Chapter 8 One Punch To Shatter

The heavy iron gate of the cage slammed shut behind Ares, and the sound of the metal lock clicking into place echoed through the noisy arena.

Ares stood near the edge of the ring, his hands hanging loosely at his sides. The black cloth mask covered his face completely, leaving only his dark, steady eyes visible to the crowd.

Across the canvas floor, The Anvil was bouncing on his thick legs, making the metal mesh of the cage rattle with every movement. He looked massive under the red lights.

He rubbed his large gloved hands together and spat a thick glob of saliva onto the floor.

"Hey, boy!" The Anvil shouted, his voice booming over the noise of the crowd.

"Did someone pay you to commit suicide tonight? Because that is exactly what is about to happen to you."

The crowd in the front rows roared with laughter. Men in expensive suits waved thick stacks of hundred-dollar bills in the air, pointing at Ares and shouting insults.

"Put ten thousand more on the champion!" a wealthy older man yelled to a nearby bookkeeper. "The kid in the mask will not even last ten seconds!"

"He looks like a stick!" another voice shouted. "The Anvil is going to break him in half!"

Up in the private glass box, Natasha Romanov stood near the window, her fingers wrapped around her glass.

Her bright red hair glowed under the dim lights of her suite. She did not join in on the laughter. Instead, she watched Ares closely, her eyes narrowed.

"The crowd is putting all their money on the champion, Boss," her bodyguard said from the shadows behind her. "Nobody is betting on the new guy. Do you want me to close the books?"

"No," Natasha said softly, her voice calm and smooth. "Leave them open. Let them bet as much as they want. There is something strange about that boy. Look at his posture."

"He just looks scared to me," the bodyguard muttered.

"He is not scared," Natasha murmured, her eyes fixed on Ares’s relaxed hands. "He is not even tense. A normal person would be shaking in front of a man that size. He is waiting."

Down inside the cage, the referee stepped between the two men. He looked at The Anvil, then turned to Ares. "You both know the rules. No weapons. You fight until a knockout or a submission. Move to your corners."

The Anvil did not move back. He just glared at Ares, a cruel smile spreading across his face. "He does not need a corner. He just needs a body bag."

"Are you ready?" the referee asked, looking at Ares.

Ares gave a small, slow nod. He did not say a word.

"Begin!" the referee shouted, quickly scrambling backward out of the way.

The moment the word left the referee's mouth, The Anvil let out a loud roar that filled the underground room.

He lunged forward with heavy, powerful strides. The floor shook under his weight as he closed the distance between them in a split second.

He threw a massive right fist straight toward Ares's face. The punch carried the weight of his entire body, meant to crush Ares's head completely.

"Die!" The Anvil screamed.

The crowd leaned forward, many of them already celebrating the violent finish. They expected to see the thin man in the mask fly across the ring.

But Ares did not move until the very last second. To his divine eyes, the giant fist was moving with incredible slowness. It was clumsy and completely full of openings.

With a tiny, effortless step to the left, Ares tilted his head slightly. The Anvil’s massive glove grazed past the black fabric of his mask, missing his skin by less than an inch.

The Anvil’s eyes widened in pure confusion. The sheer force of his missed punch threw him slightly off balance, his heavy shoulder swinging forward. "What—"

Ares did not let him finish. He stepped deep into the giant’s open guard, his body moving as smoothly as a shadow in the night. He did not raise his fists in a standard boxing stance.

He simply opened his right palm, gathered a small, concentrated wave of his internal power, and drove his fist straight into the absolute center of the giant's thick chest.

It was a single, direct strike. It looked completely effortless, like a casual tap.

A loud, hollow boom echoed across the entire underground facility, cutting through the shouts of the crowd.

The sound was so deep it felt like a heavy hammer hitting a metal plate.

The Anvil froze completely. His massive arms dropped to his sides, and the cruel smile vanished from his face.

All the air left his lungs in a single, painful gasp, his eyes wide with pure shock and terror. For a fraction of a second, his giant body was actually lifted an inch off the canvas floor from the sheer force of the blow.

Then, his knees buckled. The undefeated champion crashed forward onto his face, hitting the blood-stained canvas with a heavy thud. He did not move.

He lay completely still, unconscious before he even hit the ground.

The entire arena went dead silent.

The shouting stopped instantly.

The men waving money froze with their arms in the air. Hundreds of people stared into the iron cage with their mouths wide open, unable to understand what they had just seen.

The undefeated king of the underground, a man who had crushed thirty fighters in a row, had been taken down by a single punch from a stranger.

The referee stood frozen for a few seconds, his face pale. He ran forward and dropped to his knees beside The Anvil, checking the giant's pulse. He looked up at Ares, his eyes full of fear.

"The... the winner is Ghost!" the referee announced, his voice shaking into the microphone.

Ares did not celebrate. He did not raise his fists or look at the stunned crowd. He simply turned his back on the fallen champion and walked toward the cage exit, his breathing perfectly steady, as if he had just finished a simple walk in the park.

Up in the glass box, Natasha Romanov slowly lowered her glass onto the table, her heart beating faster than it had in years. She stared down at the man in the black mask, a deep, wild curiosity burning in her eyes.

"Find out who he is," Natasha ordered her bodyguard, her voice trembling slightly with excitement. "Bring him to my office right now."