Chapter 59: Making a Bet

Apart from their classes, one of the places most frequently visited by the Newcomers was the X-New Arena, where challenges took place every single day as students fought one another to earn points and climb the rankings.

The fights were posted online along with the rankings, allowing students to follow the matches even when they weren’t physically present, but after classes, there was little reason not to visit the arena in person since they could watch the battles without spending a single point.

When Declan passed through the wide entrance and stepped inside, his jaw immediately dropped.

"This... there are more Newcomers!?"

During his classes, Declan had estimated that he had seen roughly a hundred Newcomers in total, and at most, he had assumed there were around 110 students, yet the sight before him completely destroyed that assumption.

The arena was enormous, shaped almost like a football stadium, with rows upon rows of seats stretching around the battlefield, and as Declan looked across them, he realized there were more than four hundred students seated throughout the arena.

And this place was exclusively for Newcomers.

’No wonder I was ranked 205.’

When he had first seen his challenge ranking, the number had seemed ridiculous because there were only around a hundred students in his classes, so how could he possibly have been ranked over two hundred?

But now he understood.

Perhaps all the Newcomers were divided into different classes, with Declan simply being a member of one of those classes, and if that was the case, then there were most likely several other classes filled with Newcomers elsewhere in the Academy.

The arena itself was incredibly loud, with the noise of hundreds of students filling the entire place, and it wasn’t only students who had gathered to watch, as even instructors were present, with around eight of them seated in a separate section of the arena.

As Declan entered the seating area, he happened to arrive just in time to watch a fight already underway between two students, both of whom were Nexians, although the difference in their strength was considerable.

One of them was being beaten black and blue by his opponent, barely managing to defend himself as the fight continued, until eventually, one of the instructors raised his hands and a white projected light appeared across the arena, dividing the stadium into two sides.

A moment later, the light on the side of the dominating student turned green, while the side belonging to the beaten student turned red, causing the crowd to immediately erupt into another deafening uproar.

’It’s just a fight. Why the hell are they so loud?’

Declan glanced around in confusion before his attention was drawn to a group of students gathered together in a circle.

║They bet on fights.║

The system panel flashed before him, and Declan silently went, Oh.

So that was why everyone was so excited.

As soon as the fight ended, another challenge was called, and the process continued, with some fights ending in less than five minutes while others dragged on for nearly an hour before a winner was finally determined.

What remained consistent, however, was that there was always a winner, because even when two students appeared equal in strength and ended up suffering similar injuries, the instructor would still choose one of them as the victor.

There was never a draw.

"Interesting," Declan muttered.

"Hey, hey, hey!"

The voice suddenly came from behind him, and Declan turned his head just in time to see a student rushing across the seats before dropping into the empty space beside him.

"You come to bet on a fight, or fight?"

The newcomer was a chubby-looking young man with brown hair, dressed entirely in black, from his jacket and shirt to his jeans.

"Fight," Declan answered. ℯ

"Oh, shit. For real?"

The young man looked Declan up and down, and with his hoodie and trousers, Declan did have the appearance of some mysterious underdog fighter, although his face and eyes completely ruined the image since they looked far too innocent.

If anything, he looked more like a beautiful princess than someone who was about to step into an arena.

"Who you up against?" the young man asked suspiciously.

"Who the fuck is asking?"

"My bad, my bad."

The boy quickly raised his hands.

"I’m Doe. I work for Winwinwin. Those guys over there."

He pointed toward the group of students gathered around the betting circle.

"Is that even allowed?" Declan asked, eyeing them suspiciously.

"Well, it isn’t against any law, and even the instructors are fine with it."

Doe shrugged before continuing.

"What I do is collect stats from the fighters and send them back to the group so they can make their bets, so I wanna know who you are and who you’re fighting."

"Sounds like a waste of my time."

Declan waved him off.

"Hey, if more people bet on you, you take ten percent of the total bet."

Declan glanced back at him.

"And if you win, you take thirty percent of the bets placed against you."

Doe grinned.

"That’s at least fifty points minimum... if you win, of course."

Declan hummed before answering.

"I’m Declan. I’m fighting some dude called Edgar in twenty minutes."

Doe immediately pulled out his device and began browsing through it.

"Oh, you’re..."

His expression suddenly changed.

"Wait. You’re the Rank 205 dude fighting Edgar!?"

Declan raised an eyebrow.

"Dude, your fight is already popular. Edgar’s been wiping the arena floor with asses all week."

Doe looked at him as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

"You sure you wanna go against that psycho?"

"Can’t back off now."

"Have you watched any of his fights?"

Declan shook his head.

"Nah."

Doe stared at him for a moment before shaking his own head.

"Nah, you ain’t winning that fight, dude."

He was already turning around to leave when he suddenly stopped and looked back.

"Hey, you wanna bet, though?"

Declan glanced at him.

"Everyone’s betting against you right now, so if you put something down and win, you might win big..."

Declan considered it for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah. Imma bet fifty points, but can’t get any points out due to the competition now..."

Doe nodded.

"It’s fine."

He brought out his device.

"Imma just do a quick scan for a fifty-point bet."

"If you win, you’re getting at least two hundred points from the bet."

"If you lose, the fifty points are automatically removed after the fight, and there are no refunds."

He looked at Declan.

"You sure you want in?"

"I do."

Doe brought his device closer to Declan’s, and moments later, a notification appeared confirming the fifty-point transfer.

Declan accepted it, causing Doe’s device to beep.

"I got it. Good luck out there, man."

Doe started to leave, but then paused.

"And hey, just shout surrender once you’re done. The instructor will step in."

Declan watched as Doe quickly scurried back toward his group, where a few members immediately glanced in his direction, their expressions showing the same surprise Doe had displayed earlier before they soon began snickering among themselves while rapidly exchanging points.

[They really are betting against you.]

The system panel flickered before Declan who simply shrugged.

’Rank 205 against Rank 15. Who wouldn’t?’

"Better for me, though," he mused.

Before long, the twenty minutes had passed.

It was time.

"Next Challenge!"

The instructor’s voice carried across the entire arena.

"Ranked 15 with seven consecutive wins by explosive knockouts and zero losses!"

The name hadn’t even been announced yet, but the arena was already erupting with chants.

"Edgar! Edgar! Edgar!"

The chanting grew louder until the entire arena seemed to shake.

"EDGAR DOMINIC!"

The gates beneath the arena opened, and a figure soon walked through.

Declan raised an eyebrow as he looked at him.

"Interesting."

A grin slowly formed on his lips.

Now this was a fight that could be worth it.

He was big, not fat big, but muscular big, as though three Newcomers had been conjoined into a single person.

His muscular frame was barely contained by the round-neck shirt he wore, while extremely thick green veins bulged across his hands and arms, and with the sleeves stopping around his biceps, his already massive arms looked even larger, while from his elbows down to his wrists, two long scars had been carved into his skin, giving him an even more fearsome appearance.

His short, dark hair was wild and unruly, sticking out around his head as if he had just walked through a typhoon, while a thick dark robe draped over his back and hung loosely from his shoulders.

He slowly lifted his gaze toward the stands before raising one hand and clenching it into a tight fist, and that single gesture was enough to send the entire arena wild.

"His opponent, Rank 205, with no loss... but neither any fight."

The instructor announced it, prompting mocking laughter and chuckles to spread throughout the arena.

"Declan Ezra!"

"Declan Ezra!?"

"Sounds like a girly-ass name!"

"Hahahahaha!"

The crowd immediately turned toward the gate on the opposite side of the arena, but nothing emerged.

Several seconds passed.

"Don’t tell me he chickened off?"

A student called out through the silence.

Then, almost at the same time, they noticed someone rising from the seating area.

Declan walked toward the railing overlooking the arena below, and without hesitation, he jumped onto it before taking another step forward and launching himself into the air.

BOOOOOOOM!

The impact was like a bomb going off, sending a massive cloud of smoke into the air as Declan descended and leaving the students unable to see him for a moment.

As the dust began to settle, he stepped out from within it, finally revealing himself to the crowd.