The fight had come to an end, and unlike Joe’s match, there wasn’t a stunned and uneasy silence afterward. Instead, the rooftop erupted with cheers, shouts, and laughter. A decent portion of the spectators had placed bets on Wolf, and their excitement filled the air like a wave of electric relief.
"What did I tell you?" one of the guests boasted loudly, standing and pointing both thumbs at himself. "What did I tell you?! Next time I win, you can suck my toes!"
His friend groaned dramatically and covered his face with both hands.
"Well, if you keep losing money," someone else chimed in, laughing, "he might actually have to suck toes just to earn some of it back!"
More laughter. More celebration. Drinks were being raised, glasses clinking. Money had been won, and in this world, even if only for a moment, that made everything feel right.
But out of everyone present, the one who felt the most satisfaction wasn’t a gambler at all.
It was Wolf.
He stood near the pit with his hands loosely at his sides, looking down at his knuckles with a serious expression. His breathing was steady. His heartbeat barely elevated. His eyes weren’t shining with adrenaline. Instead, there was focus, calculated and almost scientific.
’I had a guess about what my vow unlocked,’ Wolf thought, clenching and unclenching his fist. ’But I couldn’t really test it before. Not properly. Now I’m sure. The vow has increased my mind’s capability.’
It was such a subtle power that a normal person might not notice it at all. Even someone with good instincts might assume they were just "having a good day." But Wolf noticed. Wolf always noticed.
He analyzed people like puzzles. He analyzed fights like equations. And the moment an equation changed, he felt it.
His body didn’t feel any stronger. His muscles weren’t bigger. His punches didn’t hit any harder than before. His stamina felt the same. His speed felt the same. Even his reaction speed, when he consciously measured it, seemed unchanged.
So at first he doubted himself. He wondered if he was imagining things. Maybe the feeling he had when he made his vow had been nothing more than emotional hype.
But the more he tested it... the more he paid attention... the clearer it became.
It wasn’t his body that had evolved.
It was his mind.
With just a glance, he could estimate a person’s weight, their reachable striking distance, their posture stability. With a moment’s observation, he could feel how confident they were, how tightly they held their shoulders, how quickly they would commit to a strike.
And these weren’t just random instincts, he could tell, undeniably, that he did not have this ability before.
It was even clearer during combat. The signs before a punch, the faint shift of the hip, the subtle tilt of the shoulder, the eyes tracking where the strike would go, Wolf saw it all with perfect clarity.
His reaction speed hadn’t increased... but now he simply moved sooner.
It was like reading a book while the words were still being written.
Even better, he could see weaknesses.
Old injuries revealed themselves through guarded movement. A fighter favoring one side of their body. A step too light, too protective, too cautious.
Combat styles, too, just a few moves and Wolf had the pattern. He knew where they thought they were safe. The places their instincts pulled them back to. The angle they expected to be attacked from.
All of it played directly into his natural, instinctive brawling style, built not in a dojo, but on concrete, back alleys, and gang wars.
That was exactly how he had defeated Rock, fast and efficiently.
No wasted movement. No brute force.
Just precision.
’It’s a power I’m really going to enjoy the more I use it,’ Wolf thought, smiling faintly. ’And it’s going to help others too. My supporting grade has just gone up to S-grade, if I do say so myself.’
He jumped up, grabbed the ledge of the pit with one hand, and effortlessly pulled himself up and over. His feet landed lightly, and he rolled his shoulders as if he hadn’t just finished a fight at all.
What he liked the most about this ability was how invisible it was.
If someone looked at Joe, they could tell that kid was physically trained. If someone watched Max, they could sense the pressure in the air shifting around him.
But Wolf?
No one would notice a thing.
He looked like a street brawler with good instincts. Only Wolf and a handful of others would ever know he was something more than human.
"You did a good job out there," Joe said, walking beside him with an excited grin. "But you still won’t tell me what your vow unlocked... or even what your vow actually was."
Wolf smirked, shoving his hands back into his pockets.
"I guess telling you what I can do is fine," he replied casually. "Since I figured out what yours is already."
Joe almost tripped.
"You did !?" he said, voice jumping in shock. "Wait, seriously?"
"Pretty obvious," Wolf said. "At least to me. But your vow? Let’s say this, if either of us loses our fight, we tell the other everything. Deal?"
Joe nodded, and then frowned.
"And what if we don’t lose?" he asked. "What if we win every fight they throw at us?"
Wolf flashed a grin that looked like it belonged on a wolf more than a boy.
"Well, then we did an amazing job. And we did exactly what Max asked of us. Right?"
Joe stared for a second... then grinned back.
"Right."
Across the rooftop, Chad was vibrating from excitement. His knees bounced. His hands wouldn’t stop tapping on the armrest. He kept grinning like a man who had discovered a secret cheat code to life.
Yes, technically, the money wasn’t going directly into his bank account, but winning still felt good.
And for once, being forced to only bet on Wolf and Joe felt like a blessing. It stopped him from making stupid bets. It made him feel like he was beating the Black Hounds by knowing something other people didn’t.
"This is great, this is amazing!" Chad said under his breath, unable to stop smiling. "We can double this hundred million at least!"
He looked like a villain who had just found the button that made the stock market explode.
But that bright, delighted smile didn’t go unnoticed.
Vivian watched him from across the room, her eyes narrowing slightly.
’Just what is going on?’ she wondered. ’He has only made two bets... and both were on those two fighters. It can’t be random. He knows something.’
She tapped her fingers slowly and stared harder.
’It makes me wonder if this entire situation is going to turn bad...’