Chapter 67
Overall, Sylatrella fought more and more fiercely. With a single lift of her hand, golden light burst forth and shattered the ground, perfectly coordinating close combat and ranged attacks.
However, that black-robed person, no one knew what kind of magic he used, always managed to cleverly dodge at the last moment just before being hit, making it impossible to land a single attack.
"Tsk... All you do is run, run, and run! Stop running already! I can’t cause too much commotion here! If you keep running, how are we supposed to win the trophy? It’s driving me crazy...!"
"......"
The black-robed person remained silent. On the surface, it seemed like he was retreating while fighting and at a disadvantage, but in reality, he hadn’t suffered any real harm.
Outsiders watched for entertainment, but insiders could see the truth.
Xiarette tightly gripped the soul-less Holy Sword’s scabbard, her brows furrowed, worry surfacing amid her astonishment.
"How is this possible... He can actually keep up with Sylatrella’s speed... Even a speed-specialized warrior at the seventh rank wouldn’t be able to achieve this. Whoever’s under that black robe is definitely not Fanny herself... Sheffy?"
"Hmm... It does seem like it’s not her, tsk tsk... sigh."
Miss Shaya’s soft and sighing expression looked quite cute, but this wasn’t the time to admire it.
Xiarette noticed faint purple light dots swirling in front of Sheffy’s eyes.
This indicated that she was using her unique Visual Magic.
"Sheffy, can you see who’s under the black robe? Is it dangerous?"
"Not only can I see who it is, but under the observation of my Eye of True Sight, no detail can escape... ahem, no."
"No danger?"
"Whether there’s danger, I can’t say for sure... It’s just a bit troublesome. Sigh...! Anyway, let’s keep watching! I’ll relay a message to Sylatrella first."
"?"
Perhaps Sheffy delivered the message quite swiftly this time.
She softly muttered the words being transmitted mentally, which Xiarette could also hear.
"Sylatrella, hit her!!"
Huh?!
Sheffy, did you run into an enemy? Why are you suddenly so fired up?!
Sheffy was excited, and Sylatrella, hearing Her Lady Sheffy’s voice inside her mind, was even more so!
She felt infinite potential surging within her!
The sudden burst of high-concentration golden magic power surrounding her petite body caused the black-robed person to hesitate for the first time.
It seemed that even the nimble black-robed one was a bit surprised this time.
"Don’t blame me for this... You’re the one who came to deliver me the trophy! Grit your teeth and get ready for a beating, I’m going to win first place for Her Lady Sheffy!"
Maintaining high-speed movement.
But a rather ominous magical force was gathering in Sylatrella’s palm.
She knew her limits. In a moment, this surge of magic power would break through the magic protection barrier and shoot straight into the night sky, naturally avoiding the innocent civilians in the spectator stands.
...This black-robed fellow seemed quite strong too. He definitely wouldn’t die from just this one strike, right?
She promised—she would only use fifty percent of her strength!
However...
"Wait a moment."
"?!"
Sylatrella was really straightforward!
When she heard that emotionless "wait a moment" coming from under the black robe, she actually stopped all her movements and magic release right away.
Her Lady Sheffy had said before that one should be an honest person. When someone said "wait a moment," she would wait — this was called battle etiquette.
During this time, the black-robed person could have taken the opportunity to launch a sneak attack against Sylatrella. But it seemed the black robe also understood battle etiquette, and stood not far across from Sylatrella, dropping his combat stance as well.
Just moments ago, the two had been locked in a fierce, unpredictable battle with flashes of light and rapid movements. In the blink of an eye, it was as if no battle had happened at all, and they simply stood there facing each other.
Only the now tattered dueling arena remained, still proving that the match just now had indeed taken place.
Sylatrella came to her senses and gathered her magic once more.
Her eyes, dyed from deep blue to golden yellow, stared closely at the enemy in front of her, not letting her guard down in the slightest.
"Heh heh, what’s wrong? Realized you have no chance of winning and got scared, ready to surrender? It’s fine, it’s fine! I’m not here to beat you up, I just want that trophy. If you surrender now, I won’t hit you!"
"Heh... That works out well then."
The black-robed person took a few steps toward Sylatrella.
Though Sylatrella remained on guard, she could sense that the other party held no fighting intent.
The black-robed person walked up to Sylatrella and seemed to say something to her.
At this moment, Sheffy realized she should have been using her hearing magic to listen in, but by the time she thought of it, the black robe had already finished speaking.
And Sylatrella gradually revealed an enlightened expression...
She understood!
The audience looked on in surprise or voiced complaints. Why did the final suddenly pause again?
But the host had no words now!
Because the match hadn’t officially paused—it was simply that both sides stopped attacking simultaneously, and he had no idea what was going on either.
And then, at that moment—
A completely unexpected situation occurred.
Sylatrella slowly raised her right hand high into the air, forming a fist in a victor’s pose.
What did this gesture mean...
Could it be that the black-robed person had surrendered on his own?
The situation, however, seemed different.
"I choose to forfeit! She wins this match. No more fighting, no more fighting!"
"Hmm?!"
Sylatrella’s statement nearly made the host and referee choke!
No, wait, if you want to surrender, just surrender. Why are you raising your fist?!
No... why are you surrendering at all?!
This outcome was quite surprising. Among the contestants present, a few had barely managed to follow the battle earlier.
It was very clear that Sylatrella had been dominating and holding the upper hand all along. Her sudden surrender was completely incomprehensible.
It seemed... that the black-robed person must have offered some kind of generous reward during that brief pause in the match, convincing Sylatrella to give up.
Such a reward would have to be far greater than the prize money for winning the championship to achieve this result.
Faced with this situation, the strong ones in the audience all sighed with regret...
Ah, Sylatrella—a girl so full of potential and strength. What a pity. She lacked principles and bottom lines, blinded by profit, unable to see her battle through to the end.
A child with such a deficiency in moral education would likely find it difficult to serve the kingdom in the future...
So then, what was Miss Shaya’s current state?
Miss Shaya was utterly dumbfounded!
"Xia... I knew it, Sylatrella is completely unreliable!!"
"Ugh, you weren’t saying that after the semifinals. And... can I just say I have no idea what’s going on? Why did little sister Sylatrella suddenly stop fighting?"
"How would I know! Belith must’ve played some dirty trick!"
"Belith?! That black-robed person?!"
[The... the final winner! Contestant Fanny!! What an unexpected outcome! In the end, it’s contestant Fanny who defends her title as the champion of the arena tournament! Amazing, truly amazing... None of us expected much from contestant Sylatrella, but! Sylatrella still brought us many surprises! Let’s give a round of applause for the new arena champion...!]
"This is bad! This is really bad!!!"
"?!"
The host was just about to announce the result of the match and deliver the closing speech.
But who could have expected that, at this moment, a backstage staff member came running from the direction of the backstage passage, his face full of panic, stumbling as he rushed towards the arena.
He even grabbed the host’s clothes directly, shouting frantically like he had lost his mind, repeatedly yelling, "This is bad!"
The host felt like he had seen a ghost today!
Not only were these people not doing their jobs properly, but now they were running over to interfere while he was trying to work?!
He temporarily shut off the amplification magic stone to prevent this embarrassing scene from escalating.
The host tried to shake off this panicked fellow to salvage the situation, but the man wouldn’t give up and insisted on speaking.
And when the backstage staff finally managed to explain the situation—
The host froze.
"This... this is bad! Contestant Fanny has been knocked unconscious backstage! The staff who went to check on her, along with those merchants from the organizers... they’ve all been trapped by some strange magic! I... I’m afraid we can’t continue the finals!"
The finals are already over, you slow-witted fool!
Uh... no.
The finals are already over?
Miss Fanny was knocked unconscious backstage?
If that’s the case, then... who was that "Fanny" on the stage, wearing a black robe, who just fought a brilliant match and won?
The host turned to stare in shock at the black-robed figure.
She, however, acted as if no one else was present, calmly walking over to the awards podium.
She grabbed the gleaming golden trophy and tossed it to Sylatrella waiting below the stage.
Then, she herself seized the heavy bag of gold coins.
It wasn’t yet time for the award ceremony...
But whether it was time or not no longer mattered.
The host, still stunned, quickly reactivated the amplification crystal.
And with his most resonant hosting voice of the night, he shouted this desperate call that echoed across the arena!
"Enemy attack!! Enemy attack!! Emergency situation! This is not part of the program!! This is not part of the program!!"
At the instant the audience erupted in screams—
Five feathered wings burst from beneath the black robe.
The robe still concealed her stunning face, but in that brief, breathtaking moment—
The glimpse of her starry silver long hair and the dreamy shimmer of the dark blue gown beneath the robe, all soared skyward along with the five wings, reflected clearly in Sheffy’s eyes.
Time seemed frozen, with only the five black demon wings poised to fly toward the starry sky.
At the moment Belith lifted into the air holding the bag of gold coins—
The arena was instantly thrown into chaos.
"Demon Clan... it’s the Demon Clan!! The Demon Clan has appeared again!"
"Damn it... what the hell is the Kingdom’s Knight Order doing?!"
"We’re going to die... we’re going to be torn apart... save us...!!"
There was no need for their screams, nor for anyone to save them.
Because that five-winged demon had already soared into the air at great speed, effortlessly shattering the magic protection barrier, and vanished into the distant starry heavens.
Her speed was even faster than what she had displayed during the battle earlier.
She left so swiftly that the audience was completely dumbfounded, able only to evacuate in an orderly manner under the Kingdom’s Knight Order’s command.