Chapter 49: No.49: New Bet {4}: Finale!
Upon shifting mid-fall, Bruce was left in a compromising position where Naomi’s attack, which was previously aimed at his butt, was now aimed at his little brother.
However, he would also be able to at least hit her a bit in the process.
’Looks like you’ll have to take one for the team, lil’ guy!’
Having steeled his nerves and braced himself for the pain that would follow upon achieving victory, Bruce was aware that the attack didn’t necessarily have to be a full-blown one. As such, even tapping her would qualify as a win, as long as he was the one who staged it to be so.
Contrary to his expectations, though, what followed was nowhere near what he could’ve possibly expected, as he was left stunned at the sight before him.
’You’ve gotta be kidding me! That’s just cheating!’
Slightly out of breath after dishing out repeated attacks at full force, especially with the last one, Bruce stared slightly dazed at Naomi, who was now standing some distance from him, completely untouched by his hidden attack.
Earlier...
Surprised upon suddenly seeing Bruce change his attack once more mid-fall, Naomi hadn’t expected him to be capable of displaying such foresight this early, despite still being a rookie.
This resulted in her hesitating a bit as his attack nearly caught her.
However, having sharpened her senses through years of training and experience from the outside world, she’d developed a sort of heightened sense.
Instinctively, upon noticing the attack was now inches from connecting with her torso, she immediately cancelled her attack mid-swing before redirecting Bruce’s assault aimed at her ribs, enabling her to swiftly distance herself in one smooth motion without even getting hit by Bruce’s surprise attack.
’Is he really a novice?’
Shaking off the thought, Naomi became aware of the fact that he was indeed a novice from their exchange earlier. After facing a multitude of different opponents at this point, she was able to tell when someone was pretending to be inexperienced or not.
Due to this, she could easily say for sure that Bruce was in fact new to the entire thing, as there were still subtle hesitations whenever he got close to delivering an attack. This was common among novices who were still somewhat fearful of hurting the person they were facing, even when aware that their attacks might not really do much damage to the person in question.
Only after facing multiple opponents repeatedly would the hesitation naturally fade over time.
With that in mind, it meant Bruce was either able to anticipate what his opponent was likely to do at a frightening rate, or he occasionally put himself in a position whereby the results would fall within the area of his expectations.
’Those are even more frightening than the previous one.’
Aware that such things meant he had a natural talent, or battle sense rather, and was likely to grow even stronger the more experienced his opponent was, Naomi decided to take the fight a bit more seriously, as he’d far surpassed what she’d ever expected from a newbie.
’This kid really is something else.’
Smirking at the thought, she prepared herself for what was to come, now determined to take him more seriously than before.
Snapping out of his daze, Bruce quickly repositioned his footing once more.
Stomping hard against the ground, causing the entire structure to tremble ever so slightly, Bruce shot forward at a frightening pace.
Using far more Mana than he’d used in their previous exchange, he harnessed more, enabling his physicality to amplify much more as his speed drastically increased as a result.
Appearing before Naomi in an instant, he delivered a devastating punch to her face, aiming to catch her while she was still a bit flustered from his previous attack.
Already prepared, Naomi had anticipated this desperate final attack, enabling her to easily sidestep while redirecting his punch and twisting his arm in one smooth motion.
Now on top of him, as she pressed his face gently against the tiled floor, Naomi finally subdued Bruce as she whispered,
"Nice try, but your desperation left you wide open. Guess that means I win!"
Smirking as she said this, Naomi suddenly became a bit confused upon seeing the calm smile on Bruce’s face as he casually replied,
"You sure ’bout that?"
Unsure as to what he meant by this, as he was now pressed against the ground with his hands held tightly behind his back by her, so he was practically defenceless at this point, Naomi wondered if he was just bluffing.
However, before she could fully process what he was up to, she heard a dull creak, followed by a dull pain as something dropped on her head before landing on the ground next to her.
Glancing at the thing that had hit her, she became even more stunned upon noticing it was the stool that had been stuck in the ceiling from Bruce’s first attempt.
The realization finally crept in as she heard Bruce mutter with a confident grin on his face,
"I win! After all, you never said I had to hit you directly."
Understanding what he meant by this, she marveled at how he was able to achieve such an outcome, realizing he’d probably planned this since before he even stood up from his seat.
Glancing back at the stool, she became aware that his final attack had been explosive intentionally, likely loosening the stool from the ceiling and enabling it to drop on her head.
Worse than that, she realized that, despite all his previous attacks, he’d likely been leading her up to this point, only deciding to take the final step after noticing she’d fallen into his trap.
And even though she’d sensed the object as it fell, she decided against reacting, as that would have given Bruce enough of a chance to retaliate regardless of whether she reacted or not.
’It was checkmate from the start.’
Sighing at the thought, Naomi couldn’t believe such meticulous planning could be achieved by someone so young.
Freeing him as she stood up, Naomi closed her eyes as she whispered,
"I guess you’re right. I lost."
Despite saying this, though, she was still reluctant to let him go outside.
However, this wasn’t because she doubted his capabilities, as he’d already proven that he would at least be capable of determining when he was fighting a losing battle and coming up with a means to ensure his safety.
Instead, she was unable to tell the exact reason as to why she felt this way, as she simply didn’t want him to get hurt or worse.
The thought alone made her heart hurt for some reason.
At the thought, she felt her face heat up a bit before quickly suppressing the feeling as she added, a sudden thought having entered her mind as she did,
"Why don’t we renew our bet from last time?"
Hearing this, Bruce became somewhat surprised as he enquired,
"By that, do you mean...?"
"Yes! But I’ll change the terms a bit."
Replying to his question before he could complete it, she added,
"If you can come back alive, I’ll take you out for a bite once you return."
Pausing as a smirk appeared on her face, she continued,
"But if you don’t, I’ll make sure I find you and beat you back to life."
Smiling upon hearing this, Bruce simply replied,
"You’ve got yourself a deal!"
Hearing this, Naomi simply turned back and left the private quarters.
As she did, Bruce glanced at the notification that had appeared soon after she admitted defeat.
[Affinity Level: ...57]
[Affinity Level: 59(+)]
.....
’Would ya look at that! She does have a heart after all.’
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Kelly/Note:
Hey guys, Kelly here.
Just wanted to say thanks a lot to everyone that’s been supporting the story so far. I really appreciate it and can’t thank you enough for tagging along and sharing this experience of Bruce’s journey going forward.
I also wanted to use this as a means to apologise for the late/slow Chapter releases recently.
I’ve been having exams these past few weeks, and my school project is coming up soon as well, so I haven’t really been able to keep up with reading and writing. I had to procrastinate a lot along the way.
I’m really sorry about that.
I hope you guys will be a bit patient with me and not drop the book entirely because of it.
But I promise to at least try to keep up with the daily releases from now on, and hopefully be able to release like 20 Chapters per week like some top authors in the future 🥹💔.
Anyways, I didn’t want to keep you guys in the dark anymore, which is why I’m writing this now.
Thanks a lot for everything and for sticking around to this point.
Here’s to hoping I see more of you guys in the later Chapters as well.
Take care and have a wonderful day (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧.