Beyond Gods 70 Calling Out Armyka

The crowd cheered wildly with excitement.

"DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY FOR YOURSELF REGARDING YOUR VICTORY!?," yelled a slim, greasy haired announcer standing next to Johan. He held a microphone directly to Johan's mouth. "WHAT AN AMAZING TURN AROUND! NO ONE SAW THAT WIN COMING! YOU USED YOUR HEAD TO BLOCK A PUNCH AND THEN COUNTERED! THAT IS INSANITYYYYYYYY!!!!!!"

A flying camera ball had beamed the announcer onto the stadium moments before.

The cameras zoomed in on Johan's eyebrowless puffy and bruised face. His chest heaved up and down as he struggled to catch his breath after having pushed himself so hard for so long during the fight. Fatigue hit him all at once now that there wasn't a need for him to exert himself. He wobbled as he almost lost his balance, but managed to stay standing.

He had won.

It wasn't pretty, but he managed it.

A win was a win. It didn't have to be pretty or elegant.

Now it was the time of reckoning. The moment Johan had been waiting for. The words he spoke into the microphone could save millions of people.

"I do have something to say!," said Johan with a nod grabbing the microphone.

"Go on," said the announcer with a grin. "You earned it."

"A trusted well informed a.s.sociate of mine in the army has told me that a group of mercenaries are collaborating with Armyka to bomb Looking Gla.s.s City!," yelled Johan, "Leave if you want to survive!"

"Huh!?," said the announcer as a bead of sweat appeared on his forehead and his grin froze. He clearly hadn't expected Johan to say that after winning a match. "Mercenaries?"

Johan continued, "there are a group G.o.dly Monarches that are afraid of how this area makes them vulnerable to attacks by regular people. They want to stifle any chances of people identifying the source of what weakens people here and weaponizing it by wiping out everything in this area alive and not!"

"Stop it!," whispered the announcer. "You're gonna get us both killed. You just accused THE ARMYKA of collaborating with the enemy."

The announcer attempted to pull the microphone away from Johan's iron-like grip without luck.

The audience started whispering to each other quietly.

"HA HA HA! IT IS A JOKE!," yelled the announcer faking a laugh into the microphone. "A JOKE! WHAT A FUNNY CHARACTER! WE AREN'T TALKING POORLY ABOUT OUR CITY'S GREAT LEADERs.h.i.+P! RIGHT!?"

"It is NOT a joke!," yelled Johan. "The attack will come in a week! Save yourselves!"

FOOOOSSHHHHHH!!!

There was a strong gust of wind and Johan turned to see Armyka standing two feet behind him. Johan hadn't said all that without expecting trouble. Johan let the announcer take the microphone from him as he readied himself for Armyka to attack him.

[She is vulnerable here,] thought Johan.

Armyka snarled at Johan.

"BOY!," boomed Armyka, "WHAT GARBAGE ARE YOU SAYING IN FRONT OF THIS CROWD!? YOU ARE OUT OF PLACE SPREADING LIES! YOUR WORDS ARE TYRANNY AND TERRORISM! I SHOULD EXECUTE YOU RIGHT HERE!"

Johan stared hard at Armyka. He shook fervently. An onlooker may have interpreted it as fear. But what was making Johan shake was rage. Memories of seeing his parents dying flew through his mind, the years he spent in the pit, and every broken bone and fall he suffered unnecessarily while struggling to climb out of the pit flew through his mind.

The time he lost ...

The time he spent hiding ...

All because of this vile, narcissistic and detestable women.

"You ...," croaked Johan between his teeth.

FOOOSHH!!!!

Another strong gust of wind blew behind Johan.

"Not so fast," said a bold male voice calmly.

Armyka expression quickly turned from anger to surprise.

"Stay out of our city matters Jin," said Armyka. "Go home and seclude yourself like you usually do when you skip meetings. If I let this go, everyone will think the leaders of this city are weak and there will be chaos."

Johan turned to see a young twenty year old Egyptian man. The sense he got from the man was that he was much older and stronger than he appeared.

Gasps could be heard throughout the crowd.

"I am as much a part of the leaders.h.i.+p of this city as you are and in my opinion," said Jin "The city is already in chaos. This boy's initial opponent was murdered. But that is besides the point, this boy gave us a good fight. I'd like to see him do some more."

"You are protecting him!?," said Armyka. "If you don't step out of the way, I will report your behavior to the board. He speaks blasphemous lies!"

"Do you even know this boy?," said Jin.

"I have never seen him before," said Armyka.

Johan realized that shaving all his hair and his eyebrows off had made him unrecognizable to most people. Just as he had planned.

"Then he is just like those newscasters in the media speaking c.r.a.p," said Jin. "People all over talk poorly about you because of your short temper, lack of restraint and overkill punishments. This is no secret and nothing new. You have made worse accusations than this boy in the past."

"JIN!," hissed Armyka as she made a fist.

"Go for it," said Jin. "Attack and I will not hold back. You know how that will end."

"But his accusations!," hissed Armyka stomping her foot.

"If you touch the boy in or outside of this tournament, you will have to deal with me."

Armyka turned red and gave Jin a hard stare.

To Johan's surprise Armyka let out a deep sigh and walked away.

"Boy," said Armyka over her shoulder. "Be warned. You will be punished. Both of you. But for now I will do it the traditional way, I will take this to the board. Jin saved your life today."

With that, Armyka jumped out of the stadium into the bleachers.

Johan looked at Jin without being sure what to make of him. With words, he had made the woman who had plagued his memories retreat. The demon in his memories. Jin was clearly of the same status as her or higher.

Jin gave Johan a wink and said, "Great fight. I will be watching you. Perhaps, you will win and get a wish granted by us. Good luck!"

With that, Jin jumped out of the arena into the bleachers.

Johan had completely forgotten about the wish tournament winners got.

"What about the plan to attack Looking Gla.s.s City!?," yelled Johan after Jin.

But Jin was gone and without a microphone, the crowd watching the fight couldn't hear Johan.

It seemed the majority of onlookers had taken Johan's claim as crazy person talk.

"AND THAT END'S THIS FIGHT!," boomed the announcer over speakers. "OUR FIGHTER WILL NOW BE TRANSPORTED OUT OF THE STADIUM AND OUR NEXT FIGHTERS TRANSPORTED IN!"

With that, one of the flying ball cameras shot out a blue beam of light at Johan.

-- Ø --

Johan was transported back to Kru Bu's gym to find Tommy, Kru Bu, Gracie, and Pedro waiting there for him outside the enterance.

"Congrats ese," said Gracie, "you win, but you look crazy too. Now everyone watching the TV thinks so too."

"Shaving your hair off added to the impact of the match," said Tommy with a laugh. "I almost didn't realize it was you until they announced your name over the tv. Plus, you got the attention of two pretty big figures in Looking Gla.s.s City, Armyka and Jin. You are going to be the talk of the city."

"Come," said Kru Bu, "Let's put some liniment oil on you, it will help you with the pain and speed up healing. You can also eat with us to celebrate your victory and then you must rest. You have to heal before your next fight."

"Using your head to block a punch?," said Pedro nodding his head, "never saw that before. we watched it on TV. That is not Boxing, Muay Thai or any other sport. That's not even Kung Fu that is straight out Psycho Fu ... then that knee while he wiped his face? Brutal ..."

Johan laughed and said, "I had to improvise. The guy was really, really good ... but of course, I faked the struggle. Have you guys heard of him before?"

"I have never seen him in the city before," said Kru Bu. "I have been in this business for a long time. I should have met all fighters of that caliber. It is strange."

Pedro shrugged and said, "I heard a rumor from my pal that they were letting people from small sects outside the city in the Looking Gla.s.s Realm enter as long as they were not mana users or agreed to have a chip embedded in them that would neutralize their mana abilities. Everyone is after that wish."

"Guys," said Johan as his expression turned solem. "You heard what I said. I wasn't kidding. Looking Gla.s.s City is going to be attacked."

"By who?," said Pedro.

"A group of mercenaries," said Johan. "My friend told me."

"You believe this guy?," said Tommy.

"One hundred percent," said Johan. "He has never lied."

Johan realized that he could not tell his friends the details of the prophet, a lot of the events in Johan's life were hard to believe, but he had to lie to convince them. He had to lie to save their lives.

"We got upcoming fights," said Pedro, "you aren't the only one in the tournament. Plus, where would we go if you were telling the truth?"

"I know of a sort of a bunker where it should be safe," said Johan.

"Dude," said Tommy, "I am not going to drop my entire life, my fight and go away on some little adventure based on the word of some guy I don't even know. Who is this guy that told you all this nonsense? Where is the proof?"

"Yeah man," said Pedro, "I think this year, I am finally good enough to get noticed by a sect and leave this place for the good life. I trust you, but I think I will risk it ... and if you did want to warn a bunch of people, you could have probably done it in a less crazy more believable way. You seem to jump into things without thinking them through."

"Enough for now," said Kru Bu. "Come, eat. I have food. Liniment oil. You need rest. Let me see your fist. The broken one. We can watch the next fights. This talk of a threat can wait until later."

Johan's heart dropped. It seemed even his dearest friends weren't taking his warning seriously. If even they didn't, the chances that they would die in the upcoming attack would increase even more.

What was he going to do?