Their fight was not exactly guaranteed—the rules of the game made it so that if Xander and Zayn never actually encountered each other, they would never fight. Still, it was a slim chance that something like that would actually happen.As Xander trudged forward, one of his lap dogs asked gingerly, “Say, most respected Mr. Griffin! How many dog tags do you think Zayn’s got by this point?”He started out being a member from another team, but he immediately gave up his dog tag upon seeing Xander, despite the latter working in the exact same way Zayn did. His reputation and fighting skills were simply too renowned for these people to leave after offering their tags—they stuck around, trailing behind him like Xander’s very own team of fanboys, just waiting to watch the battle of a lifetime between Xander and Zayn.By now, he had garnered about fifty odd people with him.Another one of his lap dogs chimed in immediately, “C’mon. As if that’s a legit question! Of course he could never net
Anyone in the know could tell exactly what was going on: Xander had a specific axe to grind, and his target was Shaelyn Peach.Shaelyn simply replied, “Last I checked, Mr. Griffin, whatever’s between Zayn and me is none of your business.”The crowd was aghast by her audacity—she fired back at Xander, of all people! Did she have a death wish?Even the looks on Mr. Otto and her companions from the Aeolus House changed. Furtively, they tried to shoot her signals demanding her to stop talking before she killed herself just because she had a smart mouth.Xander’s eyebrows were practically knitted together. Enraged, he scoffed mirthlessly, “Do you expect an applause for your temerity, Shaelyn? How brave of you to disrespect me! Shall I applaud Aeolus House, for producing such a brave and stunning member, Mr. Otto?”His face was so stormy that anyone would have guessed how infuriated he was. Even a simple sneer sounded as imposing as the boom of a thunder, and the crowd visibly tensed.
One of them leaped to his feet and made his objection clear. “It’s a bit too much to ask us to hand over our dog tags. Don’t you think so, Mr. Griffin?”He was an expert fighter who took Ossiumol once, though not much improvement had come to him other than making him fight about as good as a stellar skilled pugilist. Still, the Aeolus House was far from a ragtag band with a cool name—they were a group of powerful fighters with both reputation and skills, and the fact that Xander treated them like they were nothing just reeked of arrogance.Xander’s response, however, was to meet the man’s eyes with a menacing glower.It looked so intimidating that the man stumbled backward as though he was staggered, his face pale in fear.“What did you say?” Xander boomed, narrowing his eyes threateningly and considering the man like a hungry leviathan eager to swallow anyone whole. He oozed an aura of terror.The man fell into an abrupt silence with his head hanging.Mr. Otto clenched his teeth
The Aeolus House members formed a line and handed their dog tags to Xander, their meekness and docility highlighting the peak of Xander’s unchallenged dominion. No one harbored even the will of dissent. Even their breaths had become bated.Outside these woods, they were people occupying positions of power, people who owned hundreds of millions of assets, people who commanded the loyalty of a surfeit of employees. And yet, here, they were no better than the lapdogs and goons who served them out there—and it was not necessarily a fault of their own. Xander was too powerful. No sane person would think it’s a good idea to offend him.The Aeolus House left with their tails between their legs. They waxed their worth, but what good could it do? None of them could punch harder than Xander could.“That Xander Griffin is the definition of shameless! He’s got no f**king rock bottom, does he? He doesn’t even give us the amount of respect Aeolus House deserve—that wretched jack*ss!” One of the m
“Enough, all of you!” Mr. Otto suddenly bellowed above the hubbub. “I want all of you to stop abusing Shaelyn right now! All that needs to be done is to have Shaelyn and I visit Xander after this event for a formal apology. Nothing’s gonna happen to the Aeolus House.”Shaelyn bit her lips and said to him, “Mr. Otto, please listen to me. Zayn promised me that he will defeat Xander when it happens, and I just think all this pessimism is premature. We should place our faith in Zayn, you know?”Mr. Otto looked at her with disappointment. “Shaelyn… I’ve always thought you were better than this. I’ve always seen you as a worthy heiress for our flock, but look at you! You just—sigh. Damn it, it doesn’t matter. You can’t squeeze toothpaste back into its tube, can you? You’re on your own, Shaelyn. As for Zayn… you should keep your hope in check, I think. He cannot win against Xander. Of that, I’m sure!”Shaelyn clenched her jaw. She was a firm believer in Zayn’s prowess, but after being surr
The man’s aura, however, did not frighten Zayn at all. He simply shook his head and said, “You’re no match for me. If you really wanna win, maybe you two should team up.”The man’s eyebrows creased; his eyes shadowed by a hint of scorned fury. “Uppity brat,” he cursed, before hurling a punch forward at the start of his barrage.Zayn shook his head and dropped the tags. His own attack was already clashing with his opponent before the tags even landed.Since he joined the ranks of other master fighters, he had never fought another one who was similar to him in strength and skill—and so this opponent became the first. It was hard not to get excited over a prospect like that, and so Zayn braced his first with gusto.Bang! Their punches connected. Zayn remained on his feet, but his opponent staggered backward a little.It was clear who had the upper hand.A fraction of a second hardly passed when Zayn met another one of the opponent’s attacks. As two master fighters of incredible migh
The platinum hair foreign woman gawked at him with her eyes twinkling in amazement and awe. Zayn had displayed such monstrous power that even if the two of them worked together, they might not be able to fight Zayn at all!She could not fathom the logic of it all. How did Zayn get to such power?!With that on her mind, she took a few steps forward. “Not surprised you see no problem challenging Xander’s authority. Who would have thought you’re this powerful now?” she said. “Of course, the caveat here is that Xander’s a lot stronger than we are. If that was the extent of what you have, then you’re still a few paces behind.”Zayn smiled. “I wouldn’t worry about me if I were you.”He turned on his heel, walked back to where his pile of dog tags was, and picked them up before leaving. He heard a series of whooshes behind him and extended his hand, catching a dozen of additional dog tags the two had thrown at him without turning.“We are no match to you, so you deserve to own ours. Gods
Zayn continued his ride into the woods undisturbed, as any animal that saw him had the sense to duck or avoid him altogether. His previous clash with the master challenger had worn nothing down saved for some of Zayn’s stamina; still, it was easily replenished in a few minutes.By now, Zayn had about more than seventy dog tags in his hands—an amount that marked him as a possible contender for the title of ‘Best Hunter’ had it not been pragmatically useless. Zayn could lose to Xander and the latter became the best hunter by default, or he could win and obtain the latter’s dog tags.The real rule to this year’s Great Hunt was that only the strongest would be crowned the best hunter. There was no room for luck—and certainly no room for two winners. The strongest victor would arise from their battle.Zayn found a cave to act as his shelter for the night. After a good night’s rest, he felt energized and bursting with vim. He walked out of the cave with his eyes twinkling brightly, which