"Next Fighter, Ring Man". The announcer called.

What happened next was something that the drunk and excited spectators would not forget in a very long time.

The new guy entered the octagon, then…

BOOM! BAM! POW!

"…"

"…"

"….."

Everything happened in a blur.

The spectators stared in a daze as for the first time all night, the spectator stands around the octagon became as quiet as a cathedral.

Even the announcer forgot to continue after what just happened.

When the new guy entered the octagon cage, Octavious was as arrogant as always as he taunted his opponent but when the new guy didn't react, he got angry and immediately charged at him after the bell rang.

That was when the crazy thing happened.

Boom! Bam! Pow!

Just 3 moves!

Octavious struck with both of his sharp cutlasses at the same time in a devastating attack, but in response the new guy who was unarmed, only wearing a black backpack sidestepped the attack, then he threw a devastating right cross.

Octavious's attack was the Boom, the new guy sidestepping and his two cutlass cutting the ground was the bam, and that devastating right cross was the pow.

Octavious was knocked out cold in a single punch!

While the spectators still struggled to comprehend what just happened, Leon calmly bent down and picked the 2 cutlasses from his opponent's hand.

Of the rules that the receptionist told him, the young Geneform never said it was forbidden to steal the weapon of your opponent.

From the beginning, he already set his sights on the 2 cutlass. He felt that wielding them fitted the persona of Thomas Riley, a cold, taciturn, nonchalant, but dangerous gangster-type fighter.

Only after he picked the two cutlass did the announcer finally find his voice. "My oh my, what do we have here?"

"What a devastating one-punch knockout!"

"Was that a fluke or are we about to discover a new unbeaten King of the octagon?"

In that moment, the door of the octagon cage opened as 4 people wearing green attire with white medical-style facemasks rushed inside with a stretcher.

They rolled Octavious's body into the stretcher before carrying him out.

Only at that moment did the spectators confirm that they were not dreaming as instantly, they recovered their voices. Loud chatter erupted around the stands, the spectators excitedly debating in disbelief if that knockout was a fluke.

In that moment, among them, some already fell in love with the new guy but since they didn't even remember his ring name, they chanted the nearest thing that came to mind.

"New guy!" "New guy!" "New guy!"

The spectators chanted excitedly.

The announcer chuckled. "You can't even blame anybody, even I didn't pay particular attention to his ring name".

"Nobody knows yet if Mr. New guy knocking out Octavious is a fluke, but if it is, then his mother's prayers have definitely worked for him".

"By defeating an unbeaten champion in the preliminaries, he just won 10 Neo Credits straight! And since Octavious was on an 18 fight unbeaten streak, that's 18 Neo Credits after just one fight!"

"If that's not fortunate, I don't know what is".

Hearing that, Leon's ears stood straight. 'Eh? 18 Neo Credits? That guy didn't tell me about this'.

He quickly understood why.

The receptionist didn't bother to tell him about this rule because he never believed in his chances in a fight against Octavious.

'I wonder how his face looks like now'. He thought in a taunting manner but on his face, he maintained a cold expression.

The announcer continued. "Personally, I think Octavious became complacent and underestimated his opponent. Let's see if I'm right or not".

Sitting in a booth at the northern area of the spectator stands at the front, the announcer looked at the list in his computer and then he called out.

"Next Fighter, Fire Fairy".

Leon's next opponent appeared.

The moment he set his eyes on her, his eyelids twitched. 'A lady? Seriously?'

His opponent was a blonde-haired Geneform that had a muscular build and well-defined muscles. She wore a pair of brass knuckles and the moment she entered the ring, she entered a proper boxing stance.

Still, it didn't change the fact that she was just a mundane woman.

Seeing the look in his eyes, she snorted coldly. "Are you like those men who believe that women should not fight?"

Leon didn't reply as he simply stared at her coolly.

She grinned. "I can't wait to break that arrogant look off your face".

Gong!

The bell rang and instantly, Leon charged at his opponent at a speed that caught her off-guard.

At E Rank, his physicality was already miles ahead of what any mundane humanoid could react to or even reliably track with mundane eyes.

All she saw was a black blur.

Once again, the spectators were shocked.

The last time, Octavious was the one who did the running, Leon simply sidestepped and punched so they didn't really see much from him.

But after that display of speed alone, the spectator stands erupted.

"New guy!" "New guy!" "New guy!"

Before the lady could react, she felt her legs being swept off the ground as her center of gravity became disoriented.

She felt gravity act on her as she saw the top of the octagon cage and before she knew it, she was already on the ground.

Thud!

Leon muffled the impact as he didn't want to injure her.

Leaning on top her, he stared coldly at her. "Give up".

Seeing her opponent lean in on her from a dominating position, this woman's face turned pink in embarrassment and then red in rage as she roared. "You dare…!"

Leon interrupted her.

BAM!

With his right hand, he ruthlessly smashed his elbow against the abdomen of this woman!

This was Thomas Riley's persona.

He was careful enough to not break any bone but the impact was still strong enough as she coughed blood, then she instantly lost consciousness.

Leon stood up, looking down at her coldly. "I told you to give up". He said in a voice lacking emotion.

The spectator stands went crazy.

"NEW GUY!" "NEW GUY!" "NEW GUY!"

"Wow, what a swift victory! The new guy seems like he's legit, do we have a new undisputed champion of the octagon tonight?"

Leon's 3rd opponent in the octagon was a Synth, this guy was literally the first Synth he'd seen since stepping foot into this city.

He wielded a pole that was created from a unique metal that made it not just extremely durable but also flexible, allowing him to attack from unconventional angles.

Still, just like his first two opponents, Leon ended the fight in less than a minute as he easily evaded the flexible pole and closed the distance before tripping his opponent to the ground just like he did with the lady.

Unlike her though, this guy was clearly more self-aware as he quickly shouted the moment he hit the ground. "I surrender!"

Leon's 4th and 5th opponent faced the same fate and just like that, he strung together a win streak of 5 straight-wins within less than a dozen minutes.

The spectator stands was boiling at this point as adrenaline surged.

"New Guy is undisputed!" The announcer screamed in a shrill voice. At some point, just like the spectators, he already decided to ignore Leon's ring name and stick with New Guy.

New Guy just had a ring to it now.

"With this win, that takes his total payout tonight to 19 Neo Credits, 25 pounds; 18 Neo Credits from stopping Octavious's streak, 25 pounds from winning 5 fights, and a bonus 1 Neo Credit for winning 5 fights in a row!"

"Next Fighter, 20 Cent".

The announcer called again and again for 20 Cent the next fighter, Leon waited and yet, his opponent refused to come out to fight him.

The spectators immediately erupted with loud boos.

"Hehe, 20 Cent forfeits, and that takes New Guy's win streak to 6".

The next 2 scheduled fighters also forfeited, taking Leon's win streak to 8 and when his 9th opponent finally had the courage to face him, Leon easily ended the battle in less than a minute just like his other victims.

The one factor about all his fights was that his victims were all knocked out with minimal injuries, but the dominating manner in which he did it still left the spectators extremely excited.

The 10th fighter entered the octagon and unlike the others, he came with a strategy. Instead of facing New Guy head-on, his strategy was to kite and waste time, hoping to tire his opponent out.

But outrunning an E Rank Ascended was pure fallacy, his struggle didn't last more than a minute just like the others.

"And that's a 10th straight win for New Guy!" The announcer yelled excitedly. "He gets a bonus 5 Neo Credits for stringing together a streak of 10-straight wins!"

"From the 11th fight onward, each win is now worth 10 pounds!"

At the entrance area of this underground floor, behind the counter, a certain receptionist stared at the octagon with a look of disbelief, bittersweet excitement, regret, and fear in his eyes.

He shuddered. "I spoke to him rudely".

…

"And that's 20 straight wins for New Guy!"

"He's not even had to use Octavious's cutlass yet, he seems unbeatable. Is he an Ascended?"

Hearing that, Leon was surprised but then he understood.

This was not Red Meridian, the Megacity of the Omnicore Federation where information is restricted and censored, especially information about Ascended.

Clearly, Leviathan Quay was a free city where people could live without being restricted like slaves. The average Leviathan Quay citizen knew about Ascended.

The announcer voicing out his thoughts didn't make the spectators' voice reduce, instead, they roared even more. The idea of watching an Ascended fight left them extremely excited.

Now, it was no longer who could stop New Guy, it was who was strong enough to push him beyond a minute.

Fight after fight came, most forfeited, only few fought.

…

An hour later…

"And that's 40 straight wins for New Guy!" The announcer screamed in a shrill voice. "Are we about to witness it? Are we about to witness the legendary feat of a fighter becoming Ranked in just his first night?"

Leon expected to fight a few Ascended in the octagon during this time but he was disappointed, all his opponents were mundane fighters.

And this meant his Ascended Counter didn't budge.

'The preliminaries is really too easy for an Ascended'.

After the brutal manner in which he defeated his 40th opponent, no one dared fight him anymore.

For the next 8 fights, all his opponents forfeited and then the announcer screamed again in a loud voice.

"He's done it! NEW GUY HAS DONE IT!"

"HE'S RANKED!" He roared.

"Hehe, Picasso Lifestyle has joined the ranks of bars to witness the rise of a fighter from Unranked to Ranked within a single night of making his debut".

The excited announcer projected what he was seeing on his computer to the excited spectators.

[Fighter: Ring Man]

[Fights: 48]

[Wins: 48/ Draw: 0/ Loss: 0]

[Win to Loss ratio: 100%]

[Congratulations! Fighter 'Ring Man' is now a Ranked Fighter!]

[Current Rank: 9,241]

[Ranked Price: 100 Neo Credits]

BOOM!

The arena exploded.

"NEW GUY!" "NEW GUY!" "NEW GUY!"

Leon's eyes gleamed with concealed excitement as he saw the reward he got for becoming Ranked.

He still didn't leave after becoming Ranked, he stayed in the octagon till his 52nd fight of the night. After that, there were no more scheduled fights.

Apparently, after witnessing his dominance, no other fighter dared clock in tonight again to avoid adding another sure loss to their record.

Unless he was willing to wait for more fighters to come with the courage to clock in and fight against him, Leon's run tonight was essentially over.

He looked at the massive holographic clock at the western wall of the arena.

[08:28pm]

'It's not 9 yet'. Leon thought, then he decisively stepped out of the octagon amid loud roars from his new fans.

He was already a fan favorite.

Amid the loud cheers of the fans, he left the arena and walked straight to the entrance area where he stood in front of the receptionist's desk.

The receptionist was shameless. Seeing him, this guy immediately flashed a humble and apologetic smile as he began fawning on him.

"My able champion," he grinned. "Let me calculate your pay".

Leon kept a cold look on his face but inside he smirked. 'You're even more shameless than I am'.

[Total Pay: 168 Neo Credits, 70 Pounds]

The receptionist showed the new reigning champion his calculated pay for the night to show his transparency.

Leon nodded.

"How do you want it? Cash or transfer?"

Leon said coldly. "I'll send an account number".

"Yes boss!" The receptionist saluted in an exaggerated manner with a big smile on his face.

Without paying attention to him, Leon turned around and finally left the underground floor of the nightclub, Picasso Lifestyle.

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