It was the next day, which was also the day of the tournament. Esdeath's competition would be held that following afternoon. All the competitors were in a large caged cell warming themselves up for the fight. Most of them were acting like creepy maniacs banging on the cell doors, bashing their heads with their fists and screaming like lunatics. You were the only one acting normal as you were shadowboxing in your cell by throwing quick jabs and hooks in space for your warm-up.
Soon, the contest had begun.
There were a lot of great battles being held in the huge stadium. There were a few females battling for a spot on the Jaegers roster. Warriors from around town participated as well. There were a lot of losers and winners that became losers in their next battle. Since you were already well-trained, you easily won all of your matches. You actually came across a really strong opponent in the semifinals.
It was a tough guy named Jaw. He got the name from his jawbreaker hook punches, he used the techniques throughout the competition. You were shadowboxing again to prepare to yourself for the fight in the arena, then you spotted Kurome from afar watching the games in the crowd. She actually looked more worried than usual. Before the tournament started, Esdeath personally told you to do your best and now you were ready to give it your all.
Wave was the announcer for the tournament.
Wave: This is the second semi-final battle of the Empirical Games. In the left corner, we have the deadly jawbreaking Jaw! *audience cheering*
Jaw: Yeah!!! Make some noise!!!!!
Wave: Over on the right, give it up for the quick and powerful, (YN) the Kung Fu Master! *audience cheering*
(YN): .......
Over at the booth of the stadium, Esdeath was sitting in her chair with her legs crossed yawning in boredom with her right-hand man standing beside her.
Esdeath: *yawning*
Run: I see that you haven't found any interest in the other matches.
Esdeath: The boy in the first semifinal game did pretty decent. But he has yet to face (YN), if (YN) makes it to the final.
Run: Then this should be a good one. We can finally see what (YN) can do against a tougher opponent.
Esdeath: (YN) had better not fail me. He better win this.
Wave: Now, you may begin!
You patted your head once before pacing over to Jaw and throwing three right jabs and one left jab to his face, but Jaw's head only slightly moved back after connecting your punches. Jaw was taking your punches without any negative affect. You threw a left and right jab to his face, then you threw another left and right jab. You punched Jaw in the face, took a back step and punched his face again. You waited for a little moment and punched Jaw's face yet again. Then you threw another jab, and another to his face.
Jaw was not affected by your punches at all. He didn't even attack yet. His head just bobbed backwards everytime you punched his face.
You gave Jaw five more right punches to his face before Jaw finally swung a deadly hook punch, but you ducked just in time and gave him one more punch. You punched Jaw's face again, then you sent two quick jabs and a right hook punch for a three-hit combo. You backed up a little bit to get some space and Jaw steps up to you again. You punched Jaw in face again, shifted to the left and punched him again, then you gave him five more punches before shifting back to the right. You sent five more quick jabs to his face, then you punched him and punched again.
Jaw: C'mon, (YN)! Hit me! Bring it to me! C'mon! Hit me again!
You glared at Jaw and sent another punch to his face, then you threw two quick jabs and a hook punch again to finalize your combo. After that, Jaw threw two left hook punches, but you evaded them. Then he threw another hook, so you ducked and wrapped your arms around his torso to wrest him. The crowd started booing as they saw Jaw punching your back two times. You managed to push Jaw off and gave him a left and right jab, another left and right jab, and another left and right jab again, causing the crowd to cheer again. After that, you punched him three more times. Jaw threw four more hooks and you evaded them. You ducked under one of them and punched his face and his side. Jaw sent three more hook punches but failed to hit you. You quickly punched him left and right, left and right, left and right again. Jaw went for another hook, but you ducked and punched him three more times. You continually punched Jaw in the face. Jaw was actually getting severely damaged now. After punching Jaw several times, he went for two more hooks that you easily evaded. You dodged another hook and ducked under the next one. You came behind Jaw and punched him in the face right and left, right and left, right and left.
Wave: Okay, break it up! Go to your corners!
Wave stepped inbetween you and Jaw to signal the round off. Wave was holding Jaw back to keep him calm, but it wasn't working at all.
Jaw: Get your ass back here! I'mma kill this fool! I'mma kill ya!
You stepped over to your corner and tried to breathe as you were exhausted. Kurome was still watching the fight in the crowd. She clenched her hands against her knees in worrisome after the round was over.
(YN): *breathing heavily* "This guy's tough. I punched him in the face so many times. Why isn't he falling down already?"
Esdeath: Perhaps this is actually an interesting fight. (YN) has the speedy hands in this one. The meathead over there is eating all of (YN)'s punches like it's nothing.
Run: So, who do you think will be victorious in this one?
Esdeath: Most likely and most definitely (YN). He's not gonna be able to take all of those head punches. He's already losing brain cells.
As you were resting, Wave comes over to you.
Wave: You ready for round two?
(YN): *breathing* Yeah.
Wave: Okay. The match may resume!
Jaw paced over to you first this time. You shifted to the right to get out of the corner and punched Jaw in the face four times. Jaw threw a swing punch, but you blocked his punch with your left arm and countered by punching his face with your right fist. Jaw swung a punch again, but you weaved away and punched him four more times. You threw three right jabs, one left jab, and another right jab to Jaw's face. You punched Jaw and shifted to the right, punched him again and shifted to the right, punched him again and shifted again, then you quickly punched him three more times. You took a back step and stepped forward to punch Jaw's face and his stomach two times. While you were punching him, Jaw suddenly pushed you into a corner. Once you got back up, Jaw threw four hard hook punches to your face.
Kurome: Get out of there!
You tried to shift to the side again, but Jaw threw you back into the corner of the ring and continued punching you in the face. Jaw grabbed your collar and threw you across the floor. You slowly picked yourself up, but was met with a hard punch to the face. Jaw connected many more hooks to your face causing your legs to give out a little. Jaw punched you again, and again, and again.
Run: Jaw has the slight edge.
Esdeath: (YN) is on the critical side now.
As she watched you getting punched by Jaw senseless, Kurome buried her face against her hand. She couldn't bare the sight of seeing you getting hurt.
You tried to grab hold of Jaw, but he pushed your grasp away and continued punching you. You couldn't do anything. His punches were too strong to withstand. You could barely stand up straight now. Jaw connected four hooks to your jaw, and finally knocked you down with a fifth punch.
Kurome: (YN)!
Jaw: C'mon! Get up!
For a minute you didn't know where you were anymore until you saw Jaw hyping you to get back up. You stood up weakly and went towards Jaw again, but that's when he threw a hard hook punch to your face to force you to stumble. Jaw gave you two more punches before giving you a jawbreaker punch and broke your jaw.
You fell to the ground in despair.
Kurome: Stop the fight!
The crowd was booing on Jaw for throwing a cheap shot of breaking your jaw. You only heard buzzing in your ears as you slowly stood back up.
Wave: "(YN) is seriously still standing after taking that jawbreaker punch? He really does have some guts."
Jaw: C'mon! I got some more! I got a lot of more! Come on.
Jaw runs up to you and started throwing more jawbreaker punches. You could only hold up your guard to block his punches. Your jaw was already broken. If the man punched your jaw again, that would rip your entire mouth off, so you had to play on the defensive.
Kurome: *looks down in sadness*
You evaded Jaw's punches as he backed you into a corner again. You evaded more of his hooks by ducking and punched Jaw two times and gave him two more. Jaw punched your shoulder as a counter and punched both of your sides and punched them again. You punched Jaw in the face two times and he punched you back again. Then it turned into an exchange of fists-to-fists, blows-for-blows. You made sure to protect your jawline as you blocked off Jaw's punches by guarding. Jaw started throwing more hooks and you began to evade all of them. He just kept punching and you kept dodging.
After one more missed hook, you punched Jaw in the face and punched his side twice. You threw five quick punches to his stomach and sent one to his cheek. Jaw threw a hook, but you weaved away from the attack and gave him a left jab and a right jab.
Esdeath: Beat him, (YN)!
You started throwing many more right hand jabs to Jaw's face, forcing him to bob his head back each time. After the ninth jab Jaw swung a punch but you ducked to dodge and threw one left punch and eight more right hand jabs to his face. Jaw swung another punch, but you dodged again and sent three hard punches to his face to back him into a corner. You repeatedly punched Jaw's stomach and his face.
Kurome: Yes!
You quickly thrown a right punch, a left punch, two right punches, another left punch, two more right punches, two left punches, three right punches, one left punch, one right punch, one left punch, two more right punches, another left punch, and one powerful right punch to knock Jaw senseless!
Jaw was getting weaker, but you punched him anyway.
(YN): C'mon! C'mon!
You punched Jaw again.
(YN): C'mon!
You punched Jaw again.
(YN): ......
(YN): GAHH!!!
You gave Jaw one final super punch to finally knock him on the floor. You fell to the ground as well. Fortunately, Jaw was finally knocked out after that last hit!
Wave: And the winner of this semifinal match is....(YN)!
The entire crowd cheered in excitement and you stood up again. You walked off the stage holding your broken jawbone in pain. You could barely move your mouth, it was hard to even speak. Unfortunately, the fight wasn't over yet. There was still one more match to go.
A couple of mintues later, you and the last opponent went back on stage for the final match of the tournament.
This time, your opponent was a boy that looked almost your age. He had short scruffy brown hair, green eyes and the long brown coat he was wearing. He looked different from the others.
Wave: The winner of the second semifinal, will now face against the winner of the first semifinal in the finals!
Wave: Put your hands up for (YN) the Ku Fung Master and Tatsumi the Blacksmith!
(YN): "So that's his name. Tatsumi. He looks tough and determined. But I won't let that stop me. I have to show Esdeath what I can do for her team to prove myself worthy."
Tatsumi: *glaring* "His name is (YN), the same name Akame told me about. Her, Mine, Sheele and Leone went out for a failed assassination. He was the target."
Tatsumi: *clenching fists* "Calm down, Tatsumi. Remember what Bro said. I can't let my emotions get the best of me. I'll win this and avenge my teammates."
Wave: You may begin!
Tatsumi started off the match by running off, jumping in the air and diving down for a kick.
(YN): "I can already tell he's not a blacksmith."
You jumped out of the way of his kick and threw one of your own. You and Tatsumi were exchanging blows-for-blows right now. He threw several high and low kicks and hard low punches to get you off-guard. Tatsumi managed to connect a punch to your stomach and almost punched you in the face, but you moved away just in time to push him.
(YN): "My jaw's already broken. I can't him hit me there."
Tatsumi: "I think that last competitor broke his jaw in the last match. I can just target that area and I'll win easily."
You and Tatsumi got back into close combat. You punched Tatsumi in the face and he kicked your stomach. Then Tatsumi tried to knee kick your chin, but you held up your arms to block it off. Next, Tatsumi went for a high kick to your chin, so you blocked that off too.
(YN): "Wait a minute! Is he purposely trying to hit my jaw?! Damn him!"
Tatsumi started throwing many more straight punches and you could only hold up your arms in defense. Tatsumi actually tried to go for a hook punch like Jaw did, but you ducked and tried to tackle him down. Tatsumi elbow struck the back of your head, then he aimed a straight punch to your mouth again. Surprisingly, you lowered your head just in time to get punched in the forehead instead of the mouth, sending you back.
(YN): "I loss too much balance to counter that attack. I had to lower my head to avoid the mouth punch, though. I know what he's doing. He's trying to break my jaw on purpose so he can win. If I get punched in the jaw even once, I'll be finished!"
Tatsumi: "I think he already knows that I'm trying to hit his jaw. But I'll beat him in his own game."
Tatsumi threw more punches. You couldn't block each one, but the punches were aimed to critical areas. You need to think of something fast before you lose the competition.
Kurome: (YN)....
Esdeath: That boy. He's fascinating. He's able to pinpoint (YN)'s weak spots by only observing him.
Run: He is rather skilled, too.
Tatsumi did a handstand and took you down with a sweep kick. You jumped back up and saw another kick coming towards your jaw again. You held up your fists just in time to block the hit, which sent you away and into the corner of the ring.
(YN): "What the hell's going on? I can't find any opening to him. It's like he knows my every move. He knows what I'm going to do next. He knew I was going to block that last hit. He did that to get me into this corner right now!"
Tatsumi: "I got him into the corner. Just where I want him."
Tatsumi ran over and started throwing more punches, aiming them to your chest and face. Some of the punches were striking you, but you grabbed hold to his right arm and threw him across the ring. Tatsumi got back up and held up his guard. You ran at him and delivered a blow to his guarding pose with a kick, another kick and one punch. This broke his guard away.
(YN): "Gotcha!"
You sent a super punch straight to Tatsumi's chest....
But you missed.
Tatsumi directly shifted himself to the side just in time to avoid the attack.
(YN): "No...."
Tatsumi: "Now's my chance!!!"
Tatsumi swung his arm and gave you a hard punch to your left jaw!
(YN): Uh......
Tatsumi super punched your right jaw, breaking your jaw completely!
(YN): Ga......
Tatsumi sent a straight punch to your chin, punching a few teeth and blood out of your mouth!
(YN): Oof......
Finally, Tatsumi delivered an uppercut punch to the bottom of your chin to send you into the air!
(YN): Ah......
(YN): "W-What happened? I can't move my mouth..... Did I lose.....?"
Your neck hit the side of the concrete and you landed outside of the ring face-down unconscious.
Kurome: (YN)!
Wave: And the winner of the tournament is.......Tatsumi!!!
Tatsumi: Alright!
Esdeath: *blushing*
Run: The blacksmith is the winner.
Esdeath: He's the one! *stands up*
Run: Commander?
Esdeath made her way to the ring and faced Tatsumi up close. Tatsumi was a little nervous meeting her for the first time.
Tatsumi: "So this is General Esdeath, Night Raid's enemy. The boss told me about her."
Esdeath: Tatsumi, is that correct?
Tatsumi: Uh, yes ma'am.
Esdeath: You have won the tournament. I take it you would like to claim your reward now. Well, here you go.
Tatsumi: Thank you, ma'am.
As Esdeath comes closer to Tatsumi, she reaches into her top to pull out something. Tatsumi was relieved to earn his award, but his hopes had vanished when Esdeath sneakily tied a chain around his neck.
Esdeath: Starting today, you will be mine and mine alone.
Tatsumi: Huh?!
Before Tatsumi could act, Esdeath karate chopped his neck to knock him out. Esdeath dragged Tatsumi's unconscious body out of the ring. Someone in the crowd was staring in shock.
???: What the hell just happened?!!!