Chapter 208: Thick Of It [4]
Chapter 208: Thick Of It [4]
***
Amon stood before the punching game, a red ball hanging from its ceiling in front of him.
Beside him stood Alya with an expression mixed with disbelief and annoyance.
This was the last game that they had yet to try in the whole section.
Currently, the score for the games played was 12-3.
With 12 being Amon and 3 being Alya's.
She had been completely obliterated in games.
Decimated.
Flambeed.
She was completely thrown into chaos as various emotions passed across her face.
She was currently biting her nails, staring at the ball in front.
Even if she won this game, she knew that she had lost the total competition overall.
And there was one bet that was placed between them.
A bet of 100k Exlor for who would win the whole competition.
The price had been given by Alya, who was completely sure before that she would win.
But it was obvious now that she was regretting it.
As for Amon, it would be disrespectful to reject such a gift to her.
He was all ready to see the final expression on her face as she would hand him over the money.
"You ready?" He looked with an elegant smile at Alya.
Alya's jaw set down on her nail, breaking it before freezing in its place.
Her gaze trembled as the reality of the situation settled in her mind once more.
To her, it was akin to losing a war.
But even then, she wasn't one to make excuses that Amon had cheated or such. "Y-yeah.." She said, finally nodding her head and turning to look at his smile. Even though it was a simple smile, it carried a hint of coldness and mockery to it. To retell her that she had been completely destroyed by him.
Amon stepped aside, gesturing to the machine.
"Ladies first of course."
Alya clicked her tongue at his cocky tone and expression and moved forward.
Even though it was the last game, Alya was at least 60% sure that she would win.
Even though she was an archer and Amon was a clovist, which made her punches weaker.
There was a certain rule to this game that made it fair.
Armentists, who used their weapon, were allowed to use mana for basic coating on their punch.
It was to make their physical punches on par with the clovists.
However, this rule wouldn't apply to tankers or gauntlet-bearers, etc armentists.
She looked forward at the machine.
The rule was simple, you just had to punch the ball as hard as you could and it would give you a score between 0 to 1999.
If you were a non-awakened though, it would only be till 999 for you.
This machine was specifically made for awakened individuals, who were strong.
Turning to look at the red ball, Alya made her expression resolute.
Taking a sharp exhale, she adjusted her posture before nocking her fist back.
And then...
THUD!
A metallic deep sound rang in the air as the ball was thrown straight up, into a compartment in the ceiling.
And the meter that displayed the score suddenly shot up.
Both Alya and Amon stared at the meter as it blitzed through the numbers.
Alya closed her eyes, praying that it would go as far as it could.
And then, the confirmation siren was heard and she slowly opened her eyes.
1446.
That was her score.
Alya's eyes shot wide open with joy.
It was a great score!
She turned to Amon with a triumphant smirk.
"Alright, your turn, Mr.Gentleman." She gestured forward.
But contrary to her expectations, Amon only had a stoic expression on her face.
But it wasn't cause he thought it was a bad score.
No. Rather, it was an unbelievable score for an archer.
It was just that he was so occupied with his thoughts that he didn't even notice Alya.
'Hmmm...' He hummed as he stepped forward to the red ball that had returned to its place.
He wasn't too worried about beating Alya.
Even though she had a great score, beating her was easy as hell.
His thoughts were currently on the question if he could reach the top score.
Which was 1999.
Or maybe even...
Breakfast it.
Amon looked at his fist, opening and clenching it.
After his body constitution had changed, his flesh was already ch stronger than a normal human of his same rank.
It was just a physical property of his body now.
Taking a step back, Amon adjusted his posture, granting him further space for movement.
Even though it was just a straight up punching game, there were certain rules on how to strike the ball to get the best impact.
Taking a deep breath, Amon's position froze as his eyes locked on the ball for several seconds.
Before he moved, rotating his hips and shoulders for the best momentum behind his punch.
It hit straight and clean at the center of the ball, the impact passing straight through it.
And he pulled it back instantly, rather than going through with it. Immediately, with a blurring speed, the ball shot back right into the machine.
TING!
A sharp sound rang out as sparks of blue electricity could be seen around the machine.
The machine rumbled sheerly and the meter instantly blitzed through the numbers. Amon and Alya stared at the numbers.
100..
300..
700..
1100..
1300...
1500..
It broke past Alya's record. But rather than falling into disappointment, her eyes bulged out.
It was because the meter was still not showing any signs of stopping at 1500.
1700..
1900..
XXXX
The meter didn't evne slow down and passed straight through 1999, turning into 4 X's.
A victorious smile spread across Amon's features.
[That's my boy.] Vain spoke from inside him, as if he was grinning.
[T-that's insane..] Zephyra's voice trembled.
And Alya was completely silent, not knowing how to process this information.
It was mind-blowing.
Was there even a case of anyone breaking through the machine yet?
The sharp sound attracted a lot of attention as well as everyone looked at the machine with
shocked expressions.
Even the group came running to see what was the commotion along with the staff.
And they froze in their spots.
"Damn, you did this bro?" Ren turned to Amon with impressed eyes.
Amon nodded, finding it a little funny that he didn't even consider that it was Alya.
"I'm sorry! That machine must have malfunctioned, causing it to break. Let me quickly
replace this-" The staff apologized.
But was interrupted as Alya spoke up.
"N-no, there's no need. We are fine." She said.
She already knew that it was no malfunction.
The whole process had been right in front of her eyes.
Michael turned to Amon.
"Insane dude..."
"Thanks," Amon replied with a nonchalant expression.
Elizabeth and Charlotte also turned to him.
"T-this is mind-blowing...I don't think anyone has ever broken the machine, let alone reach
the top score." Elizabeth muttered.
Charlotte also nodded.
"Y-yeah, your punches must be quite strong Amon."
It was at her line that a certain memory replayed through all of their minds except Amon.
That final match of FULLDIVE.
There was one memory that stuck to everyone's minds.
The scene where he punched Liliana senselessly.
Those punches... Her face was completely beaten to a pulp, to the point that it looked un recognizable.
Ren nervously laughed, knowing that memory the best.
"Yeah, for sure. They certainly do..." He muttered.
Amon tilted his head in confusion but chose to let it go when they remained silent.
He looked around before turning back to them.
"In any case, we should move now, there's too much attention on us."
Taking notice of the public at his words, they nodded.
"Where should we go next?" He asked.
And Charlotte suddenly perked up, a smile spreading on her features.
"Oh, I know, let's go to a karaoke!"
A smile stretched on Alya's lips as she also perked up.
"Oh yeah, let's do it!"
Seeing the two girls hyped up, Amon horrifyingly turned to Michael and Ren who nodded and
shook their heads, respectively
The trio had also been to karaoke nights before.
And Michael loved to sing.
The only problem that Ren and Amon had was...
It hurt to even think about it.
Elizabeth nodded in affirmation. "Yeah, that sounds like a good place to go."
But since all three girls had agreed to go there, they could only tag along.
They quickly reached a karaoke room, paying him the respective amount for 2 hours of
karaoke.Nôv(el)B\\jnn
As they entered the place and settled down on couches, everyone looked at each other.
"So who goes first-" Alya was asking when Michael suddenly stood up with a joyous
expression.
"I'll go!"
Alya stared at him with a weird gaze before nodding. She was surprised by how enthusiastic
he was.
Charlotte nodded and clapped along with Elizabeth.
"Sure, go Michael, the stage is yours."
But Amon and Ren, who were sitting next to each other gazed at each other at the same time.
With widened eyes.
They both subtly shook their heads and whispered simultaneously.
"No, no, no, no..."
"Nah, no, please no...he's gonna play that song again."
Ren turned to Michael to make an excuse.
But unfortunately, he had already set the song as the beat started playing.
Ren and Amon's eyes bulged out as they crashed into their sofas, covering their ears with the
pillows.
It was coming...
The nightmare was coming.
Alya, Elizabeth, and Charlotte stared at the duo with weird gazes.
The song had just started, so why were they covering their eyes now...
What weirdo, they all simultaneously thought but were interrupted. Their eyes widened as Michael finally started singing. "FROM THE SCREEN, TO THE RING, TO THE PEN, TO THE KIN-"
There was only one word that came to their minds.
Cringe.
They all died from cringe in the very next second.