Jonas' eardrums had been drowned by the sounds of screaming and shouting, while his heart was beating like a reverberating drum inside his chest. His blood was pumping, his senses were overstimulated, and there was a mingled fear mixed with excitement that he knew to be his anxiety, it was telling him it was time for a fight or flight.

Jonas exhaled a breath and focused on the fact that he had overcome so many obstacles to get where he was, and it was these thoughts that allowed him to fill his heart with Pride and cause his Sin Scars to glow splendidly. In the fraction of time before Jonas and Javier began to fight, he was able to notice the glowing red flames on the back of his opponent's hands, and the fact that Javier was a berserker gave Jonas even more confidence, not fear, as all his experience had come from fighting Sinners of this type.

Jonas casually took his stance and prepared for a fight that could very well impact the rest of his future. If he lost, perhaps Brow would make him wait months for another opportunity. Perhaps he would lose his access to extra food, or maybe Thomas Vale would finally take the threat seriously enough to send Wolf to finish Jonas off for good. It was also very possible for Jonas to win, and with that victory would come a new opportunity.

Javier didn't spend much time contemplating his first move, and it was a few moments after the start of the fight that he charged toward Jonas, his hulking figure approached in the blink of an eye. Jonas thought about backing up, but he changed his mind when he thought about the dangers of having his back against the cage wall, potentially cornering himself for a spectacular beat down. His fists were up, his knees were slightly bent, and his jaw was clenched, he was ready for impact.

As Jonas received the first bone-crunching hit to the face, he felt his head twist to the side and a numbing sensation spread around his cheek as he saw stars. His body's instinct was to fall over in pain, however, Jonas hadn’t been forcing himself through all that hellish training for no reason, and he quickly began returning punches, managing to land two clean hits right on the enforcer’s chin.

Javier's eyes widened in surprise, as he had not expected his tiny, amateurish opponent to be able to absorb such a heavy attack without being knocked over or to be able to move so fast that he could return two punches in the blink of an eye. His black eyes trailed downwards until they caught sight of two glowing crosses scarred on the back of his opponent's hands. Javier had never fought a Crusader before, and he had never felt such a strange foreboding feeling that alarmed his instincts. To combat this feeling, he snarled and clenched his fists, and he filled his body with Wrath by imagining himself brutalizing the body of his opponent, he could even hear the delightful screams of anguish coming out of Jonas' mouth.

After that initial exchange, both opponents backed off, stared, and waited a few moments before their next move. Javier was the first to attack, but none of them managed to hurt Jonas as he had entered a smooth rhythm that allowed him to dodge at ease. He was extremely confident in his ability to weave between the attacks, and he did so at an unbelievable speed that was unbecoming of a normal person.

Jonas had spent the next few moments dodging attacks, but he made the mistake of underestimating how much speed Javier was capable of, as the enforcer's next attack was so fast it was undodgeable, and it struck Jonas in the ribs, breaking a few in the process. Jonas winced, but he didn't cry out in pain. In this psychological battle, he knew that showing any weakness to a berserker would only make them stronger. He needed to put on a brave face that showed Javier the damage done was minimal.

Jonas felt in his heart that his next attack would land cleanly, and it would do damage, and this confidence fueled the attack with Pride, allowing him to manifest exactly what he had desired. He swung his foot and roundhouse kicked Javier in the face, and it broke his guard and made him unbalanced.

For a moment, Javier stood rooted to the spot, rather shocked that he had been hit so hard. His massive hand reached for his nose and when he pulled it back, he noticed it was covered in blood. His pupils dilated, his Sin Scars began to glow like lights, and Jonas knew that his opponent had finally entered a crazed bloodlust. He felt regret as he watched Javier bare his teeth and give a murderous glare. Blood was like crack to a Berserker, and Jonas had inadvertently become a dealer.

The Mexican fighter stormed like a beast across the arena and toward his prey, while Jonas exhaled a deep breath and prepared to dodge what he knew would be a vicious onslaught of attacks, each one capable of incapacitation. As fists continued to fly, Jonas weaved until the point that he found his back pushed against the cage, and he only narrowly avoided being grappled, a situation he dreaded against such a large opponent.

‘Give me something,’ thought Jonas who was waiting for an opportunity to make something big happen, but unfortunately for him, Javier seemed to be in control of the fight, even in his murderous rage. It was as if he could read minds, and he knew that Jonas wanted to go for a big counter-attack, so he continued the onslaught with the intent that he wasn't going to give his opponent any opportunities whatsoever.

The second ticked by while Javier chased down Jonas, and the young teen had begun circling his opponent, over and over again, trying to keep his distance and find an opening.

Jonas knew that things weren’t going very well because the crowd had started booing. Clearly, they were bored and wanted the main card to start, ‘Fuck,’ his thoughts were turning bitter, ‘Why did I have to be the last fight?’ There was no medicine for regret. He managed to will himself out of his mental rut.

He felt that he would take a boring victory over a heart-thumping wild clash, but he knew that this contrasted with Javier's desire for a bloodbath. The booing got louder and Jonas heard Brow yell from outside the cage.

“Fucking do something!” and Jonas would have rolled his eyes if he hadn’t needed to keep them on his opponent. The momentum of the fight had changed in an instant, as Jonas threw caution to the wind and swung wildly at his opponent, catching him off guard and forcing him to retreat. The young crusader didn’t even bother dodging the counterattack and he allowed a hardened fist to crash against his face, but he embraced the pain and focused on bashing his opponent’s cheek.

Javier was still on defense, and Jonas' sudden attack had thrown his Wrath into disarray as his mental faculties were forced to go from thoughtless rage to careful observation. He tried to maintain his mental focus, but it was slipping from him as he blocked and dodged attacks, each of them more powerful than he had been prepared for.

Jonas’ instincts told him he had seized the momentum, and his experience as a fighter helped him to stay calm, to not bite off more than he could chew. For every attack he took from Javier, he gave triple in return, and for every attack that Javier avoided, Jonas avoided quadruple.

It was like simple mathematics, and the difference in output began to take its toll on the bigger fighter. Javier was bleeding profusely, his breathing was uncontrolled, and just when he thought the fight couldn’t go any worse for himself, he was hit in the face with a flying headbutt that shattered his nose into tiny pieces, causing blood to spray across the room.

The crowd erupted into cheers for the first time since the fight began, ‘They want blood?’ Jonas' thoughts turned wild as he hounded his wounded opponent like a wolf on the hunt, ‘I’ll give them blood!’ and he began beating and bashing Javier who was unable to muster any counterattack, so he bent over and protected his head with his arms. Blood was seeping all over the arena floor, and there were multiple times that Jonas and Javier had almost slipped in it.

Even though Jonas had his opponent right where he wanted, he was still unable to land a knockout punch, and he knew it would be unwise for him to prolong the fight any more than it had already gone on. He could hear the crowd cheering ever louder as he pounded Javier's body into a pulp, and it was that cheering that caused his Pride to erupt like a volcano and fill his body with more strength than he had ever felt in his life, even more so when he had been victorious against Ahmed, Pete, and Ralph. He felt as if he wanted to always hear that sound of cheering, it felt natural to him, like it was the song of his people.

Jonas became reckless as purposefully avoided hitting Javier in any place that could knock him unconscious. He instead focused on attacking the areas of the face that would have the bloodiest effects. Jonas heard the crowd burst into another round of cheers, while Javier looked extremely miserable.

His lips were split in half, and gushing crimson, both his eyes were swollen, bruised, and had blood pouring over them from the huge cuts on his brow, while the remainder of the blood came from his disfigured nose that looked like it belonged to an animal, and not a human. Catching his carelessness, Jonas stopped the torturing of his opponent and prepared for a finishing blow.

As Javier backed away and tried to escape the onslaught, Jonas ran toward him and leaped into the air. He kicked his legs to build momentum, and it appeared as if he had missed his opponent and was about to do a backflip.

Javier was momentarily confused, partly because he could barely see out of his swollen eyes, and partly because he believed that Jonas had just missed a wide-open kick. However, he watched in horror as Jonas used his tremendous core to force his backflip into a side flip, and Jonas' other foot came back around and crashed against Javier's chin, completely dislocating it with a sickening crunch. As Jonas landed lightly on his feet, Javier crashed to the ground, completely unconscious.

The crowd erupted into a deafening cheer, and for a moment it appeared as if they had completely forgotten that they had been booing that same fight just minutes previously. Jonas held a bloodied fist in the air as he gave the crowd an expression of triumph, and between his handsome face, and the natural haughty expression, members of the crowd couldn’t help but feel that this newcomer had the look of someone special.

The referee made his way to Javier, and he gave him a quick check to see if he was still breathing. He gave a thumbs up to the announcer, and that man in the black suit climbed back into the ring and began pumping the crowd up.

“What a match!” his voice echoed through the microphone and into the arena room, “The winner of the fight is Jonas Ariel!” and he took Jonas’ bloody hand into his own and swung it into the sky in an obvious attempt to rev up the crowd. After releasing his hand, Jonas felt the referee grab his arm and guide him back through the cage door.

‘That’s it?’ Jonas was a bit shocked, ‘No after-fight interview, no exit-theme song, no nothing?’ He was kicked out of the cage and he stood in front of Brow who looked quite excited.

“Good fucking work,” Brow rarely complemented Jonas, ever, “The beginning of the fight was an absolute snooze-fest, but you really won the crowd over with your flying headbutt.”

“I'm guessing you gave in and bet on me?” Jonas asked rather uncomfortably as he wasn’t used to this nicer version of the eagle-eyed gangster.

“I didn’t bet the whole farm,” said Brow, “But considering you had ten-to-one odds on your fight, I bet enough where I could get ahead."