Chapter 174: Lion vs Bear

Eric suddenly jumped toward Kai and struck him with the magic paw.

Kai wasn't a pushover and quickly slashed his paw once again with the Vibration Sword. He could see the effort of putting this translucent claws to prevent him from cutting it, but he still felt it was still lacking.

His sword was still longer than this magic paw, so Kai didn't care about this additional paw. He sliced through this paw like it was butter before reaching the real arm.

At this time, he felt danger coming in his opposite direction. However, he remained calm and waved his other sword to intercept this as he knew it was also another palm.

Eric should know that Kai would actually cut his hands again, but there was no change of expression on his face. That calm face of his brought a sense of insecurities in Kai's heart before he realized something was off.

He released his animal's aura as well and let his instinct take over while glancing at the claws back and forth.

It turned out he was right. Eric's claws suddenly grew a few centimeters, trying to stab Kai's hands.

'He must want to rupture my hands with his claws to pay me back.' Kai thought as he gritted his teeth and forcefully stopped his swords that had been swinging. It took a lot of power to stop the swing, so a few veins appeared on his skin surface.

The swords gradually slowed down while Kai finally had the time to gather enough energy on his feet and jump backward.

'It seems I have underestimated him.' Kai narrowed his eyes, staring at the slightly surprised expression on his face.

Eric obviously never expected that the person in front of him could release an animal aura. There were a few people who came to his mind, but only one could fit everything, especially on the teacher and student relationship part.

"I see. There are a few people that can hold such an aura in this base, but no one could fit the description since no one is actually the student of the Sword Maiden." Eric narrowed his eyes and released his killing intent. "You must be the first Zodiac, and without you, there is no way I will become like this!"

He had a grudge against Kai this whole time. If only Kai didn't exist, he wouldn't experience all of those pains and turned into a beast like this. If Kai failed the experiment, the Government wouldn't take this experiment from Ra's hand and conduct it on their own. This hatred had grown day by day the moment he became a beast like this, and he kept thinking, 'Everything is his fault.'

Kai had no change of expression as if those words just came in at the right ear and out of the other. He simply turned his head to Ria and shouted, "Teacher… I just feel that this Sword Maiden is more befitting as your title. Why don't you get your title updated by the Government?"

"Huh? Are you seriously talking about this right now?" Ria shouted in confusion as she kept dodging Ra's attack. "Besides, if I want to change it, I can simply do it from my house. Do you really want me to change it?"

"You can?" Kai opened his mouth in surprise.

"Of course, I can. After that, I can simply use the Government to spread the new title. It's a little embarrassing, but I can deal with it since the request comes from my student."

"Then, can I request you to change one, but not this title?"

"What do you want my title to be then?"

"Psycho!" Kai shouted as if he meant it from the bottom of his heart.

"Alright, then. I will change it!" Surprisingly, Ria didn't reject his idea and instead was eager to do it.

"Wait… What? Will you really change it?" This time, Kai was literally shocked. He had been acting this whole time to anger this bear in front of him since he felt Eric couldn't deal with this sort of thing. However, Ria's words just now completely blew his mind.

"Of course, I will change it." Ria nodded with a smile. "As I said, I can do it for my student."

Kai was slightly moved by her action. To think Ria would actually do such a thing that he thought as an embarrassment. However, everything vanished into thin air after Kai heard her next words.

"And I will act the way befitting my title. Since I'm a Psycho, I can literally come to your house, introduce myself to your parents and reveal that you are a Masochist since you asked me to kill you many times ten years ago. Out of shame, I could only hide this relationship with you for the past ten years and live alone in this base and so on. I have so many stories I can share with them." Ria shouted as if only she and Kai existed in this room.

"Please forget about everything I said earlier." Kai shuddered by the thought of it as he could feel that Ria would actually do something like this. Even if he could explain everything to his parents, they might still believe in Ria if she revealed her status. Besides, Michelle and the others could testament her as long as she threatened them a little.

"You bastard! How dare you ignore me this whole time!" Eric had been fuming in anger, looking at this duo. Kai's plan seemed to be successful as Eric finally charged at Kai with anger.

"Stop! They are baiting you!" Ra shouted, but he suddenly noticed a magic circle appeared around Kai and Eric.

This was Kai's Sound Insulation room. It released a thin layer of barrier that was capable of blocking any sound from passing through either from the outside or the inside. It was not really noticeable even for a normal person unless they squint their eyes to focus, let alone an angered Eric.

Albeit, Kai himself had actually never expected this was even possible. It seemed he had underestimated the hatred that had been built up inside Eric's heart. And he would surely not let this opportunity pass.

Raising both of his swords, Kai looked at Eric as if looking at an ant that he could crush at any moment. "You are simply an idiot. I will let you see what kind of power I, the first Zodiac, Kai Carter hold."

Kai released his Lion Aura as his eyes became slightly shrank into sharper eyes. Both Kai and Eric leaped at the same time.

Eric simply raised his two hands and struck Kai with the same move. Kai also did the same and attacked him with both swords, fully knowing that his arms would be ripped by these long claws.

Yet, Kai could still come up with a strategy, unlike the angry Eric. He suddenly let go of his swords while creating a green magic circle on each hand.

There was no sound for the contact between the magic circles and the claws, but it was easy to see that Kai had successfully stopped Eric's attack.

Although he wasn't an African Lion, he had once read material about his own animal blood, Lion Blood. At some point, he stumbled across a very old report where a Grizzly Bear killed an African Lion within a few minutes. The Grizzly Bear's paw had gone into a lion's skull, causing it to die instantly.

The reason was pretty simple. In terms of physical strength, the muscles of the African Lion were stronger than that of the Grizzly Bear. On the other hand, the Grizzly Bear was heavier, longer and taller than the African Lion. In addition, it could stand on its feet for a longer period, allowing it to gain a massive advantage of this duel.

Unfortunately, Kai was a human, and that advantage was literally gone. It might have a powerful swipe due to its body weight, but once stopped, Grizzly Bear would simply become a prey for the African Lion.

After stopping the claws and the weight behind this swipe, the magic circles dissipated as Kai grabbed Eric's two paws.

"Let go of my hands!" Eric roared, struggling to break free from Kai's grasp. He noticed that he could still push Kai away by throwing his body weight against him, but Kai also thought the same thing.

As soon as he felt the sudden change, he acrobatically leaped on top of Eric and kicked him on the back of his head, causing him to fall down to the ground.

He simply leaped once to grab his swords, ready to kill Eric.

"You bastard! I will kill you!" Eric wanted to get up, but he was pinned down by Kai's foot right on his neck. His neck was still considered as human, so one stomp from him would be enough to crush all the bones there and kill him. Yet, Kai didn't do so as if he wanted to say something.

"You are simply a moron. I don't know about the Government and their research team, but I know my Teacher well. She is not a person who will give up on you just because you have turned into a monster. She will probably cure you or kill you right away, depending on your mental state.

"I have my own investigation as well and know that she has protected every right on the subject of this experiment. The Government couldn't force someone to take the experiment if they don't want to anger her. That's why I believe they have asked you too, except since you fail to bear all those pain, you decide to blame it all on others." Kai paused for a moment and said in a cold tone. "You are pathetic. Farewell."

Kai stabbed downwards, right into his brain, albeit this time, he didn't manage to do it as he heard a cracking sound from the left, followed by his Teacher's shout.

*Crack!*

"Kai, watch out!"