Chapter 41 - New Quest.

''FIGHT!'' the Referee loudly declared.

Slych went into a defensive stance.

Ichiro was about to attack until he heard a loud dinging noise in his mind.

*Ding* *Ding*

[New Quest!]

[Plot!]

[Quest Goal: Referee is trying to rig the match! Don't let Slych get disqualified!]

[Quest Rewards: 2000 EXP, 1000 Coins, ???]

[Quest Penalty: System Removal]

[Quest Failure: You will win the match, but outside the stadium - you will be attacked by Martial Commander!]

[Bonus Mission: If you manage to expose the Referee - You will get extra rewards!]

[Time Limit: 24 Hours]

'What?!' Ichiro exclaimed, he quickly stopped his movement and looked at the Quest with wide eyes.

'Referee is planning to disqualify Slych? Why?!' Ichiro thought.

'And the Penalty... System Removal...' Ichiro went pale.

'Rewards are very nice... but this Quest seems to be impossible! This is definitely a test to determine am I good enough to have the system... but how can I complete the Quest...' Ichiro kept thinking while sweat dripping from his forehead.

Slych noticed his weird actions, he decided to wait.

'Should I surrender? Never!' Ichiro then took a glance towards the referee and saw that he was only focused on Slych.

'One choice left...' Ichiro thought with narrowed eyes. 'I need to beat up the referee, but I am pretty sure it's against the rules.'

'I need Slych's help!' Ichiro decided.

'But will he help me...' Ichiro thought deeply, he took a deep breath and decided to ask for his help.

Ichiro with a calm face started walking towards Slych.

He heard a lot of cheering echoing in the arena because they thought that the fight will now begin.

Slych went into his fighting stance, but then he saw Ichiro make weird symbols with fingers.

'The fuck?' Slych thought with a raised eyebrow.

'Peace?!' Slych thought, Ichiro made a peace signal which only Slych noticed.

Then Ichiro started making a circle with a finger. 'Pretend?' Slych thought.

He nodded with slight confusion and saw Ichiro rushing towards him.

He put his arms as block and saw Ichiro putting his arms over his head and started kneeing the arms of Slych, but zero power behind the strikes.

''Listen to me.'' Ichiro started, Slych looked at him seriously.

''Referee is trying to disqualify you.''

Slych widened his eyes and whispered. ''How do you know?!''

Ichiro sighed. ''No time for explanations, there is one way to not let it happen,''

Slych raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue.

''Let's get rid of the referee.''

Slych widened his eyes. ''Are you crazy?'' both of them looked at each other.

Ichiro looked at him like he was an idiot. ''Isn't that obvious by now?''

Slych nodded. ''That's true, get your head checked out, you might have brain damage.''

''I fear nothing, pretty sure I have an overdose which could probably kill a person, but I am standing ain't I?''

''Barely,'' Slych said and pointed at his legs which were shaking like newborns.

Slych and Ichiro were still pretending to fight, which to newcomer's eyes look normal

But more experienced fighters like Mars saw through their pretending. 'What are they up to...'

''Do you believe in me?'' Ichiro asked seriously, and it's rare for him to be serious.

Slych seeing his rare serious expression, decided to nod. 'I already did beat up one referee - Beating up the second referee isn't that bad anymore.'

''Let's do this!'' Ichiro loudly whispered and backed off, but then he threw a whip kick towards Slych, who easily dodged it with his great speed.

Slych leaped to 5 meters in the air and threw a flying axe kick towards Ichiro.

[Tomahawk Axe!]

Ichiro jumped towards the right, approaching Referee's position slowly.

*Crack*

Slych's axe kick cracked the arena which made the arena slightly shake.

Slych chased after Ichiro, but he kept retreating until he finally arrived at the referee's position.

The referee without any clue of what's about to happen, simply moved towards the left, trying to dodge Ichiro's body.

...But next, he saw a kick approaching his face.

*Bam*

[Tomahawk Piercer!]

Slych's kick at first looked like it was about to hit Ichiro, but then suddenly Ichiro used [Ironic Edge] and deflected the kick which hit the referee straight on his face.

The audience with widened eyes saw Referee being sent flying through the air, out of the arena, and straight to the stadium's stands.

''Look what you did!'' Ichiro screamed at Slych.

''You were the one who deflected it! Don't put the blame on me!'' Slych screamed with equal volume.

They butted their foreheads together and started exchanging insults.

The audience believed that it was just an incident.

While Mars looked at wide eyes. 'Why the fuck did they attack referee?!'

Ramu's Higher-ups were screaming in anger and started yelling. ''Attacking Referee is breaking the rules! Disqualify Slych and Armya!''

...But that didn't go well.

*BOOOOOOOOOOO*

The audience erupted in boo's while people threw items at them.

''Morons~'' Ichiro said with a giggle.

''You are terrible aren't you,'' Slych said with a deadpan expression.

''Only on Monday''

Slych rolled his eyes. ''It's Saturday.''

''Is it?'' Ichiro asked with widened eyes.

''Yes, how many painkillers did you take?''

''Uh... Lost count in 20...''

Slych looked at Ichiro and sighed. ''I will arrange the best hospital for you.''

''Thanks, man!'' Ichiro grinningly said.

'Now that I think about it... I didn't complete the Quest yet...'

Ichiro looked at the Quest and saw that it wasn't completed yet.

'There is a time limit... Will the Quest Rewards come after the time ends or...'

Ichiro saw the Medics take the unconscious Referee out of the arena towards Medic Bay.

He plans to have a talk with the referee, few broken bones and he will talk.

Ichiro narrowed his eyes and saw a new Referee appearing, this time it was an older Referee, hopefully not another rigger.

''Will we get to fight now?'' Slych asked.

''Let's do it,'' Ichiro said and they both walked towards other sides of the arena.

''You both ready?!'' Referee asked.

Both nodded.

''FIGHT!''

Ichiro's visions started becoming more blurry, a side effect of having too many painkillers.

He shook his head and started making his way over to Slych.

Slych went into a fighting stance.

Ichiro's experience tells him that he has less than 1 minute before he passes out.

It's not the first time he is fighting while his body is screaming in pain.

If it would be anyone else... They would be screaming in agony while rolling on the ground.

Ichiro gritted his teeth and rushed towards Slych - first, he did a quick straight punch, which easily got blocked.

He followed with an uppercut, but Slych quickly moved his head backward, dodging

[Weakness Detection Eye!] + [Analyze!]

Ichiro's started having blue rims around his iris, while red color also spread around his pupils.

Slych felt suddenly immense pressure covering his body, with a grim face he lowered his stance and prepared to use his speed.

Ichiro saw that Slych's weak spot was on his legs, which was obvious because his strong point is his legs.

If he can injure his legs, he might win.

Slych raised his legs and shot his leg towards Ichiro's unguarded neck.

...But quickly Ichiro used his palms to deflect the attack.

[Ironic Edge]

He used his analyze to find out the attack he was probably going to use, and he was right.

Ichiro quickly grabbed his leg and deflected his center of gravity.

[Ironic Edge - Gravity Control!]

Slych fell down on the ground, Ichiro pulled up all his strength and attacked his leg, but before he could hit...

He suddenly felt immense pain in his abdomen, he looked and saw Slych's fist on it.

''UGH!'' Ichiro grimaced and backed off.

Slych stood up and lowered his center of gravity.

[Tomahawk Missile!]

Slych disappeared from his spot and appeared above Ichiro.

Ichiro put his arms quickly above him.

[Tomahawk Axe!]

Slych sent a flying axe kick straight at Ichiro's arms which made a slight cracking noise.

But it didn't come from Ichiro.

Instead, the ground below him cracked into pieces.

Slych quickly leaped through the air and appeared a dozen meters away from Ichiro.

[Tomahawk Steak!]

Slych with zigzag movements reached Ichiro and started pummeling him with punches and kicks.

Ichiro's nose started bleeding and his vision getting blurrier.

Slych raised his leg and shot a powerful kick at Ichiro's shinbone.

*Smack*

Ichiro grimaced in pain after Slych's powerful kick contacted with his leg.

''DAMN!'' Ichiro screamed, he saw Slych punch approaching.

He used all his concentration to use Analyze, his eyes started bleeding.

*Swish*

Ichiro quickly tilted his head and dodged Slych's punch.

Ichiro put his arm on a spear-like stance and unleashed his most powerful attack.

[Iron Lance - Stainless-Steel!]

Slych with widened eyes saw an attack which shouldn't be possible to be performed in Martial Leader approaching his body.

[Tomahawk Resistance!]

Slych clenched his muscles and prepared for the impact.

The spear-like hand kept approaching Slych's body...

Until it finally hit, and perfectly...

Pierced through....