Masked Girl And Her Prince 8 Chapter 8 : Challenge Hall

All have witnessed the strength of thunder squad members especially Freya ,they doubted whether any royal would be able to take their princess away from them.

If anyone asks, "Who's the strongest in the empire?"

The last person they would think would be her. She sure knows how to surprise everyone with her agile attacks.

According to the instructions received from the ministers during the banquet, the royals reached the challenge hall. It was dome shaped with crystals on the outer surface. There was guards at the door, checking and they bowed when they saw the royals.

One among the guards, guided them into the hall and as they entered, they were amazed to see the crowd on both sides. A huge battle ground was in the middle of the hall surrounded by spectators.

As the crowd saw the royals entering, they cheered for them which made the royals smile and nod at them. Usui was the last among the royals and as he looked around, he saw a small girl clapping against the barrier, near the door. She was clapping so enthusiastically that she failed to notice her body was halfway over the barriers.

As she was about to fall, Usui reached out and caught her on time. He held her in his arms and smiled while patting her back," Be careful, little one."

The little girl smiled at him when she heard her parents calling out to her in worry. Usui looked at her parents and nodded at them while he handed the kid back.

Before he could let go, the kid tugged at his sleeve which made him retract his hands while he looked at her puzzled.

The girl chuckled and kissed his cheek, "Thank you for saving me."

He smiled and rubbed her head and handed her over to her parents. All of his interactions were noticed by a pair of eyes , which he overlooked.

As he reached the royals standing at one corner, he heard the crowd go wild and turned to find that the thunder squad had entered the hall.

He noticed Freya ,who was leading the group with a small adorable animal on her shoulder. Jinha was grinning and flirting while Hak was observing the security. Liz had a book on her hand and walked in while reading. Zeno looked serious as if he was ready to go into battle anytime.

Usui had his eyes on her from the beginning, he felt like it has been a long time since he saw her but in real, has only been a day. He was controlling his emotions but a smile was breaking out from his lips.

Zelal ,who already entered the hall before the royals, was exasperated seeing his brother control himself. He for one knew that if there were no people at the moment, his brother would have ran and hugged her.

Every though the royals have heard about the thunder squad fame, they purely believed that it was all fluke or that they just had good luck.

When everyone reached the ground, the thunder squad members were at ease, they even found a bench for themselves while they did their thing.

Freya stood up when she noticed the king along with the little prince arrive. On seeing her stand, the rest of the members stopped what they were doing and stood behind Freya and bowed to the king. It was obvious that they treated Freya as their leader.

Jinha noticing the smug faces, smirked, "They must be thinking we just had good luck."

Liz smiled which was breathtaking enough to make the royals heart beat fast, but the next sentences made their face flush in anger.

"Well this is not something new, I can't remember how many smug faces I have wiped off. I just hope they could put up a fight."

Hak grinned," It's not like we can ignore this matter as it involves our dear princess's future husband. We just have to beat the c.r.a.p out of them and one who doesn't fall even at his verge of death, should be considered the winner. Right guys?"

Zeno nodded agreeing to what Hak said while Freya laughed quietly which appeared like a devil's smile to others but a mesmerizing one to Usui.

"Well let's see if there's anyone here who would qualify as our sparring partner atleast. That should be considered as a win right guys?"

Every member nodded seriously to Freya's words which infuriated the royals. One by one they began to voice out their fury and wished they could tear them to pieces .

She glanced at them and smiled which made them gulp.

As the king sat down, the spokesman recited the rules once again and added a few too.

" No killing allowed."

" No magic allowed on the first round."

"On the second round, if the battle becomes a tie, the royals would proceed to the next round."

These rules were added as per the request of the thunder squad. They didn't want anyone killing to win their princess over and also didn't want any impossible means. If the member deems that the opponent is equal to them, they will proceed to the next round. It sounded fair to everyone.

The spokesman announced, " First round begins".

There were around 10 princes from all the powerful provinces and each one of them were the precious sons in their empires. The first five holders had to pick a stick which had the other five holder's number on it. That number denotes which prince the holder needs to battle.

Usui was given the number four and he picked the number seven. He looked at the seventh holder while the other looked at him arrogantly.

So when the first round began, it was a long five matches. The squad watched a few matches and noticed some strong opponents.

It was obvious that the strongest in the royals group was Usui as they have heard about his skills and many were waiting to see his battle strength. So when it was his turn to battle.

He walked up to the ground and looked at her direction. He saw her rubbing her pet's fur and when she noticed his gaze on her, she looked at him with her raised eyebrow.

She thought,' Why is he being weird?'

The battle was over within a minute. Usui didn't even had to use two hands to fight, he easily defeated his opponent by throwing him out of the loop. His opponent crashed against a wall and vomited a mouthful of blood. The audience was shocked on seeing his strength and his fast movements which was followed by complete silence.

Those who didn't have enough mana, wouldn't be able to see the moves he used but Freya noticed and was bit surprised but her face showed nothing.

Within a minute, Usui had used three moves on his opponent, not allowing him to retaliate. One, he bended a little to dodge the weapon coming at him. Second, using his right hand he punched his stomach and third, a kick to throw him out of the ring.

He walked out of the ring like a king while giving a slight smile in her direction.