68 BRUTAL FACE-OFF

The enemy, as apparent in Hardy's eyes, got dispatched rearward, and four blood-bathed teeth flew up into the air.

Everything went dark for a moment as a stinging pain tortured Lirzod's head, and he crashed into the wall and later landed on all fours. Blood flooded his mouth so much that none of his teeth were visible, and his entire mouth looked cherry-red as if his tongue had been cut. The sharp, cutting pain in the flesh of the upper jaw, especially around the missing teeth worsened his every other sense. With a blurry vision, he looked around to defend himself while swallowing all the blood down the throat, and as he stood straight, his chest rose with an abrupt intake of breath.

Even though many men in the hall felt great irritation in their eyes, and some even coughed blood thanks to the dark mist, Lirzod was unaware of such things. There was just too much thick, rowdy mist around him, swirling about aimlessly, and it kept him on his toes.

"It's very good of you—not staying down!"

A muffled voice came from Lirzod's right, and he jumped to his left almost immediately. A hulking fist appeared out of nowhere, skewering through the mist, but it stopped short. A moment later, it slipped back into the mist and emerged again at the same spot with increased speed, but it went too far to the right as Lirzod rolled away; however, with a full swing of the arm, Hardy attacked before Lirzod could stop his momentum. And this time, the strike was on-target, for all Lirzod could do was watch as a forearm came booming at his face. Though he blocked the attack with his forearm, the impact made his arm bang into his own face, and the next thing, his sight went blurry as if he was drowning into the depths of darkness. As he fell to his back, he forcibly snapped his mouth shut and regained light in his eyes and did his best to stay on his feet.

The mist around him kept moving again at a remarkable speed, and he could somewhat hear someone's footsteps, but he couldn't pinpoint the location. His senses were not working well, for only pain flooded his head. After sucking in a deep breath, he ran straight.

Hardy, who wasn't far away from him, was thrilled to bits. (Running straight toward the wall. Certified fool by Hardy's deduction. This battle ends now after Hardy decorates the wall with your defeated self!)

Without waiting, Hardy was at Lirzod's heels, and just as the boy got close enough to the wall, Hardy unleashed his punch, but to his surprise, Lirzod ran up the wall only momentarily, then hurtled off the wall, flipped in midair and axed his heel onto Hardy's head.

BAM~~!!

Hardy's knees gruffly kissed the harsh wooden floor and served it a plash of rufous drink. He didn't make out any ache for all that. Though he tried to grab Lirzod, the boy straight away jumped out of his reach.

Hardy stood with a bit of an effort.

Lirzod frowned a bit. (Tch, the kick wasn't good enough, but the ceiling doesn't let me jump any higher. What should I do?)

Hardy stared at Lirzod whose mouth was fully covered in blood, and droplets of saliva dripped down the chin like that of a mad dog. All the mist in the vicinity cleared off and brought them into clear view. "Why struggle so much when your defeat is inevitable? Victory eludes whoever Hardy sees as his enemy. For you to still be toiling about like a wounded puppy, you can't be thinking you can win against Hardy, do you?"

"Regardless of what I think... Everything in life comes when it needs to come. Victory or defeat—I just try to enjoy them for what they are," Lirzod's voice sounded somewhat unclear because he had four missing upper teeth. "If you truly think you can best me, then cut the crap and come at me, unless your head is hurting so much that you lost your sense of direction."

A corner of Hardy's mouth curled up. After all, it was Lirzod who had lost his sense of direction for some time during the fight. Sporting an evil grin, Hardy charged straight at Lirzod,"Nobody has ever made me smile in the middle of a fight. As thanks, I shall break your nose and see how good of a blood-fall[1] you will create."

"Go try scaring a chicken with that mouth!" Lirzod lunged forth, swinging his fist wildly.

Both fists met in a reverberating boom and then resumed to attack each other with uncommon aggression. Whatever the mist left around them got blasted away from the thundering shockwaves their clash constructed.

The dark mist in the hall eventually escaped through the windows and other exits, and the crowds, whoever was still in the hall, were finally able to see them both fight once again, and even though their surroundings were somewhat hazy, in their eyes, Lirzod never stood a chance from the first exchange of the fists to the most recent. Hardly totally seemed imperious.

"My eyes are burning. Kick that nasty pig in the nuts!"

"Yeah, he's surprisingly fast for his size. You can't beat him fair and square!"

"But he is making fighting that monster look easy."

"Don't be silly. He's clearly struggling."

"My lungs are on fire. Beat him before he unleashes that ghastly mist again."

Though some men escaped the hall in pain, a few men stood and shouted, but they were too distant for their voices to have any impact on the ongoing battle.

Jehez, on the other hand, had an indescribable look on his face as he gaped around, close to panic. "My hall…" The rubble was all that remained of the cat home, and as for the cat ring, there weren't even traces left of it because the storm had swept the whole sod away.

With gyroidal, foggy winds and the knapping of the knuckle collisions composing music for their fight, Lirzod and Hardy persevered in breaking the opponent's nerve.

"Your head must already be spinning and aching, but Hardy can't go easy on you," Hardy said, putting more strength into his punches. "Your irritated face just makes Hardy want to punch harder."

"If the struggle for success gives a headache," Lirzod kept backing away while defending himself from the raining punches, "it's a pretty good headache to have."

"Heh, you're thinking about success while still holding on to that cat? Let me take care of that for you!" Hardy targeted his attack at Lirzod's left hand, but Lirzod's knee finely crunched into Hardy's wrist from below, causing him to pull back his arm at once.

"Did I tap a vein?" Lirzod raised his brows as if teasing his foe.

Hardy's brows squinted a little. He hadn't voluntarily pulled his hand, for it had come back all it by itself. "Ah, you did, and you'll pay for it dearly." All the mist in the hall over-hastily converged and shrouded his body, particularly his forearm, and his voice also gradually faded out, "My fist only hardens from making my foes bleed fear, especially against insufferably insolent imbeciles."

Lirzod narrowed his eyes. "Insufferably insolent imbeciles huh, which means your fist works best against yourself."

"I was talking about you, you imbecile!" A resentful voice leaked out from the mist which moved in a way so that Hardy's voice could be heard clearly, "If you are seeking death, then I'll give it to you."

Lirzod squinted his eyes further. (There it is—the ability to control the mist around him. Looks like he needs some interval between two usages. I'll get through this one and get him next. Mm?)

Hardy pulled back his arm while keeping it straight. For a moment, Lirzod couldn't see the entire arm, but when Hardy's groaning reached his ears, he reckoned something was coming.

Hardy suddenly swung his arm sideways as if it were a whip, and the momentum almost tumbled the big guy. "Naga Storm!" A ghastly figure made of mist grew increasingly visible and bigger as it snaked through the air and blasted straight through Lirzod, simmering him as it swept him away in a crazy fashion.

A burning sensation clutched Lirzod's stomach and lungs. The wind was too hot and too strong that he couldn't even breathe, and to the onlookers, he was caught by a long, misty snake which moved like a storm much wilder than the one Hardy had unleashed earlier; however, it seemed like Hardy was controlling this attack. The temperature in its proximity also grew enough to be felt by some of the spectators.

Hardy swayed his hand to the left and then to the right, and the storm dementedly smashed Lirzod to the walls and the floor, and with each collision with the obstacles, the storm's magnitude dwindled. By the time the snake-like storm has reduced in its size significantly, Lirzod held on to a crack in the wall, and though he couldn't shake it off as it kept pressing him against the wall, he was able to last out.

Soon after the storm died out, Lirzod fell to the floor on three limbs, puffing crazily and seemed so out of breath.

Seeing Lirzod do belly breathing on the floor, Hardy had raised eyebrows as he proceeded toward the boy. "You are still conscious after taking my Naga Storm head on? It's been a while since Hardy met someone who didn't faint after taking that attack. It seems Hardy has miscalculated your base capabilities." A faint smile formed on his face, and a bead of sweat surfaced on the forehead. "But, Hardy's sure that cat's probably already kicked the bucket."

Disquieted from hearing those words, Lirzod brought the cat near his ear to hear for any sign of life, but he picked up nothing.

"It's time you throw that thing away and fight Hardy with all you got!" Hardy's voice rang in Lirzod's ears even though he was speaking normally.

Lirzod clenched his hand and roared, "If anything happens to this cat, you'll regret ever hurting it!" Saying that he turned and dashed away, startling Hardy.

"Showing me your fleeing skills, are you? How lizardly!" Hardy evilly grinned. "But I've never heard of a lizard that tries to save a cat, and do you really think you can escape from Hardy?" he went hot on Lirzod's heels.

Since there wasn't much mist around anymore as much as before, everyone could fairly see what was taking place, but they stood still, not at all eager to help the boy.

As Lirzod headed for an exit of the hall, he came across Mikey. "You are that sweeper!"

"I'm an assistant referee!" Mikey barked and then murmured to himself. "But yes, I clean the cat room." Mikey felt a bit down-hearted because back when Lirzod had entered the cat home, he found Mikey sweeping the room, so he couldn't blame anyone but himself now. "Look at your face. It looks like shit."

"Hey, get this cat some immediate help," Lirzod put the cat in his arms.

"W-What?" Mikey's eyes bulged out, "You want me to draw attention from that freak over there? No freaking way! Besides, why should I even take care of this cat?"

Lirzod paused a moment before taking out something from his pocket. "Here, you can keep this."

"Eh, what's this? An egg?" Mikey had a displeased look. "You think I'll change my mind for a stupid egg?"

"No, that's a special egg."

"Special? Did it come out from the mouth or what?"

"I don't really remember," Lirzod hurried his words, "but the needle-nosed guy said something about it. I'm sure it'll be of some use. You are not injured anywhere, right?"

"No, why?"

"Then why are you still here?" Lirzod groaned. "Go."

"Y-Yeah," Given that Hardy was coming straight in his direction, the last thing Mikey wanted was to stay in Hardy's path. He wasted no time and hurried off from the spot.

Lirzod also took off in a different direction while keeping his eye on Hardy who seemed rather slow, thanks to the wound that Murugan left him with on one of his legs. Lirzod frowned a bit for having not realized that sooner because there was mist all around him before, so he couldn't see which state Hardy was in, but now he got a better picture. "Someone's too fat to follow my footsteps."

Though the discomfort was apparent on his face, Hardy held back his urge to shout back and smirked instead. "Heh, who said Hardy's after you?"

Lirzod's eyes broadened, and his feet slid into a halt as he saw Hardy go after Mikey.

"W-Wait!" Lirzod immediately changed his course.

Hardy furtively glanced back at Lirzod. (That's right. Hardy will get both the cat and lizard in one go. Two rats with one trap.)

Mikey, who was oblivious to what was happening, was under the impression that he was free from danger. He looked at Leggy which was unconscious and looked ugly from losing all its hair, "Why this cat? There's nothing special about it." He bit his lips, "It happened on the spur of the moment, but why did I listen to that guy's request even after sold me out to the watchdog?" As Mikey was in two minds, the increasing sound of footsteps reached his ears. "Hm?" When he turned his head back, Hardy was right behind him, and it almost stopped his heart.

"Hand over the cat, or get hit to hell!" Though Hardy said that, he gave no time for Mikey to respond, and a punch to his back sent him crashing to the floor. His eyes instantly whitened, and the cat fell not too far away from him. An egg bounced on the floor multiple times and stopped by Hardy's feet. He pressed it under the foot, but to his surprise, it didn't break. Intrigued, he picked it up into his hand and then went straight for the cat, "I wonder it if screams as I stomp it to death." Though Hardy wanted to jump, there wasn't enough gap between him and the ceiling, so he had to scuttle over to the feline. After coming to a halt, he raised his leg and plummeted his foot onto the unconscious cat.

A blurry figure came whizzing by and booted the cat away but got caught underneath the foot in consequence.

BA DUM~~!!

A wicked beam took over Hardy's countenance as his opponent, of their own accord, ended up under his foot. After stomping a few more times, Hardy balled his fist as he stared down at his bloodied foe. "You maybe graceful enough to use just one arm against Hardy, but Hardy's not!" Hardy's fist trounced Lirzod like a tremendous crash of thunder. A successive rain of thunder-fists followed, with each thunder-fist hammering down without mercy and squashed Lirzod's body. The booming sounds trembled the onlookers' souls.

"Does he want to kill that kid?" Jehez had a look of disbelief. "Surely, none in their right mind would do such a thing on this ship."

As the dust settled and the rubble stopped bouncing and vibrating, Hardy was huffing and puffing, with his fist and bits of his forearm blanketed by blood.

Lying at his feet was Lirzod rested inertly in a pool of his lifeblood. One of his eyes were swollen shut into blackness, but the other was partly open and looked undaunted. Though he tried to move, he could barely feel his arms but couldn't feel his torso at all.

With his back still parallel to the floor and Lirzod's face within arm's reach, Hardy took in a deep breath while his eyes looked like that of a beast and lacked humanness. "You might have boarded this ship with certain perception, but you are not fit to walk a martial's path if you can't even expect the expectable things much less expect the unexpected. You should have stayed home like a house gecko, but because you didn't, you brought this on yourself. This is it. This is where a lizard's journey—"

Bloody spittle flew into Hardy's face and sprayed all over before he could even react.

Dozens of Hardy's brain cells perished as he stood straight and didn't even bother to rub his face. Instead, his fist gained an unusual amount of redness as his fingernails almost dug into the egg inside the palm.

At the same time, a red-haired girl arrived at the entrance, sweating all over, but what she witnessed numbed her momentarily. "Lirzod!" she hastened toward him there and then.

"Good day. Goodbye…" Hardy's fiery fist rapidly fell onto Lirzod's chest. "Hardy Hit!"

...........

[1] Bloodfall: The shower of blood falling from someone's face is known as bloodfall. This word was taken from a sport, named Bloodfall itself, where the victor would be the one who produced the best bloodfall on their opponent(s) faces.