There is a massive silence in the arena. The crowd stopped cheering. They are completely silent.
It is so anticlimactic. That is why nobody wanted to even make a sound.
The opponent in front of Sam, who is yet to receive a critical hit is standing there with his hand raised as he surrendered.
All he had was a wound on his leg. Apart from that everything is completely normal, but he directly surrendered which baffled not just Sam, but even the rest of the audience.
Muscle who has been watching the match smiled wryly as he looked at the situation. He kind of expected this situation when he noticed how easily Sam countered all the moves thrown at him. He was still, confident and more importantly still didn’t reveal any of his other moves.
His subordinate is a person who calculates every move carefully. And he never tried to value his pride too much to win a battle when is unsure that there is a chance of winning.
Sam is way too strong and has way too many cards hidden in the subordinate’s opinion, so he just quit the match, before things got serious.
Sam was really surprised by this development. He was really thinking of ways to maintain his image while still winning the fight. He is even thinking of using some of his elements to do that. But it seems like all of his brainpower was wasted.
The opponent seemed to have thought more than him and left the match.
Anyway, this made Sam’s life easier as he went back to the room.
Watt already went and asked the management if they had third matches that day, but the answer was negative. Even though they don’t have any matches, they were still asked to stay though.
They understood what that meant. They are finally going to meet their third target. Muscle might want to meet them.
They were directed to a special room where they were told to wait.
The room is large. It could house at least a hundred people. It is that huge and as they waited a bunch of people came in.
They were all in black uniforms that have a purple hue. The same uniform the team’s opponents wore.
Sam looked at them with a frown. He could see that many of them are looking at them with slight hostility. The remaining members are looking at them with mixed expressions.
He obviously didn’t like this. He stepped forward as he matched their gaze with a sweeping glance. He got ready for a confrontation. Because almost all of the subordinates are of similar cultivation level and even the few that are stronger than him are only at the initial stage of the Astral Plane consummate stage.
He didn’t believe that he will lose if shit hit the fan. He could kill more than half of them with his team and all four of them can escape easily without any critical damage or injuries.
They can do it easily.
But his thoughts were halted when someone else came into the room. It is the person they are trying to meet from the start. The third target. Muscle.
“Don’t need to think too much. These are all of my subordinates. They are just a bit mad that all four of you beat the crap out of them.
That’s it.
You can relax. You are here as my guests. I promise you that as long as you are within this city as my guests, no harm shall befall you.”
“It is easy to say words,” Philip said casually.
Muscle smiled at these words instead of getting angry.
“You can count on my words, my friend. I value them more than my life. So, they have their worth and you can trust me.”
All four of them took their seats, while Muscle sat across them.
“So, are four of you friends?”
“We became friends after we came here.”
“Oh? I have seen arena creating archenemies, this is the first time I saw it creating friends.”
“When there is no challenge or competition in our sight, what can we do? We can just talk with people on the same wavelength.
I must say, the reputation of your arena is just that, a mere reputation. Completely undeserving and unflattering. It is just so-so.” Watt said casually as if he is some kind of bigshot wasting his time in some backwater place.
Muscle just grinned again.
“Of course, your opinion is completely true. From your perspective. After all, the difficulty is the most relative thing.
It is easy for you, but tough for the rest that came. Anyway, one of my squads wants to recruit you. Do you want to join?”
“No.”
Watt rejected directly.
Muscle looked at the remaining three and asked.
“Any of you guys? All four of you have offers from different teams. You can join if you want to.”
“I am not interested. I am not here to get recruited.”
Sam spoke for the first time.
“So, you are here for something specific?”
“Yes. I would like to have a match with you. Constraint your cultivation level to mine and we can fight. I want to see if I can win against you.”
Everyone in the room was shocked. They didn’t expect something like this from Sam. Even the trio was a bit surprised. They knew that they will find a way to stay close to the Muscle for a few days and break the news to him, but to think that Sam would ask something like this.
This is completely out of their expectations.
“What would I get if I fight with you? If you lose, it would be an expected thing. Nobody would credit me for it. They will credit the natural order of things. But if by some minuscule possibility, you win, then I will be made fun of.
This is a lose-lose situation.”
“Then how about to wager. A wager that makes it worth it for you.:
“What is it?”
“If I lose, I will join one of your teams.”
“Then what if I lose?”
“We can decide that after that. Are you in?”
Muscle thought for a moment and said.
“Sure, why not? It is not a bad idea. I want to see how good you are by myself and it has been a while since I fought someone interesting. I will do it. Then what will you get if you win.”
“Protection.”
“Protection?”
“Yes, I want you to use your strength and all of the strength of you can muster through your manpower, to protect me and the other three. No matter what happens, what kind of situation it is. You shouldn’t back off.”
“Really? Do you need that kind of promise? Just what kind of enemies did you make?”
“Enemies that are going to die soon.”
“I need details of the enemies. What region do they belong to?”
“This region only.”
“This region? Then there is no way anyone could ever do anything to you if you are under my protection. But why the other three? I thought you became friends here only.”
“We have some common enemies. It works for us if we stay here together under your protection.”
“Alright. Deal.”
“Do you want to do this in the arena?”
“No need. This is not for exhibition. It is our personal match. We can just fight on my training grounds. Do you want to sign an oath before that? Just for your assurance?”
“If you want me to. Then sure. I would like that.”
They went on to sign the Gandharva oath and Sam looked at Muscle with a smile. The plan went smoother than he thought. The other party’s pride made him unable to see such a simple trap that even some middle school kids back on earth could have seen from a mile away.
And here a person like this is ruling a realm and commanding the authority over the life and death of so many people.
He shook his head with a sigh as they walked towards the training grounds.
Muscle removed his upper robe and stood there with his bare chest. He looked at Sam who just stood there. But this time, his hands are not in his pants. He took out staff and held it on his shoulder.
All of Muscle’s subordinates were surprised. They didn’t expect such a thing from Sam. They all thought Sam must be some kind of mage with a weird constitution. But for him to take out staff is definitely a surprise.
“A staff? Never would have thought you to be a warrior.”
Sam just shrugged and lunged forward. His whole body turned silver as he activated partial lightning elemental fusion. He dashed towards his opponents while filling the whole area with lightning crackling.
He slammed his feet at one spot right before Muscle got ready to counter. He was high in the air as he aimed his fall while swinging down the staff.
*BAM*
The explosive lightning and the staff stuck Muscle in his arms as he tried to block the attack. A large silver flash covered everyone’s vision.
