Noel hurriedly approached Shawn, but surprisingly, Shawn was actually faking his action.
Although he was hurt, he still managed to endure the pain. He just acted like this to make Noel approach him while lowering his guard.
As soon as he arrived, Shawn spun his body and struck Noel.
"!!!" Noel was surprised that Shawn would utilize something like this, considering Shawn was a straightforward type. It seemed he realized he wouldn't be able to win unless he resorted to cheap tricks.
Noel gritted his teeth and hurriedly threw himself to the side, barely avoiding the blade. The blade scratched his shirt, albeit blocked by the armor underneath his shirt.
"Hmm?" Shawn widened his eyes, feeling the armor. "You're cheating."
"I'm not." Noel rolled on the ground and stood back up.
"You're using armor." Shawn pointed at the ripped shirt.
The others also saw the spot and realized Noel was using armor underneath his shirt.
They immediately cursed at Noel.
"What are you doing? Wearing armor?"
"You're such a coward."
"Just get out. You're not our Shawn's match."
Noel heard their insults and said with a calm tone. "There are no rules about using armor though."
In the Demon Hunting Squad, this reckless behavior was actually to show their power. On the other hand, not wearing armor or any protective layer was a foolish action in the Demon Hunting Squad.
These two ideologies ended up conflicting with each other in this battle.
Shawn actually started looking at him in contempt, while Igor understood their difference and clarified, "There are no rules about using armor."
Even with his words, the crowd didn't calm down. No matter how indifferent Noel was toward their insults, he still heard all those words and became a bit annoyed.
'Now I can understand why people have a hard time controlling their anger after being provoked. One cheap provocation won't affect me, but it seems I'm getting pretty annoyed right now.' Noel took a deep breath.
"…" Noel paused for a moment before taking off his shirt. "Well, you succeeded in provoking me, I guess."
"What is Iadre doing?" Paul narrowed his eyes. It was a foolish action to leave behind his advantage. He didn't know that Noel had actually given enough handicaps to Shawn by not utilizing both Ice Ability and Everchanging Sword Style. And with him taking off his armor, he would simply cause Noel to be far weaker than the usual him.
Still, he couldn't say anything more because the atmosphere had turned in Shawn's favor. Even he was gritting his teeth, wanting to beat all these people.
Rose, who knew about Noel's identity, could see the emotion behind that mask. She made a weird smile, "I don't know what they have done, but he is getting annoyed right now. I think we should pray that Noel doesn't end up destroying him too much to the point he breaks the rule."
Noel's eyes started releasing his killing intent. He had gotten pretty annoyed and wanted to release all this anger to Shawn. He might want to crush Shawn before, but this time, it felt like he wanted to destroy everything Shawn had, including the small pride he had left.
'Ardagan. Upgrade Undying Fire.' Noel gave instruction to Ardagan inwardly.
It seemed Ardagan noticed his change of emotion and warned him first before making a change.
[You have to calm down first before making a decision.]
'Don't worry. I'm still maintaining a clear head right now. I always want to upgrade this ability, but I have to prioritize the others. The city and the bridge that connected to this place gave a lot of points, so I wanted to use the points I got from them to crush them.'
Ardagan paused for a moment before agreeing to Noel's decision.
Undying Fire (2/5)
Skill: Undying Phoenix (0/5)
Requirement: 15 SP
Skill: Phoenix Wings (0/5)
Requirement: 6 SP
Skill: Undying Fire Feathers (0/5)
Requirement: 12 SP
Seeing how he got three new skills, Noel immediately ordered, 'Upgrade them to level 1.'
"Hahaha. It seems that you're not as cowardly as I think you are." Shawn snorted, laughing at him. He was looking down on Noel, thinking he could only achieve this result due to his armor.
However, provoking him was the last thing he wanted to do at this time.
Noel glared at him while releasing a glare filled with bloodlust. "Shut up for a moment!"
Shawn didn't know why but he felt chills down his spine from that glare. It was weird because the gaze was so different from what Noel had been giving this whole time.
He didn't know Noel was actually stressed out because of the amount of knowledge he got from upgrading four skills at once.
"Do you think your opponent will wait for you?!" Shawn roared, not caring about Noel's opinion. In fact, he planned to crush him to show that his fear from earlier was just his imagination.
"I have been saving this the whole time, but I guess I should test it on you. You better not die, muscle-brain monkey. Even I can't control this flame fully." Noel stated with a cold tone.
"Hahaha. You should worry about yourself because I'm going to crush—"
Before Shawn finished his provocation, Noel had raised his left hand, waving it diagonally.
"Undying Phoenix," Noel muttered in a low voice.
The flame around his hand suddenly flared up and shot forth a black phoenix.
The phoenix let out a cry as if it was alive.
Everyone who saw this phoenix actually shuddered as if they felt suppressed. Even the Demon Relief Squad was as shocked as the Demon Hunting Squad. They were completely unaware Noel had been hiding this powerful technique this whole time.
But remembering Noel saying he was saving this because he couldn't control it yet, they could somehow understand it.
Shawn gritted his teeth, not scared of this phoenix. He let out a roar as he punched forward, trying to destroy this phoenix.
But this was the time a figure suddenly appeared between them, getting hit by both the punch and the phoenix.
*Boom!*
