Alex managed to dodge Cliff's attack. But he knew he needed to buy himself more time to gather his focus and make an attack using his internal force.
"Hey, that was pretty good!" He panted, trying to sound casual. "But I'd like you to hit me with your real strength. You keep giving me all these soft hits! I thought someone as skilled as you would have finished me by now. Quit playing around!"
As he said this, he focused on gathering his own strength.
Cliff was shocked that Alex still had the nerve and the audacity to speak so arrogantly after being hit so many times.
But he also heard the mockery in his voice and knew that everyone from the wedding still watching them had heard too. He couldn't let that kind of insult go unanswered.
"You think that was just me playing around?" He growled. "I'll show you something fun."
Just as Alex had hoped, his insults shook Cliff's focus. It didn't reduce his strength by much, but it was just enough to allow him to retaliate. He dove in and managed to land a blow near Cliff's neck. Cliff managed to elide him at the last second, letting the blow land on a slightly less damaging spot.
But with that move, Cliff finally became scared. The blow was skilful and powerful. He knew that if it had landed on him at full strength, it could have killed him.
But now that Alex was so close to him, he had an opportunity to defeat Alex. He twisted his fingers into a sharp shape, like a beak, and prepared to rap at the side of Alex's head. He knew the blow would throw Alex off, confusing him just long enough to let Cliff get in another strike. If he could just punch Alex in the face once more, he knew he could win.
But when his first, sharp little blow touched Alex's head, Cliff felt as if all the force and power in his strike was a drop of water falling into the ocean. The power of the move seemed to sink and disappear without a trace.
The energy around Alex almost felt as if it was pulling at Cliff's strength, robbing him of his force.
Cliff gasped and looked at Alex in horror.
Alex smiled back at him.
An internal force? Cliff thought. He recognized in an instant how Alex had managed to absorb his blow. But he didn't understand how such a young man could have such a strong internal power. The energy felt much older, more like the force gathered and accumulated over fifty years of training.
Alex placed his hand over Cliff's. Fueled by his internal force, he pulled at Cliff's arm, straining the muscle and pulling the arm out of its socket. Cliff collapsed to the ground, howling in pain.
Alex winced, but he knew this wasn't the time to be merciful. Cliff had attacked him with lethal intent. If he wanted to be sure this man would never try to overpower him again, Alex knew he needed to make his power clear.
Alex swept one leg across Cliff's body hard enough to throw him across the room. Cliff flew through the air, knocking over several rows of chairs until he finally collided with the wall. He fell to the ground, gritting his teeth and groaning. His body felt stiff and heavy, as if he had already died and become a zombie. When he recovered a little, he raised his head and shot Alex a hateful, helpless glare.
He opened his mouth to insult Alex one last time. But before he could force the words out, his strength finally gave out and he fainted.
The crowd around them stood frozen in shock and fear. As soon as Cliff had begun his attack, they had all assumed that Alex was done for. No one had expected Alex to have the strength and skill to put up a good fight, let alone win.
The sight of Cliff Munson, one of the best martial artists in the country, lying unconscious in a pile of furniture broken by the force of the final blow that knocked him out would stay in their minds for a long, long time.
A loud clap resounded through the room. It was Alex, slapping his hands together with a sense of finality. He hadn't come to the Drake family's villa to become a martial arts legend. He still needed to make sure the wedding didn't go ahead. He looked around and spotted Leona and began to walk toward her.
Beside her, David Drake began to shake with fear. He wondered if Alex was going to demolish him the same way he had the martial arts expert. Cliff's job was fighting, and sometimes fighting meant losing. But David didn't think his reputation could withstand being beaten at his wedding by someone like Alex.
As Alex approached, he tried to back away. But he and Leona were still surrounded by people, and they formed a tight half-circle behind them. When David stepped back too far, the old priest managing their wedding cried out in surprise as his foot was squashed.
But David didn't care. He didn't care about anything except the sight of Alex walking toward him menacingly. His mind was blank. He knew this was a life-or-death situation. His breath began to come in quick, panicked gasps.
Leona heard every sharp little intake of breath. She looked at David with concern. "Are you okay?"
But it was as if David couldn't hear her. He couldn't tear his eyes away from Alex. He felt at that moment that if Alex told him to hand Leona over, he would do it without hesitation.
But Alex heard Leona trying to check in with David. He was surprised at how genuinely concerned she sounded.
A horrible thought occurred to him. He had only just found out that Leona was the one getting married today instead of Lindsey. He had assumed, or hoped, that Leona was being forced into the marriage. But what if she had come to the wedding today willingly?
The idea made his blood surge hot with anger. He glared at David with renewed, jealous intensity.
David cried out in fear when Alex glared at him. He felt his legs going soft. The room felt like it was spinning. It was like being drunk, without any of the music or fun. Humiliatingly, he felt something warm and soft trickle down his leg and knew that he had just wet himself.
Suddenly, the sound of a police siren blared through the Drake family's villa. A chorus of voices shouted from the door, "Don't move!"
A team of five or six people walked in slowly, each holding a rifle. Their sights were trained on Alex.
When Alex had defeated Cliff, Reginald, David's father, had decided it was time to intervene. Hidden in the crowd, he had sent a message to the security captain back at his home, asking him to raise an alert and come to the villa to deal with the emergency.
He was determined that this marriage go forward. This was the Drake family's path to getting established in Washington, D.C.
Now he stepped forward with a smile on his face.
"Young man, you're quite the troublemaker. I think we deserve protection from someone like you." He cast a quick look at the crowd around him. "Does anyone object to me solving this situation?"
No one there felt brave enough to argue with him. They were all still shocked and scared by the fight they had just witnessed.
"No complaints," one person muttered.
"Yeah, we need help," another person agreed. "We're all too important to die here!"
"No one's going to miss that crazy kid anyway, I bet," the first person continued.
Reginald gave Alex a winning smile. "Well, you heard them. We'll come up with a story to explain what happened. An accident, maybe, or a misunderstanding. With a little cleanup, no one will know the difference, not even those people from Brunei. But what will they be able to do?"
He looked to his security team. "Ready?"
But before he could order them to shoot Alex, a pink figure rushed forward, screaming, "No!"
It was Lindsey. She threw herself at Alex, stretching her arms out to shield him. She glanced at Reginald desperately. "Mr. Drake, please don't shoot him! Please let him go!"
Her father, Charles Marvel, gasped in horror. "Lindsey! Get away from him!"
But he didn't step forward to grab her himself. He wasn't sure what to do.
Lindsey couldn't hear him or even see his concern. She was too frightened and worked up to notice anything except Alex, the guns, and Reginald.
"Mr. Drake, please don't shoot him," Lindsey repeated. "Let him go. I promise he won't cause any more trouble!"
"You know I can't do that," Reginald said coldly. "Step away."
"You can't, you can't!" Lindsey turned around and wrapped herself around Alex. She felt certain that as long as she shielded him, Alex would not come to harm.