The good thing was, whatever had been affecting his body in the last fight, he was back to norma, so he could at least cheer for his friend.
On the other side, Shingi, while still pissed off at Ryan, had a gut feeling that his rival wouldn’t make it out unscathed. As for how it would go, well the black bag was still fresh on his mind…
As for Xin, her feelings were mixed. Her small past high school life was now mixing with her current life. Part of her wanted to cheer for him due to their past connection, while another knew it would be wrong to do so.
‘Gary, if you lose this fight, you should not be ashamed, even I lost to Ryan a couple of times when I first got here. As long as you show the academy what you got, they’ll guide you in the right direction.’ Xin thought.
When walking to the cage, Gary continued to hold his head down and opened the door to enter the fighting area. At the same time, Ryan confidently went into the cage with a large grin on his face.
“Come on, Greeny, what's wrong? Don’t tell me you’re ill?” Ryan questioned since his opponent's movements were incredibly dull and slow.
“If only you knew.” The Werewolf mumbled under his breath. He was repeated one sentence over and over as if it was a mantra. ‘You're not hungry, don’t eat him! You're not hungry, don't eat him!’
His fists were tensed up, and his own nails were digging into the palm of his hands. This was already his third full moon, and he was wondering if things would get worse and worse each time. He still remembered how things had escalated last time… which was why he knew If he ate now, he would go on a rampage in this very room.
‘How long is this stupid day going to last?!’ The green haired teenager cursed, but before he could look at any type of clock of some sort, the familiar announcement was made.
“Fight, begin!” Eddy declared.
For the first time today, the contestant on the AFA’s side chose to go act as the aggressor. However, rather than run across the floor as the others, Ryan used the edge of the cage.
“I don’t care what your situation is, but I’m going to take you out in one hit, without even needing to transform!” Ryan jumped up the side of the cage and started to run across it without falling down.
It was as if he was defying the laws of gravity. It didn’t take long for him to reach the position where Gary was, and he jumped off and threw out a kick right towards the troubled teenager’s head.
Surprisingly, although his opponent remained standing in one spot, not moving an inch from where he had entered, he had immediately lifted his arms up to block the quick attack. When the foot connected, a loud bang was heard as if someone had fired off a gun. Gary felt his whole body shift from where he was, and he was sent crashing into the cage.
From outside the cage, the attack looked like a strong one. The sound itself was an indicator of how much power and force had been used. Everyone got a feeling that Ryan deserved his spot as the second strongest Altered on the academy’s side.. His attack sounded and seemed more powerful than the others, even Xin's if it hadn't had a weird effect on Numba.
[-3 HP]
[247/250 HP]
The Werewolf wasn’t suffering from any broken bones nor pain in his body. With his current Endurance and HP, his defence was on another level. He was sturdy enough to act as a ‘tank’ to protect those close to him.
“You're still standing after an attack like that, huh? I guess you’re the rank 2 for a reason, but I won’t give you the chance to hit me!” Ryan announced as he ran forward and started to jump from side to side.
He was energetic and showcased his agility. One of Ryan’s traits was the fact that his opponents never knew what his next move was going to be in a fight. Jumping off his left foot, the Altered swung his arm in a hook-like fashion and was aiming right for Gary’s ribs.
He could see that the place was wide open, an easy target to hit. Once again, though, Gary slightly dropped his arm at the last moment, blocking the attack with his elbow.
[-2 HP]
It was a strong hit and the Werewolf*s body was chucked to the side again. However, that was it. There wasn’t much energy in him in the first place. Seeing that Gary had blocked his attacks twice in a row, something that had rarely happened to Ryan before, he leapt to the other side throwing the same punch, only for the same outcome to occur. It didn’t take a genius to understand that this wasn’t simply coincidence.
“ARGHH!” Ryan screamed, as he threw punches everywhere. He looked like a boxer, trying to break through one’s guard but only throwing knockout punches. Unfortunately, each punch was met by Gary’s defence, neutralising most, if not all of the power behind it.
[-1 HP]
[-2 HP]
[-1 HP]
[-0 HP]
If Gary was able to think properly he would have been beyond impressed with his Endurance since one of the hits had taken 0 damage, which was the first time he had seen a message like that, but his head wasn’t clear at the moment.
‘Don't eat him…don’t eat him… but I want to hit him so badly… SO I CAN FREAKING EAT HIM!’ Those thoughts slipped in every once in a while. That’s why the Werewolf had been focusing so hard to remind himself to NOT do it. For the entirety of his fight, he had been acting on auto-pilot.
Eddy watching from the side had a grin on his face. ‘If I didn’t know any better, I would have believed he was some Turtle Altered. Still, to think blocking skills are this great, without even transforming. If his offence is just half as good, we might have a soon-to-be champion on our hands.’
While watching the match, Shingi was tapping his foot away nervously. All of them had already noticed what Gary was doing. At first, they thought that Ryan had the upper hand, but now they could see that their teammate wasn't pulling any of his punches.
‘Why hasn’t that guy thrown a punch yet? Is he trying to tire out Ryan?’ Shingi was confused. Were it not for the green haired teenager staying on the defensive, this would be an even more entertaining fight, especially since he was certain that Gary’s power should be enough to end it all with one hit.
Even Xin started chewing on her nails. Sure, he was blocking all the attacks, but all that damage should be accumulated. He looked weaker compared to Ryan as his body was being chucked all over, and from Xin's experience, Gary had a strong will. Given his unyielding character, going against a strong opponent might not be the best thing.
It was then that the doors opened from the outside, those in the cage didn’t notice it because they were too focused on their fight, but Sty had returned, being somewhat healed and having bandages all over him.
He went to the others and stood by his side watching everything. Still, Gary was taking the hits from Ryan, and there was nothing else going on, until finally, the Altered had trapped him against the back of the cage, using his position to rain a flurry of hits.
“Is this guy trying to make me look like an idiot!” Sty shouted in disgust. “Why isn’t he fighting against him properly? Just transform and get this over with.”
Although Eddy didn't know the details about the Werewolf’s fight with the supervisors, he had been informed about the fight between him and Sty. It had not only been one-sided at the time, but also caused a huge mess.
‘Why hasn't he transformed yet, exactly?’ Eddy was starting to wonder himself. ‘Is he waiting for Ryan to do it first?’
“Gary!” Ian shouted. “Just turn into your full form and rip his head off!”
“Shut up!” Gary shouted with strength in his voice. Words like ‘bite’ were triggering him into a rage, and for a second a surge of energy could be felt. Ryan even backed off unconsciously.
He looked at Gary, who was slightly bruised in some places but appeared to hardly be hurt.
[218/250 HP]
Ryan was breathing heavily, he couldn’t remember the last time he had hit someone so much without them falling. There was a tingling sensation at the back of his head telling him to back off, yet his pride couldn’t take it.
Looking over, he could see Eddy was about to raise a hand, stopping the fight.
“Well, well, looks like I have just been given the go ahead to transform.” Ryan stated. “I don’t care how I win, because winning is the most important thing.”
*****
Instagram: jksmanga
Support the making of MWS webtoon P.a.t.r.e.o.n