This mother fucker! Every one of his blows sets up another! For someone who knew exactly what the fuck his opponents were going to do, why is his offense so fucking good. He keeps trying to block my line of sight too.

Dodging his blows I try to think two steps ahead. I have to make sure I don't dodge the way he wants me to, or attack when he wants me to. Between the two of us, I'm clearly landing more blows causing him to take more damage. He's only been able to land a few hits and even those I've mostly avoided to the point where the damage is minimal.

Even with all of these things leaning in my favor, some things not right. He's dodging more and more of my attacks, is he starting to adapt to my perception? Alright then, I'll show him true speed.

Maxing out my perception it's as if I'm fighting a regular person. His now inability to dodge my punches is evident by the ever-growing pain in my knuckles. If I hadn't trained as much as I did my hands would be shattered by now. His setups are more blatant with time slowed to this degree, yet I can't get setups of my own. Whenever I grab his wrist or arm he instantly uses it to reel me in closer to him. I haven't dared to try and get a kick, the last thing I want is him getting ahold of my leg. Dammit just drop already! My fists beginning to be covered in his blood but he shows no signs of weakness.

Fuck, if I keep my max up for much longer I'll burn through my energy reserve. If only he wasn't such a threat I could be more aggressive, but the closer I get to him the easier he can launch an attack out of my field of view, or just straight-up block it.

Dropping back down to double my base perception the fight becomes more even. Jason acts instantly with a feint knee that he extends into a kick. This is my chance!

I spike my perception back up to max, letting his kick land but grabbing ahold of it and locking it against my stomach. He jumps off his balancing leg and attempts to kick me again but I yank him towards me by his leg while I move forward. He hits the ground on his back looking up at me as I still held his leg, my foot resting on his throat.

"What are you smiling about, you just got your ass kicked?"

"I fucked up. I can't help but laugh at that. I thought your ability had gassed out and jumped the gun."

"The winner of this match is Tom. Any further action will be met with extreme force!"

"Don't worry, Warden, I'm not going to hurt him."

Letting go of Jason's leg his lower half fell to the ground and I couldn't help but hear the cries from the crowd.

"Wha-what the fuck just happened? This can't be it!"

"Did Jason just throw the match!"

"That has to be it! He comes out here beating on Jason like it's nothing, then ends it like that, BULLSHIT!"

Even I have to admit, that wasn't quite as good as I expected.

"I heard the announcement from here, you won! Oh god Jason, your..."

Looking over my shoulder I saw Jason coming up behind me as Wayne spoke. Jason's face was cut from my knuckles, his body growing more discolored by the minute.

"What, is something on my face?"

"I-um-no it's just."

Jason put his hand on Wayne's shoulder, "Wayne."

"Yes?"

"Get the fuck out of my way."

Realizing he was blocking Jason's path Wayne jumped out of the way looking to me for help. Watching Jason step past him I noticed him shaking his head before I heard a voice in mine.

"He's too nice." I knew exactly what Jason meant and let out a defeated nod.

"Did you see that Tom, I almost died! I don't know how you can be around him for so long, I would have a heart attack. Who are you nodding to?"

"Just to myself."

"O-kay, well what you say about going to the courtyard to celebrate."

"What fucking courtyard?"

"Well, for the people with enough privileges, we get to go out in the courtyard."

"And why is this the first time I'm hearing about it?"

"I didn't want to rub it in your face since you wouldn't have been able to go out there anyway."

"This doesn't make any sense, why haven't I noticed you trying to sneak away then? And don't even try to tell me you did it without me noticing."

"Oh no, I haven't gone to it since you've been here, I didn't want to leave you by yourself."

"Dammit Wayne, don't say shit like that!"

"Like what?"

"Just take me to the damn courtyard!"

"Okay-ok."

"So why didn't Red or Jason say anything about this place?"

"You really think I'm lying?"

"No, I don't think your lying, I just find it strange."

"Well, I don't know about Jason but, Red, it's probably because the top three hang out there. She doesn't like any of them."

"What, did they beat her too?"

"Ha-ha, no. Unlike you, Justin, and Angel, no one else wants to fight Red. Y'all are just crazy."

"They must be assholes then."

"Please don't say that to them."

"Calm down, I don't plan on fighting anyone else today. So this place is why I haven't seen any of the top three. This should be interesting."

"Well, we probably won't see Angel, he tends to hang out in the sky. Probably likes looking down on everyone or something. As for the other two, I'm scared to point them out to you."

"I told you I'm not trying to start anything, I just need to do some research on them."

"Your 'research' might start something without you trying."

"You know I can't just go in blindly, which is why I'm curious why you haven't told me anything about them yet. Hell, the only reason I know about Angel is that he tried to fuck me up."

"These people, their not Jason, or Gale. They are on a whole other level. Everyone you've gone up against, besides Red, doesn't want anything to do with these people because they know how it will end. That's why even with their attitudes they still have a high rank. People stay out of their way. You should stay out of their way."

"You've known I was going to have to confront them eventually, why wait to say something until now?"

"I didn't think you would make it this far, not this soon."