At this point, Jack had already left a deep impression on everyone. The fact that he lasted so long and refused to give up made them respect him even more.
Still, Ariella wasn't an opponent one could defeat with willpower. That was why when he stood back up, the gazes that fell on him were full of pity.
The first few times may have been a show of resilience, but now it was simply plain stupidity.
"He should've already realised he can't win. Why is he still trying?"
"He's an idiot. If he goes on like this he'll end up spending the next few months recovering."
"He clearly has no intention of giving up. I admire his resilience."
"He just had bad luck. If he hadn't been fighting Ariella he wouldn't have lost."
"I wonder what his class is?"
"It's probably a body enhancement class, that's the only way he could possibly last so long."
...
While most people thought he was being stiff-necked, a few of them still supported him.
The moment he had said those words, his aura seemed to change, and a golden gleam appeared in Jack's eyes.
But only Vale saw the change in his eyes.
"Tch, you are strong. Give up now and you won't sustain any permanent damage," Ariella said, watching blood flow from Jack's mouth.
Jack snickered. "I'm the one who should be telling you that."
"So much pride," Ariella shook her head. "I'll put an end to this now."
She slipped her hand into the pocket of her robe and pulled out a pair of small golden gauntlets.
"Pick up your sword, let's end this," she said, looking at his sword that had fallen out of his hand sometime in the fight.
"I don't need it." Jack entered a fighting stance, raising both fists in front of him.
Vale frowned as he watched. Jack hadn't come off as a prideful person, but right now he acted completely differently. But it wasn't unusual for people's behaviour to change when they fought.
Both of them moved at the same time, and everyone went silent.
Even Vale's eyes widened as he watched Jack use the exact same movement technique as Ariella.
Their images blurred as it became hard to keep up with both of them.
But just as everyone was still recovering from their surprise, Ariella fell to her knees gripping her chest. Her upper body then began to fall forward.
The world came to a halt as she landed on the floor with a soft bang.
The sound, though not too loud, seemed to cut through the silence like a speeding bullet.
It took a while for everyone to fully understand what had happened.
Only when the voice came, announcing Jack as the winner of ring seven, did the uproar really start.
"Ariella lost."
"She fucking lost to a random."
The shouts were deafening, drowning out all other sounds.
Only when Jack collapsed did everyone quiet down. Luckily, the medics were close and they took both contestants away.
The uproar didn't die, not even when the next fights were called.
The announcer was loud, so Vale was able to hear his number get called out amidst the gossip.
"Ring eight: Participant 27 vs Participant 67."
With calm unhurried steps, Vale walked to the stage.
When he saw his opponent, Vale was stunned. The person who stood before him wasn't a teenager, but rather a grown man. He had a muscular frame and a full beard, and Vale wondered how many children he had.
He was clearly over his thirties.
"Guys look, Azoth attended the exam again."
"Really? I thought he was banned."
"Yeah, wasn't he banned years ago for killing his opponent?"
"The ban only lasts for five years. It's quite shocking that he came back though."
"Who's he fighting? Do you know the kid?"
"I don't know him, but someone should tell him to resign, or else he'll end up dead too."
The people around kept whispering about the atrocities Azoth had committed. And the more Vale listened, the more disgust he felt for him.
I guess I don't need to hold back, Vale thought.
"You can't use that weapon," the referee said to Azoth.
The weapon he held was a large butcher knife that had dried blood stains on it. It looked like something that could decapitate a grown man in a single slice.
"Why not?" Azoth asked in a thick and cracked voice.
"A strike from this would cause too much harm to your opponent. To reduce the risk of death I have to ask you to replace your weapon."
The referee wasn't as large as Azoth who seemed to tower over everyone. But his aura was clearly one of an actual demon hunter; even Azoth had to maintain decorum in his presence.
"But it ain't sharp." With great force, Azoth slashed the butcher knife at his own arm. No blood flowed out.
Seeing this, the referee had no choice but to leave Azoth with his weapon choice.
Vale didn't come empty-handed. He retrieved a small dagger he had made by himself from the claw of the predator wolf. It would've been a waste to sell everything, so he kept this one.
He knew that such powerful material would have no difficulty tearing the skin of anyone in this competition so he wasn't perturbed.
The referee then walked up to Vale and whispered in his ear.
"This man is insane, I might not be able to save you if he tries to kill you. You might not want to, but I advise you to resign the moment I start the match."
Vale almost laughed, but held himself back.
The referee then stood in the middle of the ring and with a wave of his hand, the match officially started.
After observing his opponent, he was able to narrow the list of classes his opponent might have. He was either a Tank or a berserker and both of those were no problem for him.
Immediately the match started, Azoth leapt forward and swung his knife at Vale.
Shit, he didn't even give him a chance to resign, the referee thought. He rushed to save Vale, but wasn't fast enough.
Everyone saw this and they could only sigh.
Azoth was a madman, and with years of training, he had refined his skills to perfection. It was indeed naïve to think that he would give his opponent any time to resign.
"Hopefully, after this one dies the council will take some serious actions against him."
"Yeah, people like him shouldn't be allowed to roam free."
"It's still sad that the kid is going to die."
Everyone saw his impending doom, but all Vale saw were the flaws in his opponent's knife technique.
A smile formed on his face. "This will be easy."