The only things that could be heard were slight murmurs, no one knew who he was. To them he was merely a nobody, but a nobody who was going to face off against a Pendragon.
"Do you think he's someone special?" Someone asked from the crowd.
"I don't think so. None of us know who he is or what his family name is, I believe the Pendragon has this one in the bag." Another man replied.
Lucas breathed in and out, calming his nerves. He closed his eyes, letting his body take in the feel of his surroundings.
"What're you doing mongrel? Have you come to terms with your loss already?" Elvis asked, his face beaming with excitement.
Lucas opened his eyes, they were calm but he was not. His heart burned with anger, this was the guy who said David was weak, the guy who belittled his friend's death, he knew he couldn't kill him, he didn't think himself strong enough to do that.
"Maybe." Lucas replied. "Although I do think you have everything to lose here."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm basically a nobody, no one here knows who I am or where I'm from, not even me but you…" Lucas paused.
He let his words sink in before he continued:
"You on the other hand is well known far and beyond, a Pendragon. If I lose, it'll be as expected. But if you lose, the world will be silenced."
Elvis raised an eyebrow, he chuckled and then burst out in an uncontrollable laughter. He stopped, his eyebrows furrowed and he glared at Lucas.
"You believe one such as myself would lose? That I would lose to a mongrel like you!?" He screamed.
The arena was hushed, no one wanted to speak. What they were witnessing was like a scene from an action movie and no one wanted to disrupt the experience for another.
"It's fifty-fifty." Lucas replied, his expression calm but what raged underneath was a fire waiting to be let out.
"Well… since the both of you are done courting each other." Asher said, which caused some spectators to burst out laughing. "Let the match begin!"
Elvis burst out, he threw a right hook at Lucas's head, which he blocked with his left.
'It's heavy.' Lucas felt the insane weight of Elvis's punches, it was far too unusual.
He countered with a kick to Elvis's ribs which connected perfectly but he didn't budge. Elvis looked up at Lucas and smiled, he delivered a punch to his stomach which sent flying.
"I thought I was going to be the one to lose mongrel! But there you are groveling on the floor." Elvis taunted as he walked towards Lucas.
'That isn't just regular Ruin augmentation. I'm sure I enhanced my kick as well as my body so why were his punches heavy and why was his body that hard?' Lucas asked himself, he got up to his feet and took on a boxing stance.
Lucas further enhanced his body with more Ruin, then he charged at Elvis once again.
Karl sat in front of the gigantic television in the locker room, watching as Elvis beat Lucas up. Someone walked up to his side, as he looked up he saw Zed standing beside him.
"What is it?" Karl asked.
"Your friend is using too much Ruin, that isn't something he should be doing against someone like Elvis." Zed replied, he sat down beside Karl, his hands folded as he watched the battle as well.
"I believe he'll manage. He's resilient, and I believe he will be able to get a win." Karl stated.
"I never said he couldn't win, what I'm saying is he's using so much Ruin he could die. Unless he's someone who has that much." Zed explained, unfolding his hands, running them through his hair.
Karl snapped his neck to Zed's position. He hadn't expected him to say something like this. Why did he think Lucas could win?
"Why do you think he could win?" Karl asked.
Zed sighed, he used both his hands to clean his face then started:
"Elvis is currently using his Faculty but your friend hasn't used his in any way, and seeing how he's avoiding using it, it must be something complicated and powerful, maybe even a Consecrated Faculty."
"How would you know he has a Faculty such as that?" To Karl, what Zed was doing right now were all speculations but Zed was a smart guy and he knew that, so listening to all he had to say was the smart thing to do.
"It's not something that can be explained, you'll see it when he eventually uses it. Your friend is smart and interesting, he'll figure it out eventually." Zed replied as he got up from his seat, and walked away.
'Consecrated huh?' Karl stared at the television more intently, wanting to see what Lucas's Faculty ability could do.
Elvis charged at Lucas once again with a flurry of punches and kicks. Lucas blocked each and every one of his attacks, but they were getting heavier and heavier.
Lucas delivered an elbow to Elvis's shoulder before using his left hand to punch him in the side of his face. He kicked off of Elvis's chest sending both of them in opposite directions.
Elvis looked up, his lip was cracked and blood trickled through. Lucas smiled.
'I was finally able to land a successful hit.'
Lucas nearly ate his words, his eyes widened in shock by what he had witnessed. The blood on Elvis's lip stopped then went back in before his lip was sealed shut as if it was never broken.
'The hell did he just do?' Lucas thought, he looked up to see Elvis smiling. His blood boiled, if things went on like this then putting him in his place was out of the question.
Lucas thought back to all that had happened, his blood had retracted back into his wound, his skin repaired itself, his body felt like steel when he punched him. Lucas came to a conclusion.
'He has a Faculty that lets him manipulate his body. His flesh, bones, blood, down to the very last atom.' Lucas stared at him closely, he swiped off the sweat from his forehead.
"Surprised huh?," Elvis said as he walked over to Lucas, "well things like this usually surprise mongrels like you."
He charged at Lucas with blinding speed, driving a knee into his chest. Lucas flew backwards, hitting the ground hard. He raised himself up, blood dripped from his lip, his ribs ached and his entire body was in pain.
"You're nothing," Elvis charged in again, delivering a flurry of punches to Lucas which sent him to the floor once again. "Let me rephrase that. You're less than nothing. You're just a stray dog that wandered into a wolf's den."
Lucas got up, he looked at Elvis and smiled. "Was that supposed to hurt?"
Elvis frowned, he nearly erupted but kept his cool, he put his palm over his face. He turned to Lucas, still frowning, silent.
He lunged forward, Ruin erupting from his fist but Lucas wasn't there. He dodged Elvis's fist, moved under his arm and placed his palm on his spine.
"Here goes nothing." Lucas said. Elvis felt a slight shock, his body tingled. He swung backwards at Lucas who dodged his arm before delivering a punch to his ribs. Elvis's ribs cracked, shocking him, his eyes widened as he spat out blood and fell to the ground.
"What did you do?!" Elvis screamed as he got up. Lucas didn't say anything, his mind on one thing. Teaching this arrogant brat a lesson.
"Oh I see." Elvis stated, as his ribs cracked, he repaired them, putting them back in place. "You manipulated my Ruin eh?"
Lucas's eyes widened. "What're you trying to say?"
"Don't play dumb with me! We both know that when you touched me you did something and when you touched me I felt a tingle and during that time the Ruin in my body felt unusable." Elvis explained.
'Oh! So that's how it was for him.' Lucas thought to himself. He'd always wondered what it would be like when someone was caught under the effects of Ruin Dominion and here it was.
"But there's one downside." Elvis smiled, to him he had figured it all out. "You have to touch me before you can use it. What a powerful Faculty but it's being wasted on the likes of you."
He clapped his hands together, Lucas could see steam dispersing from his enclosed palms.
'What is he trying to do?' Lucas asked himself.
Elvis's palm swelled, then something odd happened. He fired blood from the middle of it.
Lucas put his hands in front of himself to block, but the moment the blood touched his skin, he knew something was off.
'It's going to rip right through me!' Lucas thought, as he instantly tilted to the left, dodging the projectile.
"I didn't think you'd be smart enough to notice that." Elvis said.
"It was fairly obvious." Lucas replied.
Elvis chuckled. "Naturally blood shouldn't be able to do that, but amping it with Ruin causes it to move at one hundred and eighty thousand kilometers per hour."
'That's way faster than a train!' Lucas deduced. He knew what he had to do, avoid Elvis's projectiles, perfectly use his Faculty and win.
Elvis clapped his hands again, this time he didn't charge it up, he just fired. But the speed was still the same. Lucas ducked underneath it and made his way towards Elvis.
He strengthened his body with Ruin but he knew he wouldn't be able to protect himself against something like that.
He threw a punch at Elvis's chest but was blocked by a wall of hardened blood, it instantly liquefied and wrapped around Lucas's arm.
Lucas used Ruin Dominion yet again, and the blood evaporated.
'He can also change the properties!' Elvis realized that Lucas's ability was stronger than he had given it credit for.
Lucas charged again, this time faster, this time even more precise. He attacked with a flurry of kicks and punches which Elvis carefully blocked with walks of blood.
'If he carries on like this he'll run out of blood.' Lucas smiled as the thought came to his mind. But then he recollected himself. He wanted to make Elvis submit with his own strength.
Elvis threw a punch that moved at the same speed as his blood projectiles, Lucas ducked under it, he held the arm up and then delivered a punch to Elvis's armpit.
It still felt like steel but one thing had happened. Elvis knew he had messed up. Lucas had a hold of him.
Lucas used Ruin Dominion yet again, causing the Ruin in Elvis's body to go dormant.
Elvis dropped to the floor, his entire body refusing to move. He groaned and cursed, why would this nobody have the upper hand? He should be the one standing and the mongrel should be groveling at his feet.
"Do you concede?" Lucas asked, his face calm. He knew the effects of Ruin Dominion wouldn't last long, so he had to capitalize on this opportunity quickly.
Elvis gritted his teeth, his eyes staring at something invisible on the floor.
"I… I concede." Elvis closed his eyes in pain as those words left his mouth.
The crowd was shocked, silent. No one cheered, no one spoke. This wasn't what they had expected but it had happened.
Lucas stared at Elvis who lay on the floor. The effects of Ruin Dominion would stop in a few minutes, maybe that was due to his current rank but it was time he was never going to waste.
"Very well then, I win."
Asher cleared his throat. "Well, this is a very surprising turn of events and the most interesting match I've seen so far but then again that's not what you all want to hear."
He stopped, he looked at the crowd. They were silent, some of them with their mouths agape.
"Lucas wins!" Asher screamed.
The crowd started murmuring.
"Who is that kid?"
"What was that ability he used against the Pendragon boy?"
"I don't know but I got my money on him to win his next match."
"Damnit, that Pendragon kid lost! My money!"
The words of different people could be heard all around.
Lucas breathed in and out. He had finally gotten what he wanted. He didn't care about what others thought of him, what he cared about was what he fought for and now he knew he would most definitely go to Tokyo. There were twenty participants and he had just won, meaning he would go as one of the ten.
He smiled at what he had accomplished, he had won the ticket to Tokyo. To see Deborah again. He shifted his gaze to Elvis, and he had beaten up the guy who had disrespected David's name.