Chapter 42: Martial Weaponry
"I surrender!" The moment the match started, Ronald raised his hand in the air and surrendered.
The arena went silent for a while, but everyone started making a ruckus soon.
[And The Winner Of This Match Is… Byldger!]
"Loser!"
"Coward!"
All the players present in the arena and the viewers in the real world started cussing Ronald.
"Am I the only one who found it strange?" Kevin asked to the party.
"What do you mean?" Kiana asked with a confused and puzzled look on her face.
"This guy… he surrendered as soon as the match started. Don't you find it weird?" Kevin repeated.
"I heard that when you said it for the first time. But why does it look weird to you? This is not the first time anyone has surrendered. Why are you so surprised?" Kiana asked, even more confused than before.
"His opponent in the first round ran through the ring as soon as the match started. And in the second round, his opponent surrendered," Kevin explained.
Kevin glanced at Ziro to see his reaction, but much to his surprise, he was calm.
'Why do I have a bad feeling about this?' Kevin uttered to himself.
'Come to think of it, he has been silent after Byldger's first round, almost like his body is here, but his consciousness isn't. But he was talking to Alina a while ago, so that must not be it.'
Kevin cared for Alina as his little sister, and after seeing Ziro acting sinister two weeks ago in the dungeon raid, he was worried about Alina.
Kiana, however, didn't find it odd, but she was concerned when he saw Ziro flirting with Sera and Nier.
Kevin was worried about Alina's safety, but Kiana was worried about Alina's relationship.
[The Next Battle Is Between Pacil and Xavier!]
Both players entered the field and shook their hands.
[Three! Two! One! Go!]
Both opponents dashed at each other and started fighting.
Pacil dashed to the edge of the ring as his opponent Xavier chased him. But suddenly, Pacil changed his direction and turned around; he jumped and punched Xavier.
However, Xavier dodged it easily, almost as though he had already predicted such a move.
Xavier crouched down and slid between Pacil's legs.
Then, he jabbed Pacil's knees from behind, which forced Pacil to drop to the ground on his knees.
"Both are good," Kevin commented. "But…"
Xavier dashed and kicked Pacil on the chest to throw him out of the ring. But, Pacil grabbed Xavier's leg and tossed him out of the ring.
"Pacil seems like a professional in martial arts, but Xavier, however, seemed like an amateur," Kevin remarked.
[And The Winner Of This Match Is… Pacil!] The mascot announced.
"That was an awesome match!" someone shouted from the arena.
"Can this be considered as a martial art, though?" A viewer from the real world uttered while chucking poop in the toilet.
"Who is the next one?" Kiana questioned curiously.
[The Next Battle is Between Ameria and Alina!]
"Huh?!"
However, Alina was standing right next to Ziro.
"It must be a different Alina," Sera reassured.
"Did you check your Queue list, though?" Ziro asked with a knowing look.
"My match was one of the last matches in round one, so I assumed it would be in the last, this time too…." Alina answered.
"Check your menu," Kiana suggested.
Alina opened her menu and disappeared.
"...!"
Alina was teleported to the field in the ring.
"So it was truly our Alina," Kiana sighed.
"I didn't get to wish her luck," Ziro muttered.
Alina's opponent, Ameria, raised her hand and uttered, "I will be using a nunchaku as my weapon."
"What did she say?!" Nier exclaimed.
"I don't know much about martial arts but isn't nunchaku a tough weapon to use?" Sera asked curiously.
"It is not as hard as people make it out to be," Kiana answered and continued, "If you have practiced enough, then it's no different than using any other weapons."
Kevin furrowed his brows at Sera and thought to himself: 'Why is she lying about not knowing martial arts? From her fighting style and stance, I can guarantee she knows martial arts of more than an amateur level.'
"And as it is hard to use, it is a very offensive weapon to use against opponents," Kiana added.
"Are they hard to block?" Sera questioned.
"With hands, yes. But if you use—"
Alina raised her hand and said, "I will be using a Bo staff as my weapon."
"....!" Kiana was surprised.
"Alina was indeed fighting decently. But I never thought of her as a martial artist," she scoffed in amazement.
Nier, who was standing next to Ziro, glanced at Ziro and saw him smiling.
She nudged Ziro and asked him in a low voice: "Did you teach her?"
Ziro quietly shook his head and muttered, "Her twin sister, Salina. She taught Alina self-defense, and thanks to can't, I can no longer grope her without catching her attention."
Unlike Alina, Salina was the best in everything; she was perfect. Alina was 19 years old, but she was still in her second year of high school because of a certain incident. Salina, however, was a top student in a university.
Even though they were twins, and Alina was the older twin, she was always dependent on Salina for everything.
But, Salina had to move to her grandparent's house for some reason, and Alina could no longer be dependent on her. However, Alina had now learned to live independently as she had to take care of Ziro in the near future.
[Three! Two! One! Go!]
Alina swung the staff with her fingers and stood in a defensive stance, and Ameria closed her distance with Alina and began using the nunchaku.
Ziro glanced at the leaderboard of the tournament, which showed the players' total fights, and the time taken to finish the battle— of the second day.
On the first spot, it was Byldger with a total time of 46 seconds— in two rounds of the second day.
On the second spot, it was Pacil with a total time of 62 seconds— in two rounds of the second day.
On the ninth spot, it was Ziro with a total time of 40 seconds— in one round of the second day.
-- Gift
received