After seeing the Quest message, Gary had pretty much made up his mind. He would defeat Austin to make him join the Howlers. So far, listening to Kai had always worked in the green haired teenager’s favour.
And now, after he had just listened to his upperclassman’s speech about this place, Gary was more convinced than ever that his friend had already planned out the next dozen steps. He was a person who intended to truly change the status quo.
If Kai claimed that they needed Austin in their gang, then Gary was sure that there might be more than just one reason for it. As such, the high schooler would fight like he meant it. The only thing the teenager was partially curious about was the Quest reward. Unlike his fight against the twins the system kept it a secret from him.
‘The only other time this happened was when I fought against that Altered Hunter. It might let me choose another skill or it might be something as good. Who knows, maybe the system hasn’t decided yet and it will depend on my performance? Argh, Tom would be the better person to ask about this type of thing.’ Gary thought, making a mental note to perhaps pretend to have found a game to ask his best friend some questions.
The teenager went across to stand on one side of the room, standing on top of a few pieces of broken glass and took a stance. Austin understood that this meant the other had accepted the fight, so he went to the other side of the room to do the same.
The others decided to move over to the bar, a thin area that wasn’t as messy as the rest of this place. Now they were out of the way and could carefully watch the fight. Meanwhile Marie’s mother, Miss Degrace, was standing behind the bar. It looked like she was already filling in her role well as she sorted through whatever alcohol bottles there were left. It was almost as if the fight wasn’t even happening behind her, the middle aged woman was that calm about it.
“I just don’t understand you boys, why do you need to solve everything with your fists?” Marie commented, leaning on her elbow with her hand pressed against her face, clearly not interested in the fight at all. She was paying more attention to what her mother was doing and was mentally calculating how much money they would have to put into this place to fix it.
“You’re not wrong, not everything needs to be solved using your fists.” Kai said as he playfully ruffled her hair, earning him an annoyed look. “However, there are certain things that just can’t be solved with words. Besides, we’re in an area where the only universal language is violence.
“Just let them talk it out with their fists today. It’s also important for our gang to know each other’s strength so we can rely on each other.”
On the other hand, Innu was very interested in watching the fight and honestly he was also quite nervous for Gary’s sake. After all, despite their break, it was undeniable that the two of them had just been through a tough fight, and Innu hadn’t forgotten how many punches their leader had taken.
There were bound to be some bruises and taking too many hits from bare fists wasn’t good in the first place. Although Gary’s endurance was praiseworthy, unlike the twins, Austin seemed to be a heavy hitter rather than a speedster.
“Come on then!” Austin challenged his opponent with a smile on his face. He walked over, not taking a real fighting stance or anything, yet the amount of pressure and confidence emanating off his body was frightening.
‘I’ve learned from my mistake, so I will meet you with all I’ve got!’ Gary decided.
[Skill activated Charging Heart]
[All stats have temporarily been doubled]
[-10 Energy]
The green haired teenager thought that maybe now Austin would take him more seriously but the thing was, the loner had been taking him seriously from the very beginning.
Seeing Gary run towards him and throwing a fist, Austin stepped to the side at the right time and readied his fist. He swung it, hitting the other right on the rib. It was a short and compact blow, but twisting his body he had all his weight behind it.
[-4 HP]
‘What the hell? How strong is he that he can do this much damage against 28 points of Endurance?! F*ck, this seriously hurts and It didn’t even seem like he used his full strength!’ Gary lost a bit of his earlier confidence. The high schooler had been convinced that he would be able to ignore whatever Austin could dish out and subdue him in a dogfight.
“Looks like you’re using your full speed against me from the start.” Austin’s smile got bigger. “I’m glad you’re taking me more seriously than you did those twins. I might not be as fast as them but if you can see your opponent’s attacks and time it correctly, you don’t need to be fast to dodge them and guess what, I can see yours perfectly!”
The way Austin was talking was a little strange, but Gary didn’t have the leisure time to care for that.
‘Hmm, that’s certainly an interesting approach…’ Kai thought since he had no such problems.
There was no need for Austin to explain what he was doing. It was clear that he had spoken out loud on purpose as if he wanted his opponent to hear. It was almost like Austin was trying to teach Gary how to deal with an opponent faster than him, or what he would have done if he had been the one to go up against the twins.
Regaining his composure, instead of running in, Gary decided to move in instead, and tried to remember what Innu and him had practised. There weren’t two opponents attacking him this time. It was a one on one.
‘I can do this!’ Gary thought.