Chương 23: Chapter 23

Just when it seemed that the fight would be finished in the first few moves, a small smile formed on Zirken's lips. Before Annie could fully extend the boy's arm and finish his blow, he immediately used his only free hand to hold his other fist, the same one the girl was also holding.

He was limiting his strength for the fight to be fair, but still had enough to prevent the girl from being able to do whatever she wanted. Both were left in a contest of strength to decide whether Annie would complete her arm wrench or Zirken would escape.

It didn't last long before she gave in and the boy broke free and got up as fast as he could. Annie didn't lose either and stood before Zirken tried any tricks.

(I don't know if I managed to describe the scene well, but...)

"And to think he would escape an arm wrench from Annie." - Bertolt.

"That's good, the chances of him catching it have increased! Knock him out Annie!" - Reiner.

'Those two! - Zirken, with a vein almost popping out of his forehead.

The boy was no longer in the best of moods, so it was his turn to begin his onslaught on the girl. He picked up momentum and went for her, while Annie raised her guard again.

When he reached her, Zirken began his rapid sequence of punches. His two fists pounded as hard as possible and crashed every instant against the forearms the girl is using to defend herself.

"He's putting pressure on her." - Bertolt.

"Annie! Reverse and beat him!" - Reiner.

The boy who was on his offensive continued to throw punches faster and faster and it didn't look like he was going to stop. However, the girl who until now was only defending, suddenly moved to the left and deflected one of the punches, opening a gap in the consecutive attacks.

'Now!' - Annie.

In the next instant, the only thing the boy felt was a strong punch hitting him right in the face. The girl did not hesitate to put all her strength into this sharp and probably decisive blow. However Zirken did not move from his seat.

'What?' - Annie not understanding how he did that.

It was then that the unexpected all but for Zirken happened. The outsider warrior, with her fist still being pressed against her opponent's face, suddenly had her wrist grabbed with a great deal of pressure.

When she least expected it, the young man took this opportunity to slam into her, and ended up making her momentarily airborne, upside down due to the force imposed against her feet. However, to Ziken's surprise, Annie somehow managed to react and, while still upside down in the air, landed a vertical kick from top to bottom directly on the boy's shoulder.

*aaaaaarck* - Zirken.

"Nani? How did she manage to move like that in the air like that?!" - Reiner.

However, as a result of delivering such a risky attack, she fell to the ground and almost hit her head, being for only a second bewildered. Seeing this unique chance, the young man decided to ignore all the pain he was feeling and threw himself on top of her.

Like a magic trick, he mounted on her waist and used his two hands to press both Annie's arms against the ground and immobilize them.

By the time she realized what had happened, the girl was almost unable to move her arms or even use her legs to escape. The only view she had was only of Zirken's face with a completely bloody nose.

"You give up?!" - Zirken, immediately wanting to end the fight due to the severe pain in her shoulder.

Noticing something wrong, Annie tried to use all her strength to escape. She forced her arms against the pressure he was imposing to immobilize them against the ground, while swinging her legs as far as she could to break free.

That is until Zirken suddenly lowered his head close to her ear and left their faces almost glued together.

"I didn't want to use this, but in case you don't admit defeat now I will..." - Zirken, finishing whispering something in the young woman's ear....

"!!" - Annie.

For some reason unknown to the girl, her face flushed and she suddenly lost her strength. Seeing that it would do no good to continue and with almost no alternative, she slammed her hand on the ground three times.

"Huh? She gave up?! Why? Just keep pushing a little harder!!!" - Reiner.

"Maybe she ran out of strength after she fell..." - Bertolt.

Seeing his opponent admitting defeat, the young man just threw his body to the side due to fatigue and remained lying on the dirt floor. Both his shoulder and nose ached to the point of agonizing pain.

'Holy shit! I need to find out immediately why I am vulnerable only to her, or else it might get me into serious trouble in the future.' - Zirken.

"Looks like I won, hehehe." - Zirken, while trying to disguise her pain.

The girl didn't answer anything and simply stood up, turning her back and ignoring the words that came out of the boy's mouth.

'Is she going to ignore me now? Well, I think I said something really disgusting to her...' - Zirken.

Annie looked like she was about to get out of there, but suddenly she turned around again and...

*Hard kick

landed another hard kick to Zirken's belly, who was still lying on the ground.

*aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh* - Zirken.

"That's for you to never say something like that again." - Annie, covering her head with her hood and leaving the place.

The boy had no idea that she was going to attack him like that, so he could only receive the kick right in the side of his belly, specifically near his rib. Once hit, he put his hand on the hit spot and turned his body on its stomach, getting his face practically glued to the ground as he endured the pain.

"Annie?" - Bertolt, coming out after her.

"Man, what did you say to her? I've never seen her so angry." - Reiner, approaching the fallen Zirken.

"I don't know anymore..." - Zirken.

"Okay, okay, I'll go get my food. Try to go too when you recover, hehehe" - Reiner, happy to finally see Zirken injured.

"Son of a bitch! *aargh*" - Zirken.

'Shit, even talking makes my stomach hurt a little...' - Zirken.

After a few minutes of lying on the ground, the young man slowly managed to get up. He then set off inside the hut and lay down on his bed, which he almost never slept in, to try to recover for the rest of the day.