Besieged (Book One): Rise of the Misfit

A Chubby Opponent

The match between the girls went on with the two girls evenly matched in both strength and dexterity. They displayed their combat prowess to the limit but it was like they each could predict what their counterpart was going to do next. The match finally ended in a tie which was quite shocking for some of the spectators. Mrs. Ruth nodded her satisfactorily. It appeared she wasn’t interested in who won and who lost, but displaying your prowess to the limit was her aim. And if they both did so, then it didn’t matter to her if they tied.

The next match was between two boys; one was shorter than the other. But the shorter one proved quite proficient as he overpowered his opponent after little time. The fourth and fifth matches went on the same way; there were no ties so far. However, the next person that picked from the bowl happened to pick Caesar Kroft. The boy who picked him was Clinton, a boy with a broad and hefty physique.

Clinton was one of the few people who had exceptional records in terms of strength, but even he felt his throat spasm when he saw his opponent swaggering up on stage. His opponent was not only known for his strength but his cruelty in battle. Because of all the attention drawn to him, it was only natural that Caesar would become arrogant. And on a closer look, he indeed had the strength to back it up.

Swaggering onto the stage, Caesar had a prideful grin on his lips, “Could you be any unlucky?” He taunted. Clinton, given his nature, wouldn’t simply let Caesar talk him down just like that, as he too was among the elites of the Cyphs.

“I’m not scared of you. No matter what level you are, I’ll shut you up right now!”

 “Empty words alone won’t get you anywhere,” Caesar chuckled and assumed a fighting stance. From this alone, one could see that Caesar wasn’t only strong in terms of ability but also in raw combat. The match commenced at the signal, and the two immediately bumped heads into each other. This, however, turned out to be Clinton’s worst mistake.

Caesar excelled in bodily defense, and even if he didn’t urge his ability, his body was still almost as tough as metal, or even tougher. Butting heads with someone like that was the same as running into a steel wall. Clinton took a few steps back to stabilize himself. Blood streamed down his nose and head. In an instant, with just one clash, Clinton was already gravely injured. Caesar, with his signature grin, moved to follow up his attack on his opponent when Mrs. Ruth gave the signal thereby ending the match.

Caesar wasn’t too pleased by this but could only concede. He looked at Clinton with scorn and disdain, as if he was looking at a hopeless nobody. Clinton felt the gaze on him but could do nothing about it. The match had only begun but he had been injured straight off the bat. What chance did he have if he were to confront Caesar again?

Friends stepped up and helped Clinton to a corner to help him recover. Mrs. Ruth wasn’t pleased with this result, but she couldn’t fault Caesar for it either. And it wasn’t because he was important or anything like that, but because it truly wasn’t his fault. He only moved to attack his opponent but his opponent had been the one who failed to consider the areas Caesar excelled in. If anyone had to be blamed, it was Clinton for being reckless. Caesar was as arrogant as ever even before the fight but had now attained a whole level higher after his flawless victory.

The simulation didn’t center on Caesar too long and resumed, but side whisperings couldn’t be stopped. With time, it came to the 12^th match of the simulation, of which, Finnian was finally called out. The one who picked him was a boy named Joel Adric, a chubby round ball of meat with puffy cheeks. Calling out Finnian’s name, and seeing the latter walking up to the stage, Joel had a light smile tugging on his lips.

Everyone more or less knew Finnian or at least heard of him. He was known for his weird behavior of stuffing weights under his clothes. And although that had stopped a long time ago, some people still saw him as that same weirdo. And his slender physique made it easy for people to think of him as frail and a push-over. Joel was one of the indifferent ones, having no particular judgment towards Finnian. And today, he was looking forward to winning this match as his display of superior skills to everyone.

Finnian, on the other hand, had a solemn expression as he looked at his chubby opponent, not knowing what to think of him. Although being in the same class with him, Finnian had seldom seen Joel in action, so he was blind to knowing what to expect from him. But this was just a simulation after all; there was no need to think so deeply into matters. No matter how skillful Joel was, as long as he, Finnian, wasn’t hurt, that would be a big win.

The match kicked off at the signal. With just two minutes to bring down your opponent, Joel wanted to move quickly to achieve a landslide victory like Caesar… literally. Finnian saw the fatty standing in front of him, but after the match began, Joel had already closed in on him, his hand balled into a fist, just a few inches away from smashing into his face.

Finnian was taken by surprise by this sudden attack. In fact, everyone else was stunned by this. For a boy as fat as Joel, the latter’s speed can be described as freakish. It was just like a ball being thrown into a wall with an insane amount of force, ricocheting at an even more freakish speed. Almost in an instant, Finnian was inches away from smashing into Joel’s meteoritic fist.