Chapter 22: Heart of a True Warrior
The next few fights were over pretty quickly since no one could use external magic. The two females in the third match of the quarterfinals were Mephista Lilly, who was the gray-skinned devil girl with purple eyes, long black hair, and shadow tentacle powers; and Deanna Zapparoy, who was the tall human woman with pale skin, blue eyes, long lavender hair, and golden energy ropes. Sam recognized them both from the dungeon.
Deanna won by knocking Mephista unconscious with a hard punch to the face only a minute into the fight.
Next up was Sam’s match against Konnis Eltar, the bald, red-skinned hobgoblin, who he also recognized from the dungeon. This might have been a hard fight if not for the fact that Konnis got angry the first time Sam landed a punch, and then Konnis tried to shoot Sam with his red eye lasers. So, naturally, that got Konnis disqualified via penalty, handing the victory to Sam.
The semifinals were even less impressive. Ladarsa must have known Mallowa’s speed was going to make it hard for him to win, so he immediately charged her the moment the match started, feinted, and then rushed forward again, catching her off guard for a split second. That was enough time for him to trip her, grab her leg, slam her to the ground, and then twist her foot enough to break her ankle so she couldn’t run anymore.
Mallowa screamed out in agony, and then Ladarsa jumped on top of her, punching her in the face repeatedly until her blood was splashing all over both of them. Marmalade rushed into the ring and grabbed Ladarsa’s fist while it was in the air, ready for another strike.
"Stop! STOP!" Marmalade screamed frantically. "It’s over! She’s out! You won!"
Ladarsa snatched his fist back and then stood up, looking down at the unconscious Mallowa, her face beat up and swollen, her white fur soaked red. "It wasn’t personal. Her speed was a problem. I had to act fast to eliminate the threat."
Marmalade got in Ladarsa’s face. "You went too far! You’re a fucking asshole!"
The elf nodded. "Yes, I am. An asshole who wins by any means necessary." He then made a fist, which caused Marmalade to clutch his own chest. It was clear Ladarsa was using his blood magic on Marmalade’s heart. "If you ever get in my face like this again, it will be the last thing you ever fucking do," the elf growled, then release the cat and walked out of the ring.
What a fucking shitshow, man... Sam thought to himself as the healers rushed to help Mallowa.
The other semifinal match was Sam versus Deanna, but after seeing what happened to Mallowa, she forfeited the moment the match started by jumping out of the ring. Sam ran after her.
"You didn’t need to do that," he insisted. "I wouldn’t have done what Ladarsa did."
"Oh, I know," Deanna said as she turned back to face him and crossed her arms. "I wasn’t worried about what you’d do to me, but what I’d do to you. I’m absolutely furious about what happened to Mallowa - she’s my best friend. And I knew that anger would influence my fight with you, which isn’t fair to either of us. I recognize that I am emotionally compromised, and that’s why I forfeited the match."
"Oh..." He just stood there
Everyone broke for lunch, and then returned to the Arena for the final fight between Sam and Ladarsa.
"Please be careful," Calista begged.
"We know you’ll do well, but yes, please use caution with this freak," Lazula added.
Sam kissed each of them, nodded to Koga, fist-bumped Marmalade, and then stepped up into the ring. Ladarsa stood opposite him.
The announcer went over his spiel again, then finished by yelling out: "Ready! Set! FIGHT!"
Ladarsa closed the distance first, bringing his knee up toward Sam’s ribs. Sam’s own Mana-quickened reflexes caught the motion just in time. He twisted out of the way, let the knee graze past his side, and countered with a short elbow strike aimed at Ladarsa’s jaw.
Ladarsa ducked under it and pivoted into a rising uppercut, which Sam then dodged.
"You’re good," Ladarsa said as he circled around his opponent. "But not good enough to win!"
"I was gonna say the same about you," Sam replied.
They came to blows again. Ladarsa threw a quick series of jabs, which Sam parried with open palms, and then countered with a kick aimed at Ladarsa’s thigh. The kick landed. Ladarsa felt his leg buckle for an instant. He used the stumble to his advantage, dropping low and driving forward to sweep Sam’s legs out from under him.
Sam jumped up to dodge and then dropped an elbow jab down onto Ladarsa’s shoulders. For a moment they grappled at the edge of the ring, rolling around and punching each other repeatedly. Then they returned to their feet and stood there for a moment, sweat already beading along their hairlines.
After taking a second to catch their breaths, they charged at each other again. This exchange was faster, more brutal. Ladarsa feinted a jab and instead drove a spinning back kick toward Sam’s midsection. Sam saw it coming a half-second too late and the kick connected across his ribs. He staggered back a few steps, gasping, one hand pressed to his side.
Ladarsa pressed forward immediately, closing in with a flurry of punches - hook to the side of the face, uppercut to the chin, hook again, then an open-handed strike to the sternum. Sam’s breath left him in a violent exhale, which Ladarsa then followed with a knee to the same spot in the center of Sam’s chest.
Ladarsa was about to land another strike, but then Sam managed to dodge and hit him in the face with a hard elbow jab. The elf staggered but didn’t fall. In response, he threw a wild but powerful hook that caught nothing but air as Sam danced back. But it did create an opening for Sam to connect another strike to the elf’s face.
"Not bad," Ladarsa said, spitting a mouthful of blood off the side of the ring. "You have the heart of a true warrior. But you’ll need more than that."
The fight settled into a rhythm - a brutal, breathless rhythm of feints and counters, of thrown strikes that connected and strikes that didn’t, of two determined fighters testing every gap in the other’s defense. And then, finally, Sam managed to land an uppercut so hard that Ladarsa’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as his body went flying across the ring. He landed in a crumbled mess, laying there motionless.
The healers rushed into the ring to check on the elf, followed by the announcer. A moment later, the announcer held Sam’s hand up into the air. "Ladarsa L’Suvius has lost consciousness! Samreon Qhousalar wins by Technical Knock Out!"
The crowd cheered again.
I did it! Sam screamed in his mind. I won!