Despite Harvor not using his Altered form, there was one thought that had gone through Gary’s mind at that moment as he received the hit right to his face.
It was the heaviest and hardest he had been hit, and that was saying something now that his Endurance in his stats had maxed out.
Although he might have received more damage from attacks from Sin, those were large on the power scale, including the power of the flames.
This was just a solid hit, nothing else, and Gary could feel it vibrate through his entire body. What was even more worrying was that Gary wasn’t sure if his hits were having any impact at all.
Usually, he would see some strain on one’s face, or with Sin, at least each time Gary did a large amount of damage, his body had transformed to suit that.
Harvor would just smile each time, but as Gary’s head was flung to the side from the hit and he gritted his teeth, he saw a change in Harvor’s expression.
It wasn’t a smile; his eyes had widened in surprise, and the two of them had even let go of each other. It allowed for the power of the punch to skid them both across the canvas, putting more distance between themselves.
That was when Gary saw it as well—floating down from above, onto the canvas floor, was a black wig.
“Whose hair is in the middle of the…” The realization hit Gary as he went to grab his head, and he could feel nothing moving apart from his own green hair.
“CRAP!” Gary said.
Seeing the green hair, and matching it up with the face in front of them, along with anyone who would be crazy enough to even match Harvor, it had become pretty obvious to even the men watching the fight from the ground who this was.
“Gary Dem!” Stanley said. “It’s Gary Dem. I should have guessed it… this situation just got that much more important.”
Stanley lifted his tablet and furiously tapped on it, trying to notify the other Zodiac members to get there as soon as possible.
He even started to move closer to the cage himself. Now that Gary Dem was involved, he would have to get involved in the fight as well.
‘Gary Dem, the leader of the Howlers, the new King on the block who took out the Phoenix Gang along with Sin. He is a person who’s not to be underestimated.’
‘On top of that, unlike the other Kings who have been willing to keep the balance for the sake of peace, he seems to do his own thing!’ Stanley thought.
He had done a lot of research on Gary Dem and the Howlers after their rise. He had analyzed the fight between Gary and Sin multiple times as well, and that was where a big confusion had come in on his part.
‘How then, how is it that the Gary Dem in front of me is able to use fire powers?’ Stanley thought. ‘The reason why we were thrown off in our research was because we were looking for someone who had fire powers. In the fight, he never used them once… what is the meaning of this?’
Stanley had never heard of an Altered being able to change their elemental or special trait. Sometimes, the beast would have a few traits, but it seemed odd.
Was it a coincidence that Gary had fought against an Altered with fire powers, and now they were witnessing him use fire powers as well?
Eventually, Harvor’s surprised expression had disappeared, and his face returned to a smile as he started to laugh out loud.
“Now this is amazing,” Harvor claimed. “I have to admit I was worried for a moment, that there might be a person that had gone unnoticed that had managed to catch my attention.”
“But learning that it was you, Gary Dem—that really pleases me.”
“You know my name?” Gary asked, still a little starstruck that the AFC Champion knew who he was.
“Of course, you have my admiration for going after one of the Kings—what none of us had done, you were the first. Since that day, I had imagined how I would fare if I were to go against Sin myself, and I too have wanted to go against you.”
Jayden, whose grogginess was disappearing, was able to see the full situation, and seeing the green hair, he knew exactly who it was as well.
It pained him, pained his whole body to see his sister and her friend fighting right here and now. Biting his lip, he wanted to shout out to them.
He wanted to tell them to run away, but he couldn’t do that in this situation, and knowing them, he knew it would be useless.
“Regardless, this doesn’t change a thing!” Gary said. “We’re taking Jayden back with us.”
Harvor looked back at Jayden and remembered what was said in the VIP room.
“Now I see, so you two have some sort of special relationship. I guess it’s true of Xin as well. Maybe they are all actually part of your Howlers gang.”
“Well, that’s great, but you’re wrong—this has changed now. Now that everyone knows that you are Gary Dem, this is a declaration of war between the One Gang and the Howlers!” Harvor said excitedly.
Gary, Austin, Park, and Xin were all gearing up, tensing their bodies at that moment.
“And if I beat you here, it will end it before it gets to that point,” Gary claimed.
Inside the VIP rooms where Daphne Bree and Ylva from the Lupus gang were watching, the revelation that the mystery attacker was Gary Dem had changed everything.
“Oh my!” Ylva said as she dragged her finger across her bottom lip. “Gary Dem, the other Alpha is present. No wonder my body was acting up. I guess it wasn’t a waste coming here after all.”