The entirety of the colosseum was shell-shocked.
The outcome of the final fight within the preliminary contest was nothing short of absurd. Initially, everybody had expected that all four of the final Martial Squires would be matched roughly equally. After all, their performances up until that point had all matched roughly equally.
However, it turned out that this rather easy and expected prediction could not be further away from the truth. A single Martial Squire was able to not only match but also overcome all opposition all by himself.
Furthermore, the power he displayed at the end. Many people did not even know that Martial Squires were capable of such things. That alone changed people's perception of what was possible in the Squire Realm. And that in turn made other Martial Squires feel weaker and less accomplished.
Regardless, the outcome was so surprising that even the commentator forgot to end the match and declare the winner for several seconds.
"And this exciting and shocking contest has come to an end, ladies and gentlemen! The seventy-second Seonmun Champion is none other than Squire Falken!"
…
There were no cheers for a second. It appeared that people still needed some time to process what had happened.
However, eventually, reality set in.
"Woooooo! Go win the main contest too!"
"GOOD LUCK! YOU WERE AMAZING!"
"Damn, now I just have to go witness the Martial Contest that will be held in the town of Li."
Although Rui would have liked nothing more than to leave now that the contest was over, he still endured enough to make sure that he received his little prize and cup. Though even he was coming to regret that decision when they asked him to give a speech.
There he stood before tens of thousands of people. He was glad that the mask that he commissioned from Master Deivon also altered his voice to ensure that nobody could possibly track his voice to Rui Quarrier.
"I appreciate the support from all the spectators, as well as my patron." Rui began. "I do not have much to say, so I will keep this crisp and short. This contest was challenging to win, however, it was far from the limit of what I was going to achieve. I will achieve victory even at the main Martial Contest, and I will bring glory to this town."
As he predicted, that earned him a huge round of cheers and applause despite how short and crisp it was. He figured nobody wanted to hear a long boring speech after an exciting battle. He himself would loathe to give a long boring speech.
He had a Martial Contest to prepare for.
At the end of the match, he was greeted by his final two surviving competitors. Squire Isin and Varay stood in a corridor that he walked down once he left the colosseum.
"Congratulations on your victory," Squire Isin offered with an impassive tone.
"Likewise, congratulations," Squire Varay added.
"Thank you, it was difficult to achieve," Rui replied graciously.
"Really?" Squire Varay regarded him with dismay. "I don't think we pushed you to your limit at all."
Rui sighed. "What's this about? Is this some sort of intimidation tactic"
"Is it possible for us to intimidate you?" Squire Isin asked with a bitter smile, shaking her head. "We just want to wish you luck. You defeated us, so you must not lose easily in the Martial Contest. It will besmirch our honor."
Rui shrugged. "I will do my best not to."
It was an odd request, and one Rui would not make himself. However, he could tell that they really cared about it. This was almost concerning because the odds that the two of them were from some high Martial family were actually not low. People from prestigious backgrounds tended to care about stuff like that.
A hint of wariness entered his eyes. He could only hope that this wouldn't become something annoying in the future. Thankfully he had a particularly powerful patron, so he was not too worried.
Speaking of which, he was almost certainly going to have a word with him after this, so he directly headed to the man's office in the church.
"Master Deivon is not in the office right now," The bishop Master's secretary informed him. "He is currently training in the Virodha cathedral."
"Ah, never mind then, I'll visit him later," Rui shook his head. "He knew better than to disrupt the training of a Martial Artist, one of the Master Realm, that too."
"He expressed interest in meeting you nonetheless," The lady informed him. "You may visit him if you are so inclined."
Rui furrowed his eyebrow. "In the middle of training?"
That was odd.
Then again, it would be worthwhile to witness a Martial Master training. Who knew? He may very well gain information that he didn't know otherwise.
He wondered what kind of training a Martial Master of all people could possibly do in a cathedral. Any Master-level technique would annihilate any ordinary infrastructure after all.
Regardless, the cathedral was gigantic, with a capacity to hold tens of thousands of people.
And yet it was devoid of people barring one person.
Master Deivon sat cross-legged at one end, under a section of artistic architecture with many religious connotations. His eyes were closed.
He was immersed deep in meditation.
He paused, furrowing his eyebrows.
The pressure that he felt was more than anything he had ever felt in his entire life. Master Deivon was not just a Martial Master, but a particularly powerful one. Unlike always, he donned simpler and humble Martial Artist attire compared to his more officious religious attire. He presented a different picture of himself until now.
"You're here," He spoke to Rui from the other side of the cathedral, opening his eyes.
"You called for me, sir?"
"Indeed," The man smiled. "Congratulations on your victory, it was well-earned. You are the most powerful Champion in the history of this town. I have no doubt about that."
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