Chapter 74: The Upper Hand? (1/2)
”MARCUSSS!!”
The commentator bellowed through his microphone.
Marcus nodded as soon as he heard his name echo throughout the huge arena. His steps were slow as he enjoyed the atmosphere with the crowd there to cheer. Cheer? Most of them were booing at him whereas some didn't even look at him.
He was just 5 meters away when he saw Gabriel look at him sharply. He was examining Marcus.
He was still masked, so Gabriel hadn't yet seen his face. Marcus was also pretty sure that he was in his attire only one time in the school that day, UNMASKED.
But he was also pretty much confirmed that Gabriel hadn't yet recognized him. Even though the black sleeves didn't stand out that much, but it gave an entirely different look to his high ranking attire.
Gabriel was anyways the type to ignore people he thinks is unworthy of his priceless attention and the people who gets his so called attention are mostly rich people who has a higher status than the others in the society.
Marcus slowly took his time and stepped on the elevated ring. The Ring was huge and was almost the size of the arena. Of course there were boundary lines.
The Floor was made of tough material that even a Monarch Seed would struggle to break through. That was two years ago!. Now the floor he stood on looked like it wouldn't even break from a Legendary Revoker's attack.
But Of course, It was Nothing to him......
Marcus thought of remaining masked until it was the time to reveal himself. He thought about the comics he read and nodded as he remembered Main characters usually did that.
Marcus took his place around the middle, ignoring his enemy and stood still, he waited for the referee's call.
He could feel Gabriel eyeing at him from the other side. It felt a bit annoying to him.
”STOP EYEING ME, PERVERT”
Marcus shouted inside Gabriel's mind making him stumble back a bit.
A small snicker left his mouth as Marcus tried to control the urge to laugh at the poor, frightened Gabriel.
Slowly moving his head, Marcus looked at the Green haired King's son. He was glaring at him, as if he knew it was Marcus who shouted inside him.
Gabriel might have straight on attacked Marcus if the Referee hadn't arrived on time. It was a Man on his late fifties, his hairline had almost receded back to the middle. His pale forehead gleamed when the evening sun hit and bounced off. The Referee had a whistle around his collars and he was spectacled.
The Costume was a common referee attire with black and white striped T shirt and black pants. His shirt had a pocket which probably contained a wireless communication set which would help in emergency situations.
Marcus nodded and smiled wide while he thought to himself.
”You'll need that Wireless headset ref”
.........
The Referee first walked towards Gabriel and shook his hand. The Annoyed Gabriel shook the referee's hand halfheartedly and rubbed it on a handkerchief which he took from his pant as soon as the referee turned to walk towards Marcus.
Marcus gladly recieved the Referee's hand and thanked him for being the one to referee his match. The referee looked at him sympathetically as if he thought Marcus would get utterly destroyed by Gabriel.
”If you can't handle it, please surrender, your life is more important than victory”
The referee whispered to him, bending over his shoulders as Marcus was bowing down, shaking his hands.
Marcus looked up at the referee and grinned inside his mask. His back straightened as he reached for the referee's ears.
”Sure, Please inform the meds to be ready”
Marcus whispered. His voice however contained a lot of sarcasm that even the referee looked at him in awe.
The Man nodded at him and walked exactly to the centre. He raised his hand and motioned it towards Gabriel.
”Are you ready?”
”Yea..Tch”
Came the annoyed reply.
The referee turned towards the masked young Marcus.
”Are you ready?”
”Yes sir!”
The Commentator picked up pace as soon as he saw the referee raise his hands towards the two young fighters.
”The referee has confirmed with the fighters and they look ready as they'll ever be. The Duel we have all been waiting for..”
The Commentator covered his mic and paused. The entire crowd paused.
Marcus looked around him in awe and reminisced back to the time when he was one of them.
ONE RULE, WHICH HAS BEEN PRACTICED FROM CENTURIES AGO.
THE MOMENT WHEN THE CROWD AND THE COMMENTATOR ALL GOES SILENT IS ONLY WHEN THE REFEREE DID THAT...