Chapter 98 - 98- Talon Vs Chin-Hwa (Part 1)

When Chin-Hwa disappeared, Talon finally turned around, only to see Hyun-Jae standing in front of him. She had a visible frown on her face as she looked at him.

"Why did you accept that?" She asked, clearly not agreeing with what he did. She wanted to reprimand Talon for his decision, but, she assumed that he had a good reason why he accepted.

But, Talon didn't immediately reply as he thought for a second. "Hmm, if I didn't accept, I'm sure he would've kept bugging me till I accepted. He had 'that' kind of look on his face after all." Talon shrugged.

"That kind of look?" Hyun-Jae tilted her head confusedly.

"Yeah, the look of someone that made up his mind. He wasn't joking when he said this means everything to him... Whatever that means." Talon replied.

He had no idea why this spar meant everything to Chin-Hwa, but his guts told him that the cold prince wasn't lying about it, and that made Talon even more interested in this fight. Chin-Hwa was just the oddest human he ever met till this point.

"Sigh..." Hyun-Jae sighed as she rubbed her temples. "Why is he acting like this...?" She murmured to herself.

"Act like that? Wait, why did I sense some tension between you guys just now? Am I missing something?"

"... It's... Ugh, after you defeated that monster... I had a talk with him and I decided to sever our friendship right there and then."

"Wait, what? You two aren't friends anymore?" Talon blinked in surprise.

"I saw that he completely changed and his change was going to put his life and the life of the people around him in danger. I couldn't let him do that, not to himself, not me, you, or anyone else." She explained with a frown.

Even when she had willingly taken this decision, losing a lifelong friend wasn't easy on Hyun-Jae either. She had grown accustomed to him being by her side wherever she went. Now, that spot was empty.

However, quickly, Hyun-Jae shook those thoughts away and focused on Talon. What she was concerned about now was his reaction to what she did. She knew that Talon was probably unpleasantly surprised by the fact.

The latter stood there with a small frown on his face as he seemingly thought about it for a few seconds.

"Well, I don't really know much about what happened, but I know you had a good reason for doing that. He doesn't seem like he's faring that well."

Hearing that response, Hyun-Jae exhaled a small breath. "Yeah, I really don't know what to do with him. The problem is, I can't fully blame him because everything he did was out of worry for me. He isn't a bad person." She murmured.

Knowing how he felt toward her, Hyun-Jae found it even harder to face Chin-Hwa anymore. She knew that feelings were something that a person couldn't control and that was why she never blamed him for feeling that way. She just wished it never happened so that their friendship could've remained intact.

"Sigh..." Talon looked at the conflicted Hyun-Jae. He knew that it was never easy to break a friendship, especially one that lasted years.

"Well, let's first see what he wants out of the spar. I'm sure Chin-Hwa has a good reason for this. As for your relationship with him, I have no right to tell you what to do. Though, as my grandpa said to me when I was a child, the compass of your heart always follows the right path for you, trust it and you will never lose your way."

Hyun-Jae's eyes widened slightly when she heard those words. As simple as they were, they did resonate with her.

"Wait, was the quote like that? Ugh, it sounded way better in my head. How did grandpa say it again?" Talon frowned as he shook his head. "No, it wasn't like that, scratch everything I said. My grandpa was probably more profound than this."

Blinking silently, Hyun-Jae's grim expression turned into a small smile as she started laughing.

"What the hell is that, hahaha?"

Seeing her laughing. Talon could only follow suit. "He would've probably beaten my ass if he heard I ruined his quote in such a glorious manner."

Her aura was colder than usual and it was all because of this sudden change in agreement. Having all the students here was a very bad idea.

"Hey, that isn't your weapon." Chin-Hwa frowned hard as he pointed at the Aetheris Blade.

"Who said it isn't? This is one of the weapons I use." Talon shrugged.

"You!"

"Hey, you played dirty, so I'm going to do the same. Besides, if I used my main weapon, I would probably destroy you completely."

"...!!" Hearing that blatant disrespect, CHin-Hwa's anger peaked as he gripped his sword tightly.

"Fine, I will make you regret underestimating me!"

*Swish*

Saying that, Chin-Hwa dashed forward at top speed. He was able to cross the distance between him and Talon in a matter of a few seconds. Meanwhile, Talon stood in his place, not moving at all.

When Chin-Hwa was about to swing his sword, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. His body instantly moved as he guarded his side with the katana.

*Cling*

A split second later, the Aetheris Blade appeared out of nowhere and attacked him. The latter was barely able to block the hit, and yet, it still pushed him back a few meters. But, the blade didn't stop there as it flew up again in the air and then dived down like a hawk, aiming for Chin-Hwa.

'Shit!' The latter clenched his teeth as he jumped back. Before the blade could even hit the ground, it suddenly changed direction and flew right toward him.

*Cling*

Chin-Hwa blocked again at the last moment. Then, what ensued after that was simply shocking. The flying blade kept attacking the cold prince again and again and again as the latter barely dodged and blocked the attacks while slowly losing all his advantage.

"That blade... is insane..."

"Yeah... Mr Chin-Hwa can't even do anything..."

The speed, strength, and accuracy of the Aetheris Blade were shocking, even to Hyun-Jae. She had seen Talon fly those blades a few days ago, but she didn't know that he had been practicing with these blades too apart from the Azure Flames and the spearmanship.

He wanted to learn how to move those blades while he was mid-fight so that they could be akin to his support. It was a little hard at first to do that since fighting and also controlling the flying weapons required unbelievable mental capacity. But, Talon's focus was far better than ever before so he was able to start seeing some good results.

"*Yawn*, I'm starting to regret that used the Aetheris Blade. I was even intending to use two. But, I guess even one is too much for him." Talon murmured as he watched the two blades clashing as sparks flew in the air.

"What an amazing show," Acrypha said with a bored look. "That human never had a chance against you, not even if you're not using any weapon. I wonder why he was adamant on fighting you."

"Hmm... It's something you know very well." Talon replied as he watched Chin-Hwa coldly.

"Something I know?"

"Yeah... He isn't fighting to defeat me. He's fighting for his pride."

(A//N: Thanks to everyone who supports the book with power stones and golden tickets, you guys are the best:) )