Chapter 99 :

Episode 99 — Independence

The match resumed.

Edan might have had a bad head, but it seemed he was not a simple guy.

Seeing how he changed his target to my legs as soon as he judged that my arms would not work.

It seemed he intended to bind my legs so I could not move at all.

Lowering his stance and digging toward my torso, he began moving his fists as if he would break my knees.

Smack!

Since I could not dodge every attack from a trained fighter, I ended up getting hit once.

The properly landed blow hurt enough to make me want to curse.

He was harder to deal with than the guy who said he had learned boxing back in high school.

I quickly transformed my arm and struck down on his shoulder.

Craack!

Perhaps because I had failed to control my strength, Edan screamed and was knocked away, but he immediately charged again.

However, being hit in the shoulder must have been a major blow, because he could no longer put out as much power as before.

“I guess the story about knocking down a bear was a lie.”

Seeing how he was already helpless when I had only changed it to lion muscle.

This side did not have a lion’s shoulder or bones, so I could not produce as much strength as the real lion I had seen in the forest, yet he still could not beat me.

Besides, this side had its own penalty too.

I could not change several parts at once.

Because I did not know when the limit of my stamina would come and I would pass out again.

Changing my hands and legs alternately at the right timing required a high level of concentration.

Still, an actual fight with him was more helpful for learning the ability than El’s “try doing it like this, swoosh-swoosh.”

I was becoming more and more used to transforming my body.

“You….are getting faster. What trick did you use?”

It seemed Edan felt that too.

From his point of view, he had suddenly ended up fighting a half-human, half-beast, but to me, it was simply like getting a good test opponent.

Since my strength had increased, my arms and legs became faster.

As my movements became faster, the guy’s speed, which I had been busy chasing with my eyes, no longer looked as fast as before.

The problem was that, because I had to move while thinking about which part to transform, my body did not follow my thoughts as well as I wanted.

Crack!

“Urgh!”

At last, my fist struck his stomach.

It had been too long since I hit a person, so I could not control my strength properly.

If he had been hit by an actual lion’s foreleg, he normally would have fainted right then, but perhaps because my shoulder had not become an animal’s, he was able to clutch his stomach and retreat several steps away from me.

“Cough! Cough!”

That said, it seemed he could not stop himself from emptying his insides.

After vomiting up clear fluid, he glared at me with bloodshot eyes.

“If you can win, why are you just standing there watching? It feels disgusting.”

“I am showing you. That you are nothing special.”

And an opportunity this good to test my ability would not come often.

I could not ask Jing or Ratel to face me, and it was not like I could drag some stranger off the street and beat them up.

The guy staggered to his feet and took his stance.

He raised both fists to protect his head and glared at me.

“Fine, do whatever you want. I will become your toy as much as you like. In exchange, leave Lia alone.”

“If someone heard you, they would think I was dragging her away by force.”

“Leave Lia behind!”

At my sarcasm, the guy shouted again.

It was the moment a crack finally appeared in the mask of the guy who always pretended to be expressionless.

“Why? Is it that frightening for your younger sister to surpass you and leave?”

The beginning must have been three years ago, from the day he made Lia the enemy of the village.

Because Lia had said that a foreigner also participated in the Lucha tournament that year.

The guy, who had joined hands with the temple, had made Lia a sinner in exchange for giving the temple victory.

He was the one who made Lia sink down in the village.

“I need that child. She is my only family.”

The words he muttered without even wiping the blood flowing from his mouth did not seem like they were meant for me to hear.

Rather, it felt as though he was muttering them to himself.

Thud!

The guy, struck by my fist even through his guarding arms, was pushed back one step.

Perhaps thanks to the pain, life returned to his eyes, which had looked dazed.

“What you needed was not family, but a well to fill your inferiority complex.”

The water drawn from that well must have covered Edan’s inferiority toward his younger sister and filled his emptied self-esteem.

“Shut up.”

Even though flowing water eventually reaches the sea.

“When did you realize that you could not beat Lia?”

“I said shut up!”

Perhaps anger became his driving force, because he rose from his place and thrust out his fist.

It was not difficult to avoid a slow fist loaded only with strength.

Edan, who staggered, could not control his own body and ended up collapsing.

Boos erupted from the audience seats.

“Wouldn’t it be better to faint from one blow than to forfeit?”

“You will definitely pay the price for this.”

I did not know what price I would have to pay for winning a fighting tournament, but I roughly understood that to mean he would not forfeit.

Crack!

This time, it was a blow delivered with my own full strength, not with the lion’s muscle.

I was tired because I had caused too many transformations at once, and it also seemed like if I hit the already battered Edan wrongly, he might die.

Edan let out a small groan and collapsed completely, unable to get back up.

For a brief moment, silence.

Then, a huge cheer followed and echoed through the arena.

But I could not listen to it until the end.

Because an insane drowsiness covered me.

With the fatigue that felt as though it was pressing down on my whole body, the same as what I had felt in the imperial forest, I felt both knees touch the floor.

I could no longer resist.

Through my blurring vision, I saw Jing and Lia looking this way with worried expressions.

Lia took in the sight of her blood relative slowly collapsing, and then the black-haired traveler also slowly crumbling afterward.

“I-It is a draw!”

The referee made an absurd judgment.

Anyone could see that Edan had fallen before the black-haired traveler, but their intention of not yielding victory like this was too obvious.

“Excuse me, did Edan not collapse first?”

The excited Jing questioned the referee, but they did not reverse the judgment.

“The one who lost consciousness first was Ran. Edan can still stand.”

“Ugh…!”

As if proving his words, Edan struggled to rise from his place.

But Ran, who had collapsed once, could not get back up again.

“Since he lost consciousness before the referee could decide victory or defeat, it is difficult to call it a win. A draw is correct.”

At that absurd excuse, Lia clenched her fists tightly.

The draw Ran had achieved had raised their faint chance of victory.

Even if the bookstore owner lost, if she achieved victory, the winners of Lucha would be Ran and Jing.

One round.

Just one round.

She took a deep breath and clenched her fists.

Edan’s terrifying face came to mind.

—Do nothing. If you feel even the slightest bit sorry toward me, then just live like you have until now, Lia.

Whenever she saw Edan’s face, it always felt hard to breathe.

Because guilt and fear rose all the way up to her throat.

Until Edan recovered, the match was delayed for a while.

Normally, waiting for a fighter who had become unable to fight should not have been accepted.

But the temple overturned the rules once again.

That short time was enough to make the people who had been watching the match while drunk on excitement regain their reason.

Because people began murmuring about rules that acted strangely against one side.

When Edan fully came to his senses and returned to the arena, the cheers had changed into murmurs, and the murmurs had changed into silence.

The match resumed in silence.

Everyone watching knew that he was using tricks to recover his stamina.

Avoiding the fists of the bookstore owner, who charged with courage, Edan continued the match as if playing with him.

As she watched that filthy fight, Lia felt the Edan inside her gradually breaking apart.

One question appeared in her mind.

Since when had Edan been that cowardly?

Since when had Edan been kind to me?

The questions that had started linking together led her into memories of the past.

No, since when had I started getting sick of even going near the fighting arena?

“Winner, Edan!!!”

The continuing questions were cut off by the referee’s voice announcing victory and defeat.

But inside her head, as she stood for the next match, the recollection of memories that had begun once did not stop and continued on.

The match between Edan and the bookstore owner also failed to draw a good reaction from the audience.

Even though Edan knew the difference in strength, he did not settle the match and slowly dragged out time.

Despite Edan’s perfect victory, no cheers burst out from the audience seats.

Because it was not the kind of match that deserved it.

The bookstore owner, who had taken a blow from Edan, was only able to leave the arena after being used more than enough for Edan’s stamina recovery, and Edan, who remained in the arena, was not a victor but a deceiver.

“Edan and Lia!!”

The people’s silence toward Edan continued even after Lia appeared in the arena.

Lia slowly approached Edan, who was waiting for her at the center.

His ruined face greeted Lia.

The two stared at each other without speaking.

All the audience joined in that strange silence.

“Match start!”

After the referee, who had barely announced the start of the match in the uncomfortable atmosphere, stepped back, Edan finally opened his mouth.

“Give up even now, Lia.”

Lia silently fixed her stance.

Seeing that, Edan, whose brow furrowed, also took his stance.

“I do not care if you get hurt.”

Along with something that could not be called either a threat or a warning.

Ridiculously, those words pulled Lia back into a certain moment in the past again.

Where had she heard something similar to that?

—Fine. But if you get hurt while doing it half-heartedly, I do not care.

Quite a long time ago, Edan had definitely said something like that.

Long before she participated in the Lucha tournament, back when Edan had not held much interest in Lucha.

Edan had once jokingly made her put on his gloves and told her to come at him.

When Lia hesitated, Edan lightly threw a punch at her.

Just like now.

‘That day too, he threw his fist with such a venomous face.’

Lia thought that while dodging Edan’s sharp fist to the side.

And that day too, Lia had thrown her fist with all her strength.

Just like now.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Edan from that day had not been hit this easily, but today’s Edan easily allowed Lia one blow and stepped back.

That day, Edan had definitely looked at her with strange eyes.

“You became much weaker than that day, Edan.”

When Lia muttered honestly, sparks flew from Edan’s eyes.

“Did you forget how many people I faced?”

Together with Edan’s self-defense, he threw his fist again.

Lia raised both arms and covered her face, just as Edan or Jing often did.

Then Edan tried to strike Lia’s temple, but changed his route and struck her shin with the tip of his foot.

When Lia bent her body from a pain she had never felt before, continuous impacts fell onto her arms as if they had been waiting.

She instinctively knew that, whatever else happened, if she lowered these arms, she would not be able to get back up again.

And that Edan was far more skilled than her in this kind of fight.

But it was not as frightening as she had imagined.

It was simply similar to when she faced Jinger.

—Lia, remember the vital points. The philtrum, solar plexus, temples, genitals. And when you absolutely cannot strike any of those, at least attack the legs so they cannot move.

The teaching Jing had pounded into her head until she was sick of it came to mind.

This time too, Lia entrusted herself to instinct.

Taking advantage of the moment his fists slowed slightly, she charged at his leg and struck down on his instep with her elbow.

“Aaaaaagh!”

It was a quick movement.

She did not miss that small opportunity when her opponent screamed in pain.

This time, Lia’s fist struck Edan’s shin precisely.

Knowing from the experience just moments ago how much shock came from being hit there, she once more struck the same spot with her elbow with all her strength.

Along with the sound of bone breaking, the scream grew louder.

Only then did Lia release the leg she had been holding and stagger to her feet.

Looking down at him as he clutched his leg while shedding physiological tears from pain, Lia wiped away something flowing under her nose.

She was out of breath and her heart was pounding, but she did not feel bad.

No, rather, she felt refreshed.

She must have wanted to do this for a very long time. Otherwise, there was no way it would feel this good.

Lia felt as though she finally understood what Edan had been afraid of.

She looked down at the person rolling on the floor, then opened her mouth.

“Are you going to forfeit?”

He said nothing to her as she asked in a hoarse voice.

That was answer enough.

Lia raised her fist.

And then drove it straight into his philtrum.