Chapter 608: Becoming the Heel
[Holy shit,] Nepherage said in alarm, [that was…violent.]
[Damn…that…was…brutal,] Frosttusk commented.
[Fucking apparently. I didn’t even think that was possible,] Razorstella answered.
=No, no it is. Just take a look at the footage.=
[Oh…well that’s just brutal,] Spring Brawler pointed out.
[Wait a minute, that’s not the front of his-OH THE MAESTRO JUST BITCH SLAPPED HIS ASS,] Hurricroak excitedly observed. [Just straight up backhanded him!]
[Ah, now that’s just mean.]
[I mean…we could change that…]
[Wait…aren’t most people supposed to be on the floor when they get knocked out? How hard and fast did he hit him?!]
[That depends.]
[On?]
[How much strength does he use when he spars with us?]
[Oh…]
_____________________________________________
<{"Ladies and gentlemen, please standby as we confirm the results of this match and determine how it happened."}>
<
<
<
Just like the last round, when a fight ended in one of the arenas, the fighters would be automatically teleported into the main arena floor so that the victor could walk away to their reward while the loser could receive either medical attention…or a coffin.
Zhen Liu and his opponent, Zhen Rin, had both teleported to the main floor, under the watchful gaze of the audience, since their fight had concluded.
However, the audience was more or less absolutely confused at the appearance of this duo due to two reasons.
The first and less weird reason was the fact that both of the fighters were standing in the middle of the arena floor.
Usually when combatants get teleported out of the arena, only one person would be left standing while the other would normally be on the floor.
The only time both sides would be standing is if one of the contestants had chosen to surrender, but there was no way that could be the case since the results displayed indicated that Zhen Rin had been defeated, not surrendered.
So why was he still standing upright and maintaining a fighting stance?
The second and significantly weirder reason why everyone was confused was simple: time.
From the time it took for Wisdom Elder Zhen Lung to announce the beginning of the battles to this first victory was a surprisingly short twenty seconds.
Assuming there was no delay between the conclusion of this battle and the contestants being teleported back to the main arena’s floor, this meant that Zhen Liu had somehow defeated Zhen Rin in the span of twenty seconds.
The fuck kind of secret aether art or technique did Zhen Liu use to defeat someone in less than twenty seconds?
The Wisdom Elder himself was thoroughly interested in what had occurred and wanted to see it up close and personal, but he still had to maintain seven other battle spaces for the time being. As such, the medical team would have to determine and announce the results for him.
Evidently, though, Zhen Lung wasn’t the only one who was anxious to have the medical team do its job.
_____________________________________________
‘ Weird question, can I use [Chaos] to enhance my voice like with aether?’
‘You’re about to hear it.’
_____________________________________________
Zhen Liu turned his back towards Zhen Rin before walking several steps away. Some members of the crowd thought that this was weird since Zhen Rin was still standing there, holding the exact same fighting pose.
<
The battle spaces created by the [Myriad Marble Garden] were usually soundproof, so when Zhen Lung noticed how the people inside the fighting rings suddenly hesitated at the sound of Zhen Liu’s voice before going back to fighting one another, caused him to develop a strange expression but only for a moment.
He was a professional after all, and he needed to act like it.
<
The moment Zhen Liu dropped that sentence for all to hear, an uproar occurred.
<
“A slap? A slap?!”
{I thought this was a battle between Aether Masters! How the hell did it end with a single slap?!}
<>
The term “face slapping” was something many, many aether warriors were familiar with.
There were multiple cases throughout the continents of someone attempting to exert dominance or act arrogant, only for someone from their past crimes to come out of nowhere and exact revenge in a most vicious manner.
And in less extreme cases, it would normally pertain to tournament rivals where one side would act arrogantly before or during the match, only to have their comeuppance delivered right then and there.
However, normally such situations would be a touch more dramatic or involve the usage of powerful aether arts, unusual aether treasures, or friendships forged with a faction even more powerful than the antagonist in question.
This was, quite literally, the first time they had ever seen anyone actually slap someone’s face in order to win…assuming this was actually the case.
Many people in the audience speculated that Zhen Liu either cheated or used some weird hidden treasure or power he had squared away from the tournament. The only way they would know for certain would be for the medical team or one of the other elders to determine cause of victory.
Granted, some of the more powerful and more experienced members of the audience already knew what happened, but they kept silent because it was just so…absurd.
<
<
Off to the side, Zhen Liu saw the same medical staff that was acting earlier during the preliminaries, only this time they were accompanied by the Martial Elder, who Zhen Liu remembered being named Zhen Fei.
The Martial Elder had this weird look to his face as soon as he laid eyes on Zhen Liu, and more specifically, Zhen Rin.
‘This is the part where I let them tend to the patient..,’Zhen Liu thought to himself as he stepped to the side to allow the elder and the medical team to tend to Zhen Rin.
The Wisdom Elder had declared earlier that the fights were to either knock-out, ring out or surrender, so the elders and medical team had to make sure that Zhen Rin wasn’t actually dead. Of course, Zhen Liu made sure not to actually kill the guy with a slap, but he didn’t necessarily held back either.
Zhen Liu watched on as Zhen Fei and the healers looked over Zhen Rin’s form, making sure that he was indeed knocked out. This was in spite of the fact that they could clearly see that the man’s eyes had rolled back and that there was an obvious handprint on the man’s face.
‘And now I wait for them to make the announcement…’
They proceeded to go through the motions anyway before placing Zhen Rin on a stretcher and taking the poor boy away. Afterwhich though, Zhen Fei transmitted a message to Zhen Lung via aether.
While Zhen Liu wasn’t able to actually intercept this message, he could at least guess what was said based on the shocked expression on the Wisdom’s Elder face.
Hopefully whatever was about to be announced would help make his own follow-up comments hit even harder.
<"{Well...it looks like we have final confirmation,}"> Zhen Lung began to announced, <{"Zhen Liu did indeed defeat Zhen Rin within twenty seconds of the match starting...and he did so by slapping the latter across the face with enough to render him unconscious. This victory is legitimate, and Zhen Liu has won his first round."}>
The crowd went silent as they heard the Wisdom Elder’s words in regards to this…unusual match result.
It was honestly both overwhelming and unbelievable that someone actually managed to win a fight via slapping someone so hard that they passed out.
It was actually in the middle of this stunned silence that Zhen Liu decided to do something a touch…questionable.
He decided to play “the heel”.
“To all of my future opponents in this competition,” Zhen Liu announced with his enhanced voice, practically demanding, “let Zhen Rin’s defeat be a warning, no, a promise, about what I’ll do to you if you try to talk shit to me. Now, keep in mind that I’m actually an aether puppet master, so I don’t normally fight, but I just knocked his ass out with a slap. The fuck you think will happen to you if I was actually serious and threw a punch?”
“…”
Several members of the audience went slack jawed at the sheer audacity of Zhen Liu’s words.
“Now then, hope y’all enjoy the rest of the fights.”
If Zhen Liu had a mic, he would’ve dropped it by now, but he settled for simply throwing up a peace sign.
He could already feel the daggers being stared at his back.
_____________________________________________
‘Logos, Pathos, do y’all think you could turn the desire convergence back on when we get to the break room? I get the feeling I’m gonna get something…spicy.’
<=Of course, milord.=>
