Chapter 141: Chapter 140 : Triggered

“Ah champ, good luck.”

“Good luck ahaha.”

“Good luck Ulven.”

If the duo and Atenisha were among the most popular names in Popleigh, Ruben’s was among the least popular. The ill will between Vincent and the other Dukes was well known. Ruben’s part in this affair was the main reason for his unpopularity. Be it inside the ring or outside, he was treated coldly, with indifference being the best he could hope for.

Ruben himself wasn’t bothered by this treatment. He didn’t care about how others perceived him, especially those he considered so far below him…at least not until now.

Making his way to the Combat Arena, he was greeted with jubilant smiles. Never once had he got a ‘good luck’ from anyone before, but on this day, in just the last hour alone, he had accrued no less than a hundred.

His blood boiled at the happening. There was no goodwill to be found in the phrase, just mocking. The tone it was spoken with gave it away, and what came before and after it made it even clearer.

“Good luck…you’ll need it.”

“Aha, what champ goes into their title match as the underdog, hey good luck out there.”

“He has no shot. I reckon we’ll see the first 100-0 bet split, what do you think? Oh, champ! Good luck out there tonight. I’ll be betting on you so don’t lo- hahaha…”

Ruben’s face twisted up as he remembered these comments and those who made them. Never in his life had he experienced this level of humiliation and disrespect.

Ruben had been public enemy number one for a while now, but due to his dominance in the ring, no one dared to say anything. However, with the duo’s appearance, the citizens who stayed quiet previously found their voice, and it was an acidic one.

‘Ha, this is why I hate the masses. It’d be one thing if they were fighting in the ring themselves, but to get cocky because of someone else’s abilities is just pathetic. Silver, he’s something else no doubt, but as long as he isn’t a fake, even he’ll fall to the tactic.’

At the thought, he glanced over to the crate he was pushing through the corridor. His thoughts went over Duke Reynolds’ plan and his part in it. ‘Lawrence did his part, now I have to complete mine. Hmm?’

Turning the corner, Ruben’s eyes lit up. The person he needed to see was right ahead.

Hastening his steps, he entered the fighter’s hall. There were about twenty people occupying the space, with most of them forming a group around a young man.

“Ralf,” Ruben’s abrasive voice called out.

The group of fighters took notice and separated to give the two future opponents some space.

Ralf did a full turn to face Ruben. “Oh, it’s the current champ, what can I do yer for?” he asked while flashing a radiant smile.

Ruben bore the sunshine and shade with a grim look on his face. Not responding immediately, he approached silently, stopping when he was five metres away from Ralf.

The passing seconds saw the tension in the room spike, causing the surrounding fighters to become still as statues, and just as quiet.

“Ralf. I have a proposal - or rather a condition.”

“Condition, what condition?” Ralf naturally inquired.

“The condition is that we fight without the use of any protective Psi or safety nets.”

Ruben’s words sent a wave of shock throughout the room, deepening the silence even further.

Ralf was also reduced to silence.

In this silence, Ruben continued. “Most of these fighters are soft, and that’s why they’re so useless. They spend their days sparring against each other with thick protective pads on and terrorising weak and stupid monsters, and then proudly calls themselves warriors. It’s pathetic,” he said with thick disdain in his voice.

The number one fighter’s gaze moved around the room, going from fighter to fighter as though accusing them of falling in said category. He was met with glares, but he didn’t shy away.

“In this ring, they might fare well here but in the outside world, they’ll die off cheaply. They’re so unaccustomed to fighting under the pressure of knowing that even a single mistake can lead to their death that when they find themselves in those kinds of situations, they quickly crumble. Honestly, these fake warriors disgust me. I have no respect for any one of them.”

While these words were chosen to aid his ploy, they were nonetheless his true feelings. One look at his face as he mean-mugged the surrounding fighters made that very clear.

“Ralf, Ray, Silver, whatever you call yourself. You’re different from these weaklings. Unlike them, you’re a real killer, someone whose been in real life-and-death battles, bled and spilt blood. I can respect that.”

This again was his true feelings.

“That’s why I want to fight you seriously. No restrictions or nonsense to hinder us from going all out. The match will only end when one of us gives up or are unconscious, nothing else. What do you say-”

“I refuse,” Ralf said simply.

“Why?” Ruben questioned with a squint, his voice quickly lost its respectfulness.

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Ralf rolled his shoulders. “Why…because it’s dangerous, that why. One misstep or lapse in judgement and someone could be severely injured or even dead. I’d rather not accidentally kill you. The Combat Arena isn’t a place for barbaric life-and-death battles, but a place of entertainment. You went after the fighters, but whether their skills are transferable to real combat is irrelevant. We Combat Arena fighters are ultimately entertainers. Our role as fighters isn’t meant to replicate real-world combat one-to-one. It doesn’t matter if the techniques or combat isn’t optimised, as long as the crowd enjoys it, then it’s a job well done.”

The surrounding fighters who had felt offended by Ruben’s words felt better about themselves at these words.

“So you’re refusing…” By now, Ruben’s face was darkened and scrunched up.

“Yes. We’ll do battle normall-.”

“Then, I’ll refuse to do battle.”

The words caused a sharp inhale in the surroundings.

“If you refuse this condition, I’ll refuse to do this battle,” the rank one fighter reiterated. “With you leaving in a few days, a reschedule won’t be possible, and this Challenger Series will remain unfinished. Even if they give you the number one spot, it won’t truly be earned. The whole event will be ruined. You don’t want to end this on a sour note, right?”

“Sour note,” Ralf shook his head at the other’s words. “Refuse if you want, I don’t care. In case you haven’t been paying attention, everyone thinks you have no shot of victory. What do you think they’ll think when they hear you pulled out? That’s right, they’ll think you were too cowardly to even face me, to face your defeat.”

Ralf turned around at these words.

“Compared to the disdain you have for these fake warriors as you call them, the crowd’s disdain for you will be a thousand times more, for, at the very least, others took to the ring. You pulling out won’t affect this event negatively, only positively. I’ll be praised as someone who struck fear in the top fighter, so much so, that he didn’t even dare to take the ring. Ahaha, I can already see the headlines.”

Saying this, Ralf broke into stride. “Refuse to fight if you want, but know that you’ll only be doing your reputation harm.”

Ruben’s face twisted up at the counter. ‘Damn it, he didn’t fall for it. Tsk, I didn’t want to resort to this, but I’ll have to use it.’

At the end of the day, he had a mission to accomplish, so naturally once plan A and B failed, he had to move to plan C. The plan’s letters meant nothing, but if they did, the ‘c’ in plan C would stand for: crude.

“I see, thanks for the advice. One last thing though.”

“What is it?” Ralf asked while continuing to walk away.

“I heard your dad is out of the picture.”

As soon as these opening words were spoken, the entire room was subjected to a frighteningly sharp aura. It was as if hundreds of invisible swords suddenly materialised inside the room. The surrounding fighters were paralyzed before their deadly presence.

No one moved a muscle nor attempted to use their Psi at this moment. It was nonsensical, and yet those in the surroundings couldn’t help but feel that doing so would incur the blades’ wrath, and just from feeling how unpleasant its grazing was, none of the surrounding fighters wanted anything to do with the blades.

This feeling, provoked by Ralf’s mental signal, was one that Ruben didn’t feel at all. Wearing his netherian embedded amulet, the mental signal’s electromagnetic energy was swallowed up before it could affect him.

Ignorant to the invisible blades’ presence, Ruben continued.

“Once you leave for the Hunter Academy, things are going to be pretty lonely for your mom. I’m thinking maybe I should keep her company while you’re away. She’s a beauty for sure, it’d be a waste for her to stay single for the rest of her life. I’ll definitely treat her right, you have my word. Well, Ralf, can you introduce us?”

Ralf remained silent. With his back turned, his expression couldn’t be seen, but from body language alone, Ruben and the surrounding fighters had a very good idea of what expression currently adorned his face.

Even knowing the purpose of Ruben’s words, Ralf was riled up regardless. Hana was just that sort of existence to him. He could accept himself being slandered, but his beloved mother? That wasn’t happening on his watch.

After several seconds of silence, Ralf’s lips parted slowly and out spilt venomous words.

“Ruben. You wanted a match without restrictions right, fine. You’ll get one.”

Following these words, word got out. Very quickly, Vincent got in contact.

[Ralf, I understand where you’re coming from, and I honestly don’t give a damn about whether he lives or dies somewhere else, but I can’t have anyone die in the ring.]

[Don’t worry, I’ll stop just before that.]

[...You won’t kill him?]

To Vincent and the rest of the Duke’s group, Ruben was in over his head. They felt he was just shooting himself in the foot. To them, the only one these conditions could hurt was Ruben himself. In fact, they didn’t believe Ralf would even suffer so much as a scratch.

The one thing that concerned them was the possibility that Ralf would outright kill him. They knew how strong his feelings for Hana were, she was a literal land mine and a known land mine. They didn’t put it past Ralf to actually kill him.

Ralf sighed as he heard the doubt still present in the other’s voice [I promise I won’t kill him.]

The Duke didn’t question him further. Trusting the youth’s words, he ignored the voices in his head and went ahead and greenlit the dangerous match.

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