Chapter 22

The two boys each took a minute to head to their respective sides before turning to face each other.

Staring at Zairen from across the clearing, Finn once again snarled at his opponent. "Zairen, remember! After you lose, you better not get in between me and Alivia ever again!"

In Finn’s mind, he was guaranteed to win the match! Not only was he two years older than Zairen, he was an inch taller and significantly heavier. To him, Zairen was a scrawny little boy that he could easily beat.

Zairen only responded in kind: "Of course. On the other hand, if you lose, you had better remember to buy me all the most expensive herbs in the market."

"Alright, enough talk!" Finn growled. He placed his right foot behind him and his left foot in front, as if getting ready to sprint. "Prepare to lose!"

Staring at Finn's stance, Zairen resisted the urge to laugh out loud. What kind of a fighting stance was that? Was this a fight or a race?

"Ready, set, START!"

Finn immediately shot forward. Dashing towards Zairen at his top speed, he started to bellow loudly. At the same time, he raised his right fist high above his head, aiming to strike down at his opponent. "AHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Zairen only chuckled. Standing in place, he stared at the charging Finn in an almost bored-like fashion.

A few moments later, Finn arrived in front of Zairen, and with a large yell, brought down his fist in the direction of the smaller boy's face. His momentum-driven fist appeared to hit the surface of Zairen's figure… but then merely passed through the air.

Zairen had vanished.

At the same time, Zairen suddenly appeared on the left side of Finn. "I'm right here." He flicked the side of Finn's head with his finger.

In that moment, Zairen had not used any fancy moves. All he had done was sidestep Finn's punch. Using minimal, quick movements, Zairen had made the move appear that he had disappeared and reappeared.

Finn's face contorted in anger, and he screamed loudly. "Zairen! I'LL GET YOU!!!" He turned towards where Zairen was standing and heavily swung his right fist.

The haphazardly prepared strike only managed to hit Zairen's vanishing outline. Before Finn could think, Zairen had already appeared on Finn's other side.

"Didn't you say you'd get me?" Zairen once again laughed and, with his finger, flicked the other side of Finn's head.

At this point, Finn was quickly becoming furious. He got the feeling that he was being toyed with.

“ZAIREN!!! GET OVER HERE!!!" He turned his body as rapidly as he could in the other direction and took yet another massive swing towards Zairen, this time with his left fist.

Zairen could detect the massively over-winded punch from miles away. The strike seemed to move in slow motion. It once again appeared to reach Zairen's body, but only passed harmlessly through Zairen's afterimage. This time, Zairen suddenly appeared a few feet behind Finn’s back.

"I'm right here, bozo." Zairen said, amused. This situation really was too funny. Finn's confident, arrogant look had all but disappeared, and he currently looked quite foolish. Chuckling, Zairen once again used his finger to flick the back of Finn's head.

"GAHHHHH!!!" Finn yelled out in frustration. He grit his teeth and tightened the grip of his already tightly balled up fists. "YOU COWARD! YOU WON'T FIGHT ME STRAIGHT ON!"

Zairen merely chortled in response.

As Zairen smiled however, his eyes suddenly flickered. He noticed a movement in the corner of his vision.

There was something moving around in the woods outside of the clearing. The movement was too distinct and minimal to be that of an animal, and upon a quick analysis, it seemed to be of someone trying to move around quietly. If Zairen had not possessed very acute observational skills, he would not have noticed it.

‘Who could that be?’ Zairen wondered silently. He wordlessly backed off and retreated to the other side of the clearing, opposite to the strange movements. He quickly ducked behind a large tree. In front of an unidentified opponent, it was never smart to leave oneself out in the open.

“Huh? Zairen? Where did you go?” Finn suddenly realized that Zairen was no longer near him. He twisted his head around back and forth, trying to catch sight of Zairen’s distinctive figure. “You coward! Are you running away???”

Ignoring Finn's jeers, Zairen did not make a sound. His eyes narrowed as he carefully observed the other side of the clearing for additional movements.

Suddenly, something shot out of the opposite end of the clearing. It was a figure wearing black, his face covered by a mask. It traveled extremely quickly, and dashed towards Finn's position in an extremely nimble fashion.

Zairen's eyes shined. As he observed the scene, he quickly brandished his long black cloak from his bag and put it on. The cloak covered his entire body, including his face.

Zairen had at first suspected that the mysterious person making those hidden movements was hired by Finn to target him during the fight. However, he now quickly discarded that possibility. In the first place, Finn had been extremely confident in his ability to beat Zairen, and would not have felt the need to hire another person to help him.

Since the man was not hired by Finn, his target couldn’t possibly be Zairen. Zairen had not made a large impression on anyone in the past week, besides Finn, so it would not make sense for him to be a target. On the other hand, Finn was the governor's son. There could be a plethora of reasons why someone would go after him.

Currently, the masked man was dashing towards Finn with record speed.

Finn, who was still standing obliviously in the middle of the field, felt a small disturbance of wind against his back. He rapidly turned his head. "There you are! I thought you had run away..."

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly realized something was wrong. He caught a glance of a tall masked man that appeared as a streak of black. The man was currently only a few dozen feet away. In a moment, he would reach him.

"Wh-Who are you? Where-" Finn only managed to let out a few words from his mouth before a heavy fist blow crashed into his stomach, practically pushing the breath out of him. He fell heavily to the ground and soon began to breathe with big, raspy heaves.

"Ugh, he's still conscious. What a tough kid." The masked man murmured. He was now standing right next to Finn. As he spoke, he raised his fist again, preparing to strike down and render Finn unconscious.

Finn saw the raised fist in the corner of his eye and screamed out loudly in his mind. He was truly frightened for his life. Curling into a ball and closing his eyes, he felt his body shudder as he waited for the inevitable final strike.