The first fight happens in 10 minutes. And the one chosen for it is... you."

He pointed in my direction. You’ve got to be kidding me. The guy who’d just trash-talked me was absolutely loving it. Not even trying to hide it, the bastard was smiling when I looked at him.

"You can rest during that time, but know that you’re going in to fight. And losing means death."

The guy left right after, and everyone was staring at me. Most of them didn’t care. After all, even if I was going first, everyone there would eventually fight and have to battle for their lives the same way.

Me going first didn’t change anything for them. The only one visibly happy was that piece of trash who’d come at me, and I didn’t even know why, since I’d never seen him before. Maybe he was just an asshole.

"Good luck, buddy," the guy said, laughing like a maniac. "You’re gonna need it."

I ignored him completely, obviously, and lay back down on the bed. I started focusing on the fight ahead. That was what mattered. Not that piece of trash.

Exactly 10 minutes later, right on time, someone came to get me. He walked up to me and dragged me out of the room.

We were in a corridor with other doors along the sides. I figured they were other "dormitories" with hunters in the same situation as me. At the end of the corridor was the arena where we’d fight. It had a special barrier around it, made of glass or something similar, completely transparent.

"I’m going to inject something into you, and your ability will come back in 5 minutes," the guy explained. "You’ll go in and fight the other guy. If you kill him, we’ll inject you again to block your ability, and you’ll go back to your dormitory. Understood?"

I just nodded. He injected something into my neck and shoved me inside the arena.

Inside there was a referee, and on the other side, a corridor identical to the one I’d come from, with my opponent. He was getting the same treatment I had.

That referee was powerful. Not Rank S, but visibly well above Rank A. He was there to make sure nobody tried to pull anything funny.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer in the middle of the arena said into a microphone, "welcome to fight night!"

All the rich guys sitting in the stands started screaming at the announcement, hyped up and dying for the massacre to begin.

"Tonight we’ll be kicking things off with a rookies’ fight. The first bout for both fighters."

The announcer walked toward me.

"What would your nickname be? We need a fighter name for the announcements."

Since it was my first fight, he had no idea what I wanted to be called. I didn’t really have one either.

What would be a good name? In the end, it didn’t matter much. It wasn’t like my name was going to strike fear into my opponent or change anything. I was still a prisoner with no idea how I was going to get out of this mess.

"Call me The Basilisk."

"The Basilisk? Like the snake?"

"Exactly."

I didn’t care at all if people figured out my bloodline powers. What did it matter? In the end they might even think it was my awakened ability and not something tied to a bloodline.

Anyway, the announcer asked my opponent for his nickname, and he picked something generic like Bone Crusher.

"On this side, we have our infamous fighter, Bone Crusher!"

The crowd started mocking him. You could hear it even from down in the arena.

"Another idiot picking the same nickname as everyone else. Where’s the creativity?"

"These rookies still have so much to learn, damn."

When they announced me, though, the reaction was different.

"The Basilisk!"

The audience, hearing something different from the usual generic names, started chanting mine.

"Basilisk."

"Basilisk."

I felt flattered hearing that, despite being in such a terrible situation.

After the 5 minutes passed and my ability was active again, the announcer left the arena, obviously, and the referee, who was incredibly powerful, stayed behind to remove our restraints.

He also stayed inside the arena to keep everything in order. The guy was super strong precisely for that reason: to keep the fighters in check.

I walked toward the center of the arena. My opponent did the same.

By the look on his face, I could tell he was visibly scared and didn’t want to be there, which made sense. The people who got captured were "good" hunters, and nobody wanted to be in that place, forced to fight another human to the death.

"What do you say we team up and try to get out of here? We don’t have to kill each other," he said.

He whispered it, so the crowd couldn’t hear, but everyone already knew what he was saying. It was standard behavior for rookies who couldn’t accept they were in a hopeless situation.

Me, on the other hand, I thought completely differently. If I needed to kill him to survive, that was exactly what I’d do.

We were so close, and he was so careless, that I could’ve attacked him right then and killed him before he could react. But even in that situation, I tried to hold on to a little honor and give him a chance.

"I’m going to attack you in 30 seconds. Get ready. I didn’t come here to play around. I’m going to kill you."

Unlike him, I said that out loud so everyone in the stands could hear. They loved it.

"Now that’s what I’m talking about! Finally a rookie who gets it."

"Right? The first rookie who isn’t a total pushover."

My opponent was still in denial.

"If we team up, maybe we can take on the referee and get out of here. What do you think? Worth a shot, isn’t it?"

Damn, what an optimist. He actually believed they hadn’t set up maximum security to make sure nobody escaped. The guy was delusional.

But I understood where he was coming from. I wanted out too. There just was no way, and I needed to accept that. Better to accept reality than live in a fantasy.

"Ten seconds," I warned.

The guy snapped out of it and jumped back, putting distance between us.

"Then I won’t hold back either," he said. "If you die, that’s not on me."

I started laughing in his face. Die? That guy was weak as hell. I could already read his power level, and he was clearly far below mine.

The moment the remaining 10 seconds ran out, I bent low and sprinted toward him, moving so fast I was right in front of him in under 1 second. I could see the shock on his face, unable to comprehend my speed.