Mace staggered where he stood.

His breathing was ragged now - uneven, heavy, dragging through his chest like every inhale cost him something. The once imposing stone armour that coated his body was no longer pristine. It was cracked, chipped, and in places entirely broken away, exposing raw flesh beneath.

Worst of all, his joints were shredded: the insides of his elbows, behind his knees, under his arms.

Every weak point Ethan had targeted was now marked with precise cuts that had long since stopped being superficial. Blood seeped steadily from them, staining the broken arena floor beneath his feet.

The so-called Beast Man didn’t stop there.

He smashed him around, throwing the armoured opponent onto the ground over and over again. At one point, he had even dragged Mace around the arena, humiliating him completely.

Across from him, Ethan stood relaxed.

It didn’t even look like he had fought someone; his breathing was steady and his posture loose.

’Stat-wise, when I use Partial Assimilation, we’re not that far apart,’ he noted calmly, his sharp eyes analysing Mace’s every movement.

Mace’s strength was monstrous, and his ability so versatile, if he made the most of it. Not only could he produce natural armour, but he could also form constructs out of stone as extensions of his body.

’In the right hands, that Title could even make someone a B Rank.’

But unfortunately, Mace wasn’t the right hands, and stats and abilities weren’t everything.

’Skill. Experience. Control.’

That was where the real gap lay.

Ethan had many a time fought creatures more powerful than himself and figured out a way to kill them, simply because if he didn’t, he would die.

That made the gap between them enormous.

Mace swayed slightly as he forced himself to remain upright, his cracked armour shifting with a grinding sound. His eyes burned with fury, but beneath it, there was something new.

Fear.

Ethan, who saw it and could literally smell it, smiled faintly beneath the balaclava.

"You think..." Mace rasped, voice hoarse, "...you’ve won?"

The masked man tilted his head.

"I know I have."

The biggest blow Stonehide Mason had sustained wasn’t physical, but mental.

He roared and lunged forward desperately.

Ethan also burst forward.

’Cross Slash.’

His claws carved forward in a precise, crossing arc...

Shraaak!

This time, it bit.

The weakened armour on Mace’s chest gave way entirely, shattering under the impact as the strike tore through the flesh beneath.

Blood sprayed outward.

"Aaaarrghh!"

Mace was flung backwards, his body skidding across the arena floor, leaving a dark trail behind him as he desperately tried to pull himself together.

"Come on, come on, please."

He was practically begging his armour to regenerate, but Ethan was already upon him.

A fist drove into Mace’s face.

Crack!

His head snapped back violently as he was launched again, tumbling across the ground like a ragdoll.

"What a bitch," Ethan muttered, stepping forward without hurry.

The crowd roared, not with outrage or concern, but pure excitement.

This was what they came for: a spectacle of violence.

Ethan didn’t stop or hesitate.

He grabbed Mace again, lifting him before slamming him down ruthlessly. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The arena floor cracked further under the impact.

Another hit.

Another throw.

Another crushing blow.

Each strike was more brutal than the last.

Mace tried to fight back, tried to swing and stand his ground, but it didn’t matter.

He was completely outclassed.

-

In the VIP suite, Mark had gone pale.

"This is insane," he muttered, barely able to keep up with what he was seeing.

Elara watched in silence, her hands clenched tightly together.

Kaela, meanwhile, was grinning, watching everything closely.

"This is what happens," she said calmly, "when someone steps into a fight they were never ready for."

-

Back in the arena, Ethan stepped back again, letting Mace struggle to his feet.

There were still no signs of interference: no guards, no enforcers, no one stepping in to stop this one-sided beatdown.

’I guess there really are no rules.’

Not that it mattered to Ethan, who had long since accepted what needed to be done.

’No loose ends,’ he reminded himself.

That thought settled heavily in his mind, cold and unwavering.

’Mace isn’t the type to let something like this go.’

After being humiliated like this in front of thousands, he would definitely come back for revenge and become a problem.

Ethan exhaled slowly.

’I have enough problems.’

Not to mention what he tried to do before Mark stepped in, which was enough to seal his fate. As such, he didn’t delay it any longer after tormenting his opponent enough.

’Partial Assimilation: Talon.’

The shift was immediate.

His body lightened, and his vision sharpened.

The world seemed to slow ever so slightly as his perception elevated to another level.

Mace noticed the change in Ethan’s posture and the colour of his eyes, but before he could even question it, Ethan vanished.

’Beast Impact.’

Swoosh!

To most, he had simply disappeared.

To the few with sharp enough eyes, they saw a blur, a streak of cutting motion that split the space between them in an instant.

Mace couldn’t react.

The next thing he knew, Ethan was standing behind him, still and silent.

’...He missed?’

The thought barely formed when he suddenly felt something... wrong.

His vision tilted and shifted, the world spinning.

And then, he saw it: his own body standing there.

For a fraction of a second, there was pure, overwhelming confusion.

Then, there was absolute darkness as his head hit the ground with a dull thud.

A spray of blood followed in a wide arc, bursting from the cleanly severed neck of the body that remained standing for just a moment longer before collapsing.

The stone armour crumbled.

It fell apart into lifeless fragments as the rest of him hit the ground.

There was a tense silence.

Thousands of people, and not a single sound, but a single thought bounced around in all of their heads.

’Did he really just kill him?’

But the answer was obvious, as Ethan stood there basking in the results of his decisiveness...