A Battle-Freak Enjoys the Apocalypse

Zhan continued making casual conversation with this resident of his apartment complex who was clearly struggling.

"Don't students usually live on the university campus in their first year?"

"Mm, but I was late applying and couldn't find a space. It was really easy getting accepted into this apartment block, but…ah, the apartment block itself is really nice! It's just that I don't know anyone…"

The girl wasn't sure why she was telling Zhan all of this. Usually, she struggled just talking to new people. It's not like this man besides her looked kindhearted or easy going either. He was tall, well built and had an extremely sharp gaze that would give people chills when they first met him.

Somehow though, she felt like this man wasn't judging her, which gave her a sense of comfort.

"It's difficult meeting people, and I, well, I've never been good at making friends really…" The girl admitted, feeling a bit embarrassed.

They spoke for a while longer and Zhan came to learn that her name was Nui. He was mostly just speaking with her because he felt like it, but he also didn't mind helping out the residents of his apartment complex if he was able to do so.

However, this night was no ordinary one and their conversation was soon cut short.

"Hmm?" Zhan suddenly stood up and frowned as he felt a sense of extreme impending danger, startling Nui. She became anxious, thinking that she had said something wrong and that he was about to leave.

"Is- is everything ok?"

"No." Zhan replied, making her heart drop.

"Sorry, I-"

"Shush." Zhan spoke sharply. Nui paused. She was about to stand up, but Zhan stopped her as he put out his hand. She realised that perhaps she wasn't the problem as she saw him looking around gravely.

Ever since he exited the limousine, Zhan had been carrying with him a case. This was a long solid black case, one would assume that he was either carrying a poster, an instrument, or something else reasonable that would require such a case.

Click, click, click…

In the middle of the reception area, Zhan clicked open the case and pulled out three poles.

Click! Click! Click!

His hands moved quickly and the three poles connected together, slotting in and forming…a spear.

A full fledged, ten feet long spear.

The blade was massive, made from stainless steel and probably over a foot in length. The silver metal reflected the light in the reception, catching the attention of many passers by.

"Wh-what the hell?!" A man in a suit returning from a business meeting suddenly cried out. His cry attracted more attention and now, everyone's gazes landed on Zhan. The apartment staff quickly contacted security, then multiple staff members as well as the manager showed up.

"Shit, some crazed guy must have wandered in from the streets and pulled out a weapon! Where the hell did he find a spear in this day and age anyway?!" A security guard cursed out loud.

When Shia saw Zhan standing there in the middle of the reception hall, she was totally stunned.

"Landlord?" She couldn't help but mutter, making the staff around her freeze. The staff all knew that only the manager had ever met the landlord, but…

They turned towards the man in the centre of the room and couldn't believe it. This young guy in jeans and a black t-shirt…this guy holding a damn spear, was the landlord?!

Their employer?!

"Z-Zhan, what are you doing?" Nui gaped in shock at the rapid turn of events. She looked around anxiously and saw that they were now surrounded by security, but she soon realised something.

The security guards, none of them were stepping forwards. Some of them even carried tasers, but as they pointed their weapons at Zhan, their hands trembled and they were unable to act.

Gradually, as Zhan's gaze towards the building's front door narrowed, he released an invisible pressure. Everyone subconsciously stepped back and found that they were simply unable to act against him. Nobody seemed to realise it yet though, nobody aside from Nui. She slowly turned towards the building doors and seemed to feel a faint premonition…

BANG!

The front doors exploded inwards and screams rang out through the reception. Glass flew across the floor and everyone was left unable to react. Nui only faintly saw a blur shooting forwards towards the door, then the sound of metal on metal echoed outwards.

CLANG!

Zhan stabbed the spear at the approaching figure without even hesitating. The spear seemed to collide with something metallic and bounced away, but he didn't stop and continued to stab out again.

CHI!

This time, after stabbing lower down, he felt the spear connect.

"OHOWWW!" A howling sound echoed through the reception. The dust that was raised from the initial breaking of the apartment doors settled, Zhan could now see his opponent.

It was a wolf…sort of. This wolf had three heads and its body was enormous. Its eyes were blood shot, or at least, four of them were. Without thinking about where the hell this bizarre creature came from, Zhan stabbed the throat of one of the heads, causing it to drop, but the other two were still up and staring at him with hatred.

Ching!

Zhan still didn't even think about the absurdity of the situation, he was fully focussed on the battle itself. He quickly retracted the spear, then thrust forwards and stabbed through another neck. The wolf roared out again and leapt forwards. Its speed was much greater than Zhan predicted and he was forced to step back and block with the pole of his spear.

CLANG!

The wolf's jaws grasped onto the spear and the force of its momentum nearly sent Zhan flying back. He tensed all of his muscles and ripped the stitches in his stomach, but he had no time to care about that.

The wolf suddenly jumped up whilst still holding onto the spear, pulling Zhan up and off his feet.

Chi!

The wolf swiped at him with its claws and tore a chunk of flesh from his chest. Zhan grimaced, but forced himself to hang onto the spear. He narrowed his eyes and stared at the wolf, making eye contact and not breaking it for a moment. The wolf was taken aback by the look in Zhan's eyes, it recognised this as the look of an apex predator that wasn't afraid of any living creature…

The wolf momentarily loosened its grip on his spear. Zhan pulled the spear out from the wolf's jaw, then used his entire strength to stab upwards as his body fell to the ground.

Thump! Thump!

Two bodies hit the ground. Zhan quickly picked himself up and groaned slightly, only relaxing after he confirmed that the wolf was dead. He had stabbed it upwards through the head, though its skull was extremely thick and the spear didn't protrude out from the top.

Chi!

Zhan pulled the spear out, then used it to support his body as he squinted and stared out into the night.

Silence covered the reception area. Only Zhan's heavy breathing could be heard.

"Damn, if I wasn't already injured then no way that little dog could have injured me…" Zhan said this, but the remnants of a faint crazed smile lingered on his face as he thought back to that battle.

That battle was too exciting!

Why was it that he chose to fight in gladiatorial combat in the syndicate's notorious arena? It was for the excitement! For all of his life, Zhan found this world far too boring. This lead to him getting into trouble often as a youngster, getting into fights in highschool, breaking the law and so on…

Eventually, he realised that he needed a controlled outlet for these feelings. He joined an mma gym and often competed. For a while, that was enough for him. Fighting once every couple of months fuelled the lust for adventure within his heart, but eventually, even this wasn't enough.

One day due to some shocking matters that transpired in Zhan's life, he ended up attracting the attention of a member of the 'syndicate', the biggest criminal organisation in this massive city. He was brought into a new fighting area, one with no rules, aside from barehanded combat being a must. For a while, this was perfect for Zhan. He enjoyed the thrill and the increased risk, but eventually, even this lost its appeal.

That is until, the syndicate took notice of the fact that even after a match, he still looked bored.

And so, he was introduced to 'the arena'. The arena was a roman style gladiator ring, where competitors could choose a weapon and then fight to the death. After watching someone die before his very eyes and seeing the ecstatic look on the face of the victor…

Zhan just knew that he needed to try it.

So he did. He entered the arena six months later, after practising hard using the spear as his weapon of choice. He still remembered his first match well, he was stabbed through the shoulder, sliced across both legs, nearly decapitated, but eventually won after hastily impaling his opponent through the head.

It was brutal, it was terrifying, it was beyond extreme, but most of all, it was exactly what Zhan was searching for. After this match, the incessant boredom that had nagged at him for his entire life was finally satisfied. He felt absolutely content for a full month afterwards, he didn't even have any desire to fight again.

That life and death moment, whilst thrilling, honestly shook him to the core. He nearly died! He truly, almost died! For three months, he fully intended to never return.

However, the feeling of fear began to fade, and that ever present boredom gradually returned…

He earned 100,000 BW dollars from that single fight, enough to live well for a couple of years. This was only the lowest level of combat too, so there was really no need to push his luck again so soon, but…

Five months after his first fight, he entered again. He obviously won again since only the victor emerged alive, but this time the victory was obtained with greater ease. He spent some time examining his opponent as they fought this time, and realised that his opponent was even more afraid than himself. Zhan won the battle largely due to his greater mental stability.

He found that it wasn't just the intense rush of the battle that he enjoyed, but he actually started to develop a better understanding of himself and of the true nature of this world.

He settled into a routine, fighting every two to three months. Almost every fight left him injured in one way or another, yet he continued to rise, he continued to fight stronger opponents, earning more money with each battle.

Eventually, he was earning millions of BW dollars with every fight. His audience were now VIPs from across the world. Billionaire business leaders, presidents, royal families, all of the elites flew in from around the world to spectate on the highest level of bloody competition, of which Zhan was now considered the top competitor.

His reputation spread amongst those in the know and now, very few people dared to fight him. Anyone who had won more than 25 matches was simply a veteran after all…that was 25 times they had put their life on the line, and 25 times they had won.

Zhan never turned down a challenge, though he never fought more than once every two months and often made his challengers wait. He really had no need to continue fighting…he was rich, he even owned a massive and profitable apartment complex, whilst he was clearly the strongest out there.

But he still needed this, he still needed this thrill. Anyone willing to challenge him was also an elite near his level, so he still received injuries and even had a close call in his last match.

However, all of his most recent battles paled in comparison to the excitement he felt facing off against this monstrous hound.

A three headed wolf showed up out of nowhere, a creature that needed to be killed three times, a creature with greater physical strength than himself, one that could use its paw to tear out the flesh from his chest!

How exhilarating!

Everyone around looked on in disbelief, but only Nui and Shia dared to look at Zhan's expression. They were both stunned.

"Is he…smiling?"