Heartfar's agility was not affected despite having both hands tied behind his back.As he leapt to the side, Scarface's pure vigor bursts shot past him pointlessly.However, when Heartfar was ready to launch a counter, he realized that Scarface had already reached him, and his hand was reaching straight for Hearfar's throat! "You're fast—but that's not enough!" Heartfar snorted.However, he also realized right then that Scarface was way stronger than Candor. He instinctively tried to raise his hands and counter, but he soon remembered that both his hands were bound.He certainly could not renege on his handicap, or all his boasting would be pointless."Hup!"He raised his foot, knocking away Scraface's palm with the tip of his sole.Then, he laughed coolly as he leapt into the air and launched a quick succession of roundhouse kicks so rapidly that he looked like a windmill.At the same time, the hidden blades he concealed on his boots shot toward Scarface as well.Shunk! S
As Heartfar gloated, he glanced at Frank in the distance."But this is it for you!" he bellowed, raising his hand and taking aim at Scarface's head, as if to flex on Frank and Mr. Zoran.However, even as everyone held their breaths and the more faint-hearted had covered their eyes, Heartfar suddenly turned rigid, his hand remaining in mid-air.In fact, the audience waited a long while, but Scarface's head was still not exploding."Pfft…"Then, despite the tense situation, someone snickered with terrible timing."Pfft…"Another snicker could soon be heard, and everyone turned to see that it was the two girls standing at Frank's side.Frank himself was not laughing, but his face was weirdly contorted, as if grimacing in pain."What…?"Nonetheless, as everyone looked where the girls were looking, they found a large hand grabbing Heartfar between the legs.Moreover, blood was pouring out from the gap between the fingers."Oof…"When all the men present saw where the hand was g
Moreover, this was a duel to the death between martial artists. To call a technique despicable, when used in a life-or-death situation, was simply laughable.Moreover, Heartfar was using hidden blades that were coated in poison—what right did he have to complain?"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"Nonetheless, Heartfar was glaring murderously at Scarface like a terrible monster.At the same time, he curled into a ball as he lay on the floating platform, clutching his own bleeding groin with both hands."Oh, save it already. Did you really think your poison would work?"Scarface was suddenly on his feet, appearing perfectly fine as he grinned at Heartfar, who was as shocked as he was in pain. "Brother Lawrence saw through you from the start—you're actually an Ascendant-ranked elite, aren't you? You only look like you're Birthright-ranked because you took a suppressive drug."As for your poison, Mr. Lawrence had already let me take an antidote before we fought. The whole time I looke
Escorted by a procession, the lady in white strode toward the edge of the lake.Everyone had turned toward her when they heard her laughter and froze up right then."L-Lady Silverbell…"Stanwick turned rigid when he saw her too, and he dropped on the floating platform with a thud.He stared blankly at the lady, panic written all over his face."Lady Silverbell!"Upon seeing Stanwick's dramatic reaction, the martial artists and audience members—be it from Zamri from Riverton—were all bowing their heads in salutation."At ease."It was indeed Silverbell in the flesh, and the crowd's collective salutation truly enlightened Frank to the authority she commanded as the chief of the Martial Alliance.Over a thousand people were greeting and bowing at her, a seemingly frail woman. None of them would dare question her strength or the official ties she had.And right now, her visage was cool as she stared at Stanwick, who was on his knees, "Mr. Quaker, don't you think I have the right
Clang!Frank moved even before Silverbell could react, knocking the short blade out of Stanwick's hand with a bullet of pure vigor."How dare you!"As the short blade landed audibly, Silverbell was sweating bullets as she finally realized that Stanwick had tried to take her by surprise and stab her.She would definitely be hurt if Frank was not there, and the surprise in her eyes soon turned to rage."How dare you, Stanwick!""You tried to attack Lady Silverbell?!""There's no hope for you!"The other Martial Alliance executives were definitely stunned by the sight as well.Thank goodness Silverbell was safe, or they would definitely be blamed for the mishap!As for Stanwick, he gave up on all pretense upon seeing that his sneak attack had failed."Hehehe…" He sneered in contempt as he stared Silverbell in the eye up close. "Lady Silverbell? More like an impudent brat! Do you really think you're such a big deal?!"Silverbell glowered and bellowed, "What's that supposed to m
"Did you really think you're such a big deal?!"Even now, Stanwick's pompous insult before he died still rang in Silverbell's ears.Moreover, Silverbell understood that although her position carried authority, she was at best a chess piece, in a game where multiple factions fought for political dominance. Since there were not many matters she could involve herself with, she longer felt tied down.She left with the elders without so much as looking back, although she subtly gave Frank's hand a squeeze when she walked past him.As for the elder who had just warned Silverbell, he was stroking his beard and smiling as he announced, "I hereby announce in the chief's stead that Riverton's qualifying berths are forfeited, in light of the branch manager disguising an Ascendant-ranked elite to insert him in a Birthright-rank qualifier."The two forfeited berths would instead be made available to Zamri participants only."Silverbell paused for a moment when she heard the announcement but
There was still a week left before the finals of the Martial Tournament, which would be held in Morhen.Naturally, Frank was not nervous at all and even fell back to his old return of punctual training and rest.He had also won public favor among Riverton martial artists after proposing that they be afforded one qualification berth.His old friends Robert Quill and Gerald Simmons, who were the Riverton commissioner and the Riverton mayor respectively, even paid him a personal visit.They were both righteously indignant that the Riverton Martial Alliance branch manager had been caught cheating but also grateful that Frank afforded their representatives some dignity.Still, neither of them were aware of a dispute when he tried to ask them indirectly about the Zamri mayor and the Zamri commissioner—it was the first they had heard of it.After seeing his guests off, Frank did not even have time to gather his thoughts when he got a call from Helen Lane."Frank… Hurry! I-I got into an
Both police officers were shaking their heads coldly even before Helen could finish.One of them even asked, "Don't you think you're a little too concerned about your career? Also, you're now suspected of a drunken accident. Or perhaps you're trying to make it a hit-and-run?""I-I'm not."Helen sighed urgently. "But this negotiation is very important—""Wait."Frank strode up past the yellow line, walking up to the puddle of blood. "Officers, may I ask where the victim is?" Both officers were speechless. "An ambulance came and took him away.""Took him where?" Frank pressed.The officer snorted, waving him off impatiently. "Zamri Hospital, of course. Do we really have to spell it out for you?"The other officer then whipped out a pair of handcuffs and slapped them on Helen's wrists. "Alright, beautiful. There's no point calling your husband to defend you—you're coming with us."While he was considerate enough to cover the cuffs with a jacket, Frank strode up, stopping him be