Soon, a whole month had passed, and I was back in the arena again. This time, I was fighting for both position and coins. I challenged someone from the second floor. We bet on his room, number #632, and if he lost, he had to pay me 600 coins. If I lost, I had to pay 1,200 coins. It was an extremely costly battle.
When the fight started, I didn't rush in like I usually did. Instead, I kept jumping in and out of his range, throwing light jabs to test his reactions and gather information about his fighting style. One jab landed cleanly on his stomach after he unsuccessfully tried to counter it, so I kept repeating the same move.
Suddenly, he grabbed my left arm and tried to pull me to the ground. But once again, the hero of the fight was my tail. It wrapped around his neck, and I exerted pressure, forcing him to jump back. At that moment, I had more than enough information. He was a ground fighter, the kind I always found annoying to deal with.
But my tail was my trump card. Even when everyone knew what it could do, it was still devastating. I became much more aggressive, started channeling ki into my tail, and turned it into a fifth limb. When I struck his forearm with it, I saw unease flash across his eyes.
After that, I began throwing one-twos and hooks whenever I saw an opening. My hooks were extremely effective, consistently finding his vital points. After five more minutes of fighting, I accidentally lowered my hand. He tried to punish me, but I slipped the attack with my shoulder.
That was close, I thought. My hands were dropping from lack of endurance. Let's finish this.
I started using ki in my punches, pouring invisible energy into my fists. He couldn't follow the attacks anymore and could only block the punches I allowed him to block. I threw around a hundred punches without letting him fall, keeping him upright through sheer pressure. After about a minute of nonstop blows, I finally let him drop. His body collapsed, unconscious and bloodied.
I didn't care. He had looked down on me when we entered the ring. He was a second-year Saiyan, close to entering his third year, and still dared to look down on me just because I was from the lower bracket of the second floor.
Soon after, I received my new room and 1,800 coins, including the 600 from his bet. It might seem like a lot, but once you enter the second floor, you get 20 coins per week, and the first floor probably pays even more. Still, I was satisfied. I planned to check what I could buy the next day, though I preferred saving everything for future bets.
No one challenged me yet, but that was bound to change now that I had entered the second floor. Everyone would see me as easy prey. And there was also Culer's brother.
As I left my room, I saw someone familiar. It was Caral.
"Oh, it seems you finally made it," he said, walking closer.
I was about to respond when a punch flew straight at my face. I couldn't dodge it. It was extremely fast, infused with ki, probably a technique he had learned. Third-rate, but still powerful. It landed on my cheek and made me stumble.
I immediately poured as much ki as I could into all five of my limbs, including my tail. I was ready to beat him to death for that single hit. But what I didn't expect was that he would simply turn around and leave without saying a word.
I couldn't chase him. My legs refused to move. I focused on my breathing, trying to heal. Rage boiled inside me. I had never felt such humiliation before.
I can't kill you, I told myself, but making you armless is fine.
Nothing calmed me. After twenty-five minutes, I went to the arena. Blood was still coming from my nose, probably because the ki damage had spread across the left side of my face. I didn't care.
When I arrived, a Saiyan named Zirou immediately approached me after seeing my condition and issued a challenge. I accepted without hesitation. I bet half of my 3,000 coins, 1,500, and he matched it. The fight was for 3,000 coins.
In the arena, Zirou started laughing. "You really came here in that broken state? You're stupid," he said, laughing hysterically.
I looked at him calmly. "You'll see what it means to be broken after I finish you."
He laughed again, but the referee cut him off. "Start!"
He didn't even finish laughing before I was already on him, pounding his arms. He began using a ki-based defensive technique. It seemed like everyone on the second floor had third-rate ki control. But it didn't matter. They couldn't compare to me. Their output was around 20%, while mine was closer to 50%. I was already above them after just a little more than a month of training.
We exchanged blows. I didn't block all of his punches. Some hurt, but my tail did most of the blocking. Sometimes, when I felt his punches lacked power, I let them hit me on purpose just to show him they meant nothing.
I stepped back and said, "You really thought you could win with those pillow hands of yours?"
I started laughing madly. "I even let you hit me, and you couldn't deal any damage. Now I'll show you what it really means to break someone."
"COME!" he screamed.
I jumped toward him as hard as I could, feinting with my entire body as if I would stop right in front of him. He tried to counter, but it was a trap. My head drove straight into his stomach while my tail redirected his punch. The impact pushed him to the edge of the ring, and he started vomiting everything he had eaten.
I didn't care. "Come here, you retard," I said.
He was furious, but his legs wouldn't obey him. Then he did something no Saiyan ever did.
"I SURRENDER!" he screamed.
I didn't care about the victory. I only wanted to kill him. I jumped toward him, but the referee, who was far stronger than me, stopped me. "Vaske, if you make one more move, you'll lose this fight."
I turned around and walked to the desk.
The other Saiyans stared at me with a awe, and at Zirou with disgust beacuse of surrender. I simply said, "Give me my rewards."
The deskman handed them over. I took the coins without a word and left.
I was still furious. I couldn't release the energy inside me. I trained like a madman for six hours straight. Night fell, but I still couldn't sleep. I meditated until morning.
The training over the past month had paid off. My ki control had improved significantly. I could now suppress around 50% of my power. My battle power had risen from 2,327 to roughly 2,550. I couldn't know for sure because I didn't have a scouter. The cheapest one in the camp cost around 6,000 coins. I still had a long way to go, or maybe not, if my plan worked.
I planned to challenge Caral to a death match.
I went to Commander Turtle. He looked at me and asked, "Are you sure? He's a third-year, ranked #412. You're #632."
I didn't hesitate. "I don't care."
He studied me for a moment. "Fine. Tell me when you want to organize it. But know this: he can reject your challenge."
"Tomorrow morning, at first sunrise," I said.
He nodded and sent a lackey to fetch Caral.
Soon, footsteps echoed through the room. The lackey entered with Caral behind him. Caral looked at me and smiled. "So, how did you like the punch I gave you?"
"Pretty nice," I replied calmly. "It felt like a dog's tongue hit me."
He ignored the provocation and turned to Turtle. "Let's finish the bet."
Turtle nodded.
I bet all my 4500 coins. Caral bet his 9,650 coins and his room. Winner takes everything.
The terms were finalized, and after that we left.