Chapter 73: The Upper Hand?
Chapter 73: The Upper Hand?
"MARCUSSS!!"
The commentator bellowed through his microphone.
Marcus nodded as soon as he heard his name echo throughout the huge arena. His steps were slow as he enjoyed the atmosphere with the crowd there to cheer. Cheer? Most of them were booing at him whereas some didn't even look at him.
He was just 5 meters away when he saw Gabriel look at him sharply. He was examining Marcus.
He was still masked, so Gabriel hadn't yet seen his face. Marcus was also pretty sure that he was in his attire only one time in the school that day, UNMASKED.
But he was also pretty much confirmed that Gabriel hadn't yet recognized him. Even though the black sleeves didn't stand out that much, but it gave an entirely different look to his high ranking attire.
Gabriel was anyways the type to ignore people he thinks is unworthy of his priceless attention and the people who gets his so called attention are mostly rich people who has a higher status than the others in the society.
Marcus slowly took his time and stepped on the elevated ring. The Ring was huge and was almost the size of the arena. Of course there were boundary lines.
The Floor was made of tough material that even a Monarch Seed would struggle to break through. That was two years ago!. Now the floor he stood on looked like it wouldn't even break from a Legendary Revoker's attack.
But Of course, It was Nothing to him......
Marcus thought of remaining masked until it was the time to reveal himself. He thought about the comics he read and nodded as he remembered Main characters usually did that.
Marcus took his place around the middle, ignoring his enemy and stood still, he waited for the referee's call.
He could feel Gabriel eyeing at him from the other side. It felt a bit annoying to him.
"STOP EYEING ME, PERVERT"
Marcus shouted inside Gabriel's mind making him stumble back a bit.
A small snicker left his mouth as Marcus tried to control the urge to laugh at the poor, frightened Gabriel.
Slowly moving his head, Marcus looked at the Green haired King's son. He was glaring at him, as if he knew it was Marcus who shouted inside him.
Gabriel might have straight on attacked Marcus if the Referee hadn't arrived on time. It was a Man on his late fifties, his hairline had almost receded back to the middle. His pale forehead gleamed when the evening sun hit and bounced off. The Referee had a whistle around his collars and he was spectacled.
The Costume was a common referee attire with black and white striped T shirt and black pants. His shirt had a pocket which probably contained a wireless communication set which would help in emergency situations.
Marcus nodded and smiled wide while he thought to himself.
"You'll need that Wireless headset ref"
.........
The Referee first walked towards Gabriel and shook his hand. The Annoyed Gabriel shook the referee's hand halfheartedly and rubbed it on a handkerchief which he took from his pant as soon as the referee turned to walk towards Marcus.
Marcus gladly recieved the Referee's hand and thanked him for being the one to referee his match. The referee looked at him sympathetically as if he thought Marcus would get utterly destroyed by Gabriel.
"If you can't handle it, please surrender, your life is more important than victory"
The referee whispered to him, bending over his shoulders as Marcus was bowing down, shaking his hands.
Marcus looked up at the referee and grinned inside his mask. His back straightened as he reached for the referee's ears.
"Sure, Please inform the meds to be ready"
Marcus whispered. His voice however contained a lot of sarcasm that even the referee looked at him in awe. Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.
The Man nodded at him and walked exactly to the centre. He raised his hand and motioned it towards Gabriel.
"Are you ready?"
"Yea..Tch"
Came the annoyed reply.
The referee turned towards the masked young Marcus.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes sir!"
The Commentator picked up pace as soon as he saw the referee raise his hands towards the two young fighters.
"The referee has confirmed with the fighters and they look ready as they'll ever be. The Duel we have all been waiting for.."
The Commentator covered his mic and paused. The entire crowd paused.
Marcus looked around him in awe and reminisced back to the time when he was one of them.
ONE RULE, WHICH HAS BEEN PRACTICED FROM CENTURIES AGO.
THE MOMENT WHEN THE CROWD AND THE ATOR ALL GOES SILENT IS ONLY WHEN THE REFEREE DID THAT...
The referee had raised his hand towards the sky, which meant only one thing..
"HAS BEGUN!!!!!"
The Commentator screamed and the crowd's insane cheers boomed around the stadium as soon as the referee's hand went down.
Gabriel pounced at him when Marcus was enjoying the screams echoing throughout the arena.
His fists were engulfed in solidified water when Gabriel punched Marcus straight on his stomach. With a cough, Marcus blasted 10 meters back due to the force.
Gabriel grinned before laughing like a maniac.
"Well Am surprised that you could survive that...Field dust!!...That was my weakest attack ever!!"
Marcus didn't speak but Instead stood straight again and didn't move. Gabriel accelerated his legs, booming through the floor as a wrecking machine as he sped towards the masked man.
Gabriel drove his fists throughout his opponent's body in a frenzy and Marcus's body thumped and vibrated as he recieved the terrifying attack power head on.
With a sudden grab, Gabriel tore his legs from the ground and picked up Marcus, slammed his body directly opposite to how he stood. The tough materialized floor blasted into pieces as Marcus laid still on a huge crater which was 2 feet deep.
Gabriel jumped back out of the crater and eyed the referee. He was pretty sure he had won. The referee ran towards a fallen Marcus and picked up his hand. It was the normal way to determine if the challenger was able to continue or not.
The fallen challenger's hand will be raised just above the ground by the referee and then is let to fall down to the ground.
The referee does this three times and if the challenger doesn't keeps his hand in the air in those three turns, then the challenger will be be proclaimed to have been defeated.
And now Marcus's hand dropped the second time as the referee picked it up again and held it in the air. If his hand fell down now, then the match was over. The Crowd was strangely silent that a pin dropping could have echoed through the stadium.
Albert's and Reiren's heart skipped a beat as the referee picked up their son's hand the third time. The king beside him was laughing like a maniac at them and kept on repeating the same thing.
"You shouldn't have messed with me, now look at your son"
Evy and Iris cried in unison at their Fallen brother, tears poured and leaked on their mother's dress.
*Dhak Dhak*
*Dhak Dhak*
*Dhak Dhak*
Their hearts beated wildly when the referee let the hand to fall.
Marcus's hand was dropping down lifelessly. Albert covered his face and Reiren hugged her children. But right when they thought the match was over, the hand stopped mid air.
*CHEERS!!!!*
*CHEERS INTENSIFIED*
The Silent crowd boomed when they saw Marcus's hand hang just above the ground. The Referee jumped back and shook his hand, denying Gabriel his victory.
Gabriel glared at Marcus who was now on his feet. His body looked like it was hanging on a slim thread which would break any moment.
Gabriel charged up his attack and his legs banged the ground as he flew towards Marcus. This time both of his powered up fists plunged deep inside Marcus's chest, the bones snapped when Marcus's body was flung away closer to the boundary line.
With a thunk, Marcus's still body landed on the floor like a sack. The Attack he just recieved was the most powerful attack Gabriel had right now, The Dual Icicle, which was able to damage a Legendary Revoker highkey (To a very high extent)
The referee looked at Marcus sympathetically before walking towards him again, this time he was pretty sure that he was done for.
The crowd's cheers intensified for Gabriel. The King's son in turn raised his hand at the crowd as if he had won already.
But....
The Hands he raised were broken.
Gabriel's hands slumped to his sides like a deadweight just as he raised them. His body screamed in pain as his completely broken wrists twisted lifelessly.
But it was just the start.
A Loud scream, The scream of fear left his mouth when he saw the referee go still during his steps.
No, he screamed at another figure who stood up straight on the very edge of the arena, just before the boundaries.
A Figure whose face was now unmasked and laughing at him.
"Gotta give them a show for their money, you know?"
The deep voice met the trembling Gabriel's ears as Marcus winked.
"YOU???!!!!"
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