68 BRUTAL FACE-OFF (2/2)

Seeing Lirzod do belly breathing on the floor, Hardy had raised eyebrows as he proceeded toward the boy. ”You are still conscious after taking my Naga Storm head on? It's been a while since Hardy met someone who didn't faint after taking that attack. It seems Hardy has miscalculated your base capabilities.” A faint smile formed on his face, and a bead of sweat surfaced on the forehead. ”But, Hardy's sure that cat's probably already kicked the bucket.”

Disquieted from hearing those words, Lirzod brought the cat near his ear to hear for any sign of life, but he picked up nothing.

”It's time you throw that thing away and fight Hardy with all you got!” Hardy's voice rang in Lirzod's ears even though he was speaking normally.

Lirzod clenched his hand and roared, ”If anything happens to this cat, you'll regret ever hurting it!” Saying that he turned and dashed away, startling Hardy.

”Showing me your fleeing skills, are you? How lizardly!” Hardy evilly grinned. ”But I've never heard of a lizard that tries to save a cat, and do you really think you can escape from Hardy?” he went hot on Lirzod's heels.

Since there wasn't much mist around anymore as much as before, everyone could fairly see what was taking place, but they stood still, not at all eager to help the boy.

As Lirzod headed for an exit of the hall, he came across Mikey. ”You are that sweeper!”

”I'm an assistant referee!” Mikey barked and then murmured to himself. ”But yes, I clean the cat room.” Mikey felt a bit down-hearted because back when Lirzod had entered the cat home, he found Mikey sweeping the room, so he couldn't blame anyone but himself now. ”Look at your face. It looks like shit.”

”Hey, get this cat some immediate help,” Lirzod put the cat in his arms.

”W-What?” Mikey's eyes bulged out, ”You want me to draw attention from that freak over there? No freaking way! Besides, why should I even take care of this cat?”

Lirzod paused a moment before taking out something from his pocket. ”Here, you can keep this.”

”Eh, what's this? An egg?” Mikey had a displeased look. ”You think I'll change my mind for a stupid egg?”

”No, that's a special egg.”

”Special? Did it come out from the mouth or what?”

”I don't really remember,” Lirzod hurried his words, ”but the needle-nosed guy said something about it. I'm sure it'll be of some use. You are not injured anywhere, right?”

”No, why?”

”Then why are you still here?” Lirzod groaned. ”Go.”

”Y-Yeah,” Given that Hardy was coming straight in his direction, the last thing Mikey wanted was to stay in Hardy's path. He wasted no time and hurried off from the spot.

Lirzod also took off in a different direction while keeping his eye on Hardy who seemed rather slow, thanks to the wound that Murugan left him with on one of his legs. Lirzod frowned a bit for having not realized that sooner because there was mist all around him before, so he couldn't see which state Hardy was in, but now he got a better picture. ”Someone's too fat to follow my footsteps.”

Though the discomfort was apparent on his face, Hardy held back his urge to shout back and smirked instead. ”Heh, who said Hardy's after you?”

Lirzod's eyes broadened, and his feet slid into a halt as he saw Hardy go after Mikey.

”W-Wait!” Lirzod immediately changed his course.

Hardy furtively glanced back at Lirzod. (That's right. Hardy will get both the cat and lizard in one go. Two rats with one trap.)

Mikey, who was oblivious to what was happening, was under the impression that he was free from danger. He looked at Leggy which was unconscious and looked ugly from losing all its hair, ”Why this cat? There's nothing special about it.” He bit his lips, ”It happened on the spur of the moment, but why did I listen to that guy's request even after sold me out to the watchdog?” As Mikey was in two minds, the increasing sound of footsteps reached his ears. ”Hm?” When he turned his head back, Hardy was right behind him, and it almost stopped his heart.

”Hand over the cat, or get hit to hell!” Though Hardy said that, he gave no time for Mikey to respond, and a punch to his back sent him crashing to the floor. His eyes instantly whitened, and the cat fell not too far away from him. An egg bounced on the floor multiple times and stopped by Hardy's feet. He pressed it under the foot, but to his surprise, it didn't break. Intrigued, he picked it up into his hand and then went straight for the cat, ”I wonder it if screams as I stomp it to death.” Though Hardy wanted to jump, there wasn't enough gap between him and the ceiling, so he had to scuttle over to the feline. After coming to a halt, he raised his leg and plummeted his foot onto the unconscious cat.

A blurry figure came whizzing by and booted the cat away but got caught underneath the foot in consequence.

BA DUM~~!!

A wicked beam took over Hardy's countenance as his opponent, of their own accord, ended up under his foot. After stomping a few more times, Hardy balled his fist as he stared down at his bloodied foe. ”You maybe graceful enough to use just one arm against Hardy, but Hardy's not!” Hardy's fist trounced Lirzod like a tremendous crash of thunder. A successive rain of thunder-fists followed, with each thunder-fist hammering down without mercy and squashed Lirzod's body. The booming sounds trembled the onlookers' souls.

”Does he want to kill that kid?” Jehez had a look of disbelief. ”Surely, none in their right mind would do such a thing on this ship.”

As the dust settled and the rubble stopped bouncing and vibrating, Hardy was huffing and puffing, with his fist and bits of his forearm blanketed by blood.

Lying at his feet was Lirzod rested inertly in a pool of his lifeblood. One of his eyes were swollen shut into blackness, but the other was partly open and looked undaunted. Though he tried to move, he could barely feel his arms but couldn't feel his torso at all.

With his back still parallel to the floor and Lirzod's face within arm's reach, Hardy took in a deep breath while his eyes looked like that of a beast and lacked humanness. ”You might have boarded this ship with certain perception, but you are not fit to walk a martial's path if you can't even expect the expectable things much less expect the unexpected. You should have stayed home like a house gecko, but because you didn't, you brought this on yourself. This is it. This is where a lizard's journey—”

Bloody spittle flew into Hardy's face and sprayed all over before he could even react.

Dozens of Hardy's brain cells perished as he stood straight and didn't even bother to rub his face. Instead, his fist gained an unusual amount of redness as his fingernails almost dug into the egg inside the palm.

At the same time, a red-haired girl arrived at the entrance, sweating all over, but what she witnessed numbed her momentarily. ”Lirzod!” she hastened toward him there and then.

”Good day. Goodbye…” Hardy's fiery fist rapidly fell onto Lirzod's chest. ”Hardy Hit!”

...........

[1] Bloodfall: The shower of blood falling from someone's face is known as bloodfall. This word was taken from a sport, named Bloodfall itself, where the victor would be the one who produced the best bloodfall on their opponent(s) faces.