One day quickly went by, and today it was Jack’s turn to fight.
With Erevan’s previous showcase of strength, one that both awed the spectators and left them speechless, Earth’s ranking climbed by the thousands and settled squarely in the middle of the 30,000s.
By now, the only ones left who had no knowledge of the civilization called Earth were the true powerhouses of the portal, those who spared no thought for such lesser civilizations and only focused on those as strong as themselves. As for the rest, they had either heard of it or knew of it well, there was no in between.
Thus, despite Jack fighting a civilization with a lower ranking than the one Erevan had faced the day prior, currently ranked in the 8,000s, the spectator stands were even more crowded as people sat and waited for the fight to begin.
“This is the fourth different warrior that Earth is sending against the top 10,000. Just how many strong people do they have?”
“Nobody here knows the answer, but if this one is as strong as the previous three, then it won’t matter even if there are only four.”
“Four? I’d die happily if my civilization could give birth to geniuses as strong as them.”
“Keep dreaming. Before your civilization gives birth to one, mine will have two.”
Nova shook his head bitterly as he heard the many voices around him.
‘Apart from Erevan, we’re only fighting the bottom of the top 10,000, but they’re acting as if we’re the best of the best. It makes me wonder whether they entered this portal by mistake or by choice.’
He looked around and saw that nobody was even glancing in his direction, not even by mistake. ‘They keep praising Earth, but they haven’t even noticed me sitting here. I bet if Erevan were here, they’d treat him like a VIP.’
A chuckle left his lips as he imagined Erevan being treated like a movie star of old by his fans.
‘Now that I think about it, what is he doing? He said he’d come but suddenly changed his mind and gave no explanation…’
Nova wondered to himself, but he soon pushed the thought away and focused back on the large screen, where Jack had just appeared.
/////
Meanwhile, back in the town assigned to Earth.
Achooo
Erevan, who sat in his training room with his eyes closed and wearing only a pair of shorts, suddenly sneezed.
Somebody must be cursing me right now, how else could I sneeze in this room? He thought as he opened his eyes slightly.
There, the only color in existence seemed to be red and his pupils flashed red too.
The entire room was filled with fire, so hot that, if not for the tiles being of a higher Grade, they would have melted within seconds.
His body couldn’t even sweat, as the moment it did, the sweat would evaporate.
However, strangely, his body, glowing red as well, kept shivering, and his veins bulged across his chest.
If someone who didn’t know what was happening were to see this, they would immediately think something had gone very wrong, but Erevan’s expression was far too peaceful for that to be the case.
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Maybe it’s a side effect of taking all those herbs and triggering this sooner. Right, since we’ve taken pretty much the same amount of herbs, Slade must be going through something similar as well. Heh, I wouldn’t want to be in his room.
A shiver ran down his spine as he thought this.
Better not think about that.
He closed his eyes once again, letting the inferno in the room engulf him.
/////
Back in the arena, the timer had just run out when a notification popped into Jack’s mind.
[Fight]
Slowly unsheathing the saber at his waist, he muttered to himself, “They all tried to act cool by not using their weapons, but…”
Shiing.
The blade had just finished sliding out of its sheath as he completed the sentence, “…they can never be as cool as a saber wielder.”
Jack stood still for a few seconds, the saber in hand, while in front of him a middle-aged man with a head full of silver hair stared as if he were looking at a different species.
I must say, I thought it would be easy, but I’m not as good at this as they are, Jack thought, trying to hide his embarrassment. Saber in hand, he walked up to the man, who seemed to have something he wanted to say but wasn’t sure whether he should say it now or not.
Reaching just a couple of meters away from him, Jack cleared his throat and said calmly, “Is there anything you want to say?”
“Mhm.” The middle-aged man nodded absentmindedly.
Seconds passed, but he didn’t continue. Lips twitching, Jack asked, “Will you tell me what it is, or do you want me to guess?”
“Ah,” the middle-aged man exclaimed, his eyes regaining some of their clarity. He quickly fished out a contract from his inventory and, presenting it to Jack, said, “Let’s sign this before we start.”
Jack eyed him intently. What is his civilization thinking by sending him here to fight? Do they not have anyone else? Are they trying to gather pity from me?
His thoughts didn’t slow him down. Grabbing the contract, he gave it a quick read and, after making sure there were no mistakes, signed it.
Then he turned back to the man and said, “We don’t really have to fight if you don’t want to.”
The man’s gaze grew even stranger. I’ve watched him perform that little show to himself, and now he says this? Is Earth so desperate as to send him to fight? They should’ve sent one of the three who fought earlier, they were, at least, sane.
Rubbing his head, he enunciated as clearly and patiently as he could, “We must fight for our civilizations. Don’t worry, now that we’ve both signed the contract, neither of us will be in any mortal danger.”
“Alright.” Jack nodded and readied himself, though inwardly he thought, Poor guy, I’ll go easy on him.
The middle-aged man unsheathed his sword and thought, I won’t go too hard on him, that way I can, at least, leave him some pride.
“Ready?” he asked.
Jack solemnly nodded.
Then, they both dashed toward each other in unison, blades raised and ready to strike.
“Dodge this!”
“Nice! Now block this!”
“Take a look at this!”
What followed was something none of the spectators had ever seen in their lives, and even less expected from a fight between two highly renowned civilizations, making the stands as quiet as during Erevan’s fight.
Though, this time, for entirely different reasons.
Jack and the middle-aged man shouted as they traded blows, but their actions were so slow and weak that anyone in the audience began to wonder whether this fight was truly between powerful civilizations or just two mortals with no access to mana nor Force.
His civilization really must’ve sent him here to gain sympathy, he’s truly weak, Jack thought, swinging his saber with so little strength that the air barely whistled.
Similarly, the middle-aged man sighed inwardly. Indeed, a civilization as new as Earth can’t have too many strong warriors, or there won’t be any justice left in this world.
Time went on as the two traded blows repeatedly, neither showing any sign of fatigue, which greatly surprised the other but they didn’t question it too much.
After all, no matter how weak one was, they were still warriors who entered a Lesser Orange portal.
The ones who were truly fatigued, however, were the spectators.
Usually, during a fight, there would be shouts and banter from the audience, but surprisingly, there was only silence. Nobody knew what to make of the spectacle in front of them, nor whether it was intentional or not.
They did know one thing.
This fight was truly special. Too special for words.
Nova had been staring at the screen, dumbfounded, for minutes. He had no idea what had prompted Jack to act this way, nor what exactly he was seeing. Even he, who knew Jack best, couldn’t make head or tails of his sudden actions.
After watching the “fight” go on for several minutes, he threw his head back against the seat and facepalmed, muttering, “What is this dumbass doing?”
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