Not Just Simona
It's not just Simona. The prestigious families of the Carbon Kingdom, not to mention the VIPs from other nations scattered across the East Continent, are all looking forward to it. The royal ball, now less than a month away. It's a monumental event. To commemorate the harmony among the nations gathered on the eastern side of the continent, they've poured in massive funds, making its scale and grandeur truly spectacular.
Wealth, power, honor, and all other tangible and intangible values. Rumors spread that any family excelling in even one of these would be invited. For the young elite of the East Continent, this ball is nothing short of a long-awaited stage for encounters.
"Wonder if there'll be some strong guys there."
"Gonna expand my business pipelines across the whole East Continent this time."
"Finally, time to show off my honed eloquence..."
"Sex! I wanna have sex."
"The stars feel great. Might meet my fated one."
Some seek the most alluring opposite sex, others the strongest warriors, some to build connections, and yet others pursue various different goals. And so, on this dawn when most young people clutching their ball invitations—harboring their own dreams, just like they had lately—drifted off to sleep with swelling anticipation...
In one territory of the East Continent...
A battle of a completely different nature was unfolding, far removed from such youthful vibes.
"Guhk!"
Ptui.
I spat on the ground, and dark red blood mixed in. The iron tang of blood clogging my nostrils.
Crack.
Roughly realigning my broken nose with my right hand, I wiped the blood streaming from my mouth with my forearm. Even so, my lungs burned, breath heaving up to my jaw, suffocating me. Overexertion had tanked my physical functions.
I couldn't even remember the last time. This body with its insane recovery had felt this heavy.
"Huff, huff! Huff!"
I exhaled ragged breaths laced with blood droplets. Glancing at the sky, it was already the pale blue of dawn.
'This is driving me insane.'
With just hours until morning, I still hadn't landed a single effective hit on that crazy monster.
"What's wrong? Not going as planned?"
The white-haired monster smirked, arms crossed. Shirtless, his scarred muscular torso resembled a centuries-old giant tree.
Drakan. Aside from his lush white hair, his bulked-up physique evoked a martial arts master from another world. He beckoned me.
"Come at me again."
"Huff."
"What're you doing? You said you could win bare-handed."
"Hahk."
"Or admit it. All you've got is that monstrous body. Without it, you're nothing—"
"Huff! That's you talking, old man!"
Gritting my teeth, I raised my guard and closed the distance again. Ignoring the agony of my pounding heart, I unleashed a one-two. A light jab to gauge distance, then a spear-like straight from the back hand aimed at his smirking face.
Crack!
"Guhk!"
"Tsk tsk."
Stars exploded in my vision. Just a paper's width before my back hand connected, Drakan twisted his body and smashed his fist into my face from an unnatural angle. My nasal bone shattered instantly, blood spraying.
"Way too lacking—"
"Fuck you!"
Clenching my molars, I stepped in one more. My left foot stamped wide to the left of his right foot—a spot I'd eyed earlier. From a modern MMA view, I'd "eaten" his front foot, slipping into his blind spot to grab his armpit.
Crack!
"Krrk!"
"I see it all."
Intense pain in my face. In that split second, my right vision caught Drakan—torso nearly rotated 180 degrees backward—retracting his punch in a bizarre pose. And... there were four of them. Not magic. Orbital fracture. That one hit had cracked the bone beside my eye.
"Still can't—"
"Kraaaah!"
"Hah."
"Die!"
Despite the agony, I finally clamped onto him as he buckled. But his resistance was insane. Even from the disadvantaged supine position, he shoved back against my pinning pressure from above.
No matter. I'd already wedged into his left armpit, one arm hooked.
Quickly twisting my torso, using the force from his kicking legs to rise.
"Kraaaaaah!"
"Oh ho?"
A judo-style reap that works well in modern MMA...
Crunch!
"Krrk!"
It was instant. My hooked arm and shoulder snapped. Then, as he shoved me off, his back foot slammed my side, unleashing suffocating pain.
Bam.
I barely regained balance mid-air, crashing backward. Trembling on my feet, ignoring the screams from my cracked ribs and dangling broken right arm, Drakan faced me.
"Huff."
"Again."
Grinning, he tossed a healing potion from his discarded shirt pocket on the clearing's edge.
Crack!
"Kuh."
The potion shattered on impact, spreading recovery liquid. My arm and ribs began healing with a sizzle, torn muscles and bones knitting amid excruciating pain. But that was the least of my worries now.
'Fuck!'
Why weren't my techniques landing? The essence of modern MMA: concise one-two punches, calf kicks to disrupt flow, judo reaps, superman punches to feint timing, Muay Thai knees in clinch, double-leg takedowns after upper-body fakes... All the skills I'd diligently built and trained in my past life. None connected.
Always off by a hair.
Not because he was holding back. A subtle dissonance—like a paper's width—kept the gap between us, close enough to touch if I reached.
'Not enough setup?'
No, the opposite. We'd exchanged dozens of combos as dawn passed. And purely in raw strength? No big gap. You feel that only after clashing bodies.
So...
'Or... is he hiding something?'
I shook off the bubbling questions like foam.
'Focus, you crazy fuck!'
Blaming unchangeables was a waste. Better to rethink how he dodged timing-based moves that even his absurd strength couldn't brute-force, and strategize from there...
Whoosh!
A mountain gust swept through the trees. Strong enough to whirl the first shattered potion's glass shards from the clearing's rear, past Drakan, up into the sky.
"Wait, hold up!"
"Hm?"
"What was that, old man."
He'd dodged the glass shards heading for his face without even looking?
"No weird magic, you said."
"Ha!"
"Aura or whatever, you using it constantly?"
"Slow, too slow. Took you this long to notice?"
This mad bastard? Fury rising, about to curse—
"What the fuck? Then all this—"
"You're no different."
"What?"
"Sparks flickering all over your body. Just because you're not conscious of it doesn't mean you're not benefiting."
"...!"
"What's already yours can't be helped. Right?"
It hit me like a slap to the back of the head.
Come to think of it, the lightning energy I'd absorbed aided my daily movements plenty, even outside berserk mode. Reaction speed, reflexes. Already ingrained, benefiting me—could I claim I'm "not using" it just because I don't actively wield it more?
"Aura's the same. A novice knight might emit it sporadically, but at my level, with aura cloaking the body, the flows are visible even if not actively exploited."
"...Kuhk."
When aura overflows beyond a certain realm, attack flows become visible even if unwanted?
Feels unfair. I spat the surging words.
"...Teach me."
"What?"
"Then teach me that aura shit."
"Ha!"
"Can't fight bare-handed from the start! I'd win for sure in equal conditions!"
"Hmmm."
Drakan's expression shifted oddly. He tilted his head, mumbling.
"Nothing in it for me."
"Who asked you to teach for free?"
"What."
"Bet with me."
"A bet?"
"Yeah. If I land one hit, I win—you teach me aura."
"Foolish. After dancing solo all dawn, you dare propose a bet?"
Even as he spoke, curiosity sparkled in Drakan's eyes again.
"How's this? If I graze you once, I win."
"Ha! Fine, I'll teach. But if you fail—"
"F-fuck, a dragon!"
I pointed in panic at the blue sky. The instant Drakan's gaze followed my finger!
Tadak!
I exploded forward off my back foot, closing the gap.
Feint, distract. Dirty? Tough shit.
Front foot plant—back kick!
"Die—guhk!"
"Tsk tsk."
Drakan sidestepped as if expecting it.
"Fake!"
I spun my torso on the front foot instead, unleashing a back spin blow.
Whoosh!
"Predictable."
His right fist rocketed to shatter mine—but.
'Fake again!'
Folding my arm, ducking under his swing. Into his torso, bodies pressed.
Then, judo reap again.
Wedging my right arm into his armpit...
Crunch!
"Krrk!"
"Don't learn? Same attack twice?"
Instant. My arm and shoulder snapped again.
He shoved me off, back foot kicking my side like before.
Bam.
Rrrrip!
Ribs cracking identically, hurtling back—
Grind!
"You're, ou—"
"Puhak!"
Blood mist erupted from my mouth.
Blood fog sprayed from my mangled lips, bitten with my monstrous jaw strength.
Spurt!
A split-second shower of blood mist.
Pfft.
Drakan casually sidestepped one step, still smirking. Toward him—
"Out my ass."
"Cheap tricks—"
"Not over!"
One step in, full-body spin. Amid screaming broken bones from the rotation, I gripped my already-broken right arm with my left.
Crunch!
Yanked it down like a whip.
Excruciating pain spinning my vision.
'Krahhh!'
Whoooosh!
My right arm—elbow and shoulder shattered—stretched to its limit like a whip, swung.
Instant.
Plop.
Through the settling blood fog, four limp fingers grazed Drakan's cheek.
Slap.
Technically, a hit. After a thousand feints, but my first touch on his face today. Drakan looked stunned.
To him, with a near-fainting expression, I muttered.
"I win the bet."
"Ha!"
"...Keep your promise, old man."
Drakan chuckled, lightly slapping my jaw.
Thud.
Thump.
Right before blacking out again, I think I heard his satisfied laugh by my ear.
"This guy's... fucking fun."
Chirp chirp chirp—
In the forest where morning birds sang. In the clearing where dawn light began to filter.
Toward Drakan perched roughly on a shattered rock, someone approached, rubbing their eyes.
"Cough!"
"You're here."
"Godfather."
Emerging from the trees: Edwin Luminis. He'd come to this clearing early, before even Nadia woke, because he'd spoken with Drakan the day before.
Sizzle.
Gazing at the monstrous body still emitting faint smoke, broken parts regenerating beside the rock.
"How was it?"
Edwin Luminis opened.
"At least, seems he was a test subject."
"Were what he said yesterday true?"
"Dunno. But not an assassin from the Empire. You can tell after a bit of sparring."
"Relieved to hear."
"Doesn't seem like a bad guy."
"Cough! If you say so, godfather, then it is."
"Still, just in case—check more through my networks scattered across the East Continent."
Edwin smiled faintly at Drakan's words. The fact he was taking time to chat meant he'd already judged the man's character to some degree.
"Godfather."
"Hm?"
"By any chance... interested in this friend?"
"Still lacking, way too much."
"If lacking—"
"Swordmaster level at best?"
"...Ah."
Drakan muttered at the prostrate young monster. But contrary to his words, his eyes gleamed as he casually added.
"By the way, Nadia's invited to the royal ball. How long left?"
"A bit less than a month."
"A month, huh."
"Cough! Why do you ask?"
"Nothing much."
And so, just before the events described in the novel The Lady Monopolizes All Attention begin...
"Feels like something fun'll happen by then."
The wheels of another tale began to turn.