The half-dragon's calm eyes were analyzing the lion in front of her, and the gigantic creature slowly began to circle the S-Class. This was a typical way for predators to react when faced with something that might provide it with some danger.
This caution from the lion gave everyone away that this creature was not a monster, because if it was, it would have already gone after Alexis.
Even though it was not a monster, the murmurs about the lion's appearance did not stop resonating through the crowds.
"But what's wrong with this lion? Why is he so bright?" One man asked his companions.
"Are you worried about the color of his fur?" One of his friends asked, incredulous.
"Yeah, man... Look at the size of that thing, how are you concerned only with the color of its fur?" Another questioned, also displeased with his friend's dumbness.
"Ha~ So you guys don't know?" He asked as he placed his right hand on his chin and sat up in the air as a wise mage would sit.
At that time, all of the boy's companions saw a hypothetical light appear behind him, as if he was reaching the next level of wisdom.
"Sit down, grasshoppers. I will explain color theory to you." He said.
Even in the face of such wisdom, his friends looked at him with mean eyes and crossed their arms.
"Come on, man, spill it."
"Yeah...what's with all the suspense?"
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThe boy could only smile as he came across so uncultured. "It's all very simple, dear commoners. Some Cardinal Kingdom theorists have studied different animals that live in the Skdødsgen Forest, and together they have come to the conclusion that there is a pattern of colors in the animal kingdom. By analyzing this pattern, they realized that size is not always synonymous with strength, at least not for some animals. Apparently, there are animals so evolved that even though they have the flashiest colors they still manage to stand out and kill even sneaky animals."
"The color? Don't say it, nonsense..." One of the friends didn't believe me.
"You don't believe me? Watch the battle and you will see that what I am talking about is true."
So, the three colleagues went back to paying attention to the battle. At this point, the lion had already made its first lunge and was not stopping trying to hit the half-dragon.
Alexis easily dodged all the paws and scratches of the ferocious beast. She was fascinated by the beauty of the lion, and she was also sorry to hurt it.
In fact, having to fight such a magnificently beautiful animal made her angry, because she noticed scratches on the vertebrae of its paws and legs, which meant that it was being imprisoned.
'Well, what could I be expecting from a place where dozens of people die and no one ever complains.... It wouldn't really be a surprise if they forced slaves to fight.' She thought as she deflected.
To her, the poor lion was just fighting for his life, although she knew she was facing a much more powerful person than usual.
With that pitying thought, the half-dragon abandoned her idea of not using Genes Skills and in the middle of a lion dash towards her, she looked deep into his eyes and spoke:
"<Styre>."
The intonation of her name caused the lion's mind to go completely white, and the animal stopped in mid-strike.
"Now stand quietly in the corner and only come out of there when I tell you to." She said, and pointed to one of the corners of the arena."
Obediently, the lion complied with her order and lay down in one of the corners on the side opposite the gate.
The crowd was in shock at this ability, which they had never heard of.
"Wait, she just commanded and he obeyed?"
"Was this an actual skill or was it a word of adulation!!!?"
"THAT WOMAN IS PRETTY FUCKED UP!"
"Such an imposing lion even stood a chance against her."
"If that was a skill, I want to buy that!"
"Are you kidding? If that was a Skill, I'm afraid of her, because that means she was taking it easy so far in all her fights.
"It's obvious she was taking it easy!"
"The S-Class are really on another level, something almost divine..."
That night, many people who had never seen a high-level Adventurer saw one for the first time, and it served to put many proud Adventurers in their rightful places. Instead of trying to evolve, they were there having fun in the early hours of the morning in an illegal place and maybe, just maybe, if they tried a little harder they could be more powerful.
Although Alexis' strength taught a lesson to many people in the Cage, the King of the place was not at all pleased with the results.
In his chamber, the Straw Hat looked around and saw that only Boris was present at the end of the fight.
"Where did the other two go?"
Boris was at a loss to answer, because the two other generals warned that they were leaving to solve problems that had arisen, but they were easily ignored. "Chief, problems have arisen for Luna to solve in the vaults and Denis has gone to check what happened to Izabel and what's taking her so long to return."
"Sigh..." The Straw Hat sighed, and with the fingertips of his hand, he raised his large hat, showing his angry look to Boris, who shuddered.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThe Cage King's eyes were as red as blood and his face as white as the moon, but that night the Straw Hat's face was dark because of the tension.
"Elysium is the strongest of the beasts on this continent, and yet nothing stopped him from being treated like a kitten by this woman.... Sigh..." He spoke and sighed once again. "All I wanted to see was an exciting battle, but all I saw were ants trying to hurt an anteater."
The man with the black beard was surprised that his boss was not stressed because he was losing money on bets, or because he was proud, but rather because he wanted to be entertained. At this point, Boris began to rotate his right shoulder while massaging it with his left hand.
"All you want is to watch an exciting battle, right? All right, I will provide that for you, boss." He said and smiled as he stared at the face of the half-dragon on the projection in the chamber.
"Okay, I'm counting on you." Straw Hat spoke, and lowered his hat again, concealing his face.
Then, as Boris reached the iron bars, the darkness dissipated and he could be seen behind them. Seeing one of the Straw-Hat generals in person caused everyone to shout with excitement. Many had heard about him and his appearance, but no one had ever had the opportunity to see him fight.
Yes, he had a slightly fat belly, but his arms were still very muscular and scary.
Soon the heavy bars were lifted by Boris' own hands as he entered the arena.
The half-dragon faced him with a serious countenance, because she had heard about Boris through Ynosuke and Meredith, but in person he seemed even bigger. Still, she was excited to see that her enemy would be one of the four Straw Hat generals, because that would make Luke's job easier.
When Boris entered the arena, he didn't say anything or wait for the crowd to quiet down, in fact, he took advantage of this environment in his favor to make his first move. He put his right leg forward, and his left leg back, and then did the same with his arms. Next, a black cloud appeared around their feet, and then around their hands.
Suddenly, a thunderous crash reverberated through the ring, startling everyone. In the blink of an eye, Boris disappeared, and when everyone realized that there was a shadow rapidly approaching the half-dragon, they shouted in excitement once again.
However, the half-dragon didn't want to go easy on someone who traffics in people, so she summoned her light gauntlets and struck Boris in the face as he approached her. Another crash echoed through the arena, but this time it was accompanied by a dense cloud of dust.
As soon as this cloud of gray dust had dissipated, everyone could see Boris lying on the ground with blank, white eyes. From his mouth, blood was flowing, and it was also noticeable that he had lost many teeth. In addition, there was a crater around him, generated by his own impact with the tough ground.
Since the S-Class fight against one of the generals was even faster than the first battle, the crowd was speechless, and so was Straw Hat.
'Tsk! I knew he didn't stand a chance.' He thought, raising his hat and deactivating the projection in the chamber he was in.
Suddenly, he felt a chill and before he could even move, he felt the frigid touch of a blade on his neck.
"Game over." Luke said.