"Haaah, haaah..."

The boy panted heavily as he gazed at his opponent warily.

He was tired. Every inch of his body ached making him grit his teeth and clench his fists tighter. Even making a simple move was so torturous he felt like just giving up and laying down to finally get the rest he desperately wanted to get.

But he couldn't afford to do so.

For he must win! Losing is not an option!

"Boy..."

He narrowed his eyes seeing his opponent speak.

"Why don't you give up? I feel sorry just looking at you."

The man spoke with kind intention but the look of disdain he was giving off was clear in the boy's eyes.

'What?'

The boy sucked a cold breath.

'You...'

Those eyes...

'Why are you looking at me like that?'

Those were the same eyes someone would give when looking at something inferior to them.

'Are you looking down on me?'

It was as if the man was looking...

'Looking down on me?!'

At an insect.

'HOW DARE YOU!!'

Enraged, the boy launched towards his opponent in the blink of an eye.

"What the?!"

The man was startled at the boy's sudden surge of strength and before he could prepare himself, he was hit dead on his solar plexus from the boy's fist with all his weight in it.

"GAH!"

Blood spurted from his mouth as he forcefully endured the pain. His legs were shaky and had trouble supporting his body. Eventually, his legs gave in and he fell on his knees.

The boy didn't miss this opportunity and threw a perfectly executed roundhouse kick on the man's head, smacking him down on the ground.

"Haaah, haaah..."

He stood before his opponent's body and placed his right foot on top of his head.

The man was still conscious. He had to knock him off good to assure his victory.

Slowly, he raised his foot and stomped, making the ground crack upon contact with the man's head. He raised his foot again and kept stomping. The crack became bigger and bigger and just as he was about to finish...

A powerful grip had gotten a hold of his right leg. It was his opponent's hand!

"You, fucker..."

The man slowly stood up, his hand still holding on the boy's leg. His now hideous face was full of blood as he glared hatefully at the boy.

"YOU FUCKING SHIT!"

The man raised the boy's leg up high and slammed the boy down on the ground!

The boy spat out blood as his body slammed on the ground. With just that single move, he had lost consciousness.

He lost.

However, the man was far from over.

Filled with hate, he kept slamming the boy on the ground, venting out his anger as he wreaked havoc on the surroundings.

"FUCK! FUCK! HOW DARE YOU MAKE A FOOL OUT OF ME! AAAAAAAAH!"

Cracks were made one after another with each slam of the poor boy's body. If this goes on, there's no doubt the boy will soon have a tragic death in this time and place.

Surrounding the two were a crowd of people who were watching the one-sided slaughter with great focus, unable to take their eyes away from the scene.

It was not every day one would see a spectacular battle like this. Naturally, they all savoured this moment without caring about the brutality the two had towards each other.

None of the audience here was a good person. Even if someone died on the ring, they wouldn’t care. In fact, a battle to the death would only serve as excitement to them.

All these people here are big shots from the underworld. They are people whose influence has penetrated deep into all layers of society. Any one who offended such a person all suffered the same ending.

Death!

And all these people came here for one thing.

It was to watch a good fight.

A fight where there is only one rule.Win!

No matter what methods they used, as long as they won, everything is justified.

The winner is the king and the loser is the bandit.

It was that simple.

At this moment, the man held the boy horizontally an arm’s length above him. He looked at the spectators at the surrounding and let out a loud roar.

“GRAAAAAAAAH!”

The crowd felt their blood boiling and cheered.

“Kill him!”

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

The crowd chanted the same word over and over, stimulating his fighting spirit. Smirking, the man finally executed his finishing move!

He brought the boy’s body down with great speed. At the same time, his right knee headed upwards hitting him right in the gut!

“Urghh!”

The already unconscious boy was jolted awake from pain! His eyes burst open and cheeks puffed up as he tried to hold himself back from vomiting! He swallowed the blood back to his stomach but the pain was too much for him to handle.

“Blergh!”

He vomited blood and blacked out.

The man stepped away from the boy as he caught up his breath. That fight took quite a toll on him.

He had complicated thoughts as he took a deep look at his opponent lying motionlessly on the ground.

Truthfully, this was the hardest he had ever fought since leaving the military.

He was a soldier who had seen a real battlefield. A true warfare.

He had seen invincible heroes and mighty gods and demons participating in the war, dying the battlefield with blood! Wherever they go, mountains of corpses have piled in their wake!

The power these beings possessed made him feel weak and helpless. In the grand scale of things, he was worth a fart; an existence akin to that of an ant!

However, in the secular world, he was someone with very few equals.That’s why he left.

In the battlefield, he was nothing. Here, he was a king!

Money? He can earn it easily in this arena.

Women? With money, he has no lack of women.

Glory? Being undefeated in this place had given him just that.

These were the reasons for his arrogance and he had paid for that same arrogance.

He had let his guard down and suffered a brutal beating from a child of all people!

He didn’t expect such great power and ferocity coming from a small child!

The boy had touched on his pride and humiliated him. Therefore, he had retaliated in such a manner.

"Boy... What is your name?"

As soon as he asked this question, a weird look flashed on his face before shaking his head.

"I'm getting a bit muddleheaded. You cannot even hear me right now."

"Vihaan."

Instead of the boy, a deep voice from behind him answered.

He turned around and saw a hunchback old man coming up the stage with a golden cane supporting his body.

The old man was short and had a repulsive look on his face. He resembled a hideous monster more than a human.

Anyone who saw him would feel incredible disgust from the depths of their heart.

Seeing this, the man’s pupils contracted.

‘The owner of this place… this is the first time I’ve seen him.’

The old man stood before him and smiled.

Chills went down his spine.

‘This old man is dangerous!’

"This is your 10th consecutive win? How strong! How admirable! Congratulations!”

“Thanks…”

The man didn’t know what to make of this. What was this old man up to? He never congratulated and personally met with any winner here even once.

“But…”

?

“Next time, you will surely lose to this boy.”

“Him?”

The man glanced at the fallen boy and snorted.

With the thrashing he had given to the boy, he would be lucky if he still lived! Even if he lived, there’s no doubt he will be lying in bed for life. That is already the best-case scenario.

“Kekekekeke…”

The man frowned, suppressing his disgust.

“The next fight will surely be interesting.”

While the two were talking, the crowd also had their own conversation.

“Who is that kid? I can’t believe he defeated two grown-ups before this fight! He even managed to give Joar a hard time!”

“He seems to be someone brought by the owner here. That old man looks weird but his foresight is definitely something.”

“It’s too bad though. The kid’s dead for sure. Even if he doesn’t, he’s going to be a vegetable.”

The crowd had different feelings in this fight. Some were amused.

And some were feeling pity for the boy.

A talent such as the boy was ruined in this fight!

However, this wasn’t anything new. Since ancient times till now, there was no lack of talents which had met their end early and never got the opportunity to grow up.

Such was the cycle of life.

…

The badly beaten boy finally woke up. He slowly opened his eyes as he weakly scanned his surroundings, only to barely make out anything in this darkness.

Though it was dark, he noticed he was still in the arena, lying in his own pool of blood.

He gathered his strength and tried to get up yet he discovered he couldn’t even move a single finger of his.

It was then that he felt unimaginable pain coursing through his body.

“Urgh…”

Just taking a breath was so excruciating to the point that he wanted to die.

“You’ve woken up.”

His ears were buzzing but he heard the voice quite clearly.

His gaze turned towards its source and faintly saw the silhouette of a short hunchback old man standing a few meters away from him.

“How do you feel?”

He opened his mouth with difficulty but his current state made him incapable of speaking.

He closed his mouth as he silently looked at the old man.

The old man sighed.

“Here.”

An object which seemed like a pouch landed beside the boy. Judging from the sound it made, the pouch seemed to contain coins.

“20 gold coins. No more, no less.”

The boy’s eyes shined. He withstood the pain in his body as he desperately reached out for the pouch. His arm was barely able to move a few centimeters until it fell back on the ground.

The old man was contemptuous and simultaneously amused by the boy’s action.

It was just like watching a bug squirm for survival.

‘Pathetic.’

This dark side of the old man had gone unnoticed by the boy as he continued reaching for the pouch.

“You’ve won twice and each win earned you 10 gold coins. Had you defeated Joar and became the champion, you would’ve won 30 gold coins more, making it 50 gold coins in total.”

The old man came near the boy and made a kind smile.

Due to the close proximity, he was able to see the old man’s face in the darkness. The old man’s smile looked completely grotesque making his already unsightly face even more disgusting.

“50 gold coins… it’s exactly the same amount your mother needed for her treatment. However…”

His kind smile suddenly turned into a sinister one.

“You’re completely useless! Just 30 gold coins more and your mother will be cured! But you lost and look at what you’ve become!”

The boy looked at the old man with his eyes wide open. His words kept ringing inside his ears.

He knew that the old man wasn’t anything good ever since he was first approached by him.

The old man threw a bait.

He could’ve turned a blind eye and avoided that bait. Be that as it may, he willingly took the bait.

It was all for his mother.

The old man’s kind smile came back and continued.

“I have taken the trouble and called for a divine physician to heal you otherwise, you will become completely disabled for life. It wouldn’t be good for your already sick mother to take care of a paralyzed son right?”

“Oh, and by the way, the treatment coincidentally costs 20 gold coins! Aren’t you glad? You already have 20 gold coins on hand!”

“Too bad, you’re going to start from scratch again. Don’t worry though, the arena is always open for you. You can earn that amount of money back in no time.”

“Provided you don’t lose miserably like this time.”

“Kekekeke…”

The boy glared at the old man, his eyes full of hate.

He bit his lips, suppressing the rage in his heart.

Blood started to leak down his mouth as he vowed to himself.

‘I will make this old man pay!’

Suddenly, the old man stopped laughing and went silent.

Sweat started forming at his temples. His face turned grim as he focused his gaze on a specific direction.

“Who’s that?”

Somewhere, a few seconds earlier...

A handsome blue-haired youth looked at the far horizon with narrowed eyes.

“Is that a god? What is it doing here?”

BOOM!

Spiritual awareness burst out of his body with great momentum, knocking down several acres of trees in his surroundings. It then travelled thousands of kilometers in an instant.

A moment later, the appearance of a hideous hunchback old man emerged in his royal blue eyes.

“No, not a god. It’s something else entirely.”

A small smile crept up his lips.

“Hindu pantheon really is interesting. There are many powerful beings mingling with humans here. Much different from Greece.”

Behind the youth, a huge beast the size of a small city slowly opened its eyes.

The beast had the build of a bull with impenetrable scales all over its body. His head resembled that of a lion with four large horns protruding on it and sizable sharp teeth capable of tearing through anything.

His size and appearance, everything regarding the beast scream that of power!

“Hmm? What happened?”

His loud, rough voice reverberated throughout the area.

The beast was quite puzzled. Before he went to sleep, they were still in the middle of a forest. Now, that forest had turned into a huge clearing with not a single tree that remained standing.

The youth looked at the beast and thought to himself.

‘It’s good that his presence here scared the wild animals away. Otherwise, they would have died after unleashing a bit of my spiritual awareness.’

Shaking those thoughts out of his mind, he casually waved his hand.

The forest was instantly restored.

Seeing this, the beast looked at the youth.

“You’re a freak.”

He ignored what the beast said.

“Nian, since you have already woken up, we have something to do.”

The beast, Nian suddenly became excited.

“Are we going to fight?”

“No. I just wanted to meet someone who caught my interest.”

The youth hopped on Nian’s body and pointed towards the horizon.

“Take me there.”

Nian complied but he couldn’t help grumbling under his breath.

“After saying so much, I bet you’re still going to fight.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”