John saw Crocodile's face drawing near, the greasy streaks of sweat pooling on the soft alloy of his chin.

He seized the opportunity, suddenly exerting force.

He swung his elbow. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Igdrasir's alloyed elbow landed beneath Crocodile's chin, the massive force made Crocodile lose balance.

John saw hope.

He lunged forward madly, ignoring the injuries on his body, gripping the opponent's arm tightly during the close combat, leveraging his power, and propelled his body upwards just as Crocodile had done to him, ramming his knee fiercely against him!

Bam!

Crocodile staggered backward several steps.

The tide of the fight seemed to have turned.

The audience's shouts became hoarse, and the ring lights swayed slightly with the resonance of their pounding.

John lunged at Crocodile's face.

He threw punches desperately, pouring his power onto the alloy and muscle amalgamated punching bag before him.

Crocodile's eyes widened.

They both clearly recognized—if they were outside the central arena, at that instant John would have had enough time to draw his Mantis Blade to pierce Crocodile's throat or to close in with a shot to blast his head.

John had the capability to kill Crocodile.

He was a mercenary, a beast in the urban jungle, but this was the central ring, in the "Crocodile Pool."

He was at a disadvantage in both chip and prosthetic body adjustments, unable to use Sianweistan in the first round, nor use embedded weapons to end the confrontation when desperately carving out an opportunity.

John's advantage was wasted like foam.

Both could only brawl on the floor.

They inflicted damage on each other, yet remained locked together.

John utilized the composite maneuver of Black Light to deliver the ground assassination technique with maximum efficiency, and leveraged Sora's management system to dodge some lagging attacks.

He did his best, almost holding until the end.

But Crocodile was a professional fighter.

Just as a mercenary adjusts on the fly during a mission, Crocodile discovered John's weakness in their close combat.

John only had one arm originally from Igdrasir; the other had been crushed under Big Ghost Mecha at Silver Port and replaced with a lower power Glider.

The turn happened in an instant.

Crocodile clamped John's Glider.

He shifted his whole weight sideways in a roll, utilizing his body weight to drag John to the ground, then added another hand, gripping tight, swung John's entire body, slamming him fiercely onto the ring floor.

The audience erupted with a satisfied roar.

Countless bits and pieces, clothes were thrown onto the ring, most blocked by fences and dense electric nets, some items caught fire and were extinguished by fire suppression spray...

For a time.

The entire venue fell into violent revelry.

They screamed and jeered, demanding Crocodile go up and finish John on the ring.

He didn't move.

[Prosthetic Body Threshold Warning: 142%-Sianweistan T17, Igdrasir reposition pressure 173%...]

John lay on the ground.

His left prosthetic eye fully bloodshot, notifications of bone fractures and prosthetic body damage splashed across him.

Crocodile stood merely a meter away.

The surge around, like a massive hand wanting to press down on his head, demanding he rip John open with his teeth to satisfy the crowd's beastly urges, to bring those Gamblers to their highest satisfaction.

Crocodile gnashed his teeth but remained motionless.

Manager's orders, the contract on the table, the exorbitant penalty fees and the queue of candidates...

An invisible force tethered his limbs.

"Cough, cough, haha."

John leaned against an insulated post.

He opened his swollen eyes, staring with bloodshot pupils at the muscle-bound man opposite him, murmuring a word.

"Dog chain."

Thunk.

Crocodile was provoked.

His primal instinct took over, about to lift his foot, when a shrill whistle sounded.

The first round ended.

Medical staff and venue assistants rushed over, pressing ice packs onto the tear of John's cooling gaps, applying hemostatic foam to the wounds, and several Gaia Cells injections piercing his neck.

The intense pain and drug stimulation made John convulse all over.

The veins on his forehead and neck protruded, his face contorted grotesquely, yet he maintained brief lucidity.

Messiah's Eye refocused.

He saw under the dome, the boundary of a certain VIP room's one-way glass lifted.

Bone Shards looked down at John.

The assistants and medical staff were arranged by the Black Gold Gang.

John saved them a sum of money, and Bone Shards always liked immediate payment.

Crocodile was led off by assistants.

He turned in humiliation and fury, glaring at John.

The language plugin captured his exit declaration.

[Male: Next round, I will tear you apart. (Russian)]

John raised his middle finger from the stretcher.

The blood-stained finger swayed under the spotlight, first towards Crocodile, then turning to the screaming audience, later grazing the passage wall, with surrounding lights dimming as the lounge door closed, the light upon the finger vanished.

John was taken back to the lounge.

The commotion was sealed outside.

The television sound compared to the ring audience seemed absurdly quiet.

The drugs took effect inside his body.

John slowly propped himself up, sitting on a bench, digesting the numbing pain under the stimulant aftertaste.

[Let's go.]

Kenichi Sora's voice rang out.

He was calm and sincere.

John remained silent, went to the mirror, peered closely, inspecting his temporarily stitched wounds and the loose, dislodged tooth fragments.

Clatter.

The metal basin filled with diluted blood water.

He was severely injured.

Focus was also a bit scattered.

[Don't go up, you'll die.]

"Coward."

John responded.

[…It's okay, let's leave now, I'll fulfill the promise to arrange the Neural Ark surgery.]

John ignored Kenichi Sora.

The Gaia Cells drugs are indeed powerful.

John stretched his body, with treatment and combat stimulant taking effect, he mostly regained mobility, leisurely taking out a cigarette from the inner pocket lining.

Sora kept persuading, his tone becoming more earnest.

[Brother, trust me, there's no need to go up! If I don't handle it well, you'll be in danger!]

"Phew~"

John blew the smoke far away.

In a haze, he saw new information.

[Mission Target Update]

[Escape from the central ring. (Optional)]

[Continue the match. (Optional)]

John hasn't been a mercenary for long, but he's experienced enough to boast in bars, and in these street Nova stories has some professional summary.

He could only say.

"When things are in front of you, you have to face them, it's not the time to die yet, why not have the guts to try at least?"

John squinted his eyes, slowly inhaled, the lung conveyed a real and ongoing piercing pain.

He frowned, shook his head, extinguished the cigarette butt.

"This city won't be merciful because you falter, as long as you dare to be coward once, you'll never rise up again."