One after the other after the other, lately it felt like no matter what news channel, or where one looked, articles online and even on the streets, it seemed like everyone was talking about Gary Dem.
The AFC had been pretty stagnant in their eyes, to the point where the lower-ranked matches were more exciting for them, as they were seeing people come up and contests between two undefeated records would go at it.
With the top-ranking positions though, next to none of them changed. Harvor had already beaten several of them, and the position seemed to be held stable. Once in a while, someone would come up, and they would either fall before reaching Harvor or would fail at Harvor, which was pretty much granted.
Yet it was the first time that someone had been publicly calling out Harvor, declaring that they would take him down, and the match that Gary had taken part in had shown great strength.
People were cutting the videos together of Gary delivering a blow right to his opponent's stomach, and then cutting it with his speech over. They were making it overly dramatic as they had voice-overs of Gary's voice booming out as he took down his opponent.
Not only that, but true to his word as well, the next day he had another appointment. Gary had entered the same arena as last time. Although they had no problem selling tickets before, the outside of the stadium was packed with people as well.
Now he was going up against the rank 32 opponent in the AFC. Altered's recoveries were fast, but Gary hadn't even been injured from the last fight.
His opponent's name was announced, and when Gary's name was announced before entering the ring this time, it was thunderous. He couldn't make out anything, and even his focus was broken by the sheer amount of noise that was just washing him out.
"This noise," Gary thought as he looked out. "Are they cheering from outside of the stadium as well?"
Noticing it for the first time, Gary had no idea what was going on. To him, this was just a plan. Entering the AFC, part of the plan to take out Harvor. Getting supporters behind his back, it wasn't part of his plan so it didn't matter if it happened or not.
Shaking off the feeling, he had entered the ring, the bell rang indicating the fight had started, and a long limb came out. Gary had avoided it, moving his head and grabbing the man's wrist. Then with a pull, he had yanked the man's body towards him and with a powerful fist Gary crashed it deep into his face.
He dragged his fist with the man's body, making him crash into the canvas below rather than the cage. The man's body bounced and part of the cage was seen sinking into the floor. A powerful hit and the fight was over.
"It's strong but not as strong as Harvor's hit, this isn't enough... I keep needing to get stronger."
[A powerful Altered has been defeated. 8945 exp has been gained]
Although Gary couldn't eat his Altered opponents he faced in the ring to gain strength, there was still one thing the system was rewarding him for and it was winning these fights, and maybe if he won enough of them, he would be even stronger when facing Harvor.
At the end of the match, Gary made the same declaration again in his victory, and he moved on to the next day. Raising in strength of his opponent again, this time reaching the high rank 20's, and he bested them in a single move, without having the need to transform.
Now people were wondering, Gary might be the person to take out Harvor. It was no longer just an interesting fight or a grudge match. They were starting to see with each fight that Gary was the real deal.
At the White Rose base, they were also keeping track of everything that had occurred so far. Every detail, and all of the focus.
Don sat there with a tablet in his hand, as he watched everything that was coming in.
"Haha, he did it, he really caused a large distraction and this is much bigger than we thought. If he gets the fight, the whole world will be focused on what's happening," Don claimed.
Which meant, he now needed to be ready with the White Rose to make a move.
"Harvor... how long... how long until you make your move? Is it us that's holding you back, the current investigation, or what?"
---
The day after, and Gary continued his streak; he had now had four matches, and each one of them was won in a similar fashion to the last. It was always a single hit, and always calling out Harvor after the match.
After winning the match, the fans who watched went on to write about it, and since there was no response from Harvor, the support he had was turning into hate.
"What is going on, why isn't Harvor saying anything? Before, he's at least said he would wipe the floor with them."
"Right, could it be that Harvor is actually scared this time, scared of an opponent?"
"You guys are exaggerating, Harvor has beaten a lot more skillful people than Gary Dem. He's not scared; it's just not worth his time."
"Ah, a true Harvor stan. I'm telling you, just like Gary said, the crown has to be removed from someone's head at some point, and this could be the time. Either way, he can't avoid Gary forever."
"Gary's next fight is with someone in the high teens! If Harvor doesn't accept he'll reach rank 1 at this rate."
And with that, Gary had won his fifth fight, in the same fashion as the rest.
Harvor, staying in his home, had seen the result, and placed his phone down, and after took off his sunglasses as well.
"He's been making an awful lot of noise, yet has no idea what is happening," Harvor smiled. "Send the message to Gary... let's see if he will accept our offer."
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