Chapter 300: Loss |
There was a harsh sort of silence in the arena. Ironically enough, the only sounds that echoed at all were those of Inanm’s coughs—his body spasming on the ground, his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
It looked as though his entire body had shut down, his nervous system firing off signals to locations that weren’t in a state capable of responding to him at all.
Jualim and Zaei both felt a cold shudder run through them. All things considered, Inanm was right in line with the two of them. If there were no outside interferences, their battles would have likely continued for what was easily hundreds of exchanges.
Aside from the Gold Clan participants, this was usually the case in the gathering. This was why the military stream rounds were rarely just straightforward combat. There was always a mental aspect ingrained into the challenge.
As fun as it was to watch battles that went on for hours, it was too much to expect to do both that and properly assess five different participants at the same time. It was only worse that this was just the number of First Years, and there were still the fifteen other seniors to consider as well.
A First Year that could slap another First Year to near death with a single palm…
The worst part was that they didn’t even see it happen. Setting aside the heavy mist in the air right now, Theron had moved too fast—his actions too sharp, his reactions too quick.
In one moment, it seemed that he couldn’t deal with Inanm at all, and in the next instant, the latter was coughing up all the blood in his body. It was a devastating result that weighed on all their hearts.
Riyan, who was still half unconscious, looked up with what strength he had remaining to see what the silence was all about. He barely managed to push through those that tried to keep him pinned down to see the result, confusion coloring his features as well.
Could he slap Inanm to death with a single palm? Yes. He could.
But could he do so while on that stage?
No.
They had made sure of that.
As though sapping up the last of his strength with this thought, Riyan finally passed out completely, blood drizzling down the length of his jaw from the corner of his mouth.
…
"Elder… he… why?"
Saularon was both shocked and apprehensive. She could tell that there was something wrong with the stage, but if Elder Black couldn’t find evidence of it, then how could she?
But what concerned her more was that if Theron was capable of this, then why would he go and sit out? This was a problem.
This time, Elder Black was confused as well. She had been hoping that Theron would take control of the situation like he always had until this point. But… he wasn’t? Why was that? Did he feel like the threat was too high?
Elder Kelyne Black sighed, shaking her head.
It was hard to blame Theron. Unlike Teacher Fern, she wasn’t so naive. There were no prominent Water Mancy Clans in the Nightingale Empire. This meant that Theron was almost certainly not of noble background.
Even if Saularon was right about Theron potentially being an illegitimate child of one of their elders, that didn’t change the fact that he hadn’t grown up as nobility.
The fact he was sticking his neck out to this point was already quite bold of him. But clearly, he knew that often, you had to be the one to protect yourself.
Who was to say they might not try to increase the pressure on him even further after seeing how he defeated Inanm? In fact, the fact that they had allowed Inanm to go up in the first place was its own red flag.
Clearly… Inanm was there just to probe how well Theron could deal with their methods.
Theron’s results had proven one thing very clearly, though.
He was far stronger than Riyan.
"… Once today’s events conclude, fetch him to come and talk to me," Elder Black said lightly.
…
Mello cleared his throat. "… Um… yes. It seems that… both have lost? It is a draw…"
The mumbling of the crowd echoed, but the judges didn’t interject. Theron might have clearly won, but he had also stepped off the stage before it was confirmed that Inanm was unable to battle. The ultimate result was that the Nightingale Empire would end this first round without a flag, and with an accumulated point total of -1.
Compared to their performance on the first day, it was a far cry, and it would most definitely place them on their back foot for the remainder of the day.
That, unfortunately, bore out with every subsequent round. But what they didn’t notice as they secretly blamed Theron in their hearts was the fact that whether Theron did this or not, they would have stood no chance.
With the formation set up on the stage, no one those in the background wanted to lose could possibly win. In order to counter it, Theron would have had to expose himself far more than he wanted to.
It wasn’t time to do that yet…
Not until he got the chance to kill.
Theron’s eyes only opened again for the Fourth Years. Patrik Gold and Chopra Sangun were very clearly the two behemoths of this round.
Until now, the Gold Clan had lost severely every step of the way. Patrik wasn’t even meant to be the Fourth Year representative initially—the true participant had died at Chopra’s hands days ago.
As valiantly as Patrik fought, Theron got the distinct impression from the first exchange of one very clear thing…
Chopra was toying with him.
In fact, from the start of the battle to the last stroke that lost Patrik his legs and an arm, Chopra had been looking at Theron all the while.
And as for Theron, he was looking at him.