The event was underway, and the first match had already concluded. It was a fight between a debut contestant and a veteran.
The debut contestant was from the AFA, whereas the other contestant had several fights. Experienced, and was a person who was there to weed out those that were talented and those who weren’t.
Thankfully, as usual, the student selected from the AFA had won relatively easily, and in between the fights, there was now a singing performance taking place.
“That reminds me of my debut fight as well,” Gary said, watching the match. “Watching it, it does make me wonder how I would have done in the AFC?”
“I never expected you to be the leader of your own gang and control your own city,” Apollo said as he handed Gary another drink.
The two of them clashed their drinks together and drank away. Even though it wasn’t alcohol since Gary wasn’t much of a drinker.
“But you know, Harvor manages to do it. He’s a King as well, and he manages to control the gang and still participate in the AFC, but I guess that’s just because it’s him,” Apollo said.
It had been this way for a while now, Xin noticed. The two of them would casually talk, and then any situation that came up, Apollo would find some way to praise Harvor, which was annoying her somewhat.
“That’s because Harvor’s business is the AFC,” Xin replied. “Think of it this way: if Harvor lost the AFC—no, no, it doesn’t even have to be that—if Harvor lost a fight completely, wouldn’t you say that the whole gang falls apart then? And who knows, he might very well lose this match to Jayden.”
“Impossible,” Apollo replied instantly.
This made Xin’s eyebrow twitch—of course, Apollo had no idea Jayden was Xin’s brother.
“Jayden is strong; we should know that more than anyone considering we both fought against him, but from what I’ve seen with Harvor, that man is unstoppable. I don’t think it would be an understatement to call him the strongest man in the world.”
“You know, once I thought that I could be the strongest, that I could reach rank 1, then after meeting Harvor, I realized there was no chance of completing that dream. So if you can’t beat them, then join them, right?”
In a way, Gary felt a little saddened—Apollo had changed quite a bit. He remembered him in the AFC as a large force striving to be the best.
He and Gary were practically competing against each other for the number one position, and now he was willingly letting it go.
“Then why do the other Kings exist? If Harvor was truly the strongest, then shouldn’t he have controlled the whole country, the whole world by now?” Xin asked.
Apollo lifted his drink up and could see the next fight was underway. Time was drawing closer for them.
“Every King has different sets of power. Take Sin, for instance—he had ears and eyes everywhere, he had his men in every company there was, and he was able to influence the world.”
“If Harvor went up against him, he would have taken a large loss in many places. When I say Harvor is the strongest, it might not be the gang or the business, but the man himself is the strongest,” Apollo explained.
“The way I see it, he is already challenging the entire world. Think about it—he made one of the biggest fighting sports there is out there, and he allows any Altered to come compete, including the Kings.
“Right now, he is the champion, he is considered the strongest Altered in the world, so if anyone wants to, they can come challenge him.”
“There’s no need for entire gangs to battle it out or take control of cities. You can face him in the ring if you want.”
“As for what I was saying earlier, Jayden is jumping up too many steps. There are five of the Zodiacs that are part of the AFC, all ranked higher than Jayden.
“He’s jumping to the king before taking out his knights, and that’s why he will lose.”
Gary could feel the hairs on his arms start to stand up, and that’s when he noticed an electrical charge was coming off from Xin.
“And if you and I were to fight, who do you think would win? We could set it up as an event before the main, don’t you think?” Xin said.
“I’m ready to go anytime,” Apollo said with a smile.
“Well, I’m not,” Gary quickly said as he stood up. “If you want to fight and fight fairly, then do it in the ring at your own time—don’t do it here!”
“And Xin, you know that it’s someone else’s day today. If you were to fight, it could make it hard for them to focus or concentrate.”
Xin thought about it for a bit; she knew what Gary was talking about. If they were to fight and word got out to her brother, he would be distracted. She just came here to see him, to watch him, and then stop him from doing anything crazy if the worst was to happen.
The hairs on Gary’s arms were starting to settle.
“I thought for a moment you were going to take us both on,” Apollo commented.
“Please, I’m hoping I won’t get into any mess at all today,” Gary said, his hand behind his head.
That was when the sound of footsteps could be heard approaching the door.
“Apollo, did you have any more guests coming today?” Gary asked.
“No, it should just be me—I didn’t invite anyone,” Apollo replied and turned his head to look at the door.
As everyone watched the door, they saw it being pushed open, and a man with a purple and white jacket was seen walking through, wearing the AFC uniform.
In an instant, Gary knew who it was and muttered his name under his breath.
“Harvor!”