Conrad immediately stunned everyone at the start of the match by leaping straight into offense. This was the first time Lexie had ever seen him do that. Typically, he waited for others to come to him, and given that it was Top Dog he was fighting against, Lexie instantly thought he'd made a mistake.

While Conrad also did well in close-range battles, his Berserker style made him far superior at long-range than Top Dog, and made him better at defense than offense. Charging full throttle did not seem like a bright move.

But with a loud battle cry, he leaped forward clearing nearly twenty feet of ground with his incredible strength and landing right in front of Top Dog, not unlike how Top Dog had done during their very first match.

Top Dog skated back and to the side, narrowly avoiding a blow to the face. He countered with a powerful punch to Conrad's midsection, the spikes on his gloves extending to bury themselves in Conrad's center, sending him hurtling back.

But Conrad didn't go alone.

He brought up a hand and shot out strange, semi-transparent strings from his mech and they wrapped around Top Dogs's legs dragging him along with the momentum.

As he was dragged forward, Top Dog struggled to resist and maintain balance.

But then Conrad righted himself and dug his feet in using his strings as a makeshift Lasso to tug Top Dog as hard as he could.

Top Dog finally fell and Conrad swung him across the field, in a loop like a cowboy.

"Amazing!" said the male announcer, Ned-something. "It looks like Conrad's not playing around this time. He has activated his linker and is now taking Top Dog along for the ride."

Conrad, probably deciding that he'd made Top Dog dizzy enough, now pulled him in. Top Dog was about to fly face-first into Conrad's fist. Or possibly the ground if Conrad changed his mind.

But Top Dog was over his initial confusion and had prepared a counter.

He flipped over mid-air and a forcefield appeared out of his feet, meeting Conrad's fist instead.

It shattered from the force of the blow, throwing TD and Conrad back and breaking their link.

"There's the Top Dog counter we were waiting for! We knew our number one wasn't going to take it that easily. See how he shows off his brand new emitors too. You know, brawlers aren't typically so light on their feet, but Top Dog manages to do it magnificently."

TD landed on his hands and flipped to his feet, the crowd roaring at his finesse.

His natural flair was undeniable but Conrad wasn't giving him any breathing space and was on him again.

This time, TD was more than ready for him

Conrad landed a blow to TD's midsection driving him back, but TD barely reacted, even though Lexie knew it had to sting. With the second hit, TD drove his knee to the side of Conrad's head. Adaptability was Conrad's forte and so he was able to quickly duck and avoid it, which put him in the perfect position for TD's follow-up uppercut.

Lexie could see it coming. Conrad would probably move back to avoid the hit but TD's malleable metal would extend TD's fist and slam into Conrad's face anyway.

She waited for it.

But Conrad didn't do the predictable. He didn't avoid the hit. Instead, his face met the fist fearlessly, and with a sickening crunch, TD broke Conrad's nose.

"Ouch," Dewie said.

"Damn it!" Xena yelled.

"Ooh, that's going to leave a mark!" Ned sounded disgustingly happy about it. "But look at that counter."

And it was a really counter. Conrad accepted the blow to neutralize one of TD's fists so that at the same time, he could catch the other one and execute a judo throw bending backward to slam TD into the ground '

"Oh shit!" Xena laughed in delight, and Lexie had her hands over her face but peeked through her fingers to make sure TD was okay.

She shouldn't have worried. Even that wasn't enough to take him down.

It might have, had Conrad started pummeling him immediately, which is what Lexie would have done in his position, but he was apparently too noble for that, allowing TD to windmill his legs, knock Conrad back, and escape.

Top Dog jumped a few steps back, holding the back of his neck.

Lexie was close enough to see the temper spark in his eyes as well as hear his voice over the screaming crowd saying, "You're finally taking this shit seriously, huh?"

Conrad cracked his neck. "Yeah. I guess I am."

He charged for TD again, once again getting into close quarters. The two men traded and blocked blows for some time, in an even match-up. TD had better technique, but Conrad had better durability and reaction time. Conrad's speed caught up, but TD increased his suddenly, to land a few more clean hits than Conrad could. Top Dog also got better at blocking Conrad's strikes with force fields and avoiding the ones he couldn't block in time.

TD had gotten more fluid in the last few months and he seemed like he could read Conrad like a book, almost like he knew beforehand where each blow was coming from, knew how to avoid them, and counter with quick parries, even getting Conrad in vulnerable spots. The Berserker nevertheless had crazy endurance because even as TD flipped in the air, and kicked Conrad hard enough to send him into a wall, the man simply got back up and attacked again.

"He just won't quit," Dewie said in amazement while Xena screamed Conrad's name at the top of her lungs.

"He can't," Lexie said. Because this might be his last chance.

Still, TD didn't ease up on him either. He was landing more hits than Conrad, especially in the face and jaw, and midsection. Lexie wondered if Conrad had repeated injuries there that TD wanted to exploit. TD was relentless, hitting one after another, refusing to let the other man catch a breath or even regain his equilibrium.

"Top Dog is showing no mercy," Ned said. "For the folks that don't know, this is what they call the <Lockjaw>, one of TD's signature moves, and once you're caught in it, he doesn't stop until his opponent is down for the count."

And it really did seem like TD wouldn't stop. But neither would Conrad. The two flitted across the field, attacking each other endlessly. Conrad was incredible because some of the blows TD landed would have knocked a lesser man out. And Top Dog was getting faster, dealing more damage in a way that Conrad couldn't reasonably recover in time for.

And it started to show.

Conrad's face was getting bruised and a little bloodied. TD had backed him up against the wall, and Conrad put his hands up in a boxing pose but it wasn't enough.

And then Conrad suddenly dropped on the floor and that was the only warning for what he did next.

TD had less than a millisecond to react, and he flew back when Conrad held out his arm and tried to use Linker on Top Dog again. TD managed to avoid it, but he had to keep jumping around the field to keep avoiding Conrad's draw.

"There it is folks. This should be the end of the first round, but as we know, this is a sudden-death match and there are no breaks between the rounds which means that this match only ends with a knockout. So far, I think that Top Dog is showing why he really is Top Dog, and he's going to end up victorious. What do you think of Nancy?"

"I don't know Ned. I think Conrad still has a few tricks up his sleeve and he hasn't even revealed his signature move yet."

Lexie had to agree. So far, Conrad was fighting counterintuitively to his usual style. He was better than TD at long range and he was better with more indirect fighting but he kept getting into closer ranges. And while he got faster, he wasn't getting fast enough to match up with TD's speed. Why? Was he holding back? Was he setting TD up for a trap? Or was he simply trying something new after the string of embarrassing losses he suffered.

Maybe his usual fighting style triggers too much mania and he's trying to avoid that.

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And he did seem more stable than usual. Even though Conrad wasn't doing as much damage as he could, he also didn't seem as out of control and crazed. Maybe he was learning to control his skill and this was the trick. Do less for more.

Lexie was curious to see what his pathways were doing right now. Aiden had explained to her that physical types had mana too, but they didn't have 'free mana' like what mages had, rather the mana was bound to certain attributes like their muscles and ligaments and was used to reinforce their strength, speed, durability and healing. Similarly, intelligence types had mana that enhanced their brain.

It was all still controlled by pathways and Lexie was fascinated, wondering how it all appeared.

A quick gasp from Xena drew Lexie out of her thoughts and back into the battle.

Just like what Kane had done, TD had used two force fields to trap Conrad in place, and now launched himself into the air and prepared a landing kick right on Conrad's face.

"That's gonna knock him out," Lexie muttered. No way it wouldn't knock him out with that much force.

But Conrad wasn't struggling at all.

Instead, he took a deep breath and inhaled. Closed his eyes. Then, he roared.

Yes, roared.

It was a roar that reverberated in the wind, a roar that showed all the veins on his face standing out, a roar that probably had TD's expression slipping temporarily into 'what the hell' right before he landed the kick on Conrad's face.

Or at least it was supposed to be on Conrad's face, somewhere around his forehead.

But Conrad shifted his head at the last moment and TD's boot went into his gaping mouth.

And Conrad chomped down.

"FUCK!" TD cried out in pain, ripping himself back from the maniac whose mouth was now dripping with blood, eyes a little crazed.

The crowd was stunned and seemed unable to decide whether they should cheer or retch. Murmurs of confusion rang through. Was that allowed?

Lexie guessed it was, because the ref wasn't calling an end to the match. It wasn't a near fatal injury after all, just an odd one.

"That was…"

"Disgusting," Dewie completed.

"So cool," Xena said.

Lexie had to agree with both of them.

And the announcers were stunned too, before both of them scrambled into announcing how they'd never seen anything like this before. Top Dog had a second to limp back and lean against the wall, as Conrad strained against the forcefield that was holding him in place.

"Are you serious?" TD yelled across the field, heard above the crowd noises. "You bit my foot!"

"Next time, keep your foot out of my mouth!"

Conrad closed his eyes and pushed against the forcefield, his veins standing out on his neck as he struggled. For a while, there was no give, but then with a single crash, the glass shattered freeing him.

He was soon on Top Dog, who took a second to drink a healing potion before leaping away on one foot.

With the damage TD sustained, Conrad was now primarily on the offensive while Top Dog was on the defensive. TD was good at dodging but the foot wasn't healing fast enough and it slowed him down enough for Conrad to deal more damage.

Conrad slammed his fist into his ribs. TD ducked to avoid a hit to the face, then avoided another hit to the face that crushed the wall behind him like it was made of glass. TD threw up a shield, but Conrad's blow broke right through, though the brief reprieve allowed Top Dog to escape.

"Stay still, asshole," Conrad yelled at him as TD dashed away from him. "I'll make it quick I promise."

"Not even in your dreams, Grace."

But while TD wasn't as fast as Conrad with blocking, Conrad was starting to get even more accurate with his hits. Lexie was starting to get nervous. She did want Conrad to win for Xena's sake, but she also didn't want Top Dog to get seriously injured or to get the shit kicked out of him in a way that was embarrassing.

And it was looking to be a possibility. Because Conrad's hits packed more of a punch than Top Dog's.

Conrad came charging at Top Dog again who escaped by sliding between his legs. While doing so, TD shot his fist out with metal spikes landing on Conrad's upper thigh.

Conrad flinched as Top Dog leaped away.

"Low blow, 'keem," Conrad called as he chased him.

"A low blow would have been where I wanted to hit," Top Dog responded, running. "But I took your mercy on your gonads for Isla's sake."

Conrad didn't look like he appreciated that mercy, but luckily, Top Dog's feet healed enough for him to regain his speed.

Conrad smiled. "Fine. Let's end this then."

He brought up his weird button watch, twisted and pressed it down. It glowed. And in a few seconds, Lexie finally understood what it was.

It wasn't just another linker.

It was an object summoner.

Object-summoning tech was rare and expensive. And also experimental. Lexie figured he got it somehow through his [Hero] parents.

After Conrad pushed the button, a mini-portal appeared in front of him and suddenly objects were flying out. These weren't weapons, because that probably wouldn't be allowed. They were household objects; chairs, tables, plastic bowls, chopping boards.

But there were a lot of them.

All of a sudden, Conrad's plan became clear to Lexie–he used those close-range attacks in the beginning to tire Top Dog out, while maintaining his sanity, so that when he enacted this finisher, he would have enough of his sanity left to spare. Because having a bunch of objects flying around was exactly the type of thing that Berserkers would do extremely well with, but it would edge him closer to madness. He was willing to risk it now because it was near the end.

The whole fight they'd spent in TD's domain.

Now they were in Conrad's world and that was terrible news for Top Dog.

Top Dog seemed to figure it out at the same time Lexie did, and immediately started sprinting but he wasn't fast enough. Conrad pelted object after object at him, laughing and screaming at the same time, clearly close to the madness. And then came the twist.

Suddenly, Top Dog got dragged back and then he looked behind to find that Conrad had placed several linker strings in his suit. Probably during all those close-range attacks, he'd slipped them in but hadn't activated them till now.

Smart.

Conrad Grace had certainly wised up. Lexie was almost proud of him at that point.

But Top Dog wasn't about to take it lying down. He turned around and erected a shield block on the first table and then the second. He then bounced on the shield and then grabbed the chair, using it to sever the links from his back as he turned to face the onslaught of weapons. It was a glorious thing to watch on screen but even more glorious in real life. Top Dog, leaped over one thing after the next, avoiding the objects with grace. Lexie had never seen that type of dexterity from anyone except maybe Theo Firebringer. It was amazing, a true art.

But then Conrad wasn't done with him. All the things Top Dog repelled, Conrad would jump, grab, and pelt back, turning TD into the eye of an unstoppable hurricane.

TD held out for as long as he could, but then eventually the table caught him in the midsection sending him into a wall.

And just like that, Conrad Grace leaped across the entire space, landed cleanly in front of him, and slammed his fist into TD's face, effectively knocking him out.

The health bar for TD blinked and the crowd roared.

It was a testament to how great the match was that even people with Top Dog T-shirts were cheering madly. It made sense. Conrad was the only true competitor to TD in the youth division and with him winning the match, it meant he would stay in the circuit and these amazing fights would continue as they were the two favorites in the league.

Lexie was cheering too. Even Dewie was. Xena was losing her mind and screaming into the field about how amazing Conrad was

"I told you!" she turned and grabbed Lexie's shoulder, shaking exuberantly. "I told you he would win!"

"Yeah, you did!" Lexie couldn't even be mad. But she kept an eye out as the medical team ran out to revive Top Dog, watching his eyes open as he waved them off. He took off his mask and was staring at Conrad who was facing the cheering crowd with his arms up in victory. Lexie thought she detected a hint of a smile on Top Dog's face but it was gone before she could know for sure.

However, a part of her couldn't shake the feeling that Top Dog could have probably avoided that last table if he wanted to.

She wouldn't mention it though, so as not to dull Xena's joy. At least not now. Maybe the next time Xena pissed her off she would say it.

Meanwhile, Conrad's face filled the big screen. Tears streamed out of his eyes, blood from his mouth, bruises on his cheeks. He was smiling the biggest smile he'd ever smiled in his life as he faced the crowd. And then his mic was activated as he was asked to give a final speech before being taken out of the arena.

"Uh yeah, I don't even know what to say," he started. "Thank you so much to the circuit for giving me another chance. Thank you to the fans. You guys have been great. Especially to a few of you who sent me letters...Marsha, Simon, Rob, Eunice22, Xena…"

Xena froze beside Lexie. So did Dewie. Lexe turned to her with a gape as Conrad continued to recite names.

"I remember all of you. And I don't know if you're watching this but your letters, to be honest, were the things that got me through some dark times. Hearing your stories moved me. So thank you for that. And thank you for the gifts too. I really appreciate it and I hope I continue to make you proud."

And that was it. The speech concluded in short order but Xena was still stunned silent.

Lexie had turned back to the arena and she could have sworn she saw Conrad and Top Dog smile at each other as they exited to opposite sides. It was odd because, during their first match, it almost seemed like they'd hated each other. Or was that simply for the cameras? Maybe they became friends along the line, like she and Xena did? Or maybe they were simply joined by their mutual hatred of Kane the Mundane.

"Did that just happen?" Xena asked, her voice shaky and quiet.

"Yes!" It was Lexie's turn to grab her and shake her. "You got a shout out Xena. And I got a headpat from Top Dog that one time. We've achieved greatness!"

They squeed about it for like five minutes and forced Dewie into doing it too.

After that, Lexie went outside to grab some food for the others. She took one of the legitimate tickets just in case, but frankly she didn't really care if she didn't get back in. She'd done what she needed to do today.

And she also wanted to check in on Uncle Max and Emma. The two tended to bicker when they were left alone for too long and she didn't want either of them in a bad mood on the way home.

She decided she would also get them some food too, as a thank you for bringing her here. She still had some money left over so she could even treat them to a nice dinner. Which reminded her that she probably needed to tell Aiden about the gambling soon, but even that couldn't bring down her mood.

After all, she'd watched the most amazing match ever.

But as she crossed towards the self-serving hot dog stand, she felt a hand touch her shoulder.

She spun around and froze because it was the [Hero], Hawaiian-shirt man standing behind her.

He gave her a pleasant smile and a wave. "Hey. Remember me?"

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