Unfortunately, he is still conscious and has enough presence of mind to determine whether he will surrender or not. So his loss will be more humiliating.
He didn't want that at all. He wanted to die rather than accept defeat.
But before he could say so, Master Owl Claw spoke up from behind him.
The old man said, "He surrenders. It is his loss. No, it is our Owl Claw dojo's loss. You are indeed worthy of being a master. The Owl Claw dojo won't stand in your way of teaching the basic technique for free."
Skylar's face fell. He was so ashamed that he lowered his head.
He had wanted to die in the fight, but he can't do that now that his master has surrendered for him. To continue to fight is to disrespect his master and shame the Owl Claw dojo in front of so many people.
He felt as if he had lost his spirit. After all, what use was his life and all the training he had done if he couldn't defeat a boy half his age? Even the pain of his broken arm couldn't compare to the pain of his loss.
He was lifeless as his fellow disciples came up to him to help him up. He wasn't willing to stand, so they had to drag him away.
Arthur was the only one remaining in the sandpit. This made his disciples cheer. They wanted to come to him to celebrate, and the audience began to turn around to leave, but he stopped them.
He said with a shout, "This fight is not over. If you have a problem with me teaching the basic breathing technique for free, come out now and fight. Or forever hold your tongue."
There were a lot of people who had a problem with what he was doing. If he had asked this question before the fight, a lot of those people would line up to have a go at him.
But now that Skylar had lost in less than 5 seconds, those people had to rethink fighting him. They had lost confidence in defeating him and wanted to avoid a public humiliation.
But Arthur wasn't going to give them a choice. He waved his hand and said with a smug grin, "Come on. What are you scared of? I'm just eleven. What's the worst I can do?"
No one was fooled, but it was only the start of his provocation.
"You know what? I'll let you all line up to wear me down. I'll take all of you today. If one of you can finally bring me down, we will count it as your victory. How about that?"
No one replied.
No young man and people his age were confident of defeating him. Only the dojo masters were confident of defeating him.
But are these older generation masters supposed to appear to fight an eleven-year-old boy? If they do so, they have already lost as soon as they step out to fight.
They will gain no honor from this fight even if they win. But if they lost, whatever honor and prestige they had would go down the drain.
Forget about a threat to their livelihoods. If they lost, they would have to close down the dojo and never be able to raise their head again. So no dojo master stepped up to fight.
Arthur turned to one of the dojo masters with a dojo close to his and said, "What about you, Master Bolo? What does your Horse Kick Dojo have to say about me teaching the basic breathing technique for free?"
He had bowed, cupped his fist, and asked that question respectfully. But as everyone turned to Master Bolo to hear what he had to say, the man felt as if he had been thrown into fire.
Master Bolo smiled and said, "Surely you jest. The Horse Kick dojo has never had a problem with your teaching methods. You are the master of your dojo. What you do there and how you teach is not my business."
Arthur smiled in delight. "That is good to hear. I thought you had a problem with me because you sent one of your disciples to scout my dojo yesterday."
Master Bolo's smile had become forced as he shook his head to refute the claim. "I didn't send anyone to your dojo. If that person was my disciple, then he went to your dojo of his own initiative."
Arthur nodded in agreement. "You're right. He probably came to my class to listen to my free lecture. At first I thought he had come to disrupt my class, but he only listened attentively before leaving peacefully at the end of the class."
The disciple had indeed come to disrupt the class. He changed his mind because Skylar had taken the stage.
But since Master Bolo was denying it, Arthur was willing to make up something else. He was determined to take advantage of the situation for his benefit, so he hinted that a disciple of a rival had come to learn from him.
Master Bolo didn't want to be seen arguing with a child. Especially since some of his peers were already snickering beside him.
So he continued to smile and said, "Maybe you're right."
Arthur let him go after he surrendered so gracefully. Instead, he turned to another dojo master and called them out.
He called out many dojo masters after that. As he was doing so, someone ran up to join the audience to watch the fight.
The young man who arrived said, "I hope I am not too late for the fight."
The person beside him said, "The fight between Sky Claw and Red Mane has ended. Sky Claw lost five minutes ago. But Master Red Mane is calling for challengers."
The man's eyes lit up when he heard that. He said, "Is that so?"
The person nodded. "Two young people took up his challenge and lost. But he is asking for more. No one wants to fight him because he is too skilled, and they might lose."