“Fight!”

  We circled, hands up. I didn't wait for an invitation. I snapped a right jab that he parried with his left. I stayed on him—cross, jab, and another left cross. He parried two and stepped back to dodge the third.

  We repositioned, fists high. He moved in cautiously, then exploded with a swift jab, a hook, and a front kick. I caught the jab and barely parried the hook, but the front kick slammed into my lower abdomen, the force of it driving the air from my lungs and shoving me back.

  His punch felt like a hammer, but there was no time to bitch. I surged forward, launching a right hook, a left uppercut, and a final right hook. Akio blocked the strikes but scrambled backward, clearly unprepared for the speed of the assault. He kept his distance, taking a breather and looking for a weakness. He wanted me to overextend so he could land a counter.

  I couldn't let him dictate the flow. I made my move—a full-force sprint. I launched myself into the air, driving a knee toward his face.

  He reacted fast, raising his fists to absorb the impact. But a nimble reaction is nothing against a firm guard. My knee went through his flimsy block like a hot rod through ice, smashing flat against his nose.

  He stumbled back with a pained grunt, blood spraying from his mangled face. But the bastard regained his senses instantly. He shook his head and launched a desperate, full-swing counter at my face.

  I saw his right shoulder dip before the punch even moved. I ducked, feeling the wind of his swing whistle over my head. I stepped into the gap and buried a hook deep into his exposed belly.

  The sucker punch made him moan—a heavy, guttural sound of pure agony. He stumbled toward the corner, gasping for air. I watched him, preparing to close in for a front kick, when he suddenly dashed forward.

  He wrapped his sweaty arms around my waist, dropped to his knees, and executed a fast, solid movement to my back. The rear bearhug caught me completely off guard. Before I could process it, he lifted me off the ground and slammed me into the floor like a sack of shit.

  My ears began to ring like a pig's siren. My vision blurred. For a second, the world was nothing but a dull roar and the mind-tearing ache at the base of my skull.

  I felt Akio mount me, pinning me down. Light flickered in and out of my vision—sharp, stabbing darkness punctuating the indescribable pain as his fists began to gradually reconstruct my face.

  The only thing felt was the base of my skull aching with mind-tearing pain and nothing else.

  I imagine Akio did not waste any time, as I soon felt him sitting on me and pinning me to the ground to face him properly. I saw flickers of light—going out and returning—as indescribable sharp pain coursed through my face with each sudden but short darkness.

  My thoughts finally returned, and I felt my face being littered with unbearable, itching pain. It still took a second or two before I could process what was happening to me. I desperately raised my hands to guard my face, but Akio continued throwing punches, each one heavier than the last, trying to drag my hands away at irregular intervals. I despairingly struggled to protect my face, but the punches kept raining down on my hands and skin like a fuckin' storm.

  I direly tried moving my body around to throw him off me, or at least disrupt the frequency of his devastating punches, but the guy stuck on like flippin' glue and didn’t relent his merciless attack for a freaking second. Still in utter fear and desperation, I swung my right leg over his head, then placed my calf under his neck, trying to push him back.

  Akio responded by biting my fuckin' leg like the dog that he is. I wailed loudly in pain, but I didn’t relent my leg-pull on his neck even when my body just wanted to quit for the pain to end. Akio somehow noticed my resolve and intent, so he just sank his teeth deeper into my fuckin' flesh, bathing his mouth with my thick red blood. It was at this moment Akio ceased throwing his punches, as he noticed my pull still didn’t soften at all and was actually getting stronger. He redirected all his strength to his neck muscles and teeth—making the bite much more unbearable.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  That was all the opportunity I needed. I tightened my bloodied right fist and swiftly threw a strong cross to his left ear—and another one—and another—the intent behind each one stronger than the last. The bastard started to lose his senses and strength with each punch until he finally let go of that savage bite on my leg.

  I was in serious, maddening pain, so aggravated that I threw two more bloody jabs to his nose with my left fist, causing his head to jerk backward. He took a small chunk of my flesh and blood with him, still held in his mouth. The cunt fell back on his ass, and I didn’t let him fall in peace; I gave him another jab with my left fist. I couldn't find the strength for much power because the adrenaline rush seemed to be finally over, and the insane, stinging pain from my bleeding right calf sucked up most of my strength and will as I tried to bear it.

  As his upper body jerked back from the punch, I brought my left leg over his head and kicked him in the chest, finally pushing him back with all the force I could muster in that one kick. I hurriedly crawled backward until my back touched the bars of the cage, my eyes still focused on him in case he got back up faster than I hoped.

  Luckily, he fell flat on his ass and stayed like that, panting very weakly. I forcefully pushed my body to get up, using the iron bars that served as the walls of the cage to support myself. My right leg trembled like crazy and stung like a motherfucker; it was bleeding out so much blood, and a half-mouth-sized piece of flesh on my calf was dangling in the air, with only a very small piece attaching it to the rest of my leg.

  But the pain wasn’t the whole reason I was trembling. I was in fuckin' shock. I realized I couldn't use my right leg, and I knew I'd get injuries even worse than this if the bastard managed to stand up. The audience was clamoring savagely like mad, hungry Aggressors for the fight to carry on, and worst of all was the possibility of the now-immobilized but still dangerously scary opponent in front of me seriously maiming or killing me.

  The realization that I might fuckin' die struck the feeling of survival right out of me. I instinctively started limping forward with my left leg, using the bars of the cage as support, hastily looking for an exit from this bloody cage.

  ‘Taking this fight was a bloody mistake,’ I quietly thought as I scanned for a goddamn exit.

  Some people began to throw things—stones, broken bottles, sticks, tin cans, and broken plastic containers—in my direction. Though the cage took most of the hits, some still struck my fingers as I gripped the bars tightly.

  ‘I didn’t want to fuckin' die’—that was all I could think of at the moment. That’s when my eyes fell on my opponent. He had risen, his eyes looking into mine with scary intent. He spat out a mouthful of blood, which I could guess was mine.

  Things became worse at that moment. A skinhead guy with a nose piercing, covered in tattoos all over his body and head, threw two rusted kitchen knives into the cage. No one else seemed to notice, and then the voice of Akio’s benefactor struck my ears.

  Kenzo calmly yelled, “…No more tongue kissing. Do some fuckin' damage or I will come inside and do the damage to both of y'all”

  Hoshi seemed to have nothing to say, and I really didn’t give a fuck what he or Kenzo thought. I needed to get the fuck out of here quickly! Getting ‘punished’ by Hoshi later was much better than being dead right now.

  Akio’s face was a heck of a mess. His forehead had two swollen lumps, each as big as my freaking fist. The bridge of his nose was swollen and bleeding from a deep horizontal cut. He had purplish fist and foot imprints all over his chest and stomach, but he was in much better condition than me. I couldn't see my own face, but I felt the damage.

  Akio walked to the middle of the cage like a raging, drunken Oni and picked up the two rusted knives.

  ‘Fuck! These knives weren’t here when we started. Some fucker in the crowd must have tossed them in while they were throwing trash at me.’

  I couldn’t help but lament internally, my mind trying to distract itself by obsessing over the unknown bastard who had armed my opponent. Getting stabbed by those rusted things wasn't just going to be painful—it was going to be a nightmare. They looked blunt as hell. They wouldn’t sink easily into the flesh like a sharp blade; they’d have to be hacked in and ripped out, over and over, until you finally died.

  I couldn’t help but imagine the rusted metal getting snagged on a muscle or a tendon as it was pulled out. I didn't want to feel that.

  I instantly became guarded, almost forgetting about the gore of my bleeding leg. I stared at Akio with a mix of fear, wariness, and a raw, jagged resolve. I needed to predict his next move or I wouldn't survive it.

  Akio stood still, staring at me for a few seconds. He probably wanted me to drown in my own fear, letting the distracting thoughts flood my head. It was a solid plan; it was working. Then, without a hint of warning—or maybe I was just too blinded by terror to see it coming—the bastard zoomed toward me with those two knives held low.

  I instinctively planted both feet on the ground, gritting my teeth until they felt like they’d shatter as I forced my right calf to bear the weight. Then, I launched. I spun into a frightening tornado kick with every ounce of force and murderous intent I could muster.

  The kick landed exactly where I needed it—the left side of his stupid head. The impact sent him reeling to the right like a bag of dumped trash. He couldn't help but let go of the knives.

  The moment my feet touched the ground again, my body screamed in protest. The pain from my face and my leg was a white-hot roar, but I willed it down. I gathered strength from god-knows-where and surged toward the dizzy Akio, who was struggling on one knee. I launched myself into the air, delivering a devastating ‘Superman punch’ directly into the left side of his temple. Again.

  Akio’s eyes lost focus. They rolled back and closed as his whole body went limp, falling sideways like a messy sack of sand.

  The second I felt him lose consciousness, I collapsed onto my ass. I looked outside the cage, searching the dark room for Hoshi. When I found him, he was looking straight back at me, his face a mask of total indifference. After a few seconds, he raised his hand—signaling the end of the match.