After enjoying the fight between The Boss and Tor, the audience got to enjoy the brawl between the royal swordsmanship academy personnel and the royal guards, as they cheered for the royal guards non-stop.
Although the swordsmanship academy professor's were formidable, the students were no match for the royal guards and hence when the brawl eventually broke out, except for a few adept professors that could hold their ground, the other students were beaten black and blue by the authorities and taken under arrest.
Eventually, the swordsmanship academy professor's were subdued by the royal guards as well as in a move that was sure to shock the entire empire in the coming days, even the professor's were taken into custody by the royal guards for causing civil unrest and inciting rebellion.
The Emperor's orders were clear…. 'Do not touch the people's champion' and since the royal swordsmanship academy tried to take down The Boss, they had to be stopped by the royal guards.
It took a whole 40 minutes for the match officials to restore order and re-flatten the match arena, as for forty minutes Luke was left alone in the South Park Arena with his opponent.
His opponent today was a throw-away member of the Night Guild who was juiced up to his brain and was explicitly instructed by the guild to kill his opponent in this round to advance.
Adorning a slightly different style of black robes as compared to The Boss, the man looked bulky and expressionless, as he had prominent green veins popping out of his neck.
As Luke studied him, he seemed to be fazing in and out of consciousness as his pupils were dark black and focused at moments, however they rolled back up inside his head at times leaving only white eyes behind.
'Creepy'
That's what Luke felt looking at his opponent, as he did not try to make any conversation with him or get under his skin.
Patiently waiting for his turn to fight, Luke kept cool till the match officials came to call them.
"SkyLion, Jamal, you both are up next-" The match official said, as Luke walked out first, welcomed by a crowd of cheering ladies.
"Oh my god! SkyLion I love you-"
"SkyLion my hero-"
"Marry me Skylion! Or at least let me warm your bed, my virginity can only be taken by you-"
Shrill female voices filled the arena while the males visibly frowned at this reception.
While they did not hate Skylion himself, they surely hated his popularity amongst women, as being the jealous men that they were, they disliked Skylion for the sole reason that he was popular with women.
In contrast, his opponent did not get any cheers or boo's as Jamal walked up to the arena in rather uneasy silence.
***********
The difference in Luke and Jamal's ability was obvious from the get-go as while Luke walked easily through the quicksand to get to his starting spot, Jamal struggled significantly more to do the same.
Within the Knight Academy, training movement on different terrains was a part of the curriculum and hence Luke was already well versed in how to move on difficult terrains like quicksand, by maximising surface area and using a walking technique that mirrored a snake's movements.
Jamal on the other hand, was never taught to move on quicksand and hence found it extremely difficult, as by the time he reached the starting spot, he was panting heavily.
"Aiyaaa! This fight looks to be over before it even began, look at the poor Jamal guy, he's completely winded by this little bit of movement"
"His panting might be a bait…. I'm sure someone who is strong enough to reach the round of 32 can't be weak enough to be winded by something so petty"
"Oh yeah, that makes sense…. Maybe it's his gameplan…. Well, Skylion definitely needs to be on the watch, his opponent is sneaky"
The crowd believed that Jamal was putting on an act, however, before the referee could even signal the start of the match, Jamal's gut began to convolute as he bent over forwards and began to puke.
*Blurrghhh*
Puking his guts out, Jamal let out a lot of yucky green coloured vomit alongside a healthy portion of blood.
*Crowd Clamours*
"Is he poisoned? What happened?"
"Did SkyLion poison him? Or was it someone else?"
"What's going on?"
The crowd became confused on what was going on as it seemed like Jamal's condition kept deteriorating every minute.
"Candidate Jamal, are you okay? Candidate Jamal?" Asked the match official, however, Jamal did not respond as he kept puking his guts out, before falling face first into the pool of his own vomit.
"MEDICS…..CALL THE MEDICS" The match official shouted as he made his way through the quicksand towards the fallen body of Jamal.
Luke, watching this from a distance, sighed.
He was itching for a fight today, however, his opponent did not seem to be in the best of health.
He had noticed the signs even before the match began as Jamal was acting weird, however, Luke did not expect him to fold up before the match began like he did.
Shrugging his shoulders he began scanning the crowd for any signs of Principal Wood, before eventually finding him in the crowd, showing him the sign to stay calm using both his palms.
While Luke did not stay within the academy grounds during the tournament, preferring to stay with the DarkSky guild, he was still a student of the academy on whom the hopes of the institution were riding.
Regardless of which arena he fought in, Principal Wood and a few other instructors were always there to cheer him on as sometimes after the fights ended, he went over to talk to them for their insights.
Currently as the medics checked up on Jacob, Principal Wood asked Luke to stay calm, however, Luke was already very calm and not worried at all.
He had not poisoned Jacob nor did he have anything to hide and hence he stood at his starting spot unfazed, ready to face any interrogation that he might be subjected to later on.
**********
( Principal Wood's POV )
Principal Wood felt worried about Luke once his opponent passed out in the middle of the arena, as whether Luke was involved in him passing out or not, the rumours about him being a dirty fighter were sure to spread amongst the masses.
"Oh boy….. I hope this situation can be resolved quickly" Principal Wood murmured to himself, as the middle aged man sitting beside him in the arena stands smiled and pointed at Luke.
"That's your student?" the middle aged man asked, as Principal Wood turned towards him before nodding his head.
" The pride of our royal knight institute…. SkyLion" Principal Wood replied, as the middle aged man extended his hand and said "Hello, I'm Ben".
"John Wood, it's a pleasure" said Principal Wood, as he shook the man's hand, without realising that he was shaking the hand of none other than Ben Faulkner the legendary assassin.
Ben recognised Luke from the second he saw him as the guy he mistook as his disciples boyfriend.
Until now, Ben never felt the need to spy on Leo's upcoming opponents, having full faith in his students abilities, however, with the quarter-finals drawing near, today was the first time that Ben decided to hang out after Leo's match was over to watch another bout.
While he could not witness the fight, he instead witnessed an assassin overdosing on steroids as Ben immediately recognised Jamal as being a night guild pet project.
"Don't worry about your student. This is not a case of poisoning. The Jamal kid did this to himself" Ben said, as Principal Wood was shocked by his words.
"Oh?" He said in surprise as Ben pointed towards the medical staff and said "I don't know what they're doing but Jamal kid is already dead. I think they should declare it soon enough".
Principal Wood furrowed his brows at this comment, as the confidence with which Ben said those words made it seem like he was absolutely certain that Jamal was dead.
"Sorry, ladies and gentlemen…. It seems like Candidate Jamal is dead! Today's bout has been completed and SkyLion is your winner by automatic qualification" The match official soon announced, as Principal Wood was left extremely surprised by this turn of events.
The crowd was visibly frustrated as they had paid money for these seats to see a bout, however, nobody could have predicted Jamal dying and hence although they were unhappy, they could not do anything about it.
"How could you have possibly known he was dead? Are you perhaps a medical doctor?" Principal Wood asked Ben in surprise as Ben chuckled and nodded his head "Yes, I'm sort of like a medical healer".
"Then I must call you Doctor Ben…. It's such a pleasure to meet you" Principal Wood said, reintroducing himself as he shook Ben's hand once more.
"The cause of his death is a steroid overdose. Poor guy was juiced to his neck, I don't know how his condition slipped past the match officials. This guy should be abusing drugs for a while now-" Ben commented as Principal Wood was shocked by this piece of information.
If true, it could absolve Luke of all blame and hence Principal Wood felt excited by this news.
"I'm sorry doctor, you must excuse me. I need to hold an urgent conversation with the match officials" Principal Wood said, as Ben smiled and graciously let him take his leave.
—-------
/// A/N - Hey guys! I'm happy to announce that the first batch of characters for the book have been uploaded on the novel page. So do check it out! ///