*Thud—!*
"W-What?!" Shion screamed. In fact, the entire stadium was screaming with a confused face.
"Are you kidding me?"
"What the hell? You’re supposed to win!"
"Is this rigged?!"
"Libation Fiesta should have won! Why are they conceding the match?"
"What the hell are you doing, Clovis?"
"You idiot!"
Their reactions were mixed. Some were questioning Clovis’ decision, while others were condemning him.
It was already quite hard for them to reach this stage, so the people hoped they would go all the way.
Even the referee started regretting his decision to hand over the microphone. Why would this happen, especially in the final?
This was simply ridiculous.
Shion hurriedly looked into the rule book while saying, "Wait a minute… There is no rule stating that the team can’t surrender during the match. However, this is simply too ridiculous."
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As she said, people saw this as a mockery, not only to them but to the entire competition.
Clovis simply said, "I understand your concern, but I have to make this hard decision as the captain of the team. It’s not that I don’t trust my teammates, but Kanaria and Melody aren’t specialized in the individual battle.
"Rather than letting my team get hurt any further, it’s better to become a coward. We originally wanted to continue and claim the victory… but the Eight Swords were simply better than we originally expected.
"As a result, Jay, who was supposed to be participating in this battle and claiming the last victory for us, couldn’t participate."
Clovis shifted their attention to the Eight Swords. At the same time, this would diminish their achievement a little bit. If he continued fighting to the very end, he still couldn’t defeat the Bloody Rose. However, his reputation would soar extremely high.
When that happened, more people would take notice of him. While he didn’t mind showing his achievement, he only limited it to the province. If the entire nation gazed their eyes on his little group, it would be troublesome.
He might not even have the time to handle the beast wave that Vania warned him about since he would be forced to go to the capital or something for a better opportunity. He would also break the promise to go to Hana.
Hence, by smearing his own reputation, he diminished his achievement a bit. This way, people would wonder if they planned to recruit him.
At the same time, he also raised the prestige of the Eight Swords by stating that they were better than they expected.
Of course, this was also another plan from Clovis. While he lost this battle, the people would think, ’If Jay were here, would the Libation Fiesta defeat the Bloody Rose?’
’What if the Libation Fiesta had six members? Even without Jay, they might be able to become champions.’
Unlike other groups, people had seen numerous possibilities from the Libation Fiesta to win if their condition was different.
It created the illusion that Libation Fiesta should have won the match, though it didn’t change the fact that they lost.
Last but not least, his teammates didn’t have to get injured.
Of course, it would take a while before these people thought of it that way. For the time being, they were completely enraged and even started throwing stuff into the arena.
"Aaaahhh! Don’t throw stuff into the arena." Shion tried to stop them, but it was useless.
Their rage couldn’t be calmed so easily.
On the other hand, Clovis simply walked away with a solemn expression. They didn’t realize one thing. There was one more reason why Clovis chose to end it this way.
And the one that would become his sword this time was not his group, but Vania.
"!!!" Vania frowned because a notification appeared when she was watching the battle with her phone. It was from her daughter, who passed on Clovis’ message. She couldn’t help but smile upon seeing this message.
Meanwhile, the medical team was carrying Aileen on a stretcher.
"Aileen. Are you alright?" Lana was the first one to come, worried about her condition. More importantly, she never thought that Aileen would lose, especially during the last part.
"Yeah." Aileen smiled wryly. "He was extremely strong… like a wall that I could never overcome…"
"!!!" Lana widened her eyes in shock. This was the first time she heard such praise come out of her mouth. "Is he that good?"
"His speed surpassed even me, his strength was stronger than Jay, his senses were comparable to his operator, and his schemes were worse than Tarkan’s. He was that capable as a Tier 2 human. What do you think?"
"What?" Lana gasped. "Is he a human?"
"Lana…" Aileen looked solemn. "Now that the competition is done, the Bloody Rose will be disbanded, and I’ll have to leave the group."
"Leave the group… Don’t tell me. Are you going to do that?"
"Yeah. I want to get stronger…" Aileen sighed. "I’m sorry for being selfish."
"Jeez. I don’t mind. Go pursue what you want. Don’t hold back anymore, you hear me?"
"Is that so? Thank you." As if doing what Lana had just told her to do, a smile appeared on her cold face.
"Also, take this." Aileen took out a piece of paper and handed it to Lana.
"What is this?"
"Just open it later." Aileen closed her eyes. It was the piece of paper that contained the result of the match, according to Clovis. Aileen didn’t have to look at it anymore after Clovis chose to concede the match.
Everything indeed went according to plan. And she accepted her loss.
Lana ended up stopping for a moment, looking at the medical staff bringing Aileen to the medical room.
Curious, Lana opened the piece of paper. "This is… the result of the battle?"
5-2 Lose (Draw).
Lana couldn’t help but furrow her eyebrows. It stated ’lose,’ so this must be Clovis’ handwriting. In addition, the ’draw’ actually piqued her interest more.
When she thought about it carefully, she finally understood its meaning. She could only smile wryly. "Is he a madman or something? To think that he would do all kinds of things that a normal person wouldn’t do…"