It appeared the Abbot just changed the entire structure of the so-called ritual and announced the event to be five of them against everyone else.
The group was glad to be able to participate at all, hence no one complained.
It was now time to decide who among them five should go first, clashing against those two dozen invitees.
Emery could see Julian was being overly excited about this. It seemed the defeat he previously suffered under Thrax's hands became the main reason for his behavior.
"Let's face it, guys. Klea and Emery were too strong for them to handle. Even though I am not trying to doubt the mighty prowess of our Thracian friend here, it is a fact that he's still wounded. So let's not take any chances for our dear friend's wellbeing. Which means it is between me and Chumo."
Julian had already taken the lead on the discussion, as he fired his argument rapidly leaving no chance for the others to rebut.
Actually, Emery had no issue about who was to fight among them and what Julian said made sense.
But unfortunately for Julian, when he was about to argue with Chumo why he should go first, Thrax already leaped to the arena platform.
"No! No! Why do you always do that?!!"
Thrax only gave Julian a wry smile and asked for one of the wooden polearms held by the monks and it was thrown to him.
Beaming an apologetic smile to Julian, Thrax turned around and declared in a confident tone
"I will go first!!"
From the other side of the arena, the first who walked up was unexpectedly the fat, bearded man who derided Emery's group earlier. He brought with him a large mace made of pure steel that certainly looked heavy at glance. It had a long handle and a ball-sized head on top with many knobs around it.
Moments later, the two were already standing across and facing each other. However, they hadn't fought yet as they still waited for the Abbot's cue.
The Abbot was seen bowing before saying, "This is a friendly ritual. Therefore, please refrain from killing or inflicting any permanent injury onto your opponent."
He then took a few steps back, which automatically meant the fight could start already.
"The Abbot was so kind to allow us to warm up first." said the fat, bearded man as he began to move.
The man seemed to try to intimidate Thrax as he began flexing how much strength he had by swinging his mace around, doing all sorts of movements and variations with it. It was clear the man had physical strength much stronger than any normal man, as he could easily swing that heavy mace all around. Unfortunately, he met Thrax.
What the bearded man did indeed look very impressive in the eyes of laymen, but for the experienced invitees as well as Thrax, who was the bonafide king of the arena, his actions were full of openings and simply laughable.
"You kids are smart enough to send your strongest, but you are too unlucky to fight me!" said the bearded man, while glancing at Emery and the others standing below. "This mace of mine is able to kill an elephant with one strike! Don't blame me later because I already warned you!"
It was obvious the other party's chattering annoyed Thrax, as he turned to the Abbot and asked, "Can I start now? This one speaks too much"
Upon hearing his words, the man instantly became angry and dashed to him. Bringing the mace up to the air, he launched a downward strike at Thrax. A ruthless look was seen on his face, as his thoughts pictured the miserable sight Thrax would soon become.
But of course, Thrax could easily dodge the attack by taking a step to the left. While doing so, he also smacked the other party by swinging his wooden polearm to the man's unprotected ribs.
PAK!
The wooden polearm broke into two, but so did the bearded man, as he was knocked 10 meters away by the attack, going even faster than when he rushed earlier. His body fell to the floor with a thud, which was then followed by the ear-piercing shriek he released due to the excruciating pain of broken ribs he currently experienced.
One hit! And the boastful man was defeated.
Silence encompassed the whole place, as everyone's attention was locked on the bearded man's pitiful state.
Afterward, Thrax walked toward the groaning man and stopped right next to him. He grabbed the man's steel mace off the ground and raised it to the air.
When he saw Thrax holding the familiar weapon above him, the bearded man's face turned pale and quickly raised his hands and cried out.
"No! No! Please! I give up!"
However, it seemed Thrax didn't hear his plea, as he swung the mace toward the ground.
BOOM!!!
Everyone in the crowd couldn't believe what Thrax did. He cracked the mace and used his feet to break the mace's head from its handle. Then, he walked away from his opponent while bringing only the mace handle.
It seemed Thrax planned to use the handle as his weapon, because it bore resemblance to the polearm he previously used.
As for that fat man, he was seen lying on the arena platform in an unconscious state. He passed out from extreme shock, as Thrax smashed the mace right next to his head.
Several monks swiftly got into action as they carried the unconscious fat man. In the meantime, Thrax was busy familiarizing himself with his new weapon. He swung the steel polearm around, while looking at the other two dozen invitees below.
"Alright. Who's next?"
An incredible scene was unfolding on the arena platform at the time. People were seen flying away and being banished from the platform one by one, as the legendary gladiator began to clean up the invitees who had come for the Holy Fruit. Several people had challenged Thrax, but none of them had made him sweat.
Julian, who stood with the others, knew he had to do something before everyone was defeated by Thrax. Therefore, he shouted as loud as he could after Thrax defeated his third opponent.
"You have enough, Thrax! Change now! It's my turn!"
Unfortunately, Thrax ignored his shout and continued on his beatdown. One invitee after another, none were able to defeat him. It was obvious though, as Thrax could be considered as the strongest man on earth.
There was actually one invitee who was able to increase his strength by some kind of spell, but Thrax quickly put a dent in his ambition with a few strikes of his steel polearm. The man ended up laying unconscious on the ground as all the others before him.
At this point, the invitees finally realized the special guess the Abbot was talking about was indeed special. Therefore, after Thrax defeated another opponent, those who only depend on their physical strength didn't dare to come up the platform and fight him.
This was the cue for the other fighter, the one with high spirit force to join the fray.
The first to walk up was a suave middle-aged man with a refined appearance. This man was called Fryane, one of the five Briton wizards known by Emery, a rank 5 cultivator.
Looking at Thrax's opponent, Julian took this opportunity to persuade him once more, but again, he didn't budge. Thrax brandished the polearm and pointed it at the wizard as he said,
"Alright, your turn."
Faced with Thrax's provocation, Fryane calmly took out a staff and lightning started forming on it.
"I am sorry, young man. But sheer muscle power won't defeat magic."
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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,