Chapter 341: End of Round 1

the crowd roared loudly at the spectacle of domination they just witnessed and at the confidently smiling man standing tall in the middle of the arena, raising his hands up in victory. Yet, some of them stood there with wide-open eyes, keenly watching from the shadows.

He was truly a force to be reckoned with, he did not tire nor sweat taking out such an opponent like he was a mere pebble on the side of the road.

However, that could not be farther from the truth. What he presented on the outside was nothing other than a mere facade to hide his inner struggles. He just made it all look so seamless as he hid everything to keep his outer persona. 

What he did was nothing but a clever manipulation of his stats to give himself an advantage. Usually, when a normal person put on a power-level limiting collar, it would lower all of their stats maintaining the ratio of what they had originally.

As an example, if a person had 10 strength and their power level was cut in half, their strength would then turn into a 5. Moby was no different in that respect. However, unlike everyone else, he was a demon who possessed an in-depth understanding of the craft, and as such, he had more control over his power level. 

Thus, he was able to shift his point distribution however he liked as long as the total power level remained constant. In the last battle, Moby shifted most of his strength and endurance stats into agility to tire his opponent and make him lose his cool, before shifting most of his agility back into strength to deliver a devastating finishing blow. 

However, this was not all without their major disadvantages. The first being the strain on the body and mind. Moby had failed a few times attempting this before and was only able to do it perfectly with a much lower power level such as 1000.  Now he began to feel slight regret; it was a skill he never really bother to practice with considering he never thought he would find himself needing it. He quite literally had to push his body to the limits for this to be possible.

However, that was not the only problem, or arguably the most frustrating. No… It was the time it took to shift his power from one stat to the other. It was far from instant. This was why he didn't retaliate immediately and simply dodged. If he were to retaliate, he would do no more than a wet noodle in terms of damage. 

So, he had to wait for the perfect opportunity to shift his stats back into strength to deliver the finishing blow. It was a closer match than anyone was led to believe and one that got Moby slightly nervous yet excited for what will come next. He had gotten more used to this technique using it now so he assumed his next match would not be as taxing, yet, from what he saw in front of him, nothing was for certain.

"Joker!! Your victory was great! Do you have any words for your struggling opponent!?" The announcer asked, and Moby was slightly taken aback before he casually responded. 

"I guess he wasn't bad. A little on the crazy side but maybe that's just me. He should have just not came here and joined the audience to bet on me instead. At least then he could have made a quick buck." He casually responded, making the crowd's cheers explode once more. 

"Indeed Joker! But! You may be the winner now, but we still have a few questions before it's official!"

"Ask away!" He responded with no care in the world. 

"Did you rig this match up to make you look good?"

"No!"

"Did you bribe your opponent to let you win?"

"No!"

"Did you use any underhanded tactic to cheat?"

"No!"

"Well, there you have it, folks! It's official now! The first set of rounds are now over! Let's give one last round of applause for our winner before we see him again!" The announcer yelled as the doors to the arena where both challengers arrived once again opened, and the crowd cheered Moby on as he left where he came and mocked Raven as he was carried back by medical staff.

The announcer looked up at the cheering crowds and put his microphone down, taking a deep breath and looking to the side at one silent man standing next to him in the booth with a voice that completely contrasted the upbeat one he used for announcing. 

"Sir, what did you think of him?" 

"He's pretty interesting… I'm honestly quite fascinated with what I saw…  He's strong, an elite amongst the elite... It was unlike any match I've ever seen. To tell you the truth, from how the power dynamic shifted, I was surprised to find that he wasn't actually cheating. I would have been impressed if he put up a good fight to still lose to the stronger opponent, but to win… That was an outcome I never would have expected… He's definitely special, there's more to him than extreme luck that's for certain... "

"Yes… His fighting style was very unorthodox… It looked like it was a complete domination yet like I said, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time like it was a close match where I didn't know the victor… No wonder this guy managed to win all of those points… He has some serious skill, it could not have been a mere coincidence… We might be able to make use of him somehow... Sir! Do you want me to keep a close eye on him?"

"No… That won't be necessary… I have a feeling like that man is different and would be able to sniff our plans out like a wolf..." The man in the shadows waved him off. "We'll just have to take things up a notch for the next two fights to see how he fairs…"

"Understood… Lord Mammon…"