Chapter 4
“Of all the things to experience in life, getting stuck with a moniker like that.”
Called out as a Married Woman Hunter.
It was a nickname that cleanly murdered any social dignity.
It was embarrassing, but it was too late to take it back. I was the one who handed full naming rights over to Finn.
‘I don’t know. Let’s just make the money and go back quickly.’
He adopted a “whatever happens, happens” mindset.
This Fight Club didn’t have much of its lifespan left anyway.
“Eldio and Married Woman Hunter, to the center!”
He followed the path from the corner to the center at the Announcer’s request.
All sorts of comments could be heard from the spectators outside the iron cage.
“Netorare and a married woman? That guy is a crazy man of culture, isn’t he?”
“Eldio’s wife does have an ass that looks good to grab.”
“I heard mages have a lot of twisted sexual desires…”
“They say you have to be crazy in the head to learn magic in the first place or whatever.”
Ignoring the murmurs,
Max and Eldio stood at a distance where their fists could reach.
Eldio looked ready to lunge right that second if the Announcer hadn’t been in the middle.
The Announcer, satisfied with the heat, announced the rules.
“Critical Strike OK! Bloodshed Welcome! No Fouls! If you surrender right before dying, we’ll try our best to save you!”
Just like the match right before this, it meant that killing them before they could speak was permitted.
Having finished the notification, the Announcer took a step back and slipped out of the way.
“Are you two ready?”
Eldio nodded and tightly clenched his steel fist.
Kkwa-deu-deu-deuk! He growled, letting out a metallic screech.
“Married Woman Hunter? What an unforgivably atrocious nickname… You aren’t aiming for my wife, are you?”
Eldio’s Old-fashioned Prosthetic Arm let out a Pshhh! sound from its Pneumatic Cylinder, as if representing its Owner’s mood.
There was only one thing Max had to say to that.
Because pathetic excuses weren’t needed in this place.
“Is she pretty?”
“You son of a bitch!”
A metal fist flew in without warning.
Max reflexively wove Threads of Magic Power. This was a speed unimaginable for a mage who had just reached the 1st tier.
[Shield]
Moreover, it wasn’t a form that enveloped the entire body like an ordinary Mage’s.
A barrier condensed to block only a single attack.
It was a dangerous stunt that couldn’t even be attempted without Close Combat experience.
Paaang!!!
The steel arm failed to shatter the Shield and was pushed back.
The Impact spread, and dust poured down in a cloudy Haze from the Fight Club ceiling.
“Keugh!”
Eldio’s face crumpled as the Pneumatic Cylinder attached to his prosthetic arm cried out, Chhh! Chhh!
Max didn’t just stand by and watch with his hands down.
‘This bastard’s punch is brutal. If I had spread the Shield wide, it would have broken.’
Having failed the Finishing Move thrown as a Surprise Attack, Eldio turned into a mass of openings.
Max immediately dug in and gathered magic power in his fist.
[Shock]
The basics of 1st-tier Impact Magic.
It had a fatal flaw for a Mage in that it required direct contact.
But if it landed, it hurt enough to offset that flaw.
“Like this!” - Smaack! A clean uppercut sent Eldio’s jaw flying upward.
The alloy jaw crumpling and blood splattering looked like a boxing movie.
Thud!
Eldio collapsed to the floor, knocked unconscious.
The match was settled neatly. Having no intention to kill him, he sent a glance to the Announcer.
“T-the winner is Married Woman Hunter!”
Was it a rebellious temperament?
Seeing the eyes of the spectators hoping for an execution made him, out of sheer spite, not want to kill.
“Boooo!”
“Eldio, you washed-up bastard!”
“What happens to Eldio’s wife now?”
“What do you mean what happens? She got caught by a mage so…”
Leaving behind the spectators pouring boos and curses at the defeated Eldio, he headed toward Finn.
Max held out the significantly increased money once again.
“Finn. I’m betting the money I earned on the next match, as is.”
“Are you planning to fight matches back-to-back? I knew Mister Mage was no ordinary fellow, but…”
“Of course. That last match didn’t even take five seconds.”
Finn pocketed the money as if convinced and continued checking his notebook.
“We have to get through the scheduled matches first, so wait just a bit.”
“How many scheduled matches are left?”
“Two. It won’t take long.”
Max gave a light nod and sat on an empty sofa.
“Huu.”
He looked at the fist that had blown away Eldio’s jaw.
This was a time when he had been desperately building up only his stamina and muscle strength for employment, when only his palms were calloused and his knuckles were clean.
Flesh was torn and blood was flowing from the first act of violence he had committed.
“Impact Magic does have a good feel to it.”
Max felt good.
The reality that he had entered the right path without wasting time.
No matter how many times he recalled the opportunity regression had given him, he couldn’t stop laughing.
“…”
It was an obvious story, but what the Steiger Family handled was not the Impact Magic that Max had shown.
The Steiger secret art was Shooting Magic.
A special magic caused those who learned it to be called Magic Gunners.
I had no talent for Shooting Magic.
With the related training methods, I couldn’t even condense magic power, let alone form a tier.
I kept spending time out of a stubborn desire to be acknowledged, but I couldn’t achieve any results.
“Giving up took the longest and was the hardest part.”
It was only after quite a few years had passed that I abandoned that terrible stubbornness and sought a new path.
The Impact Magic I showcased in the bout with Eldio was one of the systems I showed an aptitude for, found after giving up on Shooting Magic.
“Should I just do a simple treatment on my fist.”
Max moved the first aid kit placed in the corner with Psychokinesis.
Impact and Psychokinesis were separate systems, and likewise, they were aptitudes he had mastered in the past.
Click!
He opened the first aid kit and slathered red medicine onto the torn wound.
As he waited while drinking water, Finn approached, showing off his hunched back.
“Ehehe! Mister Mage is next. Get ready.”
“Okay.”
This time, the opponent was a man with prosthetic legs rather than prosthetic arms.
He was a rowdy guy who urinated on the spectators outside the ring as soon as he entered.
Seeing that there were more boos than cheers, one could easily tell what kind of image he had.
“mage! That bastard is a married man too! Kill him!”
“But isn’t that bastard’s wife ugly? She’s cross-eyed.”
“You idiot. That’s not what’s important. The mage knows that the despairing face of the opponent is a delicacy.”
“So that’s why he kept Eldio alive! mages really are scary…!”
The match was shorter than the spectators' rowdiness.
The moniker he had given himself was Red Foot something or other, but he was weaker than Eldio.
“Kieeeek!!!”
Max didn’t even use a Shield.
The match ended with the prosthetic legs shattering from a single fist imbued with Impact.
He stepped down from the ring and headed back to Finn.
“I’m betting it all on myself. Match me right away.”
“Eheek! Mister Mage… you said you didn’t mind a 2nd-tier, right?”
“Naturally.”
No problem. Tier wasn’t an absolute measure that determined victory or defeat.
Besides, fighting a 2nd tier would yield higher dividends.
‘Even if they’re called veteran fighters in the Fight Club, they aren’t at a level where they can walk around Haze with their heads held high.’
Even though it was a match with No Fouls, the participants lacked viciousness.
Even their attacks were simple, making it easy to read the precursors and trajectories.
“To put it bluntly.”
They were at a level far worse than that of the enrolled students of Minerva Academy, where my Younger Sibling Flora, whom I gained on the third day of my regression, attended.
Elite education with an efficient system could never be ignored.
“Ehehe! Our Star Player is the only 2nd-tier player. He killed the other 2nd-tier player and is the only one left.”
“Put him in the ring.”
“I’ll go call him, so wait. He’s in the next room.”
Finn walked away with a splayed gait.
Max tore open a bottle of water, poured it over his head, and sat sprawled on the sofa.
‘Am I fighting the Star Player in just one day? It’s nice that it’s fast.’
After the amount was roughly calculated, the Seed Money had become sufficient.
With the next match as the last, he would Graduate from the Fight Club.
As he was resting like that, a heavily intoxicated guy stumbled over.
The smiling face of the dead-drunk man was unpleasant.
“Mister Mage! I earned a lot thanks to you! I’ll trust you next time too! You truly have noble tastes! A married woman…”
“Get lost.”
Max let out a deep sigh.
“I want to go home.”
Finn came out of the room and announced the matchup.
Everyone shoved their money onto the Star Player, saying he would die this time for sure.
From what he heard, he seemed to be a guy whose arms and legs were all machines.
‘If it’s a machine, it’s actually easier.’
To the citizens of District 50 who believed steel was superior to flesh, his victory would be a bizarre and dizzying sight, akin to a world where gender roles and chastity were reversed.
However, unless prosthetic arms and legs were Corporation’s high-end models, their performance limits were clear.
As capabilities accumulated and senses became sharper, clumsy machines couldn’t keep up with magic power maneuvers.
Hitting that limit, they commonly longed for their original limbs.
“Mister Mage, can we start now?”
“Yeah.”
Max got up and headed to the ring, and his opponent immediately climbed into the ring as well.
The prosthetic arms and legs that replaced his limbs were, as expected, old models that required pneumatic cylinders.
“This piece of shit. I was in the middle of happy time, and you broke the flow?”
When Max raised his middle finger without replying, the crowd let out a cheer.
Riding the flow, the Announcer continued the introduction.
“This side is our shop’s Star Player who needs no introduction! Undefeated Streak! Will~~~ Wagner!”
A large blade popped out of his prosthetic arm with a clack!
He showed it off to everyone boastfully.
“Will! I bet everything on you!”
“Cut off that Mage bastard’s neck! I lost everything I earned in a month because of that bastard!”
Max concentrated magic power at his fingertips as he waited for the introduction.
He wove it secretly.
“No Fouls.”
It was an action faithful to the Fight Club rules.
“The 1st-tier Rookie who flipped the board upon his appearance! Married Woman Hunter!”
Max didn’t demonstrate any performance.
He ignored all the cheers and boos he heard.
“As you all know, Critical Strike OK! Bloodshed Welcome! No Fouls! Let the match begin!”
As the Announcer slipped away, he aimed his finger at will, who was hitting the iron cage and drawing cheers from the crowd.
Immediate activation.
[Shear]
Max showed an aptitude for the Rare System after Impact and Psychokinesis.
It was Severing.
Pshk!
A small amount of blood splattered.
“Kuaaaagh!!!”
The Severing Magic slashed right through his incredibly sensitive eyeball, and the guy lost his sight.
Max stepped back just like that and concealed his presence.
“Fuck, my eye! Where did this orphan bastard go! Come out! I said come out!”
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Will, having pulled out blades from his prosthetic arms and legs, thrashed around the ring haphazardly.
The iron cage broke, causing a frenzy.
“Hey, you son of a bitch! Where are you swinging that!”
“Kyaaaak!”
“Aagh! Call the Owner! Owner!”
The spectators and the Announcer screamed and fled far away.
‘He is in the 2nd tier, but he’s at the very beginning.’
Max, who was watching quietly, extended his magic power to the shabby vest the guy was wearing.
He interfered and displayed Psychokinesis.
The torn vest tied itself around the neck of the rampaging will.
“Ghk! Kkiiik…!”
The fabric rotated and tightened strongly.
[Death Roll]
It was Psychokinesis modeled after a crocodile’s hunting technique.
Even a first-tier could somehow deal with the current output, but will’s Combat Prosthetic Arms had blades even for fingernails.
“To tear the fabric with his prosthetic arm, he has to rip and tear his own neck with his hands.”
I didn’t know if he had that kind of resolve.
“Heup!”
He concentrated and increased the output. - crack! Will’s neck snapped, and the rampage ended.