Point of View Switch: Kai
After we've formalized our new relationship, I pick up my clothes scattered on the floor and get dressed with Ponzu before we head to my room for breakfast and begin our daily workout, acting as if nothing had happened last night.
After a while, the door opens, prompting me to look to see Nicholas walk in. "Good morning, Nicholas. Any news on your last match search?" I casually ask.
"Yes, that's right. Last night when I got back to my room, I got a notification for a fight today at 5:00 pm on the 207th floor." He answers.
"Okay, so it's best if we stay at the tower today and change the afternoon workout so you can recover your stamina using Zetsu. For now, start stretching and put on the super-heavy equipment before beginning." I instruct him.
"Yes boss!" Nicholas responds with an enthusiastic smile.
In this way the three of us continue training for hours until lunchtime while discussing plans for the afternoon, noticing that the nature of my interaction with Ponzu it's back to how it used to be before I left the tower, and that despite still being drawn to look at her beauty, I don't feel the same discomfort and worry about my attraction for her as before, which relieves me.
Finally, after the copious meal, Nicholas and I return to my room to contact and arrange with the vendors and agencies on dates for visiting the properties and hiring qualified personnel for the agency, while Ponzu return to her room to consult with her suppliers and the staff managing the forestation project to find out when she would have to return to the Federation of Ochima, as well as to work on developing new chemicals using the ingredients and instruments she had purchased on her trips to the city, agreeing to meet again after Nicholas fight to train Hatsu and Ren.
"Aside from several guards, we'll need a secretary to manage the process and some experts in gathering information and infiltration missions to begin to establish ourselves in the business." I state while Nicholas searches through recruitment portals and companies on his laptop.
"Knowledgeable, experienced people who have the talent to handle certain situations aren't cheap, and it's hard to know if they truly possess the qualities they claim to possess, so they'll be hard to find." Nicholas replies.
"In that case we can set tests or exams that demonstrate their abilities, and also use your Nen ability if necessary." I say.
"I suppose so. If that's the case, I think we'll also need promoters to find us clients and some professional Hunters who can carry out missions on our behalf." Nicholas says.
"Sure, when we've gained enough market recognition and have the resources to expand the agency. For the time being, we don't need someone else to look for jobs in our place, nor do we have enough liquidity to prematurely hire professional Hunters, so let's continue to focus on the immediate need." I say, prompting Nicholas to continue browsing through resumes professional profiles.
The two of us continue doing this until it's almost time for the match, with Nicholas heading to his waiting room on the 207th floor while Ponzu and I head to sit in the stands among the eager spectators.
'I see the boys haven't come today either. Since I returned, they haven't been as engaged in watching our fights. That means they're too focused on their Hatsu training to pay attention to them, which is a good thing at the end of the day. But still, I hope they'll attend with Wing for my battle with the Floor Master named Jin.' I think as I swift my gaze look expectantly at the ring together with Ponzu.
Cocco's unexpected announcement shocks everyone in the stadium, including the spectators, the fighters, and even me.
"It's your big chance to redeem yourself, Riven! Defeat that classy bastard!"
"Nicholas, if you are truly Kai's disciple, you must be up to the task of claiming it!"
"He doesn't have Kai's muscles! Tear that skinny body apart with your claws!"
"Use that laptop and create a clone of yourself again! You won't be able to beat him fighting alone!"
'That big mouth Cocco. Because of her unwanted revelation, everyone's more unstable and anxious for the fight now. I hope this new pressure doesn't affect Nicholas's performance in combat.' I think quite annoyed at hearing the crowd cheers as Nicholas and Riven arrive at the ring.
"Kai is a great fighter, and he's the strongest opponent I've ever had. Someone like him would know very well how to guide others on the path of strength, so if you're truly his disciple, then you must give it your all to match up and not embarrass him." Riven tells Nicholas with respect and firmness as the referee takes position.
"BEGIN!!!" With the referee's shout signaling the start of the fight, Riven throws himself at Nicholas with his legs transformed into those of a kangaroo and his right arm transformed into that of a giant gorilla.
Nicholas reacts in time and jumps to the side to avoid it, with Riven's transformed fist cracking the ground upon impact. Getting some distance from him, Nicholas conjures his laptop and creates a doppelganger of himself, and then they immediately split up to attack Riven from both sides.
Riven quickly blocks the double assault by turning his arms and torso into those of a rhinoceros, and after resisting a few blows he tries to hit his opponents by waving his left arm, forcing the two to move backward to dodge it.
Taking advantage of the moment, Riven changes his left arm into a huge foxbear arm with which he tries to hit one of the Nicholas, who despite protecting himself in time ends up scratched and thrown into the air. However, the other Nicholas takes advantage of the moment when Riven's attention shifts to punch him in the face, causing him to slip a couple of meters.
"Clean hit!" The referee yells, awarding Nicholas 1 point and increasing the excitement of the audience.
'It has been a good start, but Nicholas is going to have a tough time getting the win.' I think to myself as I watch the fight.
During the long fight, Nicholas takes a more nimble and cautious approach against Riven, who displays his clear physical superiority. Although Nicholas is a good and experienced combatant with the strength to lift up to 2 tons of weight, Riven's Nen ability "Animalphorming" proves to be a great threat, defending him from his attacks and causing him and his doppelganger several injuries with his blows despite his conjured shields and efficient protection with Ren, Ryu, and Ko.
Furthermore, unlike me, Nicholas is not talented enough to analyze Riven's fighting pattern in the heat of combat and break through his defenses, rendering him unable to gain the upper hand against him despite being two against one, with both Nicholas growing weaker and weaker from accumulating injuries.
So, once Nicholas is down to 4 and Riven is down to 2, and while one of the twins is attracting attention by letting himself be grabbed by Riven's giant arm (of a creature seemingly unique to this world), the other conjures with his Nen laptop what appears to be a bazooka and fires it at Riven's back, causing a explosion that damages Riven despite his Ren and Nen ability and makes him drop Nicholas (who also takes some damage).
"C-Critical hit!" The referee yells quite shocked by the unexpected move.
"SHUT UP!!!" Nicholas screams quite angry, shocking Cocco because a fighter disrespectfully addresses her in the middle of a fight. "Don't give me that sportsmanship nonsense! In this tower, all of us who step into these rings are fighters willing to put our safety, and even our lives, on the line to win every fight, not athletes putting on an event to entertain the crowd! Besides, the rules on the 200th floor allow the use of weapons in fights, so I haven't done anything wrong!"
"My master doesn't concern himself with such trivialities! According to him, in life, every situation and enemy has unique circumstances that must be faced in different ways, so you always have to use all the resources at your disposal to achieve your objectives at all times! That's the fighting ideology he's trained me under! So don't you dare claim to know more about boss Kai than I do!" Nicholas shouts with conviction, leaving everyone watching the fight in awe.
I, for my part, shed a small tear of pride for having been able to mentor Nicholas to change his former weak-minded personality and become a man of strong beliefs.
"Kai, are you alright?" Ponzus asks somewhat worried at my side.
"Yeah, it's okay. I'm just getting a little emotional." I say wiping away the tear as Riven composes himself in the ring despite the large burn on his back.
"That sounds good to me. After all, it's true; any weapon is allowed on this floor. As a fighter, I'm not going to whine just because my opponent threw a move I wasn't expecting. It certainly seems like Kai could end up being a great master." Riven says looking between the two Nicholas with a challenging smile.
After this small debate, in the fight, Nicholas adopts a new combat strategy in which one of them approaches to physically fight Riven while the other summons firearms to shoot him from a distance, efficiently attacking from both flanks while also changing roles alternately.
However, despite his combo and Rivel's serious injuries, he continues to fight passionately without missing a beat, still overwhelming Nicholas with his powerful blows and also executing ranged attacks by transforming parts of his body, such as turning his hand into an animal's paw with shootable spikes or his neck and mouth into one that spits out strong gastric juices.
After about 15 minutes of running and fighting, the results of the intense and evenly matched fight become apparent. The ring is in pretty bad shape from the numerous attacks; both Nicholases are exhausted, dirty, and badly injured from Riven's attacks. Riven is in even worse shape, his clothes in tatters and his body more bloody and bruised than Nicholas's.
Both fighters are very exhausted, and both are very close to achieving the 10 points needed for victory, with Nicholas having 8 points and Riven 7. Their next moves could decide everything for either of them in an instant.
'I'm almost out of strength. If I try to land a physical blow, he'll probably block me and I'll lose. So it would be better to attack with my replicated doppelganger from a distance... But I don't think we have enough aura left to deal enough damage to give me a single point.' Nicholas thinks panting as he watches Riven.
'This guy has proven to be tougher than I expected. My body has lost a lot of blood, and my vision is blurring. Plus, the wounds from his weapons are quite severe, so I need to finish this quickly before I become too weak to overcome him.' Riven thinks also panting while looking between the two Nicholas.
With the air thick with suspense over who will score the next point, the Nicholases race around Riven with their Nen laptops until one of them lunges at him with the only shield not yet destroyed while the other readies a gun to fire. However, transforming his legs into those of a kangaroo, Riven for the first time in the match avoids direct confrontation and leaps at the sniping Nicholas.
At this, both Nicholas try to store their weapons back into their laptops to summon more appropriate ones, but just at this moment Riven transforms his left arm into the leg of the spiked animal and fires several Nen-charged spikes at the Nicholas he ran away from, hitting several points of his body, including his head.
Falling backward, that Nicholas begins to glow with Nen energy before vanishing into thin air. At this, Riven turns his head with a triumphant smile to look at the remaining Nicholas, who is carrying now the shield and has a worried expression.
"As I suspected, you intended to let your double do the fighting while you took me out from a distance. Now you have no one to back you up." Riven states, prompting Nicholas to try to distance himself from him. "I won't let you."
With those words, Riven launches himself at Nicholas again, switching his right arm to that of a larger red-skinned creature and launching a powerful punch at Nicholas, who despite blocking it with his Shu-empowered shield, is thrown out of the ring against one of the walls.
Before colliding, however, Nicholas flips in midair to land on his legs, fracturing the wall upon impact, and takes advantage of the position to launch himself at Riven and tackle him with his shield. Although this attack causes Riven to slide backward, he manages to grab the shield to absorb most of the impact, and upon braking, he transforms his hands and arms into those of a tiger to tear the shield and attempt to punch Nicholas.
Nicholas ducks to dodge the side punch, and Riven tries to throw another downward punch, which he also dodges by moving backwards. Nicholas then summons his laptop and tries to input a command, but Riven quickly appears above him to try to hit him again.
Nicholas dodges it again by moving to the side, but after the strike, Riven launches himself at Nicholas, transforming his head into that of a flat-headed gray-skinned creature with large fangs that sinks directly into Nicholas's right shoulder.
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!" Nicholas screams due to the strong bite that almost tore off his entire shoulder despite having used Ko.
"C-Critical hit!" The referee yells, somewhat scared byt this unexpected move.
'I'm surprised his little body resisted the bite of a Quesalcandon, which can pierce through iron. He must have truly trained his body and his Nen to achieve this level of durability. Anyway, I just need to rip the flesh off in one fell swoop and land one more hit to win.' Riven thinks as he feels Nicholas's flesh and blood on his sharp fangs.
"You should have aimed left."
Without time to understand Nicholas's statement, Riven is suddenly hit in the head on the right by another Nicholas who appears out of nowhere, releasing his grip on his shoulder and being sent bouncing off until he crash in the wall outside the ring. The real Nicholas falls to his knees, nearly losing consciousness from exhaustion and injuries, but still holding his laptop in his left hand.
"Critical point and down! With 12 points and a knockout, victory goes to Nicholas!" The referee makes the announcement, causing the stadium crowd to burst into a outstanding ovation.
Having heard the announcement of his victory, the real Nicholas falls to his knees, nearly unconscious from exhaustion and his injuries, but still clutching his laptop in his left hand. His doppelganger quickly tries to help him by tearing off the sleeve of Nicholas's shirt to bandage the bleeding wound on his shoulder. Once done, they both turn to their right, sensing Riven's Nen still active, watching as he stands up with his human nose and mouth bleeding and spitting out a tooth.
As Nicholas rises from the ground with the support of his double, Riven approaches him slowly, looking quite wounded. As he arrives right in front of him, the entire stadium falls silent in suspense, not knowing what will happen next between these two warriors, who are staring into each other's eyes.
"Given how you'd kept your double summoned at all times, I didn't imagine you could summon it again after it was destroyed. Let alone use Ko. If I hadn't had my head transformed, I would have been killed for sure." Riven says without showing discomfort or anger.
"It's important not to reveal your Nen abilities to others unless necessary. It's another lesson my master Kai taught me." Nicholas states with a proud and satisfied smile.
At Nicholas's retort, Riven lets out a pleased laugh while scratching the back of his neck. "Seriously, you and Kai are truly amazing guys. I'm sure you'll become great Floor Masters." Riven says before grabbing Nicholas's left arm that is still holding the laptop and making him raise it in a victory sign. "Enjoy the feeling of accomplishment and victory. You've earned it."
At this symbolic gesture of respect between fighters who have fought with everything they have, the audience can only scream in excitement, with commentator Cocco being no exception.
'Honestly, it would be more moving if Nicholas didn't have to keep holding his conjured laptop to keep his doppelganger summoned. But seeing the big, happy smile on Nicholas's face, I guess it's okay.' I think to myself as I clap, looking at Nicholas with that very expression in the ring.