Chapter 1228:

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

“Fantastic!” The announcer beamed and quickly finished updating the records, noting down the new wagers for both sides. “Let’s begin!”

“You’ve got some nerve, betting even more on this fight,” the man said, eyeing Maren with a curious smirk. It made sense now why she wouldn’t back down. She had every intention of beating him. What a joke.

“You’ll regret crossing me, just wait.”

“You never know when to quit talking, do you?” Maren shot back, cutting him off as she lunged at him before he could finish talking.

“You’ll have to move faster than that.” The man slipped past Maren’s first attack and avoided her next one just as easily.

No matter how Maren pressed the attack, he always seemed a step ahead, slipping away before she could land a hit.

From the stands, a sense of awe spread through the crowd. “She’s up against someone truly dangerous this time.”

“Who knew the Axe Gang had a fighter like him? He looks even stronger now than he did earlier.”

“Yeah, I noticed that too. He was holding back in the last match. He didn’t show half this power before.”

𝖱еa𝘥 𝗼n a𝗇у 𝖽𝗲𝗏𝗂𝗰е о𝘯 𝘨𝖺𝗹𝗻𝗈𝘃𝘦𝗹𝘴.с𝗈𝗺

Spectators stared in disbelief, struggling to process what they were seeing. The man’s earlier performance had been impressive, sure, but nothing like this. And standing across from him? None other than Maren, the same fighter who’d taken down her last challengers with a single blow.

Yet now, the tables had turned. Watching her struggle against him just didn’t seem possible.

“I wasn’t revealing my true strength before, and even now I’m restraining myself, but you’ve managed to capture a fraction more of my focus.”

The lean man deflected Maren’s strikes with effortless grace while delivering his taunts with calculated smugness. Maren maintained her silence, channeling every ounce of her concentration into her relentless offensive barrage.

The deteriorating situation sent waves of mounting concern through Orlando as he observed the battle from his position below the ring.

“What’s going on? Didn’t Maren say she could win? Why does it seem like she’s about to lose?”

He was unaware it was all part of Maren’s plan.

Previously, she had deliberately annihilated her opponent with a single devastating strike to inflate Orlando’s confidence, encouraging him to raise the stakes.

If she dominated with excessive speed again, the Axe Gang would likely grow suspicious and refuse to escalate their stakes in the next round.

Consequently, Maren needed to secure her victory through a prolonged struggle, crafting the convincing illusion that she was battling desperately against her opponent. Under these circumstances, the Axe Gang would become absolutely convinced they had the ability to triumph over Maren in the next round.

Every element was unfolding with perfect precision according to Maren’s calculated blueprint.

.

.

.