Martial Arts Worlds - Chapter 430

Chapter 430: Mind Games
The lantern’s fire flickered like a candle in the wind, and the night deepened as the stars began to twinkle in the sky.

“…Huff.”

Leon breathed heavily as he eyed Aoi, like a silent beast waiting to strike.

‘I shouldn’t underestimate her strength. She was able to send me flying with barely any strength in her arms, but that technique of hers allows her to deliver powerful blows.’

Leon raised his arms in a boxing stance.

‘I’ll just put her under pressure, and she is bound to make a single mistake, and when she does, my lion fist will find its way to her face.’

Leon growled like a lion, made up his mind, and then moved ahead, his feet shuffling quickly across the sand.

Aoi didn’t move.

She only waited patiently, standing in her stance, and let him come to her.

At that moment, Leon’s right fist turned into the head of a silver-furred lion, and he lunged forward with a fierce roar.

The lion-headed fist came flying towards her face with incredible speed, and the lion’s maw opened wide as if to take a bite out of her.

She shuffled to the side just in the nick of time, narrowly avoiding the attack, and then shot her hand towards his exposed face.

However, Leon quickly pulled his head back to avoid her touch and then lunged forward to grab her arm.

His grabbing hand looked like the claws of the wild lion.

It was about to grab Aoi’s arm, but she then pulled her arm back and punched Leon in the face.

Smack…

It was a soft-sounding smack that didn’t seem too dangerous.

“…”

Leon looked unamused by the punch and swung his fist to punch her across her face, but she slid backwards, just enough to be out of the range of his punch.

‘Her punch didn’t feel like anything. I think my little brother, who is eight, has punched me harder. What was the point of that?’

Leon thought to himself with a furrowed brow.

He doubted that Aoi was doing anything unnecessary, as she was a very strategic fighter, and every move of hers had a purpose behind it.

It indeed had a point!

‘Gotcha…’

Aoi thought to herself with a cute smile.

The purpose behind the punch was to make Leon overthink her next move!

Half of his thought process had been subtly diverted with the punch, and that would eventually slow down his reaction time for her following moves as he would keep thinking about the reason why she punched.

What was the reason?

What was her plan?

Am I overthinking it?

Did she pretend that her punch was weak so that she could catch him off guard with a stronger punch?

Those thoughts floated inside Leon’s mind, and he fell deep into Aoi’s trap, which made it feel like chains were wrapped around his brain.

“Grr…”

Leon gritted his teeth, annoyed by his lack of knowledge, and then leaped high into the air.

With his impressive leg muscles, he was about to jump so high that he reached the top of the five-story temple building.

He landed on the tilted, tiled roof and looked back down to the sand, where Aoi looked up at him with a look of curiosity.

“I don’t know what you’re planning, Kiernan’s girlfriend, but as long as I am unpredictable, your plan means absolute shit.”

Leon said, and at that moment, silver fur sprouted out from under his skin and covered his arms and face in a matter of seconds.

He used Aura Fusion on most of his body!

“I don’t know what you are talking about. Plan? What plan? Also, I am his fiancée.”

Aoi said with a giggle.

“You won’t be laughing no more. If you can survive this, I applaud you.”

Leon said, and as he growled, both his fists turned into the heads of a silver-furred lion, both mean and magnificent at the same time.

“Ghoul Style!”

“Frangor Animae!”

“STORM!”

Leon leaped off the roof higher into the air and then punched his lion-headed fists into the empty air, but when he did that, full-sized lions jumped out of his fist.

With magnificent roars and silver manes, they leaped down towards the sand below and lunged straight at Aoi with their jaws wide open.

“ROAR!”

It was an amazing sight that left many in awe.

“This is the power of Aura Fusion?”

“If I didn’t know any better, I would think this is Martial Ability!”

Aoi looked at the descending lions with her mouth open in awe, completely speechless, and even she didn’t know what to do against that.

‘I can’t keep fighting like this. With his Aura Fusion, he has the advantage of the range, and surprisingly enough, I have to make this fight into a close range.’

Aoi thought to herself.

If anyone heard her thoughts, they would think she was crazy because everyone knew that Leon was unbeatable in the close range.

However, that was obviously the only choice this time around, as even his long-range fighting is top-notch.

Aoi turned around, and to everyone’s surprise, she started running towards the Yokai Dojo’s bench, but she wasn’t looking at anyone else except at Kiernan’s gray eyes.

She wasn’t saying a word, but still, he was still able to understand what she was trying to convey.

“Alright…”

Kiernan stood up, positioned himself low, and laced his hands together, forming a foothold with his hands that looked like a step.

Aoi stepped onto his hands, and then Kiernan, with a silent shout, tossed her high into the air, and she gracefully landed on the roof of the temple building.

Leon looked at her in shock and landed back on the tiled roof, breathless when he stared at her.

Aoi jumped up and kicked towards his neck, but he quickly lifted his shoulder to block the attack.

However, the kick still sent him sliding down the tilted roof, and he only barely managed to stop himself before falling off.

“Is that allowed, temple priest?”

Master Sifu asked with a shout.

“She clearly received outside help!”

Hearing his protest, the temple priest just rolled his eyes and tiredly looked at him with an unamused look.

“The rules are vague and are left to my discretion. I don’t think her actions deserve disqualification. That’s the end of it.”

When Master Sifu heard that, his face turned red, and it took all his strength to not curse him out.