As Heath justified the loophole himself, he finally calmed down and focused in the arena

"Are you two ready? Take your positions! You can start at the count of three!" the referee declared as the barriers were cast again to protect the citizens.

"One!"

"Two!"

The count began, and at the same time, the heartbeat of the citizens started getting faster as they waited in anticipation. 

"Three!"

"I surrender!"

Silence...

Silence spread everywhere as soon as the referee finished the count since Caen surrendered instantly. 

The woman had just prepared to attack, but her jaws dropped, leaving her mouth wide open. A look of disbelief spread across her face, but she sure wasn't alone. The same look spread across almost everyone in the stands. 

Even the Noble Lords were surprised. They hadn't expected the Warlock Council member to surrender so fast, especially against an ordinary Variant. 

"Did we overestimate them?" One of the Noble Lords asked, stunned. 

"I think we did. They are nothing but weaklings who talk big. They can't even gather the courage to face ordinary Variants. What a disappointment."

Their responses were harsh, but they only talked amongst themselves. 

The spectators were different. They couldn't control their anger as they started booing Caen. 

"Coward!"

"Coward!"

Many of the spectators started chanting Coward while others cursed Caen openly. 

" I already knew these foreigners weren't anything special! They are just cowards who enjoy fake reputation!"

"That's right! Let alone being a match for Divine Empire Nobles; they can't even face ordinary Variants of the Divine Empire!"

"That's right! I feel pity for the people that bet on these cowards. They are nothing!"

"That's right! They are weaklings! They're just here to be laughed at! That must be it! I think they're here to be the jokers of the event!"

"Hahaha, this birdman certainly looked like a joker! No wonder!"

"You bastard! Vacate the arena for the next contestant! It's no place for cowards like you!"

The curses continued being fired at Caen, who didn't look like he minded them. Frowning, he turned around and started walking back. 

"Meh, I thought you were something special. You were just a coward. Because of you, I couldn't show off my skills!" Sonia said from behind Caen. "It's because of you that people will say that I only got to the next round because I faced such a weakling!"

Caen didn't reply and continued walking. Soon, he reached the fence. He jumped over the fence to walk to his seat. 

A cup of coffee was placed on his seat, which he picked up before sitting down. He started drinking from the coffee. 

"Don't mind their mocking. They aren't capable enough to understand," Salazar told Caen, who was sitting in silence. 

"Don't worry; I know that. These things can't affect me," Caen replied. 

In the arena, the next set of contestants were called. The curses that were hurled at Caen finally stopped as the mind of spectators was shifted to the next set of battles. 

The battles in the arena continued as more and more people fought. A wide variety of abilities were put on display in the battles as everyone gave their all to win. Some of the abilities even intrigued Salazar, who was observing every battle. 

After five more battles, it was once again the turn of Warlock Council members. 

Heath was called to the Arena along with another participant. 

This time, the enemy was a real Noble though. 

The Noble Lords again hoped that they would get to see a battle, but after the display of last time, they didn't keep their hopes high. 

As for the spectators, their reaction was even more harsh. 

A vast majority of them were convinced that this guy was also going to be a coward and he was going to surrender as well. 

The conversation in the crowd wasn't if Heath would surrender or not. Instead, it was a conversation about when he would surrender.

"I say he will surrender in the first second itself!"

"Who knows man, the last guy surrendered in the third second. I think he'll last till the second before surrendering."

"Hahaha, come on! Look at his face! He looks like an even bigger coward! I think he wants to surrender before the match could even begin officially! Hahaha, just you watch!"

"Are you two ready? On the count of three, you can begin," the referee said as the barriers were cast again. 

"Kid, don't you dare surrender! I promise I won't kill you! I'll just beat you up, but I'll let you live! So you don't need to surrender! How's the offer? I'm sure even a coward like you can appreciate it!" Heath's enemy said, laughing.

Unfortunately for him, Heath already had a plan which he was supposed to follow. Moreover, he was actually a coward who didn't want to fight. 

So even if surrender weren't a part of the plan, he would have done it on his own. 

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"I surrender!"

As soon as the count finished, Heath surrendered and started walking back. 

Unlike before, there wasn't much of an anger this time. Everyone expected him to surrender already. Instead, the spectators were laughing at the cowards who couldn't even stand two seconds before surrendering. 

"See? I told you, he won't even last one second before surrendering! As I said, they're all cowards! They're almost non-existent in the tournament! They're just comedy relief!"

"Yeah. Now I'm starting to regret betting on the foreigners. All I needed was for one of them to get to the second round, but I doubt they will even do that. I wasted my money!"

Almost everyone who had bet money on the foreigners was sad as they lost all hope. There was only one person who wasn't sad. 

It was the old man who bet most of his money on the Foreigners being able to reach the finals. He was sitting in his seat perfectly calm. There was still no distress on his face, as if he was still confident. 

He drank the coffee from a cup, enjoying the battles.

A drink was also served to Milena in a cup, but the Drink wasn't coffee. The spectators couldn't see what was in the Cup, but if they could, they would have been surprised to see that the cup had blood in it.

Milena started drinking the blood as if she was drinking coffee, enjoying every sip.

Drinks like these were served to the other Noble Lords too. 

After the disappointing performance of Heath, the battles shifted to other participants. 

"Next, Salazar from the Warlock Council against Noble Lord Vian from the Divine Empire!"

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