11 Chapter 11: Strength
After the first battle, the audience could feel the tension in the air, the royals had a faint trace of fear visible in their eyes.
Even though they didn't fully underrate the power of the thunder squad, they didn't think that one of them would succumb much less to a girl and that too with the same magic power. Never did they think that one of the members would be a tier-one gold level cultivator.
The squad members were called the strongest for a reason, each of them has high-level cultivation where Liz reached rank 5 in ice and rank 4 in fire, Jinha had the second-highest level, having rank 6 in lightning, Hak reached the tier 5 gold level in wind and Zeno being the same level as Hak but in water.
This was shocking as the group consisted of people in their twenties and they have achieved what everyone would achieve in their late thirties.
On the other side, once the battle was over, Liz went back to continue what she was doing and the other member, Hak was already on the field waiting for his opponent.
The royals dared not fight with them but also didn't want to lose their pride in another kingdom. They believed that losing in a battle is much better than running away from one.
As the matches proceeded, Usui kept looking at one person the entire time and didn't bother to observe the battles as he was sure of the outcome.
No one paid much attention to the battle as they were sure the royals would be crushed. The girls were fawning over either Hak's speed or Zeno's martial moves while the boys were filled with envy.
Freya was conversing with Zeno when she noticed someone's gaze on her, she turned to meet the holder's eyes.
When their eyes met, Usui's heart jumped a little in excitement as he grinned at her. She was surprised that he was the one who was staring at her intently.
She raised her brow at him looking amused but within seconds, her eyes narrowed slightly on seeing that he winked at her.
Soon, it was Jinha's turn and he stood in front of Freya, stretching his arms, blocking Usui's path. Jinha had been watching him as he stared at her since the beginning of the match and how playfully he winked at her. He wanted to tease him, hence he blocked his path.
Usui grimaced at the obstruction. He wanted to smack his head for blocking his view and glared at him.
Jinha whistled, seeing this and murmured, 'My prince, you should focus on the battle rather than on someone.'
Jinha bent down and pecked on Freya's cheeks and cockily said," For good luck." and winked at her.
He turned to look at Usui and was pleased to see his ghastly face, he walked to the battleground chuckling.
Usui was enraged, when he saw that punk who dared to kiss her right in front of him, he wanted to beat the crap out of him until his mouth was dislocated.
He was angrier about the fact that he knew Jinha did it to just infuriate him. He looked at her hopefully, to see her teach him a lesson but to his disappointment, he saw her staying calm and stroking her pet like the incident before never happened.
Usui turned his attention to Jinha's battle to focus on his weakness. But, to his disappointment, he saw the royal crouching in fear.
Jinha shook his head pitifully as he gave him an option whether to fight or to forfeit.
The royal gladly chose the second option as he didn't want to end up like the other royals and ran from the battlefield.
Jinha looked around, asking," Does anyone want to fight me?"
Usui stood up from his seat glaring at him, while he made the little prince sit on the bench before telling him to wait patiently and watch how his big brother would win.
Jinha smiled and said," Are you sure, my prince?"
' Why the hell is he calling me his prince! I'm Freya's prince and only hers!' Usui thought. He ignored him and walking towards him to face him.
Jinha smirked and looked at Freya, to see her nod at him. He was overjoyed that she allowed him to use his full power against Usui.
The members of the royal army had heard about the crown prince strength. The rumours stated that he was of the same level as Jinha.
Jinha wanted to test how he would fare upon a fellow same level user, so he was overjoyed when she allowed him to go all out.
As Usui stood facing that punk, he peaked at her slightly, to only notice her watching that punk. He was slightly disappointed but soon turned that into anger to beat that punk.
Zelal on seeing his brother's expressions couldn't help but sigh,' Why is my brother so childish? He didn't even start courting her but already, acting like his fiancé is cheating on him.'
But he was rejoicing as it has been a long while since he watched his brother fight.
He looked at the little prince and asked," Who do you think will win?"
Rin looked at him thinking,' Is he an idiot?!'
Zelal noticing the ridicule on the boy's face thought in horror, ' Why is this kid only acting cute in front of his brother and being all cold to him?!'
He coughed and asked," Who do you want to win? Your big brother, Usui or your favourite brother, Jinha?"
The little boy just stared at Zelal for some time which made him think that he asked another stupid question but to his surprise, he found Rin turning his attention back to the field and observing both of them.
He quietly said," I don't want both of them to lose."
Zelal chuckled and wanted to tell him that it is necessary that someone should lose. But, as he looked into his eyes, he couldn't find it in him to tell him.
Zelal was surprised to see his eyes emitting confidence in both his brothers that he failed to notice another pair of eyes on them.
Rin turned to Freya and smiled widely before nodding his head. Freya leaned back while rubbing her chin and observed Usui.
Zeno noticing this and asked quietly," What's wrong?"
" He's strong. This battle would be very interesting and difficult to determine."
The rest on hearing her statement looked at her in surprise before turning to the field, focusing on the battle that was about to start.
It was easy for everyone to notice the squad paying attention to the match as they ignored the matches before by doing their own thing.
Jinha noticed his teammate's reactions and grinned. He taunted Usui by giving a flying kiss towards Freya. Usui glared at him like he was a piece of meat waiting to be butchered.
As the spokesman announced aloud, "The combatants are now set, begin!" signalling the fight to begin.
The atmosphere suddenly felt as if it dropped numerous degrees. Everyone stood still, inhaling nervous breaths as they watched both men fiercely glare at each other.
One took his spear and pointed the other while the other took his sword. Hardly a second went by before the loud, echoing sound of the floor crumbling took place. Both warriors fiercely dashed towards each other at full speed, resulting in a loud clash as their swords collided.
"My my, you're a lot stronger than you look," Jinha commented sarcastically.
Usui smiled and replied, despite seeing through his humiliating tone.
"Is that so? Okay then."
Engraving more energy into his weapon, Usui gathered enough energy to break the clash, sending Jinha several meters backwards as he slid against the floor with both feet. Jinha tried to do a swipe while Usui dodged it and punched him on his gut.
Liz looked surprised while Freya narrowed her eyes. Zeno was wearing a small smile on his face while Hak exclaimed,' Why isn't he using his full strength!'
Jinha moved back but everyone could see that he was laughing. Usui was puzzled on seeing his smile that he asked horrified," Are you a masochist?"
Jinha choked hearing his comment while the audience laughed.
Without further delay, Usui swung his sword diagonally, releasing a wave of energy straight at Jinha. He was sure that he hadn't collected himself after the pushback, giving him the open opportunity to land a direct hit.
The crowd gasped upon seeing the explosion on Jinha. Some started to doubt if he would still be okay to fight.
Through the pitch-black smoke, Jinha shook everyone as he came dashing through, hardly scratched or noticeably hurt. Nearly caught off guard, Usui managed to raise his sword just in time to block the incoming blow.
However, before he could plan any further, Jinha slide kicked his foot, disrupting his balance before landing a direct punch into his jaw, sending Usui tumbling to the other side of the battleground.
"Good afternoon, your highness," Jinha shouted, once again in sarcasm.
Usui grunted and slowly stood up, holding onto his head but fixing his battle stance.
"Not bad at all," he said, smiling as his eyes furrowed.
As he lunged his weapon straight at Usui, it came to his utter surprise that his weapon went straight through him, as if it was a fake copy of his opponent. What looked like Usui now blackened and vanished into nothingness, leaving Jinha alone in a dark area.
