--- [Alex’s perspective]

  “I surrender.” – Kuro

  “WHAT?!” – Alex

  Did I hear that right?

  “Barbara… Are my ears deceiving me? It sounded like he just said he surrendered…” – Bob

  “No, I definitely heard the same thing…” – Barbara

  What is going on?!

  Why?

  Why?!

  The healers quickly arrive and start healing our injuries.

  Mere moments later, my arms grow back, and the horrible pain fades away.

  I try to get the words out, but the shock leaves me unable to.

  Despite that, Kuro can tell what I’m trying to ask even if my mouth won’t open.

  “I’ve already achieved what I set out to achieve.” – Kuro

  Suddenly, he jumps up to the announcers’ booth.

  Security quickly arrives.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not here to hurt them.” – Kuro

  The announcers tell them to step down, and they do.

  He grabs one of their microphones and starts speaking.

  This clearly isn’t how things are usually done, but they just roll with it.

  After an upset like that, they all want to hear from the man himself.

  “My name is Kuro Velox. I am not here for money. I am not here to meet the Emperor. I am not even here for fame. I am simply here to show the world what true strength is. Even the strongest Divinity user amongst the D-rank hunters gathered here today was no match for me in the end. I will continue to climb the ranks, and one day, there will be no one left who can match me.

  If any of you fools listening dream of ever achieving a fraction of what I will in my lifetime, then you better be ready to abandon the Gods. Divinity is a sham. True strength can only be achieved from within. If you don’t believe me, then watch as I obliterate every opponent I’ll ever face without using even a drop of it.” – Kuro

  He jumps back down into the arena, and lands right next to me.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I still don’t get why he would surrender…

  “Why?” – Alex

  “I just told you. I just told everyone.” – Kuro

  “You’re not interested in the rewards for winning, fine, but why surrender? Couldn’t you just not accept it?” – Alex

  “My next training session is scheduled a few minutes from now. Dealing with the higher ups of the event would surely take more time than that. Winning would simply be a waste of time.” – Kuro

  “…” – Alex

  And with that, he takes off…

  “Well, uhm… I… I’ve never seen anything like that before…” – Bob

  “Same here… When working in this field, you’re trained to deal with any situation. I’m supposed to have something meaningful to say no matter what occurs, yet this has left me completely speechless…” – Barbara

  “I suppose the only thing to say now is… Well… Congratulations. Alexander Minima, you’re the winner…” – Bob

  The audience seems almost as confused as me…

  You’d think there would be cheering unlike anything we heard before after the winner was declared, or in this case, maybe boos since I didn’t really deserve it.

  But, no…

  They don’t know how to react, and so they don’t.

  It’s dead silent…

  After a few more awkward moments of nobody knowing what to say, the announcers finally break the silence.

  “Well, anyways… Uhm… A representative of the battle festival will come get you shortly, just go back to your waiting room for now.” – Barbara

  I go back immediately, and the moment I open the door, I find Luna, Lett, and Vic waiting there for me.

  “Congratulations!” – Lett

  She runs up to me and gives me a hug.

  “Good work out there.” – Victor

  “Thanks…” – Alex

  Luna puts her hand on my shoulder.

  “Hey, I know what you’re thinking. A win is a win, okay?” – Luna

  She’s right.

  Besides, I didn’t want to win out of pride or because I had something to prove.

  I wanted to win because I need to meet the Emperor…!

  Regardless of how I won, I still did.

  Soon enough, I’ll finally get to meet my father; the man that crazy cult hates so much they killed my brother.

  Like the announcers promised, the representative didn’t take long to arrive.

  “Congratulations, Alexander. Winning the battle festival is no easy task.” – Representative

  “Yeah… Thanks.” – Alex

  He looks over at the others.

  “You guys are gonna have to leave, it won’t be long before the C-rankers arrive. You’re more than welcome to watch from the stands with the rest of the audience, we’ve made sure to have enough seats for the contestants.” – Representative

  He flicks his hand in a motion telling them to hurry and leave, and without arguing, they take off.

  “Let me introduce myself. My name is Mark, and I’m the one who’ll escort you to the Emperor and give you your prize money.” – Mark

  He bows as he introduces himself.

  “If you’d be so kind as to follow me, I’ll take you to waiting area.” – Mark

  Without saying a word, I follow after him.

  We exit the stadium, then take a short stroll across the district.

  Mere minutes later, we enter a small building not far away from where we came from.

  There’s a screen just like the one from our rooms in the arena.

  “Right, so this is how things are going to go. A few minutes from now, the preliminaries for the C-rank tournament are starting. After the contestants have been decided, there will be a tournament just like the one participated in. When that’s done, I’ll escort the winner here like I did with you. This same process will repeat for the B-rankers, and when all three of you are here, that’s when I’ll escort you to the Emperor. I don’t have permission to stay at his palace, so after I drop the winners off, I’ll head back and prepare the prize money. When your meeting with the Emperor is over, come back to this building to receive your money. Did you get all of that, or do I need to explain it again?” – Mark

  “I got it.” – Alex

  “Great. It’s a shame you won’t be able to watch the matches in person, but we’ve set up a screen here for you watch them remotely at least.” – Mark

  “It’s all good.” – Alex

  “Good to hear. Right, I’ll be off then. See you soon!” – Mark