10 Chapter 10 : Liz's Battle
As the matches were decided, Usui was scheduled to be last as he was to be the second opponent to Jinha. Restlessly, he started debating on whether he should wait for his turn or escape the matches with Zelal and wander around till his turn was up.
He gave up on his idea when he saw the little prince jumping down from the podium, where his parents sat to the battleground. Rin grinned widely at Usui as he walked towards him.
Usui watched as the little boy's smile faded to annoyance as the boy noticed his guard following him. The chubby prince motioned the guard to scram to which the guard nodded obediently.
The guard took his place a couple of distance away from the little prince, just enough to give the prince his space and enough to help him in danger.
After dismissing the guard, Rin happily ran towards Usui," Big Bro, are you taking away my sister?"
Usui lifted the kid up and asked, " Do you not want me to?" while he walked, carrying the prince, to the bench where his brother was waiting.
The boy contemplated as his small chubby hand held his child. Usui sat down and placed the boy on his lap. He watched as the boy's brows furrowed and then, the next second smoothened out while his eyes shined brightly.
"No..No..I want you to do exactly that."
Usui's smile faltered as he thought, ' Wasn't the answer supposed to be the opposite? Don't all little brothers be protective over their sister.'
'Why is he different?!!!!' he silently cried.
He cleared his throat and confirmed, " You want me to take her away?"
The little boy nodded.
"Why?"
"Because I will be able to accompany both of you." the little boy said innocently.
.
.
.
Zelal choked on the water he was drinking. He coughed while patting his chest, ' My brother is evil. Easily charming the boy! Hmph!! '
Usui was surprised as he heard his reason and couldn't help but laugh while patting the boy's head.
He looked at the adorable boy with green eyes, similar to his mother, with his chubby cheeks a bit read and short blonde hair. The smile on his face would melt anyone's heart and make one love the small adorable prince in an instant.
"Big bro, you don't need to fight the Thunder squad. I could just tell my father to cancel the competition right away and give my sister's hand to you."
He chuckled as he thought, ' Hmm..How would the princess feel if she came to know how her little brother gave her away easily?!'
He could already feel her eyes glaring at him with her pursed lips.
He smiled at the boy gently," There's no need for all of that. The competition must be fair and square so that everyone would know that your sister is marrying a strong guy. Who knows, maybe people would doubt my strength if you give me an advantage."
Rin frowned on hearing this," Brother, you don't need to worry as no one will complain about this matter. I believe in you."
The boy smugly said, " You can defeat these flies within minutes."
Rin was a born genius as he had high mana strength and had a dual affinity to wind and fire. He was also rather skilled in archery which would put a lot of adults to shame. So, he could judge a person's strength based on their mana and knew that his brother was powerful as he couldn't read his power.
One had to be a waste or should be a high-level mana cultivator to not be able to read their powers. And, the prince was confident to say that his big brother belonged to the latter category.
Usui chuckled softly seeing the proud look on the boy's face.
As he was about to explain further, he heard another voice say, " Prince Rin, you may be right about him being strong but you are wrong if you think he can defeat the thunder squad members ."
Usui turned to the annoying voice and found that it belonged to Jinha who had a grin on his face.
Jinha mocked him," Don't let your big brother lose this opportunity as he travelled here just for fighting against us and to win fairly."
He emphasized the last word deliberately which made Usui narrow his eyes at him.
Rin looked at his big brother confusedly.
Usui smiled," Yeah. I want to fight with their group to show you that I'm stronger than them. So Rin, wait for me patiently as I win this competition."
Rin smiled hearing his brother and nodded happily.
Jinha smirked," We will know who is stronger by the end of the competition. " and went back to his group.
....
The first match was between the prince of Claudia and Liz, the one who didn't bother to check who her opponent was as she closed the book she was reading and stood up while removing the creases formed while sitting on the bench.
Rin on seeing that aunt Liz was going to battle, he shouted," Aunt Liz, Good luck!"
On hearing the shout, Liz looked at Rin and smiled lovingly at him. On seeing her smile, the audience felt their hearts beating fast.
Zelal was stunned on seeing her beautiful smile and had to calm his raising heart. 'Stupid Heart!! Stop beating fast just because of a smile.'
The prince, on the field, looked troubled as he didn't want to hurt this beautiful girl. So, he tenderly said," I do not want to hurt you, so it would be best if you could pull out from this match."
Liz turned to him, back to being emotionless and said," You won't hurt me. So, let's begin."
The prince was embarrassed at her statement, he could feel all the mocking gazes on him. He gritted his teeth as he said, "Don't blame me if I hit you hard." and dashed toward her.
He kept on attacking her as Liz kept evading his attacks. When he was about to punch her stomach, she dodged to her left and high kicked him.
He stumbled a little while he looked up just to see her retract her legs slowly mid-air while her eyes looked at him mockingly.
He stood up, feeling sick and he heard the royals laugh," Is this the strength of the legendary thunder squad?"
" Why isn't he defeated yet? Are they too weak to go against us?"
"This is why women shouldn't fight and should only warm their husband's beds."
The royals were mocking the squad members while Liz just stared at her competitor. Seeing her stare at him, everyone noticed a different shade on the prince's face. Soon, he vomited a mouthful of blood as his face turned pale.
" Do you still want to continue?" her voice was heard loudly through the silent crowd.
"Hell.Yeah... " He grunted.
He glared at her angrily for making him lose face in front of others. He began to fight with his ice magic and moved closer to her. By now, Liz was beginning to get bored so she decided to end this battle.
Since her opponent was using ice magic, she also decided to use ice to give him some face. When both of them used their magic, the audience gasped as they could identify the difference in their power levels. As the prince was only a mere rank 2 cultivator, Liz was rank 5 cultivator.
....
The small girl from before, the one who Usui saved from falling down, asked her father, "Why is everyone silent, papa?"
She saw her papa smile and point towards the beautiful lady on the ground, " You see that lady over there."
The girl nodded.
" Well.. she is strong. Even stronger than your papa. "
The little girl looked confused, " How is she strong, papa? How can I be strong like her?"
Her father described what she needed to do to be strong and listened to her father as he mentioned the distribution of mana levels.
Rank 1 magi
Rank 2 magi
Rank 3 magi
Rank 4 magi
Rank 5 magi
Rank 6 magi
Rank 7 magi
Duke level
King level
Emperor level
Demigod level
God level
After listening to the levels, her father explained that reaching rank 5 at that lady's age is something only geniuses can do. Only a genius of geniuses can reach the Demigod and God stage.
The little girl clenched her fists determinedly and said, " Papa, I will work hard to be strong like her "
Her father shook his head and said, " The one you should look up to is not the lady on the ground but the lady with the mask on her face. No one knows what level she is, even the king and queen have to talk to her politely."
The little girl looked at Freya with her eyes full of determination.
....
Liz made a long sword of ice and as the prince looked at her, he gulped, "Y...You are a rank 5 cultivator?!"
Liz answered his question by dashing towards him while dodging his clumsy attacks. She reached him within a minute and struck him at his chest with her ice-sword.
He was blown away due to the force of her attack and crashed against the wall near the other royals, effectively shutting their mouths.
The royals turned to look at the injured prince to see him lay unconscious. They watched her walk slowly towards her grinning teammates.
The audience erupted in shrieks praising Liz's skills and warned the royals to not underestimate the thunder squad. Rin was grinning widely and clapped his small chubby hands till it was red.
While everyone was still in shock, there was someone who was mesmerized with the fight and couldn't stop the smile from his lips.
Zelal was amazed by each of her moves, he felt that she was dancing gracefully instead of fighting. He felt she was dangerous, for a completely different thing. He felt she was dangerous for her heart.
Usui noticing his brother's smile, shook his head helplessly as he thought, ' How, both of them fell for a girl in another kingdom and how both of them were part of the same group.'
