Chapter 24: Porcupine

The arena announcer's voice boomed over the crowd. "Next up, let us welcome back to the ring the undefeated newcomer, Kid Hacker, and his challenger, the prickly veteran, Porcupine, for what is sure to be a wonderful and pointedly vicious duel!"

Ethan turned to his friends. "It's finally my turn again. Porcupine? Isn’t that the same guy who was competing just now, the one who skewered that wolf-guy?"

Seraphina nodded, her eyes focused on the stage. "Correct. Based on the available fight data and what we just saw, his ability is a porcupine beastification. He can release a large number of sharp, psionically-charged quills to attack, and he's very fast on the initial draw. From what I observed before, when he was about to be hit, the quills on his body weren't embedded very deep, which suggests his power is likely limited to the initial burst and that he can't sustain a prolonged barrage. Also," she added, her tone serious, "he'll almost certainly aim for vital parts like your eyes and throat. You need to be very, very careful, Ethan."

Ethan grinned confidently under his mask. "Relax, Seraphina. No matter how fast he is, can he really be faster than my XLR8?"

Ethan arrived at the ring entrance, quickly signed the digital life-and-death waiver, and paid his entry fee in credits. He then walked onto the stage with a confident stride. On the stage, a man with a garish green mohawk and a particularly sinister-looking, sneering face saw him come up and immediately made a threat, his voice a low growl.

"Heh, little brat, I advise you to obediently admit defeat right now. Otherwise, the quills on this old man's body are not so kind to newcomers."

Ethan just chuckled, his modulated voice calm. "A half-filled bottle of water—clangs the loudest!" he retorted with an old Earth saying.

Porcupine’s sneer faltered. "What did you just say!?"

"I'm saying you're half-baked," Ethan clarified coolly. "Only good at bluffing and making a lot of noise."

Hearing Ethan's direct provocation, Porcupine's anger began to burn visibly. His whole face was even contorted with rage, his fists clenching at his sides. It was clear that this was a person who couldn't control his emotions, a fatal flaw in any fighter. "Very good, little brat," he seethed. "You have successfully, royally, angered me. Next, I won't give you even a single chance to admit defeat!"

Ethan just tilted his head. "Then what if I admit defeat before the match even starts?"

Porcupine stared, speechless. “……” He hadn't expected Ethan to say that at all. This one nonchalant sentence made his carefully stoked anger burn even hotter, turning into pure, sputtering frustration. It seemed Porcupine was genuinely afraid that Ethan would forfeit before the match began, robbing him of his vengeance. He hurriedly spun around and shouted at the referee platform above, "Hey! What are you waiting for?! Hurry up and start the match! How long are you going to delay?!"

The referee, with a roll of his eyes, announced, "I declare, let the match begin!"

Porcupine instantly began to activate his beastification ability. Sharp, thick quills continuously emerged from his back and arms, and his whole body gradually began to hunch over and transform into the likeness of a humanoid porcupine. He was transforming at a rather fast speed. However, it wasn't faster than Ethan. Ethan, who had his hand hidden casually in the sleeve of his robe, had already pressed the face of his Omnitrix. He instantly transformed into the blur of XLR8, zipped to Porcupine's side in a nanosecond, and delivered a powerful kick, sending him flying across the stage.

Because his transformation was forcibly interrupted mid-process, the circulation of his psionic energy was also violently stopped. A large amount of Aura rampaged chaotically within his body, and Porcupine, crashing to the ground, directly spat out a mouthful of blood, his system in shock.

Ethan, as XLR8, lifted his leg, wanting to deliver another kick and send him straight out of the ring to end the match quickly. But Porcupine, with a desperate roar, suddenly opened his eyes. The green mohawk on his head stiffened and then transformed into a large number of sharp, needle-like quills, which shot directly towards Ethan’s face. XLR8's faceplate easily protected his face from the unexpected attack, but these quills weren't just aimed at his face; they were aimed in a wide cone at his entire upper body. Left with no other choice, Ethan could only let go of his offensive and dodge back into the distance to avoid being peppered with the projectiles.

Porcupine staggered to his feet and wiped the fresh blood from the corner of his mouth. At this moment, there was no longer any hair on his head; his scalp was shiny and bright, and it could even reflect the harsh lights of the arena. "Damn it," he gasped, "I was almost tricked by you, you little brat! Luckily, this old man is always one step ahead."

Ethan, as XLR8, just chirped, "Hehe! Sorry, I didn't do it on purpose. If you were always bald, it would be fine. The main thing is you just had a full head of impressive green hair, and now… well… hehehe!"

Porcupine's face flushed with a furious anger and turned a deep beet red. His fists were clenched so tightly together his knuckles were white. "Damn bastard! You dare laugh at me!" This time, he didn't care about the cost to his body. He forcefully circulated the psionic energy in his body at high speed and, in an instant, completed his beastification. After fully transforming into a humanoid porcupine, he crouched low on the ground, contracted his body, and a large number of sharp, menacing quills were exposed on his back and shoulders.

Then, he activated his psionic skill. The sharp quills on his body shot towards Ethan like a biological Gatling gun, a dense, whistling barrage of spikes. "Tch, how annoying!" Ethan thought, seeing the attack. He could only continuously dodge around the stage, his incredible speed his only defense. Although his speed was phenomenal, the volley of quills was too dense, a literal wall of projectiles, and he simply could not get close to his opponent. On the contrary, he had to stay far away from him, because he knew that the farther away he was, the larger the gaps between the individual quills would be as they spread out, giving him more space to maneuver and dodge.

While dodging, Ethan glanced at his opponent's body and, just as Seraphina had theorized, found that the number of quills on Porcupine's body seemed to be visibly decreasing; it didn't look like they regenerated automatically after each shot. "Alright then," Ethan thought, a new strategy forming, "let's just keep dragging this out. Anyway, all I need to do is keep running around, and I'd like to see where you get so much psionic energy to continuously restore the quills on your body, especially after I injured you."

Sure enough, after about three minutes of this relentless barrage, the number of quills being shot by his opponent visibly, drastically, decreased. In fact, under normal circumstances, he probably could have lasted much longer. It was just that because Ethan had interrupted his transformation earlier, his internal psionic energy was still in turmoil, and he had suffered significant internal injuries. Then, he had panicked and forcibly unleashed a massive number of quills in a desperate attempt to win, which quickly caused him to become exhausted.

"Hehe," XLR8 chirped, seeing his chance. "Next up, I believe it's my round." Ethan’s own Aura erupted, and his speed instantly rose another level. He dodged expertly through the now much sparser gaps between the quills, arriving at a spot not far from the panting Porcupine. Although he was now very close, and the gaps between the few remaining quills were also correspondingly small, Ethan's own attack speed was not just for show.

His two sharp claws merged into solid points, and his hands moved in a blur, rapidly knocking away all the final, unavoidable quills. Then he arrived right next to Porcupine's body. Although Porcupine's body surface was still covered everywhere with sharp, defensive quills, XLR8's claws were made of incredibly dense alien bone and were not afraid of being stabbed at all. He directly grabbed the beast-man and, with his surprising strength, lifted him up as if grabbing a spiky bowling ball, spun him around a few times, and then threw him out of the ring with all his might.

"Damn it! You bastard, you just wait for me!" Porcupine screamed as he flew through the air. In his high-speed rotation, he couldn't control his body at all and could only watch helplessly as he was unceremoniously thrown from the stage, landing in a heap below.

The referee raised his arm. "In this match, Kid Hacker is victorious!"

His record on the large electronic screen above the stage immediately changed to: Kid Hacker: 2 matches / 2 wins / 0 losses. The familiar, chaotic cheers erupted from the stands again. After a match ends in The Gauntlet, there will always be some people ecstatic because they won a pile of credits, and some people will be devastated because they just went bankrupt. Ethan paid them no heed. He came to the ringside and collected his prize money from a staff member. A base prize of 50,000 credits, and a thirty percent share of the betting pool prize, which came to about 40,000 credits this time. He hadn't bet on himself to win in this match, so he "only" earned ninety-something thousand credits.

But this was also a very large sum of credits. Without needing to buy any more resources for the time being, it was enough for him to live very well for a long time.

After Ethan's match ended, next up on the schedule was Marcus and Seraphina's two-on-two team match. Their opponents this time were quite special. One of them held a gleaming saber, the other a sharp, thin sword. It looked like they both had metal-type psionic abilities, or at least psionic gear that allowed them to manifest such weapons.

The referee’s voice boomed. "I declare, let the match begin!"

Marcus immediately activated his muscle strengthening, and Seraphina, her hands glowing, applied both the powerful Defensive Aura buff and a new layer of Bedrock Armor to him. At the same time, she also put a set on herself for protection. Both of them were already at their peak fighting condition. The two opponents, with their weapons gleaming, charged towards Marcus, who they correctly identified as the bigger threat. Marcus, not showing any weakness, roared and charged towards them as well, while at the same time carefully observing their steps, seeing if they had any intention of trying to flank him and get to Seraphina. The battle was on.