Last chapter, after meeting King Metallica Seric accidentally signs himself up for a fighting tournament. Karia is all for it to have some fun, and with prize being ownership of King Metallica himself. Seric and a drunk Karia both win their matches, and now Seric is about to fight his second opponent in the arena.

Seric's P.O.V.

"I'd better be careful, this kid looks around my age and height as well... Well, maybe not my actual age." I think to myself nervously as I walk up to my end of the phoenix painted on the white arena, the guy I'm facing, "Popshot" standing at the other end with his smooth orange medium length hair laying on his forehead.

He looks up at me, suprisingly with a smile on his face.

"Let's get this started!~" Adesia yells unofficially, but nonetheless I assume it means the match started.

"Hey, sorry about my dwarf friend back there, I'm surprised your head didn't split apart!" Popshot says with a laugh.

"Oh, no worries I guess it wasn't your fault, I just hope you don't have any weapons on you." I say with little grin on my face, which makes him laugh as well.

"Have you even fought anyone before?" Popshot asks me a bit more seriously now.

"Hah, nope. I let Adesia get the best of me and signed up without thinking." I reply, but maybe it was for the worse since my opponent now knows just how strong I am.

"Haha, that's our captain alright-"

"Hey, what the hell are ya doing brat? We wanna see a fight not a stupid little playdate!" Karia yells almost incoherently, and looking over I see that shes drinking yet another mug of booze.

"Hm, I guess we shouldn't disappoint the fans huh? And by the way, I'm not dumb enough to break the rules and let you win by default like that last guy." Popshot says as he takes a classic fighting stance, his hands in front of his face.

"Damn, think! What can I do to win this? In fighting alone he's probably a lot better than me, but I still have my regeneration. It's pointless anyways though, because he can just knock me out of the ring regeneration or not!" I think to myself in panic with little hope.

"Here I come!" He exclaims as he starts to calmly walk towards me in his fighting position.

"Oh! I have a plan, kind of. If I just get in a sturdy position that can't be moved easily, I can just sit and tank the hits, and after he tires himself out, I can easily finish him off!" I think to myself with more hope, and start to walk towards him in a defensive position.

Without hesitation, Popshot runs at me and before I have time to react he hits a hard punch on my face with his bare fist.

"Ow!" I curse under my breath as I back away and hold my cheek.

Once again he charges at me, and so I put my arms in front of my face as soon as he's about to reach me.

*POW*

But instead of feeling an impact on my arms, a hit that must be at least double the strength as his last punch hits my chest, knocking me back a few meters and causing me to stumble onto the floor of the arena.

"What the hell was that, that hurt more than the hammer!" I think to myself in pain as I hold my chest and try not roll on the floor.

"Did you really think I was just gonna do the same thing twice?" Popshot says with a laugh, as he looks to be waiting for me to get up.

Ignoring him and with the pain gone from my chest, I quickly get up and run up to him, aiming to punch him to see if that's any better.

"Hmph, I guess you've got some guts after all!" Popshot says with a smirk as he stands still and braces himself.

Deciding to copy Aeko's tactic, I aim for his face which causes him to raise his hand up to catch the hit, but then with my other hand I throw a punch at his chest.

"Damn!" I yell out as he catches that hit as well with his other hand.

"Not bad, not bad. That probably would have worked on someone who isn't used to fighting." Popshot says honestly, pushing me back in the process.

"So I guess I'll have to go on the defensive after all... Before I do that though I should figure out how he made his second punch way stronger than the first one." I think to myself.

Popshot charges at me once again, and I brace myself, this time not blocking my view with my arms, but still putting them in front of me.

He starts off his attack with a kick to my legs, making me lose my balance, and while I'm falling, a hit slams into my chin, launching me up a bit which is once again way stronger than his normal punches.

"Haha, I hit it again!" He says as I fall backwards to the floor.

Looking up with little hope, I can see him punching and kicking in the air for whatever reason. Then, he looks down at me with a grin.

"This kid doesn't seem to have much more of a well built body than I do, so I guess that means his hits are based off of technique..." I think to myself as I start to analyze how he attacks while he continues to shadowbox.

After I study him a bit more, I stand up once again, since he was suprisingly being a good sport and waiting for me to get up.

This time though, I form a completely defensive position, with my arms stretched out near my head, as well as my legs crouched down for more balance.

"Fine, fine! I'll go into your trap, it's not like it'll be able to work on me anyways!" Popshot says with a grin as he starts to walk over to me.

"Now then, what do you think I'll do?" He says as he reaches me.

"He probably can't hit my face, and he shouldn't be able to sweep my legs away... Then that means the chest!" I think to myself, and I'm right as Popshot aims to hit a quick hit on my chest but, knowing it was coming I'm able to dodge it, sending a clumsy punch back to his face in the process.

This excites Popshot and so he instantly runs towards me, and before I have time to regain my defensive position, multiple blows slam into my face and legs.

Just as I'm about to temporarily close my eyes, I can see him about to do a punch, but then stopping halfway.

*POW*
Then after a few seconds, he continues throwing the punch, causing it to slam into my neck, which is once again way stronger than his normal hits.

"What?! How was that stronger, he just gave himself less momentum!" I think to myself quickly as I struggle to breathe.

"Oh, sorry, sorry, I got carried away. You saw it, didn't you? My Blessing I mean."
He says as he watches me lay on floor, with me holding my throat and coughing.

"Wait, if I don't have any organs how does a hit to the throat affect me?!" I somehow find the time to think to myself.

"Well who cares, this fight is over anyways.  I guess King Metallica will just have to stay... With us..." He says as he seems to come to a realization.

I then zone back into the fight, "Should I just stay down? I mean, what do I have to lose? All of this pain, just to get an annoying super powered robot?" I question myself.

"Come on Seric! Is this really the best you can do?! Do you really think you can handle what's to come in the future, if you can't even beat a kid like that?!" Looking over, Karia is standing up next to our table, and for the time being at least it seems like she's not drunk anymore.

I then think about how helpless I was against Aeko, and even against those three thugs that came to attack me, Dahai and Suzie.

"No... This isn't about winning King Metalica. This is a perfect time to train!" I think to myself with determination.

I can breathe normally again, and the pain is gone as well so I start to stand up.

"What?! How can you move after that, that attack's taken down some of the toughest martial artists in all of Hopian!" Both Adesia and Popshot yell.

"Hmph. Unlike you I won't reveal the trick up my sleeve." I say with a smirk, as I silently thank my regeneration.

"...Well, I'll admit. Your defence is probably one of the best I've ever seen. But, it doesn't change the fact that your skills are no match to mine!" Popshot says with the smirk starting to be wiped off of his face.

Once again, Popshot starts punching and kicking in the air, looking at me while he does so.

"He normally does quick punches with little range, and he spins his arm when he's doing it... The defensive obviously won't work based on his hits before, so maybe if I get lucky, I can hit him a few times with his own technique!" I think to myself as I start to walk up to him.

When I get to him, I start off with a clumsy kick to his legs, mainly to get his focus away from his upper body. Of course, he easily dodges the kick by jumping backwards, and while I'm regaining my balance he runs at me, pulling his own leg back and preparing for a close range kick.

"Pay close attention!" Popshot says with a grin as he swings his leg at me, but once again stopping it halfway, all the while my own leg is still in the air from my attack.

Then, once again with absolutely no momentum, he slams his foot into my shin with an astounding amount of force.

"AGH!" I yell in pain, falling over as I hold on to my leg.

"Shit, this hurts! But it was worth it, I completely get his Blessing now! For whatever reason, if he stops moving his limbs midway through an attack, he builds up a set amount of momentum that makes the hit even stronger! But... I can't forget, he doesn't always use it." I think to myself proudly, and with some fear at the end.

The pain wears off and so with little hesitation I stand up and instantly charge at him.

"Just what are you, that would easily break anyone's leg!" Popshot says as he starts to lose his composure a little with both fear and amusement.

Just like what he did, I throw a quick short range punch that gets through his guard and slams into his chest.

He shakes out of it and a second later without fail, he punches my chest, then my face, and finally he sweeps my legs.

But, this isn't my first rodeo, and so I'm able to balance myself much faster.

Before Popshot realizes I'm up, he's already charging up a punch using his Blessing.

"This is my chance!" I think to myself, and just as expected Popshot's arm stops midair.

"Now!" I think to myself as I move to the other side of his attacking arm and get ready to attack.

*POW*

Then, the punch hits.

"You do have some potential. But, you can only think inside that small box of yours." Popshot says as his other fist slams into my chest, along with his other fist slamming into the side of my face.

Before I can even feel the pain, I think to myself weakly, "Damn... I was so close too... No... I'm not mad. I fought well."

I fall to the ground in a daze, hearing distant voices shouting outside of the arena.

After some amount of time, I finally zone in enough to hear what's going on.

"The outcome of the match... Is a draw!" I hear Adesia shout excitedly, as everyone in the crowd roars.

"What?!" I think to myself in confusion, and so I slightly move my head up, and looking in front of me, Popshot lays on the floor outside of the arena.

A/N: Even after being completely overpowered, and failing on his last chance to win, Seric still manages to take a draw?!

I hope you guys enjoyed Seric's first fight,  because I definitely enjoyed writing it!

Be sure to consider voting or commenting if you enjoyed, and see you guys next week!