Luke’s fight was right after Leo’s and as Leo walked back to his designated warm-up room, he saw Luke walking out of his, as Leo gave him an acknowledging nod.
“Introducing first…. From Royal Knight Academy. The man infamously nicknamed the ‘Suplex Demon’. The ladies man….. SKYLION” The match announcer said, as Luke sprinted out to the arena, in his shining silver knights armor.
“KYAAA- THE MAN OF MY DREAMS”
“SOO HANDSOME-”
“SkyLion please marry me-”
“Skylion my husband can’t make me wet, so whenever I need to perform the act, I imagine that he’s you….. as I immediately become a waterfall then”
“Waterfall? Hoe look at the Niagara falls dropping out of your mouth right now…. Stop salivating over my man!”
“Your man? Woman please, he doesn’t even know you exist”
As Luke walked out, the female section of the crowd became notably active as they screamed and started to fan-girl over Luke.
Although the men did not outright dislike Luke for his personality, the more jealous ones puffed their mouths and hoped for his demise as they just wanted to see his crowd of supporters crying and whining at his defeat.
“What’s so special about him anyways? He’s just a little tall, a little handsome, a little talented, a little….. gosh yeah, he’s very likable, I hate him” A jealous man said, as he realized while trying to point out Luke’s flaws that he had none.
“Why do men like him exist? It makes us flawed men look even worse…. He just sets such unrealistic standards for us to follow-”
“I agree-”
” Me2, Fuck SkyLion”
“That aside his opponent is a beastman, so I’m supporting him anyways”
“I agree–”
” Me2, Go SkyLion”
Although some male supporters disliked Luke, in the end they supported him anyways as they absolutely abhorred his opponent, Troy.
As Troy was introduced by the announcer, everyone simply Boo’d him to oblivion as even amongst the non-human races, the prejudice against beastmen was the worst.
Since they resembled animals, some considered them to be an inferior breed and the stigma against them was heavy.
Hence the second Troy walked onto the Grand Arena, he was met with some heavy jeers from the crowd.
“You stink of shit… beast. Did you even bathe today?”
“Go back to the jungles. You don’t belong with civilization”
“In StrongHaven we eat our food with cutlery, not with our hands-”
Jeers like these were aimed at Troy to throw him off his game, however, Troy paid no heed to the hostility of the crowd.
Being solely focused on his fight ahead, he nodded in acknowledgement of his opponent and waved to his section of supporters, who enthusiastically roared in support.
*ROAR*
Waves after waves of beast roars completely silenced the unruly human crowd as listening to their energy, Troy smiled smugly.
“For my fans…. I must crush you-” he said, as he pointed his sharp claws towards Luke.
“Come try your best-” Luke said, as he assumed his fighting stance.
Having already explained the rules of this bout, the referee stepped back and announced the start of the fight.
“BEGIN-” He said, as instantly both Luke and Troy charged towards each other.
At the start, Luke went with his sword and shield as his preferred choice of weapons, while Troy equipped a set of Tiger Claws as his weapon of choice.
Since both of them were close distance fighters, they preferred closing out the gap between each other right from the get-go.
When they were within a five meters distance of one another, Troy leapt into the air, his giant frame towering over Luke, who was forced to put his shield over his head and cover his full body from the incoming attack.
*SCREECH*
Troy’s Metal Tiger Claws scratched against Luke’s shield creating a screeching sound as metallic sparks flew.
Luke immediately felt the full impact of the blow as he felt his knees pressing deep into the ground below.
“Strong-” Luke muttered to himself, as he realized immediately that his opponent had greater strength than him and that he would need to fight tactically if he wanted to beat him.
[ Body Reinforcement ]
Using the spell body reinforcement, Luke increased all physical stats by 20% as he brought at least his raw strength to the level of his opponent.
Pushing his shield back, Luke forced Troy to stagger backwards as he thrust his sword towards him.
*Jab* *Jab*
*Swoosh*
Despite having a huge frame, Troy dodged Leo’s assault with great agility, as his massive beastman body swayed side to side, effortlessly avoiding the sharp thrusts of Luke’s sword.
With a beastly grin, Troy lunged forward, his claws aiming for Luke’s exposed side, however, Luke was prepared for this maneuver.
He sidestepped just in time, using his shield to deflect the claws away as with a quick counterattack, he swung his sword towards Troy’s midsection.
Troy twisted his body, the blade grazing his fur but not penetrating deeply as the slight cut made him snarl.
-60.
Retaliating with a sweeping kick, Troy aimed to knock Luke off balance.
Luke, however, saw the kick coming and braced himself, using his shield to absorb most of the impact.
The raw force of the kick pushed him back a few steps, but he maintained his stance, as he got back to his usual tight fighting pose immediately.
The crowd roared with excitement, split between cheers for Luke and boos for Troy as everytime Luke made a hit they cheered, however, whenever Troy established an advantage they rained down on him with Boo’s.
Overall the atmosphere was extremely lively as unlike the duel between Leo and Tracy, the matchup between Troy and Luke was much more even and exciting to watch.
While the crowd was clear in its support for Luke, they still thoroughly enjoyed the even contest and display of sportsmanship by both fighters.