Chapter 273 - No longer fighting

Kretos was in another city, he was there to fight another match in the tournament. To his and everyone's surprise, when the match began Kretos's opponent started hitting himself. 

"What the f*ck are you doing?!" Kretos shouted at his opponent. He was confused as to why his opponent would do this. When Kretos approached his opponent, he saw his opponent's eyes were suddenly filled with resolve and the opponent broke his own arm and legs. 

The commentator and the audience were unaware of what was transpiring and were as confused as Kretos. Seeing as the other side was no longer able to continue the commentator announce the winner. 

"Due to Nekrea being unable to continue the winner of this match is the slayer of a thousand demons, Kretos!" Even though the commentator had announced the victor no one cheered. Kretos who usually leaves quickly after a match just stood there dumbfounded. 

Watching the demon who had harmed himself being taken away Kretos grew even more confused. 'Why did he do that? Was he under some sort of spell?' Kretos thought about it for a bit but after a while gave up. He didn't really care that much about it. 

...

Kretos's next match had the same result and so did the next one and the next one. This made the audience think that Kretos was threatening or blackmailing his opponents to doing this to themselves. 

"If you're scared to fight then run like the coward you are!" 

"This is boring, who wants to watch someone slap his face." 

"I came here to watch a fight, not to see this farce."

"Slayer of a thousand demons, he's nothing more than a cheat!" 

"So that's the true face of the Slayer of a thousand demons!"

Many of the audience members started jeering, some of them left the underground fighting ring. While the others couldn't understand why a demon as powerful as Kretos needed to use such underhanded tactics. In the outside world, the other races presume demons would always use underhanded tactics, but that was not the truth. 

The demon were similar to the other races as they too have people that are honorable and good, and they were also some demons that were conniving and bad. 

...

Kretos was frowning as he was waiting for his next fight. He wasn't frowning because of what the audience members were saying about him. He could care less about what other people think of him. He was frowning because all the opponents he faced never attacked him. He hasn't been fighting anyone for some time now. This whole thing was making him feel really irritated. 

He could attack them fast enough that he could beat them before they beat themselves, but if he did that what would be the point. He wanted to fight an opponent that will bring out all of his skills. He didn't want to fight this kind of opponents that don't even want to fight him. 

'Okay, it's okay I just need to wait it out, maybe there's something going on in this city. Once I'm done here surely the next city will prove to be a better challenge.' 

...

Kretos headed to the next city and the same scene transpired again. All of his opponents continued to harm themselves. He was getting really angry now until finally an opponent that didn't harm himself appeared. 

...

Kretos was once again standing in the ring while the audience was booing at him. His opponent this time was a demon made out of stone. He looked like a golem at first glance, but when you looked a bit closer his physique was different from a summoned golem. 

When the commentator announced the beginning of the fight Kretos was sure that this opponent would also beat himself up. Yet despite waiting for a few minutes the opponent didn't move at all and simply stared at Kretos. 

"Are you going to attack or not?" When Kretos heard what the opponent said, at first he reacted confused, but then when he finally understood what was said, Kretos couldn't help but smile. He was once again feeling excited. 

"Finally an opponent that isn't crazy. Let's have a proper battle! I am Kretos of the horned demon tribe. State your name!"

"I am Hasta the strongest warrior of the rock demon tribe."

After the two gave out their names Kretos took an offensive stance his right-hand stretch forward, his left hand by his waist. On the other hand, Hasta took a defensive stance while covering all of his vitals he tightened his muscles to the extreme. 

When Kretos saw his opponent take such a stance he was feeling truly ecstatic. An opponent that seems to have focused his everything on defense, this was the first time he would fight someone like this. No longer hesitating Kretos dashed forward and unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks. 

As Kretos continued to attack he was surprised to see that Hasta didn't budge a bit. Hasta's body was tougher than anything Kretos has seen before. 

"You won't win if you keep on hiding like a turtle and don't attack." 

"How about looking at your hands before speaking." Hearing what Hasta said Kretos looked at his hands and was surprised to see that they were bleeding. Even with his hands covered with mana he was still injured. 

When he saw this Kretos started laughing. He was the one attacking while his opponent didn't move an inch but he was the one injured. This was very interesting indeed, Kretos then went into full gear and once again began his assault. 

Hasta who was looking at Kretos could no longer keep up with his speed. 'It doesn't matter how fast you are, as long as I protect my vitals and keep my defensive posture I won't lose.' Hasta then tightened his muscles even more while enhancing his body to the very limits using his mana. It was at that moment Hasta felt Kretos had once again punched him at his left shoulder. 

At first, Hasta thought it was just a punch that was slightly stronger than the others, but then he felt something was wrong. He felt an intense pain on his shoulder and he could no longer move his left hand. His shoulder was dislocated! He then felt another attack was made on his right shoulder and the same thing happened again. 

Now unable to put up any kind of guard Hasta gritted his teeth and took all of Kretos's attacks head-on. Each attack Kretos made was more precise and more powerful than the last. After a few minutes of withstanding the neverending torrent of attacks, Hasta saw that Kretos finally stopped. Hasta smiled as he saw that Kretos's hands were bleeding badly. 

When Hasta was about to speak he felt his knees giving in and he lay on the ground motionless. The next thing he felt was his consciousness was becoming hazy. At first, he was confused but then a thought came to him. 

'I see... I'm dying...' Hasta smiled as he came to that realization. Kretos approached his dying opponent. 

"Thank you for the battle."

"No, thank you for letting me keep my pride." Those were the last words Hasta spoke, as he could no longer open his mouth. While his consciousness was slowly fading, Hasta had one last thought. 

'I hope my tribe is still alive... I did my part and did not attack him. Surely the Lord will-'

...

Kretos won and was satisfied with the battle, but he still found it weird that Hasta never attacked him and continued to defend himself, even when there was an opportunity to attack. 

'Was that because of his style of fighting and he had no offensive abilities or is it because of something else.'