Chapter 18 - Challenge (2/2)

”I challenge Balthazar for the new cyber cafe he opened and wager a hundred million credits for it with Max representing me in the fight,” shouted Jack initiating the challenge publicly.

”I accept the challenge. Let us deliberate on the rules of the fight. I propose no use of bladed weapons or armor. Fight ends on acceptance of defeat, knock-out or ring-out,” said Balthazar.

This confused many of the spectators as they expected Balthazar ask for combat armor to compensate for fighting against an Elder. To become an Elder, one had to show a minimum amount of strength and fighting skills to be qualified. Balthazar's request made them think if he wanted to lose the fight.

It also stumped Oliver, Jack and Max. They looked at Balthazar incredulously as if he was some kind of mad man. They looked at each other as Max slowly said, ”I agree to your terms”.

Balthazar had the experience of about two years of fighting for his life as an assassin. He spent no small amount of time fighting people stronger than him. He also had spent 5 years perfecting his techniques in vita nova. His technique was strong, he could be very fast, and he had an element of surprise.

As soon as Max agreed, Balthazar got into the fighting ring and started to warm up. ”Could anyone please volunteer to referee the match,” he asked the crowd. The onlookers looked at each other but no one responded. Max was an elder who was fighting a junior which was already considered shameless. So, there was hardly anyone who didn't think that there might more shameless behavior from Max.

Usually an elder took over the responsibility, but now they had to referee another elder and they didn't want to offend him over a junior. The entire area went silent because of this. They couldn't start the challenge without a referee who didn't belong to either factions. Elders as a rule didn't involve them among juniors' squabble for the same reason. As they were stuck in that situation for a period of time, a voice suddenly broke the awkward silence.

”If no one is willing to referee the match, I will take over that responsibility,” said Arthur. Arthur had already been in bad terms with Max and he always hated despicable acts. When, he heard that an elder was representing Jack in the fight, he thought that Oliver was doing it for his kid and wanted to give him an earful for neglecting his image as an elder for his kid. But when he saw that Max was representing Jack, he had half a mind to represent Balthazar himself. He was already involved in the investigation about Max and already had the men under him observing all the communication.

But looking at Balthazar already ready in the ring, he controlled himself and decided to referee the match instead. He started to admire Balthazar for his courage in attempting to fight an elder.

Max knew that Arthur hated him even more and the suspicions on him worsened, but he remained adamant as he was asked to test Balthazar out. ”I hope both of you are ready. Please go to opposite corners of the ring,” said Arthur as he jumped onto the ring and landed between them.

Max and Balthazar quickly went to the opposite corners of a ring waiting for Arthur to start the fight. ”Okay, now that we are ready, you can start on the count of three,” said Arthur in a loud voice.

”Three, two, one, FIGHT”, he shouted.

As soon as Arthur said fight, Max rushed towards opposite corner throwing a punch with his right hand at Balthazar's face. Balthazar stood with his hands behind his back and didn't move till Max's fist was less than a foot from him. He quickly ducked jumping to his right barely a moment before Max would hit him as something brown came flying at Max's face.

”Throwing your glove to block my vision? The kid is too naive,” thought Max as he aimed a kick at the spot where Balthazar was supposed to land while using his left hand to stop the glove from hitting his face. But for some reason, the kick didn't connect with its target.

He immediately jumped back a bit towards his right, away from where Balthazar was supposed to be. As he was jumping back, he felt a thick belt latch around his neck and pull him down further to his right to the edge of the ring as a kick to his lower back lifted his body off the platform.

Max wasn't a fool and quickly understood that Balthazar was trying to force him out of the ring. He couldn't move his neck either as that would only allow Balthazar to tighten the belt and strangle him. Though his body was off the platform with him facing the ceiling, he quickly threw his arms behind towards the ropes at the edge of the stage.

Just as his fingers touched the ropes, the belt around his neck constricted making him dizzy and he felt a strong tug on his arms through his vest along with a sharp strong push upward on his buttocks. The next second he found himself midair outside the ring.

He couldn't believe that he was outside the ring as he fell on the floor. Everyone was silent except for Arthur who announced that Balthazar won the challenge by ring-out. He felt as if Balthazar was faster compared to him who had more than 20 years of experience in fights. His attempt at injuring and intimidating Balthazar to get an idea into Balthazar's thoughts towards him failed miserably.

Only the spectators realized that it was not so. Balthazar never had shown himself to be faster or stronger than Max in the few seconds of the fight. He had only guessed Max's moves and outplayed him. Balthazar hadn't even made the slightest show of his strength. Even his kicks were soft and aimed at pushing Max into the air but not actually intended to hurt him.

It looked as if Balthazar was a kind elder and didn't want to hurt Max using just soft moves and experience to throw him out of the ring. Hardly anyone got to see Balthazar's actual strength which was why a majority of them were spectating the challenge.

A good number of the spectators had their mouths agape in astonishment that he managed to defeat an elder. Balthazar had impressed a good number of the elders present including Arthur. Arthur being an adviser of the table of Ouroboros, knew that the feat cleared one of the tests for being the senior members of the table and this achievement would certainly be noted.

Balthazar calmly thanked Arthur and went down the stage in the direction of Jack. He quickly settled the bet as he sneered, ”If you are not satisfied, you can challenge me whenever you feel like it.”

He quickly reached Max who was still lying on the floor with a look of shock and a belt lying by his side. As Max heard his footsteps, he realized that he was at an awkward position and quickly sat up.

”How are you doing?” Balthazar asked Max giving him a hand to stand up. He put on a glum and concerned look on his face as if he had lost something even though he won.

”Could be doing better. Nice moves you got there,” replied Max taking his hand.

”I haven't been idle the past 5 years. Couldn't get to my position without learning a few tricks.”

”Sorry about the fight. I bet my assets as I thought I would be fighting Jack. It was a guaranteed win. I couldn't lose the cyber cafe. I just didn't expect you to fight. I couldn't win against you head-on and did whatever possible to quickly cause a ring-out,” explained Balthazar still feigning a friendly and apologetic attitude to Max.

”It's Okay.”

”No hard feelings, right?” he asked Max.

”None. If anything, it is my fault for underestimating you,” replied Max.

”Now that I lost the fight, I need to make some arrangements. Will be taking my leave now,” said Max putting on a serious face and left towards the exit of the gym. As he left the gym, he looked back a few times towards Balthazar who maintained glum look while looking at Max's back.

As Max exited the room, Arthur approached Balthazar. ”You have got good acting skills. You improved your reputation among the family while worsening Max's without giving up any clues about your involvement in his summons. You are worthy.”

”Thank you, adviser,” said Balthazar nodding his head. ”I will take my leave now. It has been a very tiring day. Had to put in a lot of effort the last few minutes.”

Saying these words Balthazar took back his belt from the floor and affixed it back on his waist. He went to his room with Anubis.