SSS Ranked Taboo Student
Chapter 180: - The Fight-

Chapter 180: - The Fight-

"Fight!"

Fear? Anxiety?

Max felt none of either as he silently watched Ethan take a trained stance. His feet planted firmly with burning intent in his eyes.

The crowd quietened and watched with thrilled anticipation of what would happen next.

In their eyes, Max’s casual demeanor as he stood before Ethan was heavily berated in their thoughts.

’Arrogant.’

’Foolish.’

’An amateur.’ They thought, but only the expert among them could feel the wave of priceless confidence oozing off Max’s posture—absolute. Making them confused as they couldn’t pinpoint what exactly it was that made it seem so.

From a single glance, Ethan could strike Max down due to the obvious flaws in the way he stood.

Despite the fight having commenced, Ethan looked quite more cautious than the crowd expected.

And then, destroying the doubt in his heart, Ethan struck first with swiftness unexpected of his age.

He lunged, twisting his core as his fist sliced through the air in a textbook straight punch aimed for Max’s jaw. His years of training exposed by the precision of his fist.

’Here we go.’ Max thought.

He had thought to finish the fight in five seconds a moment ago. However, he suddenly remembered what Evelyn and the girls said of the serum. Then suddenly realized he would be exposing himself to something bigger than him if he did.

’A normal youth disposing of someone who had taken the serum so quickly without an alcohol effect would definitely arouse curiosity. From curiosity I may be addicted, my blood samples extracted and probably turned into a living experiment. And hopefully, I somehow escape, swearing vengeance.

Nope, I need none of that.’ Max concluded his thoughts before Ethan struck out his fist.

Such scenarios, after all, were a cliché.

Waiting till the last moment when the crowd had their mouths open, Max simply tilted his neck by an inch.

And then... the punch missed.

Max felt the wind brush past his cheek like a whisper and also caught Evelyn’s shocked face, even more so Alicia’s.

Ethan’s eyes widened, but he didn’t stop. He flowed into a spinning kick, pivoting on his heel, leg slicing toward Max’s ribs.

’Again... too slow.’

Everything appeared in slow-mo to Max, who might as well have reached the agility star of a superhuman.

Not skill but pure ability, Max stepped forward, inside the arc of the kick, his shoulders brushing Ethan’s chest as he invaded the space in between.

’I can barely control my strength so I just need to...’

Stationing his elbow in place, he let Ethan ram into him instead.

Crack!

Ethan stumbled. Caught off guard, he placed his hand on his chest, trying not to lose his balance.

An instant later, gasps rippled through the crowd. The area outside the ring froze in silence.

Like a master, Max exhaled with a relaxed posture, showcasing ease. Unlike the last time when he had been filled with rage, his eyes expressed nothing but silent calm.

Seeing this, Ethan burst with rage and clenched his teeth.

He rushed again, mixing high and low jabs in a flurry of motion.

Sure, he hoped that Max fell for his baits. However, the former saw through it all.

Max didn’t move till Ethan was in range. And when he did move, his hand was like a blade cutting through the air.

"Shit."

Someone in the crowd cursed out loud, and Ethan’s arms, in a flurry motion, froze.

Not by fear or pain, but because Max had stopped it.

Max lightly pressed his fingers against Ethan’s inner elbow joint.

Then with a twist, he pivoted his wrist.

"Argh!" Ethan shouted in pain as he was slammed to the floor, a loud thud silencing the crowd a moment later.

Silence...

The crowd tried to comprehend what had just happened, but they couldn’t. The most vivid images of Max flipping Ethan to the ground lingered in their minds.

As the culprit behind the silence, Max didn’t float or smirk at Ethan’s groaning figure. Instead, his eyes scanned the crowd for a moment and moved to get out of the ring.

However...

"Hold up, that was an easy win."

Attracting the attention of the dazed spectators, a studious-looking youth walked forward from the crowd with slow, deliberate steps.

Max stopped and turned to see the source of the voice just now.

A tall, lean youth, with his red blazer casually being handed to a youth beside him, walked towards the ring while folding the sleeves of his dress shirt.

Upon a closer look, Max found the youth to be Asian, and oddly familiar.

"It’s Kieran." The crowd whispered with a sense of being intimidated in their tone.

’Huh?’

Max kept his gaze on the former.

"Kieran, you’ll be going against the rules if you step in now."

Attracting the attention of the crowd, Gray—who had been watching Max fight—stood to block Kieran’s path, unfazed.

"Gray stepped up?"

A hushed whisper quickly circulated through the crowd as the atmosphere became filled with more anticipation.

"As you all know, any guy I see buzzing around my sister has formed a verified grudge with me," Kieran said coldly.

’Sister?’

At these words, Max promptly tilted his head toward an already embarrassed figure.

’Are they twins?’

Behold, clenching her fist in embarrassment, Alicia’s cheeks flushed with a purple tint.

"Stop it, Kieran. He’s Evelyn’s brother and there’s nothing going on between us."

Alicia said, with a cold killing glare directed at her brother—twin brother.

Beside her, Evelyn and Co’s expressions had already turned solemn too.

"I don’t care, Alicia. That doesn’t give him the right to fly with your little gang." That said, Kieran turned his attention to Max.

"I’m sure you wouldn’t mind either," he said.

Max silently observed the crowd, and nodded.

"True," Max said.

Hearing this, a wide grin instantly spread over Kieran’s face.

Apparently, Max didn’t know much about him.

"You see?" he smirked at Alicia, who hatefully glared at him.

She could have asked Max to reject him, however, after Evelyn whispered something into her ear, she decided to watch.

’My brother looks confident, I don’t think we should worry.’