What's happening to him?

He felt his legs and hands tremble slightly as Inna started to move.

Was he actually scared?

He clicked his tongue at the ridiculous notion as he willed himself to stop shaking.

He looked at Inna and he couldn't help but notice that there was something off about her. And he was about to go closer to examine what it was that was emitting such murderous intent when suddenly, in a blink of an eye, Inna appeared before him with a raised fist ready to hit him.

Rhys was startled for a moment before he was able to dodge it just in the nick of time. But Inna didn't end her attack with just a single punch. She followed it with arrays of cleverly timed kicks and punches. She moved as though she had hundreds of years of expertise as she easily attacked all the openings Rhys was showing her.

He let out a grunt as he struggled to dodge. Midway through, he gave up on dodging, seeing that it was increasingly becoming impossible for him to keep up, and instead he started blocking her attacks.

Every hit he blocked felt like a hammer hitting his bones. He didn't know where the sudden increase in strength and speed came from, and it's making him feel somewhat unnerved.

He was supposed to end the fight now!

But instead, he was the one backed up to a corner.

After repeatedly blocking her attacks, Rhys felt tired and his hands were thoroughly swollen and numb. He thought she would've stopped or at the very least, get tired by now but she was the same as always, not even decreasing the amount of killing intent she was emitting.

He gritted his teeth in frustration. He didn't like the feeling of being cornered or being overpowered.

If only he didn't promise Raghnall that he'd protect her, he could've been able to land a clean hit.

And if only he didn't have the punishment seals in his body made by his dearly beloved master to prevent him from going wild in the Academy's premises or trespa.s.sing again, he'd probably be on par with her.

He felt that it was such a waste that he couldn't help but click his tongue in irritation.

He knew he had to end the match soon.

He feared that Master Azai would come back any moment now so he had to make his decision.

But truthfully, he didn't want the fight to stop. He found fighting with the current her actually fun, though greatly frustrating.

The intensity… the desperation… the raw power… the fear… and the killing intent she was giving as they fought…

It was all too perfect…

She's the best opponent he's had in a long while.

If only she'd been this serious in the beginning, he could've had more fun.

And now that they're actually getting started, he had to regrettably end it.

Rhys sighed sadly but he knew he had no choice.

So, he swallowed his pride and raised his hand, admitting defeat.

"Okay! I concede! Was that match good enough for you guys? Did you learn lots?"

Rhys looked at the guys by the side as he spoke nonchalantly.

But the guys just looked at him with wide eyes as they screamed in chorus.

"WATCH OUT!"

Rhys suddenly felt the air knocked out of him. He blinked as he tried to process what happened. He felt two hands crus.h.i.+ng his neck as he struggled to break free.

With all of his might, he looked down and just as he thought, blank eyes stared at him with no remorse.

Rhys felt robbed of his air as he desperately tried to breathe. He didn't know why Inna was doing this to him since he technically ended their match with her win.

And Rhys didn't have the luxury to think about the reason as he tried to focus on actually breathing.

He felt Inna's hands tighten for a moment before it somehow loosened by a tiny margin. He looked down to see what caused it and was surprised to see Orion and the guys desperately trying to move Inna's arms.

But Rhys was still choking to the point that he saw black spots in his vision.

He was starting to get desperate for air when suddenly, he felt something break in his mind.

Like a wall hit by a hammer…

Every second, the crack seemed to have grown bigger and bigger and just when Rhys was about to faint and the crack was about to fully crumble the wall, the pressure on his neck was gone and he fell to the ground in a heap.

He coughed and coughed as he tried to understand what happened.

Meanwhile, Inna felt the coldness leave her body and she looked at the mess she made. The guys were all looking at her with conflicted emotions as she tried to process what she just did. She looked at Rhys coughing and she peered at her trembling hands.

Oh G.o.d, did she just…

No, that wasn't her…

But why did…

She couldn't think straight anymore. She felt her legs starting to tremble out as she tried to hold back tears of disbelief.

She wanted to apologize.

She wanted to talk to Rhys and ask him if he was okay.

She wanted him to know that it was never her intention to take things too far.

But no words came out of her mouth and she was left blankly staring at Rhys's coughing state.

When she saw that Rhys finally caught his breath, she was about to approach him to apologize when suddenly, his form started to tremble.

She felt unsure about what was happening to him.

Was he crying?

Or was he scared of her approaching him?

She didn't know what to do while he was trembling so she decided to just approach him slowly.

But before she can even get a word of comfort out, a loud guffaw suddenly echoed around. Then, in a second, she felt warm arms wrap around her tightly.

She was so surprised by the sudden turn of events that she just stood there awkwardly as Rhys just hugged her.

He laughed and laughed for moments on end and when he finally stopped, he released Inna while wiping tears from his eyes. Then, he looked at her with twinkling eyes full of joy as he smiled at her.

"I like you."