NOVEL NEXT Chapter 292: Free For All [III]
It was unbelievable…
A human riding on the back of Vargan, the former Alpha of Lycas, with a rope around his neck… that was something no werewolf had ever imagined they would see in their lifetime.
"Outsider!!!"
"Outsider!!!"
"Hold on tight!"
The crowd's roars shook the arena. Every werewolf… old, young, warrior or worker stood from their seats, howling in excitement.
Azel, perched on Vargan's back with the rope clenched in his hands, grinned.
The feeling of people cheering his name like this… it was intoxicating.
'So this is how warriors in the old days felt,' he thought, tugging the rope tighter around Vargan's thick neck. 'I could end this right now… but where's the fun in that? It's not like the Academy's open yet.'
He yanked harder.
Vargan groaned, claws digging into the dirt as the tension in his neck increased.
The great werewolf bent his knees slightly.
Azel frowned. 'What's he planning?'
Vargan's muscles coiled and the rope creaked.
Then, with a violent roar, the werewolf threw himself backward.
"Ah—"
Azel's eyes widened as he realized what was happening.
Vargan flung his whole body back, using his massive weight to crush the human riding him.
His back slammed into the arena wall with a thunderous boom, the impact cracking the stone and shaking the stands.
A huge crater formed behind him, dust and smoke billowing outward.
For a moment, there was silence.
Vargan straightened slightly, his chest still heaving.
"Slippery… human…" he growled, waiting to feel the telltale crunch of bone or splash of blood beneath him.
But there was nothing.
If the outsider had been crushed, there'd be evidence but his back felt clean… That didn't change the fact that it hurt.
Confusion flashed across his monstrous face and then he looked at the stands… everyone was looking upward so he decided to look as well and there was a blur…
Then his vision went dark for an instant… just before a crunch rang through his skull.
Azel's boot connected squarely with his face.
The kick landed with enough force to twist Vargan's head sideways and send him stumbling back.
The crowd exploded into another frenzy.
Azel landed lightly on the ground, sliding backward across the sand and putting distance between himself and the massive werewolf.
Before Vargan had hit the wall, Azel had jumped upward using the recoil of the wolf's own motion and amplified the leap with aura.
It sent him soaring over the beast's head, where he'd kicked off the wall midair and driven his foot straight into the Alpha's jaw.
'That should've been enough to knock him out,' Azel thought, spinning his wrist as the rope coiled back into his storage ring. 'He's strong. I need someone like him alive in Lycas… at least, if I'm going to turn this place around.'
Vargan growled low, lifting his head.
His left eye was bloodshot, one fang was cracked, and blood seeping down his snout yet he stood tall again, shaking off the pain like it was nothing.
"You're durable," Azel muttered, summoning his bone sword into his hand. "Let's see if your bones are as tough as your skin."
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
The chant rose again from the stands.
Azel tightened his grip on the blade and Vargan roared, lunging forward with both arms spread wide.
The air whistled as his claws came down in a crushing arc.
Azel ducked beneath it and that was when the werewolf noticed something strange.
His right hand… felt lighter.
He glanced down mid-motion, only to see that his fingers were gone.
Blood erupted from the stumps like a crimson geyser. His severed claws hit the sand with a wet thud.
The shock hit him too late.
Pain coursed through his nerves as his howl rattled the walls.
Azel sighed and sidestepped another swing. "First lesson of fighting… watch your hands."
Vargan snarled and raised his other arm. Black mana rippled across it, condensing into three jagged lines of energy.
He slashed through the air, sending three crescent waves of dark energy screaming toward Azel.
The attack was so close it seemed impossible to dodge but Azel's eyes narrowed, and his foot twisted slightly in the sand.
He moved, slipping through the small gap between the first and second slash, then spinning sideways through the space between the second and third.
Each dark arc passed within inches of him, tearing the air itself apart as they collided with the far wall.
The explosions that followed were deafening, flames and debris erupting from the impact zone.
When the dust cleared, Azel stood untouched, his coat fluttering from the wind pressure.
"How weak," he said calmly. "Let me show you what an attack should look like."
He gripped the bone sword with both hands, lowering his stance. A soft green light bled from the blade.
"Dragon Claw."
The blade flared, and in an instant, five green slashes of pure aura burst from it shooting upward like blades of light.
They tore through the air, slicing clean through the flesh of Vargan's abdomen and chest, not deep enough to kill, but strong enough to lift the beast into the air.
The crowd gasped as Vargan's enormous frame was launched upward by the sheer force of the technique, blood scattering in arcs across the battlefield.
Azel stood beneath him with a poker face as the slashes exploded mid-air.
The Alpha crashed back down moments later.
BOOM!
The ground cracked on impact, dust and blood flying around.
Vargan lay there, his once-mighty body now burned and battered with blood pooling beneath him.
His breathing was shallow and his eyes were half-lidded.
And then… silence.
The entire stadium froze.
'I even held back,' he thought. 'Are werewolves supposed to be this weak? Or did they just stop training altogether?'
He exhaled and rolled his shoulders, about to dismiss the blade when he felt something cold brush his neck.
A sharp edge.
"Well, this is unfair," he said, already sighing.
He didn't need to turn around to know who it was.
The metallic clink of a folding fan closing and then reopening again gave it away.
"You've done splendidly," Selene said, her voice melodic but dripping with confidence.
Her silver fur shimmered faintly under the crimson light.
She stood behind him with the fan pressed lightly against his throat. The blood from her earlier battle had dried, but her golden eyes glowed bright.
"I'm amazed an outsider like you managed to defeat Vargan," she continued. "For this, I will allow you to keep your life… and your heart, if you surrender now."
Azel blinked once, lips twitching upward. Where was this woman seeing confidence from?
"Who decided that?" he asked.