Chapter 898: Underdogs
When the fight began Uriel went on the offensive by tackling the tattoo covered man causing him to bend forward, which he followed with an elbow strike to the back of the head that should have knocked him unconscious, but it didn't. Instead, the man caught Uriel's leg and pulled it with all his strength.
Uriel fell on his back and lost his breath for a short moment, but that didn't stop him from kicking the man in the face and then jumping on top of him to unleash a rain of fists on his face. His companions were so taken aback by this that they limited themselves to watch as Uriel destroyed his face with each punch and it wasn't until the man called for help that they intervened. They pulled Uriel back allowing the tattoed man to stand up, though after staggering he fell on his knees and passed out in that position.
"One down, four to go." Uriel smiled as they threw him away towards one of their companions who waited in position for a kick, but the telegraphed movement was easy enough for Uriel to predict and he slowed down mid flight by sliding his hand across the floor.
This caused the huntress to miss the kick giving Uriel the opportunity to give her the same treatment he did to the tattoed man. Each of his fists carried all of his weight like Medusa taught him and the poor woman's body could not react in any other way than stiffening her limbs after each punch.
"That is so wrong..." Was the average comment that flooded not just the stadium, but also the social media and the fight continued with Uriel targeting each of his enemies one by one while they hesitated to attack him.
"A real man would never do that to a woman!" Someone shouted using their trait causing her voice to stand out from the crowd. To the onlookers it seemed as though they wanted to give Uriel a chance for a fair fight and they waited for their turn instead of attacking him by using their superior numbers, but in truth they were afraid they would become his target.
Uriel paid no heed to people pleading for him to release the woman as he was fighting the same he would in a life or death situation, mainly because something just as valuable to him was on the stake. It wasn't his life, but his freedom. Without Soulfire's artifacts there was no way Uriel could be released from the curse that afflicted him and Tina refusing to give the artifacts back meant his only chance at living a normal life was to win the tournament, get first pick on the prize and grab whatever artifact Soulfire needed.
Of course, his plan also relied on his friends winning several fights and reaching the top positions since that would also allow them to get some artifacts as a reward making Soulfire's task of cleansing his curse easier.
"Use your trait, dumbwit!" Shouted Lin Li, the team leader, who watched in disbelief how her companions were getting destroyed by a single man.
Upon hearing her voice, Uriel's current target let out an uncanny smile as she grabbed onto Uriel's arm who at that moment grabbed her by the collar and her eyes glimmered in teal as electricity was discharged from her hands.
Of all the elements hunters could manipulate, electricity was widely regarded as one of the most powerful and not without reason.
It was impossible to dodge, it caused immediate damage to soft tissue, it served as crowd control by stunning the opponent and it was also energy efficient since electricity was always present in the form of electric fields, static or just electronic devices.
If anything, the only downside of possessing a trait that allowed for the manipulation of electricity was that it had a shorter range than the other elements and that it could cause sudden death by stopping the enemy's heart if not controlled properly.
However, the smile on the woman's face told Uriel that she was not going to pull her punches and was about to discharge all the flux energy she channeled into a single powerful electricity blast.
"Nova!" She shouted at the same time a short range circle of electricity surrounded her with arcs that reached Uriel from all directions. Electricity coursed through Uriel's body causing a seizure he endured standing. Not just that, he also did not let go of his target.
"Nice try." He said before punching her over and over.
The pain was almost unbearable for the woman and she attempted to release herself by kicking him while also trying to warn the rest that she had tried to kill him and failed, though her words were muffled as every time she wanted to speak Uriel cut her words with a punch.
Truth be told, this likely would not have been possible for him if not for Dash which he stealthily activated covering it up with the sparks of electricity the woman summoned.
By the time her companions came to rescue the woman, she was already unconscious and Uriel threw her towards the enemies.
"Next." Said Uriel as he got back into a fighting stance, though rather than intimidating he looked pitiful. His clothes smoked, his face was badly burned by the electricity and tremors he could not control had taken over his body.
"We surrender," Lin Li said to the referee, then spoke to Uriel with a dejected expression on her face. "it's just as I said, one must know when to surrender. We can still win the fight, but at this point it's not worth it."
The crowd burst out booing at Uriel despite him defeating what were supposed to be impossible enemies on his own. The main reason for that was that it seemed as though they gave him the advantage and he still resorted to playing dirty by attacking people who couldn't defend themselves. But the popular opinion was also enraged by him attacking two beautiful huntresses on the face without caring for their appearance or having any regard for their gender.
The first accusation was of course untrue since the only rule that had been broken was the limitation for deadly force, which his opponents didn't follow and in fact, had it been anyone but Uriel they may have died on the spot and the only reason why he didn't was simple. Uriel did not have a heart that could be stopped.
But the second accusation, that was actually true as Uriel did not have any regards for gender of any kind. The only distinctions he made were between people he liked and people he didn't like. and he didn't like many people.
Having been on the other side of Uriel's cold glare, Tina experienced shivers on her spine watching him fight. There were several other fights taking place at the same time due to the high number of contestants, but she had little interest in them and only pretended to be excited to keep appearances.
Expressions of awe or disapproval resounded in the gigantic stadium and even in the neighboring skyscrapers people rented to watch the tournament as contestants were knocked out left and right. Many participants stood out due to their power, resilience or even by their looks and the event proved to be the most popular happening in the megacity since being rebuilt.
Among those participants Uriel was not the only one unlucky enough to fight alone against five opponents and while the outcome usually followed expectations, some participants managed to outperform Uriel by knocking all their enemies out.
Among them, Wendy became the most popular after fighting on her own against five heavenly rank hunters from the Mc Dolans fast food chain and defeating them not just in record time, but also with style.
She did not activate her trait and had a reckless fighting style much similar to Uriel's, only she was a beautiful woman and her opponents were rough looking men with polished martial arts skills, though it didn't help them much against Wendy.
She was tall for a woman, but her frame was still much smaller than her opponents which meant she moved faster while being a smaller target, though she also possessed an uncanny strength that somehow didn't relate to her size or weight allowing her to overpower even the biggest opponent without breaking a sweat.
Many people wondered if her trait was related to physical prowess, but hunters could see it was completely unrelated to her trait or the use of flux energy. She may have seemed like a reckless fighter, though her movements were efficient like a machine and she displayed the kind of experience only a seasoned hunter could.
By the end of the day, exactly one half of the teams had been disqualified and the hospitals were overcrowded with participants suffering from broken bones, bruises and all sorts of wounds caused by the elements, physical traits such as spikes and thorns, though the most difficult cases were those who suffered psychological damage caused by rare traits that could manipulate the human psyche in different ways.