Before I could stand up, the womanly figure lunged in front of me, hurling a fierce punch towards my face, which I managed to dodge with a hair’s breadth.

‘That was fast. Thankfully, I leveled up my combat skills yesterday night; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to dodge that.’

"Oh, come on! Not the face, that's against the rules!”

I attempted to counter the attack by aiming a punch towards her gut, but she avoided it by executing a swift backflip.

“Now that's just showing off.”

I swiftly got up and charged towards her at lightning speed and tried to land a decisive punch to the guts, which she dodged with a well-timed sidestep.

‘I am not going to use my powers in this fight since I know there is no threat to my life right now. Besides, this fight will help hone my combat skills further.’

The fight went on for what felt like an eternity, but there was no winner as we both relentlessly dodged everything the other threw. But Karako got tired, and we stopped the fight, as I didn’t want to hurt her needlessly. I was pleasantly surprised by how good of a fighter she was, even though I knew she was a close combat fighter. 

I never expected something like this, as she could keep up with me even after I went through an evolution. I am sure my stats were higher than hers.

“What the heck are you? You fought on par with me while not even using your powers, and you are not even tired! What kind of life did you live to become this strong before coming here?”

I chuckled at her bewilderment.

“I am just a normal guy.”

“Like hell is anyone going to believe that.”

I gave her a water bottle that was on my table and waited some time for her to recover. After about a minute, she fully recovered, and I asked her the thing anyone would have asked in a situation like this.

“Who are you? Why are you here? How did you find me? How did you come here? How…”

“Are you joking? I am not about to answer all that. I just came here to test you and bring you to join our cause.”

“What cause, and Why me?”

“To get freedom from this place and to show the world the truth behind this place as to why we chose you, it was nothing but a hunch from our leader that you are a good person.”

“I see. I am ready to join your team, but only if you agree to spar with me every day.”

“That was a pretty quick decision for a newcomer! You didn't even ask any more questions.”

“I just like to deal with things as they come instead of thinking too much.”

That was a lie. I was only joining them because I knew everything about what they were doing.

“Then Welcome to the Team!”

“You didn’t even say yes or no to the deal…?”

“What deal are you talking about? I didn’t hear anything!”

“But…”

I began to protest, only to be cut off by her swift response.

“Time for me to go. We will meet again after your first fight.”

After saying that, she dashed out of the room at lightning speed.

“What the hell? Am I scary or something? I was just asking for a spar.”

‘Maybe she got stumped by my handsome face. After the evolution, I did become more handsome.’

————— 

[Karako Koshio’s POV]

While running back to our base of operation, I couldn’t help but think about the man ‘Aizawa’ I just met.

‘The hell was Nagi thinking when asking me to make him join our cause? Even just being in the same room as him, I could feel a primal fear chilling my bones. I know without a doubt that if he so wanted, he could have ended my life in an instant.’

I was fearful of him, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel curious about him.

“Curiosity kills the cat, they say. Let’s hope I don’t end up dead…”

Just as the thought crossed my mind, another realization hit me. Throughout the entire encounter, I hadn't felt Aizawa's pulse or heartbeat even once.

————— 

[Axton’s POV]

Meanwhile, I was seeing myself in a mirror and marveling at my handsomeness.

‘What will I do with this sinful face? I am sure girls are going to come after me in droves after seeing it. I should consider a mask like kakashi or something.’

I was thinking all this while having a goofy grin on my face. I then opened my stat sheet to see to what level my combat skills had improved.

‘Stats’

{ Name: Axton

Age: 35 (Physically)

Attack Potency: 8-B

Durability: 8-A

Stamina: ???(As long as the damage rate doesn't go above the regeneration rate)

Speed: 8-B

Regeneration: High-Low [Can regenerate severed fingers, toes, or ears, minor organ damage and reattach lost limbs.]

Status: Body & Soul Unity (Can hurt non-physical entities with normal attacks), Touched By The Void

Skills: Combat Skills Lv.27, Shooting Skills Lv.13, Self-Hemokinesis Lv.33 }

'Ah, it feels so satisfying to see my skills level up. This is super addictive. I should be careful not to end up like some Level up Demon.’

Of course, getting strong is good, but I don’t like paying anything for it. It seems redundant to become strong at the cost of something when the reason for becoming strong is not losing anything.

‘Oh well, different people have different goals in mind. I think I am pretty simple-minded in matters like these.’

I was thinking all these things when the door opened and some armored guy with a baton came in.

“Vulture, Get ready for your fight. If you are ready, then follow me.”

I followed after the guy while being vigilant of my surroundings and trying to remember as much as I could.

‘You never know when these kinds of things become useful. Not that anything could stop me, but there's still no harm in being extra cautious.’

The way to the arena was filled with boring sights, everything looked exactly the same. It was as if someone copied and pasted the things inside the rooms.

We walked for quite some time to reach an arena that looked similar to a WWE ring. Everything was the same except for the audience.

There were drones flying around that were recording the fight and broadcasting it to sick bastards who were paying money to watch and most probably betting on us.

I could hear The Commentator announcing the match as I reached the place. The voice was coming out of some weird-looking Penguins, Ducks, or Duckguins..? That surrounded the arena.

"Hello, Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to Carnival Corpse!”

“Carnival Corpse! A battle between Deadmen! The rules are the same as usual!”

“The Show only Ends when one of them is Incapacitated or dead!”

“Let’s meet our contestants! In the Red Corner… The Newcomer Vulture!”

“In the Blue Corner… The Speedy Hummingbird!”

I would have been surprised, if the plot hadn't already changed by a large margin. I was already expecting someone else instead of Crow.

‘This is going to be an easy fight.’

_____

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