315 Bar Fight [2]
"What?" Apolus tightened his grip around the slender girl's neck but instantly he felt something slamming against his chin.
At first, Apolus didn't even feel anything but soon the world started spinning and he lost his balance.
"...Huh?!" Staggering back, Apolus saw Amelia had one of her legs up in the air.
'Di-Did she kick me?! When?!' was all Apolus could think before he lost his balance and crumpled to one knee.
"Guys who can't take a hint are not my type, so I'll pass up on that drink, alright?" Amelia flashed a bright smile before she turned around and began to walk away.
But once again, before she could take even a few steps forward, a thunderous roar reached her ears.
"Hey! Stop it right there!"
Letting out an exhausted sigh, Amelia turned around and curiously looked at the muscular young man.
Apolus was already back on his feet. This caused Amelia to roll her eyes as she said, "Come on, can't a girl catch a break."
Right at that moment, a few individuals rushed to the bald young man's side and swarmed him.
–"Apolus, are you okay?!"
–"That girl! How dare she?!"
–"Is she a cadet? I never saw her in our academy! How dare she attack one of us?!"
–"Come on, guys! Let's teach her a lesson!"
Amelia resisted the urge to roll her eyes again. Were these people Apolus' fellow cadets? Maybe his classmates?
Ahh, if they join the fight, it would be very troublesome. It was not like Amelia wasn't confident in her skills to take on a group of cadets, but it would be troublesome.
With a dubious gaze, she counted the people in front of her. There were three boys and one girl. Adding Apolus to the total, Amelia was facing at least five potential enemies.
But thankfully, the muscular bald young man let his immense male ego cloud his judgment for the worse.
After all, how could he allow himself to take help in order to beat down a delicate girl?! No, he would do it himself!
Apolus extended an arm to stop his friends and yelled at them, "Stop it, everyone! Just stand back and do not interfere! I will deal with her myself!"
His fellow cadets wanted to retort and provide their aid, but ultimately listened to him and stood back.
After all, they knew Apolus was like a raging bull when he was angry. He would not differentiate a friend from a foe in his current state.
The last thing they wanted to do was to stand in his way right now and get caught in the crossfire.
If anything, they were worried about the slender girl who was foolish enough to anger Apolus to this extent.
Seeing the pity for her in their eyes, Amelia desperately stopped herself from scoffing out loud.
Instead, she nonchalantly shrugged and readied herself, raising her arms to assume a combat stance perfected through several hours of hellish training.
Sera flew away and landed on a nearby empty booth table. The puppy also followed the phoenix and got away from the black-haired beauty.
In response, the burly young man swiftly jerked his head to shake off the lingering concussion caused by Amelia's kick earlier.
Once he was done, Apolus grunted like a wild bull and raised his arms, adopting a combat stance of his own.
Tension hung heavy as the air cracked with intensity. However, the noble patrons around them seemed entirely unaffected by the unfolding chaos.
It was almost as if such instances were regular occurrences in this bar.
Everyone remained seated in their plush booths, sipping their drinks, letting out puffs of smoke, and occasionally erupting into loud laughter—behavior that hardly befitted their high social status.
Meanwhile, the confrontation between the muscular man and the lithe girl continued to escalate as Apolus channeled mana into his legs.
His massive calves appeared ready to burst as the pristine wooden floor of the bar cracked beneath his feet.
In an instant, the hulking young man vanished from his position and reappeared right in front of Amelia.
With lightning speed, he shot his right arm forward, launching a blisteringly fast straight punch toward her, his fist moving in a blur.
The black-haired beauty, however, wasn't the least bit intimidated by Apolus'speed. She deftly ducked, narrowly avoiding a punch that could have easily broken her nose.
From her low position, Amelia exploded into action, lunging forward and forcefully ramming her shoulder into his abdomen.
Though Apolus staggered slightly, he remained largely unaffected. Lowering his arms, he wrapped his hands around Amelia's waist.
Then, using his monstrous strength, Apolus lifted Amelia onto his shoulder, holding her in a powerbomb position.
"What the…?!" Amelia's eyes widened, but she wasted no time in reacting.
Infusing mana into her fists, she let loose a rain of punches upon Apolus, striking blow after blow at his ugly face.
However, Apolus remained unfazed despite her efforts. After a few more punches, Amelia's knuckles began to bleed and she felt as if she was pummeling a steel wall instead of a human being.
Without hesitation, Apolus spun around and slammed Amelia down onto a nearby booth, causing its table to explode into a burst of splinters.
"Arghhh!" Amelia grunted in pain as her back hit the ground and sharp fragments of the shattered wooden table dug into her flesh. But she didn't let the pain get to her.
Acting swiftly, she pulled one of Apolus' arms inward and wrapped her legs around his head, locking him in a suffocating triangle chokehold.
For a moment, Amelia felt thankful that instead of a dress she decided to wear a tee shirt and leggings today.
'Jiu— She's using Jiu Jitsu?!' Apolus' eyes widened in shock. But by the time he could even fully understand what had happened, he found himself desperately gasping for air.
The pressure on his carotid artery on the side of his neck caused a rapid drop in blood pressure to his head, resulting in his face turning blue from suffocation.
However, Apolus refused to yield.
Instead of backing down, he mustered up his monstrous strength and once more hoisted Amelia into the air.
Amelia, on the other hand, didn't let go of her submission hold on Apolus and only continued to apply pressure to the side of his neck.
"Ahhh!" Apolus let out a fierce battle roar, preparing to unleash another powerbomb on the black-haired girl on his shoulder.
However, this time, Amelia had a different plan.
Just as Apolus was about to slam her onto the floor, Amelia quickly locked her ankles behind his neck and executed a graceful backward flip.
Using Apolus'own momentum against him, Amelia expertly flipped the muscular young man, causing him to crash onto the hard wooden floor, landing back-first.
Meanwhile, Amelia herself ended up landing on her stomach and rolled away to put some distance between her and the monstrous young man she was fighting.
At the same time, the wind was knocked out of Apolus' lungs the moment he crashed onto the floor, the wood beneath him cracking from the impact.
After a handful of seconds, he managed to regain his breath and recover from the blow he suffered.
"Arghh!" Gritting his teeth, Apolus pulled himself up to his knees and summoned a great axe in his hand.
He then shot a fierce glare in the direction of the black-haired girl, who had her back facing him, and declared, "You're dead!"
Only when the weapons were drawn did the patrons sitting all around them start to worry. They knew that blood was going to be spilled now.
–"Hey! Stop them!"
–"Someone call the manager!"
–"Is he– Is he really going to kill her?!"
Panic broke out but no one dared to step forward to break the fight. Besides, it was already too late.
Amelia let out a sigh and looked over her shoulder. She saw that Apolus was already on his feet and had his weapon summoned.
Rolling her eyes, Amelia also conjured her bow. She sprang to her feet and turned around, drawing the bowstring taught.
Mana spilled out from the tip of her finger and materialized into an azure arrow on the stretched bowstring.
In the next moment, she loosened her grip on the bowstring and the mana arrow she had conjured shot forward, hurtling toward Apolus at breakneck speed.
In response, Apolus merely took a single step forward and swung his giant axe. As soon as the blade of his axe collided with her mana arrow, the arrow was shattered in a rain of ethereal azure sparks.
Without giving Amelia a chance to catch her breath, Apolus dashed forward at a speed inconceivable to the human eye and appeared right before her.
Amelia could only widen her eyes once more as she saw Apolus' axe inching closer to her like an inescapable blade of gullitone.
Fwooosh—!!
"Huh?!" However, Apolus could only gape his mouth in utter shock when her axe met nothing but air. The black-haired girl just vanished from his sight!
Unbeknownst to him, Amelia was in the air right above his head. She had jumped right in the nick of time to avoid getting cut down by Apolus' axe.
Airborne, she took aim and drew her bowstring with an arrow knocked on it. "Got you now."
Right then, Apolus sensed a presence right above him. But before he could look up or take any other action, an arrow was shot down at him and hit him in the shoulder.
The arrow pierced through his flesh and bone and struck the ground, pinning him in place.
With a graceful thud, Amelia landed a few steps away from him.
"Arghhh!" Apolus let out a pained grunt and broke the arrow pinning his shoulder down, freeing himself.
But Amelia had no intention of letting him stand up again. In a burst of speed, she appeared in front of Apolus and raised her right leg before bringing it down on his face.
Thwaaam—!!
Unleashing a flawless axe kick on his skull, Amelia effortlessly knocked out Apolus. The monstrous young man went limp, his giant body falling unconscious on the ground.
"Thanks for this, it was my first bar fight!" Amelia exclaimed with a wide grin on her face before her gaze shifted to Apolus'stunned fellow cadets standing nearby. They stared at her with mouths agape and wide-eyed astonishment.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, she inquired, "So, you guys are his friends?"
One of them stammered, "Y-Yes! But, in our defense, we only became his friends a few months ago! I don't even know his parents!"
Amelia gave them a blank expression before saying, "Fine, get him to a hospital or something."
"Y-Yes, ma'am!"
It took four of Apolus'friends to drag his unconscious body out of the bar.
The idea of a slender young girl like Amelia overpowering someone as monstrous as him was almost comical. It left everyone in the bar struggling to believe what they had just witnessed.
"Hey, you! Stop right there!"
But just as Amelia thought everything was over, a bald, elderly man entered the scene, accompanied by a group of imposing bouncers dressed in sharp black suits. They formed a circle around her.
The bald old man stepped forward and pointed a finger at her, scolding, "You are not allowed to summon your weapons in this bar! I'll hand you over to the police–"
Before he could finish his sentence, Amelia took a few steps forward and tapped her smart bracelet a few times.
"What– What are you doing?" The old man frowned, but his phone suddenly beeped, alerting him of an incoming notification.
He retrieved his phone, but his wrinkled old face paled when he glanced at the screen.
"I just sent you a couple of thousand Credits for the collateral damage and any potential inconvenience I may have caused you and your patrons," she declared, then turned her attention to everyone in the bar and declared, "The entire night's drinks are on me!"
A long silence fell over the bar for a moment, followed by a cacophony of cheers and applause broke out.
– "Hell yeah!"
– "What an amazing fighter, and so generous too! She's my dream girl!"
– "Woooooh!"
The old man, initially taken aback, wore a broad smile that would put even the best politicians to shame. He turned to Amelia and addressed her with hands clasped in front of him.
"Oh, I had no idea you were a noble, young lady!" he exclaimed. "I offer my deepest apologies. Please don't worry about the damages, and thank you for your generous gesture. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to approach me. I am the owner of this humble establishment, and I have numerous connections."
Amelia furrowed her brow at the old man's words. She glanced down at her own attire, a deep scowl forming on her face.
Why did people seem to assume she wasn't a noble? She dressed nicely, even lavishly.
Could it be her appearance? But deep down, despite her reluctance to admit it, Amelia knew she was beautiful.
In fact, she was even more beautiful than many noble heiresses she had met in her life.
So, was it her demeanor? Maybe she didn't behave like a noble young lady should?
She shook her head to clear her thoughts and made a mental note to ask this question to Lucas later.
After all, he was a noble by birth. He should know.
Clearing her throat, Amelia turned her attention back to the old man and said, "Actually, I do need help with something. I need information about someone. He used to visit this bar often until a few years ago. If I can get what I'm searching for, I will reward you handsomely."
The old man's grin widened until it seemed as though his face might split in half. He responded eagerly, "Oh, I know just the person who can assist you!"
