67 FIERCE SHOW (1/2)

Ribbing ruthlessly, two felines cut each other off and bickered worse than brothers as they went about proving their point of pride through their recurring flare-ups. Black and gray fuzz flew into the air as they wrangled and wrestled their way in an attempt to subdue the other, and in that process, they put in an appearance at the entrance of the test hall.

Though the room abounded with howling men, and a vicious mist-storm was also harassing its way through all obstruction, the two cats still didn't have a care in the world and clawed each other's blood out as they rolled on the floor, trying to get under the other.

As the cats were preoccupied with their expeditious clash, the storm swallowed them both in two shakes of a grimlakin's tail, yet it couldn't stop their scuffle. Despite being blinded by the swirling jets of mist blowing in their faces, each cat's claws still sought their recognized adversary.

All the grasses, which used to be in the cat ring, now viciously drifted through the wind and cut those who bore smooth skin. The cats, however, nibbled on the flying grass in the middle of the fight.

At the moment, inside the test hall, that wasn't the only impetuous battle in existence.

”How are you going to take on the two of us at a time, huh?” Muttia snickered as he approached from Hardy's left rather cautiously. ”Though I don't have any clothes that fit someone your size, I still have to try and see if the extra-sized, elastic underpants from my collection will fit you or not.”

Hardy's attention, however, shifted toward Murugan who closed in at an excellent speed. ”You brought Hardy's blood out. I shall bring yours, too!”

”My blood can burn this wood,” retorted Murugan, ”I don't think you can handle it, either.”

”Nothing's too hot for Hardy,” he raised his fist to meet Murugan's incoming spear attack.

”Got you, nudist,” Muttia's voice came from Hardy's back, startling him as he didn't expect Muttia to close the gap in such a short time. ”Shadow Stripping Stab Series!”

A chain of spear-like hand thrusts converged on Hardy's back, and Hardy whose hand was already in motion had no time to react, except turn his head back a bit.

”Got you, too!” a voice that came from Muttia's side made him glance to his left when a foot came out of nowhere and smashed him in the face, causing him to crash back down to the floor.

”Ngh?” when Muttia immediately stood and looked, a young boy was now standing behind Hardy. The sudden change of events also made Murugan stop in his tracks. ”What's your problem, baby gear?”

”My problem is not your problem,” suggested Lirzod, stroking Leggy under the chin, ”Just go away.”

Hardy, on the other hand, couldn't swallow saliva down the throat, ”Why, why did you help me?”

Lirzod tilted his head up by degrees and glanced up at him, ”I had to.”

Hardy's fists tightened into rocks,and by this point, he smelled hostile. ”Why?”

”To beat you,” Lirzod responded in a pressing tone with no emotion on his face.

With Lirzod being so close, Hardy's breathing became more audible by the second. ”Hardy delights in dry humor, but not when he's the target of it.” All the anger he had forced to sit still in his stomach now snapped.

A ball of bitterness—Hardy's fist—went for Lirzod's face.

With a spry leap, Lirzod dodged the attack and landed atop Hardy's hand, and after a quick hop on the arm, his foot hacked into Hardy's jaw in a resounding bang.

Hardy's neck twisted more than ninety degrees from the jolt.

As Lirzod landed behind Hardy, both Murugan and Muttia had somewhat surprised looks on their faces.

A momentary silence followed, and Hardy rubbed his jaw softly, for a contusion as large as his eye came to light. A smile came after. ”So you can confront hostility after all. Hardy takes back his armchair speculation that thought otherwise, but still, a lizard will always be a lizard. It can never turn into a dragon,” he raised his fist and punched the floor. ”Mega Melt!” a shockwave burst forth in every direction and slightly pushed things back a bit, but Lirzod wasn't affected to any extent. Hardy glanced at the mist-storm, which then diffused throughout the hall and split the groups of people, creatures, and objects and pushed them to random spots.

Jehez, who crashed into a wall, somehow managed to stand, but he felt like his head was spinning. His vision was also too blurry to see anything. ”What the hell happened?”

Most other people and creatures were in a similar situation, with some having suffered worrying wounds.

The visibility in the room has reduced remarkably from how it was only moments ago, but still, it wasn't foggy enough to not be able to see things close enough to reach in a dozen steps.

The entire hall would've gone silent if not for the two cats that were involved in an affray and some men who cried in distress.