Chapter 30

AXTON'S POV...

Reed charged at me with all the strength he had, and I was ready to counter his attacks.

My hundred percent attention was placed on Reed as I was monitoring his movements and mentally noting how to defeat him.

Reed delivered numerous kicks to my head and upper body but I managed to dodge and block most of them, and then I was now the one who was attacking.

I clenched my fist and punched him right in the nose, sending him staggering two steps back from the impact, but he recovered fast and retaliated with his own punch to my ribs.

I grunted and moved swiftly away from his next punch; I proceeded to grab his outstretched arm and pulled him harshly toward me; when he was close enough, I raised my knee and hit him below the ribs right next to his kidney.

"Argh!" His face contorted painfully as he screamed.

I was about to hit my elbow on his bent back, but Reed raised himself and slammed his forehead into my lips; he immediately followed it with a punch to my jaw.

He was about to land me another blow, but I quickly brushed him to the floor, immediately caged him between my knees, and started delivering blow after blow to his face.

After a few punches, he maneuvered me and stood up, our fight continued to get more intense.

It was like a never-ending siege of attacking and defending because I and Reed had long ago mastered each other's fighting style, we've known each other for a very long time, having started when we were attending the same military academy; we started as friends who always liked to duel with each other in our spare times, and after a long time of fighting each other, it almost felt like all the serious fighting we had afterward were just a continuation our daily fight practices back at the military academy.

However, after the academy, many events drove us apart, ultimately placing us on opposing sides.

But as we fought, I came to realize that the long-distance we'd been apart had nothing on our combat synchronization; it was making it hard for each of us to successfully defeat the other.

"Captain! Watch out!" I had just detangled from Reed's hold and fell to the floor when I heard one of my men shout behind me in a warning.

I immediately looked behind me and saw Reed in mid-air as he was descending toward me with a large brick in his hands.

"Fuck!" I quickly rolled away, and he smashed the hard brick on the ground, scattering the debris all over the place, some entering my eyes and making it hard for me to stand.

I heard Reed's footsteps getting closer to me as I raised myself off the floor, quickly using the back of my hand to wipe away the dust particles that had entered my eyes.

Reed chuckled darkly and said "Ah! This is very thrilling, Axton, don't you agree? Hyaa!" He asked and waved a punch my way which I successfully dodged.

"I am just taking it easy with you, Reed, and you find it thrilling? Then, you're not ready for a real fight, Commander Reed," I replied coldly, posing for his attack as I placed one leg in front of the other with my arms raised in front of me.

He slowly walked toward me, and we calculatingly started to walk in a circle around ourselves as both of us faced each other, no one wanted to to give the other a chance to find an opening to deliver an attack.

"Then, that just made it all the more thrilling, Captain Axton. Please, do not hold back. I've been bored for years since you were exiled and unfortunately became a prisoner, I haven't been lucky in finding any other worthy opponent. Come on, bring it on, do not let me down," Reed smirked at me, his taunting look annoying the hell out of me.

I felt like bashing his head against a giant rock and I knew just what to do to get to his nerves.

"It's a shame If this is how you've been boasting to your soldiers, but don't worry, I'm here to make sure you're well humiliated and beat in front of them, they'll know just what a weakling of a commander they have," I mocked him, and, immediately, the look on his face twisted in an ugly manner.

I knew I had provoked him and he had taken the bait.

Reed pointed at me, a deathly look crossing his eyes, "I'll show you how a weakling fights! Argh!!!" He swiftly dived at me and slid out a dagger from his jacket but I dodged him.

From that moment, our fight became fierce and relentless, it was as if the previous combat we've engaged in a few minutes ago was just for refreshing our memories because, now, we went at each other with menacing attacks, and nobody was willing to hold back, we battled each other to impact crucial damage or even...death.

Amidst my duel with Reed, from my peripheral vision, I noticed that while the laser cannon's power intimidated my prisoner army, they didn't seem to completely give up; they made it clear that their primary concern was to protect their purifier; Kaida.

In the process of protecting Kaida, I noticed that it was hindering their ability to attack our opponents fully and made them even more furious.

I suddenly realized that Reed was observing the direction of my sight, and when he sensed that my attention was going to a particular place, he realized that my men were particularly protective of someone important from our side.

"It's time to show you just what a weakling can do," Reed snickered and ran toward his laser cannon.

"Fire the laser towards the rear!" He ordered wickedly.

Alarm bells went off in my head; Kaida was at the rear!

I ran toward the laser cannon. I climbed over it, desperately trying to stop it from firing off its laser toward the rear side of my army, but I was too late; the beam was already aimed at Kaida's location...