"Are you looking for a beating?"
Jojo glared at Arthur annoyedly as she crossed her arm around Arthur's hand, twisting his wrist instantly.
"Honest mistake... he just caught me off-guard!"
Arthur was still laughing through the pain, knowing that Jojo wouldn't break his han...
Crack! Owowow!
Alas... he underestimated how much of a menace Jojo was. Without hesitation, she snapped his wrist after seeing that he was still taunting her. She knew the bastard was too tough to break, and this was more of a pinch for him.
"Stop trying me." She huffed.
As expected, even though Arthur was crying with a pained grimace to fish for sympathy, his wrist had already recovered instantly after a faint flash of pink light appeared around his hand.
Since everyone had already gotten accustomed to Arthur's shenanigans for the past two months, they swiftly ignored him and focused on Yanhuan again.
"Yanhuan... have you just gone through your puberty?" Evangeline sneered sarcastically, "One defeat, and you went bald for character development?"
"You're killing me, dude... " Tyrese wiped his tears as he shook his head, "If you have done this to yourself for attention, that's a new low even for you."
Before the others could chime in with their insults, Guo Shi shouted coldly, "Enough!"
Too bad, everyone still pushed in one final collective snicker before they turned to Dominic, wanting to see what he thought about this situation.
That's when they saw Dominic staring at Yanhuan intensely but saying nothing.
While the majority laughed at Yanhuan's appearance, they didn't bother to see the monster hidden underneath.
Levi, Jasmine, and Dominic were the only ones to notice the drastic physical and spiritual changes that Yanhuan underwent.
'How is this possible? His muscles have gotten as dense as concrete when flexed... His subconscious barrier had become a fortress... I doubt even a Psych Solarbound Daywalker can break it apart in less than ten attacks.'
Levi knit his brows as he used his Harmonic Spine to scan Yanhuan's body and soul throughout. Even though Yanhuan was achieving impressive results in hiding his spiritual aura, he couldn't escape Levi's vision.
What he saw startled him... for him, it was like changing Yanhuan he defeated with someone who resembled him from a different dimension.
Someone who had crossed the boundary of Solarbound rank through both physical and spiritual prowess while still at Warden rank.
It seemed strange in Levi's eyes because he knew that only a few practices were capable of achieving such results, but there was no way Yanhuan or his family had access to them.
"Yanhuan... it seems like I have underestimated your father's extraterrestrial network," Dominic commented calmly, sharing the same analysis as Levi.
"I have my ways."
Suddenly, Wei-Lan's friendly but stern voice resounded across the room... then, he emerged into the central hall with the help of a staff member.
As the head of the strongest agency and region in the world, he had special privileges inside the Solar Aegis Sanctuary... privileges that not even Dominic could remove, as they were bestowed personally by Wei-Lan's region's Saviors.
"Sir Wei-Lan... you should have called," Dominic said indifferently, never a fan of Wei-Lan.
It wasn't just because of these kinds of disrespectful stunts he pulled, it was something personal... something that touched on one of his dearest loved ones.
"There was no need to bother you with the weight of treating me as a guest."
Wei-Lan smiled a little as he said this, while looking at the silent Daywalkers gazing at him, "I am here as a father to support my son."
Yanhuan didn't even flinch when he heard this... usually, he would be grinning from ear to ear with a boastful, smug look. Instead, his expression was as dead as a corpse, his facial features barely moving.
This reaction was noticed immediately by Li Mei... Her supportive smile faded slowly after seeing that her captain didn't flinch at having one of his goals achieved.
She was the only one who truly knew what Yanhuan was really like... He always told her one of his biggest goals wasn't to save Earth, his region, get stronger, or uplift his family's legacy... it was nothing more than having his father call him son openly and proudly support him.
For many people, something this simple was nothing but a dream for him.
"Captainship, right?" Dominic asked calmly.
"Most definitely," Wei-Lan stressed with the same fake smile.
Levi read the tense atmosphere as if it were written with crayons in his vision... he could tell that Dominic asked to test him, and Wei-Lan's tone implied that he wasn't leaving here without seeing his son fight for the captainship position.
After all, Dominic was the conference supervisor as well, which gave him the authority to decide literally anything he wanted besides the tournament's slots.
If Wei-Lan wasn't attending, Dominic was going to check first on Yanhuan's situation after noticing the changes... then, even if he was strong, he was going to deem him unfit to lead the Faction when his mind seemed broken.
But now... it was more complicated to reject the challenge when Wei-Lan was earning his Savior's squad a ton of crystallized seeds, which was everything to them.
This bought him the privilege of having their assistance in such matters on speed dial... Dominic had to respect their requests.
Levi had analyzed all of this just from that brief exchange they had, only because he dug through such information beforehand... After Darius was found to be a deep undercover mole, Levi's suspicion of almost everyone in the upper echelons tripled, making him conduct some research on them.
"My son is ready whenever your captain is," Wei-Lan said as he guided Yanhuan by the shoulder to the center of the plaza.
"If Yanhuan wants a beating, there is no need to waste my big bro's time..." Arthur proclaimed while calmly removing his jacket.
However, before he could remove it entirely, Jasmine tapped him on the back and walked out with her brush already summoned... her expression as emotionless as Yanhuan's. Then, she gestured with two fingers at Yanhuan, telling him to come get his challenge.
This sight set Wei-Lan's heart ablaze a little. He believed that his son was having troubles with only Levi... but now, he could see that his son left many others to question his strength.
Instinctively or habitually, Yanhuan sensed his father's change in mood and swiftly stepped forward to make things right again.
"Levi... fight me in the arena in ten minutes, otherwise, I will never respect your authority in the Faction's war."
Yanhuan intoned, his voice laced with defiance... He didn't even glance in Jasmine's direction, as if she had nothing to do with their conflict and never would.
-Jasmine, thank you for the initiative... but clearly, this fight is too personal for Yanhuan.-
Levi signed to Jasmine with a serene smile while standing up... although Yanhuan's strength had been crazily enhanced, he didn't doubt for a second that Jasmine would be able to finish him off if pushed to the corner.
After Wei-Lan made an appearance, Levi discerned that this challenge was nothing but normal... Yanhuan couldn't get strong without his father's assistance, and to make an appearance to spectate his fight made the situation even more serious.
Levi had no plans of having Jasmine get entangled in their web... After reaching her side, he lowered her brush and gestured for her to return to the table and let him handle it.
All it took was a single smile to convey his thoughts to Jasmine... She let out a long exhale, then she nodded in understanding and walked back, but not without sparing Yanhuan one last icy glance that made his heart skip a beat.
He ignored the feeling and returned his focus to Levi.
"I will see you in the conference arena," Yanhuan uttered indifferently before showing him his back as he walked away.
"I hope both of you learn a lot from each other."
Wei-Lan said with a fake polite smile directed at Levi.
Then, he turned around and walked away, his son slowing his footsteps, so his father could be in the lead... like always.