He keeps talking about returning alive, and that's really forboding.
On another note, are we ever going to see that red-head girl from the first series? The one who was Cestvs' romantic interest? The plot as devolved into just fight after fight without much history and no non-fighting character development.
@Varler Yeah, just like the end of the prequel the author went a little overboard, just now not with the politics but with the fights. I hope its like this only because its still the early stage of the tournament. I mean. This is only the second round and after this there's gonna be the all rounders tournament. If red-head girl heard, or jost now hearing about the competition she has plenty of time to appear.
If i can make a prediction storywise: I'm pretty sure soon some idiots gonna start to make schemes, which are gonna anger the not-so-perceft-minded Nero and thats where we can follow with the foreshadowed darker part of the story.
@Varler
The author needed some way to involve Cestvs with the German Guard again, so he could face Adonis and redisunite with Ruska. He's also become too strong to have many interesting fights with random boxers they find along the way. It's also a good hook for following arcs: say for example (as pure conjecture, of course, this is in no way a spoiler) that he and his trainer leave an impression on the Greek champion, who invites them, and perhaps the whole troupe, over to Greece to train and compete, something which couldn't happen unless they were brought together in some way. Zafar's trained had a reason to show up as well, and who knows what fighter he'll attach himself to? This arc opens up all kinds of possibilities, and the fights are blessedly short for a tournament arc.