Ever since Harvor had entered the room, a sick feeling had settled in the pit of Xin’s stomach. She wondered why her brother’s opponent was here of all places. It didn’t make sense, even if Apollo was one of the Zodiacs. Apollo wasn’t a long-lost friend or anything, and it was clear that Harvor was treating the upcoming fight as just another match.
Then she heard it—Harvor called her by name and mentioned that he knew she and Jayden were siblings.
Gary kept a close eye on Xin, noticing her hand twitching, ready to move.
‘If she acts out, do I stop her or help her? I have no clue; this is all happening too fast,’ Gary thought.
“It seems you’ve looked into my brother more than I thought. I’ll give you credit for that,” Xin stated.
Harvor waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t give me credit. My right-hand man, Stanley—one of my Zodiacs—he’s the one who found out the information. It seems you went to great lengths to keep it a secret. I guess you were afraid that the academy or someone else would show you favoritism. Either way, I found it interesting that you came here to support your brother. It’s a good thing you met Apollo, and he brought you in.”
Harvor then stood up and started to stretch his limbs.
“It’s too bad that your brother is going to lose this match, but since his little sister is watching, I’ll go easy on him.”
“Harvor!” Xin shouted at the top of her lungs as her arms began to transform into electrified feathers, shocking the area and the floor around her. She was grinding her teeth, and her eyes were starting to narrow.
“Oh, this is interesting. I don’t believe we ever saw this Altered version of you in the AFC. It seems you’ve really improved,” Harvor clapped.
Behind him, even Apollo was getting nervous, unsure of what Harvor was trying to do. It was as if he was purposely riling Xin up.
“Hey,” Gary said, appearing beside her and placing his hand on her yellow feathers. It was clear that the attack was striking Gary’s body, but he had no reaction at all.
This caught Harvor’s attention, who had thought the man in the room was just an ordinary person.
‘Is he an Altered as well? And he’s not affected by her powers?’ Harvor thought.
“You should leave the beating up to Jayden. You need to let him have his turn first,” Gary said.
“Come on, that’s kinda boring, don’t you think?” Harvor asked. “You’re a fan of mine, right? What are the chances that Jayden will be able to beat me when no one has since the start of the AFC?”
“Do you think Jayden will be any different? I’m giving you a chance to make it so your brother has a bigger chance of winning. Fight me here in this room.”
“If Xin is able to damage me, or hurt me, maybe even give me a fatal wound, I will still go out there in that ring tonight, no matter what condition I’m in.”
“The only shame is, honestly, the world won’t be able to see this. It would have been a lovely match to get the spectators to hand over their money.”
Harvor continued his taunts, and Apollo now understood why Harvor was doing such a thing. He wanted the match to be more exciting.
He remembered a time long ago when he had fought against Harvor himself—the words “boring,” the dull expression on Harvor’s face that faded with each hit. This was a man who lived for the thrill of the fight, someone who wanted to go against the strongest. He truly believed that his fight with Jayden was going to be an easy one, and doing something like this would make it more interesting.
However, Gary continued to hold onto Xin’s hands, and eventually, she looked at him. That’s when Gary turned to look at Harvor.
“To answer your question from before, I have watched a lot of your fights. I think I’ve seen every single one. Even when I got busy, if I missed the fight live, I would rewatch your fights and evaluate everything you do.”
“And I’ll give you my answer now—you are seriously underestimating Jayden.”
Gary’s strong words finally made Xin calm down. The parts of her that had transformed into an Altered were disappearing, and her regular skin was returning.
All of the words that Gary said were true to his thoughts. However, he had decided that a fight might not be favorable for them.
There was the man in the room with the pineapple-shaped head, who was most likely a Zodiac, and then Apollo.
Gary wasn’t sure how well he would match up to Harvor with his new powers, but the odds weren’t in their favor.
Besides, he was looking forward to seeing Jayden give this man a beating.
“I’m sorry, Apollo, but it looks like we aren’t welcome here. Xin and I will take our leave,” Gary said.
“No, wait,” Harvor said, raising his hands. “I have another idea. They say a person is at their strongest when they have something to lose.”
“So why don’t we take little Xin here and put her as the prize for Jayden? With his sister’s life in my hands, I’m sure he’ll fight a little harder.”
The pineapple-headed man then transformed his hand, and a strange, large stinger appeared. Lifting it up, the stinger fired out a purple liquid straight toward Xin.
She hadn’t expected it, thinking the situation had deescalated, but Gary was in front of her.
[Claw Drain activated]
[Special trait has been added: Fire]
Gary’s fingernails grew, and the tips of them were burning as he swung his hand, cutting right through the stinger and leaving a trail of fire in the air.
“What the F*ck do you think you’re doing?” Gary said, glaring at Harvor and the attacker.
****