Death Match Club

The Death Match Club's first impression on Yaxiu was its gloom. Unlike the bright lights everywhere else in the prison, there were very few lamps here. Aside from the incandescent bulbs shining down on the central death match ring, the raised spectator stands all around were almost entirely devoid of lighting. The onlookers seemed swallowed by darkness, leaving only the two combatants slaughtering each other in the ring under heaven and earth. This was also where Yaxiu had seen the most convicts so far. Walking with Langna, he had encountered only a scattered few along the way; passing the library and gymnasium, he had spotted a dozen or so. Yet after stepping into the Death Match Club, even without bright illumination, the hushed whispers reaching his ears and the faint silhouettes shifting in the shadows told him there were nearly a hundred people gathered here! "Langna, you're here?" "A newcomer? ...Oh, the leader of the Four Pillar Gods. Fierce, young man—you actually dared get involved with the Four Pillar Gods." "Langna the Gourmet is here!" "Langna, is that your new little boyfriend? Changed your taste, huh?" a burly man teased with a chuckle. "Desmond, if you keep talking that kind of nonsense to wreck the relationship between me and my boyfriend, see if I don't bite you to death!" Langna snapped back pettishly, sounding less genuinely angry than somewhat embarrassed. Yet the surrounding laughter instantly died down. The burly man named Desmond hastily clasped his hands in apology. "Haha, Langna, I didn't mean anything by it! Say, aren't you going to introduce the newcomer?" Langna huffed, seemingly deciding to let it drop. Only then did Desmond breathe a sigh of relief and hurriedly shrink back into the crowd. Seeing this, Yaxiu quietly slipped a little further away from Langna. He had already realized: that seemingly meek, bald passerby he had picked at random was very likely a notorious slaughterhouse fiend in this prison. "Yaxiu Heath, a newcomer who arrived in the past couple of days. He wanted to take part in the death matches, so I brought him over to watch," Langna said with a smile. "Who's fighting right now?" "'Diamond' Taige and 'Blind Beast' Ruduo." "Why is Ruduo... ah, Taige is a veteran here after all. Why won't he even spare those few contribution points? Didn't the rest of you challenge Ruduo?" "Of course we didn't want to pass up such a juicy piece of meat, but Ruduo had never seen Taige fight. He thought Taige would be easier to bully, plus Taige's wager was high, so..." Yaxiu edged toward the front of the spectator stands, looking down at the one-sided massacre inside the ring below—a decrepit, white-haired old man and a muscular, green-skinned orc were brawling with their bare hands. Yes, a one-sided massacre. Even though both sides were throwing punches with total disregard for defense, the old man didn't waver or gasp when struck by fists the size of clay pots. Not even a red mark was left on his skin, as if the green-skinned orc were merely pounding his chest with the strength of an infant. In contrast, every single blow from the white-haired old man carried crushing weight, slamming into the green-skinned orc with the sound of cracking stone that set teeth on edge. By the time Yaxiu arrived, the green-skinned orc was already battered bloody, without an inch of intact flesh on him. Several teeth had been knocked out, and his eyes were swollen into narrow slits. With a heavy hammer of a blow, the green-skinned orc was sent flying several meters. He slammed into the wall with a loud thud, dragging a smear of blood down the surface as he slumped to the floor, unable to rise. Yet the white-haired old man glanced at the ceiling, then rushed over and continued punching the green-skinned orc one blow after another. Like a bathhouse attendant scrubbing away stubborn grime, he pummeled the orc's flesh and blood away with relentless strikes. Yaxiu found it somewhat hard to watch. "Hasn't the outcome already been decided? Why hasn't it ended?" "Outcome decided? Not yet," someone nearby chuckled. "Try reaching your hand out." Yaxiu reached forward as suggested, only to find his hand pressing against an invisible air barrier that rippled outward. Four invisible barriers emerged in midair, completely sealing off the lower arena from the surrounding spectator stands. "Only when one side dies or is knocked completely unconscious will the containment barrier open. Then the medics will emerge from that door and drag the corpse back to the infirmary for treatment." The man pointed to an inconspicuous door inside the arena. "As long as the barrier hasn't vanished, you can never let your guard down. You have to keep suppressing, crushing, and annihilating your opponent." "Besides, there's no such thing as surrendering in a death match. The loser has only two possible fates: death, or losing consciousness." "Who knows how many fools, overconfident in their own valor, treated this place like an exhibition where friendship comes first and competition second. They stopped halfway through, only for their opponent to turn around and kill them, costing them a mountain of contribution points and catapulting them to the top of the trial sequence... But that's precisely the point of the Death Match Club: transferring contribution points you don't deserve to those who are more worthy of them." *Thud!* Hearing that dull, heavy impact, Yaxiu felt as if the orc's very guts were being battered out. He couldn't help asking, "Can he really be saved after that?" "He hasn't lost consciousness yet. But even if he's saved, it won't be much different from being dead. Look up." Yaxiu looked up, only to realize that the glowing spot on the ceiling was actually a display screen showing the match details: [Taige Norris wagers 35 contribution points] [VS] [Ruduo Fangstrike wagers 5 contribution points] Yaxiu was astonished. "These wagers aren't equal. Why is Taige putting up so much?" "As long as both parties agree, even an unequal wager is valid," the person said leisurely. "In fact, death matches with equal wagers are rare. According to the rules, each time you participate, you must wager one more point than in your previous match. Taige has fought thirty-four death matches before, so this time he had to put up thirty-five contribution points." "Then this is Ruduo's fifth match?" "No, this is his tenth. Every prisoner starts with fifty contribution points. Increasing the wager by one point each match, he wagered a total of forty-five contribution points across his first nine matches, leaving him with only five for the tenth." The man nearby sneered. "So, if Ruduo loses this match, he won't have a single contribution point left, and he'll never be able to earn points through death matches again. Unless he can dig gold coins out of his own stomach, he'll permanently occupy the number-one spot in the trial sequence." Yaxiu let out an 'oh,' then suddenly realized something. "Wait, does that mean he lost all nine of his previous matches?!" "That's why he's called 'Blind Beast' Ruduo. Every single time, he picks an opponent he can't beat." *Boom!* With a devastating blow, the green-skinned orc's head looked as though it were about to burst. At the same moment, a chime sounded from the ceiling display as the words [Victor Decided] appeared. The arena barrier instantly dissolved, and the door inside the arena swung open. Three black-robed figures wearing crow masks entered the ring. Without even using a stretcher, they hauled the orc's body away like deadweight. "The old man is truly wicked, playing the pig to eat the tiger just to swindle the beast out of his contribution points." "How is that swindling? I knew from the start the old man was bad news—Ruduo doesn't just have poor judgment, he has no brain. Anyone with half a thought in their toenails knows that among the elderly, women, and children hanging around the Death Match Club, which one could possibly be easy to deal with?" "How many people has the old man had carried out by now?" "Just counting from the day I arrived, he's had at least five carried out." "Old man, you already have so many contribution points. Next time, leave opportunities like this for us youngsters to toil over. And that beast, really—since he was giving away points anyway, he might as well have given them to me." A noisy clamor filled the darkness. The white-haired old man wiped the blood from his fists with a towel, then suddenly hacked up several bloody globs of phlegm, looking terrified as he said, "That orc's fists packed quite a punch. I think I've suffered internal injuries..." "Who'd believe you?!" The crowd roared in unison. Evidently, they had seen people fall for that trick before, only for the old man to pull off a repeat act of playing the pig to eat the tiger. "In this ring, he is very strong." Yaxiu looked to his right and saw that Sword Princess had reappeared. Unlike everyone else, the dim lighting had no effect on her. She seemed to radiate light of her own, dispelling the darkness as she sat perched rather prominently upon the railing. Even more remarkably, she had changed her attire. She now wore what looked like a tight kendo training uniform, her long red hair tied back, transforming her into a dashing swordswoman. Yaxiu instinctively blurted out, "Why is he strong?" "Because this arena only unlocks attack permissions, while still restricting sorcery power output." The person beside him and Sword Princess spoke in unison. Sword Princess glanced at Yaxiu, who was covering his mouth, and continued, "There are many types of sorcerers: artisans, warriors, scholars, physicians... but most sorcerers can only command sorcery spirits through sorcery power. As long as their sorcery power output is restricted, sorcerers are no different from ordinary mortals." "Yet a small minority of sorcerers possess strength far surpassing mortals even without sorcery spirits—namely, body sorcerers." "Generally speaking, any sorcerer whose cultivation involves physical conditioning can be called a body sorcerer—sword sorcerers, fist sorcerers, gun sorcerers, spear sorcerers, battle-axe sorcerers... Provided they have suitable weapons, they can take on crowds single-handedly. But compared to pure physical conditioning, their advantage lies merely in 'technique'; in terms of raw physical capability, they aren't much stronger than ordinary people." "However, there is another category of body sorcerer: those who relentlessly temper their bodies, even using sorcery spirits to alter and transmute the structure of their flesh and blood, wielding themselves like weapons to achieve nearly overwhelming brutality. For such body sorcerers, even without sorcery spirits, the strengthening effects within their bodies do not vanish. In other places it might not matter as much, but in this prison where sorcery spirits are forbidden, their advantage can be pushed to its absolute peak!" "This type of body sorcerer is known as an ascetic sorcerer." "The flesh is weak; their bodies ceased to be mere flesh and blood long ago." Yaxiu looked over and noticed that as the white-haired old man left the arena, his fingers brushed against the metal railing, actually scraping off metal shavings! 'Diamond' Taige... so that was what it meant! "Since you're already here, hurry up and pick a fight," Sword Princess said. "Just don't fight that old man. Oh, right—for your first battle, you'd better choose an unarmed opponent, and you'd best go barehanded yourself." *Why?* "Because your body is far too weak. If you pick up a real sword right away, you'll probably be crippled before you can even swing it a few times. But if your opponent uses their fists too, you'll at least be able to trade a few rounds, buying time for the experience transmission." Sword Princess crossed her arms and said, "What I'm really afraid of is having your sword seized and your head cut off in one stroke—to avoid such an eyesore, stick to barehanded fighting for your first match." "I don't expect you to know how to fight, but surely you know how to take a beating?" Yaxiu readily accepted Sword Princess's advice. Turning to the man who had been chatting with him the whole time, he asked, "I want to enter a death match, preferably against someone unarmed. Do you have any recommendations?" "Barehanded fighting? Then you've certainly asked the right person, brother. That's my specialty. Have a match with me—I promise I won't bully you." "Sounds great! But this is my first death match, so I'll only wager one contribution point. Even if you want to play the pig to eat the tiger, you won't earn much," Yaxiu joked. "Don't worry, brother. Not only will I not take your contribution points, I'll even hand points to you. I'm very weak. After all—" Just then, the lights in the Death Match Club flared completely on, banishing the darkness in the spectator stands and bathing everything in brightness. Only then did Yaxiu realize that the 'kindhearted person' who had been chatting with him was an acquaintance he had met not long ago. "—even you wanted to punch me in the face." Igola looked at Yaxiu and smiled faintly. "We meet again, Student Yaxiu of the lovely fists."