Chapter 24 ❆ Silent Dragon vs. Stone Guardian

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I decided to upload this one early, so please enjoy! Thank you so much for waiting!

I looked over to Erenol and found her still stuck in a world of her own—too worried about her upcoming fight to pay attention to Maun's. It was nearly impossible to gauge the reactions of our fellow competitors as well, especially Black Flame, considering the masks they had on.

That didn't mean I was any less worried, though. I tried to loosen the stiffness I felt on my shoulders, taking a deep breath.

Was this what Maun meant by hate?

"And this match will start in three, two, one!"

Stone Guardian did not let Maun have the privilege of the first move. He seized it and stomped in with aggression, throwing a combination assault Maun's way. The succession of one attack to another was ceaseless—at a speed that I didn't think this particular guy would be capable of. Having observed him in the previous round against Arrowhead, he seemed more focused on the defensive side of things.

Well, that was something else to note down. But I was not in the mood for taking down notes, I felt this fight was a little more subjective to me this time around—I would not be able to observe it objectively like I had done with the others.

Maun, I noticed, was textbook precision. Everything he had learned from under Mistress Veronika alongside Eren and myself were applied impeccably in the current exchange. There were some moves I did not recognize. It must be the technique that he had been provided with a while back. Something which he was taught before he came to Oblivion.

Nonetheless, there was a roughness to his movements that I could not quite put my finger on. I wasn't sure if I'd seen it before. He was always quite keen with following instructions down to the very last word. Though I was limited in my knowledge, I knew for sure this wasn't something he could've learned from the mistress's tutelage—this was something way before that.

"Even if it's like that, I can't help but see how good he is in actual practice," I whispered. Training and actual combat—there was massive difference between those two things.

Stone Guardian cut in with a full punch. Maun weaved to the side, then blocked the leg that came zooming in from below. There was a small gap in his opponent's attacks. Maun used this gap to throw in response to his assaults, sending an uppercut down the abdomen.

I heard a fist make contact with muscle. It was so palpable that I could somehow taste the pain, even though I was sitting meters away from the stage. Nonetheless, Stone Guardian was unfazed despite having received it square where he would have been breathless...which led me feeling somewhat frazzled. I pushed myself to the edge of my seat, trying to get a closer look.

How the heck did he not feel pain? Or did he, but he just was good at keeping it down?

I was not the only one taken aback. Maun's opponent took advantage of the slight confusion that inched between his movements and grabbed him by the shoulders.

Maun took a hold of the arms that seized him as well, stabilizing himself as Stone Guardian tossed him overhead. With the opponent having strict control over his center of gravity, Maun was unable to pull himself upright before landing—which led him to crash on the stone pavement on his back.

Had it been me who had landed, I was pretty sure I would have broken a few good bones on my hips. Somehow, though, Maun had guarded himself against the fall and managed to make it so that he landed on a less crucial part of his body. He'd redirected the injury, just in the nick of time, where he would be harmed the least.

Not minding being in the bottom, Maun seized Stone Guardian's neck and wrapped his arm around his throat. The suffocating tightness paralyzed Stone Guardian in place and he loosened his hold on Maun to attempt to break himself free.

"And now they're wrestling for domination!" the announcer exclaimed. "It looks like Stone Guardian is not in a very good position, everyone!"

Knowing this wasn't the time to be held down, Stone Guardian finally summoned his element. The earth speared from below, striking Maun and throwing him off. What Stone Guardian didn't expect was that Maun had a very tight grip on him, so he flew along—even received a share of the injury from the attack he sent himself.

"Wow, that's kind of dumb," I whispered.

The twist they landed on when they slammed back into the ground allowed Stone Guardian to elbow Maun away, fingers grasping at the latter's chin to push. This gave him an opening, and he finally broke free of the cage that he'd been in a few seconds prior.

I could not find any flaws in how Maun countered the attacks of his opponent. His grasp of the techniques was absurd and had a more creative application than I probably would be able to think of. So much that it was a little infuriating. Seeing it in action like this, even though we've been training together closely for a while, felt different. This was a whole new realm altogether.

Stone Guardian's strong and long legs scissored out from below and Maun blocked both legs before they could strike at any part of his body. He then dove in ruthlessly, this time breaking through the arms that Stone Guardian put up against him, and sent a shocking punch down his opponent's abdomen. And as though he hadn't been contended, he swiftly followed up with a hammer kick in that same place.

He must've known a single punch would not be able to break through...especially since the last one barely dented his opponent at all.

The sheer strength of the last attack sent Stone Guardian hurtling back. His rear landed on the stone pavement and he even skidded away a couple of steps after landing.

"To overpower an opponent boasting great defense! This Silent Dragon is indeed fierce! Point up for him!" the announcer said.

My heart raced as I continued watching Maun. He did not let his opponent breathe for one second, jumping in with an elbow-dive that made nearly everyone in the arena choke on air. Stone Guardian, incapacitated by the blow he'd been given much earlier, had trouble moving himself out of the way. He barely rolled out of the attack's trajectory, and when Maun's attack failed—another one quickly followed. This time, a kick landed square on his face.

Stone Guardian was brutally tossed away head-first. I thought for one minute his head would come off.

I was more shocked than I expected I would be. That fatal blow would be enough to incapacitate...even snap someone's neck off.

Now, I was sincerely even more unsettled.

"Ah! Ruthless! Ruthless blow!" The announcer exclaimed.

A monk stepped in to mediate the fight, seeing as the heat of the battle had gone to Maun's head. I could not blame the monk, though. Even if I was cheering for Maun's side of the ring, that didn't mean I couldn't pity Stone Guardian at all.

The decisiveness of Maun's attacks startled me. I could not even believe this was the same boy that I had talked with just now—the same one who was head-butting my stomach to take comfort in my arms.

I knew this killer abilities and performance could partially be credited to Mistress Veronika's tutelage, but I knew it only added to the repertoire of an already existing skill set he had.

"Weird," I muttered. If he had some skills to protect himself with much earlier, why hadn't he used his ability until now?

Then again, the abuse his body had when I had found him was nothing short of traumatizing. There were callouses on his hand as well—probably from a tool or a weapon. I wasn't an expert in those things, but I was fairly certain now that he was more a fighter than a laborer...if not both.

As my mind burned through a litany of thoughts, Erenol's clueless comment resounded beside me.

"Ah, I wish I had half of his talent," Erenol muttered.

I looked over to her. It seemed she hadn't noticed half of what I had seen so far...which would be understandable considering her current state of mind.

"So you've recovered?" I asked.

"From what?" she asked. "What do you mean?"

I shook my head. This girl lacked a lot of self-awareness to be comfortable with. "Nothing. Never mind."

For a moment, I debated raising the questions I had about Maun with Erenol...but I wasn't too sure if it would be of help, or if Erenol should be bothered at all with my worries. I would probably have to bring it up later instead.

I looked back into the arena to see that Maun had been pulled back by the monk—roughly, if I might add, as he hadn't been listening to the mediation.

"Settle down," the monk told him. "I'll give him a count."

But Maun did not budge.

"Back down. Now." The monk pulled in a maneuver and sent a warning strike at Maun's chest.

Maun turned his hostility to the monk.

"Go, M—Silent Dragon!" Erenol caught herself last minute just before she was about to belt out his name.

Maun seemed to have snapped some sense into himself at the urgings of the monk that held him back and realized, for a brief second, that this was probably unlike anything he's gone through before—what I assume at least. He had trouble keeping his temper down, though. I had a feeling Eren's screeching was partly to be credited for him reining himself back.

He looked over to where we were sitting and seemed to hesitate the slightest. I caught the monk going over to Stone Guardian, who seemed to have been thrown into a moment of shock at the blow he just received. It was impressive though, seeing as he was still awake. That spoke volumes of his defense and tenacity.

That blow he got was mental.

My eyes darted to Maun's hands, and I found him flexing his fingers. Though I had no clear view of his skin considering the costume, I had an odd feeling I saw a glint of scales—the same ones I had seen on him before, beneath the gaps in his clothes.

He was distant, and I know he wouldn't be able to hear me, so I signed to him, "Calm down. You're good. You've got this. You don't need to panic. You're strong. Think good things. Blueberry muffin."

Though I wasn't sure what the heck left my hands when I spoke, I rapidly threw everything I could think of that could possibly comfort him. I was not in the right state of mind to know how to be articulate.

He didn't give me a nod, but he firmly turned to his opponent. The coldness subsided from his aura a little and he refocused himself back into the fight. This time, I could see he was a little more clearheaded than before. Nonetheless, the brutal air surrounding him remained.

"Six! Seven!"

The crowd had joined along.

"Eight!"

Stone Guardian struggled to get up on his feet.

"Nine!"

The crowd cheered for him and his dedication.

He shook off the dizziness and faced Maun for another round. He cut it quite close with the count, but he was still there, nonetheless. If this guy survived, he would be tough to deal with in the Loser's Tournament...in case I ever wound up there, of course—which was very plausible considering my opponent would be none other than the very guy Erenol would be going up against next. If I won my next fight, that is.

"And—" the monk referee cut the space between the two, hand up in the air to symbolize the resumption of the fight. "Fight!"

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