CHAPTER 2 — The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Brutus attacked again.
Faster.
Harder.
More violent than before.
Hooks.
Elbows.
Knees.
Every strike carried enough force to knock out an ordinary man.
Yet Ethan moved like water.
He never wasted energy.
Never smiled.
Never even looked nervous.
Each dodge was only inches away from disaster, as though he had memorized Brutus's movements years ago.
The audience stopped cheering.
Now they simply stared.
One old inmate frowned.
"I've seen that footwork before..."
Another prisoner answered with trembling lips.
"Impossible."
"That fighting style disappeared ten years ago."
Brutus finally landed a glancing punch that split Ethan's eyebrow.
Blood rolled down his face.
The crowd roared.
"There it is!"
"Finish him!"
Brutus grabbed Ethan by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
"So much for your miracle."
"You should've stayed buried."
Those words changed everything.
Ethan froze.
Not because of the chokehold...
But because Brutus had accidentally revealed something no one should have known.
Buried.
Only three people knew Ethan had officially been declared dead eight years earlier.
The prison warden.
The judge.
And the man responsible.
Ethan slowly smiled for the first time.
"So..."
"You remember me."
Brutus's face instantly lost all color.
His grip weakened.
"No..."
"No... that's impossible."
"I watched them bury you."
Ethan twisted free with one impossibly fast movement.
CRACK!
Brutus hit the ground so hard the entire arena shook.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The undefeated prison king...
Had just been knocked down by a man the government believed was dead.
As Brutus struggled to breathe, Ethan leaned down and whispered something only he could hear.
"I didn't come here to win a fight."
"I came to find the man who sold my life."
Brutus's terrified eyes slowly turned toward the prison balcony.
Someone else...
Someone far more powerful...
Had been watching the entire fight from the darkness.
And the moment Ethan followed Brutus's gaze...
He recognized the silhouette.
May you like
The person sitting in that chair...
Was the one who had signed his death certificate.
