Koji Fights The World - Chapter 16 Koji Versus Heretrios

After dinner, the Royal Family walked together to the small courtyard at the back of the palace. When the guards tried to enter the section, King Aphraphus held out his arm to block them. “No,” he told them sternly. “This area is restricted to the Royal Family,” the king reminded the guards. “Stand outside,” he ordered.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” the armored men saluted by jabbing the end of their spears on the ground. Following the king’s order, the group turned around and blocked the entrance.

“Sometimes I wish I wasn’t the king,” Aphraphus muttered under his breath. When he was a commoner, Aphraphus went wherever he wished without a vast entourage accompanying him.

Queen Herecia smiled faintly at the comment. Her lips brushed his cheek softly. “But then you wouldn’t have ME,” she reminded him while batting her long eyelashes at her husband.

“True,” he laughed boisterously and wrapped his arms around her impossibly thin waist. King Aphraphus wouldn’t trade his married life with her for anything.

Someone cleared his throat.

The royal couple traded smiles. “We’ll continue this afterward,” the king said and dropped his hands.

“Yes, we will,” his wife agreed readily and patted his chest softly above his fast beating heart.

King Aphraphus looked at the two combatants with a stern facial expression.

“What are the rules?” Prince Heretrios asked while tapping his left foot on the ground impatiently. Sometimes, he wished he wasn’t born to the Royal Family and witness this embarrassing lovey-dovey routine between his parents. The prince had a feeling that they didn’t take his match with Koji seriously.

The king grinned. “We are men of Nephosia. Rules are for teat sucking sissies. Beat each other up to your heart’s content but no fatal blow. After all, we are family now,” Aphraphus reminded his son and shook a finger.

Heretrios glared at Koji. “Fine,” the prince spat out and sulked. He wanted to stomp on the interloper’s head and crush Koji’s skull. Now, Heretrios had to settle for beating this brat into a bloody pulp.

His opponent offered a smirk.

Without warning, King Aphraphus clapped his hands. “Begin!” he barked.

Prince Heretrios had a physique similar to his father. Both men stood six feet two inches tall and weighed two hundred fifty pounds. On the other hand, Koji possessed the slim build of a dancer, and the prince estimated that his opponent weighed a hundred pounds less. How could this snotty-nosed brat hope to handle the prince? Thus, Heretrios was delighted when his father declined to set rules for this duel.

Furthermore, the prince was wise to King Aphrapus’ antics, and thus, Heretrios was ready to attack instantly. When the king clapped his hands, the prince immediately rushed toward his hapless opponent. Heretrios intended to run into Koji and toss his weak body like a sack of rice. However, the reality was cruel, and something different happened. In a split second, HE was the one tossed like a bag of rice!

Prince Heretrios knocked his head on the ground and his brains rattled inside his skull. Even worse, his ribcage was cracked, and the act of breathing became difficult and painful. He gnashed his teeth and with sheer determination, climbed to his feet. However, his body swayed unsteadily; a small breeze of wind would be enough to knock him to the ground. Again.

Heretrios’ eyes danced left and right. The prince was desperate to locate the person who humiliated him. He saw Koji standing in a fighting pose with his right fist out. This fist was positioned precisely at the spot where Heretrios sustained his injury. His eyes widened in fear as Heretrios understood the implication of this pose: Koji defeated him with just one move!

“What the fuck was that?” the prince demanded to know as he dragged his battered body closer to his tormentor. He coughed and spat out blood.

Koji smiled and released his fist. “It’s a technique from Wing Chung martial art called, ‘One-Inch Punch,’” the young man replied. He was impressed that Heretrios could withstand this blow. Therefore, Koji gave some face to the prince by answering him.

“Are you still going to continue this match?” Queen Herecia asked in a calm tone of voice. She was utterly amazed by Koji’s overwhelming power. However, the queen felt no killing intent in Koji’s attack. Therefore, she allowed the boys to continue playing with each other.

However, Heretrios heard the doubt in his mother’s voice, and this made him extremely angry. “Yes, I will continue!” he yelled in her direction. The prince turned and glared at Koji. “Don’t think you can win with just a sucker punch!”

“Perhaps,” his opponent said succinctly. Koji remembered that the seals on his three dantians still limited the flow of Qi in his body. He was fighting at under 50% of his real strength. Also, Koji channeled only half of his available Yang Qi into his punch. He held back to give the proper amount of face to the king and queen. Koji didn’t want to cripple their son or destroy his dantian. Consequently, he used the One-Inch Punch as a demonstration of his martial ability.

Koji motioned with his hand for Heretrios to approach. “I’ll let you hit me. Give me your best punch,” he challenged with a grin.

“Don’t be too arrogant!” Heretrios hissed. His body trembled with anger. How dare this little foreigner to look down on Heretrios! The prince roared like a deranged animal as he ran toward Koji. He winded his right fist and delivered a punch to the weakling’s face! To his astonishment, Koji remained on his feet even as an ugly welt appeared on the handsome man’s face! Even worse, the attacker felt intense pain in his fingers because they broke! Punching Koji felt like punching a stone wall!

“Not his face, you asshole!” the two princesses yelled in unison and channeled their Yin Qi.

Suddenly, Heretrios’ body was tossed high in the air! Rocks and pebbles pelted his face and body, causing ugly welts to appear. An invisible force gripped him and pounded the helpless prince, head first, into the ground. BOOM!

King Apraphus winced when he saw his son’s body splayed on the training ground. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! The king walked over and carried his unconscious son over his shoulder. “Let’s call this match a draw,” he announced while giving the two interlopers a look of disappointment. The father felt his daughters were overprotective of Koji.

Zelea and Daethix looked away with embarrassment.

Second Prince Cyreas looked on emotionlessly. Without a word, the gaunt-looking but handsome young man walked out. Once his father called a draw, Cyreas had fulfilled his obligation to watch the fight. Naturally, he declined to linger.

Queen Herecia used her right knuckles and hit each girl on the back of her head.

“OW!” the two princesses cried out in pain and rubbed their heads.

“As punishment, you two will summarize this month’s ledgers and give me the report,” their mother said.

The two young women sulked. The Royal Treasurer receives reports on taxes, fees, and other revenues generated within the kingdom weekly, and then collates them into a single monthly statement. But the production of this report entails a lot of math, which the two hated doing. “Yes, Mother,” they replied and sighed deeply.

“Koji, visit the library whenever you can to get your dual-cultivation scroll,” the king said before he exited the courtyard.

“Yes, father-in-law!” the young man replied with a deep bow from his waist.

The queen quietly followed her husband out of the outdoor training hall.

Zelea and Daethix drew closer to examine Koji’s face.

The startled bonder took a step back.

“Stay!” Daethix ordered and used her Telekinesis skill to immobilize him.

Koji’s eyes looked at his Bond Keeper for help. But his hope was dashed when Zelea said, “Don’t be a baby! Listen to my big sister!”

The two women gently touched his upper lip, which had split open from Heretrios’ punch.

Daethix wiped the blood from his mouth with her index finger. She licked it with her snake tongue and made Koji cringe in fear.

“Stop scaring him, big sis!” Zelea hissed.

Daethix flicked her tongue at Zelea and smirked. The third princess turned back toward Koji. “How did you withstand my brother’s punch? You should have been knocked flat on your cute behind,” she grinned.

Zelea wrapped her arms around her Bonder protectively. “Until you perform the bonding ritual with Koji, don’t touch my man!” she huffed and glared at Daethix.

The big sister chuckled. “I never imagined you would be so protective of a man. What happened to ‘boys are icky’?” Daethix teased mercilessly.

Zelea’s cheeks puffed. “That was back when we were kids! Things are different now! Koji is my Bonder and my husband. Don’t lick his blood without my permission!” she yelled at Daethix.

“Oh, fine!” Daethix replied. She rolled her eyes and released her telekinesis. “Now, tell me how you withstood Heretrios’ punch. He didn’t hold back when he hit you,” she noted.

“Please tell us,” Zelea urged with a softer tone of voice. “Did you use a special skill?” she inquired.

“No,” Koji replied and shook his head. “Back when I was attending a Wing Chung martial arts school, we fought each other daily as part of our training. Some of the boys were jealous of my good looks, and they punched my face repeatedly during practice. I’ve gotten used to it already,” he revealed with a shrug. The secret was clenching his entire body and using his Qi to support his defense. But this wasn’t a ‘special skill,’ and therefore, Koji did not lie to them. Besides, a fighter should keep some of his abilities a secret.

The two sisters shook their heads in disbelief. They couldn’t understand the cruelty of boys.

“I thought it was because of your higher tier ranking in body refinement,” Zelea remarked.

Koji shook his head again. “My body refinement isn’t advanced enough to ignore damage,” he explained.

“Zelea, why don’t we take a bath together?” Daethix proposed. “The hot water in the spa will help Koji heal faster.”

The Bond Keeper eyed her big sister with suspicion. “I’ll agree if you promise not to do anything weird to my bonder,” Zelea replied.

“I won’t! Teehehehe,” Daethix giggled nervously. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on him!

While keeping her arms wrapped around Koji, Zelea carried him out of the courtyard.

Daethix followed closely behind.