From the word 'Begin', Leo scaled up the mountain like it was nothing.
His opponent, consumed in his own thoughts, never even bothered to check where Leo was, nor did he pay attention to the crowd's cheers.
By the time his opponent had climbed close to 10% of the mountain, circling round and round like a fool, Leo was already on the top, prompting the 30 seconds timer to start.
By the time his opponent was halfway and found himself blocked by the boulder, 17 seconds had passed since Leo was on the top.
Leo even had daggers ready in his hands to try and create problems for his opponent, however, looking at him searching for him like a buffoon, it did not even seem necessary at that point.
Not once did his opponent bother checking above him, as by the time he split apart the boulder, only 5 seconds were left for Leo to win the match.
*Sigh*
Sighing, Leo decided not to throw a dagger below, as he could already foresee the humiliation his opponent was bound to feel once the match ended.
Leo's prediction was perfectly on point too, as once the match referee stopped his opponent from climbing anymore and declared the match to be concluded, there was visible confusion on his face.
The poor guy even asked whether his opponent surrendered? As only at that moment did Leo choose to shed light on his opponent's oblivion.
*Snap*
With a snap sound, Leo's dagger planted into the ground below, as only then did his opponent look upwards and realize the gap between himself and Leo.
"How?" He murmured in shock, as he tried to think of the moment when Leo passed him in the sprint, however, could not think of any.
Leo wanted to wish him the best, however, from what he understood about his nature, he did not seem to be the kind of opponent that would take well to his words now that he was defeated, and hence Leo just let it be.
Shocked, humiliated, and disgraced, Faizal found himself unable to face the hostile crowd, undoubtedly spiraling into an existential crisis.
Disbelief was clearly etched on his face, as he was gently escorted back to the warm-up area by the match official.
He seemed so overwhelmed and lost in his thoughts that without the official's guidance, walking back on his own seemed an insurmountable challenge.
Hailed as a genius by his classmates, Faizal felt confident in himself to not be worse than any talent around.
Had he gone down after a tough fight, maybe he would not have felt as shook as he did, however, the fact that he never even saw it coming was what got to him.
'It wasn't even close…..I-I was too weak, was I really even talented to begin with?' were the thoughts going on in his head, as because of the nature of the defeat, Faizal doubted his own potential as a warrior.
Although Leo never wanted to crush his opponents morale, he wasn't too worried about it either.
To him it made no difference if his opponent was walking out with a satisfied state of mind, or a broken one.
All he cared about was his image and his survival, and looking at the fans adoration, both of them seemed intact.
"Boss! Boss! Boss!"
The fans chanted, as Leo found himself one step closer to removing any doubts surrounding his image as the top player.
Once could be a fluke.
Twice could be a lucky coincidence.
However, if he dominated time and time again, then even his haters were bound to be forced to acknowledge his greatness at some point.
***********
( Meanwhile Luke )
Just like Leo, Luke also had a stellar performance in round of 128.
After confirming with the match officials that it wasn't illegal to summon your mount after the round had begun, Luke simply summoned Brown Pudding who he had already brought to the North Arena's vicinity before the fight.
In came Brown Pudding with a swooping gust of wind as she carried Luke to the top within seconds.
The crowd, stunned by the sudden entry of a Griffin mount, began cheering wildly, as Luke's popularity instantly sky-rocketed.
"Aw hell, this is BULLSHIT" his opponent complained as after dropping Luke on the top, Brown Pudding also swept down on him with her talons bared, as she made it impossible for him to climb anymore.
"Dirty…. SkyLion you play dirty" his opponent complained, however, Luke did not care.
Winning the fight with ease, he won not only the adoration of the crowd, but also the hearts of many women spectators with his treatment of Brown Pudding after his win.
Although he was completely natural, the show of him hugging his mount and messing around with it, made the women spectators' hearts melt as to them Luke was the image of the perfect man.
White Armor, great smile, good with animals.
He was the idol marriage candidate as while Leo was cool, he could not mobilize the female supporters the way Luke began to.
"SkyLion! I'm only 23 and single! This big sister can cook, clean and warm the bed…. Please accept my love-"
"Shut up you fat bitch, you probably weigh more than his Griffin mount! And you can't even fly-"
"SkyLion! Ride me! Ride me like I'm your mount-"
"Hug me too! I want to be embraced by your strong arms"
The women in the crowd shouted wild comments towards Luke, who was taken aback by the profanity of some of the words being thrown at him.
Old women, young women, married women, all seemed to collectively simp over Luke, in an image shift that he had not expected.
"Alright, I hate the Suplex Demon….. such a ladies man he is."
"Using a mount in a man's fight? Despicable-"
"Oh my god, Latisha just confessed to him….. welp, he's my sworn enemy from now"
Since the women began cheering for him, the men became jealous, as on that day Luke gained a cult-like following, however, also lost an entire section of the fanbase forever.