***** Inside the overly crowded fighting arena, with most people currently doing their thing, David and Laura sat with their hands tightly bound, imprisoned in a cage like helpless slaves up for auction. Crouched in the corner, they appeared utterly defeated and hopeless right now. Laura was looking petrified, while David, though equally terrified, struggled to maintain a facade of strength for his wife. Outside the cage, the first Lion King who sat like a ruler, sharpening a blade as though he were preparing to butcher meat suddenly sent a vicious smirk toward the couple, clearly relishing their pitiful state. “Let’s see if that a$$hole son of yours would dare to come and rescue you,” he suddenly said, making both Laura and David glance at him, their heart plummeting to the lowest bottom upon seeing the look on his face. Seeing their reaction, the Lion King chuckled, utterly excited by their helpless and tragic expressions. With this, his voice turned even more malevolent, s
*****For a brief moment, the arena was utterly silent, the air filled to the brim with tension.Unable to react, every person present shuddered all over, feeling the icy, bloodthirsty aura radiating from Xavier, who stood like a grim reaper about to harvest lives.This lasted for a moment before finally, the lips of Jazzy, the only one not affected by Xavier’s presence, who had been observing him curved into a smirk at one end.“Interesting,” he mumbled playfully, his eyes suddenly glinting with a frenzied glow. The following second, his voice broke the trance in the hall, jolting the couple in the cage back to reality.Laura’s face turned a ghastly white, far paler than when she had first heard the fate awaiting her and her husband if Xavier didn’t come, and a wave of sheer terror, stronger than anything she had ever felt before in her entire life, washed over her.“Why—why did you come, why?” She demanded with a cry from within the cage, her voice trembling badly from despera
*****What’s going on?” From within the cage, both Laura and David wondered blankly before exchanging confused gazes, seeing the terrified look on everyone’s faces after hearing Jazzy’s words about their son.“Do you have an idea what a ranked fighter is?” Laura eventually asked with a shaky voice, instantly jolting David back to his senses.David hesitated for a moment, not sure about the response to give as the term ‘ranked fighter’ was also strange to him.Eventually, he looked from the thugs to Jazzy, before finally looking back at his wife.He opened his mouth and murmured, uncertainty evident in his voice. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "But it seems to be related to strength," he pondered aloud. "A level of strength that's not very common to ordinary people.““This…” Laura’s mind raced and she was lost for a moment, but then her eyes brightened with sudden hope.“Does—does that mean our son won’t be harmed?” she asked, her voice thick with optimism, and David, seeing the t
*****While the thugs in the arena were in a jubilant mood, mocking Xavier with newfound confidence and condescension, David and Laura sat dumbstruck inside their cage at this moment. The relief they had felt just moments earlier completely crumbled and was nowhere to be seen again, only to be replaced by a hollow, soulless look.Though they still didn’t fully understand what was happening, the current expressions and mood of the crowd, the words of Jazzy’s trusted aide, and the terrifying aura emanating from Jazzy, which was several times stronger than their son’s told them everything they needed to know.Time seemed to stretch on endlessly as they sat soullessly on the ground, trying to process the situation, but eventually, they became thoroughly drained of all strength and became utterly devastated, realizing they might just have been too quick to jubilate just now.“My—my son mustn’t face him,” Laura suddenly mumbled, her voice barely above a whisper. Then, as if lit by a sud
*****It's as if time and space had frozen in the arena right now, the very air itself thickened with shock and incredulity.Everyone stood in a frozen stupor, their eyes gaping, and their minds spinning in chaotic disbelief.Even a million times before now, if anyone had asked the thugs, or even Xavier’s parents, who would dominate the last exchange, the answer would have unanimously been Jazzy.Is it strength? Jazzy’s hulking frame, packed with rippling muscles, dwarfed Xavier’s lean figure, who in contrast looked like he would be snapped in half with a flick of Jazzy’s wrist.Aura? Jazzy’s earlier presence before he collided with Xavier had swallowed him whole, his oppressive energy having cast a menacing shadow over the arena.Finally, menace? Looking at Xavier’s handsome and frail appearance, he wouldn’t even be capable of scaring a child, unlike Jazzy, whose mere presence could terrify even a full-fledged-ranked fighter.Yet here they stood, staring at the impossible trut
***** Although Xavier could hear the group of thugs gloating around him, he paid them no attention, instead, his demeanor remained as calm and emotionless as it had been since he entered the arena, his gaze tightly locked on the incredibly furious Jazzy. That’s right. Jazzy was seething with so much fury right now, his eyes already clouded with darkness. Only if gaze alone could kill, Xavier would have already died a thousand times from his death glare alone. Jazzy had never experienced such humiliation as he had just done in his life before, not even when he was an unranked fighter. Since becoming an F-ranked warrior, respect and fear had followed him everywhere he went, even among other ranked fighters, as his strength had always been above those in the same rank as him. Now, however, just after breaking through to a higher rank—something that should have elevated him and made him receive the treatment and respect of a deity—he was made into a fool and joke of the century
*****The silence in the arena stretched on, thick and oppressive for what felt like an eternity before eventually, a sudden cough echoed, breaking the stillness like a lone reminder of life.Immediately following this, an utterly broken and miserable-looking Jazzy crawled out of the rubble and dust of the walls, his once imposing figure now reduced to a shell of weakness and misery, his face pale as death.Although the silence in the arena had been shattered, the gangsters wouldn’t react, instead, they continued watching in stunned silence and disbelief, their hearts sinking to the deepest pits.Just moments ago, their leader had seemed unstoppable, like a god of war capable of shaking heaven and earth, but now, looking at him, he appeared so weak, pitiful, and broken.The gangsters subconsciously exchanged gazes after seeing this and their spirits shattered, their hearts also dropping to the lowest bottom possible.Although they had seen Jazzy lose miserably in the past exchan
*****Jazzy’s brewing rage and madness vanished completely the moment he heard Xavier’s words and felt the deadly seriousness in them. Before he could process the words, however, he saw Xavier taking a single step forward.It was just a single step—harmless, unhurried, and casual—but in the next moment, Jazzy felt as though an immense, crushing force that could break through earth had been unleashed upon him, like an overpowered hydraulic press trapping his hand beneath it.For a brief second, his mind, body, and soul went utterly blank, lost in numbness. But then following this—indescribable, soul-searing pain—tore through him.“Rah!!!”The unbearably agonized scream of someone who felt as if their skin was sharply peeled off echoed through the hall, making everyone feel strong goosebumps run amok on their skin.Jazzy had never known this level of torment before in his life. No, he was certain he hadn’t experienced pain like this even in his past lives if such a thing existed.