Chapter 207: First Interview

Kalon stayed in his seat a little longer while the arena continued to react to the result of the fight.

Jacques Roulet was strong. Marcus Vale was competent enough that most professional fighters would have lost to him before even getting a chance to show what they had.

After all, the man had a dual affinity, excellent earth control, and devastating light attacks. In a nutshell, that was a serious professional toolkit.

It still would not have been enough.

Kalon’s reasoning was simple.

Vale lost because every structure he built became useless against the third dragons fire.

Roulet won because he could afford to take minor damage whilst using the openings as a chance to utilise his fire to its fullest extent.

Against Kalon, none of these mattered.

Fire was not a dominant element over him. He could easily counter any of those fire strikes with Ninefold Sunbreaker, or Astral Counter.

Earth structures could be seized or overwritten through Worldforge. Against him, if you was not an SSS+ rank earth user, Kalon would have dominion over the terrain.

Light attacks could be swallowed into Black Sun Corpus or simply dodged using Crown Of Heavens agility boost.

Eternal Winter could slow the tempo of a whole exchange as well, and Deep-sea Pressure would lower their traits even further.

Darkness could remove a limb or a tool from the fight entirely if he used the light stored from the atlas fighter.

One at a time, he favoured himself clearly.

Both at the same time would be harder, but not impossible. Vale’s earth could be stripped or turned against him. Roulet’s fire could be smothered, absorbed, or outpaced.

The real danger would be coordination and cage constraints, but that was about it. Also, due to the lack of access to the sky, he couldn’t use lightning, but that wasn’t a big dea.

If they worked together perfectly from the first second, they might force him into a messy performance. If they did not, the fight would fall apart in pieces for them.

If that opinion made him egotistical, then the ego was at least built on a well thought out process.

Kalon stood and joined the flow of people leaving the upper sections.

That was a mistake.

Near the member exit, a cluster of paparazzi waiting for organisation staff caught sight of him.

One recognition was enough.

Cameras turned immediately after spotting him. A reporter with a live mic pushed through first, clearly noticing who this man was.

"Kalon Manchester! One on the way out: what is your first reaction to the featured bout?"

More lenses locked on to him. A second reporter tried to cut in from the side. Someone called his name again from behind a camera light.

There was no clean path through without making a larger scene, and turning away now would only make the footage look worse.

Kalon stopped and sighed. Then he let the first interview happen.

"Both fighters were good," he said. "Vale used earth and light well. His structure work was decent and he didn’t panic when the pressure rose. But Roulet’s fire was too powerful for him to handle, so his loss was inevitable... For him."

The reporter pressed in immediately.

"People are already comparing organisations after that result. How do you think you would fare against the Ten Dragons?"

The surrounding cameras zoomed in. For a moment the exit corridor was nothing but microphones, lenses, and the low murmur of people realising what had just been asked, and waiting anxiously for the answer.

Kalon answered without hesitation.

"I think it would be a close fight. But I would beat them."

For half a second, the reporter only stared at him as if checking she had heard correctly. Then the questions came in a burst from every side.

Whether he meant the lower dragons or the table as a whole. Whether this was about the cancelled recruitment. Whether he was declaring war on Jacques Roulet specifically.

Kalon gave no further detail. He repeated that both men in the cage had been good, and that his position remained the same.

Then he moved through the gap his silence created and left the venue before security had to get involved.

...

By the time he reached his new home, the clip was already everywhere.

He did not need to search for it. The first notification stack on his phone was enough.

Clips of the interview. Slowed footage of his face when he said he would beat them. Comment threads arguing whether he was fearless, arrogant, or deliberately forcing Atlas into harder bookings.

Some people praised the confidence. Others called it a first-year prodigy talking himself into a match he wasn’t yet ready for.

A few more careful posts simply noted that Atlas had only just signed him, and that comments like that did not get made without consequences.

Kalon locked the phone, showered, and made dinner.

He ate at the counter with the city spread out below the window-wall.

As for the traction his statement had made, he wasn’t bothered. If the Ten Dragons wanted to take offence, they could, and it wouldn’t matter. He had meant what he said.

He was confident.

After dinner, his phone buzzed again.

It was none other than Atlas.

Kalon opened the message.

[Change of plan. The French organisation booking is off.]

[However, we have a replacement offer. One that’s even better.]

[Opponent: Oliver Moniqart. Eighth Dragon, Ten Dragons Corporation.]

[Same one-week window. Purse adjusted upward. Full details packet attached.]

[Confirm availability.]

Kalon stared at the name.

Oliver Moniqart.

Eighth Dragon.

He had expected a reaction, but certainly not so soon.

Just from making a simple one sentence statement after a fight that had nothing to do with him, he had been given an offer to fight one of the most famous fighters in the country.

Kalon remembered the man well from his time at their headquarters. He was a man with a large presence, and the skills to back it up.

And yet Kalon knew this was a fight he wanted to take.