Chapter 8 8

Nicolas responded calmly to Dean's harsh tone. 'Simple, I want you to follow me. If you follow me...' but before Nicolas could even finish his sentence, Dean shouted. 'Stop right there!!!' he said harshly. Both of their brows were furrowed. Dean had shouted so loudly that the guards immediately turned towards the door. 'Do you think we'll follow a snob like you? Take your ransom money and fuck off from here! If I see your face for three seconds, I'll break your mouth and nose!' Dean said harshly. Axel had clenched his fists and was showing them to Nicolas. Nicolas laughed and said, 'Then I'll change my offer. If I beat both of you, would I be qualified enough for you to follow me?' Nicolas said. Dean and Axel started laughing instantly as if he had made a funny joke. Not just them, even Albert was smirking without making it obvious. 'Hahaha... You have courage, you definitely have courage, but only a fool would be as brave as you in front of us,' Axel said dismissively. Nicolas was still calm. 'Just answer? Would you follow me?' Nicolas said, he was confident in himself. 33 years from now, these two were strong enough to kill the War Goddess, but in their current state, they were no match for Nicolas. He didn't even need to use power to beat them. Dean's brows furrowed and his laughter stopped. 'If you manage to beat us, we'll even be your slaves! As if that were possible,' Dean said dismissively. 'No need for you to be my slaves, just following me is enough,' Nicolas said. Dean and Axel fixed their lethal gazes on Nicolas. Both had grown up on the streets, how many fights had they been in? They didn't even know the count themselves, but every time they became stronger. They had their own territory and managed a small gang. Everyone in the gang was an orphan like them. Ultimately, they were children living on the streets. To protect his gang and feed everyone, Dean and Axel had done many things, and they had to get stronger to do these things. Axel couldn't take it anymore. His fists were already clenched, and supporting himself with his foot, he pushed himself forward, his fist already raised and aimed at Nicolas's face. Nicolas was extremely calm; his eyes hadn't even flickered, as if he didn't see Axel coming at him. Axel lunged at him rapidly, but just as his fist was about to land on Nicolas's face, Nicolas suddenly pulled back as if he were sliding on the ground. Axel was bewildered, he didn't even understand what had happened, and while he was off balance, Nicolas hit his back with his elbow, and due to his already lost balance, he fell face-first to the ground in one move. His mouth was open, and when he hit the ground, his jaw hit the floor and his teeth clashed hard. His lips were burst, his nose had started to bleed, and he had severe pain in his arm and back. He had lost at the very first moment. Dean was looking at what happened just now with his eyes wide open. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, but he wasn't afraid; on the contrary, he was angry. He took the initiative to attack, clenched his fist, and rushed at Nicolas. After what he saw, he was more careful. While protecting himself with his guard, he was throwing direct punches at Nicolas. His target was obviously his face; he had learned to fight on the street, and on the street, what matters is finishing the job quickly, so he was used to attacking the head area. The flaws in his fighting style were easily revealed because of this. With every punch he threw, Nicolas took half a step back, and the punch remained ten centimeters away every time. The Colonel, the guards, and Albert looked as if they were watching someone else. How could someone who moved so confidently and skillfully be the useless Nicolas?

Albert would have seen Nicolas's swordsmanship if he had looked into the courtyard this morning, but he hadn't, and only now could he see Nicolas's power. He was still tired from the swordsmanship he showed in the morning, and his joints were still aching, yet he was only using simple footwork. During the 19-year-long war process, military technology and military training methods had developed greatly. When the techniques Nicolas learned in the elite unit were combined with what he learned from Alvaro and being trained as a spy, combined with what he learned in his 19 years of military life, his fighting power jumped to another dimension. He was like a versatile war machine.

Dean, on the other hand, was about to go crazy because every one of his punches was missing. Because he learned to fight on the streets, he didn't know he had to use his power carefully, so he was attacking with all his might, and after every attack, he was getting weaker. After Nicolas dodged more than 20 punches and a few kicks, he realized that Dean's strength had decreased enough and his resistance had dropped. He raised his hands, but instead of making fists, he bent his thumbs and tilted his other fingers slightly forward. Then he brought his palms forward, holding both palms facing each other. This was a close-combat technique Mia had taught him. It allowed redirecting the opponent's attacks without using force and attacking sensitive points like the chin or chest when finding an opening. It was one of the three techniques he learned from Mia; it was used to neutralize, not to kill. It was a simple technique and required maximum attention and minimum effort. As long as he directed the attacks correctly, dealing with stronger opponents wasn't a problem, and after Dean got tired, it became much easier to neutralize him.

Seeing Nicolas take a strange stance, the guards and Albert didn't make sense of it, but the Colonel was an experienced soldier. He knew what this stance meant; his eyes widened in surprise, he unconsciously groaned 'Ahh..' and quickly covered his mouth. Thoughts were mixed in his head, 'Young Master was actually acting like a bum. He is actually someone from Intelligence...' he said. After seeing the technique, it was very easy to reach this conclusion because this technique was one of the few developed by Mia and was known only by members of the intelligence within the Fei Clan lands. Thanks to his high position, the Colonel had seen this technique and how it was used up close before, and the only explanation for Nicolas using this technique was that he was an intelligence member acting like a bum, but he didn't understand why Nicolas was an intelligence member. After all, he was in the position of an heir who would take over the Clan and didn't need to be in intelligence.

Meanwhile, Dean didn't understand the strange position Nicolas had taken, but he continued to attack. When he threw his first punch, instead of retreating, Nicolas hit Dean's wrist using the back of his hand, and the punch slipped to the right and missed Nicolas. When he threw another punch from below, Nicolas grabbed the left side of the punch with the palm of his right hand, which he had used just before, and pulled it quickly to the right. Dean's punch had gone into empty space. He moved to throw a kick and swung his leg, but Nicolas countered the kick with his knee, and approaching the wobbling Dean half a step, he hit the back of his hand hard under his chin. Dean's eyes suddenly went dark, and he became dizzy; his feet hadn't left the ground, but he had suddenly lost all control of his body. As he fell backward like a sack, his eyes were filled with amazement and disbelief. 'I lost...' he said to himself. He looked down on aristocrats and thought they were all a bunch of snobs. He had seen many proofs that confirmed this, but today he had been defeated simply by someone from the aristocratic circle. He had dodged his attacks repeatedly, and in the end, he had blocked his attacks in a few moves and finished the job with a single blow. This situation left no room for doubt; he had been defeated in every sense. Speed, durability, and intelligence.

When Dean fell to the ground, only his jaw hurt a little. Unlike Axel, he wasn't bleeding. Although it takes long to tell, the fight between the two had lasted less than 30 seconds, and while Axel was struggling to stand up, fighting his pain, Dean had already been knocked to the ground. 'Dean...' said Axel, clenching his teeth despite his pain, he crawled towards Dean. Dean was looking at the black ceiling of the cell with widened pupils. 'Are you okay?' said Axel, looking at Dean. Dean turned his head and looked at Axel. 'Axel, we must follow him.' said Dean. Axel looked at Dean with surprised eyes; actually, he was waiting for an opportunity to counterattack, but he hadn't expected Dean to give up, and moreover, he was talking about following him. 'What will happen to our gang? If we leave, who will take care of them?' Axel asked, but before Dean could answer, Nicolas answered. 'I have room for them too, I think there were 7 of them. Even if there were 70 people, it wouldn't be a problem.' Nicolas said smiling. Axel quickly turned his gaze to him. 'You! Can you promise? Can you promise that no harm will come to them?' he said quickly. Nicolas nodded and said, 'As long as you follow my instructions, you will have everything you want. Your friends as well, but I cannot guarantee your lives. I will train you and support you, but my path will not be easy; if you are going to follow me, you must understand that you could die or be crippled. Still, I don't intend to force you; even though I beat you both, you are still free to leave. I won't force you unless you want to.' said Nicolas. He wanted both of them with him, but he didn't want them to do it unwillingly or lure them by lying to them. Axel hesitated, as if he didn't know what to say, meanwhile, Dean slowly got up and sat down. 'Can you promise that we will get stronger?' he said. Nicolas smiled and looked at Axel and Dean. 'No, I can't, but I will give you the opportunity to get stronger. How you use it or how strong you get depends on you.' When Nicolas finished his sentence, Dean nodded. 'Okay, I accept. I will follow you and obey your orders.' Dean said quickly. Axel panicked for a moment; he hadn't expected Dean to accept so quickly. Usually, Dean was the rebellious one between the two, but this time he had obeyed quickly. 'Me too... I will follow too.' Axel added, as if he didn't want to be left behind. 'Good, now go out, meet with your gang, and bring them to the Fei Clan.' Nicolas said smiling. 'You... Wait a minute, how do you know we have 7 other members in our gang? Also, who are you?' Nicolas answered in a calm tone, 'Of course I researched you, you didn't think I came here blindly, right? As for who I am, Nicolas Fei, the Young Master of the Fei Clan.' Dean and Axel trembled in shock and looked at Nicolas. 'You...' said Axel in disbelief. Even if Dean didn't speak, it was understood from his facial expression that he hadn't expected this. When Nicolas told them to come to the Fei Clan, he had thought he was an ambitious son of someone with a position in the clan, but he was actually the son of the Fei Clan leader and the heir of the Fei Clan. The surprise of both quickly turned into anxiety. Even though they were commoners, they had heard of Nicolas's bad reputation; in fact, 50% of their hatred for aristocrats was because of Nicolas's bad reputation.