Chapter 47 Planning

Henri attacked furiously for a while, and even though Jagger's body was getting filled with bruises and swollen parts, he didn't give up on the defense. In fact, Aion noticed that he strengthened the parts that were about to get hit to nullify some of the damage… only someone with strong muscles and the capacity to control them could pull that off.

"As expected, he knows the drawbacks of Inner Force… one can't control that for long, and the more it stays active, the worse it will be when the skill is deactivated," Aion thought. "Henri is aiming to decrease his defense with body blows, but Jagger was smart enough to know that and block all of those hits…"

The difference in experience was that impressive… Jagger had at least two decades to learn all that and become that skilled. Thanks to that, he resisted for two minutes until the effects of Inner Force were deactivated. Henri's body was paralyzed due to exhaustion, and Aion could see his eyes rolling. He was barely able to keep himself conscious…

Jagger could barely raise his arms since he used them to block all of the attacks. He probably had his bones fractured in many spots. It was time to pay all that in full… Still, he stopped and looked to his left slightly when he felt Aion's killing intent. He wasn't going to interfere until the last moment, but if he went too far…

Aion calmed down a bit when he saw Henri raising his shield. He didn't want to lose, but there wasn't much he could do in that situation… In the end, Jagger hit Henri's shield with a body slam that made him roll on the ground several times while unconscious, and he probably couldn't use his arms more than that.

Regardless, he was declared the winner and received treatment from the healers once he returned to the waiting room. He tried to hide from Aion that he wasn't looking forward to his battle with him, but he was really bad at hiding that… In any case, that had been the best fight so far, so the crowd cheered in ecstasy for a while.

When Henri woke up, he found his father and brothers around. He immediately sighed since he had recalled everything.

"Don't worry, Henri," Aion said. "Your death will be avenged."

"I didn't die… Ouch, my body hurts like hell," Henri said when he tried to get up. "I guess I will spend the rest of the festival resting to heal my body. Still, to think that I would lose without lending a single clean hit…"

"Worry not, this is a good chance for you, who has been working too hard for the past years," Vangel suddenly approached and said. "Your future king commands you to go and protect my little sister until the end of the festival. Protect her all day and all night. When she goes to the bathroom, then she changes her clothes, and when she goes to sleep, don't take your eyes off her."

"How am I supposed to rest during that time?" Henri asked. "Don't be unreasonable. Besides, the royal guards are always nearby."

"Oh, you dare contest the decisions of your future king? You sure have some guts… I guess I will have to defeat Jagger, and then you will feel more compelled to do that. As long as I try my very best… One of us will probably die, but that will be a cheap price."

"You show your determination in the most annoying way possible… Fine, I will guard her against tomorrow onward," Henri said.

Staying with a girl after a bit of letdown probably would cheer him up a little, even if Henri found her and her brother hard to deal with. In any case, the losers couldn't stay in the waiting room for long, so Henri soon left.

"Do you think you can defeat him?" Lexus asked. "We fought and watched each other's hack a lot in the war. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he might be stronger than me."

"Right now, I am only thinking about my next opponent," Aion replied.

"If you aren't nervous, then I am sure the match will be a good one," Lexus said and then left.

Aion's plan was to focus on breaking through the tournament using brute strength, but perhaps he should change his plan a little and destroy the pride of one of the assholes that took at him with eyes filled with prejudice. That will be an excellent way to send a message to everyone… In any case, the best way to do that would be by using the same weapons as Jagger and defeating him in his own game. That would be reckless, but it would be fun as well…

"He didn't show much of his offensive skills, but he should be able to learn his patterns in the fight," Aion thought while doing mental training. It will be difficult. That will be good for future reference."

It didn't take long for Aion to be called for the second battle, but since he wanted to focus on the problem ahead and his opponent was a soldier who was only a few years older than his older brother, he decided to end things as fast as possible.

As soon as the referee declared the star of the battle, Aion charged toward the enemy, who was hiding behind a shield. His sonic thrust hit the shield and made it break in half after the opponent was sent flying to the distance and rolled on the ground until he hit his back against the wall. Despite the impact, the guy didn't die, but he was dizzy after rolling so many times… Aion was declared the winner.