Time passed quickly, and the tournament was progressing well. We won our next matches quite easily since they were no match for us, and the same thing was happening for Lurok’s team, who was on the other side of the bracket.
Pretty much everyone knew that the final would be between our two teams, and the atmosphere within the stadium was getting louder. People were excited to see who would be the winner of this tournament, and to be honest, I also couldn’t wait to see what would happen.
Actually, we were currently waiting for Lurok’s team to win against their opponent so that we could face them in the final of the tournament.
I had already decided on my strategy against Lurok, and I couldn’t wait to see how things would play out. After all, I wanted to win. He had promised to answer three questions truthfully, and don’t worry, I have my ways to make sure he tells the truth, so I wasn’t worried about him lying one bit.
“Professor…who will you send first when facing the Ocean Outlaws?” Ariel asked as she was still a little bruised. However, she could clearly fight in her condition, so I wasn’t too worried about her. Nevertheless, she wasn’t my choice to start this fight.
It was time to pull out my hidden card that I had talked to Oliver about earlier.
“Art will be the one going into the arena as our first fighter,” I said with a smirk.
Everyone suddenly turned toward the only person who was currently sleeping and staying away from everyone else.
“The loner?!” Ariel shouted, her eyes wide open. “But why? Do you want them to underestimate the rest of us?”
“Underestimate you guys?” I frowned. “I think most of you are underestimating Art.”
Everyone couldn’t quite understand those words since the only thing they had seen from Art was him being lazy and sleeping; he never even talked to the people around him most of the time.
For most of the people in the class, Art was just a weirdo who didn’t fit in.
“Professor, are you sure about this?” Olivia raised her hand with a slight frown. “We should start strong so that we get the momentum.”
I sighed. “We are starting strong. Stop arguing; Art will be the first fighter, and that’s it. If you have complaints, keep them to yourself. I don’t want to hear them any longer.”
Even as I said that, I could understand their worry. They had never seen Art fight in their entire lives, so it was obvious that they’d react like this. However, I truly believed that they would change their minds once they saw him fight. Well, as long as he tried a little, which wasn’t something I could be sure of.
“Can someone wake Art up?” I suddenly asked.
Darla nodded and walked over to him, slightly tapping him on the shoulder.
“Ugh…let me sleep.”
“The professor is asking to talk to you,” she said without much concern.
Still, Art just shook his head. “I don’t care; I want to sleep.”
I just shrugged. “If he wants to continue sleeping, leave him. It doesn’t matter.”
A few minutes passed by, and Lurok’s team had finally won, which meant that it was finally time for our match against one another.
However, before that, Lurok’s team needed a little rest since some of their fighters were quite hurt because of the duels they just had.
“Alright, let’s go warm up.”
***
One hour passed by, and it was finally time.
“Woohoo!”
“Who do you think will win this?”
“The Ocean Outlaws. Isn’t it obvious? They’ve never even lost in this tournament.”
“But didn’t you see those students? They’re kind of strong. I think they might be able to win against them.”
“No way…there’s no way Lurok will lose. They’re too strong.”
The crowd was arguing among themselves, trying to guess who the winner of the tournament would be. However, there was one thing that was certain: it would be a close one.
As people argued in the stands, I was in the process of talking to Lurok as the two of us watched our students, waiting for their turn to fight against each other.
“Are you looking down on us?” Lurok said instantly, frowning. “I hope you didn’t forget our bet because I have some interesting questions to ask you.”
“Why do you say that? Of course, I want to win.”
“Then, why did you choose that guy as your first fighter? Look at him—he’s sleeping inside the arena, and the match is about to start.”
I just laughed at those words. It seemed even Lurok couldn’t see Art’s potential. Maybe his eyes weren’t as sharp as I thought, or maybe he hadn’t used them on Art.
“Why are you laughing? He’s going to get hurt if he keeps sleeping like this.”
I just shook my head. “Instead of worrying about my students, worry about your fighters. We don’t want them to get hurt.”
Lurok shook his head. “Whatever, it’s your problem. Not mine.”
It seemed Lurok was absolutely convinced that Art wouldn’t be able to do anything against his fighters. I couldn’t wait to see the look on his face change.
-Bong!
A loud noise resounded through the arena all of a sudden.
“The final of this tournament will begin in 10 seconds. Is everyone ready to fight against one another?” the commentator asked for the crowd watching.
Everyone shouted, “YES!” in unison, and while that happened, Art slowly woke up, rubbing his eyes just like anyone would after a long night of sleep.
“Ugh…just who woke me up?” he muttered as he stood up nonchalantly.
“Where even am I?”
He looked around, still confused by the whole situation. He saw everyone looking at him with eyes filled with hope for some reason.
“Wait…why am I on the stage? Did the professor really choose me?” Art muttered with a sigh.
Ariel was the one who replied to him with a serious look on her face. “Yes, he chose you out of everyone. So make sure to beat as many people as you can.”
He clicked his tongue. “Tsk, talk about annoying… So all I have to do is beat those guys, and I can go back to sleep, right?”
Ariel frowned. “Yes, exactly.”
“Fine, shouldn’t take too long then.”
He turned around and pulled out a sword, holding it lazily, leaving everyone who heard what he had just said extremely confused.
