This chant didn't spread throughout the crowd like the fake clap for Skylar's pretentious speech because dojo masters weren't saying it. Only his students chanted it.
But even those who didn't chant out loud were feeling the same way within themselves. Many of them even began to wish that the boy would win.
They didn't think he stood a good chance of winning, and they didn't dare to cheer openly for him, but within them they were rooting for him.
Some of them were even grateful to him for what he was doing and for what he was fighting for. Arthur was sure of this because he received notifications of Karma after his speech.
When the notifications stopped coming, he knew that he had gotten all he could from the crowd, so he stopped his chanting.
Skylar's face was calm. He didn't look flustered or angry at all about his intentions being exposed. He was truly shameless.
Arthur chuckled to himself and said inwardly, "So I hadn't lied about him being shameless."
The referee appeared after he was done giving his speech. She was a woman in a beautiful red dress.
He couldn't tell if she was beautiful or not because she was wearing a lot of makeup. But he could guess that she had to be influential to officiate the fight.
She waved her colorful fan and said, "Now that the opening remarks have been made, the fight can be made. I wish you both good luck. You can start now."
She shouted that last part.
As soon as she finished, Skylar's two feet left the ground as he jumped at him. He descended with his two hands formed into a claw.
Arthur couldn't let him descend onto him, as that would put him at a disadvantage. After all, he is on the ground while Skylar is descending on him. Skylar will have a lot of momentum, whereas he will have none.
There were two options for him. The first one would be to jump up to strike Skylar in the air. The other would be to dodge.
He decided to dodge even though it would give Skylar the initiative again if he didn't dodge right. But he was confident in himself, so he dodged.
He didn't dodge too far. Most of his dodge was a change in his lateral position.
He took one step back and one step to the left. Then he made a fist with his right hand and punched even before Skylar dropped to the ground.
All of these seemed to take a long time as it went through his mind. But his actions were swift and precise. His movements gave off a sense of smoothness and beauty that made the dojo master's eyes light up.
Skylar was in the air and couldn't determine where he would drop. So even though Arthur had avoided his move, he didn't have any other choice but to keep falling.
If Arthur had only stepped back, he would have been able to continue forward with his momentum as soon as his feet touched the ground. But since Arthur had also stepped to the side, he had to shift his direction, which would delay him.
In fact, he could take advantage of the delay to use a kick that would catch Arthur since where he would land wasn't that far from Arthur's new position. Unfortunately, Arthur was already punching at him.
The two of them hadn't even met yet, but Arthur's punch had forced him to be on the defensive. Now he has to block.
That's his only choice in the matter since he can't dodge in his position. This turn of events made him frown.
He had jumped to use the advantage of his owl claw technique, but now he has to block a punch. He wasn't flustered, though. He could deal with a punch.
His eyes became stern as he decided to do what Arthur had done. He decided to force Arthur or at least catch him off guard, so he stretched his legs for a kick.
Master Owl Claw winced when he saw this. Before it happened, he already knew that it was bad.
Arthur's punch changed to a grab. His right hand grabbed Skylar's outstretched leg, pulled it to destabilize Skylar, and punched with his left hand.
Skylar tried to block now, but it was too late. He failed to realize that the best decision for him was to block. Now that he was in a compromised position, blocking wouldn't be as effective as it should be.
Arthur went for the chest. His two feet were on the ground so his whole body was reinforced compared to Skylar's. This enabled his fist to break through Skylar's flimsy attempts and strike at his chest.
His fist slammed into the man's diaphragm. He truly dug into the space between his ribs and stomach. This caused Skylar's body to cave in like a shrimp.
His eyes popped out of his head, and the air was forcefully expelled from his lungs. His breathing technique was disrupted, and he almost fainted.
He had taken a great injury in their first exchange and had gained a disadvantage. But he was finally in close range with Arthur. As long as he made good use of this opportunity, he might be able to turn things around.
His two hands were his weapon. Now that he was blocking, he could use them to attack.
He did so with anger and malice. He went straight for Arthur's face. He wanted to take his eyes or even throat.
This time, it wasn't only Master Owl Claw who winced.
Arthur held Skylar's leg with his right hand and used it to keep Skylar in the position he wanted him while he swept his left leg across Skylar's other leg.
Skylar's left leg was about to touch the ground. If his left leg touched the ground, he might be able to recover from his compromised position.
Unfortunately, that wouldn't be able to happen now because Arthur's left leg crashed into his leg and caused him to flip over.