The announcer stood at the center of the arena, accompanied by the eight final competitors..
"Behold! These are the final eight competitors who have survived the first two rounds!"
The crowd erupted in cheers.
The announcer smiled, nodding toward the competitors around him.
"Tomorrow, the next round will begin..."
But before he could finish, Dahlia stepped forward and walked straight toward the announcer without any hesitation.
The noise of the crowd dimmed, not knowing what was about to happen.
The other competitors frowned, including the announcer himself, not knowing what Dahlia wanted now. Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on novęlfire.net
Elira quickly narrowed her eyes.
Larris also turned to his eyes to Dahlia.
"It seems that she was about to do something reckless."
The announcer just tilted his head, forcing a smile in front of Dahlia
"Miss Dahlia, can you tell me what you need? I still need to announce something."
Dahlia just stared at him with her sharp eyes and coldly opened her mouth.
"You don’t need to announce it anymore. There will be no more battle tomorrow as I want it to end today."
Gasps spread through the arena.
Dahlia turned slowly to the other seven competitors, pointing her finger at them.
"All of you... Come at me now. I have already seen your fights, and all of you are weak."
Dahlia’s fingers then curled into a fist as she kept staring at them.
"I don’t want to waste any more of my precious time on you, so let’s just get this over with today!"
The arena quickly fell into silence.
Then, one of the boys in green robes snorted.
"Arrogant! Do you think you can beat all of us at once?"
Another competitor, a tall girl with a long staff, shook her head and laughed.
"You must be losing your mind. Two victories and you think you are already strong enough to beat all of us?"
Murmurs and laughter quickly spread to the remaining fighters.
Even Elira raised a brow, smiling faintly.
"You’re quite bold. I’ll give you that."
Meanwhile, the crowd was going wild, shouting like madmen.
Some were cheering for Dahlia.
"Good! Let’s finish it today!"
"She already crushed Adriel! She can crush the rest, too! Easy!"
While the others were not impressed by Dahlia’s words, they immediately scoffed at her.
"She’s just reckless!"
"Arrogant brat. Beating one favorite doesn’t mean you can take them all at once!"
"She’ll get smashed the moment they work together."
Meanwhile, in the premium seats, the elders were frozen in shock.
Their eyes widened as they saw Dahlia standing alone, calmly challenging the other seven at once.
Garion, on the other hand, threw his head back and laughed hard.
He slapped the railing so hard the wood rattled a bit.
"Dahlia! What you said is true! Better to finish it now than waste another day!"
The elders turned to glare at him, their faces twisted with disapproval.
One in red robes leaned forward, voice sharp.
"Garion, do you realize what you are allowing? This is the once-a-decade tournament, the pride of every sect."
He pointed his finger at Dahlia angrily.
"And your disciple dares to mock it by trying to change the rule without any confirmation or even respect!"
Another elder in green robes shook his head, frowning deeply.
"This is just wrong. She should respect the rules. To spit on tradition ... it is too disgraceful."
Garion only grinned, staring back at the group of elders.
"Disgraceful? Of course not. It’s just efficient. While your disciple dances around wasting time, mine’s ready to crush them all and move on."
Garion raised his finger, pointing it to the sky above.
"Isn’t the whole point of this tournament to find the strongest one? If she can end it now, why keep dragging things out?"
The red-robed elder’s jaw tightened.
"This is not how it’s done."
Garion’s grin widened.
"Then maybe it’s time things were done differently."
The other elders shifted, whispering. You could feel the rules of the old order pressing down on everyone.
Then the gray-robed elder who had stood for order earlier rose from his seat.
He moved slowly, facing the crowd of elders like a calm tide.
"Let us all calm down. Garion’s disciple, Dahlia, wants to finish it today because she believes that she is stronger than the rest, right?"
The elders all nodded in small, uneasy motions.
The gray-robed elder just smiled as he folded his hands behind his back.
"Well, we can allow it, but still... to change, we need an appropriate price."
The gray-robed elder then turned to Garion, smirking.
"We can’t just talk and change it without a price, don’t we, Garion?"
Garion only stayed silent as his ears perked up, ready to hear this price.
The gray-robed elder smiled as he leaned forward.
"If your disciple loses this mass challenge, then... the God Gym will be banned from entering this tournament for the next few decades."
The sentence quickly made all the elders silence.
Garion just tilted his head, rolling his shoulders, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
"Banned, huh? Interesting. Big reward also needs a big risk."
The red-robed elder scowled. "You’re reckless."
Garion ignored him and just looked at Dahlia momentarily before turning back to the elder, smirking.
"Sure, I accept. Win or lose, I’ll take the chance."
All of the elders were quickly shocked to hear what Garion had said and to think that he had accepted this price.
"To think he accepted it so easily..."
"He is really a reckless one."
"Madness. Pure madness."
The gray-robed elder only watched Garion carefully before nodding.
"Good. The rule is set. If Dahlia loses, the God Gym will be banned from this tournament... for five decades."
All of the elders were shocked when they heard the price Garion would pay if Dahlia lost.
"Five decades... that would erase his ect from the stage for a really long time."
"He’s too bold. No one would gamble so much on one child."
"He will regret this. You’ll see."
Garion just leaned back in his seat, grin never fading.
"Heh. Bold is the only way worth living."
The gray-robed elder turned back toward the stage after telling an officer about the rule change.
"Then let’s see if Dahlia can really win this challenge or not."
One by one, the elders began to sit back down as the rule had been set. None of them could argue with Garion anymore.