Way of the Knights

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Raven's comment only caused the woman to giggle and walk away with her hips swaying flirtatiously. 

At the corner of his eyes, Raven saw Jason seemingly entering a trance as he kept staring at the woman's ass, he's even licking his lips and not bothering to hide his lust. Seeing this only caused Raven to roll his eyes and pay attention to the arena below. 

"Okay, okay! The betting ends now!" The announcer yelled with his voice amplified by energy. "The match will start shortly so please be seated and look forward to it!"

As this was announced, the audience broke into loud cheers as they all sat down and waited in anticipation for the match to begin. 

"And we're on!" The announcer yelled as he himself stepped in the middle of the arena. "Good day to you folks! My name is Caleb and I will be your announcer for today! I hope you guys are having fun because today's roster will surely be packed in action!"

The audience broke into loud cheers and applause as Caleb mentioned this, the excitement within the arena was increasing steadily. 

Caleb waved his hand, gesturing the audience to calm down and stop making noise. He then smiled and said: "I know that you guys can't bear to wait any longer, therefore I won't prolong your agony anymore!"

"Let's begin today's first match!"

"Woohooo!" The audience clamored once again, shaking the whole establishment with their cheers. 

"On the Red Corner, let's give it up for Salamander!" 

The cheers and applause turned even more louder. From the right tunnel, came a man wearing the sect's uniform with a mask depicting a salamander. He walked towards the stage while waving at the audience like a big shot celebrity. Tons of people cheered for him, some ladies were even yelling some obscene invitations to him. 

"Woohooo! Go get him Salamander! My money's riding on you buddy!" Jason who's sitting beside Raven yelled too since he betted for this guy. 

Raven turned at him and asked: "Do all contestants hide their identities?" 

"Majority of them does as far as I observed." Jason replied without looking at him. "They say that it's for privacy or personal reasons. There are some people who doesn't do that but that's fine too. It's all in their preference really."

Raven nodded and placed his attention back at the arena, just in time before the next contestant was announced.

"On the Blue Corner! Let's give it up for Elephant!" 

The audience broke into another fit of cheers and applause, it would seem that this contestant dubbed as 'Elephant' is just as famous as Salamander. He too entered the arena like a celebrity, it didn't take long before the two contestant plus Caleb were gathered. 

"Alright you too. The same rules apply. Killing is forbidden as well as crippling. Any technique that causes damage over time must be terminated as soon as the match was over or your enemy admits defeat. The match ends when the opposite party surrenders, unconscious or thrown out of bounds. Additionally, you must remember that is just a match, treat as a good-natured spar. You may be opponents for now but you are comrades, learn from each other and display as sportsman like behavior. Are we clear?"

The contestants nodded to him, signifying that they understood the rules. 

"Okay, now that's out of the way. In three…"

"Two…" the audience joined the countdown with Caleb.

"One! The match begins!"

Caleb instantly disappeared from the arena and allowed the contestants to clash. The first clash was impactful, both of them charged at each other and clashed in the middle of the arena.

Their clash resulted in brief shockwaves that was felt by the audience. However, instead of being scared, the audience erupted with louder cheers, shaking the whole establishment with their noise. Raven could only smile wryly, it's plainly obvious that this people are severely deprived of entertainment and seeing two muscleheads clash is peak entertainment for them. 

The contestants blurred within the arena due to how fast they were moving. This wasn't an issue since majority of the audience were experts and could accurately see what's going on. Raven himself, didn't even need to use his ocular technique at all since he could follow their movements. 

"A warm-up huh?" Raven smirked. He won't lie, this is pretty entertaining. 

So far, the two only clashed in a melee. They're just squaring up to each other and used nothing but their fists to fight, they hadn't used any of their special techniques just yet so Raven deduced that they're just warming up. 

Nevertheless, even though this is just a brief warm-up, the audience is still captivated. Not long after that, the two went back to their respective corners and sized-up each other. They stared at each other for a bit before nodding and taking out their weapons. The instant that their weapons were out, the audience turned even crazier.

Salamander was holding a deep crimson sword while Elephant held a black morning star. The former released an aura which followed the same theme as his sword while Elephant's aura was ashen in color. 

The two abruptly disappeared from their spot and engaged each other once more but now, since their weapons are out and their auras were released, the clash was obviously stronger. The shockwaves released from their clash were obviously stronger, thankfully there is a hidden array that absorbed all of the excessive force from their clash, allowing the audience to remain safe and unharmed. 

At this point, Raven was concentrating on the match as well. From his point of view, none of the contestants were serious. 

To the audience, this might be a fight but to Raven it's more of a performance. Well, he can't he so sure of it since he's not a part of this but at least to him, that's what it looks like. 

The two contestants knows that aren't allowed to injure the other party too heavily even if they could since that will be a violation. This fight is staged but their techniques and finesse aren't. They are truly competing against each other but not because of anger or disagreement. It merely to exchange pointers and see who has a more refined technique. 

Again, this is only Raven's guesses. He can't confirm whether this is true or not. 

Still, even if his conjectures turns out to be correct, it doesn't diminish the flare and entertainment brought by this establishment to bored disciples. 

"Come on, Salamander dude!" Jason was clenching his hands while anxiously looking at the arena. "Win this, come on. I believe in you!"

Raven smirked and thought to himself: 'He's too into this. Does he even realize that this is staged?'

Maybe he'll ask later, for now he returned his attention to the match that was heating up. 

"Crimson Burial Slash!" Yelled Salamander as he struck down with his sword. 

"Rampaging Onslaught!" Countered Elephant as he repeatedly struck down his morning star. 

Raven who's in the audience fought the urge to roll his eyes. He inwardly thought: 'Yup, that's it. I'm convinced, this shit is so staged.'

'I'm not even going to mention the yelling of the techniques name. But damn, who the hell deliberately winds up an attack with such a telegraphed way? It's too obvious that they're going to do something big and other party just let's them do that? Come on, that's a big no no in a battle!'

The reason why he's so convinced is because these people are disciples of Ancient Elysium Sect, meaning that these people are no amateurs. These people stayed within the sect longer than he did so most likely they already experienced fighting against Devils. If they ever went out in the Devil's Cradle and dared to performed their attacks in this manner, even a lousy Imp could slit their necks before they finish winding up for their attack. 

But as matters stands, these people are alive and well. Which means that they're experienced fellows, as such it's completely obvious that they are deliberately doing this. Again, supporting this idea that this whole match is staged. 

The fight went on and Raven still stayed and watched with rapt attention even though he was already convinced that its staged. One flashy technique was thrown after the other, causing the audience to erupt in constant cheers and applause. 

The fight was 'full of suspense', the contestants even appeared to be out of breath from their repeated clash. Nevertheless, they still clashed against each other and repeatedly injured each other. Their performance was incredibly entertaining, even for Raven who realized their secret early. 

In the last clash, they brought out their strongest techniques and caused minor earthquakes within the establishment. People watched with bated breaths as they waited for the dust to settle and see who won. 

As soon as the dust clouds were dispersed, Salamander was still standing while Elephant was found lying in the ground. Loud cheers and applause filled the establishment once again as Caleb jumped to the arena and announced that Salamander won the first match. 

"Hell yeah!" Jason pumped his fists in celebration since he won the bet. 

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