Leonel really hadn't heard this voice at all. In fact, his eyes were still vacant. The only thing that made it seem that he was awake was his occasional yawn. Still, it was as though the outside world had nothing to do with him.
A rain of 'BOO's' came from the crowd. Clearly, they had been infuriated beyond reason. It was only after their rage became like a tempest that Leonel was startled awake and looked around in confusion.
'Why the hell are they booing?'
Leonel looked up toward the overseer's box, thinking that he might find a clue. But, all he saw was a woman looking toward him with an infuriated gaze while the two men beside him had helpless expressions. This only made him more confused.
"What happened…?"
Leonel mumbled these words to himself, but the youths who were near by him heard them and couldn't take it anymore.
"You're still saying bullshit like that at this point?! You're disqualified! If you were going to throw the gathering like this from the beginning, why the hell did you waste all of our times?!"
The young man who spoke wore a mask painted with a fierce roaring lion. It was just that this lion, instead of having a brownish gold mane, was completely black. Someone more knowledgeable than Leonel would immediately recognize this young man as 'Roaring Black Lion'.
No one knew whether the name was chosen for this reason or not, but the young man did happen to be black. What wasn't covered by his mask or his clothes revealed dark skin with pulsing muscles beneath. He was a bit shorter than 'Thunderous Clap', but he was definitely stockier.
"Disqualified?" Leonel blinked in confusion. "I broke the rules? What rule did I break?"
At this point, Leonel felt a little bad. He hadn't been paying attention when the female Commander was listing the rules, so he didn't know what they were at all. Without knowing, he could only apologize. How could he refute if he didn't know what he was refuting?
Leonel assumed that maybe he wasn't allowed to use weapons. If that was the case, he could only take this on the chin. He had only wanted to end his turn as quickly as possible so that he could rest, but it actually came back to bite him like this.
Roaring Black Lion frowned when he heard Leonel's words. This was about the last question he had expected to hear. He, along with everyone else, assumed that Leonel had gotten himself disqualified on purpose.
"Treasures gained with Zones are banned for this gathering. In order to maintain fairness, we can only choose weapons from the racks to the side."
"Oh…" Leonel mumbled. "… That's unfortunate. Sorry about that, I must have missed it."
Did that mean he got to go? This wasn't a bad result. After all, he had fulfilled his promise to the old man by coming here.
Roaring Black Lion's lip twitched. Could it be that this young man really hadn't heard anything? He could only look on as Leonel stood and slowly walked toward the exit of the arena with an absentminded gaze. He didn't seem to hear the torrent of boos raining down on him.
If it was up to Leonel, as long as he participated in something, he would have liked to take first. However, he also wasn't the type of person who despaired in his failure either, not to mention the fact his mind was completely preoccupied by something else.
Unfortunately for Leonel's thoughts of rest, would the madman Hutch really allow him off so easily?
"Hey, little girl, directly allow this brat into the next round."
The three Commanders in the overseer's box was suddenly stunned by the presence of a fourth person. Regardless of which of them it was, they had no idea when someone had appeared in their midst.
The woman was the first to recover from her shock and register the old man's words.
Her expression flickered several times. No matter what thoughts she held close to her heart, she didn't dare to be disrespectful to Hacker Hutch. However, how could she go back on her word. She had just listed the rules and Leonel blatantly disregarded them. Now she was supposed to reinstate him? How could she do something like that?
Taking a deep breath, the woman gathered up her resolve.
"Commander Violet Rain greets Supreme Hutch." Violet Rain saluted seriously. "I cannot comply with Supreme's orders, Indomitable has broken the rules. We cannot cause the integrity of the gathering to suffer."
The two men by Brigit had weird expressions upon hearing this. Wasn't she disparaging the gathering just a few minutes ago? When had it become so important to her?
"This is an order." Hutch said without a care, finding a couch to lie on and plopping down.
It was unknown where he got it, but he had carried a large pizza in with him and started munching away without a care in the world.
Fury lit Violet Rain's eyes. This was… so unreasonable!
Yes, it was unreasonable. But, so what? These were Hutch's thoughts.
Any army had a strict hierarchy. This was even more so for a rebel army like the Slayer Legion. The consequences for disobeying an official just one rank above was already steep, let alone someone three ranks above her like Hutch.
Violet Rain's chest billowed with the waves of her anger. But, what could she do? Other than her face reddening and her ears almost jetting out steam, there wasn't anything else.
By this point, the audience below felt that the situation was getting weird. Leonel was already almost out of the arena and it had already been several minutes since his turn ended. Why was it that the overseer's box hadn't said anything about which of the Promising Youths was next?
At that point, the forceful clearing of a throat could be heard over the arena. In truth, though it was as such, one could almost mistake it for the sounds of a dying cat. Who knew what kind of internal struggle the person who made the sound was undergoing?
"The… previous decision has been revoked." A female voice spoke through gritted teeth. "… Indomitable will directly move on to the next round."
After a moment of silence, the arena erupted. Gazes of indignation and fury fell on a particular young man and the overseer's box.
"This is bullshit!"
"Just because he's the underling of a Supreme?! Rules don't matter anymore?!"
At this point, the loudest voices were the youths near the stage. Their roars called out toward the overseer's box like a raging typhoon.
If Leonel was already hated before, it could be said that maybe only the Emperor of the Ascension Empire was a greater enemy to them all now. And, even then, it was close.